The Heartfulness Way

“A must-read for anyone interested in incorporating meditation into their lifestyle.” ––Sanjay Gupta, MD, chief medical correspondent for CNN Heartfulness is an ideal, a spiritual way of living by and from the heart that is inclusive of all ideologies, beliefs, and religions. In this heart-centered book, a student in conversation with his teacher, Kamlesh D. Patel—affectionately known as Daaji, the fourth and current spiritual guide of the century-old Heartfulness tradition—present a unique method of meditation with the power to facilitate an immediate, tangible spiritual experience, irrespective of a person’s faith. Our modern, fast-paced world can be an overwhelming place. Every day, we’re bombarded with messages telling us that in order to be happy, fulfilled, and worthy, we must be better, do more, and accumulate as much material wealth as possible. Most of us move through our busy lives with our minds full of these ideas, multitasking as we strive to navigate the responsibilities and expectations we must meet just to make it through the day. But what if there is another way? What if, rather than letting the busyness of life overtake our minds, we learn to be heartful instead? Based on Daaji’s own combination of approaches and practices for the modern seeker—which draws from the teachings of Sahaj Marg, meaning “Natural Path”—Heartfulness is a contemporized version of the ancient Indian practice of Raja Yoga, a tradition that enables the practitioner to realize the higher Self within. While many books describe refined states of being, The Heartfulness Way goes further, providing a pragmatic course to experience those states for oneself, which, per the book’s guiding principle, is “greater than knowledge.” Heartfulness meditation consists of four elements—relaxation, meditation, cleaning, and prayer—and illuminates the ancient, defining feature of yogic transmission (or pranahuti), the utilization of divine energy for spiritual growth and transformation. Using the method, detailed practices, tips, and practical philosophy offered in this book, you’ll reach new levels of attainment and learn to live a life more deeply connected to the values of the Heartfulness way—with acceptance, humility, compassion, empathy, and love.

International best-selling author and spiritual guide Kamlesh D. Patel explains how to use the spiritual practices of Heartfulness to expand your consciousness, evolve your mind, find true happiness, and live your purpose. What does destiny mean in the course of our lives? What is fixed and what can we change? We create our destiny, step-by-step, through the journey of life. Every choice leads us in a certain direction-either toward or away from our life's purpose. We can learn to become purposeful architects of our fate with the practices and lifestyle changes described by Kamlesh D. Patel, founder of the Heartfulness Institute and fourth spiritual guide of this global movement. In Designing Destiny, you will discover: o A practical approach to the fundamental principles of destiny o The four core practices of Heartfulness-relaxation, meditation, cleaning, and prayer-that will expand your consciousness from mundane to divine o The lifestyle changes that lead to true happiness o How to transform your relationships and raise the vibration of our communities o How to progress through the levels of evolution through spiritual practice Heartfulness offers a simple, scientific approach to expand our consciousness, realize our full human potential, and live a purposeful life. As our lifestyle evolves, our ability to design our own destiny-and that of the world-becomes natural and effortless.

A fascinating look at India’s remarkable impact on Western culture, this eye-opening popular history shows how the ancient philosophy of Vedanta and the mind-body methods of Yoga have profoundly affected the worldview of millions of Americans and radically altered the religious landscape. What exploded in the 1960s, following the Beatles trip to India for an extended stay with their new guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, actually began more than two hundred years earlier, when the United States started importing knowledge--as well as tangy spices and colorful fabrics--from Asia. The first translations of Hindu texts found their way into the libraries of John Adams and Ralph Waldo Emerson. From there the ideas spread to Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, and succeeding generations of receptive Americans, who absorbed India’s “science of consciousness” and wove it into the fabric of their lives. Charismatic teachers like Swami Vivekananda and Paramahansa Yogananda came west in waves, prompting leading intellectuals, artists, and scientists such as Aldous Huxley, Joseph Campbell, Allen Ginsberg, J. D. Salinger, John Coltrane, Dean Ornish, and Richard Alpert, aka Ram Dass, to adapt and disseminate what they learned from them. The impact has been enormous, enlarging our current understanding of the mind and body and dramatically changing how we view ourselves and our place in the cosmos. Goldberg paints a compelling picture of this remarkable East-to-West transmission, showing how it accelerated through the decades and eventually moved from the counterculture into our laboratories, libraries, and living rooms. Now physicians and therapists routinely recommend meditation, words like karma and mantra are part of our everyday vocabulary, and Yoga studios are as ubiquitous as Starbuckses. The insights of India’s sages permeate so much of what we think, believe, and do that they have redefined the meaning of life for millions of Americans—and continue to do so every day. Rich in detail and expansive in scope, American Veda shows how we have come to accept and live by the central teaching of Vedic wisdom: “Truth is one, the wise call it by many names.”

In his groundbreaking first book, Your Soul's Plan, Robert Schwartz brought the idea of pre-birth planning into the mainstream. Now, his brilliant sequel Your Soul's Gift delves even deeper by exploring the pre-birth planning of spiritual awakening, miscarriage and abortion, caregiving, abusive relationships, sexuality, incest, adoption, poverty, suicide, rape, and mental illness. Working with a team of gifted mediums, Schwartz brings forth great love and wisdom from the other side to explain why such experiences are planned and the deep, soul-level healing they can create. Through the stories in Your Soul s Gift you can: -Develop greater self-love as you become aware of the tremendous courage it takes for you to plan a life on Earth and to live the life you planned -Emerge from victim consciousness to know yourself as the powerful creator of your life -Forgive those who have hurt you and create a lasting inner peace -Understand the qualities you came into this lifetime to cultivate and express -See profound purpose in experiences that once appeared to be meaningless suffering -Develop a heartfelt knowing of your infinite worth, beauty, magnificence, and sacredness as an eternal soul.

Explaining how mindfulness can be so much more than a practice for reducing stress, enhancing attention, and instilling tranquility, this book describes eight heartfulness principles that help us realize that the deepest expression of an enlightened mind is found in our relation to others. --

Heartfulness is an ideal, a spiritual way of living by and from the heart that is inclusive of all ideologies, beliefs, and religions. In this heart-centered book, a student in conversation with his teacher, Kamlesh D. Patel-affectionately known as Daaji, the fourth and current spiritual guide of the century-old Heartfulness tradition-present a unique and powerful method of meditation that allows readers to have an immediate, tangible spiritual experience, irrespective of their faith. The guiding principle of The Heartfulness Way-''Experience is greater than knowledge.''

Every time surgeons operate, they're betting their skills are better than the brain tumor, the faulty heart valve, the fractured femur. Sometimes, they're wrong. At Chelsea General, surgeons answer for bad outcomes at the Morbidity and Mortality conference, known as M & M. This extraordinary peek behind the curtain into what is considered the most secretive meeting in all of medicine is the back drop for the entire book. Monday Mornings, by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, follows the lives of five surgeons at Chelsea General as they push the limits of their abilities and confront their personal and professional failings, often in front of their peers at M & M. It is on Monday mornings that reflection and introspection occurs, usually in private. It is Monday Mornings that provides a unique look at the real method in which surgeons learn - through their mistakes. It is Monday Mornings when, if you're lucky, you have a chance at redemption.

There is more and more written about mindfulness because of the growing pop-ularity of meditation and Buddhist philosophy. But what about heartfulness? Not that there's anything wrong with mindfulness. In fact, in Buddhist teachings, mind and heart often refer to the same thing.It's just that, in Western civilization, we have come to separate mind and heart. And then we have gone a step further ... we have glorified our minds. The philosopher, Rene Descartes, is famous for the line, "I think, therefore I am." Well, what about "I feel, therefore I am."? And ultimately, in the highest language of the heart, "I love, therefore I am." The two of us believe that love is the highest validation of our existence.Real wisdom can only be found in the heart, in a much deeper place within us. The heart holds the feeling of expansive openness and love and, therefore, the feeling of real power. The mind can be a great tool, but it can also seek control in the guise of power. The heart is already powerful and intuitively knowing, so it has no need to con-trol anything. Those of you who, like us, came of age in the sixties and seventies, remember the excitement and the struggle to bring feelings into our awareness. A big focus of en-counter groups and therapies of that period was to get "out of our heads," to get be-yond our minds and enter the rich domain of feelings, and ultimately our hearts, our love center.Heartfulness means so much more than sentimentality or schmaltz. The heart chakra in yoga is the spiritual center of the body, with three chakras above and three below. It is the balance point between lower body and higher body, or between body and spirit. To dwell in your heart is therefore to be in balance, to integrate the lower three chakras with the higher three.When you are centered in your heart, you are the most powerful. You are like a tree deeply rooted in the earth with its branches reaching to the sky. When you are cen-tered in your heart, you know and feel a deeper spirituality.This book contains writings and stories that all illustrate the many facets of heartfulness. For over 35 years we have taken turns writing a monthly self-syndicated column for newspapers and magazines all over the world. That's over 420 articles! For this book, we have chosen 52 articles that most illustrate heartfulness. That's one per week.Our goal is to lead you into your heart. Our goal is to give you a feeling experi-ence of the heart in its many dimensions. We could say each piece will make you feel good. And this may be true. But each will also challenge you to grow in spiritual awareness, for there is often a certain risk that must be taken before the heart can open. Sometimes we need to leave our comfort zone to really live from the heart.