Though I am not onboard with "someone who calls himself as Sadhguru" type practice, I never was able to come up with a logical anti-argument on any points/ideas that Mr Jaggi brings about in his speech and interviews. Infact there are many points for which, I could only get logical explanations from Mr Jaggi on some of the preached practices in India. The most recent example was "why beef eating is seen as a less-human act" and his explanation to that kind of made sense. One idea that I could never buy into whole-heartedly, was this concept of "Inner Engineering". Due to the lack of knowledge or lack of evidence that it would work and it's a viable practice. I was keenly following on this topic, as frankly I fancy being able to sit in a place, controlling and cultivating my inner energies for hours not knowing the time is passing by. It's that curiosity that made me do two things in addition to watching all his speeches on the topic.
1. Enrol for a free Isha webinar
2. Read this book
I will start by admitting that I couldn't get to know the "know-how" on Inner Engineering or whether it would work for me after reading this. I understand that these two steps are like teasers to make one register for those Inner Engineering courses. After carefully establishing these programs and marketing them with world-class marketing tools, one would obviously want to get the return on investment and not give these away for free or cheap, which is fair enough. Now my notes on my reading experience :
Mr Jaggi starts with his magical experience in Chamundi Hills and I did look up on his Yoga guru - Maladihalli swamy but he barely has one hundredth of the media or public attention that Mr Jaggi has got. He goes on to establish that if we look inward (kriya) we can find more control, again it's theoretical until one experiences it. He talks about physical boundaries and being a garden enthusiast myself, I tried the Sadhana that he suggests - "sit in front of plant and do inhale-exhale" - I did try it several times, it's definitely a feel-good thing. I am a true admirer of nature and especially the plants and I love gardening and I can spend hours gardening and spending with my plants. So, in this case, I am a heavily biased subject.
He goes on to talk about our body and there were few simple ideas that were very enlightening. He talks about why human bodies are designed for non-meat diet based on the length of the intestines of herbivores and carnivores. It was very fascinating and I looked up to do some fast research on the web and there are many supporting material :
How humans are not physically created to eat meat
Shattering The Meat Myth: Humans Are Natural Vegetarians
Human Ancestors Were Nearly All Vegetarians
There were too many as you would find references on the topic and I carefully ignored a good number of sources like "PETA websites" etc, which are obviously biased. Still I could find a good number of articles supporting Mr Jaggi's viewpoint. Till date, for the first time, I thought I should try and be a vegetarian (if not vegan) for my well being. One of the suggested Sadhana's in this book that I am yet to try is to go on "natural plant and vegetables/fruit based, uncooked diet for few days in a row", I would like to try this at some point soon (and seeking my wife's company on this which is like asking a fish to take a stroll on a concrete street, LOL!!!)
Another great explanation is around "fasting every 14 days" traditionally suggested by Hinduism as "Ekadashi fasting" and why on 3 days in a Mandala(48 days), we don't need any food. For the past 2 months, I have started observing Ekadashi fasts (but not "Nir-jal" - I still drink plain water and only thing that eat is before bed I take a banana and glass of milk). It does give me some level of physical comfort. I don't know if it's a biased feeling or true sense, I will figure this out shortly. But one thing is for sure, it definitely keeps my body weight in check.
There is also good level of discussion on "Energies" and how the energies can be consecrated in sculptures etc (linga), I have heard these arguments before in the context of why we should worship in temples when God is omnipresent. I am yet to try the suggested Sadhana of drawing a geometric form in rice flour and light a lamp to see the positive energy spread. I will certainly do and probably that's the only way I will try to get a sense of this theory.
It's a very good, enjoyable read. But my expectation of it to be an "be-all and end-all of Inner Engineering" was only wishful :)
1. Enrol for a free Isha webinar
2. Read this book
I will start by admitting that I couldn't get to know the "know-how" on Inner Engineering or whether it would work for me after reading this. I understand that these two steps are like teasers to make one register for those Inner Engineering courses. After carefully establishing these programs and marketing them with world-class marketing tools, one would obviously want to get the return on investment and not give these away for free or cheap, which is fair enough. Now my notes on my reading experience :
Mr Jaggi starts with his magical experience in Chamundi Hills and I did look up on his Yoga guru - Maladihalli swamy but he barely has one hundredth of the media or public attention that Mr Jaggi has got. He goes on to establish that if we look inward (kriya) we can find more control, again it's theoretical until one experiences it. He talks about physical boundaries and being a garden enthusiast myself, I tried the Sadhana that he suggests - "sit in front of plant and do inhale-exhale" - I did try it several times, it's definitely a feel-good thing. I am a true admirer of nature and especially the plants and I love gardening and I can spend hours gardening and spending with my plants. So, in this case, I am a heavily biased subject.
He goes on to talk about our body and there were few simple ideas that were very enlightening. He talks about why human bodies are designed for non-meat diet based on the length of the intestines of herbivores and carnivores. It was very fascinating and I looked up to do some fast research on the web and there are many supporting material :
How humans are not physically created to eat meat
Shattering The Meat Myth: Humans Are Natural Vegetarians
Human Ancestors Were Nearly All Vegetarians
There were too many as you would find references on the topic and I carefully ignored a good number of sources like "PETA websites" etc, which are obviously biased. Still I could find a good number of articles supporting Mr Jaggi's viewpoint. Till date, for the first time, I thought I should try and be a vegetarian (if not vegan) for my well being. One of the suggested Sadhana's in this book that I am yet to try is to go on "natural plant and vegetables/fruit based, uncooked diet for few days in a row", I would like to try this at some point soon (and seeking my wife's company on this which is like asking a fish to take a stroll on a concrete street, LOL!!!)
Another great explanation is around "fasting every 14 days" traditionally suggested by Hinduism as "Ekadashi fasting" and why on 3 days in a Mandala(48 days), we don't need any food. For the past 2 months, I have started observing Ekadashi fasts (but not "Nir-jal" - I still drink plain water and only thing that eat is before bed I take a banana and glass of milk). It does give me some level of physical comfort. I don't know if it's a biased feeling or true sense, I will figure this out shortly. But one thing is for sure, it definitely keeps my body weight in check.
There is also good level of discussion on "Energies" and how the energies can be consecrated in sculptures etc (linga), I have heard these arguments before in the context of why we should worship in temples when God is omnipresent. I am yet to try the suggested Sadhana of drawing a geometric form in rice flour and light a lamp to see the positive energy spread. I will certainly do and probably that's the only way I will try to get a sense of this theory.
It's a very good, enjoyable read. But my expectation of it to be an "be-all and end-all of Inner Engineering" was only wishful :)
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