Art of Living Houston TX

Holi Message from Gurudev

2010-03-06T22:42:00.000-08:00

Uplift your spirit with the joy of colour

Holi is a festival of colours. This whole world is so colourful. Just like nature there are different colours associated with our feelings and emotions: anger with red, jealousy with green, vibrancy and happiness with yellow, love with pink, vastness with blue, peace with white, sacrifice with saffron and knowledge with violet. Each person is a fountain of colours which keep changing.

Puranas are full of colourful illustrations and stories and there is a story related to Holi. An asura king, Hiranyakashyap, wanted everyone to worship him. But his son Prahlad was a devotee of Lord Narayana, the king's sworn enemy. Angry, the king wanted Holika, his sister, to get rid of Prahlad. Empowered to withstand fire, Holika sat on a burning pyre holding Prahlad on her lap. But it was Holika who was burnt, Prahlad came out unharmed.

Hiranyakashyap symbolises one who is gross. Prahlad embodies innocence, faith and bliss. The spirit cannot be confined to matter, only love. Hiranyakashyap wanted all joy to come from the material world. It did not happen that way. The individual jivatma cannot be bound to the material forever. It's natural to eventually move towards Narayana, one's higher Self.

Holika symbolises past burdens that try to burn Prahlad's innocence.. But Prahlad, so deeply rooted in Narayana Bhakti, could burn all past impressions (sanskaras). For one who is deep in bhakti, joy springs up with new colours and life becomes a celebration. Burning the past, you gear up for a new beginning. Your emotions, like fire, burn you. But when they are a fountain of colours, they add charm to your life. In ignorance, emotions are a bother; in knowledge, the same emotions add colour.

Like Holi, life should be colourful, not boring. When each colour is seen clearly, it is colourful. When all the colours get mixed, you end up with black. So also in life, we play different roles. Each role and emotion needs to be clearly defined. Emotional confusion creates problems. When you are a father, you have to play the part of a father. You can't be a father at office. When you mix the roles in your life, you start making mistakes. Whatever role you play in life, give yourself fully to it. Harmony in diversity makes life vibrant, joyful and more colourful.

© The Art of Living Foundation

BALANCE AND DISCIPLINE

2010-03-06T18:07:00.000-08:00

People who are free, regret that they don't have discipline. They keep promising that they will become disciplined. People who are disciplined look for the end. (Discipline is not an end in itself, it is a means.)

Look at the people who have no discipline; they are miserable. Freedom without discipline is absolute misery. Discipline without freedom is suffocating.

Orderliness is monotonous and chaos is stressful.

We have to make the discipline free and the freedom disciplined.

People who are in company all the time, they look for the comforts of solitude. People who are in solitude, feel so lonely and want to be in company.

People who are in a cold place want to be in a warm place. People who are in a warm place love something cool.

This is the dilemma of life: Everyone is looking for perfect balance. Perfect balance is like a razor's edge. It can only be found in the self.

There is no road to this town and there are no steps to this house.

How do you get in? Figure it all out.

The Sudarshan Kriya

2009-03-06T10:13:00.000-08:00

What you will learn from the Art of Living Course:
• Breathing techniques to eliminate stress and anxiety
• Practical wisdom to improve relationships at home and at work
• Tools to handle your mind and negative emotions
• Stretching and low-impact yoga for health, circulation, and body stillness

The cornerstone of the Art of Living Course is a powerful rhythmic breathing technique SUDARSHAN KRIYA that purifies and rejuvenates both mind and body.

Here's what the Art of Living Course can do for you:
• Reduce levels of stress, anxiety and depression
• Increase your self confidence, creativity and focus
• Increase health, well-being and peace of mind
• You can be at ease with yourself and with everyone around you
• Experience a new depth in life and spirituality

About the Art of Living

2009-02-24T11:42:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Art of Living Houston Blog.

The Art of Living Foundation is a non-profit educational/humanitarian organization active in over 150 countries. What's it to you, you may ask? Well, for starters, you'd have to learn the Sudarshan Kriya and experience the amazing stress relief and sense of well-being that it brings about. Millions around the world have been able to achieve a disease free body and a stress free mind with some regular practice and keep it that way. I'm sure you'll run into someone who practices Sudarshan Kriya pretty soon.

http://www.artofliving.org/