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| AHYMSIN newsletter, Issue - January 2012 | ||||||||||||||
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Three YMT Seminars in Italyby Danielle BelloniThe YMT - Yoga and Meditation Training program has been promoted in Italy since 2010, a two year post-graduate course under the spiritual guidance of Swami Veda Bharati and the supervision of Swami Ritavan Bharati. The program has successfully gathered mostly Italian yoga teachers attracted by the teachings of the Tradition. The second year course started in March 2011 is mainly focused on the tantric path with particular attention to Solar Science and Shri Vidya. As Swami Veda stated: “One of the branches of Shri Vidya is Surya Vijnana, the Solar Science, which establishes a connection between the rays of the mind and the rays that solidified become forms”. Path of Fire and LightHaving this general frame in mind, Pandit Hari Shankar Dabral guided a group of about thirty people for a residential event which took place at the end of August in Abruzzo - Central Italy, in a former Cistercian Monastery surrounded by nature and silence, a perfect place for spiritual sadhana. “Path of Fire and Light” has been organized with the aim of experiencing a combination of silence and fire offerings within the context of Solar Science, the path to which the group was beautifully introduced by Panditji during a previous seminar. The fire generated in that event – both the physical fire and the subtle fire of meditation - connected the group to the inner experience of being collectively part of an ascending heat, an effect which we feel alive even today, as we all remember the blessing of the received teachings, a miracle of love and generosity.
To put it in Swami Rama’s words the remarkable role played by our spiritual guide, Panditji was “a sleepless envoy and ever-wakeful guide for those who tread the path”. He magnificently guided fire offerings, then he spread the yoga-mat for Sun Salutations in combination with mantras and nyasa (a technique for focusing and directing the mantras onto specific parts of the body). Afterwards Panditji skillfully answered many questions about yoga philosophy and the art of living, clarifying particular aspects of the solar sadhana. Along with fire offerings and Hatha-yoga (morning classes were guided by Susi Stefanini) the whole group went through three days of silence which gave a sense of sacredness to the experience. This program brought about transformations in the hearts of each and everyone. People from Switzerland, from Sicily and from almost every part of Italy found themselves in a meaningful process of purification and transformation. Goddess in the LabyrinthWith the scope of deepening the themes related to the art and science of meditation as taught in the Himalayan Tradition, a seminar on Shri Vidya was then proposed within the second year course. Swami Rama told repeatedly that you can tread the path of fire and light only under the guide of those who know the avenues and the crossroads of this sadhana. Since Swami Ritavan and Swami Nityamuktananda have lovingly accepted to become our guides for this Shri Vidya seminar, we felt blessed once again. “Goddess in The Labyrinth – Tantric practices in Shri Vidya” was held in October in the beautiful countryside of Umbria, a land called “the green heart of Italy”. As Swami Rama and Swami Veda always remind us, Shri Vidya is a very profound spiritual science which takes more than one life in order to fully grasp its meaning. Swami Ritavan led the group through the preparatory steps of Shri Vidya focusing his teaching on the purification of the multifold human personality with all its vehicles and functions. His skills as a meditation guide opened the door to the sublime experience of the Self so that the students were able to pass that inner threshold. Swami Nitya was unmatched in tracing the connections between Shri Vidya and the five elements system. She brought wisdom to the group by answering the many questions about the yoga path and the quest for happiness. Moreover she had been deeply appreciated for her sense of humor and her warm humanity, and for the way she gracefully showed the Makkaho exercises for stretching the energy meridians of the Chinese medicine tradition. The Philosophy of Non AttachmentThree weeks after this event, YMT had the opportunity to host a very special seminar in Milan with Swami Ma Radha Bharati. “The Philosophy of Non Attachment” was the title of Swamiji’s proposal which encountered the interest of a mixed group of yoga teachers and students. It was the first time for Swami Ma Radha in Milan so everybody was positively surprised by her attitude in guiding people both from the philosophical and practical point of view. She was highly effective in tracing the teachings of the Tradition related to the theme of letting-go. By alternating lectures with practice sessions on the Om-Kriya exercise, she was also able to connect the wisdom of the sages to the actual tools for transformation that make the yoga teaching alive. Everybody felt touched by Swamiji’s kind attitude, her clarity of mind made many minds clearer than ever and the fire of transformation had been kindled once again through the grace of Gurudeva. Editor’s Note:Danielle has uploaded videos of some of these events on YouTube. Although the titles are in Italian, one need not speak Italian to enjoy these videos; click on the title to view.
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