Month: September 2017

How do we break the bonds of karma, what is the method?

Posted on by Mandala

Question

How do we break the bonds of karma, what is the method? And is there a method to break or erase the bonds of prarabdha karma or “destiny” as it is understood?

Answers

Two have answered this question: Stephen Parker (Stoma) and Michael Smith.

Stephen Parker (Stoma)

Here is one response:

Mindful awareness, starting from simple awareness of breath, grounds your attention in buddhi which is causally prior to ahamkara, the source of self-identification with samskaras and the “glue” that sticks them to our mindfield. When you remain aware without reacting, the self-identification is broken. A second important way is through modification of the samskara by intending through samkalpa shake to make a more sattvik response than the emotional reaction that the samsara is usually pushing us to make. Awareness gives you a bit of time and space to decide how to respond rather than simply reacting and creating a similar samskara that you will have to deal with in the future.

Michael Smith

Swami Rama’s books: Freedom from the Bondage of Karma and Perennial Psychology of the Bhagavad Gita answer that question in detail.

Nishkama karma (“desireless action”), not having expectations of reward, is one of the main teachings in the Bhagavad Gita. Renouncing the notion of doer-ship, and performing actions skillfully and selflessly for the benefit of others.  There is an attitude shift.

The prarabdha karma may still occur, but there is not an egoic self who is keeping score. It would not stick. There is no longer a preoccupation with “self.”

For an avaricious person, watching his house burn down would be agony; for a renunciate it could be a blessing.

Editor’s Note

If you have any questions about your spiritual practice, you may write to the AHYMSIN Spiritual Committee at adhyatmasamiti@gmail.com.

Ashram Life

Posted on by Mandala

The Early Years

I met Dr. Usharbudh Arya, later known as Swami Veda Bharati, in Minneapolis in 1970 after a year in Europe seeking and not finding. He had been initiated into a higher state by his master months earlier. In 1971 Swami Rama came back to Minneapolis and met with Dr. Arya’s students. He was a mountain of a man. For the first 5 years, there was satsang nearly every evening with Dr. Arya, who was himself a full time seeker, father, husband, university professor, and guide.

We were a close knit if diverse group, from Catholic priests to atheists. We came from every walk of life. The Arya family opened their hearts and their home to us. We were given a full immersion experience in classic yoga, an age old tradition of studying in the teacher’s home.

From that day to this it has been an incredibly profound experience. We learned so much from him and from one another. I had come from a sheltered suburban upbringing into a world of people of different languages, religions, ethnicities with careers that ranged from bus driver to distinguished professor, from rock ‘n roll wannabes to real munis.

The attic of the Arya family home was our first ashram, but we didn’t know it. Dr. Arya ingrained in us a feeling and a commitment that we were one big loving family. Some of the spiritual children and grandchildren of Swami Veda and Swami Rama sometimes come to Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama (SRSG). Those early years in the yellow house not far from the Mississippi River are still alive.

And there are many new faces.

Some would have the good fortune to live at one of the ashrams founded by Swami Rama or Swami Veda. The Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy was founded by Swami Rama and Sadhana Mandir was also.

Swami Veda founded The Meditation Center in Minneapolis, but there was only room for a few residents. Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama (SRSG) was built in 2002. This was where many of Swami Veda’s students came to study with him, especially the last few years of his life when his body was too fragile for travel.

Swami Veda left the body in 2015. He named Swami Ritavan Bharati as his successor. Swami Ritavan carries with him the discipline, commitment and light of a strong teacher. He is firm in his resolve to maintain a traditional ashram with residents who are willing and able to follow the ashram schedules from 5 a.m. prayers to dedicated practices that include hatha yoga, an hour of meditation at a set time every morning and evening and karma yoga, i.e. your assigned work. I have felt his love and prayers, and my own practice has benefited from sitting with him, and I believe that though Swami Rama and Swami Veda are no longer in their physical form, a sacred presence abides.

The Himalayan Institute

From the first time I heard about the Himalayan Institute in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, I wanted to live there. Many of us came wanting to change ourselves and the world. We dived into ashram life and sometimes, just as eagerly, clutched at old habits from which we were running.

4 Fountains

We learned to observe our impulses and habits. Swami Rama talked about 4 fountains —food, sleep, sex, and self-preservation. Many of our moment to moment decisions were influenced by what he sometimes called these “primitive urges.” If you could control one of these urges, the others might also be brought under your control—not by forcing, but by doing particular practices on a regular basis. In this way, you could create a life more in tune with your long term objectives rather than be held hostage by habits that held you back.

I learned to simplify my diet. I eliminated sweets and wheat and ate less dairy for two years. My asthma disappeared; prayer and work became more important to me.

For most of my life, I had subconsciously lived in anticipation of the next treat. Food was a recreational activity instead of a form of nourishment. It was not as if I did not enjoy food any more. I did. But I no longer ate between meals or after an early dinner. And contentment came into play.

For dinner, it was sometimes a cup of soup or non-caffeinated, nonsweetened  chai. Sometimes I chose to use that precious time for meditation instead. I learned that with my particular body I did not need a lot of food. It’s not the same for everyone so take care. With my food impulses gradually coming under control, some of my other impulses had less of a hold on me. My sleep needs gradually diminished. I now had more time in my day. But sometimes I slipped back into old habits. Sometimes the slips lasted a day, sometimes years.

Rhythms

In Swami Rama’s US ashram, with food needs reduced and a lighter body, I took pleasure in simple routines that formed a sort of daily rhythm. These were:

  • a fixed daily meditation time
  • several short sittings throughout the day
  • sanctifying mundane chores with silent prayer
  • moderation in eating
  • hatha yoga once or twice a day
  • jogging, walking
  • alternate nostril breathing and other pranayama (breathing) practices

Swami Veda, Swami Rama, and the medical staff at the Institute gave individuals other practices as well. To conquer stupor, eat less and early—not after 7pm—and exercise more. For emotional balance, without judging, get to know your habits of mind, breath and body in a nonjudgmental fashion so that change can follow with less resistances. Breath awareness helps. For obstacles like negative thinking, application of the equal and opposite thought. If you were having difficulty with someone, you might want to leave an anonymous gift or secretly wish them well or ponder their finer traits when your mind went the wrong way and then not talk about it or you might have to deal more with your own pride and self righteousness.

My food compulsions lessened and the frequency of practice helped. Before meals and instead of tea time, I would often go to my room and do a short meditation or breathing practice.

At this point in my life, I cook for myself and do all my own laundry and cleaning. I seem to have gotten slower and it has become difficult to keep the ashram schedule. Time has always been an issue for me, but it has become increasingly challenging in the last few years.

Facing Difficulties

Name your biggest secret or your favorite habit. It was all up for grabs. What didn’t bubble up from the unconscious mind with the help of intensive practices that an ashram can provide —easily found its way into broad daylight. Swami Rama was there, brimming with joy and mystery. He might proclaim your secret at breakfast or at tennis between volleys or afterwards when he sat down on the grass with us. There was always prasad after he played tennis— cookies and candies all around. The children would come for hugs. I kept away from the sweets.

Once in the dining room, Swami Rama stood behind a very discrete young woman and announced to everyone that she was in love with Dick. She was, but even Dick had not known. She turned several shades of red, but recovered enough to eventually marry Dick. Theirs is a wonderful family, one of the cornerstones of the community.

Jogging

Swami Rama strongly encouraged jogging and walking up the steep hill at the Himalayan Institute. After tennis, there was always instruction, spoken or otherwise. Twice my jogging practice had fallen by the wayside, and Swami Rama told Sewa to go jogging with me every morning. He also would frequently come into the dining hall and tell us to partner with others for jogging. He said that way when one person doesn’t want to jog the friend will get them to keep at it. After a month or so of 5 a.m. jogs with Sewa, I was ready and committed to jog on my own again. After my initial resistance to it, jogging became an important teacher for me. It had a terrific way of bringing my mental resistances front and center, and before the run was over, their release. Sometimes when I didn’t want to jog, I would mentally say “this one is for Debbie (my niece who was sick)” or this one is for my mother or my father or someone I loved or someone I avoided. Strong aversions and attractions got closer to neutral.

Unfortunately arthritis came later in life, but I don’t think it was the jogging that did it. There had been a number of hard falls on my knees when I was younger. Also once I injured myself by running out the door without first warming up the limbs, which had been my habit. Last, I am sad to say, at a certain time in my life I meditated an hour in the full lotus pose each day. Swami Rama had warned us not to meditate in this pose, but I didn’t listen. I had worked long and hard to attain the pose and it felt comfortable. I ignored his advice.

We Received a lot of Help

Swami Rama would also on occasion perch at the double doors of the dining room and peer in mischievously. My 8-year-old son was going through a growth spurt and always took about 5 times more food than he could eat!

I pleaded with him just to take a small amount and go back for more if he wanted. But nothing could persuade him. Then one day, Swami Rama appeared at breakfast. He came straight to our table, pointed to my son’s plate and said “Eat that.” My son never did that again. He was so sick and so late for school that day. It took a long time for that tall, skinny fellow to eat that mountain of food.

Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama

Decades passed, and I had settled back into life in the world. The support network of regular meditation, yoga, exercise and wholesome foods was gone. I was in Boston working in a full time librarian job as well as part time at a public library and 2 university libraries. I had ½ day off a week. Then I moved to SRSG in Rishikesh.

Flow

The steady rhythms of ashram life give way to an unbroken flow. The ground you stand on has roots above and below.

Change your Mind

Swami Veda called it emotional purification. It took me a long time to get it. I still doubted that it was possible to change entrenched habits of thinking, feeling and speaking. It took years to move an inch. It has been well worth it.

Necessity, the Mother of invention

Wherever you go there you are. This saying has been attributed to Confucius. Dr. Whitacre, later Swami Nijananda, once said “You may like me. You may not like me. It is none of my business.”

In the world of Love All. Exclude None, I was inevitably confronted with challenges to my core. But then, the core shifted.

How did this happen? Swami Veda gave various practices to strengthen the resolve of loving. The heart is a muscle and not just in its physical sense.

Forgiveness

There is a Forgiveness Day in the Jaina religion. Swami Veda was not Jaina. As a monk, he belonged to no one and everyone. The entire world was his family. Those of us who lived with him aspired to that ideal, even those of us who were not renunciates. Living in an ashram asks for a certain amount of renunciation. What you own, owns you.

Swami Veda sent us all a note that Forgiveness Day was coming. He asked us to keep the sanctity of that day and the days leading up to it in the depths of our hearts.

Gratitude

We were asked to keep gratitude diaries. This meant at least one entry a day every day for a very long time of something you were grateful for. This is a practice I still would like to sustain. From what others have said, it is a fine antidote to worry, fear, depression and other maladies in what passes for mind.

The Challenges

Like any social milieu, living together, we inevitably bumped up against each other on occasion, despite all furtive attempts at harmony and holiness. Even among Americans, there was the New York financier, the Dallas lawyer, the painter, the professor, and the back woods farmer. It was a tremendously rich social environment. There were opportunities for growth.

Each of us had our own challenges. By and large, I believe that most of us wanted to create a sanctum sanctorum within and without. This happened variably in leaps and bounds and in baby steps. You might also fall flat on your face in the mud, so to speak. And then you got up again.

The River of Crocodiles

Posted on by Mandala

Faith, fear, and freedom in the face of mortality

Throughout my life, I hankered to meet true mystics—those very few who neither laid claim to nor profited from miracles. Yet, miracles seemed to abound around them like wildflowers along country roads. Having relinquished all possessions, they were paupers, but nevertheless walked like kings who owned the place! We had the good fortune of having one of them stay with us for a few days. All he ate his entire life was boiled rice and vegetables meshed together without salt. For a lover of food like me, the absolute control over one’s palate was no less a miracle. I asked him whether he ever missed having meat. He said his stomach was not a graveyard to bury dead animals! Past seventy, he did not look a day over forty!

India has many saints who have spiritually evolved far beyond mystics. This is my story of how I met the mysterious One from the Himalayas, the King of Kings.I read his memoire of life among saints and sages in Living with the Himalayan Masters (Swami Rama, Himalayan Institute Press, 1978). Reflecting on the events he described, I realized that what we call miracles often arise from our ignorance. Let me illustrate.

Swami Rama was among a group of young spiritual aspirants following their Master when they came across the flooded Tungbhadra River in South India. Many crocodiles and logs were bobbing in its dangerous currents. The Master said that anyone who could swim across that river was his disciple. Only Swami Rama accepted that challenge and won the rite of passage to discipleship. It was a miracle considering the odds that he survived. But if he knew that his Master had the power to protect him, it wasn’t a miracle to him at all. When good comes out of an event we cannot explain, we call that a miracle.

A test of faith

The health crisis I faced earlier this year pushed me into one of life’s own river of crocodiles. Several miracles were about to unfold. The descent into crisis actually began in the Spring of 1982 when I was struck down by psoriatic arthritis. In severe pain, I started treatment with mainstream medicine but serious side effects forced me to turn to alternative practitioners. With the exception of one homeopath, all of them made tall promises but fell woefully short on delivery. Initially however, when the “remedies” prescribed by this homeopath failed to provide any relief, I began to lose all faith in homeopathy. One day, at the end of my ropes, he said that he will be out of the office for two weeks to attend a series of conferences. During the time he was absent, my condition deteriorated to a point where I seriously considered filing for disability.

When I finally saw him after his return, he tapped two small white pills into my mouth from a vial. Curious, I wanted to know the name of the prescription. He said it is simply known as “S.L.”, which, according to several leading homeopaths at the conference, was a potent remedy for my condition. He said I could take two more pills if I ever needed to.

A miracle happened on my way home. Limping in severe pain and barely able to walk when I went to see him, the pain started to disappear as I was walking. I felt that I could easily run a marathon. Over the next two weeks, all psoriasis patches from my head to toe, started to disappear. What’s more, S.L. had no side effects. The euphoria lasted for about two years. One day, while on a trip to Kolkata, India, I felt the pain coming back in my wrists. I immediately fixed an appointment with a renowned local homeopath. When I recounted that the American doctor had prescribed “S.L.”, he laughed out loud. Perplexed, I asked him why he was laughing. “S.L. stands for sugar lac—a placebo. But your mind convinced your body that you had just received a potent cure. The relief you obtained was a classic example of the power of the mind over the body.” He then prescribed a number of homeopathic remedies none of which made any difference in treating my condition. Of course, true to the nature of a placebo, S.L. never worked again either. So, what seemed a miracle was simply the power of my mind convincing my body that it had just received a cure.

The Guru appears

To relieve the pain, I reverted to mainstream medicine and started to read books on yoga and the Himalayan Tradition. When I came to know that Swami Rama, the renowned adept of the tradition, visited the Himalayan Institute in Honesdale, Pennsylvania every summer, I decided to try and see him. When I first met him in the spring of 1988, I was praying that initiation would invoke his Grace and protection. I was a bit taken aback when he wanted to know why I wanted to see him—did I want a promotion at my job? The enlightened ones say most pray for such tinkle and trash. I blurted out saying “What I want they cannot give me……” but got tongue-tied saying “what they can give me, I do not want”. He simply nodded his head. It was just as well that I could not speak a half-truth in his presence. Although I realized the triviality of a promotion in the midst of a health crisis, I nevertheless hankered for more money. A few weeks after I returned home, I received his letter asking me to come to Honesdale.

That was how I became an initiate of the Himalayan Tradition. Each year, the green trees and blooming flowers of Honesdale seemed to welcome me to the Institute. Each visit felt like sweet homecoming. Guruji’s (the suffix “ji” is an honorific that extends respect) boundless love and compassion touched all those who were fortunate enough to meet him. On some evenings, he would lead a small gathering of disciples in singing devotional songs. These were so intensely emotional that tears of joy would flow down my cheeks.

The other highlight of my visits were the private sessions he granted me to discuss spiritual practices. During one of these sessions, as I sat on the floor near his feet, I felt his laser-like gaze pierce my soul. No one had ever looked at me like that before. It was as if he speed-read my entire life, from the first page to the last. He finally snapped out of it and said “There is nothing. Not to worry. You worry uselessly. Leave all your worries to the Divine Mother and to me.” I asked him whether I would ever be cured of psoriatic arthritis. He said “No, but it can be pacified”. In deep gratitude, a spontaneous mantra arose within me “Om Guravay Namaha!” (homage and obeisance to the Guru). Instantly, I saw my innermost thought ricochet across his face. Since then, whenever difficulties arise, I recall his assurance that all will turn out well if I continue my practice with faith and devotion.

Once, he told a group of people gathered to hear him speak “Go to a room and ask yourself, what have I done for someone where my self-interest is not involved? Have you done something? If you have not done any good for anyone selflessly, who is going to guide you when you drop this body and are looking for another one?” That to me represents the essence of religion. I do not need to read or memorize any scriptures.

When I visited the Institute in the summer of 1995, little did I know that I was seeing him for the last time. Just before I took leave of him, he touched the crown of my head (Sahasrara Chakra) but I did not recognize the preciousness of this gift at that time. On November 13, 1996, he dropped his body with full awareness and control, true to the Himalayan tradition and its long lineage of adepts.

Swimming among crocodiles

Towards the middle of 2000, blood tests showed elevated liver enzymes caused by methotrexate, a powerful anti-inflammatory given to cancer patients. I was running out of options. Fortunately, a new line of treatment opened up with the advent of “biologics”. These synthetic medicines were made using living cell cultures (such as hamster ovary cells) rather than in a chemical lab. Faced with progressive joint deterioration, I started self-injecting with the biologic Stelara in the spring of 2004. This medicine better targeted the errant cells involved in psoriatic arthritis. Within six months, both arthritis and the psoriasis reduced noticeably. Unfortunately, the efficacy of Stelara wore off in little more than a year and the disease returned in full force. My rheumatologist then prescribed Humira, a tumor necrosis factor (TNF) blocker that dialed down the body’s immune system. I obtained total relief from psoriatic arthritis for the first time since the placebo-induced remission of 1984. The respite barely lasted two years when my weight started falling from 168 lb. in March 2016 to just 136 lb. by the end of the year.

I consulted a good internist but tests failed to pinpoint the cause of my weight loss and persistent throat infections. Then, in October 2016, I developed a dry hacking cough that continued for four months, accompanied by occasional night sweats, chills, and fatigue. When increasingly potent medicines failed to control the cough, a chest X-ray was ordered even though the one taken in September 2016 was normal. The X-ray and CT-scan of the lungs revealed many small and large nodules. The radiologists opined that the extensive nodules suggested metastatic cancer and not an infection. The internist was at a loss to explain the source of the cancer and immediately referred me to Dr. Halabi, a pulmonologist. I went to see him with a copy of the CT-scan.

After a pensive reflection of the images of my lung nodules for what seemed an eternity, he said: “I know what your radiologists said, but I don’t think this is cancer”. Then, out of an abundance of caution, he stressed that only a biopsy can provide the basis for a firm diagnosis. Nevertheless, Dr. Halabi threw me a lifeline that day quite unaware of the enormity of the moment. His words shall always remain etched in my mind. As I stepped out of his office, I realized that it took immense courage and all of his experience to provide that assurance.

Over the next several weeks, based on tissue cultures gathered through two biopsies of the lung nodules, it was determined that I had TB. I began a standard TB regimen involving a number of antibiotics taken over six months. After completion of the initial phase of TB treatment, a noted dermatologist in Washington DC prescribed Taltz, which has a better safety profile than Humira.

Practicing the Presence

The radiologists’ report of metastatic lung cancer brought me face to face with mortality. The first reaction was the fear of the unknown and having to cut asunder attachments to those near and dear. Death itself is not painful but the fear of death is. Fear arises from what the Buddhists call “grasping” of things and relationships that are quintessentially “empty”. While I understood these concepts intellectually, that did nothing to quell fear and doubt. What if Guruji was wrong, could he really see that far into the future, did I lose his protection? The tussle was always between faith in my Guru and fears brought on by doubt. Yet, in all the darkness, his words rang in my ears. An inner voice reverberated as I found myself struggling in the river of crocodiles— “If you have no faith in your Guru, then such a life is not worth living.”

Simply practicing the presence helped me to face fear and doubt in life’s river of crocodiles. All the world’s major traditions stress its importance. The Bible says “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4). Thus, did I transcend fear by constantly remembering the mantra Guruji imparted to me at initiation. They were his rod and staff which helped me to cross the river of crocodiles. The scriptures say “Yasya deve para bhaktih yatha deve tatha Gurau” (Svetasvatara Upanisad, 6:23) ¾ one must have the same devotion towards the Guru as one has towards God. Yet, the mark of a true Guru is that he never asks or expects his disciples to worship him. As I practiced the presence and faith gained the upper hand, fear and doubt gradually evaporated like drops of dew before the rising sun.

Power of Determination

Posted on by Mandala

When you have developed a still posture and when you have done the breathing practices, you have made the first preparations for the technique of meditation. Next you have to deal with your conscious mind. The moment you start meditating, your mind becomes very independent. The whole mind will come forward to fight with you. You also want to eventually come into touch with the unconscious. Psychologists have not yet found a way of taming the unconscious, of knowing its vast reservoir, of tapping the unconscious, the source of the infinite library within you. The unconscious mind brings up things that are of the past, such as images. In meditation you are trying to maintain that state that is in between, neither the past nor the future, but the present – this moment.

This is a battlefield within. A meditator has to face this battlefield. Meditation is not meant to be a battlefield, but you use it as a battlefield. Perhaps an image or sensation comes to your mind that you decide is good – or a memory of a boyfriend whom you have forgotten long ago comes into your meditation, and then you decide that is bad. Thus you fight with yourself – all your impressions from the conscious and unconscious mind come forward.

You think you are small, petty, and good for nothing – you condemn yourself because of the limitations of the mind. Therefore you need to purify the mind. You need to understand your mind and to make it one-pointed. You need to make your mind dynamic so that you do not think that you are limited. All your troubles are created in your mind. But the mind also has the capacity to lead you. It works both ways: if you do not know how to make use of your mind, it can create hellish problems for you; if you know how to use it, it can lead you to a kind of heaven. You can realize that hell and heaven are concepts created by your mind. There are no such physical places, according to yoga science. One is not punished and sent to hell; it is your mind that takes you there. Many times you experience hell here in this world – but your efforts with the mind can convert this hell into heaven, and then you can enjoy this life.

So the next step is learning to cultivate sankalpa, determination: that feeling “I will do it! I can do it! I have to do it!” no matter what happens. You make the effort with full determination. It is not like being forced by any outside authority; you are committing yourself, and this is your sankalpa, or resolve. You cannot attain anything without sankalpa. There are many intelligent students that do not have sankalpa, and that is why they lack confidence. They may be brilliant, but they do not have self-confidence, because they do not have sankalpa. They never disciplined themselves, so they lack sankalpa shakti.

Sankalpa shakti is a power. Without shakti you cannot be successful. All the great ones on the earth needed shakti; there was a shakti behind them to inspire them. Without inspiration even the greatest ability is scattered. If you do not have sankalpa shakti, no mere technique imparted by either your teacher or the  scriptures will help you. The teacher can give you all the techniques, but if you do not have sankalpa, nothing will happen.

Sankalpa is determination. Willpower is a one-pointed mind plus determination. The more one-pointed your mind and the more determined you are, the more you have willpower; if these two things are absent, then you have no willpower. Usually you do not have enough concentration or determination to develop willpower, but you can build your dynamic will, and then you can do wonders.

The first aspect of shakti that you can see is not kundalini herself, but sankalpa shakti. One aspect of the great power of manifestation and creation is actually sankalpa shakti, or determination. You can reduce a mountain into a molehill, or you can magnify that molehill into a mountain, with sankalpa shakti.

Editor’s note

This passage has been taken from the book Path of Fire and Light: Volume 2, pp 117 – 119, by Swami Rama, published 1988 by the Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy of the USA.

Is an Ashram for Me?

Posted on by Divya - Administrator

“Is an Ashram for Me?” is  an article written by Swami Ritavan Bharati in 5 parts in 2017. These 5 parts were originally published between July and November 2017, and are contained here in the one article. 

Part 1 (July 2017 edition of the AHYMSIN Newsletter)

Ashram of Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama (SRSG)

History:

Ashram as gurukulam invites adhikarin-students, those on the path of yoga to stay and study under disciplines and guidance of a spiritual preceptor.

In the training of yoga, an emotionally balanced personality is developed through the application of a number of disciplines and meditative practices. An ashram or gurukulam is a place where disciples live under guidance, with a number of methods employed by the Spiritual Guide for self-transformation of the disciple. With the choice and commitment made to live an ashram lifestyle as a disciple, one accepts the three pillars of spirituality that is nurtured in the ashram. These three pillars are: discipline, service, practice, which can be described as follows.

Discipline, or training one’s inclination, tendencies, and habits, may include a number of ashram guidelines as well as personal practices. Examples of these are: strict daily schedule, prayaschitta or self-observation and self-examination, emotional purification and pacification, respect and obedience in accepting the spiritual guide’s teachings and criticisms. The ashram lifestyle is also meant to reduce involvement in experiences and relationships that are not conducive to spiritual progress. Through constant self-observation one is reminded that equanimity in all situations is the primary prerequisite for ashram living.

The second pillar is service, ashram-seva, and known as karma yoga. This means that all one’s actions and energies are given altruistically for whatever is to be done. Here one learns to use time, remain attentive, and maintains skillfulness in what one is doing. It also means to carry an attitude of “not-mine”, for the fruits of the actions are offered for the benefit of the ashram, teacher, and teachings. One maintains a mindfulness of one’s goal and channels all one’s emotions, energies and behavior into fulfilling one’s task and surrendering the fruits.

The third pillar is the spiritual practice that supports self purification, and self-liberation. The purification of personality is to free oneself from the habit patterns or samskaras as the latent tendencies that are mainly unconscious and are tendencies to which one is attached and with which one identifies thus remaining confused and ignorant. These come in the three categories of purifications of mind, communication, and behavior. Spiritual training involves all three levels of personality: physiological, psychological, and philosophical. The training in an ashram prepares one for going forth into the relationships, involvements, and to assume the responsibilities one has with a sense of self-discovery and self-fulfillment. Through the inner strength of sankalpa or self-determination, a contentment (santosha) marks a spiritual maturity from which one is not distracted, and no longer influenced by confusing reactions or conflicts.

Thus, the ashram life, as chosen by a few rare persons, is a means of nurturing attitudes and behaviors to awaken the realization of purposeful living, and thereby effortlessly transforming oneself as a moral beacon of light for others through the essence of grace that is love.

Part 2 (August 2017 edition of the AHYMSIN Newsletter)

In the first article last month, Swami Veda gave the ashramites, in the early years of his ashram at The Meditation Center in Minneapolis, the theme of ashram living in the attitudes and behaviors necessary in developing an ashram community. In this second article, Swami Veda addressed the ashramites of Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama (SRSG), 25 years later, with the same intensity of care, patience and compassion. The themes of discipline, practice and service are also present in his talk in 2004, only in a subtler manner. Again, read with the reflective attitude remembering our theme: Is an Ashram for me?

The word “ashrama” means a place of “labor all round”. A place of making intensive effort, and a means “all over”, “in every way”, “completely”. Shrama, as labor, or intensive effort, means one who labors in an ashram; one who makes intense effort is known as an ashrama. It is a different kind of labor than the labor you skillfully perform each day in your profession. In the world outside, you labor for others, and in the world of an ashram you labor to know your Self.

One’s life in an ashram should be a time of churning, churning, churning and changing, churning and changing. It should be a time of a relaxed intentness. When I am speaking to you in this way, do I seem concentrated? But you know I’m that relaxed while performing my actions. That’s what I want to teach you, intentional relaxation. Relaxed intentness. This should be a goal, very deep spiritual goal for which one is in an ashram.

Time is precious. By how many months or years have you lengthened your lifespan while you were in the ashram by lengthening your breath? Has your breathing changed becoming longer, deeper, smoother, longer exhalations, and without a pause or break. Measure your time in the ashram in this way.
If someone walked in here and did something that makes you angry, would you be any less angry than you were before you left home? When you go back home from here will you be any less angry at such provocations? If you hear disappointing news, will you be any less disturbed?

You have to keep on, keep on, keep on and reduce your karmic debt. Reduce the influence of those vasana, the habit patterns you unconsciously carry with you. Do you see how I walk about? Do I seem burdened or troubled as I perform my duties and carry my responsibilities? And you can change your latent habits as well, so begin NOW. How? Not by sitting idle in a beautiful, comfortable ashram, but by engaging in ashram life constantly practicing, and measuring your self-awareness with each challenging thought and emotion.

If you are sitting here with the attitude of enjoying a seaside holiday, why are you in an ashram? You have a precious two or three weeks; therefore, create something with that time, give new impressions to your mind. Your time in an ashram should be taken to relax. Relax? Yes, intentional relaxation by doing the relaxation practices again and again. Don’t waste time. At home you say, I don’t have time to meditate”, and you say, “Oh, Swamiji, I would so like to come to quiet ashram and meditate.” So you come to the ashram and you still have the habit of not using that time. What should you do? Make use of your time in the ashram to do your relaxation practices, your japa, your meditation, and give some service to the ashram.

We are missing the discipline of an ashram, and I see people just sitting idle, gossiping, or daydreaming. Remember, “ashrama”, means labor all around, complete, internal laboring, changing, churning and changing and examining oneself. Did I add two weeks more to my life by reducing my level of tension? Did I add two more weeks to my life by changing my breathing?

Remember the first sutra of the Yoga Sutras. Everybody talks of yoga, yoga, yoga, but where is “yoga anushasanam”, the discipline of yoga. “Atha yoga anushasanam”–“Now the discipline of yoga,” is the very first sutra of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. In the ashram you begin now (atha) with the discipline of yoga. Each student should wake up on time. Otherwise stay in a hotel. I’m usually not this harsh, but I think we have to change the attitudes in this ashram. And the same with the sleeping time. Promptly leave the bed, and promptly enter the bed keeping the sentiment of “atma-tattvava-lokanam”, “I am Atman.”

Sadhana is not just sitting down and turning rosary beads. Sadhana is making change in the small matters such as becoming more regular with your daily schedule, with your meditation. Don’t waste time with a multitude of idle pursuits.

Be ambitious, and build into your discipline a period of “sthala sanyasya.” No stepping out of the ashram for certain periods. Just cut-off, and forget the world outside the ashram. Sthala sanyasya begins with “sthala” meaning a space, place, or area; and “sanyasya” means renunciation. The renunciation of all other spaces except the one to which you are confining yourself. As people start their ashram stay, let them taste these disciplines. What is that sutra? “Atha yoga anushasanam,” meaning self-discipline to reveal the Self.

Be a conqueror. Don’t be defeated by your desires, restlessness, by your angers, by your random speech. Be a conqueror. Don’t be a slave to your urges. That is power yoga. A true practitioner of yoga aspires to conquer his anger, conquer his desires, conquer his habit of gossip and random speech. And next, is to become the masters of one’s emotions, able to replace one’s resistances with an even flowing baseline emotion. That is the discipline of yoga, beginning with self-examination, self-purification, self-pacification while in the ashram.

My Guru would tell me, “Try to learn to be a little bit harsher, to be a little bit more of a disciplinarian”, but it doesn’t come easily to me. So my principle is, “What doesn’t come easily to you and you don’t want to do, go do it.” In my life, whatever progress I have made it has been made by pushing myself to do things I don’t like and conquer my resistance till I become neutral. You don’t have to like it, but you should become neutral. This attempt at enforcing some kind of a discipline is also part of my sadhana and the way my Master wants me to be, something I don’t want to do, I don’t like doing, but I have to learn to do, if I want “your” spiritual progress.

So you are here in Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama. I think you find this place a little too relaxed, too comfortable, too luxurious. Sometimes I find because I am too relaxed in these matters, there is more of a holiday or resort attitude than an ashrama attitude. But if it’s a holiday let it be a spiritual holiday. It should be a time for re-creating oneself. Then when you leave after three years, or three months, or three weeks or three days, people see you and say you are a different person. And you can accomplish this in the ashram through karma yoga, silence, meditation, svadhyaya and service. Each of you practice japa, and observe silence to sustain this ashram as an oasis of peace.

May your prayers be answered satisfying both God and Guru. Welcome to the ashram.

Part 3 (September 2017 edition of the AHYMSIN Newsletter)

Relationships and Communication: Are You Ready?

The flower-children of the USA in the 60’s were all about relationships and communication. Freedom of speech and equal rights were all the rage; and at times, became “out-rage”. Were such overt actions justified communication? Let us examine our ashram training for an answer.

In this third of a series of articles, we look at the ashram as a laboratory for life; applying the teachings of yoga to train the mind to be the instrument for the soul-atman.

Our theme is relationships and communication: What are the relationships in an ashram? And how will ashram training and spiritual practices help one understand their relationships and to communicate more effectively?

When Gurudev came to the West and set up an ashram for his mission, he first taught yoga as the science of regulating, “yogah chitta vritti nirodhah,” YS I:3, emphasizing yoga is the control of the mind’s thoughts – vrttis.

He taught, “To regulate means ‘to find your own capacity.’ It is better to regulate instead of going to the extremes of suppressing or overdoing. When you regulate all your appetites, and you are no longer a slave to your appetites, that is control.” You become the master of that thing which controls your life – your buddhi, the faculty of discrimination and intention. Gurudev would humorously say to the ashramites that all of you are bhogis and not yogis. Then he would explain, seeking temporary pleasures (preyas) makes you a bhogi. This is the difference between a yogi and a bhogi. Seeking temporary pleasures becomes a habit, and when you are a bhogi, soon you will become rogi. Rogi means “diseased,” you become a “sick” person.

When Swami Veda gathered his first groups of ashramites, these hippies of the 60’s wanted to “turn-on” with yoga. Swamiji’s teaching gently guided the ashramites to train their inclinations through the ashram rules and disciplines. This subtle challenge became a very different and difficult “test” for these “free-thinking” ashram residents. He began to explain an underlying spiritual principle: “discipline makes disciples” – students worthy to study yoga and who can change their mind’s habits.

Swami Veda would joke, you all belong to the 4-H Club: “head, hands, heart, and hormones”. This “jumble” of energy has no direction because you do not know the source. He emphasized that yoga was a method of becoming “antara-mukha” – inward looking, becoming mindful and self-observant. The teaching of the yoga sutras they were taught to apply these principles to training their mind’s thinking and emotional habits.

Swami Veda introduced the meaning of indriya-gupti, training of the senses – active and cognitive senses, the importers and exporters of perceptions for the mind. These guidelines helped the ashramites to develop a process of introspection, to understand the difference between preyas and shreyas, sense gratification and fulfilling desires from an interior source of fullness.

He would say: “Frittering with the hands, fiddling with the toes is a waste of energy. Use these conscious relaxation exercises to conserve your energy, then you will be able to center and guide your energy in the right direction.” He taught a series of systematic and progressive subtle-body practices known as pratyahara, the beginning steps of meditation.

The same with “speech”, for a word spoken is power lost until it is properly controlled, and “ripe” with pleasant and truthful sentiments. Swamiji would say, “Gather your power, strengthen it slowly, practice it silently, not becoming proud or advertising your newly found powers of stillness, silence, compassion and understanding. Enjoy what you have received instead of living with regrets, disappointments, fears and blaming others for your mistakes and ignorance.”

Along with meditation as a method, the ashramites learned meditation in action. You learn to gather yourself to your self, your senses, your thinking, and look at the source of your thoughts. Do not convert that thought to the kinetic energy of words and sounds, rather you return that thought to its source, its origin that generates the mind-energy. Learn to hold it, assimilate it, and watch how your capacity increases. He taught the ashramites to apply this newly found energy to their seva. In this way, they would work all day and most of the night. They began to understand the art skill in action, and the practice of yoga as gathering and directing one’s energy arising from a pure source within.

This energy, supported through the yoga practices, showed its fruits among the ashramites through cooperation and communication. The ashramites were told to measure their spiritual progress in their speech, and in their patience and resilience while they worked. Swamiji taught the ashramites, “Unless a sadhaka tests his patience, tolerance, and compassion in the negative stream of anger, hate, jealousy and ego, s/he cannot really evolve.”

Through silence and constant japa of their mantra, along with practicing indriya-gupti, these early ashramites slowly transformed their personalities, and upon leaving the ashram continued their lives in successful professions, and life-long relationships.

In our next article, we will explore the way ashramites were taught to honor all females as “Mother”, and to see relationships in the roles of “brother and sister, thereby, honoring the natural strengths of the female shakti.

Part 4 (October 2017 edition of the AHYMSIN Newsletter)

In the previous three articles, a background was provided for ashram living through the 3 principles of practice, discipline as mental purification and selfless service, nish-kama karma.

In this fourth article, we look at relationships within our ashram as training lessons and opportunities to refine attitudes on the path of mental purification leading to moksha-liberation in this life.

Our ashram is a testing ground that uses relationships as a tool for self-awareness and mindfulness, and to break free from “non-conscious” mimicry. Outside the ashram, these habits have a greater tendency to morph into the unhappy and confused states of mind. Such unconscious reactions such as gossip, fault-finding, and complaining express unfulfilled ego-based desires. The unconscious habit becomes a vicious circle for when confronted, one again reacts with denial or justification thus burying the opportunity for mindful recognition of one’s mistakes or faults. Through practice and service, one begins to deepen self-observation and choose feelings or emotions independently rather than unconsciously through mirroring or mimicry. The tools of self-regulation taught in the ashram allow personality to be grounded in a purer, or natural state of mind based in the brahma-viharas: friendship compassion, joy, equanimity. Ashram life is an opportunity for practicing selflessness and sadhana. These tools of self-observation and self-examination lead to self-pacification, a more natural state of pleasant mindedness. Thus, relationships from a spiritual perspective serve both as tests and opportunities for growth and transformation.

Ashram living is also meant to introduce us to the inner guru. The inner guru is an actual force. We learn to tune into it through active participation in practice (abhyasa) and pacification (vairagya). This is why we are here, and why you have chosen to live in an ashram. Daily, we maintain this sankalpa to sow the seeds of pleasant mindedness, sattvic-pure attitudes, selfless actions, then let the fruits mature without judgement or expectation. It is not a time for planning for the future or hoping to meet someone for an emotional relationship. It is a precious opportunity for pure meditation, self-study, contemplation, and self-less service. Slowly the fruits of practice bring contentment and releases one from the “me” oriented habits. Daily participation through regular and frequent meditation strengthen shraddha – faith and confidence in the intuitive guidance of the “inner-guru”. Relationships in an ashram are as family, brother-sister, kalayana-mitra – noble friend. These treasured relationships allow the reflective nature of mind to transfer the states of truthfulness, sincerity and peace to each other rather than emotionally charged, ego-based desires seeking emotional satisfaction.

Ashramites are seekers of “svaatantrya”, relationships based in the self-governing ideals of the buddhi. This faculty of pure-intention reflects innate wisdom as the voice of one’s own atman. The spiritual Self, free of psychological conditionings and reactions from external stimuli, becomes the anchor for independent and willful decisions. For an ashramite, when emotional states are recognized, one learns to dive into the deeper sources of being using the resources of relaxation, breath awareness and self-observation (witness) and thereby smoothing the minds “wrinkles”. This more tranquil state and sattvic nature of the mind, opens the reflective nature of buddhi. The intuitive nature of the buddhi-mind carries an awakened capacity for empathy, compassion, patience and humility, with harmony and peaceful co-existence becoming the natural motivation within relationships. “Is an Ashram for me?” means one is prepared and committed to these guiding principles for self-transformation.

In the next article, we will explore the relationship of “inner guru” as guide reflected in the teacher-student relationship, and the role of the Ashram guide as a spiritual guide and kalyana mitra for the purpose of cultivating spiritual growth and self-transformation leading to freedom for all fears.

Part 5 (November 2017 edition of the AHYMSIN Newsletter)

Fifth in a series of articles on ashram living.

Ashrams are dedicated to the lineage of yoga masters, teachers and spiritual guides that have shared the wisdom of spiritual life. These streams of traditions have continued for more than two thousand years nurturing dedicated seekers. The teachings, though perennial and timeless, are conducted in the language and terminology of the contemporary civilization, yet always imbued by the spirit as the source of wisdom.

The universality of a spiritual tradition makes the teachings resilient beyond the confines of individual beliefs, faiths, or opinions. The focus of an ashram is spiritual discovery and personality-formation cultivating spiritual growth through transmission and transformation in awakened higher states of consciousness.

Yoga ashrams apply the art and science of self-transformation as taught in various scriptures, oral tradition, and life experience through such methods that promote mindfulness, awareness, amity and compassion, acceptance and forgiveness.

Through daily practice, the habit patterns of mind are formed in regularity, frequency, duration, and intensity that establish a baseline for observing progress in daily meditation and other yoga practices. the sadhaka experiences the psycho-physiological rebalancing, healing, and transformation of personality, that can be measured in steadfastness of a peaceful mind.

Swami Rama would frequently remind us, “Acceptance and Forgiving are the very process of rejuvenation and growth. Living in the light of love and forgiveness will give you peace, and you will experience that sunshine that radiates within and all around you.”

Many people have fears in coming to an ashram. They feel their deficiencies and inadequacies will be unmasked. They may think that the spiritual guide is completely aware of and sees all their faults, dishonesty, greed and anger. In reality, an ashram is meant for one to come face to face with one’s self, and thereby fosters an attitude of discovery. A student enters ashram life with full conviction and trust, placing the entire book of one’s life before the teacher for scrutiny. That is always expected of a good student. If one can accept that he is ignorant, he can be lead by a competent teacher because such an aspirant is open to receiving higher knowledge. At that point the student has a strong desire to “Know Thyself;” and accepts the unique ashram life and relationship with the knowledge-bearer under the disciplines of ashram life.

The teachings of the spiritual guide offer no criticism, no condemnation, and emphasizes acceptance and forgiveness for whatever deeds might have been done. Random sentiments and negative emotions are brought forward from the subconscious mind through the selfless actions performed daily in the ashram along with constant self-observation and introspection. The ashramite slowly begins to feel the blessings of humility and self-restraint as well as the blessings of unconditional kindness and compassion. Many of those things one does not like about yourself will drop away as one creates a positive attitude. One sees and accepts the responsibility of one’s actions and behavior in relation to others as mirrors for understanding and growth.

“The most unselfish thing you can do in the world is to attain peace and stillness within yourself, for only what you possess, will you be able to distribute.” – Swami Veda.

While in the ashram, the spiritual seeker seeks a deeper self-understanding as a spiritual quest through the three pillars of practice, discipline and service. There is the difference between experiential knowledge and reading knowledge. The experiential lifestyle of an ashram in meant to apply the life lessons daily and slowly increase one’s capacity for self-understanding. There is a constant reminder, for in the greeting given to each is with bowed head and the word “namaste,” (I salute the divinity that is within you), recognizing that source of light and love.