Insight essentially means being able to see things other people are not able to see. This is the hallmark of leadership.
Discrimination will impair democracy.
Trees are our closest relatives. What trees exhale, we inhale; what we exhale, they inhale. They are half our respiratory system.
We think the government is running the country, but it is just a policymaker. Unknowingly, people are inviting the government to run their lives. The only business of the government is to come up with the right policies.
At my ashram, people work long hours joyfully because they are inspired. When people are involved and joyfully doing something, they usually turn out ten times more and do more than what they would normally do as a duty.
If you don't take yourself seriously, you will die joyfully. If you take yourself seriously, you will go through a lot of misery.
Most creatures in nature die consciously. Cobras, for instance, choose a particular place on a particular branch of the tree. Many a times, I would try to force-feed them out of my misplaced compassion, but they would just puke and go back to sit on the same branch.
My engagement with mountains, rivers, and forests has been right from my childhood. I have lived in the jungles by myself; I have floated down rivers. So, I didn't experience these rivers, mountains, forests as some mythological figures but as thriving, living entities.
Yoga is not a belief system - it is not a new religion, philosophy or a teaching but a technology. I call it a technology because you don't have to believe it; you just have to learn to use it. It does not matter what your religion is, what your colour is, what your race is, or where you come from. If you learn to use yoga, it works for you.
There are no problems in the world. There are just situations. Some situations you know how to handle. Some you do not know how to handle.
If a man aspires for a political career, he can start at 18 and go on and on. This is not true about women, who fall back when marriage and children happen, which are equally important. That is not gender bias.
It is not predictions but plans that make the future. If you want predictions, it is because you do not have the ability to make a plan and fulfill it.
A sense of morality makes a person repetitive in thought and action. Such a person will obviously not get anywhere.
A guru is like a live road map. If you want to walk uncharted terrain, I think it is sensible to walk with a road map.
My vision for the country is to urbanise rural areas. What is available in the cities must be available in the villages.
When we step into a new terrain, we experience vast uncertainty. Uncertainty is just a situation that you do not know how to handle.
Yoga is not a practice - the word 'yoga' means union. It does not mean standing on your head, twisting your body, or holding your breath. Yoga means to know the union of life. When you experience everything as a part of yourself, you are in yoga.
Vijji was not an accomplished yogi. She did what she did with just the sheer intensity of her emotions.
