Month: October 2020

Desperation and Dedication

Posted on by Divya - Administrator

Desperation and Dedication are the valley and the mountain, the two known only to each other.

Desperation and Dedication are the two sides of the same coin,

A coin spent, nay, surrendered as the currency of ambition for the purpose of life.

Why suffer human folly when you can enjoy divine beauty.

Desperation_and_Dedication

Satisfy that seeking, yearning, desiring that calls to you — day and night from that inner hunger of mind’s fear, worry and despondency.

With this currency of ambition make a purchase that is so beautiful, so sweet and fulfill this natural, innate human urge to know atman the spiritual self.

Your purpose, your destiny reveals that Wisdom beyond all unfulfilled identities and fears.

Deserve to serve your saintly destiny.

Pay the price in surrender and purchase the quest: “In This Very Life You Come to Know God.”

Editor’s Note:

This article was also published as part of the “Dear Yoga Mentor, My Question Is…” column in the October 2020 edition of the AHYMSIN Newsletter.

Sacred Activism

Posted on by ahymsin

Swami Veda Bharati gave a lecture at the 2009 Copenhagen Symposium “Working Collectively Through Inner Transformation: Transforming Our World View” during which monks, clergy and nuns from many religions, along with leaders on climate and world issues, met in Copenhagen on December 8-10, 2009.

All questions arise in the mind. All problems arise from the mind.

(Sanskrit) “It is in the mind that we see. It is in the mind that we hear.”

(Sanskrit) “All attributes and natures are preceded by the nature and action of the mind.”

It is, therefore, in the minds that the solutions to our problems, to our challenges – [to the] answers to our questions – reside.

There is call for action. The title for this morning is not pure and simple “activism,” but “sacred activism.”

How can we define “sacred activism?” The actions that arise from our mindfulness, or awareness of ourselves.

What contributions have I personally made to the problems we are collectively facing. Out of seven billion humans on the earth, each one of us has individually contributed drop-by-drop-by-drop to the ocean of poison that we have created. And I must begin by turning my poison drop into a drop of the honey of the mind.

I know there is call for action. There is urgency. There was urgency to the nuclear question several decades ago. There is urgency to the question of terrorism. There is urgency to the fact that one billion, out of seven billion people on the earth, go to bed hungry every night. The problems of agriculture, or CO2 and methane and ozone and war — and terrorism and hunger and poverty and disease and the absence of medical help where it is direly needed – the absence of a midwife to help with the birth of a child on a remote mountain. All of these are a single challenge with a single answer in a single word: MIND.

It is not that we have to search for solutions. Solutions have been presented to us by centuries, millenniums of cultures and civilizations. We only need to recognize those solutions and make them better known.

Some decades back, the World Bank or some such body, sent out a team to study the ways in which agriculture on Bali Island could be improved. And they studied, and they made inquiries, and they made scientific investigations, and they came up with some computer models. And they presented a computer models to the society. And the priests of the temples at Bali looked at the models and said, “This is exactly what we have been doing for the past 2,000 years here. You have wasted your money.”

The problem is not in science. Some here and elsewhere may disagree with my statement. Science – which was earlier known as “the natural philosophy” – science is the most beautiful spiritual poem ever composed – and I can prove it! I find poetry in science. But we have to have a mind that has that harmony, that rhythm of poetry, that rhyme. That rhyming mind will not create cacophony out of the symphony of science.

As I said, “Solutions are staring us in the face.” Solutions are arising in the minds. We read all the bad news about the dishonest companies of Wall Street. We read much less about the companies that have developed a model where part of their profits will go to the betterment of humanity and for charity. Those companies do not suffer from the uncertainty of volatile ups and downs. They move slower. They move slower, but they are stable. They have arrived at their solutions from the collective mind of the company.

Sacred activism is not loud. Sacred activism is not composed of shouting slogans in the street. Sacred activism does not include confrontation – because what you will achieve by confrontation today will be canceled by a future confrontation. It [sacred activism] is not a path of conflict. What you will achieve be coming into conflict will be destroyed by the conflict. This is the Gandhian message. This is the message of Martin Luther King, or of Nelson Mandela, and all the others who have found the meaning of sacred activism.

Sacred activism is like martial arts where we are taught that our core being must be absolutely silent and still, and it from that stillness that your actions should proceed. This is the way of the Tao. This is the way of the Bhagavad Gita – karmaṇyakarma yaḥ paśhyed akarmaṇi cha karma hyaḥ. (“He who knows action in inaction; he who knows inaction in action.”)1

Here contemplation and action are not in conflict with each other; they support each other. Action is derived from contemplation. Contemplation is derived from action. And whatever we say come out from a deeper, still depth from within ourselves – the world will listen.

Whether the prime ministers and the presidents sign an agreement or don’t sign an agreement. The United States refrained from participating in the Kyoto agreement, but some states in the United States followed the path and made changes. China and India may sign or may not sign the agreement, but without signing an agreement, they are following the way of searching for alternative forms of energy. But it is not about searching for alternative forms of energy, it is about creating a whole universal consciousness that already exists, as I said yesterday. How many hundred thousand yoga teachers there are! How many thousands of Tai Chi teachers there are! How many teachers of the real martial arts, that proceed from the interior stillness, there are! How many clergymen? How many contemplators? This is a whole large army!

It is not absolutely necessary that they must form a single forum. Each cell acts in its own place, interacts with its own surroundings, and a universal movement happens.

Gandhi took an ordinary spinning wheel from the villages of India and dismantled the world’s largest empire.

When I was a child, I would watch the leaders of the independence movement sitting on a stage and spinning, and wearing the clothes that they had spun that were woven from the threads that they had spun themselves. At that time, the population of India was 350 or 360 million people. 350 million people spun on a simple spinning spindle and gained the independence of the country. What 360 million people could do is in us – 7 billion people can also do. But it has to come from within a change in ourselves. What have I contributed to the sea of poison?

I will tell one short story we tell in India of a king who wanted to inaugurate a reservoir, and in his kingly whim, he made an order that he wanted to inaugurate it by filling the reservoir first with milk. So he ordered everyone in the kingdom that they should, on the night before he would be coming to inaugurate, everyone should bring a bucket of milk and fill the reservoir. One man in the village said, “One bucket milk? Everybody is going to bring a bucket of milk. Who is going to see if I throw in a bucket of water? So he threw in a bucket of water, and – Lo and Behold! – when the king and his men came to inaugurate the reservoir, it was all water – because everyone had thought the same thought.

Everyone making the contribution of a bucket of milk is the state of sacred activism, and it will turn back a collective force because all these forces joined together.

Do we have time to wait before the world is destroyed? No, we do not have time to wait. Therefore, let us stop this constant craving in us – the entire industry that is devoted to creating craving, the advertising industry. Are you going to say, “I shall not be affected to the next advertisement I see on TV?” That is where your mind comes in.

But then, what will give me satisfaction? Contemplation will give me satisfaction so that I vow that I shall not desire what I do not need. I shall not desire what I do not need. If all 7 billion people say that, THAT is sacred activism. And, yes, it can be effective very, very quickly.

Please contemplate that. I thank you.

Editor’s Note

1 “He who sees inaction in action and who sees action in inaction, he is the one endowed with wisdom among human beings. He is joined in yoga, a performer of complete action.” (Bhagavad Gita 4:18). For more information, kindly read the section on Action and Inaction from the Perennial Psychology of the Bhagavad Gita by Swami Rama.

I am.

Posted on by Mandala

I am.
I am not.

I am the breath.
I am the breather.

I am the reflections.
I am the mirrors.

I am the thoughts.
I am the thinker.

I am the dream.
I am the dreamer.

I am the act, the cast the producer and the director.

I am the stage, the music the lights and the theatre.

I am the audience, the snack bar and the usher.

I am the clothes.
I am the wearer.

I am the fire, the food, the plate and the eater.

I am the servant.
I am the master.

I am the mother, the father, the brother and the sister.

I am the spouse, the friend and the lover.

I am the butterfly, the bees, the garden and the flower.

I am the breeze, the sunshine and the shower.

I am the war, the army, the guns, the bullets and the soldiers.

I am the enemy.
I am the victor.

A thought.

The light.

Garbed
Ungarbed.

Changing forms
since eternity

Burn thy veils and know.
I am God.
And you are me.

8 Qualities of Yogic Breathing

Posted on by Mandala

These “8 Qualities of Yogic Breathing” are sequenced according to the progression in which they are generally taught in Himalayan Yoga Tradition (HYT) classes:

        1. Diaphragmatic
        2. Nasal
        3. Silent
        4. Smooth
        5. Relaxed
        6. Deep/Slow
        7. Continuous
        8. Even

For example, HYT teachers usually begin breathing instruction with students lying in Makarasana (Crocodile) or Shavasana (Corpse), and then they guide a relaxation, drawing students’ attention to finer aspects of breathing. As students make progress, yet finer aspects of breathing are taught in relation to meditation (#6 – #8 below). There is some unavoidable overlapping, but these eight qualities stand out.

There are many resources (retreat handouts, books, articles, audios, and web sites) that will be used throughout this program to assist HYT-TTP students in both perfecting their own yogic breathing and in teaching yogic breathing to their students.

The following description is intended to support students by providing a single definitive summary of the most important aspects of yogic breathing:

  1. Diaphragmatic – a relaxed, full breath, indicated by the area around the navel and midsection (front, sides and back) expanding and contracting gently with each inhalation and exhalation. When Swami Rama was teaching in the USA, the acronym “DDB” (Deep Diaphragmatic Breathing) was used by the teachers to describe this kind of breathing. The four things that Swami Rama emphasized were that the breath be soundless (“no noise”), smooth (“not jerky”), deep (“not shallow”), and continuous (“with no pauses”).
  1. Nasal – through the nostrils.
  1. Silent – quiet, soundless, with no noise.
  1. Smooth – flowing like oil, with no jerks or irregularities in the breath stream.
  1. Relaxed – there is no strain or tension to one’s breathing. There is a spontaneously comfortable, gentle, open, free, “natural” quality to the breathing, like the breathing of a sleeping child.
  1. Deep/Slow – a comfortable, long, drawn-out breath has a longer duration (or slower breath-rate) and implies a larger tidal volume (the volume of air moved into and out of the lungs during relaxed breathing, typically about a half of a liter for adult males).1
  1. Continuous – constant, seamless, with minimal pauses or breaks between the inhalations and exhalations. Special care is needed to relax unnecessary tension at the end of inhalations and exhalations, and to allow the breath stream to gently curve around (like a circle, an ellipse, or a circle-8) and merge with the next breath – exhalations smoothly flowing into inhalations and inhalations smoothly flowing into exhalations.
  1. Even – The term “even” has been used by Swami Veda in three ways:
    1. the inhalations and exhalations have the same duration (1:1),
    2. the pressure and volume of air flowing in each breath remains the same for the majority of the inhalation or exhalation. (Special care is taken to try to keep the mind, breath and body relaxed during the inhalations.)
    3. the flow of air in the left and right nostrils is balanced, so that ida and pingala nadis are aligned and the harmonized energies contribute to sushumna opening and meditation.

1) In the animal kingdom, there is a great difference in the breath-rate of animals, generally parallel to their size and life-expectancy. These numbers are rough approximations in terms of breath-rate and lifespan:

Average Breath-Rate (Breath/Minute) Average Lifespan in Years
Giant Tortoises      4                                                          200
Elephants                8                                                          65
Humans                  15-20                                                  71
Cats and Dogs        25                                                        16
Mice                        130                                                      2

One breath is defined as one exhalation and one inhalation. In yoga it is believed that a person’s longevity is measured in the number of breaths one takes; therefore, a person’s lifespan could be lengthened by breathing slower. Slow breathing is cultivated by paying attention to one’s breathing. Assuming that an average person breathes 15 times in one minute (21,600 times a day), after practicing meditation for a year or so, the breath rate might slow down to less than 5 times a minute. During one of Swami Veda’s lectures, his breath rate was checked, and he took one breath in two minutes time.

Editor’s Note:

Recommended reading: Science of Breath:  A Practical Guide by Swami Rama, Dr. Rudolph Ballentine, Dr. Alan Hymes

Michael Smith, E-RYT 500, has been teaching yoga for over 36 years and is currently a curriculum coordinator for the Himalayan Yoga Tradition – Teacher Training Program (HYT-TTP). He has also been certified by the Himalayan Institute Teachers Association and the Behram Guard School of Yoga Meditation (an Iyengar-based Hatha Yoga School). He was a public school teacher for 35 years and also a professor of Comparative Religion at North Hennepin Community College. He has edited and/or illustrated many books on yoga and has lectured widely on stress management (the topic of his Master’s Thesis) and also on holistic health.

Spiritual Festival 2006

Posted on by ahymsin

[The Spiritual Festival is an annual festival. This article is from the Word.doc sent and printed for aspirants in the year 2006. Email addresses and telephone numbers have been removed.]

The Meditation Center
631 University Avenue NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413

SPIRITUAL FESTIVAL 2006

Dear Friends,

Namaste and Greetings to you at this festive occasion of sadhana.

During this forty day period we all have an opportunity for celebrating the prosperity that sadhana brings. The prospering of sadhana means that there is greater peace in everyone’s mind. Only peace in individual minds can bring peace in the world. Therefore, let our striving and endeavor for internal peace be an unceasing one; spread it wide; enlarge the circle of those who feel and contemplate such peaceful ways of living. That is the only way for world peace. We are reminded to join the peaceful mind of Swami Veda through the World Group meditations.
Mark the dates for 2006: Jun 11, Jul 11, Aug 9, Sep 7, Oct 7, Nov 5, Dec 4

Do let us know at the Meditation Center that you are participating in the Spiritual festival. Please read the attached information for information and guidance. Again a reminder of our community five days of Silence Retreat this summer, (July 5th – 9th) at Dunrovin Retreat Center near Minneapolis; and of our Guru Purnima celebration on the 11th of July 7 pm. at the Meditation Center.

Or you may choose a longer retreat in the beauty of northern California with the 0-day Silence Retreat at the Institute of Noetic Science (IONS) near San Francisco.

The full schedule at IONS is as follows:

(July 17–30) Teachers Retreat (IHYTA-TTP): 14-day Certification program module and Advancing Education Credit (applicable for YA credit)
(July 18–20) Intensive Three-day Training in Hatha Yoga
(July 21–25) 5-Day Silence Retreat
(July 21–30) 10-Day Silence Retreat
(July 21–23) Traditions of Vedic Knowledge with Swami Veda and Dr. David Frawley
(July 24–26) Intensive Three-day Training in Meditation
(July 28–30) Traditions of Health and Well-being: The Science of Ayurveda

If you cannot attend these events hopefully you can now make your plans for the events in 2007.

With love and blessings,
Pandit Ananta 

USA: The Meditation Center, 631 University Avenue NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413

Spirtual Festival 2006

Dear Pilgrim in Yoga,

We are all here for a purpose; it is an on-going spiritual process. We are all here for spiritual liberation and serving that mission. For that purpose we are purifying ourselves of our pride and ego.

For these reasons we train ourselves in constant self-observation: to see oneself, to hear oneself to develop this internal dialogue. I have used one criterion for all my thoughts, my words, and my actions: “Is this conducive to spiritual liberation.” You are still learning to walk on this path and have not yet fully learned to observe the effects of your attitudes and actions on others. For this reason, please allow me to offer you some of the ways I have used in my own life to guide my attitudes and responses. They have been my experiments in life and pass them on for you to experiment with.

For over twenty years we have celebrated a festival of spiritual purification. Its core is in the forty days of intense sadhana specific to a given year. But actually it is the theme for the whole year.

The festival for this year starts WHEN you receive this note, irrespective of the date to be announced for formalities. Guru-purnima this year is July 11th.

The theme for this year is:
Prayash-chitta and Chitta-prasadana:
through Self-Examination & Meditation

• Keep some time for silence and for introspection
• Carry a state of mindfulness & talk to yourself with internal dialogue. (See booklet on internal dialogue).
• I encourage you to again listen to the “Marks of Spiritual Progress,” the lectures given in Rishikesh 2002 and make your own chart or list of where you are in relation to this particular mark of spiritual progress, and if you do not fit there then ask, “What should I do to improve myself?”
• Use my points in applying prayash-chitta (self-examination, confession and atonement.)
• Use the Gayatri japa during the 40 days
• Study Swami Rama’s (1) Art of Joyful Living and (2) Conscious Living: A Guidebook for Spiritual Transformation, available from your own Center.

The japa this year is Gayatri, with the intent of purification, following the same system as in previous years. Read Swami Veda’s booklet SPECIAL MANTRAS and address any questions to Pandit Hari Shankar Dabral and Pandit Ananta .

Please let your own Centre, and the Meditation Center, know that you are participating.

May you not encounter boulders, only little pebbles, on your pilgrim path.

Blessings.

Yours in service of Gurudeva

Swami Veda Bharati

For serious students a 3-5 year training program began in October, 2004 at the new Sadhaka Gram Gurukulam. Contact for more information and application.

Prayash-chitta and Chitta-prasadana:
through self-Examination & Meditation

(from talks given by Swami Veda at the Gurukulam in Rishikesh) 

We are here for a purpose; it is an ongoing spiritual process.
We are all here for spiritual liberation, and serving that mission is part of that. This becomes the higher mission that we are serving, all of us, are serving; and for this purpose alone we are purifying ourselves of our pride and ego.

For these reasons we train ourselves in constant self-observation: to see oneself, to hear oneself to develop this internal dialogue. I have used one criterion for all my thoughts, my words and my actions: “Is this conducive to spiritual liberation.”

You are still learning to walk on this path and have not yet fully learned to observe the effects of your attitudes and actions on others. For this reason please allow me to offer you some of the ways I have used in my own life to guide my attitudes and responses. They have been my experiments in life and I pass them on for you to experiment with.

1. Say the unpleasant in a pleasant way

2. Make excuses for the other party

3. Reduce negatives by one half before forming negative reactions

4. Reconcile the opposites

5. Learn to get along with those one was previously unable to trust

6. Make no decisions without wide consultation

7. Reflect and recognize one’s own needs, conflicts, insecurities, failings, without projecting them on others; and learning to resolve them through:

a. internal dialogue
b. internal confession
c. outward confession
d. apology

8. If there is suspicion that I might have been wrong or right presume to be wrong and acknowledge that to others, letting them make the choice, and then accepting their decision with out denying or justifying from your personal interests. Trust in their sense of forgiveness.

9. Willingness to surrender one-half of one’s ground, thereby finding that middle ground between one’s view and someone else’s view.

10. If you have a problem of conflict with someone, solve the problem s/he has with you.

11. Promote a spirit of prayash-chitta, the spirit of apology. It is a self-purification as confession, atonement and apology. It is related to the Pali word pratimoka, release, related to moksha.

12. Remember, you are not becoming angry because of “THIS incident or situation.” You were angry because of your past mental habit, and the habit has deepened to the point of wanting to release it and get it out. So now, knowing this, find other ways to ease the mind by such ways as:

a. learning to apologize for the other person
b. what might be the limitation in the capacity of the other person that I was not sensitive to and overlooked and chose not to make an adjustment in my expectations.
c. what pains has the other person suffered, not as judgment, but by way of compassion
d. figure out what excuses you can provide for that person’s behavior

13. Carry authority without carrying “authority.” Lead without seeming to be leading. Bring others along, including them, informing them, sharing with them. Ask for their ideas and opinions and thereby reaching a consensus – a collective decision.
In letting people listen and accept you and your ideas, you will develop the art of bringing people along with you, and that is leadership.

14. We all have ability, and we all have the urge to serve, but when we feel the need to take on areas of responsibility that are not “ours,” ask yourself whether you first spoke with that person or persons, and how did you communicate that failing? Remember, you must first learn to hold back the urge to blame. Then it will be said pleasantly.

15. REMEMBER: Chitta-prasadana – Pleasant-Mindedness (YS I:33) – at all times.

16. Over the next 40 days see if you can make a 10% reduction in:

a. hostility,
b. fear,
c. anger toward others
d. your consumption of goods and energies

Practice this anger sublimation and humility, for it affects the entire mission. Take courage to face your angers reflected in that harsh tone, insulting comment or confronting body language that evoke a negative response in the other person.

17. Ask yourself what caused the person to react in that way. What are the pains of that person over the last 5 or 10 years that has caused such an accumulation of suffering that one reacts in such a manner when “triggered.”

18. Then as a kalyana mitra (noble friend), speak openly and listen back to oneself.

19. Remember: no instant reaction without full contemplation on the points given above.

If you love “me” then love my “family.” When you are wanting to get angry, think of giving that anger to me first.

Be an “insider” for that is our work, that is what we are here for. Our internal work on the points above are the teaching, and that is the path we are on as pilgrims in yoga. This is the true festival of spiritual peace.

Swami Veda Bharati

Dear Pilgrim in Yoga,

I have composed a prayer that I would like for you to memorize and use as part of your daily meditations.

ॐ

“MOTHER GAYATRI, OH GURUDEV, GRANT ME THE PURITY OF BUDDHI”

“Oh Gurudeva, grant me the purity of buddhi.
May my mind become immaculate, quiet, peaceful, clear and pleasant.
May all my emotions be purified.
Grant me the spiritual strength to ask for forgiveness with a sentiment of amity.
AUM, That alone is Real.
May all this endeavor be accepted as my surrender,
And offering to Brahman.”

ॐ

Gāyatri Mātah he Guro shrī Guro sad buddhir me prayaccha
Chittam me nirmalam, shāntam, prasannam bhuyāt
Sarve me bhāvāh śhudhyantām māitrī bhāvanayā
Kşhamam yāchintum ātmabalam medehi
AUM Tat Sat Brahmarpanamastu

ॐ

Continue to remember this prayer throughout the day. Better would be to get a book and write this prayer a few times in the day so that you will know the purpose of the Gayatri japa. And reflect on the purpose while reciting the mantra, “grant me the spiritual strength to ask for forgiveness.” Not spiritual strength to forgive – the spiritual strength to ask for forgiveness. Everyone thinks of themselves as innocent. You do not intentionally do harm to others, but you find yourself helpless by the samskaras, by the imprints, by the angers, by the self deficiencies, and insecurities that cloud your buddhi, your faculty of discrimination.

So my prayer for you is for the strength to unscrupulously dig out and face your own transgressions and along with your Gayatri practice ask for strength, spiritual strength to ask for forgiveness. As I have said, “This is the true festival of spiritual peace.”

Blessings.

Yours in service of Gurudeva,
Swami Veda Bharati

DAILY GUIDELINES & SUMMARY FOR SPIRITUAL FESTIVAL 2006

Prayash-chitta and Chitta Prasadana:
through Self-Examination & Meditation

June 1st to July 11th – 2006

Self-Examination, Meditation Practice: Mantra Japa

• Maintain mindfulness and an attitude of self-examination throughout the day. Observe thoughts and emotions asking oneself, “What transgressions did I commit?” “
• Where there was fearful or aggressive thoughts/words/actions ask,
“What was it in me that evoked that response and reaction
• What right thing that should have done have I omitted, replacing such negativity with kindness and compassion. (Refer to Swami Veda’s Yoga Sutra summary of I:33 on Chitta prasadhana.)
• Nadi Shodhana (channel purification) 3 times a day
• Three to five malas of personal mantra japa daily
• Three malas of Gayatri japa daily, and for any thought critical of anyone, do 11 recitations of Gayatri.
• At juncture points in your day (or about every 2 hours), sit for 2 minutes, observing the flow of breath in the nostrils and repeating your personal mantra.
• Recite the Gurur Brahma Prayer and the morning or evening prayers
• Surrender samskaras & random thoughts to the inner Guru
• Resolve to enter into non-self-centered meditation
• Om Tat Sat Brahmarpanam Astu – dedicate prayers to the enlightenment and happiness of others.
• Your last formal thought at night should be the Gurur Brahma prayer and entry into meditative mode as you fall asleep. Your sleep will become a meditation. Awaken with Yoga Nidra before rising.
• Participate in World-group Meditations. See dates for 2006 : June 11, July 11, Aug. 9, Sept. 7, Oct. 7, Nov. 5, Dec. 4.

Hatha Yoga

• A practice of hatha yoga to purify the body, breath and mind. Consider undertaking a practice of Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutations) during this 40 days. Please refer to the section in Swami Veda’s Philosophy of Hatha Yoga where he talks about asana as worship. Use whatever asana practice you undertake as a way to strengthen your link with the lineage through whom all blessings flow.

Meals

• If possible do not eat alone. Take a small portion and give it to a companion or co-worker. If it is embarrassing and not socially acceptable, then surrender the first portion to the Great Prana of the Universe.
• Recite Grace.
• Eat 5 mouthfuls less than enough to fill the stomach at each meal.
• No solid food after 9:00 p.m. A glass of liquid may be taken at night. Special health and medical situations are exempt. Total fasting is not suggested.
• Try to avoid eating meat or fish during the month although you may serve it to your family.
• Ask the Center’s guidance regarding balanced diet.

 To further deepen your practice

• Read and contemplate themes from past Festivals such as: vasu-deva principle, ahimsa, inner cycles & transitions, silencing past habits, contemplation & stillness, refinement of pleasures, surrender to the Guru within. Transcripts of these are available from the Meditation Center.
• Consider taking a vow of one month’s celibacy, but only with the happy consent of your spouse.
• Keep a personal journal on subtle violence in personal life, e.g. an unjustified sharp tone of speech, or in using objects obtained by violence and disregard for the rights of other living beings.
• Dedicate 10 percent of your month’s income plus one dollar to a charity of your choice (not necessarily the Center), in addition to your usual commitments. Through this ancient Western and Eastern tradition of tithing, one learns the way of giving sacrifice joyfully.
• Look for ways to reduce your possessions, acquisitions and energy consumption at least 10%.
• Conquer anger, laziness and selfish thoughts.
• Vow to give special love to your family and reach out to others, beyond your blocks and fears.
• Experiment with a practice of silence (see Swami Veda’s booklet on silence for more details). This could be through observing your speech in daily life to see if you are using more words than necessary, speaking louder than necessary and if your tone and voice evokes a positive response in the listener. You could undertake to practice a half day of silence or a longer period.
• Take a one or two-day, or longer, personal retreat. Contact your Center for arrangements or suggestions.
• On Guru Purnima day you may decide to undertake further observances of self-purification for next year. Ask for the Year of Sanctity Guidelines.

In reviewing the guidelines and making your own commitments, please keep in mind your own capacity. Success with a series of smaller goals will lead to greater purification and capacity for next year. Assess your own capacity and do not try to push to complete “on time.” Accommodate for your family responsibilities.

For inquires or questions please contact: The Meditation Center, 631 University Ave NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413 USA; 

Or email to:
Swami Veda Bharati
Pandit Hari Shankar Dabral
Pandit Ananta
Michael Smith

PRAYERS FOR THE SPIRITUAL FESTIVAL

Om Tat Sat Brahmarparnam Astu. May this be accepted as my surrender to Brahman, the Supreme Transcendental One. (See also how “Om Tat Sat” are explained in the Bhagavad Gita, Chpt 17, v 23-28).

Om…Om…Om 
Guru Brahmaa gurur Vishnur 
Gurur devo Maheshvarah                                                           .
Guru saakshaat param Brahma
Tasmai shree guruve namah

Guru is Brahman (creator), is Vishnu (Protector)
Is the Lord Shiva (Destroyer of Evil), is indeed
the Supreme One. Salvations to that Guru.

Asato maa sada gamaya
Tamaso maa jyotir gamaya 
Mrityor maa amritam gamaya
Om Shantih Shantih Shantih

Lead us from falsehood to Truth
From darkness to Light
From death to Immortality and Bliss
Om, peace, peace, peace

Homage to the Guru

AKHANDA – unbroken, complete                                           MANDALA – orb
AKARAM – having that shape                                                VYAPTAM – pervaded
YENA – by whom
CHARACHARAM – all that is moving and unmoving
TAT PADAM – that pedestal, that state                                 DARSHITAM – was shown
TASMAI SHRI GURAVE NAMAH                                         to that glorious Guru my homage

AKHANDA-MANDALAKARAM
VYAPTAM YENA CHARACHARAM
TAT PADAM DARSHITAM YENA
TASMAI SHRI GURAVE NAMAH

To that glorious Guru my homage, who has shown me that state which is identical with the unbroken full orb of the sun, which pervades all things moving and unmoving.

On Guru Purnima Day it is looked at a little differently: TAT TVAM ASI that thou art; he who has shown me the meaning of that that who is like the full orb of the sun pervading all things moving and unmoving filling them with brilliance, unto that Guru my obeisance and surrender.

The Prayer at Dawn

Pratah smarami hrdi samsphurad atma-tattvam
Sac-cit-sukham parama-hansa gatim turiyam
Yat-svapna-jagara-susuptam avaiti nityam
Tad-brahma niskalam aham na ca bhuta-sanghah.

At dawn do I meditate upon that which shines in the heart as the Self, that Truth, that which is existence-intelligence-happiness, that which is the goal of the great sages, that which is the transcendent reality (lit., the fourth). I am that eternal Brahman which is blemishless and which knows the (three) states of dream, waking and sleep, and not this aggregate of elements.

Contemplation, Prayer and Repentance

Posted on by Mandala

What is this unit, of family, meant for? Wife should do karma for husband, husband should do karma for wife; they are doing karma themselves, but fruits should be given to each other, and they both should give the fruits to their children. Do this experiment, and you’ll find, expansion, freedom in the world. Without giving the fruits of your actions, you can never be free. So learn to give the fruits of your actions to the people with whom you live. That’s one freedom.

There is another bondage, and that is created by the mind. May you engage your mind with japa, repeating the name of God, with prayer. May you meditate, make your mind one-pointed and inward; and thus attain Turiya, be happy and free.

Tell me, you go to a temple and pray according to your religion; why do you pray again and again? Because you think that your prayer was not valid, it was not heard, thus you are doing it again and again. Learning to give is the right kind of prayer. May you understand that giving is a great prayer. It gives you freedom immediately, it gives you delight, it makes others happy. You are not giving to another human being; you are giving to the Lord, who is in every human being. That’s called prayer through action, prayer through karma. So your karma will never create bondage if it becomes a prayer. That’s my point, prayer will never create bondage. May you learn to give, starting with your own family, at home. The home is a great temple, where live all the gods, learning to help each other, learning to love each other, learning to be free. That family is admirable, whose head becomes an example, faced with all the diversities, yet maintaining that unity underneath.

Now let me tell you something; if you are not on talking terms with your neighbors, how can you love your neighbors? If you do not love your neighbors, do not have cordial relationships with your neighbors, you will never understand them, they will never understand you. So is the case with yourself. If you do not learn to love yourself, appreciate and admire yourself, if you go on condemning yourself, how will you know yourself? If you go on condemning your neighbors, how will you know your neighbors? How can you say that you love your neighbors, and if you do not love your neighbors why should they love you? From where have you learned to condemn yourself? You learn because you commit mistakes. That which you think is good today, you may consider to be a mistake tomorrow. And that goes on piling up. It becomes a catalogue of mistakes and then it creates a complex. No, learn to forgive yourself too. If you don’t do that, you’ll go on condemning yourself and you’ll create a living hell for yourself. Don’t do that. A human being is the highest of all known species, one considered to be very close to the Ultimate Reality, once he or she learns to realize.

First of all from the very beginning you will have to learn a word called love. I told you just now, if you do not love yourself, if you go on condemning yourself, if you go on hating yourself, no god on earth, no angel in the heavens can help you. You will have to have one thing, and that is called grace of the Self, remember this. If you offer all your human responsibilities to God, a human being is crippled. That is not called self surrender, that is called being lazy and irresponsible. Work with the determination that you can do it, you will do it, you have to do it; then you are bound to do it.

So may you learn to understand one thing: You should make every human effort that’s possible. When human efforts are exhausted, then dawns the divine aspect, that’s called grace or descending force. On whom does He choose to shower His grace? He chooses one who has made his efforts, all human efforts with firm faith, with complete dedication, with all his mind, action and speech; such a one is graced. To such a one, dawns the descending force. There is a meeting point here, the Lord meets the human being. The Lord of life, Truth, Absolute Truth meets the human being. You are still a human being and yet you meet God. Christ met Absolute Reality, he did not become a Buddhist. Buddha became enlightened, he did not become a Christian. So don’t be afraid that you will be changed. Don’t be afraid of change; you’ll be transformed and that’s what you need.

Editor’ Note

Reprinted from Om the Eternal Witness, by Swami Rama

What is the meaning of “Not till your aspiration reaches the level of desperation will it be fully realized.”?

Posted on by Mandala

Question

“Not till your aspiration reaches the level of desperation will it be fully realized.”
Swami Veda Bharati

This point is made over and over in the scriptures. But why is it so? What is the inner logic behind such a construct? Thank you in advance.

Answers

Carolyn Hume, Stephen Parker (Stoma), Lalita Arya (Ammaji) and Swami Ritavan Bharati have responded to this question.

Carolyn Hume

Your question reminded me of a time years ago. I cannot remember the comment or question that was posed, but Swami Rama called this individual up on the stage whereupon Swami Rama blocked the individual’s nose and mouth. After a little bit, he asked the individual his name, no response. The individual could not breathe. When Swami Rama let the individual breathe again, he said that only when you wanted God as badly as that individual wanted to breathe (wanting to breathe so badly that he cannot remember his own name or think of anything else) will you realize God. The impression of that time is strongly in my mind, but not so much the words. Hopefully, I have not misrepresented what Swami Rama said.

Stephen Parker (Stoma)

Until one’s aspiration reaches such a pitch, our efforts in sādhana are all captive of ahamkāra. They are my efforts. When one has exhausted all the efforts we can make and we feel our incapacity to do it all ourselves, only then do we escape the bondage of ego and a space opens for grace to do its work. Only in that desperate aspiration for realization can we let go enough to really let the Guru in. We are perfectible, but not by our efforts alone; it is always a collaboration with the Guru.

Lalita Arya (Ammaji)

Thanks for this very informative piece of reality as demonstrated by Swami Rama. Again, I would like to repeat, as we do this often with ourselves and our students to remind us of his teachings, one of these included his advice – Do not believe everything I say. Go out and practice for yourselves. Well, here in this demonstration, he just helped someone to find the answer in a very direct, positive and desperate way. What other answer can be as striking as this one?

YS1:3 – Tada drishtuh swarupe-avasthanam…then only the seer dwells in the true nature of her spiritual self. Yoga Sutras Vol 1 Samadhi Pada– (Usharbudh Arya/Swami Veda)

That is after the mind modifications have been quietened…I would add through that desperate pursuit.

Swami Ritavan Bharati

06 Desperation and Dedication

Desperation and Dedication

Desperation and Dedication are the valley and the mountain, the two known only to each other.
Desperation and Dedication are the two sides of the same coin,
A coin spent, nay, surrendered as the currency of ambition for the purpose of life.
Why suffer human folly when you can enjoy divine beauty.
Satisfy that seeking, yearning, desiring that calls to you — day and night from that inner hunger of mind’s fear, worry and despondency.
With this currency of ambition make a purchase that is so beautiful, so sweet and fulfill this natural, innate human urge to know atman the spiritual self.
Your purpose, your destiny reveals that Wisdom beyond all unfulfilled identities and fears.
Deserve to serve your saintly destiny.
Pay the price in surrender and purchase the quest: “In This Very Life You Come to Know God.”

Editor’s Note

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

Message from Swami Ritavan

Posted on by Divya - Administrator

[“The AHYMSIN Board meeting always begins with an offering to the Guru and blessings by Swami Ritavan. Blessings, shared below, extends beyond the meeting, embracing the entire Sangha.” – Rajini Prakash]

ॐ अखण्डमण्डलाकारं व्याप्तं येन चराचरम्।
तत्पदं दर्शितं येन तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः॥
सौम्या सौम्यतराशेष सौम्येभ्यस्त्वतिसुन्दरी ।
परापराणां परमा त्वमेव परमेश्वरी ॥
तारे तुत्तारे तुरे स्वाहा ॥
Om Akhaṇḍa-maṇḍalākāram vyāptam yena carācaram
Tat padam darśitam yena, tasmai śrī gurave namah.
Saumyā saumyātarāśeṣā saumyebhyas tvati sundari,
parāparāṇāṁ paramā tvameva parameshvarī.
tāre, tut tāre ture, swāhā.

Namaste, greetings to all.

As we gather in the spirit of Guru’s grace, light of knowledge, and with aspirations for kindness (amity), compassion (karuna), what has been identified as a global pandemic, along with the syndromes of conflict, fear, anger, misery, and the attentive conditions of loss, loss of loved ones, of home, job, livelihood, self-respect and dignity, our task, through our sadhana in applied spirituality, is greater understanding, not only of what is right with the world but how the beauty of that which is right can be applied to beautify in what has become “ugly” in so many eyes, in all those ways mentioned.

We recall those guides and guiding principles of our past and present, and emulating them to forge a strong and steady path to the future. The future of AHYMSIN and of the entire world. Remember, through our applied sadhana, our disciplined mind is trained to rest in this most natural state of beauty, calm and free of conflict. It is the nature of our personality that animates forces to maintain calm, peaceful, harmonious and conflict-free minds in those around us in ever-expanding circles of influence.

Our task today, and each and every day, is to remain aware of that purity as our natural state of personality, and at the same time, remain aware of our acts, emotions, sentiments, words, and expressions of our personality. Through self-observation, through neutrality, through awareness, through conscious choice, through identification with the strong, the pure, the beauty-that is the divine within and through a certain restraint, we become a conqueror. Together as AHYMSIN, we reach-for and reach the promised nature of wisdom, freedom and liberation as One for All.

Editor’s Note:

This message has also been published in the September 2020 edition of the AHYMSIN newsletter.

Full Moon Meditation Message

Posted on by Divya - Administrator

In meditation, we gather in the spirit of Guru’s grace, light of knowledge, and with aspirations for kindness (amity), compassion (karuna), our task remains—Awake and Aware. Aware of our inner strength as our natural state of personality. Awake through self-observation, through neutrality, through conscious choice. Our identification with this essential nature reveals the strong, the pure, the beauty-that is our divine nature. Through a certain restraint, we become a conqueror. Our task, through our sadhana in applied spirituality, is greater understanding, not only of what is right with the world but how the beauty of that which is right can be applied to beautify in what has become “ugly” in so many ways. And, it is the “I”of ego–me and mine, that harbors negative emotions, conflicts, and criticisms that veil and obscure beauty. Remember, it is the nature of our divine personality that animates forces to maintain calm, peaceful, harmonious, and conflict-free minds within, and in those around us in ever-expanding circles of influence.

Be the Light of Love that you seek.

Editor’s Note:

A message from Swami Ritavan Bharati on the occasion of the Full Moon Meditation on 1 October 2020 via The Meditation Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.