In the March edition, our authors and artists explore ways to recognize needs and incorporate them into daily life: how to use heartful suggestions to focus resolve; the nature of needs, and how to differentiate between needs and wants; needs in the workplace; and how we become more carefree when we reduce our needs and wants. We learn about ayurvedic principles of healthy eating, the effects of electromagnetic pollution, heartful cooking, and what goes into preparing a yummy healthy breakfast. In the Wisdom Bridge series, Daaji shares some thoughts on cultivating wisdom as a tried and tested way to better understand our own needs and those of others.

1. www.heartfulnessmagazine.com
March 2023
Cultivate Wisdom
DAAJI
When Needs Must
VANESSA,
AMRUTA, &
ANANYA PATEL
Electromagnetic
Pollution
TERRAN DAILY
A Yummy Breakfast
POOJA KINI
G
E
T
T
I
N
G B E T
T
E
R
Needs
&
Wants
S L E E
P

2. mastering-change.org
Stay tuned here for
Spring & Autumn Voyages
Heartful
Adizes Leadership
Heartful Adizes Leaders continually refine vital skills and equip themselves and
others with practical tools to successfully deal with complex challenges.
Always... U-priced!
These courses are offered as a gift, trusting the generosity of participants to support the
development and sustenance of similar in-depth learning journeys.
Celebrating 13 Voyages together!
What people are saying...
It was a great learning
experience. If one says,
“What they don’t teach
you at Harvard”, the
learning in this course
justifies it one hundred
percent!
Prabodh Darvekar
Students edifying each
other is a truly powerful
idea. Teachers almost
need to be careful not to
interfere. It opens up a
universe of learning.
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The concept of the course itself in
getting the voyagers to analyze and
improve their thinking in the decision
making basis the Adizes Techniques
with a touch of Heartfulness, with no
influence from skippers but with the
guided push in the right direction was
the WOW for me.
Adin Jubell

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CREATIVE TEAM
Editorial Team — Elizabeth Denley, Vanessa Patel,
Kashish Kalwani, Christine Prisland, Animesh Anand,
Pankhi Chauhan
Design & Art — Uma Maheswari G, Holly, Jasmee
Mudgal, Ananya Patel, Virinaflora
Writers — Ichak Adizes, Kalyani Adusumilli, Babuji,
Daaji, Terran Daily, Victor Kannan, Pooja Kini, Amruta
Patel, Ananya Patel, Vanessa Patel, Vijay Sahu, Prasad
Veluthanar, Ghazal Yadav
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Heartfulness

5. Are your needs being met?
Dear readers,
By this time of year, we are often frustrated because the healthy habits we decided to include in our lives
at the beginning of 2023 are nowhere to be seen. Perhaps it’s because our New Year’s wish list doesn’t align
with our needs and the reality of the lives we lead.
How can it happen that a wish list is not in sync with our actual needs? When we don’t take the time to
correctly understand our needs. And when we adopt a set of needs we think we should have because of
pressure from others, like family members, peers, or even advertisers, and FOMO. When the wish list
doesn’t stick, then we feel like failures.
So in this edition, our authors and artists explore ways to recognize needs and incorporate them into daily
life. Daaji shows us how to use heartful suggestions in order to focus our resolve. Vanessa, Amruta, and
Ananya Patel explore the nature of needs; and Kalyani Adusumulli helps us differentiate between needs
and wants. Ichak Adizes looks at the needs of clients in the workplace, Ghazal Yadav uses her medical
knowledge to guide us toward better sleeping habits, while Victor Kannan explains how we become more
carefree when we reduce our needs and wants.
Prasad Veluthanar summarizes the ayurvedic principles of healthy eating, Terran Daily looks at the effects
of electromagnetic pollution, Vijay Sahu shares his award-winning approach to heartful cooking, and
Pooja Kini celebrates the interest and intention that go into preparing a yummy healthy breakfast.
In the Wisdom Bridge series, Daaji presents “Principle 2: Be guided by wisdom. Seek it. Cultivate it.
Share it.” Cultivating wisdom is a tried and tested way to better understand our own needs and those of
others.
And this month we start a new series of natural remedies given by Babuji (1899-1983) to his associates –
simple, natural, and can usually be prepared at home.
Happy reading,
The editors
March 2023

6. 6 Heartfulness

7. inside
self-care
Heartful Suggestions
Daaji
12
Getting Better Sleep
Ghazal Yadav
14
What Do You Need?
Kalyani Adusumilli
18
Tonsillitis: Babuji's Natural
Remedies
Babuji
21
inspiration
Be Guided by Wisdom. Seek
It. Cultivate It. Share It.
Daaji
24
The Effects of
Electromagnetic Pollution
Terran Daily
62
creativity
Heartful Cooking
Vijay Sahu
72
Interest, Intention, and a
Yummy Breakfast
Pooja Kini
76
what's up
82
4 Steps to Becoming
Carefree
Victor Kannan
36
workplace
Who Are the Clients?
Ichak Adizes
42
relationships
When Needs Must
Vanessa, Amrutha, and Ananya
Patel
48
environment
Healthy Dietary Principles
Prasad Veluthanar
58
March 2023 7

8. DAAJI
Daaji is the Heartfulness
Guide. He is an innovator and
researcher, equally at home in the
fields of spirituality, science, and
the evolution of consciousness.
He has taken our understanding
of human potential to a new
level.
PRASAD VELUTHANAR
Dr. Prasad did his
Ayurvedacharya medical degree
in Kerala. During his 22 years
of professional practice, he has
worked in India, Mauritius,
Malaysia, Russia, and Egypt. He
was the first Indian Ayurvedic
doctor to practice and propagate
this Indian wisdom in Egypt.
ICHAK ADIZES
Dr. Adizes is a leading
management expert. He has
received 21 honorary doctorates
and is the author of 27 books
that have been translated into 36
languages. He is recognized as
one of the top 30 thought leaders
of America.
VANESSA PATEL
Vanessa is a Heartfulness
practitioner, a Heartful
Communication facilitator,
and an editor of Heartfulness
Magazine. She lives in Baroda,
India, where she has worked
with schools and educators to
bring dynamic English language
programs to children of all ages.
BABUJI
Shri Ram Chandra of
Shahjahanpur, affectionately
known as Babuji, was a
revolutionary spiritual scientist
and philosopher. He was the
founder of the present-day
system of Raja Yoga meditation
known as Heartfulness.
VICTOR KANNAN
Victor is a Director for
Heartfulness Institute, USA,
a practitioner of Heartfulness
Meditation, and a trainer for
more than 30 years. As a career
CFO he combines the benefits
of meditation in everyday
management and responsibilities.
He lives with his wife in Atlanta
and has a daughter.
Heartfulness
8

9. KALYANI ADUSUMULLI
Kalyani is a health law attorney
and writer who lives in Houston,
Texas, with her husband and two
sons. She is a mental health and
mindfulness advocate who went
on a journey to find happiness,
discovered how to help others be
happy, and has become a more
authentic version of herself.
TERRAN DAILY
Terran is an occupational
therapist who worked in the USA
and Scotland for over 40 years,
and now provides Developmental
Therapy at the Wellness Center
in Kanha Shanti Vanam. She has
noticed a dramatic improvement
in many children when exposure
to EMRs and electronic screens
is significantly reduced.
VIJAY SAHU
Executive Chef Vijay was born
in India, graduated from the
National Business Management
College in Sydney, Australia,
then cooked in Thailand, New
York, and now Dallas, TX. His
samosas and chutneys topped
celebrity Bobby Flay’s show, Beat
Bobby Flay, and he has appeared
on the Food Network’s Cutthroat
Kitchen.
ANANYA PATEL
Ananya is a designer and
illustrator who enjoys finding
dynamic ways to tell stories.
She works on projects with
social impact, and runs a youth
collective bringing innovative
design approaches to climate
action and gender equality.
AMRUTA PATEL
Amruta lives in London and
works for the UK Ministry of
Justice. She is a facilitator for
Heartful Communication and a
yoga practitioner, and spends her
free time on long walks exploring
London with friends. She is an
avid reader of mysteries, as well
as literature on public health and
Greek mythology.
GHAZAL YADAV
Ghazal is studying neuroscience
in the medical program at
Texas A&M University and
has published research in
international journals on the
Internet of Things and Special
Education, the neuroscience of
meditation, and breast cancer.
contributors
March 2023 9

10. Caring for your body, mind, and spirit is
your greatest and grandest responsibility.
It’s about listening to the needs of your
soul and then honoring them.
KRISTI LING SPENCER
self-care

12. Humans are social beings. We are
not meant to survive in isolation.
When our inner growth expands
to touch the hearts of others, and
our material prosperity is shared
with others, we all thrive. We are
all connected through the heart,
and deep down we are all united
in the common wish to live a
peaceful, love-filled, joyful, and
prosperous life.
You may already be contributing
to society through charity or
volunteer work, but not all of us
can. So, I would like to share with
you something we can all do for
our fellow beings – 3 heartful
suggestions. They bring immense
benefit to us, to those around us,
and to humanity at large.
So, when you have a free moment,
when you are quiet and there’s
nothing else to do, practice these
heartful suggestions. They have
a ripple effect that spreads both
outward and inward!
Suggestion 1
Everything surrounding us, the
air particles, the people, the
birds, the trees … everything
around us is deeply absorbed
in Godly remembrance. All are
in osmosis with the Source,
and developing increased
peacefulness and moderation.
Heartful
Suggestions
YES, YOU CAN DO IT!
DAAJI
We are all connected through the
heart, and deep down we are all
united in the common wish to live
a peaceful, love-filled, joyful, and
prosperous life.
Thoughts live; they travel far.
—Swami Vivekananda
Heartfulness
12

13. Suggestions are more potent
when they are offered from
the heart rather than just from
the intellect. So, first create a
state of openheartedness within
yourself, and then offer one of the
suggestions. Try offering them at
various times during the day, when
you visit different places, and in
different environments. Which
one is your favorite?
All the best,
Daaji
Suggestion 3
Everyone is being filled with love
and devotion and real faith is
growing stronger in them. Truth
and righteousness are getting
established in the world. All
kinds of distractions faced by
our countries and our globe
are going away. May this entire
Earth be engulfed with peace,
with love, with Divine Grace.
Suggestion 2
Everyone is developing correct
thinking, right understanding,
and an honest approach to life.
They are attaining rightness
in action and perfection in
character.
March 2023 13
SELF-CARE

14. SELF-CARE
GETTING BETTER
Sleep
Heartfulness
14

15. SELF-CARE
I
t is no secret that sleep has
slowly been pushed lower and
lower on society’s priority list
of needs. In the United States,
adults average 6.8 hours of sleep, a
stark difference from 1942, when
the average was 7.9 hours. Sleep
disorders are on the rise, and
melatonin sales in the US have
increased by almost 500%, with
sales of 62 million USD in 2003
compared to 378 million USD in
2014.
With the onset of 2023, most
people will add “sleeping more” to
their New Year’s resolutions. As
with many of the items on their
list, however, this will be easy to
give up quite early into the year.
To truly reprioritize sleep in our
lives, we need to examine the root
of the problem: sleep is no longer
considered a worthy need.
The concept of work-life balance
has dramatically transformed over
the past few decades. “Leaving
work at work” and fully engaging
in our personal lives when we’re
at home seems like a distant
privilege today. The advent of the
smartphone has let work pressure
seep into all hours of the day,
and most people are expected to
remain mentally clocked in after
leaving work.
Despite the fact that we all face
the repercussions of a perimeter-
less workplace environment, the
modern-day tendency to serve
one’s self-interests pushes us
to compete with one another
and propagate the system, thus
compounding the problem. Not
only are we now bogged down
by an eternal workload, but
we feel obliged to cope with it
alone. It is now the individual’s
GHAZAL YADAV asks if we have been sleeping long enough and
soundly enough. She explores the relationships between work-life
balance, toxic productivity, FOMO, social media, and declining
sleep quality around the world.
responsibility to run the career
treadmill and compete, or accept
defeat and fall behind. In today’s
hypercompetitive environment,
choosing to limit one’s ambitions
is a death sentence.
What has accompanied this shift
in society’s perspective on work
is a culture of toxic productivity.
Harsh, quantity-driven output
metrics now dictate how we
spend our time. Life coaches,
self-help books, media, etc., all
now emphasize how to squeeze
out every last bit of work from
one’s day, creating the illusion that
without quantifiable results life
has no inherent meaning. Even the
paradox of relaxing productively is
now a commonly accepted idea.
This is where the issue of sleep
being of lesser importance stems
from. Why sleep when we can
March 2023 15

16. spend the same time making more
money? Why sleep when we can
study harder? Why sleep when we
can spend that time getting ahead
of our peers?
Most college students, including
myself, are familiar with the
infamous College Tripartite
Triangle. This is the idea that a
student will only be able to attain
two out of three main priorities:
good grades, enough sleep, and
a social life. It is ingrained in us
from quite early on that there will
never be a point of balance, and
that we must sacrifice something
in order to live the life we dream
of.
Maintaining good academic
standing is a non-negotiable
priority for most, leaving the
choice between sleep and
socializing. The prevalence of low
self-esteem and loneliness issues in
this young adult age group makes
students more susceptible to the
fear of social exclusion, more
colloquially known as the Fear of
Missing Out. FOMO doesn’t just
encompass the idea of missing out,
but creates a sense of “compulsion
to maintain social connections.”
Naturally, with only 24 hours in
the day, college students facing the
Tripartite Triangle dilemma find it
easiest to compromise on sleep.
In this state of constant stress,
social media is a convenient
outlet. The ability to easily
engage our mind in something
so enticing that we forget our
ongoing struggles creates a cycle
of addiction. Social media has
SELF-CARE
shifted from being a means of
connection to a means of escapism.
Moreover, it seems to solve the
FOMO dilemma in that it offers
the illusion of staying perpetually
connected and up to date with
what our peers are doing.
Unfortunately, social media use,
especially to quench FOMO, can
affect sleep patterns. Those with
FOMO are more likely to check
social media within 15 minutes of
going to sleep. When coupled with
the addictive nature of such apps,
it is normal that usage extends into
the late hours of the night.
Exposure to the blue light emitted
by screens at such hours disrupts
the production of melatonin. This
hormone is integral to our sleep
schedule, reducing alertness and
Heartfulness
16

17. social interactions and remain fully
present for our loved ones in the
personal sphere of life. In 2023, let
us remember to bring sleep back to
the top of our priority list.
signaling to our bodies that it is
time to sleep. And in addition,
continually stimulating the brain
so late into the night makes it
harder for the body to wind down.
Such high levels of cognitive
arousal, especially when we are
physiologically preparing to sleep,
disrupt the sleep cycle.
So, as you plan the changes you
wish to make in 2023, remember
to evaluate what systems have
prevented you from being able
to achieve them until now.
Take the time to pause, reflect,
and reprioritize. Will you
sacrifice sleep for the mirage of
productivity? Will you let your
fear of social exclusion prevent you
from achieving balance in your
life? Prioritizing sleep is a crucial
first step to spending time at work
more efficiently, thus making it
easier to engage in meaningful
SELF-CARE
Illustrations by ANANYA PATEL
Prioritizing sleep is
a crucial first step
to spending time at
work more
efficiently, thus
making it easier to
engage in
meaningful social
interactions and
remain fully present
for our loved ones
in the personal
sphere of life.
March 2023 17

18. What Do You Need?
KALYANI ADUSUMILLI compares wants and needs, and explores how
the simple life helps us keep a check on needs and wants, leading to
contentment and happiness.
Heartfulness
18

19. SELF-CARE
T
o truly find contentment, it
is commonly thought that
we must distinguish between
our needs and wants. Needs imply
basic requirements to survive,
such as water, air, and food; in
other words, that which we cannot
live without. But typically, we
also include the intangible, like
friendship, love, and security,
among our needs.
Needs are supposed to be less
than our wants, so we approach
life practically. After all, we can
want anything, including flying
to the moon! Generally speaking,
our wants are things we assume
will improve our life somehow.
But as our society grows more
materialistic, our wants are
often frivolous, not to mention
numerous.
What happens when we have too
many needs, though? These days
the line between needs and wants
has become increasingly blurry.
One could argue that humankind’s
continuing progress, especially
technological advancement,
naturally leads to a shift in what
we now consider a need.
March 2023 19

20. Illustrations by HOLLY
SELF-CARE
But then, is that actual progress if
our needs are more complex as a
result? How many of us consider a
smartphone a need? They certainly
make life convenient. But at the
expense of what? Are we happier
and more productive? For me, it’s a
resounding “No!”
There’s a reason simplicity works
better. There’s less clutter in our
minds and more room to focus
on what truly makes us thrive
– health, happiness, a sense of
purpose, and love. As our needs
grow, so do our stress levels and
reliance on the external. But with
less dependence, there is more
freedom. Freedom to be.
What if we took a step back to
when we had everything that we
needed simply by waking up to a
new day, a fresh chance at living
fully? Back when we treated our
planet more gently, in appreciation
of its beauty and its bounty. Back
when we walked across the street
and knocked at a neighbor’s house
to pass the time. Back when we
just needed the bare minimum to
flourish because we had everything
that we needed in each other.
What do you really need?
There’s a reason simplicity works better.
There’s less clutter in our minds and more
room to focus on what truly makes us
thrive – health, happiness, a sense of
purpose, and love.
Heartfulness
20

21. During his lifetime, BABUJI shared a
wealth of knowledge to his associates
about the simple natural remedies that
he learned and also discovered during his
life in northern India. In this series we will
be sharing some of these, starting with
his remedies for tonsillitis.1
Babuji’s
NATURAL REMEDIES:
Tonsillitis
INGREDIENTS
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp ground pepper
1 tbsp cow ghee
2 tsp chuna paste or slaked lime
(calcium hydroxide)
2 tsp honey
METHOD
Mix the ground ginger, ground
turmeric, ground pepper, and cow
ghee together and take orally
before going to sleep. After taking
this mixture, no water should be
taken.
1 Please note that these remedies are not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Please
seek the advice of your physician or qualified health provider. These remedies may be used to complement medical
treatment and support recovery.
External application: Apply
chuna paste around the neck once
a day for up to 40 days. Chuna is
readily available in India as a thick
paste in small containers. Open
the container and immediately add
the chuna and honey together in a
small bowl and mix to remove the
lumps. Then straight away apply
the mixture all over the throat. It
will dry quickly and can then be
washed off.
N.B. Care must be taken not to get it
in the eyes, as it can cause harm to
the cornea.
March 2023 21

22. Image by RAWPIXEL.COM

23. A life of unremitting
caution, without the
carefree – or even,
occasionally, the
careless – may turn out
to be half a life.
ANNA QUINDLEN
inspiration

24. BeGuidedby
Wisdom.
SeekIt.
CultivateIt.
ShareIt.
T H E W I S D O M B R I D G E S E R I E S
PRINCIPLE 2:

25. WAYFINDERS, SHAMANS,
AND GRANDPARENTS: THE
WISDOM BRIDGE
Walking to the store with your
grandfather and buying rock
candy, licking the cake batter off
grandmother’s baking bowl, or
in the case of my three-year-old
granddaughter, cuddling up in my
lap and watching the night sky:
grandparents and grandchildren
share a connection that makes
even the mundane memorable. In
their togetherness, wisdom flows
from one generation to another.
Sometimes I think about why the
connection between grandparents
and grandchildren feels so
special. Is it familial love or is
something else at play? There
are many theories, and the one I
find compelling is from the late
American comedian and author
Sam Levenson. I remember a joke
which went like, “Grandparents
and grandchildren get along so
well because they share a common
enemy.” Ha!
Jokes aside, according to
anthropologists, what makes the
connection between grandparents
and grandchildren special goes
back thousands of years, to our
days as hunter-gatherers. In
those times, when children were
old enough to stay apart from
their parents, grandparents,
mainly the grandmothers, took
care of the children. While
parents hunted and foraged for
food, the grandmothers taught
the children how to spot water
sources, how to make a fire and
how to hunt; essentially, how to
survive. Anthropologists believe
that the care and nurturing by our
grandparents is one of the reasons
why the human race survived,
while other species stronger and
bigger than we are were wiped
out.1
What makes the
bond between
grandparents and
grandchildren
so special goes
back thousands of
years ago to our
days as hunter-
gatherers.
1
O’Connell, J.F. et al., 1999.
“Grandmothering and the evolution
of Homo erectus,” Journal of Human
Evolution 36, no. 5: 461–485,
https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.1998.0285.
In September 2022, DAAJI released his latest book, The
Wisdom Bridge, which is a bestseller. Throughout 2023, we’ll be
sharing excerpts from the various chapters of this insightful
book to give you a taste of the wisdom it offers. This month,
Daaji focuses on Principle 2 – Be guided by wisdom. Seek it.
Cultivate it. Share it.
March 2023 25
INSPIRATION

26. Fast forward to urban society,
where forests and savannahs have
made way for apartments and
villas, parents forage in concrete
jungles and server farms. And
grandparents continue to do what
they did. They teach the children
life skills. No matter how little
time the children may have spent
with their grandparents, they
would have learned something
from them. It’s as if grandparents
and grandchildren are hardwired
in a way that grandparents share
knowledge, and grandchildren
imbibe them.2
Thanks to this hardwiring,
generational wisdom flows from one
generation to another. From the
basic skills like cooking, knitting,
speaking, and reading to virtues
like humility, compassion, and
generosity, the term generational
wisdom covers the gamut. In
a family, the elders, mainly the
grandparents, carry the mantle of
transferring generational wisdom.
For this reason, I refer to our
elders as living wisdom bridges.
To understand a wisdom bridge,
let’s first understand what a bridge
is. In simplest terms, a bridge is a
connection where a gap once lay,
a path where once none existed.
The Norse gods built the Bifrost,
a celestial bridge, to connect the
nine realms. Lord Rama built
a bridge that connected what
we know today as India and Sri
Lanka. With regard to us mere
mortals, we are bridge builders too.
To connect with another person,
we build an attention bridge. To
allow the flow of ideas, we build
an awareness bridge. To transfer
wisdom, we build a wisdom bridge.
The elders are the living
wisdom bridges in society. Close
association with the elders enables
children to imbibe their wisdom
in a natural way. For example, a
child can be taught morals – be
kind, speak with love, judge not,
2
Ibid.
No matter how little
time the children
may have spent
with their
grandparents, they
would have learned
something from
them.
Heartfulness
26
INSPIRATION

27. and so on. But when a child is
with the grandparents and sees
their kindness in actions, feels
the softness in their speech, and
witnesses the calmness in their
demeanor, the wisdom flows
straight into the child’s heart.
Parents too can teach all this, but
they are busy. Grandparents have
the time, and they love to share
with the little ones.
If you are a parent, you know the
smile the elders bring to your
child’s face. You know the special
place your children have in their
hearts for their grandparents. In
societies where generations are
close-knit, the transfer of wisdom
happens naturally. And what
happens when generations are
disconnected? You live in your
little islands, cut off not only
from wisdom but also from each
other. Over time, each generation
feels more disconnected than the
previous one. Centuries from now,
when future humanity studies our
society, what will they find? Will
they discover that we preserved
wisdom? Or will they study us to
learn what not to do?
Let me share with you stories from
two ancient cultures that will help
you understand the importance of
generational wisdom. For centuries
these cultures thrived, thanks to
strong wisdom bridges, but today
they are dying as the wisdom
bridges collapse.
Two Ancient Cultures And
Lessons In Generational
Wisdom
History books tell us about the
voyages of explorers such as
Ferdinand Magellan and James
Cook and their discovery of new
islands in the Pacific Ocean. A
lot has been written about their
battles, conquests, mutinies and
the sicknesses they brought with
them. One aspect we don’t read
about as much is how surprised
the explorers were when they
landed on the Pacific islands.
The Pacific islands are thousands
of miles apart,3
and the explorers
expected them to be uninhabited.
Instead, they found a civilization
of people with similar culture
and values, thriving on island
after island. What perplexed
the explorers was that there was
no navy or sophisticated sailing
equipment on these islands.
“How shall we account for this
Nation spreading itself so far
over this vast ocean?” Captain
Cook wrote in his journal during
his third and final voyage in
1778.4
To give you an idea of the
vastness Captain Cook refers to,
he was referring to the Polynesian
Triangle. In the South Pacific
Ocean, the Polynesian Triangle
covers an area of 10 million square
miles.5
To put this in perspective,
Europe and the United States
together account for 8 million
3
Foster, S and J.F. West, 2020. “Pacific
Islands,” Encyclopedia Britannica,
November 17, 2020, https://www.
britannica.com/place/Pacific-Islands.
4
Cook, J., 2003. The Journals of
Captain Cook. Penguin Books,
London, UK.
5
Hinz, E.R., 1999. Landfalls of
Paradise: Cruising Guide to the
Pacific Islands.
Centuries from now,
when future
humanity studies
modern-day
society, what will
they find? Will they
discover that we
preserved wisdom?
March 2023 27
INSPIRATION

28. When a wayfinder dies or a shaman passes on to the other
realm, a library burns down to the ground. All the knowledge, all
the wisdom passed down for ages vanishes in an instant.
Across cultures, we are witnessing a mass extinction of wisdom,
which affects all of us.
Heartfulness
28
INSPIRATION

29. square miles. Captain Cook could
not fathom how a nation without
a navy was thriving across the
islands that were thousands of
miles apart.
Today, thanks to scientific
evidence, we know that the
Polynesians were masters of
navigation. Centuries before the
European explorers ventured
out on expeditions, wayfinders
from east Indonesia and the
Philippines settled in Polynesia.
The wayfinders travelled in simple
canoes with sails. They had no
special equipment, not even a
compass. Yet, they conquered
the seas centuries before the
Europeans did.
The wayfinders’ genius lay in
their generational wisdom.
The wisdom bridges, spanning
one generation to another,
transferred the knowledge of
navigation. Grandparents and
grandchildren walked the wisdom
bridges together. The elders,
while catching fish with the
children, taught them about ocean
currents. While making sundials
with seashells, they sang songs
describing the movement of stars.
Lying on the beach as they gazed
at clouds, grandparents taught how
to differentiate a storm cloud from
three days earlier, which looked
more like a flower, from those that
had appeared recently. Wayfinders
had an oral tradition, and the
generational connection was
crucial for their culture to thrive.
The responsibility of preserving
the generational connection fell
on the shoulders of the palus, the
master navigators. The palus were
among the respected village elders,
and it was their duty to guide the
people and mentor them. For the
palu, the ocean was an extension
of his being. While sailing, looking
at the playful bounce of the
water against the canoe, the palu
could identify the islands that lay
kilometers away. In the middle of
a voyage, it wasn’t uncommon for
a palu to lie down in the hull of
the canoe. It wasn’t for a siesta, but
to feel the vibrations of the waves
against his body; that way, the
palu identified the ocean currents.
With the slightest shift in the
cloud patterns, a palu could predict
a storm three days out. For most
of us, it’s difficult to remember a
handful of phone numbers. But a
palu, if you can find one today, can
still name hundreds of stars and
plot their movement across the
sky.6
Like the wayfinders, one more
culture also has an oral tradition.
To meet them we will have
to travel to the lungs of the
Earth, the tropical forests of the
Amazon. There, the tree canopy
is so thick that the forest floor
is always covered in darkness. In
these brooding forests live the
enigmatic medicine men – the
The wayfinders’
genius lay in their
generational
wisdom. The
wisdom bridges,
spanning one
generation to
another, transferred
the knowledge of
navigation.
Grandparents and
grandchildren
walked the wisdom
bridges together.
6
Thompson, C., 2019. “The Enduring
Mysteries of How Polynesia was
Settled,” Interview by J. Bologna and
W. Wuthmann, Fresh Air, NPR, updated
29 March 2019, https://www.wbur.org/
radioboston/2019/03/29/mysteries-
polynesiasettled.
March 2023 29
INSPIRATION

30. shamans of the Amazon. They
have long been curing diseases
ranging from simple fevers to even
Bell’s palsy. They are the walking
encyclopedias of the Amazon
jungles.
Ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin has
dedicated his life to preserving
the rainforests. In his popular
TED talk from October 2014,
Mark shares his encounter with a
shaman:
Now four years ago, I injured my foot
in a climbing accident and I went to
the doctor. She gave me heat, she gave
me cold, aspirin, narcotic painkillers,
anti-inflammatories, cortisone shots.
It didn’t work.
Several months later, I was in the
northeast Amazon, walked into a
village, and the shaman said, “You’re
limping.” And I’ll never forget this
as long as I live. He looked me in the
face, and he said, “Take off your shoe
and give me your machete.”
He walked over to a palm tree and
carved off a fern, threw it in the fire,
applied it to my foot, threw it in a
pot of water and had me drink the
tea.
The pain disappeared for seven
months. When it came back, I went
to see the shaman again. He gave me
the same treatment, and I’ve been
cured for three years now. Who would
you rather be treated by?7
According to industry data, it
takes $2.6 billion and, on average,
fourteen years to develop a new
drug.8
The failure rate in finding a
new drug is as high as 95 percent.9
So then why aren’t TV studios
streaming shaman specials or why
aren’t Silicon Valley entrepreneurs
clamoring to decode the ancient
wisdom? Because these once-
thriving cultures are now reduced
to an endangered tribe. The
cultures that worshipped the seas
and revered the trees lost out to
cultures that exploited the seas and
axed the trees.
7
Plotkin, M., 2014. “What the people
of the Amazon know that you don’t.”
TED.com, https://www.ted.com/talks/
mark_plotkin_what_the_people_
of_the_amazon_know_that_you_
don_t?language=en.
8
2015. “Drug Development Costs
Jump to $2.6 Billion,” Cancer
Discovery 5, no. 2, DOI: 10.1158/2159-
8290. CD-NB2014-188.
9
“About New Therapeutic Uses,”
National Center for Advancing
Translational Sciences (NIH),
Accessed January 4, 2022, https://
ncats.nih.gov/ntu/about.
Heartfulness
30
INSPIRATION

31. Why does it matter if a tribe
vanishes? What do we lose if there
are no wayfinders or shamans
left? When a wayfinder dies or
a shaman passes on to the other
realm, a library burns down to
the ground. All the knowledge,
all the wisdom passed down for
ages vanishes in an instant. Across
cultures, we are witnessing a mass
extinction of wisdom, which
affects all of us. When we lose
wisdom, human progress halts.
There is a cliched but useful
adage, “Don’t reinvent the wheel.”
When we lose wisdom, we keep
reinventing the wheel. Problems
that were already solved will have
to be solved all over again.
Your elders need not be wayfinders
and shamans to make the case
for generational wisdom and
how it impacts your family. Our
detour into the Pacific islands
and the Amazon shows that
the generations before us faced
problems like we are facing today.
The elders in your family have
life skills and learnings relevant
to your family’s flourishing. They
may not have all the answers, but
you can learn from their successes
and failures. You can blend
wisdom and technology to create
a lifestyle that helps your family
thrive. There are many stories in
this book that show how science
and wisdom come together to
improve your quality of life.
Be curious to learn more about age-old
customs and practices. Instead of
discarding them as superstitions and
rituals, distil the essence behind the
customs and take what is valuable. It will
help you re-imagine the village as a place
that brings technology and wisdom
together for your children and your family.
March 2023 31
INSPIRATION

32. wisdom that your family’s future
generations will carry forward.
An imperfect past and a
work-in-progress present
I’m not a nostalgia merchant
peddling wisdom ware to talk
about the good old days and
complain about how we have it
all wrong today. Sometimes, we
feel that we had it all figured out
in the past, and as time went by,
we lost our way. It’s important
to remember that the past wasn’t
perfect. When you read about
the wayfinders and the Amazon
tribes, you learn that prejudice,
jealousy and greed affected their
generations too. The fight for
land, the rivalry between clans,
the secrecy around knowledge,
and the hunger for power were
present in those cultures too. But
a lot of good was passed down
from one generation to another,
and a lot of evil also made its
way down. Just as precious ore is
found after sifting through tons of
gangue, it’s our responsibility to
sift through what we receive and
discern wisdom from waste. Your
heart guides you in developing
discernment.
The knowledge, experience and
intuition of generations comes
together to form wisdom. A
life without wisdom is a life of
ignorance. Wisdom helps you to
avoid rookie mistakes and protects
your families from unnecessary
complications. The steadying hand
that comes from generational
wisdom is a positive influence in a
child’s life.
Be curious to learn more about
age-old customs and practices.
Instead of discarding them as
superstitions and rituals, distil the
essence behind the customs and
take what is valuable. It will help
you re-imagine the village as a
place that brings technology and
wisdom together for your children
and your family.
Also, you may not be a family
elder or a grandparent yet, but
one day you might become one.
At that time, as an elder of the
family, you will carry the mantle of
passing on wisdom to the young
ones. What kind of elder do you
want to be? How do you want your
grandchildren to remember you?
Understanding the importance
of generational wisdom today
will prepare you for the future.
What you share then will be the
The knowledge, experience and intuition of generations
comes together to form wisdom. A life without wisdom is a
life of ignorance. Wisdom helps you to avoid rookie mistakes
and protects your families from unnecessary complications.
The steadying hand that comes from generational wisdom is
a positive influence in a child’s life.
Heartfulness
32
INSPIRATION

33. The living wisdom bridges – our
grandmothers, our grandfathers,
and our elders – are the arteries
through which life experiences
have flowed. There are 1 billion
people in the world today who are
grandparents.10
It’s a demographic
dividend that is glossed over in
urban society. In the modern
lifestyle, a world steeped in pace,
the living wisdom bridges around
us have slipped away into the
shadows. Through this book I
am shining the spotlight back on
them.
The governments have reduced
them to line items in welfare
and healthcare budgets. Families
agonize over how best to care
for them. The elderly themselves
struggle to find a voice, a final
hurrah. They deserve better. We
have to do better. And most
importantly, our children need
their wisdom. As the world
population becomes grayer and
older, our efforts to rebuild
generational connections will help
us all. We need to make wisdom
relevant again in our lives, through
the wise who can pour it into
those hearts that can receive it.
10
Moore, S and D. Rosenthal, 2016.
Grandparenting: Contemporary
Perspectives. Routledge, UK.
The living wisdom bridges – our
grandmothers, our grandfathers, and our
elders – are the arteries through which
life experiences have flowed.
March 2023 33
INSPIRATION

34. time for your children and their
grandfather to speak. Your role as a
parent is to set up the conversation
so that they meet regularly. Fix
the timings, use a good device,
ensure the internet bandwidth is
good, and so on. Try to remove
the friction points that technology
may cause. This will make it easier
for the elders to use technology.
The elders are more comfortable
in-person, and they find it easier
to communicate this way. Initially,
on a video call or e-meet, you
may have to suggest some ideas,
give some prompts to help them
get into a flow. You only need
to do this a few times here and
there and then the conversation
starts to flow. If you can, try and
record some of these sessions. You
will enjoy seeing them with the
children when they grow up.
From Chapter 1 of The Wisdom
Bridge.11
To be continued.
Daily Dilemma:
Q: My children love reading
and listening to stories. Their
grandfather, who lives in a
different city, instilled the
habit of reading in them, and
of listening to the exciting
stories he’d tell. They miss their
grandfather. I would love to tell
them stories, but they just tell
me I’m not doing it as well as he
did. What should I do?
Daaji: Most families today live
far away from each other. So,
we should use technology to
bridge the gap. Set up a regular
11
Patel, K.D., 2022. The Wisdom
Bridge: Nine Principles to a Life that
Echoes in the Hearts of Your Loved
Ones. Penguin, India.
Illustrations by JASMEE MUDGAL
Heartfulness
34
INSPIRATION

35. W I S D O M B R I D G E . I N
ORDER your copy at
hfn.link/orderTWB
“It is both an inspiring and practical resource
the parents will refer to often as they care for
their children.”
- JACK MILLER, Professor, University
of Toronto, and author of The Holistic
Curriculum and Whole Child Education
“As the old African Proverb states, “It takes a
village to raise a child,” you can now consider
Daaji part of your family's village.”
- LASHAUN MARTIN, National Vice
President, Operations, Mocha Moms, Inc.
Gospel Recording Artist
“A timely book that families will benefit from,
including my own.”
- PULLELA GOPICHAND, Chief National
Coach Indian Badminton Team, recipient of
the Padma Bhushan
“Whether it’s music or life, what matters is
growing self-awareness. I impart this lesson
through the flute, and Daaji does this through
his teachings.”
- Pt. HARIPRASAD CHAURASIA,
internationally acclaimed flautist, teacher,
and winner of multiple awards and
recognitions globally
“I find the wisdom in this book enlightening.”
- CLANCY MARTIN, Professor of
Philosophy, contributing editor, Harper’s
Magazine
From the bestselling author of The Heartfulness Way and Designing Destiny
D A A J I
Kamlesh D. Patel
In The Wisdom Bridge, Daaji offers nine principles to guide
you, the reader, to live a life that inspires your children and
your loved ones. These principles are important references for
parents, parents-to-be, grandparents and caregivers to create
fulfilling and happy lives. They will not only help you enrich
the lives of your children and raise responsible teenagers, but
pave the way for an inspired life and resilient bonds in your
family.
The Wisdom Bridge
B E S T S E L L E R

36. T
he term carefree is
generally used to
characterize our lives as
children, when we roam around
without a care in the world.
“Carefree” is a state of mind
without worries. This may be
true for children, but as we grow
older we are beset with a ton
of responsibilities, and worries
pile up. Our energy flow is
affected, and we lose freshness
in our feelings. This grows into
a debilitating situation, and
we are drowned in a state of
Steps to
VICTOR KANNAN explores
the concept of carefreeness
and what that means. He
also offers us 4 simple steps
to regaining lightness and
carefree happiness.
Carefree
Becoming
4
36 Heartfulness

37. INSPIRATION
helplessness. How then can we
be carefree as adults?
Carefree does not mean
indifferent, careless, or uncaring.
We tell others, especially young
ones, to pay attention and be
careful as they go to school,
play, bike, or participate in
sports activities. We inspire
partners and employees to be
caring, and pin them for their
uncaring attitude. We blame
others for being careless when
we damage a valuable item,
such as a vase or a statue.
Being uncaring, careless, and
not paying attention are vastly
different from being carefree.
In the middle of it all is the
idea of caring: “How much to
care?” and “What to care for?”
are the questions that surround
the attitude of being carefree.
Caring is a value, whereas
being careful and uncaring
are personality traits. Values
are taught early in life and
are part of our upbringing.
Children catch these critical
values from their parents,
families, and the environment
in which they grow up. Values
form a foundation for life.
Caring unfolds in how we treat
people and do things. It shows
in kindness, compassion, and
generosity, and in the ability
to pay attention to detail
when doing things. Many of
us go after knowledge, as it
gives us power. But power is
not easily sustained without a
caring attitude. The American
President Theodore Roosevelt
said, “No one cares how much
you know, until they know how
much you care.”
What happens when we
behave in an uncaring manner?
Uncaring is selfish, and it
lacks etiquette. It has a high
concentration of ego, self-
centricity, and uncouthness.
Over time, this results in
isolation and loneliness. Who
will associate with someone
who does not care for etiquette
and relationships?
Carelessness, on the other
hand, is a lack of interest,
pride, patience, faith, and
passion. It shows in sloppy
work, lack of progress, constant
turmoil, and chaos in teams
and relationships. Careless
work results in unintended
consequences. A careless
person speaks without restraint
and awareness. Carelessness
means lack of attention to
work and people, and also
means not handling things
properly. Carelessness is a
state of ignorance. While an
uncaring attitude is due to the
ego, carelessness is due to the
lack of development of our real
intelligence.
Caring unfolds in
how we treat
people and do
things. It shows in
kindness,
compassion, and
generosity, and in
the ability to pay
attention to
detail when doing
things.
March 2023 37

38. The carefree
condition is a
balanced
condition of the
mind, free of
excitement or
dejection.
INSPIRATION
Amidst the caring, careful,
uncaring, and careless people,
we also come across people who
are carefree. Carefree people
exhibit a condition of flow,
joy, and happiness. They don’t
take up the gossip and curious
inquiry of their friends, family
members, or colleagues. When
we are in their presence we feel
expanded and safe. We don’t
feel the need to be guarded. A
person who is doing a spiritual
practice for self-development
will enjoy this condition of
being carefree at times. And as
they grow in spirituality, the
carefree condition becomes more
and more permanent.
The carefree condition is a
balanced condition of the mind,
free of excitement or dejection.
To develop such a condition
takes practice – a practice that
helps in the moderation of
tendencies and reducing the
swings of the mind.
The spiritual Guide, Lalaji
(1873–1931), describes how
we can reach the condition of
carefree happiness: “The mind
has the middle position where
there is the mixed condition
of happiness and sorrow. And
when the mind rises above
these two stages and reaches
the spirit or the causal body, it
gets peace, stability and carefree
happiness.”1
1
Lalaji, 2018. Truth Eternal. Shri
Ram Chandra Mission, India.
38 Heartfulness

39. STEPS TO BECOMING CAREFREE
1. Moderate your tendencies
Become aware of your excesses and accept them
as a challenge to overcome. Then practice self-
development to overcome these personality
challenges and shortcomings. Try to get rid
of your negative personality traits, which we
formed due to the collection of impressions or
samsakaras. Adopt practices such as Heartfulness
Relaxation, Meditation, Cleaning, introspection,
and visualization to reprogram your personality.
Eventually you will gain control over your mind
and behavior. You will start thinking correctly,
which helps in processing future possibilities and
choices in a more positive manner.
2. Reduce your wants and needs
This will help you develop a carefree state
of mind, as there is less to worry about. The
tendency of wanting more and more to be
comfortable, or to have a sense of self or safety,
can be moderated and refined. Otherwise,
you won’t know the difference between wants
and needs. You will be mentally captured by
the things you accumulate. More things, more
to worry about. More unnecessary things,
more unnecessary worries. There is wisdom in
simplifying your life. It will tremendously improve
your carefree status.
3. Clean as you go
The micro-practice of “spot cleaning” in
Heartfulness will help you to remove mental
impressions as they are forming throughout the
day. Otherwise, left untended they may trigger
a samskaric engagement. Spot cleaning helps to
develop a carefree state of mind.
INSPIRATION
4. Have faith
Have the faith that when you do your best, only
the best possible outcome will follow. Faith also
contains the attitude of total acceptance, and if
the outcome is less than optimal, more effort will
follow, without a doubt, or a trace of concern.
Finally, every now and again try to be carefree.
Feel it and enjoy it. It does not mean being
irresponsible. It is like resting before activity
begins. You are fresh, light, creative, and
productive. Adding wonder and gratitude to this
carefree condition will take your whole being to
a new dimension of existence. Only when you
experience such a condition of being, will you
appreciate it. It is worth striving for.
39
March 2023

40. Until you make the
unconscious conscious, it
will direct your life and
you will call it fate.
CARL JUNG
Image by RAWPIXEL.COM
WORKPLACE

42. Who Are the
Clients?
DR. ICHAK ADIZES explores the needs of customers, clients,
shareholders, and management, and raises a few realistic questions
that will bring focus and purpose to any organization.
JUST THINKING AND FEELING
Heartfulness
42

43. WORKPLACE
I
n order to be healthy, you have
to be effective. In order to be
effective, the system works, the
system produces what it needs
to produce. But in order to be
effective, you have to identify
the clients you are serving. Who
are the clients? Clients are not
necessarily those who consume
the product or the service. They
are customers. Clients are the ones
who decide to buy. Who decides?
That is your client.
When my kids were young, I
used to take them every Sunday
for brunch. I liked to go to a
restaurant called Love because
they had baked beans, which I
liked. Guess where we went?
McDonald’s. Who decided?
The kids. So who are the clients
of McDonald’s? I was the one
carrying the wallet. That’s why
McDonald’s is very good at
marketing. It is oriented to the
kids. They promote to the kids.
They have playgrounds for the
kids in front of the restaurant. The
menu focuses on the kids.
Who decides is the client.
If you are a real estate developer
in a developed country like the
United States, go to New York.
Look at their apartments. The
kitchens are very small. What’s
going on? People eat out. Who is
the client? The wife. That’s who
decides what to buy. So, when you
ask yourself, I want to be effective,
I want my company to be effective,
focus on who decides. In the B2B
business, there are multiple people
who decide. The finance people,
any one of them can veto. Now
you have to look at all the different
needs and develop a separate pitch
for each one of them.
What about the shareholders? Are
they not the clients? They want to
get a return on their investment.
And that, by the way, is economic
theory. For them, the client of
the business is the shareholders.
That’s why we aim how to
produce profits for them. But what
happens? We are forgetting the
customers. We are forgetting the
clients. Sometimes we undermine
the needs of the clients to satisfy
the needs of the shareholders. We
end up selling clients food that is
not healthy.
So what are the shareholders? For
me they are stakeholders. There is
a goal, we have to satisfy the needs
of the stakeholders. There is no
question about it. Why? So they
continue to cooperate. So you can
satisfy the needs of the clients. You
have to satisfice. Herbert Simon
called it satisficing: to do enough
to satisfy. We have to satisfy the
needs of the stakeholders so they
give you the resources to satisfy
the real needs of your customer.
That is your focus. The clients.
Stakeholders should be happy
enough, but with clients, more is
better. For stakeholders, enough
is good enough. For whom do you
exist? For your clients. And how
do you know if you are satisfying
their needs?
Look at a restaurant. If you own
a restaurant, and the clients,
the customers, are not coming
back, you’re going to run out of
customers. Unless you are a tourist
trap, because there are always
tourists. The client in a tourist trap
is the owner. And the customer is
just a vessel to make money for the
owner. That is why in tourist traps
the food is so lousy.
Whom do you want to satisfy?
Whom do you want to come back?
March 2023 43

44. WORKPLACE
If your spouse is not coming back,
there is a need you did not satisfy.
If the children are not coming
back, dispersed around the world,
there is a reason.
Are you a client too? You have a
need too, right? Yes, but watch it.
You should not be a client. You
should be a stakeholder. Satisfy
your needs sufficiently, so you can
serve that for which you exist – as
a parent, as a leader, as a scientist,
as an innovator – whatever it is.
If you are the client, everything
is to satisfy your needs, you are
egocentric.
And by the way, it doesn’t
have to be an external client.
Every department, every unit
inside the company has clients.
They have to buy your services.
Accounting has external clients
for information but everybody
inside also needs information. But
they cannot decide because we
have a monopoly over their needs.
Accounting has to buy my services,
they cannot go outside. In that
case, be honest. Just honest.
Close your eyes and ask yourself,
who needs my services? Next, what
do they need? And would they buy
outside if they had the choice to
do so? Would my spouse stay with
me if they had a choice not to stay
with me? Be honest.
And now we have an exercise I
would like you to do. Who are the
clients of a hospital? Who are the
clients of a prison? Who are the
clients of a school? Who are the
clients of the government? There
is a lot of confusion that creates a
lot of problems and inefficiencies
and bureaucracies, so we’d better
discuss it.
Just thinking and feeling,
Dr. Ichak Kalderon Adizes
https://www.ichakadizes.com/
post/who-are-the-clients
Heartfulness
44

46. relationships

47. All human actions
are an attempt to
meet needs.
MARSHALL
ROSENBERG

48. When Needs Must
Heartfulness
48

49. Nonviolent Communication, now also known as Compassionate Communication
and Needs-based Relating, was developed by Dr. Marshall Rosenberg, who
firmly believed that people enjoy contributing to one another’s well-being more
than anything else. Through an emphasis on deep listening, NVC helps us to
learn to hear our own deeper needs and those of others, and discover the depth
of our compassion. It brings an awareness that all of us are trying to honor
universal values and needs, every minute, every day.
Needs Consciousness is one of the core pillars of NVC, where Dr. Rosenberg
suggests “all human actions are an attempt to meet needs.” Things like
respect, acceptance, security, contributing to others, belonging, learning,
relaxation, harmony, and many more - we all share. Here, VANESSA PATEL and
her daughters AMRUTA and ANANYA explore needs, including what they are, and
how we experience them in everyday life.
being, though we may experience
different needs at different times
and with varied intensity. Very
importantly, needs are always
expressed positively because
they’re life-nourishing. There is no
such thing as a negative need.
Amruta: Since needs are universal
and experienced by everyone,
they give us an opportunity to
connect and empathize with the
experiences of others. All our
actions are an attempt to meet our
needs, and this consciousness can
help us look beyond what someone
says or does, to connect with why
they may be doing that, or what
might be motivating them to say
something in particular.
Vanessa: Needs also lead to
feelings: our feelings arise directly
from our needs. When our needs
are met, we experience so-called
positive feelings; and when they’re
not met we experience feelings
that we don’t enjoy.
Ananya: I experienced this
recently. A couple of weeks ago,
we were supposed to take a flight
from Ahmedabad to Varanasi,
but because of bad weather the
flight was cancelled. On the same
day Amruta was leaving for the
UK, and she was still at home in
Baroda.
We were quite stressed and
harried, as we didn’t really have
Vanessa: The word “need”
sometimes has different meanings.
For example, “needs” can be
interpreted as being needy. So how
can we better understand needs in
the NVC context? And perhaps we
can look at other words we can use
instead of “needs.”
Ananya: Needs are also our
values, the fundamental human
motivators, our longings,
yearnings, aspirations. They can
be seen as energies that bring
nourishment and add value to our
lives. They are motivators that
drive what we do and what we say.
It is important to understand that
needs are universal, and they’re
experienced by every human
March 2023 49
RELATIONSHIPS

50. any clarity on the situation. We
wanted to get to Varanasi as soon
as possible, so we also wanted
efficiency. It was hard to pinpoint
those needs at that moment, but
we knew we wanted to support our
team members in Varanasi, and
we wanted some ease and clarity
on how to overcome the situation.
Amruta was at home hearing all
this from us.
Amruta: I was feeling sad because
you had left. I was missing our
companionship. At the same time,
I was also feeling excited for you,
because you were going to have a
good time in Varanasi, and a lot
of planning went into it. That met
my need for your well-being and
shared joy.
When you told me about
the alternatives – staying in
Ahmedabad to take a later flight,
or coming back to Baroda and
traveling back to the airport with
me again a few hours later – I
didn’t say anything because I didn’t
want to influence your decision.
Obviously, I would have liked
you to come back, but you had
to decide how best to meet your
needs for efficiency and clarity. I
think somewhere in there you also
had a need for ease, and so you
came back home.
Vanessa: We saw the biggest
smile on your face when we
returned home that evening, and
it dissipated the frustration and
fatigue we felt thinking about
doing the journey all over again
later the same day. So, it was
a textbook situation: although
we were able to empathize with
ourselves and feel okay about
being a little helpless, we were also
very happy to have company.
Ananya: The same situation
was seen from two perspectives.
Because our needs were different,
and of varied intensity, our
responses to the situation reflected
that; yet, because we wanted
similar things for each other
and for ourselves, we were easily
able to connect with each other,
even though we were focused on
different things.
Vanessa: We were very happy
to be with each other and gain
support for the situation. But I’m
sure there are other times when
you say, “Okay, I need some space.”
Are there occasions when you feel,
“I could be enjoying something
else rather than being with
family”?
Ananya: In the routine of our
daily lives, the needs we face don’t
really jump out at us, or we don’t
acknowledge their presence. For
example, as I am living at home
with family, my need for nurturing
and support is regularly met. It’s
an important need for me, which
is met on such a regular basis that
when my friends want to meet
up, or there’s an opportunity to
do something with other people,
I often choose to go. I don’t take
it for granted that my family is
always there, but it’s a need that is
met so regularly that other needs
become more alive when new
situations come up.
Vanessa: How, how does that
resonate with you, Amruta?
Amruta: I like that you said
“other needs become more alive”
because certain needs are met
quite regularly. For me, my need
for space and autonomy is met
on a daily basis, as I live on my
own away from family. So, when I
come here, I feel a strong need for
connection. It comes alive more
intensely at certain intervals, and
RELATIONSHIPS
Although we were
able to empathize
with ourselves and
feel okay about
being a little
helpless, we were
also very happy to
have company.
Heartfulness
50

51. Because our needs were different, and of varied
intensity, our responses to the situation reflected
that; yet, because we wanted similar things for
each other and for ourselves, we were easily able
to connect with each other, even though we were
focused on different things.
RELATIONSHIPS
March 2023 51

52. RELATIONSHIPS
When I come home, it’s also meeting
my need for rest and relaxation,
which I don’t get when all these
other things are happening.
Heartfulness
52

53. rest and relaxation with no other
demands on my time. Maybe that’s
why I want to do nothing when I
come home.
Vanessa: Were there some
experiences you had at boarding
school that you can look at now
with a new perspective, with this
understanding of needs and how
they evolve?
Amruta: Yes. The school we
went to had boarders and day
scholars, and we spent our out-
of-school time very differently.
On weekends, day scholars
might go to a birthday party, a
get-together, or a sleepover with
other non-boarders. I remember
really wanting to go, which I now
recognize as a need for belonging,
acceptance, and social validation
by my peers. To go, we had to be
signed out by an adult, but you
weren’t keen for us to attend these
parties. At that age, my thoughts
were so judgmental, I couldn’t
understand why I couldn’t be with
my friends.
Vanessa: It’s not that I didn’t
empathize. I understood your need
to have fun in everyday situations,
to have these experiences. At the
same time, my need for your safety
and well-being was an overarching
need that gave me peace of mind.
It was in some way a coping
mechanism for me to say, “No, I
prefer not to sign my child out for
this.”
In order to
understand
someone else’s
need, I think you
really have to have
experienced it at
some level. I have a
better
understanding of it
now that I’m older
and have
experienced the
need for the safety
and well-being of
others.
RELATIONSHIPS
becomes an overarching need for
me at that time, and perhaps not
as intense for everyone else.
Ananya: What I’m sensing is that
there are different layers of needs
that we experience at any given
time. And some needs are more
alive in us and are looking to be
met more immediately than others.
We prioritize our needs, but that
doesn’t mean our other needs are
not important, or that we’re not
looking for them to be met.
Vanessa: Sometimes, in a
recurring situation, there’s
predictability in having our needs
met. There is comfort and more
confidence in a situation where
you know your needs will be
fulfilled. As Ananya was saying,
she knows she can bank on family
time every day. The connection
is there when she needs it.
While you, Amruta, are here for
a limited time and you want to
maximize the connection. Even
if it’s not doing anything specific,
togetherness is more important
than casual socializing, right?
Amruta: Yes, exactly. When I
come home, it’s also meeting my
need for rest and relaxation, which
I don’t get when all these other
things are happening. I think it’s
partly because for the longest time,
especially since I went to boarding
school, coming home is associated
with holidays, and holidays are
associated with switching off and
meeting the need for complete
Amruta: Nowadays I get your
need for our safety and well-being,
and your peace of mind, because
you were far away in a different
city; you weren’t comfortable with
us staying over with people you
didn’t know. We were kids, but I
was thinking, “I’m not a child, I
can handle myself,” and I hadn’t
really experienced the need for
safety.
In order to understand someone
else’s need, I think you really have
March 2023 53

54. met,” or what it means to mourn
an unmet need. So, what can we
do about it? How can we avoid
transforming it into resentment or
bitterness, where it feels like we
are losing something important,
which creates a heaviness that we
don’t want to feel?
For me, it’s helpful to talk about
it, or break it down to process it,
and with “Needs Consciousness,”
we have a vocabulary that can help
us do this better. Also, we have
grown up enough to understand
what it means to give space to
someone else’s needs first. Perhaps
our needs aren’t always going to be
met fully.
Vanessa: In that case, how do you
handle a situation where you have
conflicting needs, and somehow
you come to the understanding
that it’s more important that the
other person’s needs are met? How
do you do that so that it doesn’t
feel like you are giving up what’s
important to you?
Ananya: When somebody else is
looking out for their own needs
to be met, I’m aware that they
are needs I might have had at
some point. I understand those
needs, because I wanted them
too at another time, and empathy
and understanding from another
person would have helped me
then. But it’s not always easy to
respond this way, even with the
consciousness and understanding
I have.
In fact, because I am conscious
of this, it is difficult to navigate
this space – to reconcile the real
discomfort of conflict with the
openness and acceptance I know
it takes to move ahead. It is not
always a conclusion that is easy
to reach, but it’s somewhat easier
because the need for the other
person’s peace of mind and well-
being is important to me too.
Hopefully I’m able to open my
heart and stay with my intention
to connect with the other and
what matters to them.
Amruta: Now we’re older, and
we’re able to express our needs,
it’s more enabling. I think it is
much more difficult in situations
where needs are not being met
and there’s no change in sight. As
we grow, as we mature, there are
needs that become less salient just
because our circumstances change.
Even biologically, we empathize
better with people because our
brains grow, the prefrontal cortex
develops in a way that enables us
to think about other people. We
start realizing that we don’t exist
in a vacuum, and we can engage
with other people’s needs without
seeing it as giving up something of
ourselves and not getting anything
back.
Even still, it’s easier to apply to
certain situations than others.
Say you have a situation where
someone wasn’t meeting your
needs, you might either let it go
or decide that those needs are
What does it
mean to mourn
an unmet need?
How can we
avoid
transforming it
into resentment
or bitterness?
to have experienced it at some
level. I have a better understanding
of it now that I’m older and have
experienced the need for the safety
and well-being of others. And it
was probably also a factor of age
and life experience as well.
Ananya, you also had a similar
experience with school, what do
you think?
Ananya: As we grow up, we
sometimes forget how it felt to
be in a particular situation. But
they were very real needs for us,
and we felt them intensely. At the
time, it felt frustrating and unfair,
and I felt helpless. Even as adults,
many of us don’t have the tools
or capacity to understand and
process that “this need is not being
RELATIONSHIPS
Heartfulness
54

55. Our priorities or
methods may be
different, but in the
end, cooperation
offers the best
chance for success.
RELATIONSHIPS
being met by other people in
your life. There is a certain level
of acceptance that comes with
growing up that makes it easier.
Ananya: Regarding what you’ve
just said, I am trying to be more
aware of pushing away my needs
in pursuit of this acceptance. We
are all conditioned to respond
with, “You should be looking after
someone else’s needs, and your
needs come second.” But I have
realized that it’s important to give
space to my needs, whether they
are being met or not. It means
being in connection with myself,
and creating an internal space
where those needs are respected, if
not met. I think it’s an important
step before the development of
acceptance, and I find I am able
to move forward with more peace
and less heaviness.
Vanessa: Well, here’s the
challenge: we understand that
needs are universal and all human
beings share them. So why do we
often end up at odds? Where does
the difficulty lie?
We may understand the principle
of needs – that there is an
underlying value or motivator that
drives us to do the things we do –
and that they are shared by each
of us on some level. So, it creates
an opportunity for connection,
empathy and common ground.
And it is this deep connectedness
that lays the foundation for
compassion. But the reality of
living with the awareness of
needs in our everyday routines
can be a bit more complex. First,
it only works if we are willing to
connect with others on the level
of needs, to look beyond whatever
surface conflicts arise, and step
into the world of the other. If that
intention is not there, it is very
difficult to take the next step.
Say I want to rest or relax, and
I choose to do that by quietly
reading a book. You may also
want to relax, and choose to do
that by chatting with me about
your day. Our need is the same,
but your way of meeting it is at
odds with mine. That is where
the potential for conflict emerges
– in the strategies we use to
meet our needs, not the needs
themselves. We don’t always agree
on how goals can be reached.
Our priorities or methods may
be different, but in the end,
cooperation offers the best chance
for success.
Illustrations by ANANYA PATEL
March 2023 55

56. Earth provides
enough to satisfy every
man’s needs, but not
every man’s greed.
MAHATMA GANDHI

57. Illustration by JASMEE MUDGAL

58. DR. PRASAD VELUTHANAR from the
Wellness Center at Kanha Shanti Vanam
shares some simple dietary principles
from the ayurvedic perspective to bring
about better nutrition and well-being.
Healthy
Dietary
Principles
Heartfulness

59. E
at only when you are
hungry. Sometimes a drink
is all that is required to
satisfy a craving.
Eat breakfast to help prevent
a mid-morning energy slump
(especially for vata types).
Drink a glass of fresh organic
fruit or vegetable juice each day,
e.g., carrot, apple, or spinach.
Don’t mix fruit and vegetable
juices, with the exception of
carrot and apple together.
Eat the largest meal at midday,
when the digestive fire is
strongest.
Take ginger pickle half an hour
before each meal.
Sit down while eating and put
your full attention on the food
being eaten. Do not divide the
mind and weaken the digestive
juices by excessive talking,
reading, or watching television.
Always be conscious of the
taste of food and the act of
eating, and try to eat in a settled,
peaceful environment.
Eat only food that is attractive,
wholesome, aromatic, and tasty,
as this ensures proper digestion.
Eat fresh organic food whenever
possible, and avoid processed
and refined products. Try to
avoid lifeless, nutrient-poor food
such as microwaved, pre-cooked,
left-over, or canned.
Favor unprocessed, unrefined
oils such as Udo’s, flax, pumpkin,
ghee and olive oil.
Use honey, maple syrup,
agave, and stevia extract for
sweetening.
Reduce the use of refined sugar,
salt, white flour, hard cheese, and
processed or microwaved food.
Avoid tea, coffee, alcohol,
pastries, and meat. If you do eat
meat, choose white meat or fish
in preference to red meat, as
they are easier to digest.
ENVIRONMENT
59
March 2023

60. Use soya, rice, almond, hazelnut,
coconut, or oat milk as a substitute
for pasteurized cow’s milk.
Sip hot water during a meal, but
otherwise refrain from taking
any liquids for up to half an hour
before and after food. This ensures
that the stomach’s digestive
enzymes are not diluted.
Drink one to two liters of water or
herbal teas daily. Ginger, lemon,
peppermint, fennel, coriander and
digestive teas are good.
Drink hot water with fresh lemon
or fresh ginger to reduce weight
and to eliminate toxins and
impurities.
Eat fruit separately from main
meals to prevent fermentation in
the gut.
If you are a pitta type, or even a
kapha type with good digestion,
include a small salad with dressing
before your main midday meal in
the summertime.
Always chew your food
thoroughly. This stimulates the
salivary glands and also ensures
food reaches the stomach in a pre-
digested liquid form that is easier
to digest and assimilate.
Avoid overeating – rest and relax
for a few minutes before taking
a second helping. The amount
of chewed food that will fit into
your cupped hands is equal to a
third of the size of your stomach.
Your digestive system works best
when your stomach contains one
third food, one third liquid, and
one third space at the end of a
main meal. Leave the table feeling
sated, but not heavy and bloated.
Your energy levels should feel
replenished.
Take a short stroll after a large
meal, and then a short rest
afterwards if desired.
If you are a vata type and
experience flagging energy during
the late afternoon, stop and have a
small snack or fruit juice.
Eat at least three hours before bed
and only have a light meal. Vata
types benefit from a milky bedtime
drink with added ghee, cinnamon,
nutmeg, and raisins.
Aloe vera juice is good for
everyone, but is especially
beneficial for those suffering
from pitta imbalances. It is good
for digestion, cleansing, and
elimination. Take 30 mls of the
juice each day.
Turmeric is both bitter and
astringent and is a blood purifier
and antioxidant. One teaspoon
cooked with your meals is
an excellent way to increase
antioxidant intake. Vata people
should use half this amount as it
can sometimes be too drying and
depleting for them.
ENVIRONMENT
Heartfulness
60

61. The day starts the night before.
An early night ensures deep, refreshing sleep.
Deep, refreshing sleep ensures you wake early, rested and revitalized.
Waking early, rested and revitalized, ensures time for massage, yoga and meditation.
Massage, yoga and meditation ensure the mind and body are awake and alive.
Mind and body fully awake and alive ensure a happy countenance.
A happy countenance ensures a stress-free mind.
A stress-free mind creates a positive mind. A positive mind imparts love and peace to those around.
An atmosphere of love and peace creates a wave of
harmony throughout the room.
A wave of harmony throughout the room creates a
wave of harmony throughout the house.
A wave of harmony throughout the house creates a
wave of harmony throughout the city.
A wave of harmony throughout the city creates a wave
of harmony throughout the country.
A wave of harmony throughout the country creates a
wave of harmony throughout the world.
If you are fully awake in the present, having learned from and let go of the past, the future will take care
of itself. You simply need to bathe in the joy of being fully alive in every waking moment. And the real
beauty is – you can start today. And remember the phrase, “This too will pass.”
Wishing you a great ayurvedic natural lifestyle.
ENVIRONMENT
Illustrations by JASMEE MUDGAL
61
March 2023

62. TheEffectsof
Electromagnetic
Pollution
TERRAN DAILY explores the
effects of electromagnetic
radiation on our lives, and
offers us ways we can
protect ourselves and our
children by eliminating or
minimizing our exposure. She
also suggests how important
it is that we relax into the
natural frequency of the
Earth to regain health and
happiness.
Heartfulness
62

63. M
any of the children
who have recently been
born into our world are
wise beyond their years, often
highly intuitive, intelligent, and
creative, yet also often extremely
headstrong, sometimes too active
for older folk to keep up with,
other times delicate and shy, often
passionate in expressing their
needs and preferences.
These children can be
challenging. They are born with
qualities that are uncomfortable
for us, that will be needed in our
ever more chaotic world. And
they face multiple challenges that
earlier generations did not have to
deal with.
Our world has never been an
easy place. Humans have always
had to deal with environmental
adversities, and the resulting
displacements and famines. We
have struggled with our fellow
humans through social inequality,
conflict, domination, violence,
etc. But there are present-day
sources of distress that were
not there for our grandparents
or great-grandparents –
electromagnetic radiation,
electronic screens, toxins in our
food, water, air, and homes, and
ever increasing levels of stress,
to name a few. These adversities
impact all of us, particularly our
children with their sensitive,
developing nervous systems.
Here we will consider
electromagnetic radiation. Some
of the information is sobering, but
there are things we can do. This
series of articles will also offer
practical tips to help ourselves and
our children regain balance.
An earlier article, “The New
Children” from August 2020,
highlighted the fact that stress and
disintegration can be stimulants
for living systems (whether cells,
people, ecosystems, civilizations,
or humanity as a whole) to
take a leap to a higher level of
organization. If we guide them
well, our children have that special
spark needed to lead humanity
into a thriving future in a new
form – a way of being we have
only dreamed of.
The Earth’s Heartbeat
When we think of electromagnetic
radiation, we often think of Wi-Fi,
cell phones, and 5G, but life on
ENVIRONMENT
March 2023 63

64. ENVIRONMENT
German physicist Winifred Otto Schumann proposed that
extremely low frequency waves, sparked by lightning, circle the
Earth. Maybe you can picture these waves, bouncing from the
ground to the ionosphere in a kind of dance, some joining
together, others overlapping, creating a rhythm with a long-
lasting base note and effervescent harmonics at higher
frequencies. This is the exquisite heartbeat of the Earth.
Heartfulness
64

65. Earth has been intertwined with
electromagnetic fields since it
first emerged billions of years ago.
The natural electromagnetic fields
were our womb, the matrix within
which life developed.
It is the Earth’s magnetic field that
moves the needle of a compass,
and helps guide birds and other
animals in their migrations. The
Earth is bathed in electromagnetic
frequency. This frequency was first
calculated by the German physicist
Winifred Otto Schumann, who
proposed that extremely low
frequency waves, sparked by
lightning, circle the Earth. Maybe
you can picture these waves,
bouncing from the ground to the
ionosphere in a kind of dance,
some joining together, others
overlapping, creating a rhythm
with a long-lasting base note and
effervescent harmonics at higher
frequencies. This is the exquisite
heartbeat of the Earth. Schumann
calculated the base frequency of
these waves as 7.83 Hertz. This
has been empirically verified
and is known as the Schumann
Resonance.
Imagine the astonishment of
Schumann and his colleagues
when they realized that this
frequency is almost identical to
the brain’s alpha wave rhythm,
measured as 7.812 Hz. Surely this
is not a coincidence. The human
brain, an electrical organ, must
have evolved in synchrony with
the Earth’s natural electromagnetic
field. They began to see human
brain waves as intimately
connected with the Earth’s
electromagnetic frequencies, and
their research confirmed that
human health and well-being are
influenced by electromagnetic
interactions.
Later researchers have expanded
on this. In one interesting
experiment, Professor Rutger
Wever of the Max Planck Institute
had student volunteers live for
four weeks in an underground
bunker that excluded the Earth’s
electromagnetic field. After a few
days, his subjects experienced
disrupted circadian rhythms,
headaches, and emotional
malaise. Then, when Wever
artificially introduced the
Schumann Resonance into
the bunker, unbeknown to the
students, their health and well-
being quickly stabilized.1
After
extensive research, NASA
introduced Schumann Resonance
generators into space craft
to maintain the health of the
astronauts. Just as a young infant
needs to hear their mother’s
heartbeat for well-being, we
humans need to feel the pulse of
our mother Earth.
Human-created
Electromagnetic Radiation
(EMR)
We think that life began evolving
on Earth between 3.7 and 4.3
billion years ago, cradled in the
Earth’s natural magnetic and
frequency fields, and that Homo
sapiens appeared around 300,000
years ago. For all but the last 150
of those years, we were cradled in
the Earth’s natural fields.
In the early 20th century,
scientists and engineers began
experimenting with ways to
capture and use human-produced
electromagnetic fields. By the
mid 20th century, homes had
electricity, then telephones,
radios and televisions were
introduced. Telephone lines
and high voltage electric lines
1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunker_experiment
ENVIRONMENT
Just as a young
infant needs to
hear their mother’s
heartbeat for well-
being, we humans
need to feel the
pulse of our mother
Earth.
March 2023 65

66. crisscrossed the countryside. What
an exciting and freeing revolution
it must have been! No-one
thought about possible unintended
consequences.
Inventions snowballed –
computers, internet, Wi-Fi, and
cell phones with ever faster and
more powerful cellular networks.
N.B. KHz = 1000 Hz, MHz = 1,000,000 Hz, and GHz = 1,000,000,000 Hz.
Data are from Wikipedia
Radio waves and microwaves
beamed from towers and satellites.
Smart electric meters, smart
televisions, smart refrigerators,
smart thermostats, all beamed
waves back and forth to talk to
each other. We now live in a thick
electromagnetic soup, millions
of times more powerful than the
electromagnetic radiation in which
we evolved.
The Schumann Resonance cannot
even be measured near cities, cell
phone towers, or high-power lines
now. Many of us are living without
our mother Earth’s heartbeat. It is
drowned out by a huge roar.
Source Frequency Range
Schumann Resonance 7.83 Hz Extremely
low frequency
(ELF)
High Voltage Electric Lines 50-60 Hz
AM Radio 535-1603 KHz Medium frequency (MF)
FM Radio 88-108 MHz Very high frequency (VHF)
Television 54-806 MHz
Very to ultra-high frequency
(UHF)
Smart Meters 900 MHz–2.4 GHz
Ultra to extremely
high frequency
(Microwaves)
Smart Phones 710 MHz–2.7 GHz
Bluetooth Devices 2.4 GHz
Wi-Fi 2.45 or 5.8 GHz
Microwave Oven 2.45 GHz
5G Networks 3.85-71 GHz
ENVIRONMENT
Heartfulness
66

67. The huge number of artificial
EMFs is not the only problem.
There is also the frequency. The
frequency of the Schumann
Resonance is an extremely low
7.83 Hz. The frequencies of the
EMR surrounding us is many
millions of times higher than the
Schumann Resonance (see the
chart below). The electromagnetic
roar that surrounds us is both huge
and extremely high pitched. We
may not hear it, but our cells do!
The Effects of EMR on our
Bodies
Our bodies use electrical charge
for many processes. Neurons
use electrical charge to send
signals to one another; hearts
use electrical charge to contract
and pump blood throughout the
body; and muscles use electrical
charge to contract, allowing us to
move. The body also uses electric
charge to maintain the integrity
of important barriers like the
blood-brain, blood-eye, blood-
placenta, and blood-testes barriers,
to determine what is and is not
allowed into these important and
sensitive organs.
Looking more deeply, almost every
cell in our bodies depends on
electrical charge to operate small
channels through its membrane
that allow some substances in and
keep others out. Malfunction of
these channels can cause oxidative
ENVIRONMENT
The body’s electrical activity involves
sensitive balance and timing, and all
these systems evolved within the
Earth’s natural electromagnetic fields.
March 2023 67

68. ENVIRONMENT
Heartfulness
68

69. health effects of EMFs produced
by sources like powerlines,
electrical wiring, appliances, cell
and cordless phones, cell towers,
Wi-Fi, laptops, routers, baby
monitors, surveillance systems, and
wireless utility meters.
These studies found evidence that
EMR within the ranges commonly
encountered in modern life can
cause:
• Disruption to calcium
channels in cell membranes,
flooding cells with calcium
and causing oxidative
stress and damage to
DNA, mitochondria, and
cytochromes.
• Opening the blood brain
barrier, allowing potential
toxins and microorganisms to
enter.
• Changes to neuron firing
rates.
• Changes to the heart muscle
and blood vessels.
• Decrease in melatonin
production. Melatonin is
needed for good sleep, and
also supports the immune
system, body mass regulation,
bone formation and the body’s
ability to detoxify.
Also that EMR negatively
impacts:
• Sleep, energy levels, and
immune function.
• Mood and cognitive function.
• Fertility and reproduction.
• Fetal development.
• Behavior and learning in
children.
And increases the risk of:
• Brain tumors, acoustic
neuromas, and other cancers.
• ADHD, and possibly autism
in children.
Modern communication has
brought many advantages. When I
was in college, I went to the library
to do research, pulling musty
volumes from the shelves and
writing notes on index cards. Now,
I am writing this article from
my home, using several printed
books (most of them bought
online), accessing other books
on my e-reader, and using many
online resources. Communication,
convenience, and access to
resources using EMFs have
become a part of our lives, almost
the cement holding our social and
economic systems together. But
with the research that is emerging
about EMR’s harmful effects, we
must give careful thought about
when and how to use this modern
magic.
stress, free radical damage to the
DNA and other cellular structures,
and even cell death.
The body’s electrical activity
involves sensitive balance and
timing, and all these systems
evolved within the Earth’s natural
electromagnetic fields. It is not a
big leap to imagine that massive
bombardment with artificial
EMFs could be disruptive to the
delicate electro-chemical balance
of our bodies. And that is exactly
what a growing body of research
indicates.
Bioinitiative 2012, updated in
2022,2
is probably the most
comprehensive review of studies
on the adverse health effects of
EMFs. Prepared by 29 doctors,
scientists, and health experts from
around the world, it has reviewed
around 1800 studies on adverse
2
https://bioinitiative.org
Illustrations by JASMEE MUDGAL
ENVIRONMENT
It is not a big leap
to imagine that
massive
bombardment with
artificial EMFs could
be disruptive to the
delicate electro-
chemical balance
of our bodies.
March 2023 69

71. creativity
There’s room for everybody
on the planet to be creative
and conscious if you are
your own person. If you’re
trying to be like somebody
else, then there isn’t.
TORI AMOS

72. What is heartful cooking?
In my view, it is to cook food with love, compassion and gratitude; to
cook food in remembrance with a balanced mind; and to eat food in a
prayerful mood.
VIJAY SAHU
Here are some tips for heartful cooking:
1. Food needs to be simple, fresh, healthy, and tasty.
2. Cook with a focused mind by centering yourself, and cook
food with love from your heart.
3. Never cook in a rush.
4. Follow the techniques to create a well-balanced meal.
5. Maintain hygiene in the kitchen and cook in cleanly manner.
6. Select quality organic ingredients where possible.
7. Serve food with a loving attitude.
8. Eat in a prayerful mood with gratitude.
9. Cook perfectly – not well or great but perfectly.
10. Never waste food because food is prasad from God.
Heartfulness
72

73. CREATIVITY
March 2023 73

74. Cook with a focused mind by
centering yourself, and cook
food with love from your heart.
CREATIVITY
Heartfulness
74

75. Before my visit to Kanha Shanti
Vanam earlier this year, I had a
strong will to cook a Sufi meal
for around 300 of the participants
of the 150th birth anniversary
of Lalaji. Sufi cuisine is a
combination of Turkish, Lebanese,
and Persian flavors. I didn’t know
how and where I could find people
to help me with the cooking as
well as serving, so I prayed and
received help from one of the
well-known culinary institutes
in Hyderabad. I didn’t know any
of these students, and had never
cooked with them. Nor had they
heard of Sufi cuisine and they
were totally new to this world. But
I had strong faith in my Master,
which helped me during the event.
With my will and faith in him, I
built my confidence in cooking.
During the entire evening my
focus was only on cooking – how
to get authentic flavors and
presentation to make everyone
happy. Without my Master’s help
and support, I don’t think the
event would have been successful.
I am 100% convinced that it could
happen only because of faith and
confidence in him.
I have started applying this new
technique both in my spiritual
and culinary journey. Daaji gave
me one piece of advice, which I
will remember forever, and that
is “Listen to your Heart while
cooking.”This is really helping me
a lot.
CREATIVITY
March 2023 75

76. Interest, Intention,
and a Yummy
Breakfast
POOJA KINI shares her experience and tips for setting intentions
and caring for your health on a daily basis. She also shares a
great recipe for a quick, healthy and very tasty breakfast.

77. I
’ve experienced a great deal of
change during my transition to
adulthood; perhaps the most
poignant being how I invest my
energy and set my intentions. As
a teenager in high school, I would
not think beyond the next “big
thing” – an exam, a competition,
a party, college admission. Up
until I graduated from university,
every effort I made went towards
crossing an item off a list or
achieving an external goal.
If you work a traditional 9 to 5
job, your routine can cause your
days to blend together. While
this may result in monotony (and
it’s important to make sure it
doesn’t!), it can also create a sense
of stability. This external stability
caused a shift in my priorities.
I started seeking fulfillment
internally. I made choices that
centered on my happiness, peace,
and well-being. I set long-term
less specific intentions, like
reading more, moving my body,
and eating better. Essentially, I
prioritized taking care of myself –
something I did not realize I had
been neglecting earlier.
Recently, I realized that my days
are far more productive when I
wake up earlier. I feel like I have
accomplished more, and I get an
extra few hours in the morning to
myself before work. I can clean my
room, get a quick workout in, go
for a walk, read … the possibilities
are endless. The caveat? I have
never been a morning person.
I’ve been a night owl for the
last ten years. So no matter how
much sleep I get, I associate the
early morning with feelings of
grogginess and crankiness. But
the pros certainly outweigh the
virtually nonexistent cons of
being an early riser, and I’ve been
making a serious effort to get
myself out of bed.
CREATIVITY
March 2023 77

78. Here are some things I’ve been
trying that seem to be working:
Get some sun
It’s far too easy to snooze your
alarm and fall back asleep, but one
hack I’ve discovered is to get some
sunlight on my face as the key to
an immediate wake-up. Keep your
blinds open, move to a sunny area
of your home, or even step outside
for a moment. You’ll feel your
body realize it is time to get the
day started.
Wait to drink caffeine
I used to require my daily cup
of coffee as soon as I got up, but
drinking it on an empty stomach
made me jittery and tired by noon.
Now, I drink a glass of water first
and pair my coffee with breakfast.
This allows me to enjoy my
beverage and avoid any unpleasant
side effects.
CREATIVITY
Heartfulness
78

79. Stay hydrated
Drinking water is so important,
and so easy to neglect. I try to
fill my water bottle as soon as
it empties so I constantly have
water near me when I feel thirsty.
Drinking enough water has helped
me stay more alert and refreshed
throughout the morning.
Eat a nourishing breakfast
This might be the biggest game-
changer for me. I used to avoid
eating breakfast, and now I have
found the additional nourishment
powers me through the morning
until lunch.
My go-to oatmeal recipe is easy,
quick, and super nutritious.
CREATIVITY
March 2023 79

80. CREATIVITY
Heartfulness
80

81. CREATIVITY
INGREDIENTS
½ cup rolled oats
Water
Frozen fruit (I use wild blueberries
and peaches)
Fresh fruit, cut up (I use
strawberries)
Milk of choice (I use almond milk)
Something crunchy (I use hazelnuts,
but feel free to use any nuts,
granola, etc.)
Nut or seed butter (I use almond
butter)
Optional: chia seeds
METHOD
Cook your oats on the stovetop to the
consistency you prefer. I am not a fan of
solid or mushy oats, so I make sure my oats
are fully submerged in a ½ water, ½ milk
liquid mixture.
Add frozen fruit and chia seeds. Bring
everything to the boil, stirring regularly.
Take off the heat, add to a bowl, and top
with fresh fruit, nuts, and a spoon of nut
or seed butter. If you want, you can drizzle
some honey on top!
Intentional self-care is
a work-in-progress, an
ongoing practice that
changes often. And as
you might have figured,
prioritizing isn’t as easy
as saying you will do
something. But, if you take
baby steps that progress
naturally, and remind
yourself why you’ve set the
intentions you have, it’s
possible!
Oatmeal
March 2023 81

82. Master the habit of meditation
The Heartfulness app offers daily
practices to awaken the potential for
a joyful existence. Download it at
heartfulnessapp.org
Heartfulness Yoga
Teacher Training Course
Learn to teach the eight limbs of
yoga. Merge the traditional art of
yoga with a modern professional
approach.
heartfulness.org/yoga/
Designing Destiny by Daaji
#1 BESTSELLER
How meditative practices lead to
changes in lifestyle, both personal
and in relationships, which lead
to greater freedom in designing
our destiny.
designingdestiny.com
Meditation Masterclass
In these 3 online masterclasses,
you will learn the practical benefits
of meditation and other yogic
practices. Masterclasses are available
online each day after you sign up
and accessible throughout the day.
heartfulness.org/masterclass
The Heartfulness Way
by Daaji
#1 BESTSELLER
Discover a special collection of
meditations that awaken the
depths of human potential and
initiate a mystical inner journey.
heartfulnessway.com
Find Your Community
Find a trainer or meditation
center near you!
heartfulness.org/en/
connect-with-us/
Heartfulness
82

83. Learning,
The Heartfulness Way
Explore simple Heartfulness
practices through our
self-paced courses for
beginners and advanced
learners alike.
learning.heartfulness.org
HFNLife strives to bring products
to make your life simple and
convenient.We offer a set of
curated partners in apparel,
accessories, eye-care, home
staples, organic foods and more.
The affiliation of our partner
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Institute helps in financially
sustaining the programs which we
conduct in various places across
the world. hfnlife.com
HFNLife
March 2023 83