• Table of Contents
  • The Yoga Youth and Children’s Retreat by Joanne Sullivan
  • Wisdom of Ten Years Old by Swami Veda Bharati
  • To Serve Nature by Swami Veda Bharati
  • Seeds Were Planted by Sabina Cesaroni
  • An Experience of the Yoga Youth and Children’s Retreat by Carolyn Hume
  • TTP for the Taiwanese: Reflections on the 2011 TTP by Joanna Siauw
  • A New Important Project by Giancarlo Colombo
  • Dr. Shirley Telles at SRSG by Joanne Sullivan
  • 40 Days Silence at SRSG by Dave Downing
  • Something Swamiji Said by Four Sadhakas
  • Three YMT Seminars in Italy by Danielle Belloni
  • Toronto News December 2011 by Shanta Sawh
  • Expanding Identity by Randall Krause
  • Perpetual Youth by Swami Rama
  • Book: "Yoga in India" A Journey to the top 24 Yoga Places
  • Book: "Love is a Song of the Nightingale" by Nandini
  • 2011 Events and Beyond
  • Full Moon Meditation Dates
  • Location of our SRSG ashram
• AHYMSIN Newsletter Archive

Something Swamiji Said

by Four Sadhakas

A sentence that has always helped me when I was feeling some strong emotion that Swami Veda spoke back in difficult times at the Meditation Center in 1990, has diffused many a difficult moment:

"When you most want to speak, don't."

He said (and I am paraphrasing, so it may not be 100% exact):  "That which we do repeatedly with the mind becomes a habit of the mind".  This has been an assist in establishing the habit of prayer without ceasing and giving attention to God in all things... moment to moment.  Thank you, Swamiji for the mantra initiation, the guided mantra meditation... and sharing the grace of the Himalayan tradition.

“You can't live a stable life if you don't have a stable mind.  You can't have a stable mind if the breath is not stable.” Very simple, but very profound.

-Pat Layton

Many students were gathered at the Himalayan Institute in Honesdale. One teacher called a meeting of some of the long-time students and insisted on money donations to develop a project in India. I thought I should donate but also felt confused because I had committed my funds elsewhere. I felt guilty for not wanting to donate and, as I puzzled over this dilemma, Swami Veda found me sitting outside.  I told him my problem and he looked at me kindly.

"Consider who is asking," he said quietly. "Is this a request from your Master? What does your inner voice say?"

His sweet, concise advice comforted me and gave me immediate clarity on how to behave in that situation. It has become a keystone learning - an heuristic - that has guided me on many other tricky paths.

Editor’s Note:

We celebrate Swami Veda’s many years of teaching and speaking to/with us by sharing some of  what we have learned much through this service he has given each of us. What is the Something Swamiji Said that impacted your life?

There is no set length.  It can be short or it can be long.   It can be a sentence, a paragraph, an article.  It can have pictures and photos.  It can be prose and/or poetry.

Please write to us at http://www.ahymsin.org/main/index.php/Contact-Us/AHYMSIN-Office.html.

If you have already sent us “Something Swamiji Said,” please know that it will be published in a future edition.  We thank you for sharing.