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Vaishali Narasimhan

VAISHALI NARASIMHAN describes how a very tough
 period during the pandemic was followed by a beautiful re-emergence, thanks to her love for poetry and the city
 of Chennai in the south of India.



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After I left school, I stopped reading Kabir Das, Rabindranath Tagore, Emily Dickinson, and Sylvia Plath. It remained
 a veiled interest. Following a tough period during the pandemic – despite the fact that we were all in that unusual
 circumstance together – our paths diverged and we isolated ourselves. I felt lost. How can you convey what you’re
 thinking when you’re lost in your thoughts and unable to express yourself? So I reasoned to myself.



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February 23, 2021, was a watershed moment in my life. It was 3 a.m. and I couldn’t sleep. I was scrolling through
 Instagram when I came across a poem narrative. I heard it once, twice, and something about it compelled me to listen
 to it every day. On December 4, 2021, I discovered what that “something” was: this lovely thing about simplicity,
 honesty, and love. I began attending open mics on poetry and story-telling in Chennai, hosted by a small group of
 people known as Deleted Drafts, and I fell in love with my city, its people, and its surroundings. I wondered,
 “Where have you been all these days?”



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<h4 class="has-text-align-center"
 id="h-i-discovered-what-that-something-was-this-lovely-thing-about-simplicity-honesty-and-love">I discovered what that “something” was: this lovely thing
 about simplicity, honesty, and love.</h4>



<hr>



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I sat there listening to experiences similar to mine. I felt vulnerable and I choked up behind my mask. Masks are
 multifunctional! I felt a weight fall off my shoulders, something heavy and painful. Today, I began writing poetry,
 and I shared my thoughts with the rest of the world. I remembered Aisha (from the movie Wake Up Sid)
 saying, I have a strange feeling of love for this city. You can only heal yourself with time.



Thank you for your time and poetry, and happy morning to you, Chennai.



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<h4 class="has-text-align-center">Illustration by HilaryDesign
</h4>



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Where have you been?

Valentina is Sivananda yoga teacher, and an Ayurvedic and skin beauty care therapist and consultant. She has experienced the benefits of yoga and Ayurveda from a young age.

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Valentina Tsarev

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">VALENTINA TSAREV, SRIVIDYA VARADARAJAN, UTTARA VENUGOPAL, and UMA NATARAJAN are all yoga teachers who have experienced the benefits of yoga and Ayurveda at a young age. Here they share some key features of their use for health.</h4><h3>Health according to Ayurveda, and the relationship between yoga and Ayurveda</h3>Valentina, Sivananda Yoga Vedanta: Charaka was one of the greatest Ayurvedic doctors and Vedic scholars, and he asked, “What is health, and a healthy person?” He described a healthy person as one whose doshas are balanced. The three doshas – vata, pitta, kapha – define our personal constitution. Also, one whose digestive fire or transformational fire, agni, is balanced; one whose dhatos, body tissues, are in balance (we have seven vital tissues in our body); one whose malas, wastes, are eliminated normally; one whose indriyas (senses), manas (mind), and atma (soul or the self) are calm and clear. Such a one is called swastha purusha, a healthy person.Yoga and Ayurveda are sister sciences, and they share the same spiritual goals. They require us to connect ourselves to the true self – a healthy person has a healthy physical body, a healthy mind, and a healthy spirit. There are two goals to Ayurveda: one is to protect and maintain health throughout the lifespan, and the second is to cure diseases, disorders, and imbalances in the body and mind. The main focus is the prevention of diseases and the promotion of positive health. In order to reach the main goal of our life, to find our true self, to find Christ Consciousness, we need to be healthy.<h3>Yoga as therapy</h3>Srividya Varadarajan, Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram: There is a prevalent idea that yoga is about convoluted postures, and fit and slim people. But yoga is more than physical fitness – it is essential for us to perform our duties, take care of our responsibilities, etc. The body should not be an impediment toward our spiritual growth, so it’s important that we are physically fit, but the influence goes much beyond that. While doing asanas is important, asanas are only one part of yoga. Yoga is beyond that. We practice asanas with the breath, the practice of pranayama, because all that works at the level of the prana in the body, which is the life force. The prana in our body is responsible for all the functions. So by doing asana and pranayama, the balance improves, which in turn makes all the functions work better. Any abnormality in the functions of the body will be corrected because of the prana circulating inside the body. So this is the therapeutic reason for yoga.<figure class="image image-style-align-center"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/yoga_and_ayurveda2_06b0b85fdc.jpg"></figure><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">If you practice yoga regularly, the flow of your prana is going to improve and help your organs function better. And your mental health will also improve; you will be happier, not anxious and stressed out, and you will live life smoothly.</h4><hr><h3>Creating a healthy mind</h3>Uttara Venugopal, Yogavahini: Yoga is much more than asanas and pranayama. It is a way of living. Yoga has many, many tools, including meditation, making choices, speaking the truth, living with cleanliness, not harming anybody, and being happy and content with whatever we have. Some of these tools have been taught to us when we were born in our families, and later we learn asanas and pranayama, especially when we’re unwell these days.So, today we are talking about mental health. Take, these two or three years of Covid. It was a huge catastrophe, and people are still struggling with what Covid has done to them. Either they have been affected by the illness directly, or the fact that the whole world was turned upside down. It’s safe to say that almost everyone was extremely troubled. At the other end of the spectrum, individuals have lifestyle difficulties. For example, if you are bent over a computer typing or coding every day, you hardly get up to move. This lifestyle will definitely lead to physical difficulties like back pain, your slept will be affected, and you will have digestion issues. A sedentary lifestyle may lead to diabetes. And all of these are going to affect your mental state.&nbsp; If you practice yoga regularly, the flow of your prana is going to improve and help your organs function better. And your mental health will also improve; you will be happier, not anxious and stressed out, and you will live life smoothly. Your body and your mind will not stop you from doing what you need to do. Work for yourself, for your family, provide. It’s definitely going to help your mental health. &nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Yoga has many, many tools, including meditation, making choices, speaking the truth, living with cleanliness, not harming anybody, and being happy and content with whatever we have.</h4><hr>&nbsp;<figure class="image image-style-align-center"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/yoga_and_ayurveda3_766c985967.jpg"></figure><h3>Yoga and good health</h3>Uma Natarajan, Sivananda Yoga Vedanta: Twenty years ago, I was diagnosed with a women’s health ailment, and the doctor said that there was no choice but to remove my uterus. This came as a big shock to us. When I approached my first teacher she said yoga could help. So, along with the medication I also practiced yoga, and then I became a yoga teacher. It has given me confidence and faith; faith follows from practice, my teacher would say. Twenty years on, I have not had my uterus removed, and I’m functioning well.I’ve personally experienced that yoga can work on your internal organs, along with medication, and after some time the medication is not needed. When you’re committed to the practice, it helps on both the physical and mental levels.&nbsp; I used to be a high achiever and get very angry and anxious about winning at everything; there was always a fear element in me, always uncertainty. But after practicing yoga and meditation in the Sivananda discipline, I started feeling calm and composed. There was an automatic reduction in anger, greed, jealousy, hatred; you witness them slowly fade away from you, and positivity comes without much effort. If you commit to the practice, you will experience all this on your own. When I’m teaching, the students also receive the same energy. My teacher always says that what you have, you can pass on, and receive the same kind of benefit.&nbsp;<figure class="image image-style-align-center"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/yoga_and_ayurveda4_7db693eb2e.jpg"></figure><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">The five points of yoga – proper exercise, asanas; proper breathing, pranayama; proper relaxation, savasana; proper diet, vegetarian and sattvic; and meditation and positive thinking. So, you can apply these five points of yoga every day, to every aspect of life. You can practice yoga every moment, just remembering.</h4><hr><h3>How long does it take for yoga to be therapeutic?</h3>Valentina: Swami Vishnudevananda, the founder of the Sivananda organization, was sent by his master Swami Sivananda to the West, to spread yoga. He was traveling in North America and trying to teach yoga the way he taught in the Himalayas, but it didn’t quite work because of the different energy, different people, and different lifestyles. So, he came up with the five points of yoga – proper exercise, asanas; proper breathing, pranayama; proper relaxation, savasana; proper diet, vegetarian and sattvic; and meditation and positive thinking. So, you can apply these five points of yoga every day, to every aspect of life. You can practice yoga every moment, just remembering. You are not thinking about the benefits, but whatever you do, you can practice asanas or meditate, or chant, say prayers or mantras, exercise useful awareness. Once we bring awareness to our practice, we bring yoga to our life.And remember the main goal of Ayurveda is to find our true self. If we just focus on benefits, wondering how long it’s going to take, we are going away from our yoga practice, back to our senses, back to our physical body; how good do I look? etc. Once we withdraw all the senses and bring full awareness to the practice, that’s when we start to get real benefits. And those benefits help us on the long journey to our true selves. &nbsp;<h3>Common ailments treated by yoga therapy</h3>Srividya: The prevailing common problems are musculoskeletal issues due to a sedentary lifestyle, working so many hours; too much time on a smartphone leading to a lot of neck issues, back issues, spinal issues, and knee pain. Yoga therapy is different from physiotherapy, because although we give movements, we also work at the breath level, we work with prana, we work at the level of the mind. Other problems include acidity, asthma, wheezing, irritable bowel syndrome, and since the pandemic, in the younger generations, there are a lot of anxiety and depression issues.We use all the subtle tools of yoga, not just postures. At Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram, we address each student individually to find out the physiological and mental condition of the student. We assess them depending on where they live, what kind of work they do, how much time they have for practice, etc., because sustained practice is very, very important. If I tell people to wake up every morning at 5 a.m. and do one hour of practice, it’s not going to work for everybody. We consider all these factors and offer an individual specific program dependent on the student and their ability. It’s a holistic approach. We ensure that we teach them well so that they will practice on their own, daily, which is the most important thing. Ultimately, the goal is prevention, to prevent future suffering. That’s how we try to empower the students.<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/yoga_and_ayurveda5_4559b95251.jpg"></figure><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Yoga helps you live well in community, your energy helps other people, the way you interact with friends, your spouse, your parents, your children. It makes things a lot more harmonious and less difficult, that’s for sure.</h4><hr><h3>Yoga for all ages and levels of health</h3>Uma: Step by step, more flexibility develops, deeply into yourself. Yoga is applicable to people of all ages and all levels of difficulty. For example, if you cannot do double leg raises, teachers will tell you an adapted way of doing them, folding one leg and lifting the other leg up slowly. When the flexibility develops you will be able to do it perfectly. The teachers at Sivananda are trained to understand each and every student, their health constraints, their ability constraints, and accordingly, they teach.Everybody can practice yoga, and everybody can feel the difference in themselves. If you keep on practicing, you will feel the benefits, and when you have experienced the benefits, like me, you become committed to the practice.<h3>Beyond health</h3>Uttara: Practicing yoga doesn’t stop you having problems in life. Rather, it gives you the strength, the energy, and the foresight to cope with them very well. When something impacts you, you won’t react and let it affect you as badly as it could. You don’t get sucked down.Yoga also teaches you to understand yourself better, to see where you are at any point in time, and to go someplace better. For example, practicing yoga regularly has impacted the way I cook. Now, that may sound like a silly thing, but I’m feeding people better food. My practice impacts so many other people too. Very importantly, it helps me maintain and develop better relationships with others. None of us live in isolation. Yoga helps you live well in the community, your energy helps other people, the way you interact with friends, your spouse, your parents, your children. It makes things a lot more harmonious and less difficult, that’s for sure. And who doesn’t want to live like that?&nbsp;<hr>To watch the whole discussion, go to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAS9kqnbbtw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAS9kqnbbtw</a>

Yoga and Ayurveda for health

Dr Shiva is a force of Nature! She is a scholar, researcher, environmental activist and advisor to governments worldwide, who has helped to draft laws to protect the Earth and the farmers whose livelihoods depend on her bounty. She has also authored over 20 books. She is one of the leaders of the International Forum on Globalization and promotes the traditional practices of sustainable agriculture, biodiversity and indigenous knowledge. She funded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, which lead to the creation of Navdanya. She has received many prizes and awards for her tireless and inspiring work spanning 50 years.

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Vandana Shiva

<h3><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/ritual_gold_1_992f055845.jpg"></h3><h4 style="text-align:center;">IN CONVERSATION WITH DR VANDANA SHIVA</h4>Q: Dr Shiva, you have been working tirelessly for years to bring awareness and change in the field of sustainable agriculture and ecological diversity, in India and around the world. Have we progressed? What are some of your most satisfying achievements to date?VS: I think the recognition that the Earth is sacred, the rights of all her beings are inviolable, is growing. This is what has inspired me to spend a lifetime in the service of the Earth and defending the rights of those people who depend upon the Earth.In terms of what are the satisfying achievements, one is saving this valley where we are sitting, which is my birthplace. I returned here1 because the ministry had asked me to do a study on potential mining in this region, and our study stopped the mining going ahead. It was the first case in India where the Supreme Court ordered that commerce had to stop if it was destructive in taking away people’s life support systems.The work I started to do with saving seeds has been satisfying in and of itself, because seeds are such important teachers of renewability, generosity and diversity, and all of that has guided my work.Regarding the legal issues, I’m satisfied that having woken up to how seeds were under threat, and starting seed saving, I was able to work with our government and our parliament to put laws in place that defend the integrity of seed – article 3J of our patent laws. I was asked to help draft the Plant Variety and Farmers’ Rights Act so that we have the rights of farmers written in black and white. I was asked to help draft the Biodiversity Act, which makes it an obligation to protect biodiversity.Then there are the things we started, such as the Community Biodiversity Register, documenting what is there, and all of that is now government policy. I can go to the remotest area and people are collecting this indigenous knowledge.Then there have been the legal victories against the big giants, for example, our struggle against the patenting of neem. We fought it for 11 years and won. Basmati rice from Dehra Dun was patented by a Texas company, but we had that reversed. The wheat of India was patented by Monsanto and they also had to give up that patent. We were entering a new age of colonialism where instead of grabbing territory and saying, “This is ours,” they were now grabbing life, biodiversity, indigenous knowledge and saying, “We are the inventors.” And I think we put a brake on that bio-piracy epidemic. It still happens, but it would have been the norm if we hadn’t stopped it. It is now the exception.I think that studying the Green Revolution, when the Punjab erupted in violence and the Bhopal tragedy took place, we’ve now been able to show that we can grow more food while protecting the Earth. We can feed two Indias through ecological farming. Our farmers earn ten times more by not being addicted to poisons.So each of these things is on the one hand inspired in a deep way by the integrity of the Earth, and on the other hand has also managed to reverse some of the really destructive assumptions of industrial agriculture and the greed associated with industrial globalization.Q: Thank you. You are very modest – you didn’t mention the international influence you have had. I am aware of your trips to Geneva and your current work with ecocide and the rights of planet Earth, which leads us to the next question: what are the most pressing ecological issues of our time? What are a few practical things that all of us can do to bring change for the better?VS: I think that the most important ecological issue of our time is to stop this illusion that we are separate from Nature, that we are masters of the Earth, and that we can manipulate the Earth and other beings as we want. Because whatever we do to other creatures, some privileged powerful human beings also do to other human beings.We have driven other species to extinction a thousand times faster than normal rates. We are also doing so much to drive the human species to extinction with the disasters we have created. But this is not inevitable. We could instead start functioning within the reality that we are members of this Earth family. We are not outside the Earth, we are part of the Earth, and any violence to any strand of the web of life is violence to ourselves. That waking up will help us recognize the limits we must respect, rather than following the illusion of limitless growth. It will help us create a better world for ourselves and others by using less. Because it is not the case that by predating on the Earth we are having better lives.The single thing everyone can do is change the way we eat. Eating right is an important step. We are today eating food that is the result of industrial farming. It is nutritionally empty, toxic and uniform, and does not meet the needs of the planet or our own needs. 75% of the ecological destruction on the planet is because of industrial farming and a globalized food system. 75% of the diseases are related to that same food system.So we need to change our eating to be more conscious, recognizing that we are the food we eat – it is not separate, it is not a commodity, it is not fuel for our body as a machine. We are living, sacred temples, and food is itself a sacred gift. We have to bring that sanctity back. We have an ancient saying, “Anna Brahma,” meaning food is the creator. The creator is embodied in the food.So in the simple act of eating, we can start protecting the planet, we can start reversing climate change, we can start reversing species extinction, we can start solving the water problems, we can reverse desertification and we can build up our health. And it would be stupid not to take that small step.&nbsp;<hr><h5 style="text-align:center;">The single thing everyone can do is change the way we eat.</h5>&nbsp;<hr>Q: India is a fast emerging nation with a young population. How can the youth best participate in a new paradigm so they have a hopeful future?VS: First, we are not emerging from anything! We are an ancient nation, and the word ‘emerging’ was given to us by the globalized economy, which has treated us as an emerging market for itself. An ancient civilization of 10,000 years doesn’t emerge it evolves. It evolves to the next step.Now the next step could be a very smudged photocopy of the failed western paradigm of consumerism, resource exploitation, competitiveness and dissatisfaction. It is a paradigm that is designed to destroy work. Youth has no place in that paradigm, because it cannot create work.How do we make sure that young people in India are able to have a future? I think the first thing is to learn the deep principles of our civilization, of an ecological civilization. To learn from people like Gandhi the dignity of labor, where he would spin cloth as the way to freedom, rather than say, “I am going to be a serf in a giant mill or a giant garment industry.” He recognized that climbing another step in slavery is not progress, but breaking out of a slavery system is liberation.We need to learn from the Buddha, who was also born in this land, the teaching of compassion. The current economic model teaches us how to be cruel, how to be brutal. And India is living that brutality, whether it is in violence against women, raping 2-year-old babies, or murdering 7-year-old children in school. This is not the India I know. This is an India that has become distorted. It is wasting too many lives. We need to reclaim India. And reclaiming India is where the youth will have a place.<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/vandana_2653e83362.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T10:05:32.659Z">Q: What is your vision for humanity? Where are we headed? How will we get there?VS: My vision is that we are human to the extent that we recognize non-human life and our dependence on it. Our humanity does not come from separation. Our humanity does not come from how violent we can be, and how exploitative can we be. That is not being human. Being human means being part of the Earth, having compassion, spreading love.My dream, first and foremost, is to continue to do what I have done for more than 50 years, but also respond to the new challenges. A brilliant scientist like Stephen Hawking said that either we will be extinct in 100 years or we will escape to other planets. My response to him is, “You guys of science, the powerful ones, have escaped too many times and trampled on too much.”It is irresponsible to destroy this Earth, to be violent against Mother Earth, and continue that hubris by trying to colonize other planets and calling that a planetary civilization. I would call it the fiction and illusion of planetary imperialism.What we need to know is the limits that guide us on this planet and respect those planetary boundaries. With this we become more human. The deeper we are in living within the limits of the Earth, living within the limits of social justice, living within the limits of respect for all, the deeper is our humanity. Our civilization knew this in the past, but it has forgotten it, and is now remembering it and joining with other civilizations, including those that have forgotten it for longer. We are all seeking. Not only are we seeking to know how we have a future as a human species, but the future of our human species depends on recognizing that all other species have a right to a future and we do not have a right to extermination, pushing others to extinction.We have to move from hubris to humility. We have to move from narrowness of the mechanistic mind and the monoculture of the mind to the ecology of the mind, a mind that is part of the whole.Q: Does spirituality have a role in this paradigm of change? Some people believe that you can only change the world if you change yourself – it all has to come from within through meditation. Having stayed on your farm for the last month, I see a dual way, as there is so much we also need to do to live in community, to grow food, and to regain our connection with the earth. Can you comment on that?VS: Well we do meditate out here, but we don’t meditate all the time. I think the crass materialism that came out of greed has created a reaction of spirituality that is defined only as the inner life. But the basic principle of spirituality is to know the interconnectedness – that there is no divide between the inner and the outer. Every violence we do to the Earth comes from a degradation of our own spiritual being. Every aspect of our spiritual being that becomes more conscious stops harm to all others. Just like there is no divide between humans and the Earth, there is no divide between spirituality and material life. Every life is sacred. That’s when true spirituality will be reclaimed.<hr>1 Navdanya Biodiversity Farm, Shisham Bara, Uttarakhand, India&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Interviewed by KIM HUGHES</h4>&nbsp;<hr>

Interconnectedness

<hr><h4>In 2017, DR. VANDANA SHIVA spoke with KIM HUGHES about the sacredness of the Earth, the work she has been doing to bring awareness and change in the field of sustainable agriculture, and the importance of understanding our interconnectedness with Nature, and how we can change the way we eat.</h4><hr>Q: Dr. Shiva, you have been working tirelessly for years to bring awareness and change in the field of sustainable agriculture and ecological diversity, in India and around the world. Have we progressed? What are some of your most satisfying achievements to date?VS: I thing the recognition that the Earth is sacred, the rights of all her beings are inviolable, is growing. This is what has inspired me to spend a lifetime in the service of the Earth and defending the rights of those people who depend upon the Earth.In terms of what are the satisfying achievements, one is saving this valley where we are sitting, which is my birthplace. I returned here because the ministry had asked me to do a study on potential mining in this region, and our study stopped the mining going ahead. It was the first case in India where the Supreme Court ordered that commerce had to stop if it was destructive in taking away people’s life support systems.<hr>&nbsp;<hr><h5 style="text-align:center;">I thing the recognition that the Earth is sacred, the rights of all her beings are inviolable, is growing.&nbsp; This is what has inspired me to spend a lifetime&nbsp; in the service of the Earth and&nbsp; defending the rights of those people who depend upon the Earth.</h5>&nbsp;<hr><hr>The work I started to do with saving seeds has been satisfying in and of itself, because seeds are such important teachers of renewability, generosity and diversity, and all of that has guided my work.Regarding the legal issues, I’m satisfied that having woken up to how seeds were under threat, and starting seed saving, I was able to work with our government and our parliament to put laws in place that defend the integrity of seed – Article 3J of our patent laws. I was asked to help draft the Plant Variety and Farmers’ Rights Act so that we have the rights of farmers written in black and white. I was asked to help draft the Biodiversity Act, which makes it an obligation to protect biodiversity.Then there are the things we started, such as the Community Biodiversity Register, documenting what is there, and all of that is now government policy. I can go to the remotest area and people are collecting this indigenous knowledge.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/interconnectedness2_294b4c4ec1.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-10T08:16:25.090Z" alt="interconnectedness2"><hr>Then there have been the legal victories against the big giants, for example, our struggle against the patenting of neem. We fought it for 11 years and won. Basmati rice from Dehra Dun was patented by a Texas company, but we had that reversed. The wheat of India was patented by Monsanto and they also had to give up that patent. We were entering a new age of colonialism where instead of grabbing territory and saying, “This is ours,” they were now grabbing life, biodiversity, indigenous knowledge and saying, “We are the inventors.” And I think we put a brake on that bio-piracy epidemic. It still happens, but it would have been the norm if we hadn’t stopped it. It is now the exception.I think that studying the Green Revolution, when the Punjab erupted in violence and the Bhopal tragedy took place, we’ve now been able to show that we can grow more food while protecting the Earth. We can feed two Indias through ecological farming. Our farmers earn ten times more by not being addicted to poisons.So each of these things is on the one hand inspired in a deep way by the integrity of the Earth, and on the other hand has also managed to reverse some of the really destructive assumptions of industrial agriculture and the greed associated with industrial globalization.Q: Thank you. You are very modest – you didn’t mention the international influence you have had. I am aware of your trips to Geneva and your current work with ecocide and the rights of planet Earth, which leads us to the next question: what are the most pressing ecological issues of our time? What are a few practical things that all of us can do to bring change for the better?VS: I think that the most important ecological issue of our time is to stop this illusion that we are separate from Nature, that we are masters of the Earth, and that we can manipulate the Earth and other beings as we want. Because whatever we do to other creatures, some privileged powerful human beings also do to other human beings.We have driven other species to extinction a thousand times faster than normal rates. We are also doing so much to drive the human species to extinction with the disasters we have created. But this is not inevitable. We could instead start functioning within the reality that we are members of this Earth family. We are not outside the Earth, we are part of the Earth, and any violence to any strand of the web of life is violence to ourselves. That waking up will help us recognize the limits we must respect, rather than following the illusion of limitless growth. It will help us create a better world for ourselves and others by using less. Because it is not the case that by predating on the Earth we are having better lives.<hr>&nbsp;<hr><h5 style="text-align:center;">We could instead start functioning within the reality&nbsp; that we are members of this Earth family.&nbsp; We are not outside the Earth,&nbsp; we are part of the Earth,&nbsp; and any violence to any strand&nbsp; of the web of life is violence to ourselves.&nbsp; That waking up will help us&nbsp; recognize the limits we must respect,&nbsp; rather than following the illusion of limitless growth.</h5>&nbsp;<hr><hr>The single thing everyone can do is change the way we eat. Eating right is an important step. We are today eating food that is the result of industrial farming. It is nutritionally empty, toxic and uniform, and does not meet the needs of the planet or our own needs. 75% of the ecological destruction on the planet is because of industrial farming and a globalized food system. 75% of the diseases are related to that same food system.So we need to change our eating to be more conscious, recognizing that we are the food we eat – it is not separate, it is not a commodity, it is not fuel for our body as a machine. We are living, sacred temples, and food is itself a sacred gift. We have to bring that sanctity back. We have an ancient saying, “Anna Brahma,” meaning food is the creator. The creator is embodied in the food.So in the simple act of eating, we can start protecting the planet, we can start reversing climate change, we can start reversing species extinction, we can start solving the water problems, we can reverse desertification and we can build up our health. And it would be stupid not to take that small step.Q: India is a fast emerging nation with a young population. How can the youth best participate in a new paradigm so they have a hopeful future?VS: First, we are not emerging from anything! We are an ancient nation, and the word “emerging” was given to us by the globalized economy, which has treated us as an emerging market for itself. An ancient civilization of 10,000 years doesn’t emerge, it evolves. It evolves to the next step.Now the next step could be a very smudged photocopy of the failed western paradigm of consumerism, resource exploitation, competitiveness and dissatisfaction. It is a paradigm that is designed to destroy work. Youth has no place in that paradigm, because it cannot create work.How do we make sure that young people in India are able to have a future? I think the first thing is to learn the deep principles of our civilization, of an ecological civilization. To learn from people like Gandhi the dignity of labor, where he would spin cloth as the way to freedom, rather than say, “I am going to be a serf in a giant mill or a giant garment industry.” He recognized that climbing another step in slavery is not progress, but breaking out of a slavery system is liberation.We need to learn from the Buddha, who was also born in this land, the teaching of compassion. The current economic model teaches us how to be cruel, how to be brutal. And India is living that brutality, whether it is in violence against women, raping 2-year-old babies, or murdering 7-year-old children in school. This is not the India I know. This is an India that has become distorted. It is wasting too many lives. We need to reclaim India. And reclaiming India is where the youth will have a place.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/interconnectedness3_0649aeb6a9.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-10T08:16:25.147Z" alt="interconnectedness3"><hr>Q: What is your vision for humanity? Where are we headed? How will we get there?VS: My vision is that we are human to the extent that we recognize non-human life and our dependence on it. Our humanity does not come from separation. Our humanity does not come from how violent we can be, and how exploitative can we be. That is not being human. Being human means being part of the Earth, having compassion, spreading love.My dream, first and foremost, is to continue to do what I have done for more than 50 years, but also respond to the new challenges. A brilliant scientist like Stephen Hawking said that either we will be extinct in 100 years or we will escape to other planets. My response to him is, “You guys of science, the powerful ones, have escaped too many times and trampled on too much.”It is irresponsible to destroy this Earth, to be violent against Mother Earth, and continue that hubris by trying to colonize other planets and calling that a planetary civilization. I would call it the fiction and illusion of planetary imperialism.What we need to know is the limits that guide us on this planet and respect those planetary boundaries. With this we become more human.The deeper we are in living within the limits of the Earth, living within the limits of social justice, living within the limits of respect for all, the deeper is our humanity. Our civilization knew this in the past, but it has forgotten it, and is now remembering it and joining with other civilizations, including those that have forgotten it for longer. We are all seeking. Not only are we seeking to know how we have a future as a human species, but the future of our human species depends on recognizing that all other species have a right to a future and we do not have a right to extermination, pushing others to extinction.We have to move from hubris to humility. We have to move from narrowness of the mechanistic mind and the monoculture of the mind to the ecology of the mind, a mind that is part of the whole.<hr>&nbsp;<hr><h5 style="text-align:center;">We have to move from hubris to humility.&nbsp; We have to move from narrowness&nbsp; of the mechanistic mind and&nbsp; the monoculture of the mind&nbsp; to the ecology of the mind,&nbsp; a mind that is part of the whole.</h5>&nbsp;<hr><hr>Q: Does spirituality have a role in this paradigm of change? Some people believe that you can only change the world if you change yourself – it all has to come from within through meditation. Having stayed on your farm for the last month, I see a dual way, as there is so much we also need to do to live in community, to grow food, and to regain our connection with the earth. Can you comment on that?VS: Well we do meditate out here, but we don’t meditate all the time. I think the crass materialism that came out of greed has created a reaction of spirituality that is defined only as <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/uniting-the-fragments" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the inner life</a>. But the basic principle of spirituality is to know the interconnectedness – that there is no divide between the inner and the outer. Every violence we do to the Earth comes from a degradation of our own spiritual being. Every aspect of our spiritual being that becomes more conscious stops harm to all others. Just like there is no divide between humans and the Earth, there is no divide between spirituality and material life. Every life is sacred. That’s when true spirituality will be reclaimed.<hr>&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Interviewed by KIM HUGHES</h4>&nbsp;<hr>

Vanessa is a Heartfulness practitioner, a Heartful Communication facilitator, and an editor of Heartfulness Magazine. She lives in Baroda, India, where she has worked with schools and educators to bring dynamic English language programs to children of all ages.

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Vanessa Patel

<h4>VANESSA PATEL enjoys a humorous shared memory with friends, and reminds us of those small yet precious moments of connection and joy that make up a lifetime.</h4><hr>It seems to me that this year has been much about waiting … waiting for an upturn in the pandemic, hoping for more harmony amongst communities and nations, praying for less suffering of all sentient beings, longing for our Mother Earth to get some respite. It has been frustrating and sad, mainly because looking to change things we cannot control has rarely been rewarding for anyone. This is when I became aware of the unexpected joy of those beautiful little moments that simply happen when we choose to live in the here and now.Recently, I had a small reunion with my university friends. We hadn’t met in many years, and so much had happened since the last time we were together that there were several milestones and hurdles to talk about. While sharing our news, one of my friends brought up an old memory that completely transformed the energy of the conversation. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It was the story of a night in May, after our first-year May Ball. The three of us were not quite ready to call it a night, so at 3 a.m. we decided to take a long walk through the fields to the nearest village. What seemed like an easy walk to start with quickly became a little more complicated when we realized there was a bull living in one of the fields. But instead of feeling scared, we kept going and found the situation so hilarious that I really prayed our giggles would not prove to be the proverbial red rag. Having safely thwarted the bull, we reached the village only to realize no one was up and nothing was open.We were too tired to traipse back across the fields, and the first bus wasn’t until an hour later, so we laughed our way to the nearest park where we discovered the swings and roundabouts of a children’s playground. We killed an hour there, enjoying these childhood thrills with no one around to tell us we were too old to use the playground. When it was time to catch the bus, we happened to pass by a small bakery and had just enough money to buy a hot sticky bun each while ensuring we had enough money for the bus fare to get us home. It was only when we started the journey back that the cold and tiredness started to seep in, but the experience of holding and eating that hot sticky bun really hit the spot. So much was distilled into those few hours – carefree adventure, spontaneity, and no worries about what came next.Reminiscing about this experience, the same laughter we had shared back then bubbled to the surface. Here was a realization that there are many amazing people who have been a part of my journey. I felt joy in the simplicity of this shared experience, and it reminded me that moments like these have the power to balance the many complexities of life.<hr>

All things small and joyful

<h4>VANESSA PATEL shares her experience of working in multicultural teams, and how different cultures interpret similar situations.</h4><hr>As a spiritual practitioner, I have the same goal for spiritual progress as millions of other people around the world. At the Heartfulness Institute, we are blessed with a truly rich cultural diversity. It never fails to amaze me how this assortment of people speaking different languages comes together in harmony at our regular <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/back-to-basics-a-practical-reset" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">meditation retreats</a>. And yet, this homogeneity of oneness brings with it a fair share of interesting situations.As a Heartful Communication facilitator, working with people worldwide has been a huge learning experience. This is quite apart from imbibing the “language” of compassionate communication. During our workshops in India, there is always a thrum of energy with participants keen to share incidents from their life and eager to display their understanding. At times, this presents a challenge to keep to time and to bring the stimulating discussion to a close.By contrast, our workshops in Europe have silent pauses when the participants are given time to introspect and note down their reflections. It is very curious as we use the same material in the same format for all our programs. It led us to understand that Asians seem to be largely work-centric and wish to cover the ground with efficiency, while Europeans are more people-centric with a focus on getting to know the participants and connecting.The beauty of this: when we observe each other’s sessions, we find the different styles very moving and mutually enriching – our post-session debriefs are abuzz with exchange.The material and resources we use are continually evolving. During one session on behaviors that break connection – what we call “circuit breakers” – it became clear that cultural relevance plays a huge part, especially when it comes to listening without interrupting. While deep listening lends support to an aggrieved person, enabling them to speak fully, some of our participants pointed out that in their culture it is seen as indifference. It is disconnecting if they don’t step in to console or advise, so that the person feels they are not alone. At times, an interjection may be required on the speaker’s part so that the other person feels the empathy.When similar cultural issues are addressed, there are always valuable takeaways. A seemingly innocuous sentence like, “The children are playing outside while their mother is in the house,” was a subject of major discussion – some felt it had judgmental undertones. We live and learn and keep ourselves flexible, honoring all sensibilities.What I’m trying to get at is that regardless of what we have in common, there is always an element of cultural interpretation informed by our environment, upbringing, and geopolitical leaning, because this has been our life, our education, and experience so far. It’s when we open up so as to receive what another person is bringing to the table that the magic happens. We don’t need to always agree with others in order to see the world from their point of view. This opens the gateway to empathy, the crux of honoring cultural diversity.

Communication and diversity

Vanessa Patel: Vanessa is a Heartfulness practitioner, a Heartful Communication facilitator, and an
 editor of Heartfulness Magazine. She lives in Baroda, India, where she has worked with schools and educators to bring
 dynamic English language programs to children of all ages.

Amruta Patel: Amruta lives in London and works for the UK Ministry of Justice. She is a facilitator
 for Heartful Communication and a yoga practitioner, and spends her free time on long walks exploring London with
 friends. She is an avid reader of mysteries, as well as literature on public health and Greek mythology.

Ananya Patel: Ananya is a designer and illustrator who enjoys finding dynamic ways to tell stories.
 She works on projects with social impact, and runs a youth collective bringing innovative design approaches to climate
 action and gender equality.

Vanessa Patel, Amruta Patel & Ananya Patel

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<h4>Nonviolent Communication, now also known as Compassionate Communication and Needs-based Relating, was developed by Dr. Marshall Rosenberg, who firmly believed that people enjoy contributing to one another’s well-being more than anything else. Through an emphasis on deep listening, NVC helps us to learn to hear our own deeper needs and those of others, and discover the depth of our compassion. It brings an awareness that all of us are trying to honor universal values and needs, every minute, every day.</h4><h4>Needs Consciousness is one of the core pillars of NVC, where Dr. Rosenberg suggests “all human actions are an attempt to meet needs.” Things like respect, acceptance, security, contributing to others, belonging, learning, relaxation, harmony, and many more – we all share. Here, VANESSA PATEL and her daughters AMRUTA and ANANYA explore needs, including what they are, and how we experience them in everyday life.</h4><hr>Vanessa: The word “need” sometimes has different meanings. For example, “needs” can be interpreted as being needy. So how can we better understand needs in the NVC context? And perhaps we can look at other words we can use instead of “needs.”Ananya: Needs are also our values, the fundamental human motivators, our longings, yearnings, aspirations. They can be seen as energies that bring nourishment and add value to our lives. They are motivators that drive what we do and what we say. It is important to understand that needs are universal, and they’re experienced by every human being, though we may experience different needs at different times and with varied intensity. Very importantly, needs are always expressed positively because they’re life-nourishing. There is no such thing as a negative need.Amruta: Since needs are universal and experienced by everyone, they give us an opportunity to connect and empathize with the experiences of others. All our actions are an attempt to meet our needs, and this consciousness can help us look beyond what someone says or does, to connect with why they may be doing that, or what might be motivating them to say something in particular.Vanessa: Needs also lead to feelings: our feelings arise directly from our needs. When our needs are met, we experience so-called positive feelings; and when they’re not met we experience feelings that we don’t enjoy.Ananya: I experienced this recently. A couple of weeks ago, we were supposed to take a flight from Ahmedabad to Varanasi, but because of bad weather the flight was cancelled. On the same day Amruta was leaving for the UK, and she was still at home in Baroda.<hr><hr><h4>Our feelings arise directly from our needs.&nbsp; When our needs are met, we experience positive feelings,&nbsp; and when they’re not met we experience feelings we don’t enjoy.&nbsp;</h4><hr><hr>We were quite stressed and harried, as we didn’t really have any clarity on the situation. We wanted to get to Varanasi as soon as possible, so we also wanted efficiency. It was hard to pinpoint those needs at that moment, but we knew we wanted to support our team members in Varanasi, and we wanted some ease and clarity on how to overcome the situation. Amruta was at home hearing all this from us.Amruta: I was feeling sad because you had left. I was missing our companionship. At the same time, I was also feeling excited for you, because you were going to have a good time in Varanasi, and a lot of planning went into it. That met my need for your well-being and shared joy.When you told me about the alternatives –staying in Ahmedabad to take a later flight, or coming back to Baroda and traveling back to the airport with me again a few hours later–I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to influence your decision. Obviously, I would have liked you to come back, but you had to decide how best to meet your needs for efficiency and clarity. I think somewhere in there you also had a need for ease, and so you came back home.Vanessa: We saw the biggest smile on your face when we returned home that evening, and it dissipated the frustration and fatigue we felt thinking about doing the journey all over again later the same day. So, it was a textbook situation: although we were able to empathize with ourselves and feel okay about being a little helpless, we were also very happy to have company.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/When_needs_must3_303a4b56c6.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T09:17:50.812Z" alt="when-needs-must"><hr>Ananya: The same situation was seen from two perspectives. Because our needs were different, and of varied intensity, our responses to the situation reflected that; yet, because we wanted similar things for each other and for ourselves, we were easily able to connect with each other, even though we were focused on different things.Vanessa: We were very happy to be with each other and gain support for the situation. But I’m sure there are other times when you say, “Okay, I need some space.” Are there occasions when you feel, “I could be enjoying something else rather than being with family”?Ananya: In the routine of our daily lives, the needs we face don’t really jump out at us, or we don’t acknowledge their presence. For example, as I am living at home with family, my need for nurturing and support is regularly met. It’s an important need for me, which is met on such a regular basis that when my friends want to meet up, or there’s an opportunity to do something with other people, I often choose to go. I don’t take it for granted that my family is always there, but it’s a need that is met so regularly that other needs become more alive when new situations come up.Vanessa: How, how does that resonate with you, Amruta?Amruta: I like that you said “other needs become more alive” because certain needs are met quite regularly. For me, my need for space and autonomy is met on a daily basis, as I live on my own away from family. So, when I come here, I feel a strong need for connection. It comes alive more intensely at certain intervals, and becomes an overarching need for me at that time, and perhaps not as intense for everyone else.Ananya: What I’m sensing is that there are different layers of needs that we experience at any given time. And some needs are more alive in us and are looking to be met more immediately than others. We prioritize our needs, but that doesn’t mean our other needs are not important, or that we’re not looking for them to be met.Vanessa: Sometimes, in a recurring situation, there’s predictability in having our needs met. There is comfort and more confidence in a situation where you know your needs will be fulfilled. As Ananya was saying, she knows she can bank on family time every day. The connection is there when she needs it. While you, Amruta, are here for a limited time and you want to maximize the connection. Even if it’s not doing anything specific, togetherness is more important than casual socializing, right?Amruta: Yes, exactly. When I come home, it’s also meeting my need for rest and relaxation, which I don’t get when all these other things are happening. I think it’s partly because for the longest time, especially since I went to boarding school, coming home is associated with holidays, and holidays are associated with switching off and meeting the need for complete rest and relaxation with no other demands on my time. Maybe that’s why I want to do nothing when I come home.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/When_needs_must4_f537adc7c7.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T09:19:13.681Z" alt="when-needs-must"><hr><hr><h4>When I come home, it’s also meeting my need for rest and relaxation,&nbsp; which I don’t get when all other things are happening.</h4><hr><hr>Vanessa: Were there some experiences you had at boarding school that you can look at now with a new perspective, with this understanding of needs and how they evolve?Amruta: Yes. The school we went to had boarders and day scholars, and we spent our out-of-school time very differently. On weekends, day scholars might go to a birthday party, a get-together, or a sleepover with other non-boarders. I remember really wanting to go, which I now recognize as a need for belonging, acceptance, and social validation by my peers. To go, we had to be signed out by an adult, but you weren’t keen for us to attend these parties. At that age, my thoughts were so judgmental, I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t be with my friends.Vanessa: It’s not that I didn’t empathize. I understood your need to have fun in everyday situations, to have these experiences. At the same time, my need for your safety and well-being was an overarching need that gave me peace of mind. It was in some way a coping mechanism for me to say, “No, I prefer not to sign my child out for this.”Amruta: Nowadays I get your need for our safety and well-being, and your peace of mind, because you were far away in a different city; you weren’t comfortable with us staying over with people you didn’t know. We were kids, but I was thinking, “I’m not a child, I can handle myself,” and I hadn’t really experienced the need for safety.In order to understand someone else’s need, I think you really have to have experienced it at some level. I have a better understanding of it now that I’m older and have experienced the need for the safety and well-being of others. And it was probably also a factor of age and life experience as well.Ananya, you also had a similar experience with school, what do you think?Ananya: As we grow up, we sometimes forget how it felt to be in a particular situation. But they were very real needs for us, and we felt them intensely. At the time, it felt frustrating and unfair, and I felt helpless. Even as adults, many of us don’t have the tools or capacity to understand and process that “this need is not being met,” or what it means to mourn an unmet need. So, what can we do about it? How can we avoid transforming it into resentment or bitterness, where it feels like we are losing something important, which creates a heaviness that we don’t want to feel?<hr><hr><h4>In order to understand someone else’s need,&nbsp; I think you really have to have experienced it at some level.&nbsp; I have a better understanding of it now that I’m older&nbsp; and have experienced the need for the safety and well-being of others.</h4><hr><hr>For me, it’s helpful to talk about it, or break it down to process it, and with “Needs Consciousness,” we have a vocabulary that can help us do this better. Also, we have grown up enough to understand what it means to give space to someone else’s needs first. Perhaps our needs aren’t always going to be met fully.Vanessa: In that case, how do you handle a situation where you have conflicting needs, and somehow you come to the understanding that it’s more important that the other person’s needs are met? How do you do that so that it doesn’t feel like you are giving up what’s important to you?Ananya: When somebody else is looking out for their own needs to be met, I’m aware that they are needs I might have had at some point. I understand those needs, because I wanted them too at another time, and empathy and understanding from another person would have helped me then. But it’s not always easy to respond this way, even with the consciousness and understanding I have.In fact, because I am conscious of this, it is difficult to navigate this space – to reconcile the real discomfort of conflict with the openness and acceptance I know it takes to move ahead. It is not always a conclusion that is easy to reach, but it’s somewhat easier because the need for the other person’s peace of mind and well-being is important to me too. Hopefully I’m able to open my heart and stay with my intention to connect with the other and what matters to them.Amruta: Now we’re older, and we’re able to express our needs, it’s more enabling. I think it is much more difficult in situations where needs are not being met and there’s no change in sight. As we grow, as we mature, there are needs that become less salient just because our circumstances change. Even biologically, we empathize better with people because our brains grow, the prefrontal cortex develops in a way that enables us to think about other people. We start realizing that we don’t exist in a vacuum, and we can engage with other people’s needs without seeing it as giving up something of ourselves and not getting anything back.Even still, it’s easier to apply to certain situations than others. Say you have a situation where someone wasn’t meeting your needs, you might either let it go or decide that those needs are being met by other people in your life. There is a certain level of acceptance that comes with growing up that makes it easier.<hr><hr><h4>What does it mean to mourn an unmet need?&nbsp; How can we avoid transforming it into resentment or bitterness?&nbsp;</h4><hr><hr>Ananya: Regarding what you’ve just said, I am trying to be more aware of pushing away my needs in pursuit of this acceptance. We are all conditioned to respond with, “You should be looking after someone else’s needs, and your needs come second.” But I have realized that it’s important to give space to my needs, whether they are being met or not. It means being in connection with myself, and creating an internal space where those needs are respected, if not met. I think it’s an important step before the development of acceptance, and I find I am able to move forward with more peace and less heaviness.Vanessa: Well, here’s the challenge: we understand that needs are universal and all human beings share them. So why do we often end up at odds? Where does the difficulty lie?We may understand the principle of needs – that there is an underlying value or motivator that drives us to do the things we do – and that they are shared by each of us on some level. So, it creates an opportunity for connection, empathy and common ground. And it is this deep connectedness that lays the foundation for compassion. But the reality of living with the awareness of needs in our everyday routines can be a bit more complex. First, it only works if we are willing to connect with others on the level of needs, to look beyond whatever surface conflicts arise, and step into the world of the other. If that intention is not there, it is very difficult to take the next step.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/When_needs_must5_70c9d5b3f2.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T09:20:41.998Z" alt="when-needs-must"><hr><hr><h4>Our priorities or methods may be different, but in the end,&nbsp; cooperation offers the best chance for success.</h4><hr><hr>Say I want to rest or relax, and I choose to do that by quietly reading a book. You may also want to relax, and choose to do that by chatting with me about your day. Our need is the same, but your way of meeting it is at odds with mine. That is where the potential for conflict emerges – in the strategies we use to meet our needs, not the needs themselves. We don’t always agree on how goals can be reached. Our priorities or methods may be different, but in the end, cooperation offers the best chance for success.<hr><hr><h4>Illustrations by ANANYA PATEL</h4><hr>

When needs must

Vani is the Managing Director at Kalaari Capital, a venture capital firm based in Bangalore. She is a renowned investor and a visionary known for identifying emerging markets. Vani enjoys spending time with her family, practices yoga and Heartfulness meditation,believes in sustainable living and grows enough organic produce in her garden to meet her family’s needs.

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Vani Kola

<h4>VANI KOLA, venture capitalist and founder of Kalaari Capital, is interviewed by LAYA IYER about moving to the United States to study, and what she has learned from her experience of living and working in different cultures. She also shares her views on the value of direct communication and setting expectations.</h4><hr>Q: What were the most important things you learned when you moved to the US from India?VK: I moved when I was 20. It felt like limitless possibility. I was discovering my potential, both academic and creative. I was going into a university environment, a melting pot, so maybe the cultural shock was not too great. It was a stepping stone, because it was an insular environment. There were so many resources available – libraries, the variety of classes – and it was a time of enjoyable learning and having fun!Q: Are there any experiences or stories that stand out for you still today?VK: I found that people were mostly very helpful. I learned to ask. When you don’t know something, and you ask, people take the time to help you. That is something that has stayed with me. Also, how important it is to do the same for others. That’s on the positive side.During my first summer, I was looking for a job. I found one, but I didn’t think to ask, “How much are you going to pay me?” or “Is there a contract I need to sign?” Instead I said, “I want to work,” and they said, “Yeah, sure come on over.” I didn’t get paid at the end of the first month, but I couldn’t ask. I thought, “Oh well, maybe they’re just running late, and they’ll pay me later.” Obviously, that was very naive.I really needed that summer job, because as a student I didn’t have a lot of money. So, after six weeks, I said, “Hey, I just need to check when I’ll get paid.” They said, “But this was not a paid assignment. We didn’t say we’d pay you.”I learned two valuable lessons. One, never do that to somebody else because there is a cultural difference or naivety – do not try to benefit from somebody else’s ignorance. I think they knew I was ignorant, because I came from a different country, and I didn’t know to ask how much they would pay me, I just assumed they’d pay me. Leveraging somebody else’s ignorance burns that person up!The second important lesson was to be very clear about expectations, about anything, from anybody. Ask, be upfront, and don’t be shy about it. Often, people say, “Don’t worry, we’ll deal with it later.” And you don’t know when they’re going to deal with it or if they’re going to deal with it. “Let’s deal with it now, before we embark on something. Let’s have clarity.”Sometimes people think it’s not nice to ask, but my experience says it’s better to have very direct communication and clear expectations in a relationship, whether professional or personal. You can avoid unexpected disappointments, and you can avoid friction in relationships.Q: What’s the best piece of advice that you’ve received about being a woman in STEM?VK: I happen to be a woman who is working in STEM, but it’s not an identity. I think we label ourselves too much. I don’t want that. I don’t like to be boxed into those categories&nbsp; like, “What is it like to be a woman and a venture capitalist?” or “What is it like to be in technology?”If I were to give advice, it would be against overthinking or overanalyzing risks while taking decisions, and just going ahead with whatever it is that you are trying to do. Don’t try to be a conformist; don’t try to be a rebel either.<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Clear_Communication2_49dac56a23.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T12:06:19.921Z" alt="Clear-Communication12">&nbsp;<hr>Q: What does #leveltheplayingfield mean to you?VK: Democratization of opportunity. It means that we are thoughtful about our unconscious bias and we change this to provide opportunity to people equally. For instance, in the context of working women, level the playing field means giving women the opportunity to continuously rise in their organizations.Q: And what’s your advice for people who are looking to be entrepreneurs? What are their next steps forward? What actions can they take?VK: First, build some experience. Also, to be an entrepreneur, it’s important that you are passionate about some idea, some problem you wish to solve, and have the skills required to solve it. Work systematically on developing these skills.Another is perseverance to achieve your goals. There may be many setbacks, so learn to deal with setbacks. And find the right mentors who can be there and can help you.Q: How would you go about finding a mentor? Or is there a specific way you recommend approaching people to be your mentor?VK: You have to be specific about what you are looking for. For instance, I am looking to understand how I can build my early sales compensation structure; or I’m trying to solve a design problem; or I’m trying to get some feedback on our marketing strategy. Approach mentors in a way that they can be in a problem-solving mode with you.Second, don’t look for mentors who can help you with everything. For instance, I may be the wrong person to ask, “How should I build a sales structure?” Ask people who can help you in a specific area?Q: Thank you so much for your time.VK: You’re welcome.<hr>

How clear is your communication?

Varsha is an interdisciplinary artist based in Baroda, India. Her works and projects have been exhibited internationally, most recently at Documenta 15, Kassel, in Germany. &nbsp;She is currently co-organizing Womanifesto: Flowing Connections, which will open at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center in September 2023.

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Varsha Nair

<h4>The Womanifesto collective came together in Bangkok in the late 1990s to fulfill the need for an inclusive, creative, and open-ended art platform for artists from Southeast Asia. It was primarily set up as an independent project run by women, and is now a globally recognized entity, involving multiple art forms and artists from all over the world. One of the coordinators, VARSHA NAIR, shares her experience of this movement and its evolution with VANESSA PATEL.</h4>Q: The Womanifesto collective has members who are artists, poets, writers, and activists, with the outcome based on shared experiences and dialogue exchanges. So, has it been more about the gathering and feeling of community that it has engendered rather than the creative work produced?VN: Yes, absolutely. Always, we have brought what we would like to present, to exhibit, to talk about – it was never curated. It was not only about the artwork, but about what led to that artwork and how we arrived at that point. It has also been very much about the ethos of caring for and supporting each other. For the second event, one artist was short of money and everyone pitched in to support her.&nbsp;With funding for projects from sponsors, we have retained our autonomy for decision-making, e.g., how big their logo is on posters and catalogues, and where it is placed. These are important decisions that came out of our conversations about running Womanifesto.We don’t ask our members to register; no one has to pay money to belong. We don’t exclude people. If somebody reaches out to us with interest, we engage with them and invite them if there is an exhibition coming up. Also, we don’t limit ourselves to exhibitions; we have diverse ways of engagement.&nbsp;Our first project was on a farm, involving the local community; the second was a very big exhibition in a public park. We didn’t want to be based in the center and limit our output to having exhibitions only.&nbsp;Q: How often did you gather for these collaborative events?VN: Every two years. As artists we are also the organizers, and we have our own lives. After an event, there’s a lot of follow up. Then you need another year to realize another event.&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">We want to involve as many women artists,&nbsp; and&nbsp;also have a cross generational approach,&nbsp; because that’s the other thing about the art world&nbsp; – age discrimination, especially for women.</h4><hr>Q: How is Womanifesto different from other artists’ platforms?VN: In the mainstream art world, there’s a way of looking at things top down. Whenever there is a big show with a lot of funding, the big names in the art world are invited to participate, and then they reach out to minor players, almost as fillers to complete the curation. The funders have a stake in it, and the curator has to keep them happy, so it all becomes a big game.&nbsp;Womanifesto is the opposite; it is inclusive and representative. We invite men into thematic projects to talk about human issues and to listen, because in the art world it’s a known reality that we’re always talking from the male perspective. So, one idea is proper representation.&nbsp;Q: Apart from gender, in what other ways does Womanifesto encourage representation?VN: In our second event, we had artists from Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Croatia, America, and many other places. And we are open to the idea of anyone organizing projects under the Womanifesto banner and adhering to what it stands for. Suppose you have an idea of doing a workshop in Indonesia, you could involve us in the organization and set it up however you wish.&nbsp;We want to involve as many women artists, and also have a cross-generational approach, because that’s the other thing about the art world – age discrimination, especially for women. What we emphasize is conversations with elders. They are the ones who have lived through many experiences and gained wisdom and knowledge. That’s where the interest is; that’s where the real conversations can happen. And we now set up projects that are pointedly cross-generational. We soon realized that we didn’t want to just do exhibitions, and that we enjoyed the gathering of women artists.&nbsp;We have tried to look at everything through a different lens; for example, in a residency, do we have to produce and display work at the end of it? Can we have a workshop without a “work” to take away from it? That was the idea behind the 2001 workshop on the farm: even though it was a workshop, we didn’t have to make work. It was inter-generational, we were going away on a picnic, all living together, cooking, eating, and spending time together. And this brought about a lot of exchange, sorrow, and fun.&nbsp;The focus was on conversation, exchange, and working with children on an educational program. All the artists came up with workshop models that we could run with children from the age of 7 up to senior students from a local technical college. At the end we had an open day, which was a great celebration with local music and lots of food.<figure class="image image-style-align-center"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/2008_Residency_wrkshp_by_Naruemon_Padsamran_f7b0fa788c.jpg"></figure>Everybody from the surrounding villages was involved; we put contemporary artists with local traditional craftspeople and artisans, who were making fishing baskets, mats, woven cloth – everything that they still continue to use in their day-to-day life. These were agrarian communities and there’s a real rhythm to their existence. During the rice planting season, everybody is in the fields. Once the rice is planted, and they’re waiting for it to grow, the weaving and the dyeing of yarn happens.We hosted everything on the farm so that the community members would come to the farm every day and show us how they made various things, talk about it, spend the day with us, and food would be cooked for everybody. &nbsp;<figure class="image image-style-align-center"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/2008_Womanifesto_Mae_Pan_explains_natural_dyes_copy_46db7a9286.jpg"></figure>Q: So they shared the arts and crafts of their everyday life – not necessarily something to hang on the wall or display.&nbsp;VN: Exactly, it’s an integral part of their life.&nbsp;We also talked about new forms. For example, they were interested to see an artist make a fishing basket with a slightly different look. Already the object is faultless in that it’s been used to track fish for centuries, and it works very well. But the exchange, another level of creativity, awakened both sides. In many ways it was the artists who learned more – we gained knowledge of materials, the locality, the skills, and how to scout things out.&nbsp;For example, one of the artists running a workshop asked the kids to lead her through the farm, which had a little creek running through it, a forested area, and rice fields. In the forested area, she asked them, “Show me what you know about the plants growing here: which are good, for cooking, for eating, and why?” She wanted to determine how much of that traditional knowledge was being handed down. They were asked, “What has your grandmother told you?” “What has your grandfather told you?” “Has your mom told you anything?” There was an emphasis on keeping that knowledge at the forefront, because the gaze is so much turned towards cities for employment.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Everybody from the surrounding villages was involved;&nbsp; we put contemporary artists with local traditional craftspeople&nbsp; and artisans, who were making fishing baskets, mats,&nbsp; woven cloth – everything that they still continue to use&nbsp; in their day-to-day life.</h4><hr>It reinforced the richness of the rural environment and honored our codependence with Nature. There is immeasurable wealth in community living and the handing down of the tiniest of details. One girl said, “If you touch that flower, don’t put the finger to your mouth or it will make you sick.” From childhood, she’d been made aware of all of those little things.&nbsp;We’re planning a similar workshop in a couple of months, which will be included in the next exhibition later this year.Q: Is that to celebrate any particular milestone of Womanifesto?VN: We started in 1997, which was a milestone already because we did it against many odds and with a lack of funding. We have managed to sustain this format over the years with some core members who were there from the beginning. In terms of organization, we did everything inhouse, from write-ups to accounting. We’ve always had other artists joining, and doing projects that involved a lot of artists.&nbsp;One recent project was a publication, Procreation Postcreation, which went out as an open call globally for artists to participate. We had an amazing response with people from Mongolia to St. Vincent and the Grenadine Islands sending us their work. The idea was that you procreate, and then what happens after you’ve created? Those are very widely interpreted in many ways. One response was from a man who had recently become a grandfather, writing about his experience of being in a hospital waiting for his daughter to give birth. Another person documented children’s textiles. We had really diverse contributions. In this way we’ve set up projects to bring in new people.Womanifesto is very agile. We frequently change format, and we tend not to decide on the next project while one project is coming to an end. It’s never preconceived. One is a stepping-stone to the next. We went from a community-based workshop, to a publication, to a web-based project, to establishing a residency in the same community where we did the workshop.&nbsp;Our next project, the workshop residency, is a bit more thematic. We’re concentrating on ceramics and earthenware pottery, because it’s close to a UNESCO World Heritage site called Ban Chiang. Their pottery is well known and valued, and there’s still a community of mostly women potters. So we’ll probably only bring in four or five outside artists, and mainly invite potters from the local community. We don’t differentiate between those who’ve been brought in as contemporary artists and those from the local community. We are all partners.<figure class="image image-style-align-center"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/2008_Residency_Students_workshop_f254be6415.JPG"></figure>Q: Recently, Womanifesto had its work included in the Asia Art Archives in Hong Kong, which is a huge deal. How significant is this for the collective?VN: We don’t always realize how valuable it is to gather our material, our documentation. While working with the archive, I’ve realized that every single bit of paper created from 1997 onward is so valuable. It was a fantastic process to archive it, and we did it mostly during the pandemic lockdown. At Womanifesto, we’ve always had to talk about ourselves, so as not to become invisible, and this has helped us do just that. These days, you cannot talk about art in Southeast Asia without mentioning Womanifesto.<figure class="image image-style-align-center"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/2006_No_Mans_Land_web_project_postcard_front_75b0c851fa.jpg"></figure><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">We don’t differentiate between those who’ve been&nbsp; brought in as contemporary artists and those&nbsp; from the local community. We are all partners.</h4><hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/2003_Pro_Post_publication_2a1214788c.jpg">We’ve kept meticulous records, and beautiful photo albums with hand-stitched covers that are works of art in themselves, lovingly put together. We have every slide, every negative, every project proposal, every application for funding – we’ve kept it all. Already there are researchers who’ve reached out, for example, the Cooper Gallery at the University of Dundee. We were part of a project called the Ignorant Art School, which is looking at artists engaging in alternative modes of education.&nbsp;Q: So the next big thing for Womanifesto is the exhibition coming up in September at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center.VN: Yes, and simultaneously there is an online anthology of Womanifesto, called the Womanifesto Way. Now there is a recognition of our “way,” which is to be hospitable, caring, open, engaged in community conversations, and with the capacity to be agile.&nbsp;<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/2008_Womanifesto_Residency_open_day_89f53f298f.jpg">This anthology project was spearheaded by the Power Institute at the University of Sydney. And in the meantime, we were approached by the Bangkok Art and Cultural Center to showcase Womanifesto in what they call their Master Series of exhibitions. It’s a massive project.&nbsp;<figure class="image image-style-align-center"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/2020_Varsha_Nair_performance_for_Gatherings_2020_Baroda_She_found_herself_standing_there_e26dde5192.JPG"></figure>There was a hiatus for 10 years, from 2008 to 2018, because of various personal challenges for the team members. Early on we had decided that we would would not push ourselves beyond our limits to ignore all the other things that we needed to take care of in life. And ironically, just when things started to revive, and we planned a physical gathering, we were hit by Covid. During that time, we came up with the idea of the Digital Courtyard, where a team of artists from multiple locations had small gatherings. We met over Zoom from Bangkok to Baroda, Berlin, Sydney, Basel, and London. And we realized what it meant to have this connection during the lockdown, to be able to gather and to be able to exchange our stories.&nbsp;www.varshanair.studio/ <a href="http://www.womanifesto.com/">www.womanifesto.com/</a> <a href="http://blog.womanifesto.com/">blog.womanifesto.com/</a><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Interviewed by VANESSA PATEL</h4><hr>&nbsp;

Womanifesto

Varshitha Kusi

Guidance

Vasco lives in Portugal. He works as a Human Flourishing Facilitator, inspiring change and transformation in organizations worldwide for a more human and compassionate world. With a toolbox of cutting-edge awareness-based technologies, and trained directly by some of the world’s greatest specialists in the fields of Mindfulness, Emotional Intelligence, neuroscience and Heartfulness, his dream is to co-create the future, something that he has been doing in different organizations, training people worldwide. He is now dedicated to merging different practices, like Mindfulness, Heartfulness and Presencing, into the service of a greater good: Human Flourishing. What really drives him is his love of nature and animals, being a positive activist for the protection of the planet.

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Vasco Gaspar

<h4>VASCO GASPAR is a Mindfulness consultant and Heartfulness trainer living in Portugal. Here he shares a simple effective practice to down-regulate emotions.</h4>We all sometimes feel stressed, anxious, fearful or angry. It’s part of the experience of being human to feel emotions, something we share with all other mammals to some extent. Actually the part of our brain that is involved in the processing of emotions is called the limbic brain or mammalian brain.Emotions have been helping us for thousands of years to deal with the environment and survive. For instance, if we’re crossing a busy road and a car is coming straight towards us, it is very good for us to feel fear. It will mobilize our physical resources to run away or jump back from the front of the car. And we don’t even think about it because most emotions are faster than our conscious mind. That is also an advantage from an evolutionary point of view. Taking the car example again, it would not be useful for us to think about whether it is a Mercedes or a Ford. That split second of reflection could cost us our lives.But that evolutionary advantage comes with a price. I had a teacher who used to joke that we are all descendants of the nervous monkeys. Why? Because all the relaxed ones didn’t made it. The ones that were the first to run were able to survive and reproduce. In fact most of us, by default, constantly keep scanning the environment for threats, and we react to them using the same mechanisms we used to fight lions or run away from other ferocious beasts.In our modern lives fortunately we don’t have as many physical threats as our ancestors, but we’re using the same brain mechanisms to deal with problems that are mostly conceptual, like the fear of losing a job, the anxiety of speaking in public etc.What can we do when we are in an emotional state that is not useful? For instance, imagine that you have to speak in public and feel so afraid that you lose the capacity to think clearly; or you had an argument with a colleague in a meeting and now you arrive at the next meeting still angry with him. Or even that you feel mad after spending an hour in the car on your way home after a frantic day at work and don’t want to take those toxic emotions to your small child waiting for you at home.Is there a simple practice we could do before stepping onto the stage, into the meeting, or arriving home?Something that would help us down-regulate the excessive emotional state and bring us to a balanced and coherent state. If you’re a Heartfulness practitioner my suggestion is to use the Cleaning process, which I find very useful.Another possibility is to do the following steps that take less than five minutes:Go to a place where you can be alone. It can be a room, your car or even the toilet.Breathe in deeply, filling your lungs, and then breathe out as if you were blowing a candle, until your lungs are completely empty.Repeat the process three times. That will help you bring oxygen to your system and balance your inner state.Allow your breath to come to a regular rhythm and put one hand on your belly and the other on your chest. Sense the hand you prefer on these parts of your body. Normally one combination will feel more familiar than the other.For one minute or so, notice how your hands move as you breathe. Is it the hand on your chest that moves more, or is it the one on your belly? Are they moving more or less the same way? Just follow the movement, with a sense of curiosity. Some people notice that just by doing this they feel calmer. Some scientists argue that it is related with our physical memory of a hug, especially when our parents held us when we were babies, when we were crying.Now just move the hand on your belly along with the breath. Do it as if you had a balloon in your belly: As you breathe in the ‘balloon’ fills and your hand moves away from your body. As you breathe out the ‘balloon’ empties and your hand moves closer to your body. Your breathing process will become more abdominal. Since the lungs are bigger at the bottom, you will bring more oxygen to your system, allowing you to be more awake, aware and able to self-regulate. Try to keep this abdominal breathing going for 30 to 60 seconds.Continuing abdominal breathing, now add some counting to the breathing process. Breathe in and count mentally up to four. Breathe out and count mentally up to six. Do it at your own pace. Breathe in counting to four; breathe out counting to six. Keep doing this for one minute, coming back to the process of counting if you are distracted.This will help your mind to keep focused on an object and not to think about what is stressing you. And by regulating the breathing process it will also impact your heart and circulatory system, bringing your whole system to a more coherent state.In the last minute of the exercise see if you can bring your mind to an image of someone you love and care about. It can be someone from your family, a friend, or even an animal. Just hold that image in your heart for a while.You can keep doing the breathing process if it is useful, or simply just rest in the image of a loved one. The rationale here is simple: the same way that you feel stressed when you think about something that stresses you, you feel calmer and more balanced when you think about someone who evokes positive emotions in you.That’s it. Very simple, right? Even my almost 90-year-old grandmother does it daily. And it takes less than 5 minutes.Just give it a try. The next time you feel that your emotional system is out of control, just stop and go through these simple steps. You can do them together or just do one or two. Notice which steps have a deeper impact in downregulating your emotional state and then use them whenever you need. After that, go into your day.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Article by VASCO GASPAR</h4><hr>

Bringing your system to balance

Practices for human flourishing

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">VASCO GASPAR asks us to explore how we can become truly alive. Like Einstein, he invites us to remove the delusion of separateness and connect with the whole. He challenges us to move from “ego to eco,” and gives us the tools to manifest the world of the Heart.</h4><h4 style="text-align:justify;">&nbsp;</h4><h4 style="text-align:justify;">Becoming whole, connecting our essence with Life</h4>Life is a great mystery. Many times we wonder about our role and who we really are. I invite you to get in touch with the depths of your Heart and reflect on the following questions:What is the real goal or purpose of human life? What blocks us from manifesting that potential? Who can help us flourish into that higher possibility?I’m always inspired by a letter Einstein wrote to his daughter, where he said, “A human being is a part of the whole called by us Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts, and his feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”To me, that seems like an inspiring answer to the first question-that our real goal is to dissolve our boundaries and unite with the whole, unite with the Universe/Life/Source/God (use the term you prefer that resonates the most). That is what words like yoga and religion seem to point to in their origins.What is blocking the way to achieving that goal? What really stops us is our ego, with its fears, desires, and attachments. Also, the parts of us that, although trying to protect us, end up creating even more constriction and boundaries between ourselves, other people, and Life in general. As some say, the word ego can be an acronym for “edging God out,” which seems entirely aligned with what blocks us from flourishing.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Our real goal is to dissolve our boundaries and unite with the whole, unite with the Universe/Life/Source/God.</h4><hr><figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/connecting_with_life3_888adfccd5.webp" alt="connecting-with-life3.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_connecting_with_life3_888adfccd5.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_connecting_with_life3_888adfccd5.webp 432w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/connecting_with_life3_888adfccd5.webp 432w," sizes="100vw"></figure><h4 style="text-align:justify;">From ego to eco</h4>How can we move from “ego to eco,” from the constriction of our small self to the infinite expansion of our being, our higher Self, connecting with the whole web of life? And who can help us achieve that?I believe the answer lies within, beyond the body and beyond the mind. It resides in the Heart, in the Heart of our Heart, the Self, that deeper healthy core inside, that inner divine Light that has always been shining. The Chandogya Upanishad pointed to it many centuries ago: “There is a light that shines beyond all things on Earth, beyond us all, beyond the heavens, beyond the highest, the very highest heavens. This is the light that shines in your heart.”As we connect with that divine presence within, we start getting guidance to attune to Life. We start “stepping out” of our own way and letting Life live through us. The words “surrender” and “service” become the beacons of our existence. We start surrendering to the guidance that Life is constantly sending us, receiving it with our Hearts, which in turn then guide us in the right direction. We manifest who we truly are in the world and how we can be of service to the larger existence we are part of, contributing to the greater good.Step by step, we become a walking prayer, as the Benedictine monk David Steindl-Rast says: “Prayer is not sending an order and expecting it to be fulfilled. Prayer is attuning yourself to the life of the world, to Love, the force that moves the sun and the moon and the stars.”&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/connecting_with_life4_76e48f35c8.webp" alt="connecting-with-life4.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_connecting_with_life4_76e48f35c8.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_connecting_with_life4_76e48f35c8.webp 697w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/connecting_with_life4_76e48f35c8.webp 697w," sizes="100vw"></figure><h4 style="text-align:justify;">Nurturing the connection</h4>I find many practices helpful to establish, attune, and nurture that connection with Source, but the main ones guiding my journey have been <a href="https://bit.ly/hfnmedit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Heartfulness Meditation</a> and the <a href="https://bit.ly/hfnprayer" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Heartfulness Prayer</a>. Prayer helps to create an inner connection with that divine presence, and meditation strengthens it, allowing me to be in tune with Nature and evolve spiritually.We are all sparks of the Divine, walking each other home, back to the Source. What would happen if we could maintain that connection, that remembrance of the Divine within and without? To see ourselves and others beyond the masks. To see us all as one, part of the same Being. Imagine a world like that.Is it easy to do? No. Is it possible? Yes. It takes one step at a time, expanding our awareness to a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness we share with each other and our environment. The more we expand, the more we include and transcend our boundaries and realize our full potential for goodness, compassion, and peace, while navigating through the challenges of Life.May we all find ways to become our divine essence and manifest it in the world for the benefit of all beings. May we all realize who we truly are, surrendering ourselves to the divine guidance that is always present. May our spirits blossom and flourish while we help others to flourish as well. May we, together, manifest the world our hearts know is possible.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Illustrations by JASMEE MUDGAL</h4><hr>

Connecting with life

Vedo’s roots are in India, and he now lives in the UK. An engineer by profession, he also enjoys the great outdoors and nature's beauty, and his personal practices of Heartfulness Meditation and restorative yoga.

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Vedo Chatterjee

Being present

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">VEDO CHATTERJEE is on a journey to experience what it means to be truly present in the moment. He shares the pitfalls and triumphs along the way, and his current learnings as a “work in progress.”</h4>With an air of professional calm, the therapist asked Ed to pick out five things in the room. Nervously scanning the room, Ed identified the desk, a plant, the coffee machine, the computer, and a stuffed toy. Though the task seemed odd, he noticed the details of the room more than he had ever done before. He realized the purpose of this exercise was to pull him into the present moment, albeit in a dry and procedural manner.Halfway across the world, Maya was asked to close her eyes and remember a cherished moment. She picked a day when her mom had hugged her despite a colossal mess-up. The memory had assumed greater significance over time, and she always felt safe when she remembered that day. The act of recalling and revisiting the memory was meant to change her emotional state in the present, by accessing love and joy she had felt in the past.These accounts suggest a certain degree of complexity in the interplay of our emotions, motivations, and perception of time.And that raises a question: what does it truly mean to “be present”? The essence might lie in the directing of our attention. Attention exists in the present moment, even when it relates to past experiences or future thoughts. We focus our attention using the energy that is available to us at any given time. Then, perhaps energy is that fundamental irreducible aspect of our experience, which is truly rooted in the present moment.&nbsp;Imagine an ideal state where we’re energized and paying attention to matters that positively affect our life in the present, crafting a more desirable future. We all know that life is more complicated than that. Many of us feel stuck in the past, as it is still affecting us. Our attempts to regain control over an event we couldn’t control is what we classically know as “living in the past.” The complex emotions that develop from the lack of control that was experienced may be hard to navigate. And this can develop into an intense distrust and fear of being hurt again in the future. The difficult emotions, in order to protect us, can keep traveling to the past or running into the future, seeking closure. We continue with life as if being controlled by what we could not control.Control, despite its negative connotations, is an important aspect of our lives. Some amount of control is necessary to guide us toward our aspirations. It allows us to align with our dreams and goals. When we lose control, we lose the ability to steer our life in the direction we desire. It can send us off the rails, giving rise to emotional disturbance, opening the door for past regrets, future fears, and a general lack of energy, due to its dissipation in multiple directions.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">By understanding the importance of energy emotions, control, and the general sense of my life’s narrative I am able to enrich the issue and find helpful pathways along other dimensions.</h4><hr>Being present, in the way I want to be, has proven difficult many times in life. I can only suggest what might be valuable, based on my personal experiences. Limiting the idea to a temporal construct imposed upon the contents of the mind is restrictive. Being obsessed with the occupations of the mind only imprisons me in a vicious cycle of mental activity.<figure class="image image-style-align-center"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/being_present2_13d2f26762.jpg"></figure><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Positive emotions help me connect with my energy allowing me to find expression and meaning. I am slowly learning to give myself more readily to the present moment without being pulled in different directions.</h4><hr>By understanding the importance of energy, emotions, control, and the general sense of my life’s narrative, I am able to enrich the issue and find helpful pathways along other dimensions. By devoting my energy to the things that matter, and the people I love, I may experience positive emotions. By devoting my energy to the things that matter, and the people I love, I may experience positive emotions.Positive emotions help me connect with my energy, allowing me to find expression and meaning. I am slowly learning to give myself more readily to the present moment, without being pulled in different directions. The process can be painfully slow.Although my life’s journey has brought me to the present moment, being fully present in that moment is itself a journey!<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Illustrations by LAKSHMI GADDAM</h4><hr>

Veena Mishra is a software engineer and is currently working with Ernst & Young. Apart from technology, she is also passionate about  writing and loves to pen down her thoughts and ruminations. 

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Veena Mishra

<h4>VEENA MISHRA shares her experience of learning to listen to the voice of the heart through a meditation practice. She describes meditation as the way she learned to allow the heart to speak out – “that magical tool we are all unknowingly looking for.”</h4><hr>Everything has a tendency to age and decay with time. The outer glamor of this so-called “perfect world” continues to fade slowly but steadily with each passing day. What we often do not realize is that, amid all this pomp and show, our tiny hearts are trying to speak to us. The noise around us is so clamorous, however, that the heart’s voice is drowned even before it can surface.Our heart is the most beautiful creation. This inner heart of ours is not subject to any kind of disintegration. What it needs is nourishment. If the heart is properly nourished and taken care of, then over time, as the body shrivels, the heart continues to shine, radiate love and, most importantly, guide us through life.How do we nourish our hearts? I think that meditation is a very simple yet effective way of achieving this. Meditation is that magical tool we are all unknowingly looking for. It enables us to lend our ear to the voice within that is trying to speak to us. As we meditate, the outer cacophony begins to die out and that voice becomes prominent.<hr><hr><h5>Meditation is that magical tool&nbsp; we are all unknowingly looking for.&nbsp; It enables us to lend our ear to the voice within&nbsp; that is trying to speak to us.&nbsp; As we meditate, the outer cacophony begins to die out&nbsp; and that voice becomes prominent.&nbsp;</h5><hr><hr>We often wonder how to discriminate between the voice of the heart and the so-called voice of the mind. When I began meditation, I started to realize that there is only one voice, and it is that of the heart. When caught up in any kind of situation, this voice is always trying to tell me the right thing to do. Whether I am able to listen to it or not depends on how much I have been able to detune myself from the other unwanted noises, which are a culmination of desires and ego. Meditation helps to refine these and lessen their impact on my thinking, enabling me to know my heart’s wish.Whether we listen to it or not depends on us.<hr><hr><h4>Illustration by ARATI SHEDDE</h4><hr><hr>

Magic to open the heart

The Venerable is the Director, Tibet House, Cultural Center of H.H. the Dalai Lama, New Delhi. He is the former official translator to H.H., teacher of comparative studies of modern science and philosophy, author, and advocate for universal ethics as a solution to humanity's problems.

geshe-dorji-damdul.webp

Venerable Geshe Dorji Damdul

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">The VENERABLE GESHE DORJI DAMDUL is the Director, Tibet House, Cultural Center of His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, New Delhi. He advocates for universal ethics as a solution to humanity’s problems, and here explores the psychology of world peace, and some practical approaches we can all take to move in that direction.</h4>&nbsp;If we are to talk about world peace, we must first experience inner peace. In order to export gold, we should have gold ourselves. So, with this in mind, where do we go wrong? It’s primarily in failing to understand the psychology of <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/finding-peace" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">inner peace</a>.&nbsp;Think of a moment in your life when you felt the greatest peace—the most beautiful moment. Imagine now extending it to all your family members, to everyone in your country, and to everyone in the world; this is world peace.&nbsp;For that matter, just imagine the most beautiful momentous event in your mind. Often times people talk about watching a sunset, but one thing most of us have experienced is the love of our mothers when we were aged two, three, four, five, six. If you can replicate this love and affection toward all beings, that is universal peace, universal compassion.Now, how to make it happen? We have to know the psychology, how the mind works. When we were born, we didn’t have love for our mothers. But within the span of a few years, we developed such intense love for them. What made this love develop was seeing our mothers as sources of benefit. In other words, we were dependent on her for our well-being.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Think of a moment in your life when you felt&nbsp; the greatest peace- the most beautiful moment.&nbsp; Imagine now extending it to all your family members,&nbsp; to everyone in your country, and to everyone in the world; this is world peace.&nbsp;</h4><hr>So, if there’s a way to feel our dependency on others—our neighbours, our countrymen and women, the world, and Nature—that is the key. It is the secret of our understanding that “I have to take care of Nature, I have to take care of my family members, and the world’s citizens.” It gives a sense of connectedness. This is known as universal peace.In this connection, I remember when His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, was traveling in India and abroad, one question would regularly come from the audience, particularly educationists and social activists: “Where are we going wrong? World peace is going down.” And without a second thought, His Holiness would answer, “Because of the limitation in our modern education system.” Our modern education system is designed in such a way that whoever can say “two plus five equals seven” is applauded. Whereas even if you have the potential to become the next Mahatma Gandhi, if you say, “two plus five equals seven-ish,” you fail. Nobody will count your heart. Nobody will count your courage and determination, and so forth.His Holiness says we need to supplement modern education, which is actually a remnant of the industrial revolution; it must be supplemented by the education of the heart. This is the message. If this is what we can do through the cognitive understanding of our interconnectedness with our fellow human beings and with Nature, then automatically our love for Nature, and our love for our fellow human beings will happen.From a talk given during the Global Spirituality Mahotsav at Kanha Shanti Vanam, March 14 to 17, 2024.

The psychology of peace

<h3 style="text-align:center;">A Dialogue on Compassion, Wisdom, and Spiritual Unity</h3><h4>THE VENERABLE GESHE DORJI DAMDUL,&nbsp;in conversation with&nbsp;PURNIMA RAMAKRISHNAN,&nbsp;explores why compassion without wisdom remains incomplete—and how Buddhism's ancient wisdom and the Heartfulness tradition share a common aim of spiritual growth: dissolving the illusion of separation.</h4>&nbsp;Purnima Ramakrishnan: Namaste, Geshe La. Thank you for joining us for the consecration of the descendant of the Mahabodhi tree.1 We are very happy to welcome you back to Kanha Shanti Vanam. After the Global Spirituality Mahotsav, this must feel like a return.² How does it feel to be here again?Geshe Dorji Damdul: It is extremely healing and peaceful to be here. I learned that the space is close to 2,000 acres. It is like a huge town built with the blessings of Daaji. When you enter the campus, you feel you are in a very different world. The moment you come here, you sense oneness. There is an intense feeling of coming back home.PR: At the Global Spirituality Mahotsav, many traditions came together. You spoke there, and I sensed a deep resonance between Heartfulness and <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/how-the-Buddha-brought-us-together" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Buddhism</a>. How do you see that relationship?Geshe Dorji Damdul: In fact, if I am not too presumptuous, I would say that if someone fully understands Heartfulness and then encounters the Buddhist tradition, they may feel, “This is actually Heartfulness.” And someone from the Buddhist tradition who comes to Heartfulness and observes it—even just by looking at the demeanor of Daaji—they may feel, “This is Buddhism.”In a way, I would say that whatever tradition one follows, we must keep in mind that the goal and the means should not be mixed up. The goal and the means are not the same! For example, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, Bahá’í, and Buddhism—all traditions—evolved in different locales and at different times. Each adopted its own means to reach the goal. But the goal is one.The goal is that there should be no fighting, no discrimination, no bullying. Everyone should feel joy, happiness, and peace. When someone is falling, others should be there to lift that person up. This is the goal of all religions.The problem is that when people go to extremes—fundamentalism or fanaticism—they begin to identify with the means itself. They see the religion as the ultimate end. They forget the goal, and then they fight.PR: So, religion is a means, not an end!Geshe Dorji Damdul: Yes. The goal of all religions is to create harmony and peace in the world. But that peace is sometimes disrupted in the name of religion. When you come here to Heartfulness, you see that anyone who follows Daaji embraces others—there is no pushing. That is something very precious.&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">The goal is that there should be no fighting,&nbsp; no discrimination, no bullying.&nbsp; Everyone should feel joy, happiness, and peace.&nbsp; When someone is falling, others should be there to&nbsp; lift that person up. This is the goal of all religions.</h4><hr>&nbsp;During the Global Spirituality Mahotsav, when I felt this ambiance of Heartfulness and listened to Daaji’s address—in the presence of four to six million people—I could see the beauty, warmth, and embracing nature in him.I spoke to the people who invited me and suggested that such great visionary leaders—driven by compassion—should come together. For example, if Mahatma Gandhi were alive today, I would work very hard to bring such great minds together—to strive for harmony and real peace, not just peace in words.What is the proof that it is possible? Just come to Heartfulness. Here, people feel oneness. When such great minds come together, no doubt the world will become very different.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/buddhism_heartfulness2_ec0614dd62.webp" alt="buddhism-heartfulness2.webp"></figure>&nbsp;PR: You spoke about a shared goal across traditions. That brings to mind the Heart Sutra: “Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form.” In Heartfulness, Babuji Maharaj spoke of our journey toward nothingness. Do you see a connection there?Geshe Dorji Damdul: You picked up the heart—and then Heartfulness. Heart and Heartfulness.Let us think of two mothers. Both mothers have intense love for their child. The child wants to become a Nobel laureate in physics.One mother knows physics very well—relativity theory, quantum physics, quantum entanglement, all these concepts—thoroughly. The second mother loves the child just as much, but does not know physics at all. Although she loves the child deeply and wants the dream to come true, she is helpless. She does not have the wisdom to guide the child to the fulfillment of that aspiration.In the case of the first mother, the heart is supported by knowledge. Because she has both love and wisdom, the child reaches the culmination of the aspiration—perhaps even becoming a Nobel laureate.This is Heartfulness: when compassion is guided by wisdom, the heart becomes full.From that point of view, I see the Heart Sutra in it. When it says, “Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form. Form is not other than emptiness, and emptiness is not other than form,” it is telling us how to make the heart full—how to guide the heart through wisdom.Babuji Maharaj said that everything goes into emptiness as a goal. This has deep meaning. The Heart Sutra says, “form is emptiness” and “emptiness is form,” like two sides of the same coin.Form here means dependent origination: how things arise depending mutually on one another. Nothing exists independently. “Empty” means empty of independent existence.Why do conflicts and fights happen? Because we feel independent from one another. We do not care about others because we think we are separate. This attitude is ignorance. It is the illusion that you are independent from me, and I am independent from you.Albert Einstein called this an optical delusion—the sense of division between “you” and “I.” He suggested that to overcome this delusion, we must expand the circle of compassion and recognize our interdependence.So again, compassion, when guided by wisdom, becomes whole. It embraces everyone. That is Heartfulness.COVID-19 taught us this very clearly. Even powerful nations and their rulers—kings, prime ministers, presidents—were not independent. If you close your borders entirely to protect yourself, your economy collapses. If you open them, the virus spreads. You cannot protect yourself unless you understand that we are interdependent. Protecting weaker countries protects you as well.This is the wisdom needed to make the heart full. It should not remain confined to a small circle. It must extend to all human beings, all animals, the environment, the whole world.So when the Heart Sutra says, “Form is emptiness,” it helps dissolve destructive emotions—craving, greed, anger—because we see there is no independent self.And when it says, “Emptiness is form,” we see that forms do exist—but in mutual dependence. From that understanding, empathy, affection, compassion, and joy arise.“Form is emptiness”: destructive emotions dissolve.&nbsp;“Emptiness is form”: constructive qualities grow.This is the essence of the Heart Sutra. Destructive emotions are reduced, and compassion expands to embrace all living beings on Earth—including the environment.&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">From that point of view, I see the Heart Sutra in it. When it says, “Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form.&nbsp; Form is not other than emptiness, and emptiness is not other than form,”&nbsp; it is telling us how to make the heart full— how to guide the heart through wisdom. &nbsp;</h4><hr>&nbsp;PR: When you spoke about compassion expanding, I was reminded of ripples—how one act touches another, and then another.That brought to mind the mantra om mani padme hum. I once heard it described as the “jewel in the lotus,” with compassion arising when the lotus of the heart blooms. In Heartfulness, we pray for the collective evolution of humanity—especially through our nightly prayer.There seems to be resonance here. Could you speak about this mantra and its meaning?Geshe Dorji Damdul: This is beautiful. Even the phrase “collective evolution of <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/a-more-refined-humanity" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">humanity</a>” is so powerful.Om mani padme hum is the mantra of the Buddha of Compassion—Avalokiteshvara. In Chinese tradition, this presence appears as the female Quan Yin. In Tibetan Buddhism, which descends from Nalanda in India, it manifests in male form as Avalokiteshvara.Om is shared across Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It is composed of A-U-M, symbolizing body, speech, and mind.What is to be awakened? The evolution of body, speech, and mind—what some may call perfect consciousness.How do we evolve toward that? Through the jewel—mani.The jewel symbolizes compassion. Just as a wish-fulfilling gem answers aspirations, a good heart fulfills our deepest wish—to be happy and to help others be happy. Even physical and mental well-being are strengthened through compassion. This is mani.But compassion alone is not enough. It must be guided.Padme—from padma, the lotus. The lotus grows in mud but remains unstained. Wisdom arises in ordinary human beings, yet when directed properly by a qualified guide, it remains pure. Wisdom is what allows compassion to become full.And then hum—this signifies the inseparability of heart and wisdom. They must not operate in isolation. They must function together, individually and collectively.&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Destructive emotions are reduced, and compassion expands to embrace all living beings on Earth—including the environment.</h4><hr>&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/buddhism_heartfulness3_5e6d3f0324.webp" alt="buddhism-heartfulness3.webp"></figure>&nbsp;When compassion is limited to “my group,” it is incomplete. True Heartfulness must extend to the whole world.Daaji is also working in this way. This land, this 2,000 acres, is not for himself. It is for all who appreciate Heartfulness. That is something we must learn.PR: You spoke about leaders shaping people—not creating followers but shaping hearts. Could you elaborate?Geshe Dorji Damdul: One thing we must learn from great teachers—Daaji, Raji Ji, His Holiness—is this: when a leader has a truly good heart guided by intelligence, transformation happens.When I come to this ashram, I do not feel like an outsider. People embrace you with natural smiles. They are not forced. They are pure.How does this happen? They are not all born from one mother. It is because of the wisdom given by the guide—Daaji—and his two teachers. His Holiness is another extraordinary example.This is what is required: a leader with vision for the larger good and a heart of compassion. When those two are united, people change. The followers begin to reflect that same heart and vision.It becomes like a ripple effect—a chain reaction. It expands until there are no “others” or “enemies” left. Everyone becomes “us.”In many situations, anger leads to retaliation. “You hurt us; we will hurt you.” Hatred fuels more hatred. But under wise leadership, a different path is possible.His Holiness has often said that allowing anger to dominate is a failure. Instead, we must be practical. What can be done, we do. We go for the Middle Way—a win-win approach. Not, “We will punish you; we will kill you.” There should be no attitude like that.When I look at history, I see how one person can transform millions. One leader can reshape a society. Here, too, in Heartfulness, I see people smiling—and that influence comes from one person, Daaji Ji. World leaders should learn from figures like Daaji Ji and His Holiness: compassion guided by wisdom. If that combination governed nations, trillions of dollars spent on warfare could be redirected toward human flourishing.PR: When you spoke about how one person can influence many, I was reminded of something Babuji Maharaj once said: “I do not create disciples, I create masters.” Visionary leaders do not create followers—they awaken others to the same vision and heart.As we conclude, may I invite you to share your closing thoughts?Geshe Dorji Damdul: India is an amazing country. It has produced great masters from many traditions—Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism. Then, Mahatma Gandhi, Vinoba Bhave, and here we have Daaji. These are extraordinary figures.His Holiness the Dalai Lama often says that wherever he travels, he speaks of India as the land of ahimsa.3 He promotes India to the world for its profound spiritual heritage and the values it can offer humanity.&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">This is what is required: a leader with vision for the larger good and a heart of compassion.&nbsp; When those two are united, people change.&nbsp; The followers begin to reflect that same heart and vision. It becomes like a ripple effect—a chain reaction.&nbsp; It expands until there are no “others” or “enemies” left. Everyone becomes “us.”</h4><hr>&nbsp;The world today is deprived of these qualities. His Holiness serves as an ambassador of India in this sense.I remember him saying, “My body has survived on Indian rajma dal, and my brain has survived on Indian Nalanda philosophy—psychology, metaphysics, and logic.” In that way, he considers himself a son of India.So what I am saying is this: great leaders like His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Mahatma Gandhi, and Daaji are products of this land. People—both leaders and citizens—can learn from them.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/buddhism_heartfulness4_f6a34d4c6b.webp" alt="buddhism-heartfulness4.webp"></figure>&nbsp;PR: Thank you, Geshe La. It has been an honor speaking with you. We hope to welcome you again to Kanha Shanti Vanam!Geshe Dorji Damdul: Thank you. It is truly my honor to visit this center. It is a beautiful place. You enter—and you feel peace.I have been observing the smiles. One smile, two smiles—you can find that anywhere. But here, across this 2,000-acre campus, you see only smiles. They are contagious, very beautiful. It is amazing!<hr>1 The Mahabodhi tree refers to the sacred fig tree in Bodh Gaya under which Siddhartha Gautama is believed to have attained enlightenment. The tree at Kanha Shanti Vanam is a descendant of that original tree.2 The Global Spirituality Mahotsav was an international meeting of spiritual leaders and traditions held at Kanha Shanti Vanam in 2024.3 Ahimsa: A Sanskrit term meaning non-violence or non-harming—an ethical principle in Indian traditions that calls for compassion and refraining from harm in thought, word, and action.&nbsp;

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