Month: April 2025

Mantra is the means. Meditation is the method. – Remember

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The mantra helps one to go beyond this process, creating a new groove in the mind, and the mind then begins to spontaneously flow into the groove created by the mantra. Finally, when the mind becomes concentrated, one-pointed, and inward, it peers into the latent part of the unconscious, and there, sooner or later, it finds a glittering light. The great ones like to keep their eyes partially closed, looking into the innermost light that shines within this frame of life. Mantra is the means. Meditation is the method.

My way of using the mantra is different from yours, however, because I do not want to fool around with the process. In my own practice I sit down and observe my whole being listening to the mantra. I do not remember the mantra or repeat the mantra mentally. Instead, I make my whole being an ear to hear the mantra, and the mantra is coming from everywhere. This will not happen to you immediately in meditation, but when you have attained or accomplished something, it will happen to you. Then, even if you do not want to do your mantra, it is not possible to avoid it. Even if you decide that you do not want to remember the mantra, it will not be possible. Finally, even the mantra does not exist; only the purpose for which you repeat the mantra is there; you are there. The mantra might still be there, but it exists as an experience that overwhelms your whole being, and is not separate from you.

Editor’s Note

This is an excerpt from Art of Joyful Living by Swami Rama, published in 1989, Himalayan Institute India, pp. 169-170

Only Way to Freedom is to Learn to Give – Serve

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Do the following experiment for just a day or two: Use that great power that is your inherent power—the power called love. Learn to express yourself in such a way that you don’t hurt, injure, or harm others. Learn to give. Often you hurt others merely for the sake of your own selfish ego. Yoga science makes the true meaning of love clear when it describes the practice of ahimsa (not harming, hurting, or injuring others). If you learn to practice ahimsa, then you are practicing love in your daily life, and the practice of love does not mean being selfish. How many times a day do you have the desire to give the wealth and bounty you have to others—even to those who are related to you? The ability to give to outsiders develops later on. Ahimsa should be practiced first with those close to you, and when you have learned to enjoy giving, a time will come when you can give without any reservation.

All the great men and women who have lived on this earth have been selfless and desireless; they lived to serve and help others. They knew that the only way to freedom is to learn to give. This is the law of life. So you should continue to do the experiment with yourself, and every time you do, you will find that you are growing and growing. Eventually your growth will lead you to a state and a height in which you are free from all desires that are selfish. The desire to help others, to serve others, to serve the nation and humanity— these are great desires. When all your small desires are swallowed by the great desires, then your life will be like that of a saint, and you will find that you have become entirely different.

A good person really lives. One who is not healthy or helpful for himself cannot be healthy and helpful to others. One who suffers from himself cannot love others, and cannot perform actions that are selfless. These people create a whirlpool for themselves; they cannot cross the mire of delusion that arises in their own mind or go beyond. They cannot rise. But in all the great cultures of the world there have been extraordinary men who can be examples for you. Sometimes they were crucified, killed, rebuked, or stoned, but always it was for the sake of others —never for themselves. Petty men die for themselves and for their own petty desires; great men die because they want to serve humanity. Both die, but there is a difference in their dying and their living.

Editor’s Note

This is an excerpt from Art of Joyful Living by Swami Rama, published in 1989, Himalayan Institute India, pp. 40-41 

Selfless Love

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Love is learning to maintain respect for others. Love is not that spontaneous thing you feel for someone that is merely sensual. That feeling is not love; it dies in only a few days’ time. Love is understanding; it is giving. When you love, you give and give and don’t expect anything in return. And when you learn to give, when you understand that the real law of life is giving, and that the more you give, the more you receive, then you will know that love is giving sincerely, not expecting things from the other person all the time. Your expectations are the mother of all your problems in life: you expect too much from each other; you fantasize about relationships and expect too much of them—and you are then disappointed. Once you realize this, you can adjust your expectations and create harmony in the relationship.

Those who cannot love are actually selfish. But the more selfless you become, the more you will find that you have a kind of freedom that cannot be imagined by your mere mind. In the modern world you learn to live only for yourself, and you learn to value the things that you have or want to acquire for yourself. This is one approach to living. But if you understand that you are meant for others, and if you want to serve others and live for others, that is an entirely different way of living. The first way contracts your personality; the other expands your personality—that is the difference. So far, you’ve formed the habit of being selfish, and you see only your own viewpoint and desires.

All the great people of the different traditions in the world have been selfless. Christ, the Buddha, and Krishna all attained the highest wisdom because they were selfless—but still they remained themselves. Selfishness is not needed; it will get in your way. If you are selfless, your outer individual shell will remain exactly the same, but your inner light will expand to universal consciousness. That individual flame of love will become a conflagration that will burn up the weed of your selfishness. Truth will automatically come to you if you learn how to love.

But don’t approach love in a merely external or superficial way; offering your body to somebody is not love; it is merely lust. I am talking of that kind of love in which you are completely selfless. In such love you want to give, and you feel great joy in giving, and you feel that this is something great for you to do as a human being. You need to learn to give and truly love.

Editor’s Note

This is an excerpt from Art of Joyful Living by Swami Rama, published in 1989, Himalayan Institute India, pp. 138-139

A Heart Expanding Experience with the Sri Lalita Sahasranaam Retreat

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I was ten years old when I wrote my first story.

Ever since that time, I have used writing as a way to understand myself and the world around me. I write stories to heal myself, to inspire myself, and to explore many different ideas. My latest writing project is called The Endless Sea. It’s a historical fiction trilogy; the first two books are finished, but the third was a mystery to me until last summer, when I was inspired to set the final book of my trilogy in 1925 India.

I’m telling you this because the reason I wanted to come to India was to do research for this novel. I would not have come otherwise.

I trust my characters deeply, so when a character said they spent time in an ashram, I knew I also had to spend time in an ashram, in order to write more authentically. There are many ashrams in Rishikesh, let alone India. I knew I wanted an ashram with a focus on meditation – I have practiced for nearly twenty years, but wanted to deepen my personal practice. I quickly found Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama online. With the pictures and the reviews, I looked at the ashram schedule online and found a special retreat – a 25-day Immersion into the Sri Lalita Sahasranaam.

The minute I saw this retreat, my heart told me, Jen, this is the one I want.

I trust my heart completely, but I still said: Really, heart? 25 days? How about seven or ten?

My heart replied: It has to be this one. Do it.

So I obeyed. I came to Rishikesh, to SRSG, to the Sri Lalita, and in one of our very first sessions with Rabindra-ji, he said that it’s by the grace of the Divine Mother that our small group gathered together. I completely agree. Mother’s hand clearly guided me in finding this retreat.

My heart soaked up all the teachings, as we went through each of the thousand names of the Divine Mother in class together. My heart burned and expanded as we completed daily havana, the fire ceremony with offerings to the Mother after each and every name. My heart sighed and relaxed each evening in meditation with the other sadhakas.

Day by day, my heart got bigger. How? Rabindra-ji taught us about the heart cave where the Mother dwells, and I excavated more space for Her there. I learned about my dharma, my potential in life, and how to align it with Her. I learned about karmic debts, and through physical and emotional purification, paid some of those debts, making even more space for Her in my heart cave. Day by day, name by name, offering by offering, I kept excavating that cave and found that my heart kept expanding, kept burning, kept being illuminated by that Divine light that burned from the sacred fire within.

We concluded the retreat with the nine nights of the Navaratri, learning about the nine forms of the Divine Mother. Within these ancient teachings I found a map for life, a map that has been inside my body, within my spine and chakra system all this time. Just imagine that, for a moment. All our outward seeking for this purpose and that fulfilment, success and pleasure and whatever else the mundane world offers, when everything we’ve ever needed for our liberation is within.

One name after another, these Divine forms of the Mother, rising from our root chakra up the spine, taking the challenges of life and rising to meet them with one-pointed awareness gained through meditation and our austerities, gaining self-confidence, opening our hearts, receiving strength to remain on the path despite obstacles and temptations, reaching the point of cutting all attachments even with death and time, all to become one with the brilliant radiance that is the Divine Mother, and thereby a fit instrument in Her hands.

I can scarcely express how I now feel. Reborn. Baptised by the fire of the offerings. Empowered yet humble, energised yet meek, determined to make my life my sadhana, giving back to Her whatever I can in small, soft, invisible ways, taming my ego’s desire for attention. Above all, to become a very loving, nurturing human being who creates as little burden as possible on the world, and who provides, through story and writing, a taste of the Divine Grace that is afforded each of us.

May the Mother’s grace come to you, wherever you are, may you also excavate more space in your heart cave, cleaning and polishing your windows so that Her light can shine through the house of your body. May you spend more time in meditation, in contemplation of her thousand names, and let those names imbue every aspect of your life. And may you find joy in all service given to all living beings, who are also the Divine Mother in her limitless forms. Namaste.

Editor’s Note:

In preparation for the auspicious Navaratri (9-nights) dedicated to the Divine Mother, a 25-Days Immersion into the Shri Lalita Sahasranaam was held at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama Ashram in Rishikesh. It was an immersive study of the Shri lalitha Sahasranaam (1000 names of Mother Divine). We had daily havana (fire offerings) with all 1000 mantras of the Mother from the Shri lalitha Sahasranaam, along with contemplations on the meanings of the 1000 names of the Mother. We also offered recitations of the Shri lalitha Sahasranaam Stotram each day.

The retreat concluded with the Navaratri celebrations that included the akhanda (non-stop) recitation of the Shri lalitha Sahasranaam for all the nine days and nights of the Navaratri, along with daily pujas and classes on the nine forms of the Mother Divine.

Swami Veda’s recitation of the Shri Lalita Sahasranaam:

 

Two Blood Cells

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Once upon a time two blood cells in a person’s body each developed into a genius. One became an inspired mystic and philosopher while one became a cynical scientist. The blood cell that had become a mystic stood by the walls of an artery and announced, “Fellow cells, harken! I must share with you a great vision I have been granted. We are not all apart, each cell having a separate life of its own. There is a great omnipresent being whose life force we share, from whom we are born, in whom we dwell, and into whom we each finally dissolve. Though the individual cell may die, life continues in that great being. That great one is so vast that billions of us all cannot fathom his greatness. None of us can comprehend all his thoughts, knowledge and action. This being is called man.”

The blood cell that had become a scientist scowled and jeered and taunted, challenging the mystic, and saying, “What a visionary you are, talking without proof! Where is this great being you call man? Look around you, fellow cells, do you see any such being? Mr. Mystic, can you show us this man?”

Is there any way the blood cells in that artery can see man? Could they imagine human activities such as writing this book or reading it? But even though each cell has a little life of its own, they all share collectively, by a thread unknown to them, in the life force of the person in whom they are joined. So it is with our individual lives in God.

Editor’s Note

This is an excerpt from God by Pandit Usharbudh Arya, 1979, page 92.

Pandit Usharbudh Arya became Swami Veda Bharati, and the author of the book is sometimes listed as Swami Veda Bharati.

An Experiment To Try

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Do the following experiment for just a day or two: Use that great power that is your inherent power-the power called love. Learn to express yourself in such a way that you don’t hurt, injure, or harm others. Learn to give. Often you hurt others merely for the sake of your own selfish ego. Yoga science makes the true meaning of love clear when it describes the practice of (not harming, hurting, or injuring others). If you learn to practice ahimsa, then you are practicing love in your daily life, and the practice of love does not mean being selfish. How many times a day do you have the desire to give the wealth and bounty you have to others-even to those who are related to you? The ability to give to outsiders develops later on. Ahimsa should be practiced first with those close to you, and when you have learned to enjoy giving, a time will come when you can give without any reservation.

All the great men and women who have lived on this earth have been selfless and desireless; they lived to serve and help others. They knew that the only way to freedom is to learn to give. This is the law of life. So you should continue to do the experiment with yourself, and every time you do, you will find that you are growing and growing. Eventually your growth will lead you to a state and a height in which you are free from all desires that are selfish. The desire to help others, to serve others, to serve the nation and humanity-these are the great desires. When all your small desires are swallowed by the great desires, then your life will be like that of a saint, and you will find that you have become entirely different.

Editor’s note:

This is an extract from The Art of Joyful Living by Swami Rama, page 40.