Month: June 2018

2019 Sangha Gathering and Preparations

Posted on by Divya - Administrator

When we look to the future, we see the opportunities for change, for growth, for embracing a loving heart and a smiling mind. During these 40 days of spiritual peace, we deepen our commitment and accept our practices as discovery – a tapas of peace. We deepen our relationship with the source of inner light and knowledge through remembering our spiritual heritage, our guides, our inspirations of the past reborn in this deep innate desire for freedom, self-understanding and joy.

As the 40 days lead us to Guru Purnima, and to our upcoming Sangha gathering, we reflect, review, and preview these themes of living a spiritually fulfilling life. Living with the sense of sustainability, with a sense of understanding Mother Earth’s ability to produce and humanity to recognize the nature urge of living in harmony and understanding. We re-commit ourselves through our three themes of ahimsa, aparigraha, and ishwara-pranidhana. With an intention of restraint and understanding, humans can rise above the desires of wanting and taking. The destiny of humanity is to live with awareness and in harmony with nature, living in peaceful co-existence with all and thereby creating a beautiful future here and now.

We are honoring Swami Veda’s contribution through a beautiful little booklet that he created for the United Nations and also for the Parliament of World Religions. Nearly 20 years ago, he shared his revelation in “The Perennial in the Millennium”. These sentiments are as important now as they were then, and will be, in the next decades to come.

Perennial in the Millennium

He presented us with a How-To manual to create a beautiful future, a peaceful future, not only for oneself but for one’s family, community, and abundance for the whole world. In this booklet, he has given us tools for insight and guidance of humanity if they so choose.

In our sangha gathering, members of the world organization, the AHYMSIN organization will honor the Tradition with the dictum of Swami Rama: Love, Serve and Remember, and take steps to apply the vision that Swami Veda left with us to inspire our spiritual-lives for future generations.

Editor’s Note:

The 2019 Sangha Gathering is scheduled for 25th February – 5th March, 2019, at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama (SRSG) in Rishikesh, India. Contact: ahymsin@ahymsin.org.

“The Perennial in the Millennium” by Swami Veda Bharati is available in Kindle from Amazon and Amazon.in. For inquiries about purchasing it in booklet form, please contact Himalayan Yoga Publications Trust (HYPT) at hyptbooks@gmail.com.

“The Perennial in the Millennium,” a poem by Swami Veda Bharati can be read by clicking on the title.

[This article was previously published in the June 2018 edition of the AHYMSIN Newletter.]

Are the powers described it the book “Living with the Himalayan masters” still exist in the tradition?

Posted on by Mandala

Question

Today I finished reading Living with the Himalayan Masters. For me, it was like reading a number of fairy tales, though I don’t deny the possibility of such “miracles” to happen.

My questions are:

  1. Do these powers still exist in your tradition? Or are they things from the past?
  2. In your tradition, are there practices that can be thaught for attaining such abilities? If yes, will I have access to this advanced science?
  3. As for the power of healing in particular, is there someone in your tradition who can heal chronic illnesses? I am asking this because I do have a chronic disease that is incurable by current medicine. Is there anyone that I can go to for healing, or any practice that I can do to heal myself?

Answers

Two have answered this question: Pandit Hari Shankar Dabral and Stephen Parker (Stoma).

Pandit Dabral

I am happy that you read Living with the Himalayan Masters written by Shri Swami Rama of the Himalayas.

Just to let you know that there more books on Swami Rama that you might be interested in reading. They are At the Feet of a Himalayan Master available at our ashram in Rishikesh [and other bookstores]. These books are based on students’ experiences with Master Shri Swami Rama.

Now in regard to your questions:

1. Your question is like asking if God still exists. The powers also known in yoga science as “Siddhis” are at the disposal of a YOGI (Who has mastered the entire yoga science).

These powers or siddhis are within all of us. “They” are powers of God Himself. Once one becomes realized (Realization of Self) then powers are experienced or siddhis are available to use.

By the way, just for information: Yogis ONLY use them to help others. So YES, ALL powers or Siddhis still exist.

2. Yes, indeed ALL the teachings are available in our tradition and they are taught to one who is willing to learn and who is ready to receive them.

It’s step-by-step training or teaching to reach a higher level. Just like a child is put into kindergarten and then gradually goes into grade 1 and then 2 and finally to university.

If you are interested in learning the teachings you are most welcome to come to our ashram in Rishikesh India or start from/in the local centre in your area. We have centers in most countries.

One can heal himself or herself as my Master used to say “Provided you let yourself be healed”.

Yes, there are lots of practices in yoga meditation for healing oneself… You will need to visit the ashram and talk to the teachers and they will guide you systematically into the path.

Hope this helps. If you have more questions, please feel free to write.

Stephen Parker (Stoma)

Here is an additional perspective:

These things are only miraculous because we do not understand how they happen. Once our self-realization carries us deep enough, such miracles simply happen and one can also realize the many small miracles that we never recognized as such that have been happening all along.

1.) The abilities described in many places in the yoga tradition are described by Patanjali as “vibhuti,” natural varieties of being. In other words, these are normal human potentials in every person. The existence of these abilities to a small degree even in people who practice no yoga was demonstrated scientifically by Dr. Dean Radin in his book Supernormal: Science, Yoga and Scientific Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities. He also showed that these abilities manifest themselves to a greater degree in people who have more experience in meditation.

2.) It is not a matter of learning a certain technique. It is a matter of deepening your fundamental mindfulness and concentration to the point where these abilities occur. It is a very long-term proposition. These abilities are also not something that a yogi uses for his own purposes. They come through the yogi but they do not belong to him or her. Whenever he spoke of such occurrences, Swami Rama would say, “I do nothing; my master does everything.” And he meant it. He tells many stories of his master sending him to perform miracles he had no idea how to do in order to teach him this principle. If such a skill is yours, your ego gets attached to it and it becomes an obstacle in your progress towards liberation.

3.) Healing is a very delicate matter. It is easy to take on the suffering of others. The hard part is knowing what to do with that suffering energy when you have absorbed it. The energy has to go somewhere and if you don’t know how to handle it it will make you ill. I just talked to someone this weekend who did extensive practice of Tibetan tonglen healing meditation for several months and found himself with all kinds of physical and mental ailments. The best healing practice is to deepen your meditation practice and to follow through the emotional cleansing of the mindfield that is part of that deepening. Once you understand where in your mind your illness is coming from, you can let go of those issues and then your illness can start to heal. Again, it is a long-term proposition. Some people have a natural capacity for this healing based on their practice in past lives but, again, it is not a technique that one can simply learn without working on the depths of the mind and emotions.

Editor’s Note

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

Vasudeva Principle, Toronto, 2004

Posted on by ahymsin

In the Bhagavad Gita, we read “vasudeva sarvam”. That indwelling One is All. There is no other in relation-to, or conditioned-by. What do we mean by the indweller, the indwelling force? One of the many ways, the word “vasudeva” is translated in Bhagavad Gita is the “indwelling deity”. This is closely related to the word “vasu”, meaning, “all places”, for all places are dwelling places of divinity. Vasu is also the “hamsa”, that swan of the universal prana dwelling every-where in every-thing. Vasu-mana is also one of the thousand names of Shiva in the Mahabharata. Vasu-mana means beautiful mind, a mind that dwells as light in Being, and therefore, Vasu is the beautiful, light-filled, indwelling force.

May your mind be vasu-mana. Not this “me”, this little individuated mind, but mind as it is linked to the minds of the whole universe. When one mind-wave meets another mind-wave and a continuum is experienced that is called “mind as an energy field”. One mind-wave meeting another mind-wave in this oceanic-wave-field, and the two become one. When your individual mind touches that universal mind, “samasthi-chitta”, the senses of time and space dissolve. There is a force that acts through the force-field called “mind”, where space and time cease and some other force flows.

The practical application of that is in the principle called ahimsa. Until you learn to practice ahimsa you will never understand what cosmic mind is. You will not understand without the practice of non-violence, because according to the tradition, when you are hurting someone, being angry at someone, you are hurting and harming yourself. Each time people hurt themselves they express any form of violation, and this extends up to the entire cosmic mind, that cosmic mind of which you are a part. That is why among the yamas and niyamas the first yama is ahimsa.

What is ahimsa? First, you should know the Sanskrit word, “Sarvata”, meaning in all possible ways, in all possible modes. Of the many names for God, one of Her names is Sarvam, “All”. That All is indivisible, without division, not divided. Among all the divisions we experience, the “All” – Sarvam, remains full, undivided, complete in Her nature, and that is your true nature.

Ahimsa is associated with words, with thoughts, with actions. Doing it yourself, causing someone else to do it, someone else committing a violent act and you consent to it with words or silently. “Sarvata,” means at all times, in all ways, there is the intention to hurt, harm or injure. Not having the intention to hurt is ahimsa.

Of these 10 yamas and niyamas, after ahimsa, the remaining nine: satya, asteya, brahmacharya, aparigraha. saucha, santosha, tapas, swadhyaya, ishwara-pranidhana are all rooted in the first, ahimsa. They are there to help accomplish the perfection of ahimsa. They simply describe some aspect of ahimsa, and to make ahimsa perfect the other nine are included and necessary.

So if you want your prayers, your meditations, your silence, leading to your serenity, your quest for serenity, leading to your quest for peace of mind, yet, all the time you are committing himsa, all the time you are committing violence with your mind, where will your peace of mind be? For this reason, I am suggesting that you apply these kriyas, these applications of your yoga beginning with ahimsa and next, aparigraha.

This second practice (kriya) is aparigraha, non-attachment, not grasping or holding, possessing one’s object of desire beyond the “need” for which it fulfills. It is because of your lack of aparigraha that so much himsa is taking place and collection destruction of species is happening. Scale down your desires, and learn to remove your attachments to practice aparigraha. Take less, and let-go more. Keep to your practice of aparigraha and ahimsa.

These two, ahimsa and aparigraha are two closely related, but I want you to now add, Ishwara-pranidhana. What is the in-dwelling spirit – Ishwara in the butterfly? What about the Ishwara in the ocean or rivers that you have filled with plastic or muck? And when you take a shower or wash your hands remember the water you are using is now reduced, less for others. Be conscious, be aware, aware you are committing indirect violence. In many of your actions you are committing violence. Learn to enjoy more of less, and the world will be saved. These are all interlinked, the Ishwara pradhidhyana and your aparigraha and ahimsa are all linked. In this way, the amount of water you are using will reveal an understanding of Isha, the One Lord, practicing the presence of God, Ishwara pradhidhyana.

Practicing these kriyas will provide an “attitude-adjustment,” and thereby with a purified mind, you will experience a quietness and a sense of satisfaction. This mental-pacification is the essence of spirituality, this is the essence of dharma, this is the teaching that will elevate you and alleviate so many burdens of your mind.

Another part of Ishwara-pranidhana is “surrender to the Lord.” This indwelling principle, the indwelling Lord is Ishwara. Ishwara is that aspect of God which in relationship with the universe and its beings. And, Dhyana means to surrender, to merge your individual mind into the universal mind consciousness. Your individuated ego into the divine presence. Learn to connect with the lineage with Guru Parampara and at that moment the Guru Parampara lifts you and carries you.

When a Guru, yogishwara, divine Lord, Ishwara, graces you with attention, that is called Ishwara pranidhana. The devotee’s dhana is responding to by the divine (Ishwara) pranidhana. You will understand that only when you experience that connection through Samashti-chitta and through the Ishwara pranidhana principle, the Mahabharata explains, You only have to remember him.

Whatever I say, please go home and examine your life, examine your choices in life. Plan your spiritual life as you plan your worldly life. You plan for your finances, you plan for your business, you plan for what kind of house you will buy, you plan for what kind of car you will buy, you plan for what kind school you will send your kids to, you plan what kind of clothes you will buy for Christmas or Diwali, plan for your spiritual life.

You plan for insurance. Plan how much japa you will finish in five years. Plan for how much you will reduce your direct or indirect violence in the next five years or in the next one year. Plan that. Plan for how you can increase the time you sit for your prayers and your meditation. You will make a difference. Take it seriously. Plan for the moment of dying. Plan for the kind of body you want next time. Plan for in what kind of a household you want to be born next time. Part of that plan is the mood of your dying, what mood, what sentiment, what feeling, what smile there will be on your face at the moment of dying. What satisfaction you will have with your last breath.

Plan now for what spiritual improvements you will make in the next 40-days, in the next one year, in the next five years. If you need help we can help. (send comments or questions to: Dear Yoga Mentors, My Question is…)

Enjoy the meditations on the full moon day each and every month. Slowly, slowly something will happen for you. So that is the indwelling principle, Vasudeva.

(Note: This is an edited version of the talk which was shared by Swami Ritavan Bharati as part of the Annual Festival of Spiritual Peace in 2018.)

A Song of Compassion

Posted on by Mandala

At one time I was doing field work collecting Bhojpuri loka-geeta (folksongs) from five countries of Bhojpuri-speaking diaspora (Guyana, Surinam, Trinidad, Fiji, Mauritius). My collection from one of these countries (Surinam in South America) is in the archives of Leiden University in the Netherlands. The other recordings are still in my possession, looking for an archival home.

The contents of one of the songs I recorded often comes to my mind whenever I see or think of non-humans being killed. Here is a paraphrase of the song.

King’s huntsmen go out hunting in the forest.
They mercilessly shoot their arrows and kill off the leader of the herd,
a beautiful specimen of the deer kind.

They carry the corpse to the city, to the king’s palace.

The loyal loving doe follows at a distance, drawn by her helpless love.
She follows the body of her beloved spouse.

She knows how her beloved’s body will be devoured by the greedy humans.

She comes to the window of the queen’s chamber.

You are a woman — she pleads to the queen —
I, too, am a female of my kind.
You will understand my pain.

I know you will devour my beloved’s flesh
But, I plead and beg:
Let me just have his skin back
as a token of the memory of our love.
I will just hold his skin close to me and remember our days of lovingness.

No. No, Doe, you go your way.
Go back to your jungle – retorts the heartless queen.
The deerskin will be used to make a drum
that my young prince will play on
and entertain himself.

The doe hangs her head down in sorrow and departs.

Every now and then the forlorn doe
comes close to the palace walls,
stands there with her ears upturned,
listens to the sound of the drum
as though her beloved deer calling.

Dear Reader, would you still kill?
Would you still have no compassion?
Would you still eat of the corpse of someone’s beloved?

Editor’s Note

This passage has been taken from the unpublished works of Swami Veda Bharati.

Do Not Lie

Posted on by Mandala

Be nice, be kind, be gentle, be loving. What is new about what you are studying, tell me? Have you read anything new anywhere? You have learned ten words for one word, is that improvement in your knowledge? Then what is that knowledge which we are trying to explore and understand today? My whole life, my mother, my father, grandfather, my teachers, everyone says, “Speak the truth,” and I do not know how to. That’s a very serious problem. I would like to speak the truth, everyone wants to speak the truth but nobody teaches you how. You see at home, children are spanked by their parents when the children lie. But after ten minutes, the child finds that Mommy is lying to Daddy, and Daddy is lying to Mommy. The child is confused, “Is it a rule for me not to lie?” So the child tells her brother, “We are not allowed to lie. They are grown up, they can lie.” We don’t find good examples in our childhood. All aspects of education are given by the institutions of the world, except one education called exemplary education, where you learn through example. We suffer on account of this lack of exemplary education.

Now, what is happening in your families? No matter how many lies you speak from morning till evening, you spank your children, saying, “Always speak the truth.” No matter how great a liar you are, you don’t want your children to lie. The father constantly lies, mother constantly lies, and child is confused. He thinks that my parents have a license to lie, but I’m just a kid, I don’t have that license. This is true. So he’s confused. How to practice truth? No mother or father ever teaches the children that. You don’t teach them how to speak the truth. This is the point because you do not know yourself. So, for ages there is this myth, “Speak the truth, speak the truth, speak the truth.” This is all nonsense, it’s a principle, it’s not practice. It happened with me. I was confused in my childhood. My Master never spanked me, but others spanked me and everybody said, “Hey, speak the truth.” I said, “Look, I am not what you think, don’t touch me.” But I was a kid. I said, “Tell me what is that truth.” Nobody ever told me that.

One day I was very upset and I told my Master, “You have ruined my life.” He looked at me and said, “I brought you up, I educated you, I gave you so much love. I don’t want to hear such a thing from you. Do you ever find me selfish?” I said, “It’s not a question of being selfish or not being selfish. My life has been ruined by you.” He said, “Why? What have I done to you?” I said, “I am still ignorant and a fool.” He said, “I tried my best to teach you, but you have not been able to learn.” I said, “What you are teaching me today, ‘Do this, do that, do this, do that,’ that’s the same thing that all mothers at home teach their children.”

I told my Master, “I know that I should speak the truth but I don’t know how to. Will you please teach me? Show me how to speak the truth.” He taught me that the simple way of speaking the truth is by not lying. If you do not lie, you are speaking the truth. But if you are trying to speak the truth and you do not know what truth is, then you are making your own truth. You say my truth is my truth and I am speaking the truth and you should listen to me. That is confusion. Do not lie. By not lying, you practice speaking the truth. Do not do what is not to be done according to your conscience. By not doing what is not to be done, you start doing what is right.

Practice is different from the principle. It’s easy to say, “Don’t do this, don’t do that.” Learn to practice. Don’t give up your practice. If you are defeated by others, it doesn’t matter; but if you are defeated by yourself, that’s a very bad thing. Then you are helpless. No one can cure you. There are diseases which cannot be cured by anyone when you become helpless. “No medicine is helping me, nothing is happening to me, I am going to die. The world is so gloomy.” When you become totally negative, you cripple your willpower. Don’t allow that to happen.

Editor’s Note

This is an excerpt from Conscious Living: A Guidebook for Spiritual Transformation by Swami Rama, Lotus Press, pages 106- 108.

Conscious Living: A Guidebook for Spiritual Transformation by Swami Rama is available as a paperback, in Kindle, or as an audio book (at CD Baby, iTunes, and Amazon).