56. (Total duration: 30 minutes. To be done on an empty stomach.)

This meditation technique is called Dukkhaharana and is taken from Kularnava Tantra. It will bring out all the suppressed emotions in you. Many masters have employed this technique. It takes a total 30 minutes.

Breathing is the bridge to the universe. It is the system with which you are living your mind. If your thinking is calm, your breath will be relaxed. If your thinking is aggressive, your breathing will also be aggressive. You first need to control your breathing in order to control your mind

Presently, in our repressed state, most of us are half-alive and half-dead. In the first part of this meditation, deep breathing is carried out in order to create a churning in your repressed system. Your mental system is made fully alive by the increased intake of oxygen; it becomes more vital. Your cells will get more energy and will create more bioelectricity or bio-energy. This energy will melt all the repressed emotions like melting ice. It is like fanning the muladhara chakra.

You may practice this technique on an empty stomach, preferably in the morning. 21 days of Dukkhaharana will transform your being and bring a glow to your face and body. This is like taking a psychological bath. You will be able to experience the silence in you. When you kill dukkha or sorrow, ananda or bliss flowers in you and sends forth a beautiful fragrance from you.

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Stand with your eyes closed. Breathe deeply and rhythmically from the depths of your body, always through your nose with your mouth closed. Move your hands, flex your knees and bend to a semi-squatting position and then rise up. Move as if you are a bird in flight, up and down, knees moving up and down, arms moving up and down, all rhythmic, in line with your breathing.

Do the movements gently and synchronise your inhalation with upward movement and exhalation with downward movement. If you have a heart problem, do only as much as you can. Similarly, pregnant women and others with physical ailments do only as much as you can. Do this for 10 minutes.

For the next 10 minutes, keep your eyes closed and tense each part of your body, part by part, limb by limb, then let it relax; tense and relax one limb and then move to the next. Start with your feet; move to legs; then to thighs; next to the hips; then to stomach and lower back; than to chest and upper back; then to your arms from finger tips to shoulder; next to the neck and shoulders; next to your face, and finally to the top of the head. Relax each part of your entire body before you move to the next part. This is like an isometric exercise with each part of your body.

At the end of these 10 minutes, you will become vacant inside. You will become cool, calm and composed.

For the next 10 minutes, sit down keeping your eyes closed and chant the 'hoo' kara sound, just the word 'hoo'. There is no need to chant it deeply and loudly. Just chant it in a relaxed manner. As you chant, simply witness whatever happens inside or outside your being.

The first two parts of this technique are actually a preparation for this third part that is the actual meditation. When you come to the third part, you will see that the mind becomes silent effortlessly, by itself. Silence cannot be forced upon you; it can only happen by itself.

Remain in this relaxed state with a smiling face and blissful mood. During this time, there may be many experiences; just watch them as you would watch the television. Watch your mind thought by thought. Don't focus on the muladhara at any time during the meditation, as this will create fantasies, which you are trying to remove.

At the end of the 10 minutes, slowly, very slowly, open your eyes. Carry this energy and silence with you.

Thank you.

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Chapter 6 Face the fear

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Face the fear

hy should we understand death?

All our fears are actually fear of death but under various disguises. Every single fear is related to the fear of death, but in a roundabout way. Because it is roundabout, we don't see it as fear of death. Without fear, the word death itself loses the meaning that we have been associating with it.

So what is death?

You will tell me, 'Death is what happens at the end of our lives.' If death were nothing more than that, it would be so easy!

But death is not something that happens at the end of our lives. It is something which is happening every moment of our lives. Every act of ours is unconsciously related to our death, the fear of dying. Death changes the very quality of our life. It is not the end; it is the climax of our lives – towards which our whole life is oriented.

Why do I say that? Because our whole life is controlled by our concept of death. Even our social structure is dictated by our concept of death. In fact, all great religions and world philosophies have arisen out of trying to answer one question, 'What happens after death?'

In trying to answer this one question, different life solutions have taken root.

The cultures which believe in a single life, with no concept of reincarnation, have poured all their energies into excelling in life. They have achieved the peak in terms of assimilation of information, gaining of knowledge and material comforts.

These cultures have given rise to science. Science helps us live life at its optimum and get the maximum out of this life.

The cultures which believe in reincarnation have turned the focus of their life inwards. Their search is different. They are not motivated to live life in a hurry, because eternity is granted to them.

You can see it clearly in the behaviour of the people. In India, if a program is scheduled to start at 6 o'clock, you can be sure that it won't start before 7.30, because people have eternity before them!

Our whole mental set-up, the course of our lives, our society, our culture, our religion – everything is based on our idea of death. We try our best not to think about death, but death pervades every moment of our life!

When we understand the depths, the secrets and mystery of death, we will understand the secrets of life. We need to solve death and see it as a mere continuity in a different form. Otherwise, we will miss life itself.

If we understand that death is nothing but continuity in another form, we will not fear death. And when we stop fearing death, we will know to what extent we have been missing life.

We take life for granted and we live so superficially that we miss many aspects of life. Death will simply teach us to look into life with more awareness. Death is the greatest guru ever.

When we want to bring in conviction about something, we can do it in two ways: We can either experiment and see for ourselves what the truth is or we can take reference from someone who has already undergone the experience of it. We will now understand a reference from the Upanishads, the vedic scriptures from ancient India.