I want to plant ten million Ayurvedic Trees - Yogi Arwind

Its been about four years that I am planting trees (Ayurvedic saplings). As a part of my yogic journey, I have traveled extensively in different parts of India and various other countries. Everywhere apart from teaching yoga and philosophy of yoga, important messages I have given are cleaning the rivers, reducing / eliminating use of plastic and planting trees - especially Ayurvedic plants. 

During my travel I realized that India though one country has different weather patterns. There is a confirmed co-relation between trees and rainfall. Wherever more trees / deep forest are, rainfall in these areas is better than the regions which are deforested. Western Ghats, regions of Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, North Eastern India, Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand are good examples of this phenomenon. So idea came to my mind - why not plant trees where there is scarcity of rain. Parts of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, UP, Odisha, MP, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh really need drastic measures and huge drives of forestation so that the green cover & resultant rainfall could be improved.

I started my plantation in Kashmir through some unique encounter. A Muslim lady visited me calling Pir sahab and wanted some remedy from me for the problem of a soul possessing her. I advised her to plant five Chinar saplings and miraculously she said her problem got over. Then I planted trees in Rajasthan, Karnataka, parts of Maharashtra and Gujarat. As a matter of faith when people visit me for some divine remedy to their problems, I do advise to plant trees. Increasing number of people give me the feedback that their problems get solved. I call it as divine grace and blessing of Vriksha Devata (Tree God). 

Aamla tree plantation near Bangalore at Kanyaka Parameshwari Temple

I do have a theory regarding this. Human life day by day is becoming superficial by bringing a disconnect between humans and the nature. Modernization, Urbanization have created new employment opportunities and people are moving away from farming. City population is swelling and villages are drying up. Impact of this city ward movement of population is making the village population lazy. Best example is Kerala where people spend their month by waiting for remittance coming from abroad. Same scene is observed in many parts of India. So the villagers are not farming seriously. the lands under cultivation are becoming arid. There is no guidance to these villagers about new methods of farming, fruits plantation etc. Such vast idle manpower in India needs to be tapped for forestation, mass plantation drives. I am exactly trying that.

Farming is predominantly done by our farmers with commercial motive. Which is not wrong. But some measures of common gain, like forestation need to be advised to the farmers. Forestation will improve rainfall in the region and will benefit all. When I share this simple idea with the farmers, they like it and wish to participate.

While doing plantation, choice of plants is very important. Government agencies do forestation too. But they mainly plant the trees which are non-local (foreign), which can grow fast with less water, and which normally don't bear fruits. Such forestation drives help in reporting increased forest area. But all plants don't suit the given region. So I suggest to plant Ayurvedic saplings. General trees useful in Ayurvedic medicines are Aamla, Vat, Peepal, Arjun, Harad, Behad, Bael, Audumbar, Jamun, Neem, etc. These grow into big trees and generally grow in any part of India. And then we have list of other trees which can grow in specific regions. I advise on that too. 

Ayurvedic Saplings distribution at Nashik, Maharashtra

 Another reason to go for Ayurvedic plantation is, increasing demand for Ayurvedic medicine. World over the demand for Ayurvedic medicine has drastically gone up. Many new companies in India are producing Ayurvedic medicine. General worry you would find with the raw material procurement department of these companies is - unavailability of enough raw material. Parts of Himalayas, Cchattisgarh, Odisha, Western Ghats etc are the few regions where you procure raw material from. With increasing demand, the plants are depleting fast. In few years, or may be today itself we may come with the news of ayurvedic products not meeting the specifications as advised in the old scriptures. So planting Ayurvedic sapling is a must. If we wish to give good medicine to ourselves and future generations, we should plant more and more Ayurvedic plants. 

Not only big Ayurvedic trees, but encouraging Ayurvedic farming is important in this regard.

This plantation drive is for the benefit of humanity. So larger participation in this is expected.Everyone may not own farmland, but one may have ability to help buy the sapling, one may have ability to help nourish the plant for two years, one may help protecting the plant. My idea is to develop a big garden for each village where basic medicine for the village could be procured from. 

Sapling plantation at Sao Paulo, Brazil

Cities are cutting trees for making space for constructing new houses, some are cutting trees for making wood available for the housing and industrial purpose, villages are mindlessly cutting trees for source of energy (for cooking fire). During my journey I have seen, if not less, thousands of hands cutting trees. Unfortunately I seldom came across the sight of tree plantations. 

Though I have not kept record, by now, I must have planted between 8000 to 9000 plants. I wish to plant one Crore (ten million) Ayurvedic plants in my lifetime. Directly or indirectly. I am sure I will get necessary help from the conscious souls who think of common welfare. I am sure the divine will complete the Sankalpa.

Amen 

Shubham Bhavatu.

Yogi Arwind

Consciousness Hijacked!

We are living in the world where our consciousness is hijacked. It has been hijacked by powerful ‘Maya’ lobbyists. And there are some signs of rescue.

Going by the reports from all over the world few terms can fit to describe the situation everywhere. They are - ‘unrest’, unease’ resentment, awakening, rising etc.

This appears like a collective uprising is taking place against something. This something changes from place to place, time to time and culture to culture.

This something for me is ‘deprivation from knowledge’

Masses in the world were kept away from the knowledge. They were misguided in the name of education, information and societal norms and laws.

Wasted interests, who are the lobbyists for Maya, always have run the campaign of misinformation. They have floated new and newer concepts of hierarchy, classes, groups etc which kept the populations in different parts of the world busy in identifying with. Be it in the form of nations, religions, rich and poor divide, and divide on the basis of race, caste, color, creed and currencies. Anything that divides is Maya. And her lobbyists have been so marvelously successful in their design. But they also are part of our wider consciousness.

These lobbyists are not a specific set of people. It’s you, me and everybody who on and off subscribe to the idea of division. This division is the basic tool used to create layers of illusion that keep one away from the ‘Truth’. Falling prey to the tactics of division and getting away from the 'truth' is what I call as 'Consciousness being hijacked'.

We are deprived from the ‘Truth’ of global oneness by the misplaced egos associated with the notions of nations. In the process, physical bodies became less important than the ‘passports’ made of paper. Concept of ‘patriotism’ is enough to provoke hundreds of thousands. Concept of ‘nation’ was used more by the lobbyists as a small territory to manage effectively their designs. Nations are important. Not as the physical boundaries drawn by few whimsical, but as a natural geography and history of evolution associated with it. That’s all.

We are kept away from the Truth of universal oneness by the idea of division between living and non-living things. What is non-living in this universe? If the air, which by the common understanding is considered non-living is an instrument to keep every living being alive, how does it become non-living? The soil which nourishes every plant which in turn nourishes humans cannot be a non-living entity at all. The ‘truth’ is there cannot be life independent of the so called non-living. 

We are deprived of the ‘Truth’ that there is wider consciousness of which we are small, negligent but important and integral part of. 

The present day unrest, I believe is the beginning of acknowledging this universal consciousness. It is the beginning of knowing ‘All is one’. It is the beginning of shading away the wrong full notions of division in the name of ‘he’ and ‘she’, ‘us’ and ‘them’, ‘me’ and they’. It is the beginning to go inductive from deductive. It is the beginning of knowing that the ‘universal consciousness’ is so beautiful to live with. 

Interestingly, everywhere in the world, this awakening is inspired by the followers of ‘Yoga’ – The Assimilators. Yogis are bringing this light. Be it the tribes in the Middle East, occupy activists in the America or Anti-corruption crusaders in India. They are not the products of any system. They simply believe in the ‘truth’. They have pure intentions.

It is a time of ‘correction’ in the stock market of the divine. Shares of ‘illusion’ are on downslide. ‘Knowledge’ stocks are doing well.

Amen!

Shubham Bhavatu!

'I Am'

“Have this.”

“This is treasure.” His eyes were shining.

Yogi prepared himself for the meditation. For the meditation that is self-realizing!

“I am always in a relationship. I know how to deal with relationships. I purify my mind by cultivating a feeling of friendliness with happy people, situations. I develop the sense of compassion for them who are suffering. I experience gladness when with virtuous. I remain neutral with those who are perceived as wicked or evil."

"I develop these four types of attitudes, namely, Maîtra (friendship), Karuna (compassion), Mudita (gladness) and Upeksha (indifference or neutrality) to deal with relationships that help me make my mind clear and undisturbed. ” Said Yogi.

"This develops an ability to discriminate amongst people and situation and respond accordingly. This helps me understand and deal with my surrounding well. This makes me well placed in the society."

“Well, after this preparation for long time, there are multiple techniques of focusing the mind or making it experience one-pointedness.”

You should know that the seven chakras in our body are associated with the different states of mind. These Chakras are - Muladhar, Swadhisthan, Manipurak, Anahata, Vishuddha, Ajya, and Sahastrar. Concentrating on each Chakra with a given technique brings specific experience.

विशोका वा ज्योतिष्मती I

‘Vishoka va Jyotishmati’ is a state of mind that is ‘without any pain or suffering’ and ‘self illuminated with divine light’.

How do I achieve this state of mind?

“Okay, lets concentrate on Anahata Chakra (Heart Chakra or cardiac Plexus). This chakra is a lotus which is facing downwards and the stem is upwards. With the Rechak (exhale) this lotus is made face upwards. (There are micro details about how to do this). In the center of this upward facing lotus resides ‘Om’. The stem of this lotus is connected to the Sushumna Naadi that reaches straight to Murdhna. This Naadi is called Brahma Naadi.”

“During the meditative state when one exercises the complete control over thoughts, the whole lotus appears like the Sun, the Moon, the constellations etc. It illuminates. Then it leads to a Sattvic light that’s self illuminated. With no reference. This is inner light. Divine."

"And since it is Sattvic, it is called ‘without suffering’ as there are no Rajas or Tamas attributes”.

Mind in this state experiences the ocean of calmness and stability.

Here the yogi experiences ‘I am’.

(Author’s 'free flow' explanation of 36^th Sutra of Samadhi Pad of Patanjali’s Yog Sutras. Readers are suggested strictly not try any aspect of this meditation without guidance!)

Postpone The Death...

I am in pain. Severe pain.

When everybody is predicting collapse of the world or doomsday in 2012 as per the Mayan calendar, I believe it will happen certainly. Not necessarily as a result of any astrological phenomenon but as a result of ‘collective karma’ the human race living on this planet has done. Even if one tries not to be pessimistic about the future, one cannot afford to be unrealistic. Immense mass destruction happening in near future appears to me as a self inflicted tragedy by a human race living in illusion.

My constant interactions with friends and people in general, my meditative experiences, my intuition and more importantly ‘common sense’ easily guide me that the devastation is not far. Soon the collapse will happen! Big and mighty blow!

Mother Nature is furious.

She has been kind to give you everything. But the excessive greed of yours does not end.

She created trees to give you shelter and some necessary wood and medicine. You are using it as timber to sale.

She created land for you to reside and grow crops. You are using it to dig for minerals to sale. To build huge buildings to sale. To use fertilizers to grow more crop to sale.

She created rivers for pure water to quench your thirst. You are using it to build dams to generate energy and sale.

She created animals around to coexist with them. But you are using them to kill and get meat to sale.

Beautiful human race is created to make your life colourful. Humans around are to live happily together. But we are getting excessively competitive. We cheat, deceive, lie. We harm each other. We don’t mind false fully progressing at the cost of someone else’s life. We consider each other as enemies. Why?

When the divine has created this beautiful universe and its elements, it is to live together happily. It is for interdependence. It is to value each other’s importance. It is to use each other’s special features for mutual happy coexistence.

We want independence. We want everything for ‘me and me’. We divide. We divide on the basis of color, race, geography, history, age, class, caste, income, physique… and what not.

Excessive greed of our fellow humans in the business, insensitive rule of our fellow humans in the politics, divisive policies of fellow humans in the field of media, irresponsible behavior of our fellow humans in authority, and more importantly clueless, submissive fellow humans who get themselves ruled as a herd. All have caused a great damage to this beautiful planet. The imbalance has reached a boiling point.

The air has been polluted enough with no further scope, water has been mindlessly polluted with no further scope, land has been irreversibly damaged, land has been dug enough with no possibility to fill it to original composition. Minds have been cultivated corrupt enough to ensure inevitable decay of the human race.

I guess only miracle can change this huge mighty damage that seems approaching so fast is to bring ‘little change’ in me. And few of my friends and few more of their friends and ultimately the whole human race.

The little change –

By treating plants and trees as friends to live with and live for.

By treating the land as a friend to live with and live for.

By treating the rivers and all water bodies as friends to live with and live for.

By treating the atmosphere around as a friend to live with and live for.

By treating animals around as friends to live with and live for.

By treating fellow humans as friends to live with and live for.

Lets be independent by being interdependent. Lets be independent as ‘a whole universal existance’. Lets live 'together'.

Lets avoid the mass destruction. Lets postpone the death.

Lets befriend the universe.

Shubham Bhavatu!

Yogi Arwind, Rishikesh.