Month: March 2023

You know, I come from Canada. And where I’m from, to drive a car, you have to do a very formal course. It’s a 13-month course. It might be the same in your countries also, but it’s not the same all over the world. So you have 2 parts in your driving course. You have the theory. And you have the practice. So, where I’m from you have 5 sessions of theory for total of 10 hours, where you learn the functioning of car, where is the steering wheel, what is the gas valve, break paddle, the road signs, the rules and regulation, etiquette, etc. You know where the priority is, is not, etc. And then, you have the practice where you actually sit in the car, and practice driving.

Now, in our path, in the path of yoga, in the path of spirituality, it functions a little bit in the same way as learning to drive a car. Yoga, as a system, goes in pair with the system of philosophy that is called sāṁkhya. And don’t worry we will not go in the details sāṁkhya philosophy here. I will not bore you with that today, but they go together. Swami Veda repeated numerous times that you cannot understand the Yoga Sutras if you don’t have a firm ground in the teachings of sāṁkhya philosophy. So sāṁkhya philosophy is the philosophical framework, the theoretical system, as in the theory of driving a car. And yoga is its practical application. Same as when your theory is well understood, you then actually go in the car to practice and learn to drive. So, sāṁkhya, the theory behind the yoga system, that is the darśana śāstra, the theoretical system. And then yoga, the application, is the prayoga śāstra, the practical application of that.

And the purpose of that is to light thy own lamp. But actually, the lamp is already lit. The lamp is there. And Swami Veda would say ‘What do you have to gain from yoga practice, what do you have to gain from yoga?’ And he would say ‘Nothing.’ Because it’s already there. The lamp is already lit. We’re just not aware of it.

Imagine you have put 500 dollars or 500 euros at the bottom of the drawer several years ago. And then, you start cleaning the drawer, and you “discover”, you remove the cover, “discover what was covered”, what was hidden, you discover and you find the 500 euros or 500 dollars. Are you richer than you were before. No, it was already there. So, they say, the great sages and yogis say we are all in samādhi all the time, we are just not aware of it… I’m certainly not aware of it! So, you’re not gaining anything, you remove what’s in between, so you can discover. And that’s the path that we are on. Some people more advanced, other people like me which have more covers, more things to clean out.

Going back to car driving. Swami Veda had a joke. And he was asking the question, what is the difference between the path of haṭha yoga and the path of meditation. Haṭha yoga is like an old 19^th century car. How did we, in our previous lives when we were in the 19^th century, start the car? With the old cars, you had to go out, and then you cranked it. And you cranked it, and you cranked it until it lights up, until it ignites. You all know that the words ignite and ignition comes from Sanskrit word agni, fire.

So haṭha yoga is an old 19^th century car. You have to crank the body, crank the body, crank the body to get it started. Meditation is like a new 21^st century car. You don’t go out, you go in. You go in and sit in, and you just turn the ignition key, and it starts. Nowadays even there is no more keys, it’s a button. The purpose is the same. Do you go out? Do you go through the external sheets, external kośas to start, to start to light up the mind. Lighting up the mind means making the mind turn inwards. Or do you just go in and sit and directly press the button. Both have the same purpose.

If you remember Swami Veda’s book Philosophy of Hath Yoga, in the preface Swami ji says “all yoga science is just one.” All these sub-systems like haṭha yoga, laya yoga, mantra yoga etc., they are all part of that big science. And they are there to address different individuals, different sādhakas at different levels of their practice, of their progress. So, haṭha yoga, dhyāna yoga, they have this same purpose to go in, to go to that light. What Ashu ji said yesterday, the point finding the center, or the point is the center. The point cannot be anything else but the center.

There were wonderful questions about mantras, the other day to the panel of initiators, and I remember, it just made me remember a story. I had, and I don’t know why, I don’t know what I did to deserve that, it was probably that I did something good in previous lives, because I cannot recall anything that I have done in this life that made me worth of being so close to Swami Veda. So, it’s probably from the previous lives. And very early on, he took me close to him and I remember. I had been here in the Gurukulam, for I think a week or 10 days, and we had some seniors of the tradition coming to visit here at the ashram and visit Swami Veda. I was passing by as Swami Veda was giving them a tour of the main building. And then, he called me, he was with these very senior Swami Rama disciples and he called me, and introduced me to them, ‘this is Pierre, he’s our most brilliant student.’ And I thought ‘I have been here for a week.’ I think he’s confusing me with somebody else. So, I don’t know what I did to deserve that.

Like Ashu ji talked about spending time with Swami Veda. He was there at the time of Sādhanā Mandir which was very special time as everybody were very close to Swami Veda in his kutia. In the Sādhaka Grama period, we were all envious of the Sādhanā Mandir people who were so close in that little cottage all together. But, as Ashu ji said, we were all at the place where we should be. And we got what we got because that’s what we could get. So, being around Swami Veda was really wonderful. Just to see him, just be around to see how he lived, I learned a lot and I got a lot from the lectures from Swami ji. I got much more, and I’m sure everybody was around him would say the same thing, I got much more from just witnessing his life. And he was the embodiment of that lamp shining on everyone.

If you all go under the one sun on a hot summer day and feel the light and the warmth of the sun. Do you have the feeling that the entire warmth, light and energy of the sun is directed only towards you? When you are under the sun on a hot summer day, you feel that all the power of the sun is directed only towards you. But then, the next person feels the same thing. He also feel that the whole sun is shining only at him.

We felt the same thing with Swami Veda. And I’m sure many people relates. And I’m sure many people who have met Swami Rama in the body will relate to the same. These beings were like the sun. We would feel so special in Swami Veda’s presence. We would always feel that we are the only one in the room, that we are receiving everything, that all his love is directed towards us. But his love was unlimited and his love was not getting less towards us because it was shining towards somebody else as well. We could all received the fullness of the love and care, as well as everybody else. So, they were the source of light, the source of love like the sun.

Yoong ji and I had a little discussion with a few months ago, and Maa Tripurashakti, this morning talked about the same. It was about Swami Veda’s biography and his story with his Guru Swami Rama. He didn’t want anybody to write about him until he would have written about his master. Because he thought that he should not come before his master. And then, he tried to find somebody to help with the writing of the book on his master. But he could not find somebody suitable because all the authors were trying to take Swami Veda as the central part of history with Swami Rama, and Swami Veda didn’t want that. He didn’t want the story to be from the perspective of the person receiving the warmth of the sun. But he wanted his book to be perspective of the sun shining its light.

Editor’s Note:

This is a transcript of a talk held at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama, on 15 Feb, 2023, during the AHYMSIN Sangha Gathering 2023.

We are delighted to share that Swami Veda Bharati ji’s newest publications titled “Signs of Spiritual Progress”, “You and Your Emotions” and a reprint of “Superconscious Meditation” were released on the sacred occasion of the Maha-Shivaratri during the AHYMSIN Sangha Gathering 2023 by Swami Ritavan Bharati, our Ashram Pramukha and Spiritual Guide, along with Shi Hong ji, Yoong ji and Idriss ji. The occasion was also graced by Sadhana Mishra ji and Narendra Pushkarna ji.

“Signs of Spiritual Progress” serves as our companion in the spiritual journey that guides us constantly; clearing our many doubts, and answers the most asked question by spiritual seekers – “are we making spiritual progress?” “You and Your Emotions” is full of our beloved Swami Veda Bharati’s experiential knowledge and practical wisdom which helps us manage and refine our emotions to obtain true freedom.

We wish to express our sincerest gratitude to Ms Rajini Prakash, for her devoted service to Swami ji’s mission by editing these books and to Mr Igor Hadded de Oliveira Sampaio, Ms Anna Devigili and Ms Aditi Nakoti for designing the beautiful book covers. Also, we would like to thank Mr Dan Prideaux and Mr Michael Smith for writing profound forewords for “You and Your Emotions” and “Signs of Spiritual Progress” respectively.

“A person who is making spiritual progress never utters a word uselessly. Never utters a sentence without weighing it and balancing it for its maximum benefit to others.”

– Excerpt from the book “Signs of Spiritual Progress“.

Editor’s Note:

If you would like to receive a copy of one or more of these books, kindly write to hyptbooks@gmail.com

Last year, we were about to make the final decision whether we weren’t going to have a Sangha gathering in 2022 February. It was a lot of pressure on us to make the decision. But at that time, the whole pandemic and travel restrictions situation were such that we were at one point considering whether we should have a virtual Sangha Gathering by zoom. I’m very happy and relieved that we didn’t take that route. Instead, we decided we want to postpone for one year in 2023 to have the physical Sangha gathering, and here we are, and I can assure you, it is so different.

And for those of you who are watching this at home [the session was live streamed on Facebook and YouTube], sorry you cannot be here, but it’s the next best thing you can do. You can always come back when your time and situation allow.

As we all know, AHYMSIN was envisaged and founded by our beloved Swami Veda as a spiritual family. He emphasized this many times. It is a family not an institution or an organization. So, it is a spiritual family to learn, practice, and spread the teachings of the sages of the Himalayas as interpreted by Gurudeva Swami Rama. It is a lineage, a tradition as Swami Veda summed up beautifully in his guru prayer.

हिरण्यगर्भादारब्धां शेषव्यासादिमध्यमाम्।
स्वामिश्रीरामपादान्तां वन्दे गुरुपरम्पराम्॥

hiraṇyagarbhād-ārabdhāṁ śeṣa-vyāsādi-madhyamām,

svāmiśrīrāma- pādāntāṁ vande guru paramparām.

So, it started in Hiranyagarbha, pass on to Patanjali, Vyasa and the other masters and down to Swami Rama. Therefore, we pay our respect to the guru lineage, guru parampara.

That explains the lineage that we’re holding, I think very, very succinctly and beautifully. And what about the teachings of the sages of the Himalayas? For me personally, I am very, very inspired by Swami Rama’s writing in his book, Living with the Himalayan Masters, in which he said freedom from fear is the first message from the sages. Let us think, freedom from fears. We have a lot of those in the past three years. Fears. And we will continue to have them. So, the first message is freedom from fears, and the second message from the Himalayan stages is to be aware of the reality within. The reality within, guru or mantras, the Lord, for the one who can realize the reality within, there shall be no fear at all. So, that is to me a very, very powerful summary of the teachings that we are pursuing here.

In the Buddhist tradition, we always pay our respect our homage to three jewels, three gems, the three most valuable things which are a Buddha, the teacher, the Dharma, teachings, and the Sangha, the community, the family. So, here in AHYMSIN, we have all three, we have the teachers, the gurus, we have the teachings, the messages from the sages, and we have us all, the community, the Sangha, we are the Sangha. You are the Sangha. I am Sangha. We are all members. So that is what AHYMSIN is all about. And I just very briefly share my thoughts with everyone today. Namaste. Thank you.

Editor’s Note:

Shi Hong has been appointed as the President of AHYMSIN by Swami Ritavan Bharati during the AHYMSIN Sangha Gathering 2023. He has previously served as the Senior Vice President of AHYMSIN from 2013-23. He is also a mantra initiator and a member of the AHYMSIN Spiritual Committee.

He has been sharing the teachings of the Himalayan Tradition in many countries, including India, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, etc. Since 2007, he has also translated and published many of Swami Veda’s books into Chinese.

You may also want to read the transcript of Shi Hong’s talk on “What is AHYMSIN?” from the 2019 AHYMSIN Sangha Gathering.

On Feb 14, 2023, an election of the AHYMSIN Executive Committee (EC) and Office Bearers was held at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama (SRSG) during the AHYMSIN Sangha Gathering 2023.

The elected/appointed members of the AHYMSIN EC and Office Bearers for 2023-26 are:

Spiritual Guide – Swami Ritavan Bharati

President – Shi Hong

Sr. Vice President – Chuck Linke

Vice Presidents – Mayanne Krech and Dowlat Budhram

General Secretary – Sadhana Mishra

Assistant Secretaries – Tinyu Chen and John Sellinger

Treasurer – Narendra Pushkarna

Executive Committee:

Savitri Jugdeo

Randall Krause

Winthrop Harewood

Pierre Lefebvre

Rabindra Sahu

Divya Gupta

Representatives:

Himalayan Institute of Kanpur – Dr Sheelendra Rai Vidyarthi

Adhyatma Samiti – Yoong Yoong Khiang

Dhyana Mandiram Trust – Manish Srivastava

SRSG – Adhikari Bhoi

Advisors assigned by Spiritual Guide:

Dr. Mohan Swami – Special Advisor to Spiritual Guide

Dr. Stephen Stoma Parker – Senior Advisor to AHYMSIN

Shreedhar Kamat – Legal Advisor to Spiritual Guide

My fellow Brothers and Sisters

Swamiji conceived and later initiated AHYMSIN between 2005 to 2007, though the seeds may have been sown much earlier. It was officially registered in April 2007 at SRSG.

It was in the wee hours of the morning of Sept 1st 1990 that I was blessed immensely when I prostrated in full (ashtanga dandavat pranayam) at the feet of Gurudev in the compound of Sadhana Mandir in a cold drizzle. The blank yet euphoric and intoxicated feeling of spiritual bliss lasted for weeks till it was time for me to return to the harsh realities of the material world.

Gurudev was in Singapore the following month and I rushed to meet him there. Followed him to Indonesia and Thailand.

A week later we returned to Sadhana Mandir where he introduced me to Dr. Ushaburdh Arya. The love and respect for him were instantaneous and lasts till this moment without an iota of diminution.

Fast forward – from 1991 through to 1996.

On 13th November 1996 Gurudev attained Mahasamadhi, I interacted with Swami Veda Bharathi (SVB) whenever we met or wrote to each other during that period.

The interactions increased manifold after November. SVB was named by Gurudev in his Will as the Spiritual Advisor to HIHT, the mission that spearheaded Gurudev’s grand vision of service to humanity. SVB was also appointed the first Chancellor of the Himalayan University the precursor Institution which transformed to become the Swami Rama Himalayan University.

We met regularly at the ashram in Rishikesh or at HIHT in Swami Rama Nagar or sometimes overseas, be it in Malaysia or Europe.

SVB conceived the idea of Ahymsa for the Americas in 1999. And, he expanded the vision to AHYMSIN between 2005 to 2007 which was a natural by-product of his years of writing, teaching, serving, and possibly the summum bonum of what he destined for himself to leave for his students worldwide. This was to be his contribution, his legacy for his Gurudev‘s mission. And Swami Rama Sadhaka Gramma was born as a sequel, a reason for these initiatives.

There were many challenges that he faced; the land, the construction of the buildings, government approvals, personnel, and large finances. He however rode the tiger without flinching, always stating what Gurudev similarly shared with me during the initial challenging days of commencing HIHT and the Hospital: that “The Mother will provide”.

And She did.

SVB had a gentle and humble predisposition. He was the gentlest of all the renunciate disciples of Gurudev I had come in contact with. And of course, the most intellectually renowned and advanced. He was so learned that many could not comprehend his works nor his writings. They felt that it was for spiritually high achievers. But they were wrong. SVB could, at any moment interact with an infant or a toddler without any doubt.

SVB had total respect and perfect love for Gurudev. This was clearly visible to all. In his own Will, he wrote that none of his photographs should be exhibited. Only that of his Guru.

Another side of SVB that I could not understand was his love for eating sweet dishes, be it Indian or the durian cakes from Malaysia that he relished (and requested for whenever I came to visit him). He sidestepped my chiding with, “the sugar is under control. Don’t worry”. He would be the most gracious host, arranging for a sumptuous meal after our one-to-one meetings. I very much envied SVB for the various roles he assumed with such great ease.

When he requested me to accept the position of President when AHYMSIN was to be launched, and also to be in DMT, I was reluctant as I already had too much on my plate. SVB convinced me of the importance of his action. It was to enable the ties and relationship with Gurudev’s greater mission to be fostered and secured. Brother Dave Hume did a marvelous job as the V.P. and shouldered the entire burden during the duration of his tenure. My heartfelt gratitude to him. And to his equally dedicated wife Sister Carolyn Hume. And to all the Executive Committee members of the many years. Brother Idriss Raoua and AHYMSIN and DMT Secretary Sadhana Mishra too were a great source of inspiration along with many others. The list is so very long.

My good friend Shi Hong for whom SVB had much confidence and love accepted the mantle of Deputy President after Dave Hume and similarly took it upon himself to cover the post of President. This provided me the flexibility of continuing to pay attention to the other duties and work that was given to me as instructed by Gurudev. I am indebted to Shi Hong like I am to Dave Hume for their understanding and for giving me the freedom of time.

We have come a long way. The period between late 2019 and 2022 was that of uncertainty. SRSG faced a serious crunch due to the Covid pandemic but many of the AHYMSIN members and centers either individually or collectively showed their kindness and compassion in more than many ways to ensure that the HQ functioned without any interruption. Based on any nature of crisis that could arise again, my request to the incoming President and his team is to create a reasonably sized corpus fund that will ensure a sense of surety/guarantee and financial security. This will enable AHYMSIN to position itself with a steady long-term vision and enable its leadership to strategize and strengthen the organization and carefully prepare for succession planning.

For all these to take place smoothly, DMT must take more ownership and work closely with AHYMSIN. Though the current relationship pattern may appear to be adequately structured, there must be a ‘dotted’ line between the two i.e., DMT and AHYMSIN to ensure a reasonable sense of inter-alia and accountability. It is therefore vital that this bond must be intensified every which way.

On a personal note, I had requested leave of absence from my positions in SRHU, HIHT, AHYMSIN and DMT in Nov 2016 to embark on a more intense spiritual journey to the mountains as part of my sadhana and tapasya. I had discussed this with Swami Ritavan Bharati (SRB) and he was full of encouragement and support. SRB requires the full support of DMT and AHYMSIN to grow and further strengthen SRSG.

Now back to the future.

There was a disruption in my plans to be in solitude much longer in the mountains due to many factors and principally because of the pandemic between 2019 and last year.

In late October last year, Covid finally got me in despite the Pfizer boosters. For nearly eleven weeks until late January this year, it exacerbated my gluten allergy and played havoc on the frail body including mimicking angina attacks, coeliac disease, and lumbar-sacral pain.

Allopathy did not help much but Ayurvedic medications did the trick along with very generous portions of Gurudev’s kripa. There is no ‘one rule’ for all but for me perhaps there was an ‘all for one’ rule. I am out of the woods now and sooner than later intend to pursue where I left off four years ago to be in the Himalayas where my heart and soul belong.

So, my Brothers and Sisters it is time to bid adieu.

I thank each one of you and I thank all of you. For what you are doing in any form or manner to keep the Tradition ongoing. Even your daily meditation at the same time in a disciplined and diligent way or learning the Himalayan teachings as taught by Swami Rama wherever you are is a sure way of expressing your love. Your love for the Guru should be immense and unconditional. Practice abhyasa and vairagya.

We have been instructed by our Master to surrender ourselves selflessly, to serve others, and to help others without expecting the fruits of the labor.

Let us, therefore, surrender ourselves to the Tradition and to the Lineage; and thank them for making us what we are in this life. And to pray to them to lead us in the path of Light.

MAY ALL OF YOU STAY BLESSED

Editor’s Note:

Dr. Mohan Swami, a disciple of Swami Rama, served as the President of both the Association of Himalayan Yoga Meditation Societies International (AHYMSIN) from 2007 – 2023 and Dhyana Mandiram Trust (DMT) from 2007 – 2023.