With my love and Guru's blessings, let me share with you all, Guru Nitya's advice (upadesam) to me. That is verse 7 of Daivadasakam: "You are existence, knowledge and the endeared value. You yourself are the present, the past and the future. When considered, you are the articulated or spoken word also."

 

Let us cherish the beautiful memories Guru Nitya has left behind for us. Whenever required in the present moment, we can bring to the forefront and utilize the knowledge from Gurus, gained from the past and stored in the subconscious (the hippocampus). But one thing we have to be careful about is not to drag the problems from the past to the present, and the energies that may push it on to the future. Let the future exist in the eternal present, as beautiful dreams.

 

The first time I went to Ooty Gurukula was to learn meditation. Now I know that one cannot do meditation, and it has to happen. Guru asked me to sit on the sofa in the prayer hall and watch my breath. Experiencing the breath means the expansion of the chest on each inhalation and the contraction on each exhalation. You come to feel the change in temperature of the air carrying oxygen at the nostril and the changes in vibration felt in the whole body with the flow of energy to each cell up to the fingertips. It is the same prana or life energy that circulates in the individual on inhalation, in the space before and after inhalation, and one shares with all living and nonliving beings of the world on exhalation.

 

Guru Nitya taught us the principle or truth of our existence: it is never-ending and cyclical (Guru demonstrated this for us by moving his index finger to draw a circle in the virtual space in front of his face). There is no birth or death. We can experience that the truth of our existence is like the gap between the ticks of the clock or the gap between each inhalation and exhalation. We finally come to experience or realize that there is no breathing in or out by becoming aware of and widening that gap, which is the present continuum.

 

As a person who studied medical science, I could see Guru's guidance is based on biospirituality. The scientific knowledge  helped me to understand how biochemistry and neurochemistry controlled our emotional state of mind. Various biochemical and neurochemical changes happen in body and mind due to the action of hormones and neurotransmitters. Our stress acts on the amygdala and hippocampus, the primitive part of our brain that induces the release of hormones like adrenaline and cortisol, resulting in fright, flight, fight reactions.

 

The solutions for our problems come from the prefrontal cortex and the intellectual cortex of the brain. The negative thoughts and mind can be balanced by neurotransmitters like serotonin (released from hypothalamus), dopamine (however, not in excess, as it can cause addictions), oxytocin, that decreases stress and anxiety (acts on reward-impulse control) and endorphins. The pineal gland (the peeyusha or amrtha granthi) lying in the fossa at the center of the brain, secretes melatonin in the dark, at night, controlling  the circadian rhythm and sleep pattern at night and wakefulness during day, glucose homeostasis and energy metabolism. It can cause transformations in neurochemistry with changes in thought pattern, emotions and psyche.

 

Guru taught us the mantra and guided Gayatri meditation, starting at an alpha point about six inches in front of the right big toe and chanting the mantra AUM Bhur, then raising our prana or life energy from the big toe along the ascending energy channels and whirling energy centers or chakras to the ajna (between the brows), where awareness is focused while chanting AUM tat savitur varenyam bhargo devasya dhi mahim dhiyo yo nah prajodaya, followed by a santhi mantra at the crown of head, and moving on to silence at the omega point about six inches above that.

 

Guru continued the guided meditation, by instructing us to take the flow of life energy down along the energy channels and chakras to the alpha point in front of the left toe. After showing the cyclical flow of energy within the body, Guru Nitya told us how we should again raise the prana from alpha point to the omega point. With Guru's blessings, meditation may happen with the merging of individuated consciousness in the universal consciousness.

 

Guru Nitya helped us solve our individual problems and move on to the spiritual path. Dealing with the cause of stress outside through the proper solution, we can let go and move on to our inner core to find the greatest treasure, which is one self.