Editor

The final stage of wisdom

In the moment

Reality

That's when I'm awake

What to do with time?

Habit is overcome by habit

How much can the heart hold?

<h4>
 RAVI IVATURI observes the effect of gratitude on his own reactions and
 behavior and realizes its importance in day-to-day life.
</h4>
<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 About a year ago I got an email from my employer indicating that they had
 deposited a contribution into my retirement fund account. It was no life
 changing amount – far from it – nonetheless a welcome event.


 This happened at a time when I was going through a phase of anxiety and
 stress. Along with a many other volunteers, I had taken up the task of
 organizing a meditation conference on a scale we had not done before, and
 things were not looking bright, to put it mildly. Despite scouting almost
 every single event space in New York City and New Jersey that could
 accommodate more than 2,000 people, none were available on the dates we
 wanted. Some of the venues’ sales teams would not event talk to us. Add to
 that, several speakers were also not available. Overall, the writing on the
 wall was very unfavorable and we badly needed a break.


<hr />

<h5 style="text-align: center">
 The state of gratitude 
 seemed to be a favorable 
 disposition of mind to 
 accomplish things. The 
 lesson learnt is simple: 
 be grateful under all 
 circumstances.
</h5>

<hr />


 This was beginning to have an impact on various aspects of my life –
 performance at work, relationships with my wife and family, and my commitments
 to this volunteer work. So when this email from HR popped up, a subtle sense
 of gratitude kicked in. It was not joy, and I was certainly not celebrating,
 but a sense of gratitude arose in me for being given a resource that could
 sustain my family at some point in the distant future. This immediately
 changed my mental state, as the constant stress and anxiety were replaced with
 calm and peace. A subtle undercurrent of gratitude started to surface, like I
 sometimes experience during meditation classes.


 That afternoon I was on a roll. I tackled challenges at work that I had been
 avoiding, cleared up overdue tasks, and accomplished quite a lot, much to my
 amusement, all without even a tiny bit of weariness! The difference was so
 palpable that I could not avoid noticing it and reflecting on what made the
 difference.


 It did not require a lot of pondering. The answer popped up from inside that
 it’s the inner sense of gratitude. This inner state of gratitude created a
 poised and composed mind that was capable of focusing and accomplishing tasks.
 The state of gratitude seemed to be a favorable disposition of mind to
 accomplish things. The lesson learnt is simple: be grateful under all
 circumstances.


 Now, being grateful for a gift of money is easy and almost natural, but life
 is no walk in the park. The real challenge is how do I remain in this state
 of&nbsp; gratitude regardless of situations? How do I learn to take miseries
 as blessings, and feel gratitude for them? How do I 
 “…meet with Triumph and Disaster 
 And treat those two impostors just the same;” 
 in the words of Rudyard Kipling in his poem If?


 For now I plan to do my best by living in the present, holding no judgments
 and holding no hate. I hope to cultivate an inner state of love and gratitude
 through meditation, and accept what comes my way. I am sure to make mistakes;
 I have already made several during the last year and I hope to learn from them
 and foster a benevolent heart that is grateful for all that comes its way.


<hr class="vertical-space1" />


<hr />

<h4 style="text-align: center">Article by RAVI IVATURI</h4>

<hr />

The power of gratitude

Hope

Moderation

Perseverance

We need silence

We learn compassion

Growing others

Spiritual renaissance

Follow your dreams

A radical act

From head to heart

Nature's secret

The journey

What you are here to do

Somewhere, right now

Truthfulness

Accept change

Calm yourself

Balancing work & rest

Balance is key

Peace, harmony & balance

<h4>
 <hr class="vertical-space1" />
</h4>
<h4>
 <spanundefined
 >FRANÇOIS BOUDERLIQUE learnt about the
 basic principle of Nature – to give more than you take – when he left a
 high-powered banking job in Paris to live and farm in Kutch, India. He
 realized that his understanding of eco-farming was colored by his past and
 he needed to open his eyes to a new reality.
</h4>
<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 <spanundefined
 >For the last ten years I have been fascinated by Permaculture, a new way
 of considering farming processes starting from organic farming to
 integrated eco-housing, water systems, etc. My grandfather was a farmer,
 and I spent most of my childhood with him witnessing his extraordinary
 capacities to do things by himself, whether it was constructing an entire
 house to repairing a simple electrical device, maintaining his car,
 etc.When I stepped out of a city lifestyle in Paris to live in rural India
 in 2014, I was hoping to create a more conducive lifestyle suited to my
 spiritual quest, practicing Heartfulness Meditation, which I have done for
 the last three decades. I believed at that time that the natural
 environment would do the trick, and being in tune with Mother Earth would
 facilitate my soul-searching experience.


 <spanundefined
 >Looking back at those six years, I realize that the real shift has been
 in my own perception of what eco-farming is. I believed in organic
 products, and many techniques which would enable me to thrive in the field
 of producing, taking advantage of the “trendy” ecological movement in a
 more sustainable manner.


<hr class="vertical-space1" />
<img
 decoding="async"
 alt="Giving-more-taking-less"
 class="w-100 lazyload"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Giving_more_taking_less2_bdd4dba0ed.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T11:50:47.528Z"
/>
<hr class="vertical-space1" />


 <spanundefined
 >The problem is that when we are born in a cultural environment where
 everything is about “taking,” the mindset is totally opposite to the
 “living” environment of Nature, where everything is about caring, sharing
 and exchanging. Natural systems cooperate, whereas the knowledge of modern
 agriculture is about taking more, increasing yields and harvest. I should
 admit it to myself – 20 years in the banking industry had made me an
 expert taker. I was literally excelling at taking my six-digit
 salary!

<hr class="vertical-space1" />
<h5 style="text-align: center">
 <hr />
</h5>
<h5 style="text-align: center">
 <spanundefined style="color: #4480bd"
 >I believed at that time that the natural environment would do the trick,
 and being in tune with Mother Earth would facilitate my soul-searching
 experience.
</h5>
<h5 style="text-align: center">
 <hr />
</h5>
<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 <spanundefined
 >Fortunately for me, the farm was situated next to a Rabari community in
 Kutch, Gujarat, where life was all about living and sharing first when
 taking from Nature. It was a natural offshoot of a “liver community” based
 on Indian traditional farming. The sense of property is different. A
 shepherd would enter my property after the harvesting season, without
 permission, taking water from my farm when the local village bore well was
 dysfunctional. This was natural and not questioned.


 <spanundefined
 >Soon enough, I understood that the real meaning of eco-farming was about
 acquiring the knowledge of how to care, versus technology and systems that
 are designed to take.


 <spanundefined
 >Caring for the wellness of the community comes first, then the land, the
 eco-system, elaborating long term solutions where healthy food grows in a
 sustainable manner.


 <spanundefined
 >So the real move for me was not to sit with birds and trees looking at a
 nice sunset, but to step out of my comfort zone of coming from a taker
 community, in which I had been conditioned. I was learning how to blend my
 lifestyle with a “liver community,” which was totally alien to my previous
 set-up and knowledge, based on how to take.


<hr class="vertical-space1" />
<img
 decoding="async"
 alt="Giving-more-taking-less"
 class="w-100 lazyload"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Giving_more_taking_less2_bdd4dba0ed.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T11:50:47.528Z"
/>
<hr class="vertical-space1" />


 <spanundefined
 >Recently, it made me think even about the meaning of spirituality and the
 spiritual field. What if spirituality is about a knowledge of the capacity
 to live, to care, versus the capacity to take? You see how the word
 “taking” has invaded our language and our so-called modern life? From
 taking a decision, to taking the time to do something, or even taking care
 of somebody or something.


 <spanundefined
 >If we agree to this new definition, the realm of the Spirit will
 encompass all our activities, something which I experienced by farming
 within a “liver community” where caring is a natural way of life.


 <spanundefined
 >So friends, why not step into the field of knowledge based on how to
 care, while taking for ourselves only our due share in the process of
 caring? Life becomes simple and natural. If we become students of this
 type of knowledge, whether it is in farming or any other field, and excel
 in caring, we will become in the process part of Spirit, which lives and
 gives first. Trust me, I experienced it on my farm. What will follow in
 the most natural way is that we don’t have to strategize how to take
 anymore, because we are receiving more and more with less and less
 effort!

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

<hr />

<h4 style="text-align: center">
 Article by
 <spanundefined
 >FRANÇOIS BOUDERLIQUE
</h4>

<hr />

Giving more, taking less

Zero

Pilgrimage

Intuition

Develop compassion

The secrets of the universe

Aim at heaven

Coherence

Habits form character

Community

All things share the same breath

Compassion and respect

People's happiness

Across the universe

A beautiful thing

Nothing to lose

No color

Self improvement

The future

Love is my mission

Inner conversation

The shift

One community

The pause

A new rule of life

Genius

Hold truth in our center

Head and heart

Balance

Food and heart

One touch of nature

Communal love

A good life

Forgiveness and tolerance

The instinct of the heart

Honesty, compassion and respect

Sacred space

Creativity

The center of our being

Unity

How to be happy

Essence of generosity

Live in the present

Be positive

The authentic self

The eternal witness

Strength

The positive side

What affects one affects all

No need to worry

Setting goals

<hr>
Illustration by RAHUL SINGH PARMAR
<hr>

Everything is connected

Unconditional love

Inner beauty

Give peace a chance

The heart is the key

Leadership & empathy

Being present

The life of spirituality

Instructions for life

History and myth

Music

Wonder

Oneness

Food is love

Dreaming

<h3 style="text-align: center;">NAUKASANA</h3>
<h4>STEPS</h4>
Lie flat on your stomach with your legs straight and your soles pointing upwards.
Bring your legs and feet together and stretch your hands straight in front of your head.
While inhaling, raise your hands, head, chest and legs simultaneously as high as possible.
Keep your legs straight, without folding your knees, and your hands straight, without folding your elbows.
Balance your whole body weight on your stomach.
Close your eyes.
Hold and stay with gentle, long breaths in and out six times.
Breathe out, and while exhaling slowly release the posture and relax in Makarasana.
<h4>BENEFITS</h4>
Relieves the body of stiffness and back pain, and the spine attains flexibility with regular practice.
Helps to strengthen the abdominal muscles and reduce abdominal fat.
Muscles of the back, abdomen, neck, shoulders, hip, knees and arms become stronger.