Teachings of Harish Johari

Harish Johari is a painter, sculptor, composer, gemologist, chef, educator, author, and Renaissance man of ayurveda:

“Ayurveda says the universe is made of five elements. In the beginning, there was one absolute God, from whom came akasha, or ether, then air, fire, water, and earth. The whole world and the whole body are made of these elements, which we call tattvas. Because these elements are everywhere, we have them in our body as the three temperaments, or humors, which ayurveda calls doshas.”

Like most Yankee dairy farmers in the vicinity, Johari gets up very early, about 4:00 a.m. The predawn hour of morning is traditionally called amrit-bela, which means "time of nectar" and refers to a surfeit of rejuvenating atmospheric prana, says Johari.
"The prana available at 4:00 a.m. is completely detoxified and pure. Ayurveda says the divine energy descends on us before dawn. The gods come and give energy to whatever is needed, then leave. I learned about dawn from the saints who came to my house in my childhood. No spiritual life is possible, they said, without waking up before dawn."

Not only does Johari get up before the sun, he doesn't spend a lot of time in bed either. He says he sleeps about three hours maximum. "People who sleep seven to nine hours aren't sleeping. They dream and waste energy. When you start dreaming, it means the rest period is over and the mind starts its flirtations." One way to sleep less, says Johari, is to eat a more sattvic diet and do less "fantasizing" before going to sleep.
“We are made of sound. The first thing that came out in Creation was sound, then from sound came akasha. There is a sound essence, or tanmatra, behind each of the five elements. But inappropriate music can cause all kinds of problems, can even make people go crazy. Good and bad music directly and profoundly affects the body's seven subtle psychic energy centers, called chakras, which are spinning energy wheels arranged vertically up the spine from sacrum to crown.”

"Yantra is a visual tool of tantra that serves either as a centering device or as a symbolic composition of the energy pattern of a deity such as Lakshmi, Durga, or Kamla, as seen by tantric seers in their visions. A yantra is a geometrical pattern made of universal abstract symbols that both preserves or contains the essence of a thought or object and liberates us from bondage. As a tool, yantra is used to withdraw consciousness from the outer world and direct it to the inner world.

"Durga, for example, is the invincible wife of Shiva, with all manner of weapons and decorations - the unified symbol of all divine force. Meditation on the saffron color of Durga's yantra produces a calming complementary blue color, which fills the aspirant with serenity and purity."
"Usually people don't know what they want. If you want 200 things at the same time, your energy goes off in 200 directions and you can't do anything. You have to want just one thing. When they know their single desire, then we can work with that energy, then the bodymind is free to attain it."

"Whether you write, sing, cook, or paint, the breath is always there. Your breath will not be taken care of by any of the other tools of tantra. You must work on breath directly. The nostril breathing patterns serve as indicators of cerebral dominance and may help you anticipate your response to given circumstances. Swara yoga clearly states that certain activities are best performed when a particular nostril is operating. The nostrils should be checked around dawn before getting out of bed. In the event of wrong nostril dominance, one should not leave bed until the correct nostril starts operating. You can change nostrils by forced breathing on your side through the congested nostril."