Yog is an experience, experience of reality, and that experience is your own experience. No amount of reading, listening to lectures or attending courses can give you that experience. For the experience to happen, you have to walk the path.

Here the role of Guru becomes important. Guru is someone who has walked the path and so knows the sceneries, the pitfalls, speed breakers and accelerations that will come your way as you walk. And he/she guides and warns you accordingly. You know you are walking the path, as you intercept those experiences (or sceneries) en-route.

Isha Upanishad narrates the story of a salt doll in this regard. I will take the liberty of expressing it in a language that is relatable for a modern reader.

Once there was a salt doll who lived in a jungle. One day she met an ascetic. He asked her why she was living in the jungle, she should look for something vaster. The doll told the ascetic she was happy where she was, and that jungle was everything to her. Ascetic smiled and said, ‘till how long’ and went away. Few years went by, the doll weathered a little, some salt was lost. The ascetic returned, he asked what she was still doing in the jungle, her body was ageing fast. The doll said she was just fine, a little weathering is nothing and she was happy in the jungle and didn’t wish to go anywhere. Many years passed and the ascetic returned. By now the doll had lost much salt, her body was frail, she could barely walk or see or experience the jungle. Ascetic asked her if she was happy still or if she would like to search for something more fulfilling. The doll said she would like to search. But then, her body was weak. The ascetic then carried her on his back. She saw the various sceneries he had described as they went. Ascetic dropped her at the ocean shore. She saw the limitless expanse of blue, she asked him what it was. Ascetic told her that to know what it is she has to jump in the ocean.

The doll jumped in…and as she did, there was dissolution, she became the ocean, with its limitless expanse and unfathomable depth. The doll had the experience of reality; the ascetic was her Guru. Had she sat on the ocean shore and listened to lectures on what the ocean is, or interpreted with her five senses what it might be like, she would have remained on the shore. In a matter of time, her body would have disintegrated and the experience would have evaded her. Disintegration would result in a lower form, dissolution, a higher.

You are like that salt doll, to experience reality and the bliss that comes with, take the plunge. You need to come out of your comfort zone and leave things, which as it is will leave you one day, as all that you have including your body is temporary and fast fading away. In which lifetime you take the plunge is the question...the plunge is a certainty or there is disintegration into lower forms of life. So take the plunge now.

Each one of us is a divine being going through a human experience, a shakti which has manifested into a body to go through specific experiences after which it will go back to the source from where it all began. As a part of the Divine and as a microcosm of the entire shakti of brahmand, each one of us is influenced by and has an influence on the various shaktis of creation. The day that we were born, is the day when the energy of the various nakshatras and heavenly bodies was conducive to the manifestation of our specific energy form, and with these shaktis going through a constant change, we too undergo a change. Some days are considered more powerful than the others because of the congruence of energy on those days and the people born on those days have more potential and possess certain unmanifested shaktis which can be awakened. Similarly, some days are less powerful due to the energy congregation on those days, and people born on those days have lesser potential. To a clairvoyant these shaktis are visible, in the form of colours, and also their changing forms, as changes in the shade of those colours.

In earlier times, birth anniversaries were celebrated to mark one’s growing wiser by a year and also closer to merging back from where one has come. Wiser, here refers to awakening of the shaktis within, under the sanidhya of a Guru. The Guru awakens these shaktis in an individual by ensuring that he realises his true potential. Traditionally, birthdays were celebrated by performing havan to connect to the cosmos and awaken the hidden potential inside through specific chants as prescribed by the Guru. Heavenly bodies and shaktis can be controlled through specific chants and siddha mantras. Chanting them on your birthday has a manifold effect on awakening of energy inside you. These energies can then be utilised for one’s physical or spiritual growth.

Physical creation is bound by time and constantly passing. The vedic rishis understood this and thus gave us ways to become timeless and go over the influence of the various planets and heavenly bodies. They followed the Lunar calendar, which very accurately predicts the congruence of energy on various days. If one goes by the Gregorian calendar, then if he was born on 4th April, his birthday would always fall on 4th April, irrespective of the position of planets and energy patterns. The Vedic calendar on the other hand, would indicate the date based on energy and reality. The concept of ‘muhurat’ comes from here. Take for example, the seventh day of Krishna paksh in the month of chaitra, which falls on March 23rd this year. It is a powerful day, the day when I was born and the day which resonates with the energy corresponding to my energy form.

While every birth anniversary is a point of transition in the life of an individual, there are three that are especially powerful – the day you turn 25, 50 and 75 respectively. On these specific days the shakti of an individual goes through a major transformation which can be used for manifold progress. 25 marks the age at which one enters the physical life after completing education, 50 the time when one starts devoting his energy to connecting with the cosmos and shaktis therein to prepare for a higher birth and 75 when one leaves everything to merge back with the source, which is the ultimate purpose of life.

Birthdays are important days in one’s life. It is better to celebrate them by invoking shaktis and connecting to the cosmos rather than getting drunk or partying, which is of no use and can be done any other day of the year as well. A havan on the birthday is very important to awaken the shaktis within.