Month: May 2010

Golden Nuggets

1. To understand the process of Japa, understand different layers of the mind.
2. Japa begins when the mantra becomes pure thought in the mind.

Section 1 -Understanding the Mind

What is Mind? • It is a shakti kshetra (energy field), a field of energy; closest of the form of Prakriti (matter)

What is the function of Mind?

• Mind is the link between consciousness and the physical personality
• Through Mind one goes beyond annamaya (anatomical body), pranamaya (vital body) and reaches Atman / Purusha (Spiritual self)

(Seeker’s Advantage – Verbatim as stated by Swamiji : Mind is a shakti kshetra, a field of energy, an energy field like all other energy fields. like electric energy field, magnetic energy field, there is a particular energy field called ‘the mind’. It is the subtlest energy field in the Universe and closest of the form of Prakriti, matter, to atman or purusha. Those who have studied Samkhya shastra, Samkhya philosophy, will understand. Those who have read the Tattva Samasa Sutra and Yoga Sutra will understand.

Mind is the link between consciousness and the physical personality. It is the link between consciousness of purusha, and prana and annamaya and all other forms of prakriti or matter. It is through the mind that one goes beyond annamaya, beyond pranamaya, through manas, buddhi, chitta, and ahamkara and then reaching Atman, or Purusha.)

Understanding Meditation requires understanding the nature of mind that consists of:

• Manas – Active mind
• Buddhi – Faculty of wisdom
• Citta – Entire mind field
• Ahamkara – That by which we identify our being

Characteristics of Mind

• Mind has no size and no form of its own
• It takes the form of whatever is presented to it by way of the senses
• Mind is vast and deep, like an ocean
• Mind fills the entire Universe
• Mind is a wave in the mind-ocean of the Universe

(Seeker’s Advantage – Verbatim as stated by Swamiji: If you want to understand meditation, you need to understand the nature of mind, the nature of antahkarana, the inner instrument which consists of manas, active mind; buddhi, the faculty of wisdom, chitta, the entire mind field in which also the samskaras, vasanas, karmashaya are located. Ahamkara, that by which we identify our being, that ‘I am this’ or ‘I am that’.

I repeat that in order to understand meditation, it is absolutely necessary to understand the nature of the mind. What mind is, how mind functions and what we do with the mind through our kriyas, practices of meditation. Mind – I repeat – is a shaktikshetra, an energy field, which has the highest frequency vibration of all the energy fields in the Universe. Ajiram, Javishtham; the most agile and the speediest.

Now the next step in our understanding. To understand the kriyas, the practices of meditation, it is essential that you understand the different levels, the different layers of the mind. Mind has no size and no form of its own, no fixed form of its own. It takes the form of whatever is presented to it by way of the senses or by way of samskaras and vasanas. Mind is vast and deep, like an ocean. The mind fills the entire Universe. Your mind is a wave in the mind-ocean of the Universe. Your mind is a wave in the vast ocean of the mind of the Universe.)

Understanding the Practices of Meditation requires understanding the different levels and layers of the mind

• At Surface Level – Active in the Kshipta (disturbed state opposite of one pointed), Mudha (state of stupefaction) and Vikshipta (distracted from meditative state) states
• At Deeper Level – Ekagra (one-pointed) and Nirodha (fully controlled) States

(Seeker’s Advantage – Verbatim as stated by Swamiji: Next step to understand. Mind is many levels, many layers. At each level, at each layer, it operates and functions differently. At the surface level that you experience, it is active in the kshipta, mudha and vikshipta states. From there you have to rise or dive deep into the ekagra and nirodhah states. I repeat. At each level, each layer, the mind operates and functions differently. If you understand the mind, you understand all your impulses, all your desires, all your wishes, dreams, wakeful states, sleep state. You will understand memory. How to remember, how to memorize sacred texts or how to remember anything else. And if you understand different layers, different levels of the energy field called the mind, you understand different kriyas, practices of meditation. Because the kriyas, the practices of meditation are in different layers and levels of the energy field of the mind. If you understand these layers and levels of the mind, you will understand how knowledge comes to you. Knowledge that you introduce from outside and the knowledge that comes to the yogi and the rishi from inside the chaitanya, from inside the consciousness. When you understand this system – all the levels of mind – you will know how to memorize things, you will know how to receive knowledge from within, as a shakshatkara, as a realization, from chaitanya, from consciousness principle.)

Section 2 – Process of Japa

1. Annamaya (physical), Pranamaya (organic), Manomaya (emotional/mental), Vijnanamaya (intellectual/discriminative), and Anandamaya (blissful) koshas (sheath) are all interlinked
2. States of annamaya and pranamaya are being fed into mind at all times
3. Any kind of tension – physical body or Prana (life force) body, gets transmitted into the Mind
4. Learn prayatna shaithilya (Relaxation of effort ) to settle your Mind in your Japa. Remember any jerk in breath jerks the Mind

(Seeker’s Advantage – Verbatim as stated by Swamiji: I have said this actually to explain the process of japa. You cannot understand the process of japa without understanding different layers of the mind. Many of our sadhakas, practitioners, are still doing their japa by moving the tongue. One of the purposes of khechari is to tuck the tongue away so that you are not doing the shallow japa of words of the mantra.

Your japa begins when your mantra becomes pure thought in the mind. I gave you this one minute to make your mantra pure thought in the mind. Now understand that your annamaya kosha, pranamaya kosha, manomaya kosha, vijnanamaya kosha, anandamaya kosha are all interlinked. And the states of your annamaya and pranamaya (physical body and prana body) the states of these are all the time being fed into your mind, so that if your body, neuromuscalature, nerves and muscles, are tense, they are sending tension messages into the mind. Mind is becoming tense and mind is then travelling to all different areas of thoughts, memories, and experiences.

Part of the reason that your mind does not settle in your japa is because you have not yet learned prayatna shaithilya, relaxation of effort. Your body is still tense. As a result of the tension in the body your breath is jerky, which experience of jerkiness of the breath is also fed back into the mind and the mind becomes jerky and travels around in jerks, all over the world.)

To do one mala of a Mantra in shorter time

1. Learn to relax muscles and nerves as taught in the Yogi Parampara (tradition, lineage)
2. Slow your breath and make it dirgha (long), sukshma (subtle), nairantarya (continuous) and without virama (pause)
3. Let Mantra thought come like a wave and become pure thought in the mind

(Seeker’s Advantage – Verbatim as stated by Swamiji: So for japa, this relaxation of effort is important. A smooth, gentle flow of the breath is important. For which you have to train yourself. Train yourself to abhyasa, abhyasa, abhyasa, which many of our sadhakas are not doing. So the japa remains at a shallow level. Some people take 45 minutes to do one mala of Gayatri. Some take 25 minutes, some take 15 minutes, some take 7 minutes and some fortunate ones can do it in a much shorter time.

This, taking the time, has nothing to do with moving your tongue fast or slow, because you have already your tongue away in khechari mudra. If you want to do your one mala of Gayatri in shorter period of time, then first you have to learn to relax your muscles and nerves by the methods that are taught in the yogi parampara, in the yoga tradition. You have to learn to slow your breath down and make it dirgha shuksma, long and subtle, within nairantarya, without interruption, without virama, without a pause. When you accomplish this and your mantra has become pure thought in the mind, that is only the beginning of japa.)

To deepen your Japa

• Increase the duration of Mantra thought coming like a wave

1. 1. Let the thought not turn into words on the tongue
   2. Let the thought not be interrupted by other thoughts

• Understand the Mind – Nature, Layers and Levels
• When you get deep into the layers of the mind field, the Mantreshvaras (lords of mantras) send their grace into your meditation

(Seeker’s Advantage – Verbatim as stated by Swamiji: Next question: how long can you keep that mantra thought coming like a wave, wave, wave of the same mantra thought, without other thoughts interrupting. Condition one: Without the thought turning into words on the tongue. Condition number two: Without the thought being interrupted by other thoughts. That is the way you deepen your japa, you make your japa subtle and deep.

Now please understand the next step. By understanding the same thing I have said about the nature of the mind. Mind is an energy field with many layers, like the waves of the electric current. Your thoughts are one form, your thoughts including mantra thought, are one form of the wave of the electric energy field of the mind. The word ‘electric’ here is used only as an example, as an analogy. It can be an example of magnetic field or electronic field. Mind is not electricity, mind is not magnetic field, and mind is not electronic field. Mind is a different kind of field, separate from all of these.

Now I repeat again. This mind field has many levels, many layers. Deep like a universal ocean. Let that sink into your understanding. When you begin to go deep into the layers of the mind field the Mantreshvaras, the Lords of mantras, who govern the mantra field, the mind field in the universe, send their grace, their anugraha, into your meditation. This is a secret known only to very advanced yogis. The Mantreshvara-principle will be explained in the course on Shiva-sutras in November 2010. By their grace your japa will go deep.)

Journey in Japa

• Doing the Japa at the shallow layer of Mind as a conscious thought
• As Mind’s vibrations become more ajiram (agile, free of decay) and javishtham (speediest, most high frequency), the brain waves slow down
• At each deeper layer the Mantra becomes a faster vibration; a high frequency
• As you take your Japa into yet deeper layers of the mind you will do more Japa in shorter period of time; rather you will not do
• After much abhyasa (practice), finally you reach a point where mauna (silence); where the knowledge is received wordlessly
• The wordless knowledge is received as the knowledge of the Vedas was received

(Seeker’s Advantage – Verbatim as stated by Swamiji: What does it mean for the japa to go deep? It means that you are first doing the japa at the shallow layer of the mind, as a conscious thought. As a start of the japa practice, you are doing your japa at a shallow level of the conscious mind. Let me explain next principle, about the nature of the mind, as it has been understood by the yogis. Not from books, but from their own experience of going into these layers and levels of the mind. At each level or layer of the mind, the vibration, the sphuranam, the spandanam, is higher frequency. That is it is faster. There is another principle, which I will mention here only incidentally. As the mind’s vibration becomes more and more Ajiram and Javishtham, more and more agile and higher frequency, the brain waves slow down. This will be explained to you some time when the work of our laboratory is explained to you. .)

Section 3 – Practical lesson

How to reduce the time taken for doing long mantras?

We will practice with the mantra – ‘Akhanda-mandalakaram vyaptam yena characaram, tat-padam darsitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah’

1. Bring your attention to yourself, your asana, your posture, your back, all in perfect order
2. Relax all parts of your body
3. Bring your mind’s attention to your breathing, observe your breath and establish diaphragmatic breathing
4. Feel the flow of breaths in your nostrils
5. Establish khechari mudra, the tongue lock with your mantra
6. Continue to feel the slow, smooth, gentle breaths, without a break, sound, jerk in your nostrils
7. Let there be no break in the flow of your mantra thought, with your breaths
8. Merge your left and right nostril-breaths into the sushumna stream
9. Let the mantra continue, feeling the stream of energy on the sushumna path from the nasagra
10. Following the sushumna path, go into your mind. Ignore the breath flow
11. Let only the mantra thought arise. Same wave. Not word by word, but the complete mantra thought all at once
12. The same way that the entire mantra is coming as a single wave, remember just ‘Akhanda-mandalakaram’.
13. Let that become the wave, the entire pada, the entire quarter/order, all at once. Remember, remember, and remember
14. Remember ‘vyaptam yena characaram’, the entire pada, the entire quarter as a single thought
15. Remember ‘tat-padam darhsitam yena’. No words, only the thought
16. Remember ‘tasmai sri-gurave namah’. No words, only the thought
17. Remember the entire half of the verse ‘Akhanda-mandalakaram vyaptam yena characaram’ . Think that as a thought over and over, without a break, the same wave
18. Remember ‘tat-padam darsitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah’
19. Let the entire ‘Akhanda-mandalakaram’, complete mantra, be remembered as a thought in the mind. The entire thought, like a wave
20. Having completed the desired number of japa, come back to your personal diksha-mantra. Same wave, as a thought flashing, thought flashing
21. Come to the sushumna breath, with the same mantra thought.
22. Keeping the mantra in the mind, by usual procedure, open your eyes

(Seeker’s Advantage – Verbatim as stated by Swamiji: So we come to the most important point of learning the japa practice. You have to take your japa into deeper and yet deeper layers of the mind. At each deeper layer the mantra becomes a faster vibration. At each deeper layer the mantra becomes a faster vibration, becomes more high frequency. For example, I will do Gayatri japa for one minute. When I will start I will click my finger (first click). (second click) That was one minute and I have done 27 Gayatris. It is not by moving the tongue faster. It is by going to a certain layer of the mind field where the vibration is higher frequency, is faster. It is not an effort. There must be prayatna shaitiliya, relaxation of effort, at all levels of the practice of yoga. I did 27 Gayatris, because I was speaking before, speaking after and did not give myself time to go deep enough. If I had been sitting in my own personal meditation, in that one minute I would have done 50 Gayatris, or 51 Gayatris. You need to learn this art and this science because then you learn thereby how to use the sharper parts of your mind. But that is a different topic. We will go to that some other time.

I would suggest that whenever people start the practice of a special mantra, or a purushcharana during the periods of silence here or at home, they listen to this explanation about mind, mantra and japa. As you will learn to take your japa into deeper and yet deeper layers of the mind, energy field, not only you will do more japa in shorter period of time….I correct myself: you will not do. More japa will happen in shorter period of time. Not only that will happen, but then, slowly, after much abhyasa, you will learn to go to yet deeper layer and yet deeper layer where finally you reach a point where mauna, silence prevails; where words do not come; where the knowledge is received wordlessly. The wordless knowledge is received as the knowledge of the Vedas was received. This is your journey in japa.)

Feeling in the shallows? Contemplate the Ocean.

– Swami Veda Bharati

Glossary

• Abhyasa – Practice
• Ajiram – Agile, free of decay
• Anandamaya kosha – The blissful sheath
• Annamaya kosha – Anatomical body, the physical sheath
• Anugraha – Grace
• Atman – Individual spirit
• Dirgha – Long
• Ekagra state – One-pointed attention
• Javishtham – Speediest, most high frequency
• Khechari mudra – Tuck the tongue
• Kshipta – Disturbed state opposite of one pointed
• Manomaya kosha – The metal or emotional sheath
• Mantreshvaras – Lords of Mantras
• Mauna – Silence
• Mudha – State of stupefaction
• Nairantarya – without interruption
• Nirodha – Fully controlled state
• Parampara – Tradition, lineage
• Prakriti – Matter
• Prana – Life Force, vital energy
• Pranamaya kosha – Vital body, the organic sheath
• Prayatna shaithilya – Relaxation of efforts
• Purusha – Spiritual self
• Shakti kshetra – Energy field
• Sukshma – Subtle
• Vijnanamaya kosha – The intellectual or discriminative sheath
• Vikshipta – Distracted from meditative state
• Virama – Pause

The situations that produce mind quakes in others leave a meditator’s mind well alone to enjoy its stillness.

Meditators do not suffer mind quakes even during earthquakes.  I recall my first earthquake in Dehradun. I must have been about 9 or 10 years old.  The whole family had gone out somewhere and I was absolutely alone.  I felt the ground and the house shaking, my mind said this is an earthquake!  Something inside me made me run out of the house,  jump down two steps from the platform on which the house was built, into the middle of the road and I stood there fascinated until the earthquake subsided then went back in.  I recall a fascination but not a fear.

I do not know if this would be the case with other 9 or 10 years old alone at home during an earthquake.

Back sometime in the 1980’s I used to hold weekend retreats in the house of Margit Jacob in Napa Valley California.  We were all in Margit’s yoga hut, everyone lying in shavasana and I sitting and guiding a long relaxation practice.  An earthquake came and there was no faltering, nor any movement from those lying in shavasana.  We just continued as though nothing was happening.  After the session was over we did then comment to each other “yes there was an earthquake”.

So it is.

Manuel Fernandez has practiced under Tibetan Lamas for nearly a decade.  He has done many silent meditation retreats.  He has also been living in our ashram for over 5 years.  PhD in cultural anthropology from University of California, Berkeley, he has helped develop our research programmes at our Meditation Research Laboratory.

Recently Manuel had to leave to go back home to his native Chile, when the recent Chilean earthquake struck.  Below are two of the comments we have received from him.

“Since I am in a 14th floor I figured I had nowhere to escape, so I just relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful view of the city shaking from my panoramic window.”

“Today I was teaching a yoga class to one single student in my apartment and we had two strong earthquakes, one of them was about 7 Richter! and then we had many aftershocks, some quite strong. Yet we continued with the class until the end. When I was doing the final relaxation I was very aware of my voice and I noticed every time there was an aftershock my voice was about to break but I managed to relax enough so my voice was not affected and I don´t think the student noticed any change in my voice.”

These events show that Meditation does indeed liberate us from our fears.  The situations that produce mind quakes in others leave a meditator’s mind well alone to enjoy its stillness.

Here is another Earthquake story which may help some people.

Joan Sullivan’s account:

It was 1980, Arcata, California. In the wee hours, an earthquake rattled and roared like a giant train tearing through the room. My husband said “grab the baby” and we ran outside. I was calm because I had gone to sleep from meditation and the mantra was still strong when the earthquake awakened us. I knew that we were all quite safe.

But then something strange happened. Over the next two weeks of aftershocks, I started thinking about the experience through manas, about how we were standing on largely liquid—not solid ground. Then, one night, in utter panic, I phoned my friend Sherry and asked her to come over.

“John is at work and Isaac is only 2 months old. I do not want to create fear in him,” I said.

“I’ll be there in 15 minutes,” she said.

No sooner did I hang up the phone rang. It was Dr. Arya. “Hello?” his whole being came pouring through the phone lines. “Joanne? Is this the Joanne Sullivan who died in an earthquake?”

“Oh, Panditji,” I sighed.

“I heard there was an earthquake there but the lines were tied up. Are you all okay?”

“Yes, but I’m scared.”

“Joanne, have you no faith in God?” he said.

“No, Panditji.”

Then he proceeded to tell me two scary stories about earthquakes. “Did you hear about the earthquake that swallowed a man and his banana stand? The ground opened and closed around him. He ate bananas and drank water from an underground stream for three days until they dug him out.”

Meanwhile, I am thinking “Why is he telling me this? I am already scared!” as he launches into another true disaster tale, this time about a man walking along the beach on a perfect day when a tsunami comes along and pulls him out to sea. We lived close to the ocean coast at the time so this was not particularly heartening to hear.

“He woke up the next day on the beach,” he said.

“Oh.”

Dr. Arya said a few more words and gave his blessings. By the time we hung up, my fears were gone. Based on the true stories of disasters he was telling me, I expected to be yet more frightened. I wasn’t. I don’t know what he did.

Soon after, something in me decided that an earthquake was an event of great power with billions of tons of earth moving below my feet. Awe, not fear, was more in order.

Mind lessons still not learned. The night of the event, buddhi, the discriminating mind beyond reason, was in charge. Over the next two weeks, I had let manas, the so-called rational mind, get the upper hand. This is a perfect example of what Swami Rama writes about in Meditation and its Practice and the difficulties we can get into when, through old habits, ahankara, the I-maker, or manas (lower mind, the part that “reasons”) does not let buddhi do its job and guide you.

What I was trying to tell Joanne was that it does not necessarily mean that harm will come to you and that your karma and God’s grace may save you through unexpected means.

Swami Veda Bharati

I’ll tell you one more secret of success in life.

I’ll tell you one more secret of success in life.

Meditation: Flow of Divine Energy

Center of the universe is in a space called the space of your heart. The space of your consciousness – Chidakasha. Come to the center of the universe that is enclosed by the clay vessel called the body, the temple of god, called the body.

Through the space, through the walls of the stable flows the breeze of the divine energy which becomes your breath. This divine energy passes through you, as it enters you, as it leaves you. Inhaling and exhaling feeling the flow and the touch of your breaths in your nostrils and the divine name, your mantra flowing as a soft sound along with the feel of your breath in the nostrils. Without a break between your breaths, without a break in the flow of the thought of the divine name.

Continue to feel the breath in the nostrils, in the space of your consciousness and the presence of your mantra, your favorite divine name and without breaking this flow of the mind stream, gently open your eyes. May God and Gurudeva bless us all.

Our Mission is to Alleviate Pain

I congratulate you (long pause) . . .

God made ears for two purposes, one to hang the microphone on and the other one to listen to others. I congratulate you on what you have accomplished. A comment to us made by a very dear friend that the gathering this year was smaller than three years ago; smaller but more cohesive and with some definite goals. With a clearer view and a clearer vision and I’ve sensed it and felt it; that Sangha is forming. And. . .Who was it who said…? I think it was Isaiah who said, “This body is a Sangha.” It comes from the Sanskrit root form, Sanghathia; that in which many forces hit a goal together. So that Sangha is there, is formed, is forming. I could go all night on the history of this word but that’s not what we are here for.

I was counting in my mind that there are 198 countries that are members of the United Nations – 20 or 21 are present here. We can congratulate ourselves on that or we can also say that we have 176 or 177 more to go.

I have told you of my master’s conversation. “Swamiji, the Meditation Center in Minneapolis is going well.  What do I do next?” Over the phone and he says, “Well, how many people in Minneapolis and St. Paul?” And I said, “Two million.” And he says, “Have all those two million started meditating?”  “No Swamiji, they have not.”  “Call me back when all two million have started meditating.”

So congratulate yourselves when all 198 countries have learned the art and science of meditation as it is taught by the Himalayan masters. Congratulate yourself when you know that when time comes for you to leave the body, you are an enlightened being. Congratulate yourself on that accomplishment if it comes to you in this life. But, on the other hand, what you have accomplished so far under the guidance of the Gurudeva is no mean achievement.  I’m happy. The sense of fraternity, awareness of being together and you go from here with a revived sankalpa to make your own spiritual progress. Repeatedly we need to keep on impressing upon ourselves that your individual spiritual progress alone is the cornerstone of the mission that the Guru has given us. And what is that mission?  Reducing the pain on earth through the power of meditation.

Free Yourself from Personal Suffering

What you earn with your job, with your hard work, with your employment, with your investment is the means to keep your body together. The body is the means for you to be able to undertake the tapasya, the self purification, which is required for making you such that you have the compassion and the power to alleviate the pain in the world.

But if you keep on dwelling on your suffering then you are not in a position to reduce the suffering of others. Your own suffering, your own suffering; what is it? Paying off your past karma so you may be free of it, and being free you may then dedicate yourself to elevating yourself spiritually and serving others. The day you would have understood this principle, your own suffering will go down because you’ll see it in that prospective.  But if you keep on complaining to God or whatever forces, “I’m suffering…I’m suffering…I’m suffering…How can I do anything for others?” Without understanding what suffering is, you will make no progress. So understand the meaning of your personal suffering. It is a necessary step towards your purification. Accept it as such and go on, move on.

One thing about the material support of this Sangha. All this time many, many people helped Swami Veda to create what has been created. Financially, Swami Veda is lacking.  We must not now just sit back and say, “Well, now the president has come and he said he will take care of it all.” That is the way of the lazy.

Teach!

If you contribute anything for this Sangha’s work, it can be your teaching.  Five minutes of teaching breathing to your neighbor who was shouting at his wife last night. You have made a contribution. You have paid five minutes worth of that to your Guru. And you have to learn to pay back that debt. Don’t sit back and say, “Well, I’m no teacher.  I have no teacher training, and I don’t have time to teach, so how can I start teaching?” In which ‘mother training school’ do mothers go before giving birth to learn how to take care of the child?! Your compassion is your training, your commitment to paying off your debt to the Guru is your training. So, number one, find ways to pay your debt to the Guru lineage by teaching five minutes of breathing to the two persons you have seen fighting.

Sometimes, when I was mobile and living in Minneapolis, my household life, I would go to the shopping mall. I would see two old women sitting on the bench arguing like they were embodiments of hostility to each other. I’m a disciple, they are both suffering. Please remember that they are both suffering and they are letting out that suffering. So I very nonchalantly turned the direction of my walk and I passed by their bench and I caught the eyes of one of them and smiled and I innocently passed. . . and she smiled back. The other lady smiled back. . .the spell of hostility is broken. That is teacher training for you. Either you register for teacher training or you do not register for teacher training. This is teacher training.

What is the Price of One Minute of Peace?

So, think in your mind, “How am I going to pay the debt to the Guru Lineage, which this morning granted me even one minute of silence? Out of the 30 minutes that I sat, I really had one minute of real peace. The other 29 minutes I was fighting with myself, I was cursing Swami, I was…” A lot of people do that, I tell you, I know, I know it…they sit down in meditation and they start arguing with me. I used to argue with my master so I know it. I know it from my personal experience. Out of 30 minutes you spend 29 minutes arguing with your wife, with your husband, with your children, with your daughter-in-law, with your mother-in-law, with your neighbor, with your Guru, with your teacher.  But you go one minute.  What is the price of that one minute? What is the value of that one minute? Where can you walk, into which shopping mall, and go into which shop and say, “May I buy from you one minute of peace please? What is your price?” The only way you can pay the price for that one minute is you give somebody else the capacity to enjoy that one minute in their life. That is what you have to do in the next three years.

How Can I Pass the Message?

I’m hospitalized, I was hospitalized in Germany, and I’m sitting waiting for the doctor along with 20 others in the waiting room, and people come over and ask, “What is it in you? I’m finding peace.” I sit there and I teach. I went to Taiwan for the first time. I knew nobody. I just wanted to visit the country. I knew that some day I’ll have to do some mission here, I want to know. They don’t speak English. I walk into the Buddhist Temple. People are sitting with these long big, big, big malas. Somebody sitting this way, somebody sitting this way, somebody sitting this way, and they are going on reciting, moving the mala. I was wearing my whites in those days and I went and I sat down and I did my mala. I didn’t go to teach them how to sit, I did my mala. Half an hour later I open my eyes and half of the people were sitting correctly. I’ve never paid a teacher training fee. I’m not saying it to say I’m a great teacher; but I teach from my experience, from my own experiments.

This is what you have to do in the next three years, and don’t keep it to yourself.  Think about, “How can I pass this message? Can I get a CD of this, what you have said, and then give it to ten people? Can I pass this on to other Yoga teachers? What can I do? Because I cannot pay the price for this, so how do I pay the debt?”

Sometimes people come to me and say, “I have great problems with my half grown children. They are rebelling and they are fighting. Swamiji, do you have any advice?” What I can do with them? What do you think my advice is? First they are shocked, I say: “Improve your relationship with your parents and your problem will go.” That is the price. That is how you pay the debt. And if your parents are not in the body you still can improve your relationship with them.

The Pleasure of Giving

Alright, so these are the changes, steps in your progress. You have to go with the sankalpa, “Ihave to make further progress.” The progress is in your intangibles. Then that progress will spread in the Ahymsin family, in the form of intangible. Then the tangibles will come.

“I will stop going to Ahymsin meetings, they are always asking for money.” Alright, let me clear one thing. Why do you give? Not because you are paying a fee to a Swami, not because you are paying a membership fee. One beautiful study I saw in the popular newspapers, the headline was, “Money can give you happiness.” It sounded like a joke. They did brain wave scans and found that, when you are giving, the pleasure centers of your brain light up. When you are giving somebody something, the pleasure centers of your brain light up. That’s why you give, not because you have to pay a membership fee. And that should be your reason for giving.

I’m going to write down some suggestions for principles to apply in your daily life.  Don’t cook just for yourself. In the Rig Veda we read, Kevalagho bhavati kevaladi, he who eats alone eats only sin. In the Bhagavad Gita the same thing, Bhunjate te tvagham papam ye pachantyatma-karanat. Those who cook only for themselves are eating the cooked food, they are only eating sin. If you don’t want to share your food, every day take just a little flour, a little dal, a spoonful of sugar, a spoonful of oil. Put it in a separate pot, put it away. When you have enough, go find somebody who is hungry and give it to them. When you are getting your salary, take out 1%. Put it aside. That is not for yourself and that is not for getting tax reduction either. It is for the pleasure of giving. These are the conditions of progress. It is not just sitting there reciting, “Swamiji, next year what mantra you are going to give us?” This ís the mantra. These are the mantras for the next three years.

2011 Gathering of Children and Youth, Silence, 2013

December 2011 we are expecting a gathering here of children and youth. Please work towards it. Think of introducing them to a sacred place. Your grandchildren, even your grown children who have not being initiated into the tradition.  Bring them and let them feel a change of atmosphere. I’ve never seen a child come to this Ashram who wants to leave. They keep asking, “Mother when are we going back there?” Because they sense what the adults don’t always sense.

So first these two three items I have suggested and then work for the children because that is easy work; and silence. Those who have already done some silence practice,  now take the next step in that silence. Advise it to others, come for that. Back home, even 36 hours of silence every week or every month. You find the time. One step more in your practice of silence.

Three years from now, 2013 when we meet we’ll put aside three days for the administration and the organization of the Sangha and the discussion; rest of the time all 200 people will keep silence. How would that be – 200 people in silence for nine days? But prepare yourself now, start doing the practice now. Ok? Alright.

And the people who are helping, guiding, whether holding an elected position or not holding an elected position; as I said, in this organization, in this Sangha, there are no presidents, no vice presidents, no secretaries, no executive members.  You serve as initiates, you serve as disciples. If I find that in this Sangha there are people who have greater knowledge, greater experience, talent, ability to serve, and their services are not being used, then I call them and I say, “Would you help me with this project? Would you help me do this? Would you help me do that? Ok?”

No Contradictions in the Universe

In the gathering, in any organization there are always differences of opinion. Quite often we take those differences of opinion personally, we create an emotion out of it. We stop evaluating it. A lot of times I have found that when there are two options there is a way that both options can be applied. People don’t learn that art. It is not choosing black against white and white against black, but choosing both black and white. On this Earth is there light or is there darkness? What kind of a question is that?! Is darkness in India? Is light in America? Twelve hours later it will be dark in America and it will be light in India. Somebody asks the question, “How should I answer these multiple choice questions?” The answer is both. There is no contradiction between the two, because the contradictions complete each other.

There are no contradictions in the Universe, there are no opposites in the Universe. There are only forces that complete each other. So think of differences of opinion on that basis. That how can this opinion and this opinion that on the surface looks like opposites of each other, how can the two both be incorporated as in the answer to the question whether there is light on this earth or is there darkness on this earth. This applies to the people who are running the Sadhaka Grama, this applies to those who will guide, those who wish to be guided, those who wish to express an opinion, those who have a contribution to make. All of you, ok? And do it.

Svanta Sukaya, Because it Gives Me Satisfaction

There is a phrase in Sanskrit, svanta sukaya, because it gives me satisfaction.  Not because it helps the organization, but because it gives me satisfaction. Do it for your internal satisfaction.

I’ve nothing more to say, enough has been said, I’ll write some of these things down and just give them to you. Help out please, there is so much to do. There are 176 countries more to go. And probably still two million people left in Minneapolis, that’s right.

Question from the audience

”Swamiji are you putting United Nations out of business?”

No, no, I’m only complementing their work. They preamble to the UNESCO (United Nation’s Education Social and Cultural Organization) says, “Wars begin in the mind of the people. It is in the minds of the people that the problem of the war is to be solved.”

So I’m only helping them out.

God bless you all. Thank you.

Now, Kahola the son of Kaushitaki asked him: