December 2024 - AHYMSIN

A Loving Invite to the First World Meditation Day

Posted on 11 December 202412 December 2024 by Mandala

Dear Beloved Sangha Members,

Hari Om.

We are delighted to share with you all that the United Nations has declared December 21 as the World Meditation Day. The resolution co-sponsored by India was unanimously accepted by the United Nations General Assembly recently. This unanimous acceptance by 193 nations is a true testament that the world leaders are now finally recognising the importance of meditation practice in holistic wellbeing of individuals, societies, nations, and the entire world. The World Meditation Day, which falls on the day of the winter solstice, will surely bring more awareness to the practice of meditation at a global level.

World-Meditation-Day

We are so very happy to hear of this wonderful news and extend our heartfelt invitation to each one of our AHYMSIN family members to come together in spirit and practice for this momentous occasion. At the Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama (SRSG) Ashram in Rishikesh, we will all sit together for 25-hours long akhanda (non-stop; continuous) meditation, beginning at 7 am India time on 21 December until 8 am India time on 22 December, for world peace.

The World Meditation Day shall serve as another opportunity and reminder for us to reconnect with the sacred, ancient yoga meditation tradition of the Himalayan Masters that we are all a part of and that beckon upon us to “practice, practice, practice”, as our Gurudeva Swami Rama has said.

Our beloved Swami Veda Bharati has written:

“The Himalayan Tradition of Yoga Meditation is distinguished in that it:

is the first meditative tradition,
is the most comprehensive, integral and all-inclusive,
has given birth to the major meditative traditions of the world and has continued to enrich them all,
does not require adherence to a belief system but experientially helps verify metaphysical reality,
has an unbroken lineage whose continuity is ensured through transmission of shakti in meditative and initiatory states.”

As students and initiates within this ancient meditative tradition, we have received the blessing of walking in the footsteps of the great Himalayan Sages who have very lovingly illuminated the path of meditation for our spiritual upliftment. The illumination of their wisdom continues to light our way forward, and through our practices, we make an attempt to honour their teachings.

You are lovingly invited to sit in meditation, for as long as you comfortable can, multiple times throughout the day, wherever you are, in your home or with friends. Total beginners and longtime practitioners, non-initiates and initiates are all welcome. As Swami Veda has said, “Let the quietness of the mind continue even after you rise…”

Swami Veda has written:

“Yoga Philosophy views the mind as Universal field; its waves passing through us and becoming our individual minds. This Universal mind is a radiant force and is also known as a Universal Guru within.

When all sit together at the same time even in different parts of the world, they connect to the Universal Guru mind and generate a strong field, like so many magnets being joined together and forming a much stronger magnet; the strength of each then equals the combined strength of all.

Thus it is when we join together in meditation, and together enter the Guru-mind’s Field. On certain days of the year the Wave of Beauty and the Wave of Bliss flows very strong. These are the sacred days.”

Come, let us sit together in meditation on this sacred day of winter solstice, even if apart in distance, united in our shared spiritual goal and our shared love for the Tradition. We may take a sankalpa (mental resolve) on this day to reconnect with the Guru Lineage, recommit to our meditation practice, and re-cognise the Self. As we journey inward, with each of our meditation sittings, we move one step closer to our ultimate spiritual goal. Each moment of quietude and silence in meditation is thus a doorway to something profoundly divine and eternal.

On this special day, we bow down in reverence of the Gurus in this ancient Himalayan Lineage who have bestowed upon each of us the greatest blessing that is of inner peace and silence through our practice of meditation.

This first World Meditation Day, would you also be celebrating with us? Do share how you celebrate this day with us, along with some beautiful pictures at ahymsin@gmail.com.

We will be very happy to hear from our family members on this special occasion.

In loving service

Dr Divya Gupta

On behalf of AHYMSIN Office

Meditate

Posted on 11 December 2024 by Mandala

Meditate silently and meditate lovingly, where love and silence are one and the same. The secret of love is revealed through meditation in silence. When you quiet the noises of the mind that is silence. When you pacify destructive emotions that is love. The two are one and the same. May your commitment to your spirituality and your commitment to loving become the commitment you make in thoughts, speech and actions toward others through expanding your capacity to love.

Meditation introduces you to the center of consciousness which is the source of light, life, and love. Meditation makes you aware and gives you the direct experience of your finest self that reveals perennial love. Meditation is that path leading beyond the body, senses, breath, conscious mind, and unconscious mind, and then to the center of consciousness. Meditation is this inward journey and a journey without movement. This journey of the self through the self to the Self, reveals the means to “know thy self”. Meditation is a method of self-inquiry, self-understanding, and self-analysis that leads to self-control and self-enlightenment. By way of training the distracted mind, such a purified mind becomes free from all disturbances and obstacles. A one-pointed mind experiences inner peace, tranquillity, and silence leading to the center of consciousness and the source of infinite love, your essential nature.

Meditation may be a withdrawal when you close your eyes, but when you open your eyes from meditation, there is a fountain that gushes forth from you through your eyes. Eyes so satiated as though drinking the amrita—sweet honey of this “ever-so-sweet world.” Find the source of your lovingness within.

May you love your meditations and may your loving nature become your meditations.

With blessings of the Himalayan Lineage,
srb

Guided Meditation (from a series of specialty meditations by Swami Veda Bharati)

Come to the place where you are sitting. Be aware only of the space that your body is occupying from head to toe. Be aware only of this moment in time. Let your awareness turn to the subtler essences of your being. Be alone. Be in solitude. Dwell by the self within the self. Gently scanning the inner recesses of your being come in touch with the subtle essences of your being. Be aware of that field of life energy that occupies the same space as your body. The way magnetism occupies the same space as the lump of iron. As the electric flow occupies the same space as the conducting wire. So your life energy occupies the same space as your body.

Become aware of the flow of the totality of your life energy as a field in which the body is being charged continuously. When you become aware of the suffusion of life energy, your breath flows as though it is flowing through your entire body. As though your entire body is breathing from top to toes and toes to top. Feel as though your breath is flowing through your whole body.

Remaining inwardly tuned, I join my palms before my heart and bow my head;

With all the love of the heart;

With all the power of action in the hand;

With all the thought in the head;

I give you my love and worship the deity who is within you.

God bless you.

Meditation

Posted on 10 December 202410 December 2024 by Mandala

Meditation is a process of purifying the mind and making it one-pointed, inward, and tranquil. Through the method of meditation, the mind will help you to fathom the deeper levels of your being and lead you to the highest state of realization.

As an aspirant, it is always wise to be vigilant and firm in practicing meditation. Do not expect too much right in the beginning. There is no instant method of meditation. Modern students expect immediate results from meditation and this expectation causes them to fantasize, imagine, and hallucinate many things that they think are spiritual experiences. These experiences are actually products of their subconscious minds. As a result, they become frustrated and imbalanced, and either they stop meditating, or they start following strange methods that are harmful to their progress.

Meditation is a technique that has only one way, and that is a scientific way that is very precise and clear. If you learn how to systematically practice meditation, it will not take much time for you to reach the summit, provided you know the whole technique.

First thing is to have a strong desire, a burning desire within. When you have a burning desire to do your meditation, that burning desire leads you. Sankalpa shakti is needed. “Today I will sit in meditation. No one has the power to disturb me! Thought is a product of the mind. I do not belong to thought.”

If you learn to go beyond the jabbering of your mind, and can go to the deeper aspects of your consciousness, then body, breath, and mind will not come in your way.

They come in your way because you have not trained them, because you have not decided to do meditation. Once and for all you should learn to decide, and fix up a time for meditation in the morning and before you go to bed.

You have been taught to see and examine things in the external world. Nobody has taught you to see and find within. There is no other way but the way of meditation. No object of the world has the power to give you what meditation can give you.

Don’t meditate if you are not inclined to meditate. If you want to meditate, you have to form a habit, because habit weaves your character and personality. If you really want to know who you are, you have to take off all the masks, one after the other. You have to be totally naked. You have to be in the fire. If you are prepared to do that, you can learn to tread the path of meditation.

In the external world there is no object that can make you happy, because all objects are subject to change, death, decay, and decomposition. That which is subject to change, and is not everlasting, can never give you happiness. It can give you only momentary joy.

That momentary joy is evidence enough that there is something that is called joy. You are searching in the wrong place. If you receive everlasting joy, and if you have attained everlasting joy, then you’ll be free. It is for that freedom and for that great joy that you live.

When you sit in meditation, I advise you not to worry about seeing lights. You have to learn to make your abode in complete darkness, so that you can see that gentle light. Do not worry if you don’t see any light or have any visions or experiences.

If you have patience and learn to sit still, the center of life and light will start revealing itself to you. Until then, imagining superficial lights is harmful. Learn to be in the darkness waiting for the light to be revealed.

Having no experience in meditation is the right experience. If you systematically follow the meditation method, there is no chance for you to worry and feel that you are not progressing.

Whenever you are meditating, or making effort to meditate, you are doing something. Don’t say and don’t think that you are not reaping the fruits of your actions. It is not possible. It is unscientific that you do something and you don’t get anything. Every action has its reaction.

If you systematically learn to meditate, you will find that the faculty of discrimination, the buddhi, will help you in all walks of life, both within and without.

You have to pay attention to four important points: building determination, learning to pray, learning to meditate according to instructions, and not allowing your mind to be stained by self-created guilt that destroys the inner spiritual potentials.

Learn to be spiritual in your daily life by doing selfless action. Learn to meditate every day, a few minutes. Don’t become a hypocrite, sitting for a long time and hallucinating. Meditate for a few minutes, and enjoy life. Learn to meditate and learn to be here and now. Meditational therapy is the highest.

Meditation is self-effort, a probe into inner life, and will reveal all the secrets to you in time to come.

Editor’s Note:

This is an excerpt from The Essence of Spiritual Life, page 71 -74, written by Swami Rama.

Impressions from the Silence Residential Retreat: Peace, the Fruit of Silence

Posted on 9 December 20247 August 2025 by Mandala

Italian retreat_2024 Fall (15)

The Fall season is one of the most beautiful to be experienced being in direct contact with nature: the days are still warm and the landscapes have intense colours, from yellow to orange to red. The forests offer a unique spectacle: the leaves, slowly, lose their natural colouring and change into a warmer one, as the days get shorter and the temperatures decrease. It is a season that naturally invites to transformation and inner reflection.

For this reason, we have organised a Silence Retreat during this period.

The Retreat took place in November, from the 21^st to the 24^th, in Camaldoli at the Oasi del Divin Maestro, a house of prayer run by nuns, where it was possible to experience a total and complete immersion into the beauty of its Sacred forests. The same place where in May 2025, from the 22^nd till the 25^th, it will take place the International Retreat with Swami Ritavan Bharati, Spiritual Guide of the Himalayan Tradition, on the theme “Mantra and Meditation”.

From the moment we arrived, we were able to experience the enchantment of Fall, which allowed us to get in touch with the five elements: rain, fog and wind welcomed us with a great storm that accompanied us until the middle of the second day, when a warm sun appeared and stayed with us till our departure. The crisp, cheerful, cool but not cold morning air, its veiled skies and multicoloured sunrises (typical of the autumn period) naturally introduced the search for intimacy that Silence requires. Autumn, like Silence, invites us to listen, to withdraw, to stay in quietness. And then, as the day progressed, the light of the sun (which became more and more intense and warm) illuminated and warmed the path, like a reliable guide that illuminates and shows the path to walk.

All around us, everywhere, leaves, leaves and more leaves: intense and warm colours, a true palette of colours. But also a carpet covering, protecting, warming Mother Earth, and the soft sound of our footsteps gently touching them, as if we, too, wanted to take care of Mother Earth.

A poem that overflows, overwhelms and invites the mind to gentleness, to calmness, to peacefulness. An invitation to enjoy the fullness in Silence.

The direct and profound contact with nature and the five elements pacifies and makes oneself realise that everything is perfect as it is: the immersion into Silence took place naturally and gradually. A few days, but deep and intense, accompanied by devotional chanting, joints and glands and hatha yoga practices, deep relaxations, nadi shodhana, meditation, contemplative walking, silent walking in the forest immersed in the beauty of nature, where the senses were activated but at the same time withdrawn into deep contemplation.

And then japa, contemplation, rest, introspection and silence. Nothing else, but silence.

The truly peaceful and enchanting place, completely immersed in the sacredness of the Camaldoli forest, allowed the mind to gradually settle down and to give space to the expansion of the wave of silence. The kind and caring attitude of the nuns was a drop of balsam for our, initially, restless souls; the chants of their morning Lauds reminded us of the true meaning of Union in the diversity. A unique single mindfield, strengthened by the power of Silence.

The followings are some reflections from few participants:

“In Silence I rediscovered what I didn’t know how to define as a child, but now I think I can define: Sacred tremors, through Morning Lauds. The Mother of Silence, The Divine Mother who invites to Silence, who is with us in Silence”.

“For me, Silence is a moment during which all my weaknesses emerge. There is a subtle and profound way of communicating in Silence, which originates in ourselves and expands. I felt the expansion of this space and time, and a great stillness coming. And from this space, often mentioned in the practice, I was able to observe myself and be with myself. It was a time just to be, to be here and to let go of the constant need to do something. It was also a way to reconnect with the Christian religion, that I have put aside for so many years, but whose deep spiritual message guides me and is one with our beloved Masters’ message”.

“I came in a hurry and breathless because this is a very busy moment at work, where I also talk a lot. And all this talking, for me, is often uncomfortable. Coming here was regenerating, in this context even more for me. I need silence, it belongs to me, just as I need solitude. These places are very dear to me. When I can, I come here and walk and then I stop and reconnect with my most profound silence, with my most hidden and authentic part, which is emerging more and more. And that is nice to bring out”.

“Silence is very attractive to me and I feel good in it. And I feel good in the forest. It is home. So both things together, for me, during these days have been very good. So many emotions, so many tears: for a recent loss that needed to be watered, for something I still have to fully understand and, this morning, for the honey with mandarine! It was so good that I was moved!”.

“To slow down and to reconnect with being a child. To rediscover slowness in every movement. I need to slow down. That’s my nature: wishing to find that peace, that slowness, which unfortunately I don’t have every day. Slowing down, being in contact with nature. In these spaces I can reconnect with myself. And in these spaces I allow myself to be that child I have never been. The contemplative walk I did barefoot, in the wet grass, freezing my feet, allowed me to let go of all the tensions”.

Our wish, for all of us, is to be able to bring some seeds of this Silence into our daily lives, sprinkling petals of light and stillness into the minds and hearts of everyone around us.
The real challenge begins now: the real Silence begins now.

“Fill yourself with meditation. Fill yourself with contemplation. Fill yourself with your mantra. Make Silence an opportunity for a dive into the deeper layers of the mind”. Swami Veda Bharati

In loving service,

Ilaria

Editor’s Note:

Ilaria Sarri is one of the center leaders of Himalayan Yoga Institute Italia – Centro Per La Salute Globale in Firenze (Florence), Italy. She is a long term initiate in the Tradition, and a TTP teacher and mentor since several years.

Reflections on the 6th Hungarian Teacher Training Program (TTP)

Posted on 5 December 2024 by Mandala

Hungarian TTP graduation ceremony_September 2024 (11)

On 29 September 2024, we celebrated a truly special moment when the Hungarian community welcomed us as newly graduated teachers of the 6th TTP programme, bringing the number of Hungarian teachers graduated to 129. The sadhakas prepared a heartfelt and memorable event to honor the teachers who guided us and to celebrate our journey together. It was a day filled with joy and gratitude, and I hope the photos we shared capture even a fraction of the elevated mood we experienced.

Over the years, the Hungarian TTP has been evolving, just like its members. As we reached the end of the three-year journey of the 6th TTP, one thing became clear: the Hungarian community has grown mature in embracing and transmitting the teachings of Swami Rama and the great sages of the Himalayas. The program now offers not only a deep theoretical foundation but, most importantly, practical tools that empower us to live these teachings.

As Ashu often reminded us, the training gave each of us a map—a guide to navigate our spiritual journey moving forward. What a rich and detailed map we received! This map was built through the wisdom and dedication of an incredible group of teachers. From Ashutosh Sharma, we learned yoga philosophy in asana practice; from John Sellinger, the Vedic scriptures, pranayama, and yoga nidra; from Stephen Parker (Stoma), subtle body practices, meditation, and philosophical teachings. Anna Mezősi enriched us with yoga and anatomy, József Papp guided us through the Yoga Sutras, and Béla Daubner laid the foundations of meditation.

We were also supported by teachers who played other key roles: Andrea Auner guided the mentor program, Andrea Zsolnai coordinated essential organizational tasks, and Illy Diószegi’s leadership remains a beautiful example of selfless service to the Hungarian Tradition. There are many more truly dedicated members of our spiritual family, whose names I have not mentioned, who supported us as mentors and provided various kinds of service behind the scenes, ensuring everything ran smoothly.

I believe none of us expected to receive so much in terms of teaching, care, and love as we experienced during the program. Some of us faced sudden and profound changes in our lives, others underwent more subtle and gentle transformations, and some endured challenging or even painful moments on this path to enlightenment.

In all cases, we are deeply grateful to have received exactly what we needed rather than what our egos might have desired.

May the Guru’s blessings guide us wherever we are needed.

Om,
Dóra Máriási