108 CHAKRA SOUPS recipe 8 - Simply happy - "Manipura chakra"

Manipura Chakra or manipuraka the fiery third chakra is called the "lustrous gem.", it is symbolised by a downward pointing triangle with ten petals. 

Located in the area of the solar plexus, navel, and the digestive system. Associated with the color yellow, this chakra is involved in self-esteem, warrior energy, and the power of transformation; it also governs digestion and metabolism. A healthy, spirited third chakra supports us in overcoming inertia, jump-starting our "get-up-and-go" attitude so that we can take risks, assert our will, and assume responsibility for our life. This chakra is also the place of our deep belly laughter, warmth, ease, and the vitality we receive from performing selfless service.

Recipe 8: Manipura, "Simply happy"
Preparation:

The soups have to be made with fresh ingredients. Please avoid as much as possible canned or even frozen food because it impacts not only the taste but also the nutrient aspects. I also advice of please do not freeze the soup. Nor use microwave.

In general my recipe are for 2 meals for one person or one meal for two people. You can always cut the ingredients in half, if you want to make it less. 

When possible it is better if the soup can rest for sometimes before to be warmed up again and eaten. The rest will allow the flavours of the various ingredients to better melt into each other and bring up the final taste of the soup.

Ingredients:

1 oignon

1 or two clove of garlic

3 spoons of bio vegetable oil

2 carrots
1 cup of green moong dhal

1 red bell pepper
a big piece of yellow squash 
curry leaves 
curry mix powder

1 Bio vegetable cube

2 full spoons of olive oil
a small piece of ginger
small piece of turmeric
fresh cilantro

Put the oil into the pot add the onion previously cut  into pieces, the garlic. Let it fry a little while you will be cutting the other vegetables. Add the vegetables, the green moong dhal, the cube, 1 liter of boiling filtered water, the fresh turmeric and ginger grated. Add a little bit of curry mix powder.
I never add any extra salt, the one contained in the cube is already enough!
Once the mix is boiling lower the flame and let it cook 40 min, stir it once in a while. Five min before switching off add the fresh cilantro.

Once done switch off, add the 2 spoons of olive oil and stir. Let it cool down a bit before blending it in the pot itself. Let is sit so the different flavours can blend,  warm it up before eating.

Hare OM

108 CHAKRA SOUPS recipe 7 - Surrender - "Anahata chakra"

The fourth chakra Anahata chakra, the heart chakra, is the seat of balance within the body. It is symbolised by a circular flower with twelve petals. The Yantra in the centre of the chakra is composed of two overlapping, intersecting triangles. One triangle, facing upward symbolizes Shiva, the male principle. The other triangle, facing downward, symbolizes Shakti, the female principle. A balance is attained when these two forces are joined in harmony. The heart chakra, rests in the center of the chakra system, at the core of our spirit. Anahata is related to the colours green and pink. Its physical location is the heart, upper chest, and upper back. The fourth is the balance point, integrating the world of matter (the lower three chakras) with the world of spirit (the upper three chakras). Through the heart chakra, we open to and connect with harmony and peace. The health of our heart center registers the quality and power of love in our life.  Key issues involving Anahata involve complex emotions, compassion, tenderness, unconditional love, equilibrium, rejection and well-being. Emotionally it governs unconditional love for the self and others, mentally it governs passion, and spiritually it governs devotion.

In Sanskrit, the heart chakra is called Anahata, which means "unstruck" or "unhurt." Its name implies that deep beneath our personal stories of brokenness and the pain in our heart, wholeness, boundless love, and a wellspring of compassion reside.

Recipe 7: Anahata , "Surrender"
Preparation:

The soups have to be made with fresh ingredients. Please avoid as much as possible canned or even frozen food because it impacts not only the taste but also the nutrient aspects. I also advice of please do not freeze the soup. Nor use microwave.

In general my recipe are for 2 meals for one person or one meal for two people. You can always cut the ingredients in half, if you want to make it less. 

When possible it is better if the soup can rest for sometimes before to be warmed up again and eaten. The rest will allow the flavours of the various ingredients to better melt into each other and bring up the final taste of the soup.

Ingredients:

1 oignon

1 or two clove of garlic

3 spoons of bio vegetable oil

3 small carrots
1 cup of chick peas

1 zucchini
a piece of red cabbage
a piece of broccoli

1 Bio vegetable cube
yellow couscous spice mix

2 full spoons of olive oil
a small piece of ginger
fresh cilantro

Put the oil into the pot add the onion previously cut  into pieces, the garlic. Let it fry a little  while you will be cutting the other vegetables. Add the vegetables, the cube, 1 liter of boiling filtered water, the fresh ginger grated. Add a little bit of yellow couscous spice mix.
I never add any extra salt, the one contained in the cube is already enough!
Once the mix is boiling lower the flame and let it cook 20 to 30 min max, stir it once in a while. Five min before switching off add the fresh cilantro.

Once done switch off, add the 2 spoons of olive oil and stir. Let it cool down a bit before blending it in the pot itself. When you blend do not make it completely creamy but leaves some chunks, for that a manual blender is better. Now add the previously cooked or from a bio tin can of chick peas let is sit so the flaw or can blend,  warm it up before eating.

Hare OM

108 CHAKRA SOUPS recipe 6 - Inner vision - "Ajna chakra"

Ajna Chakra, means both "the perception center" and "the command center." Associated with the element light and the color indigo blue, the sixth chakra is located between and just above the physical eyes, creating the spiritual third eye. While our two eyes see the material world, our sixth chakra sees beyond the physical. This vision includes clairvoyance, telepathy, intuition, dreaming, imagination, and visualization. The seed syllable is Aum, or "Pranava Om", the supreme sound.

When one establishes himself in the place between the eyebrows he goes beyond all the kinds of desires that motivate life and impel one to move in many directions. All experience and ideas serve only to clarify one's perceptions in Ajna Chakra. The plane of neutrality (Sarasvati) appears as a balance between solar and lunar energy within the body. Ida (river Ganga, feminine, lunar) and Pingala (river Jamuna, masculine, solar) nerve energies separate from the Sushumna channel at the Muladhara chakra, intertwine up through all chakras and meet with the Sarasvati, becoming one at Ajna Chakra. This brings the sense of oneness and of unity with the cosmic laws that appear in the plane of austerity. They then again separate, running into the left and right nostrils. Negative and positive, the components of duality, become equalized in Sarasvati, leaving a state of pure music and neutrality.

Recipe 6: Ajna Chakra, "Inner Vision"
Preparation:

The soups have to be made with fresh ingredients. Please avoid as much as possible canned or even frozen food because it impacts not only the taste but also the nutrient aspects. I also advice of please do not freeze the soup.  Do not microwave to warm up.

In general my recipe are for 2 meals for one person or one meal for two people. You can always cut the ingredients in half, if you want to make it less. 

When possible it is better if the soup can rest for sometimes before to be warmed up again and eaten. The rest will allow the flavours of the various ingredients to better melt into each other and bring up the final taste of the soup.

Ingredients:

1 oignon
a clove of garlic

3 spoons of bio vegetable oil

1/2 of a big sweet potato 

a piece of broccoli

1/2 red bell pepper

1 cup of  green moong

small piece of ginger
small piece of turmeric

1/2 Bio vegetable cube
1 Masala cube

3 full spoon of olive oil
cilantro

Put the oil into the pot add the onion previously cut  into pieces, the garlic. Let it fry a little  while you will be cutting the other vegetables. Add the vegetables, the cubes, 1 liter of boiling filtered water and the green moong, the fresh turmeric and ginger grated. 
I never add any extra salt, the one contained in the cube is already enough!
Once the mix is boiling lower the flame and let it cook 45min, stir it once in a while. 

Once done switch off, add the 2 spoons of olive oil, the cilantro and stir. Let it cool down a bit before blending it in the pot itself. When you blend do not make it completely creamy but leaves some chunks, for that a manual blender is better. Let it for sometime,  warm it up before eating. 

Hare OM

The Spiritual Traveller : 1 "The journey is the destination"

Kathopanishad 

यदा सर्वे प्रभिद्यन्ते हृदयस्येह ग्रन्थयः ।

अथ मर्त्योऽमृतो भवत्येतावद्ध्यनुशासनम् ॥ १५ ॥

When all the ties of the heart are severed here in this body/life, then the mortal becomes immortal. This much alone is the teaching. 

I keep on reading that post over and over along the endless road that is bringing us to Hampi.
Us is me and three others travellers I met at 8am this morning at Margao train station in Goa. The voice in the loud speaker kept on repeating a mantra:
"The train to Bangalore will have a delay of 15 hours" 
All around people where wondering what to do. Two middle aged women and a younger one were standing near me. I face them smiling: 
"Are you going to Hampi? Would you mind to share a car with me ? "
Outside the station I asked the first driver I met. 
"How much to go to Hampi?" 
After several phone calls to his boss and a bargain with, me we agreed on a price. I went to report to the threes other women. 
At 9h30 we were all comfortably sitting, ready for a.... 
"How many hours?" I asked. 
"I don't know exactly 8/10h" replied reluctantly the driver 
"I never went up to there... I only went up to the Karnakata border" he finally admitted  gently shaking his head in the typical Indian manner.

Trust settled in all of us… or was it exhaustion…?

Goa state is incredibly lavish and the journey up to the mountain beautiful.

At the Karnakata border we stopped for a chai and the endless Indian formalities.

A car arrived behind us three French women and a driver. 
They were also on the way to Hampi and their driver knew the road well. We became a caravan. Back in the car our driver had a smile of release on his face, he found his guide.

The monsoon should have been finished but unexpected heavy rainfall considerably slowed down our journey. At 4pm under a pouring rain we reached Hubli and stopped for lunch.

It appeared that I was the only one with a reservation for the night in Hampi and by then it was clear that we would not reach before night. I called my guesthouse and luckily they were able to find arrangement for all us.

Back on the road, we exhausted all the possible topic of casual conversation.

Two Australian, mother and daughter at the end of one-month journey.

One jet lagged Belgian who 48h before jumped on a last minute plane for one week in India.

The endless rain, the road, the large fields of south India, the mountains, the gigantic  rocks… I am getting restless... on the side of the road a huge post appeared “The journey is the destination”

First I just noticed that it was is a motorcycle add, but the post kept on reappearing.  Slowly the motorcycle faded away and the message emerged:

“The journey is the destination”

There is nothing else just the experience of life here and now. There is nothing to be reached in the future nor in the past, both are a product of the mind. The Self only is. The destination is to be fully present, here and now, into the journey.

Hare OM