Author: Divya - Administrator

One doesn’t usually think of yoga as having anything to do with sleep. But, in the Himalayan Tradition of Yoga, an important practice is known as yoga nidra, yoga sleep. Let me tell you a story about yoga nidra.

Swami Rama’s Ashram, Sadhana Mandir, sits along the bank of the River Ganga, a mile or so downstream from the city of Rishikesh. I was there, assisting Dr. Usharbudh Arya (who later took sannyasa — renunciation— and then became known as Swami Veda Bharati) with his work. This was in the 1990s. At that time, the great Himalayan master Swami Rama was still roaming the world and lived in a two-story apartment building on the land, and Dr. Arya lived in a similar building further into the ashram. I spent many of my days and evenings at Dr. Arya’s apartment. Downstairs was the kitchen and place where we ate. Most of the activity occurred upstairs where Dr. Arya had a couple of rooms, one in which he slept and the other where work occurred and where he would meet people who came to visit him.

At that time, I often assisted him on the computer, taking dictation, writing letters for him, organizing his files and other things like that. There was plenty of work and I loved being part of it.

Dr. Arya was a master of yoga nidra. In yoga nidra, the body is completely relaxed, and the brain produces deep delta waves (which can be measured by scientific equipment) — the same brain waves as produced when in deep, dreamless sleep, except the person is completely awake and aware. When the rest of us are in that state of sleep, we are unconscious. But not the one who is in yoga nidra.

Dr. Arya would stay awake very late into the night and into the wee morning hours writing, reading, and other work, while the world slept. Then he’d go into regular sleep for about two hours. He said that that two hours of deep dreamless sleep was required to maintain the body. After that, he’d practice two hours of yoga nidra— just two hours of regular sleep plus two hours of yoga nidra gave him all the rest he needed. He would then rise and do his regular morning meditation at 8:00 a.m., followed by breakfast.

Whenever he might feel tired, Dr. Arya would again practice yoga nidra. Often, I’d come to his apartment in the afternoon and find him “sleeping.” The quotation marks around the word “sleeping” are because he was usually in yoga nidra that time. I knew from experience not to say anything near him that I didn’t want him to hear when he was in that state because he would hear everything. Not that I was keeping any secrets, but I still kept this in mind. He also asked us to not whisper to try to keep him from hearing us because he’d hear the whisper and I imagined he’d wonder what we were whispering about.

Besides being restful, the state of yoga nidra opens the inner gates to creativity and memory and one can learn very quickly. Dr. Arya said that he taught himself English practicing yoga nidra during the nights while he was in Germany at one point in his life. I personally witnessed his amazing use of yoga nidra for learning when, one time, I accompanied him (actually, by then he was known as Swami Veda Bharati) to Italy. He was scheduled to give a talk there the following day. On the evening before his talk, he lay down and went into yoga nidra and one of his students, who spoke both fluent English and Italian, read him an hour long talk in Italian. Swami Veda had written the talk, the disciple had translated it into Italian, and then slowly read it to him. He read it to him only one time. The next morning, Swami Veda stood up and gave the entire talk in Italian from memory. I was astounded.

Swami Veda’s mastery of yoga nidra was profound. One time, when he was in California leading a retreat, we were at the campus of IONS (The International Organization of Noetic Sciences), where the faculty studied the spiritual sciences and wrote books. While there, one of the researchers hooked Swami Veda up to instruments to measure his brain waves. My spiritual brother Stephen Parker (aka Stoma) was there and later related what happened: Once Swami Veda was hooked up, the researcher had a shock. Although Swami Veda was sitting there, looking wide awake and carrying on a conversation, the electronic instruments showed he was having slow delta brain waves—the waves produced in deep dreamless sleep. Swami Veda was literally conversing while in yoga nidra.

Although Swami Veda was a Master of yoga nidra, the state is also available to the rest of us. Like any discipline, if we practice, we can learn and gain in ability. Recordings in Swami Veda’s voice are available that will lead one through the practices that take one to the threshold of the state of yoga nidra and perhaps beyond. If you are interested in learning, contact AHYMSIN for information on how to obtain copies of these recordings.

Editor’s Note:

Randall Krause (Mokshadeva) is a Senior Teacher and Mentor in the Himalayan Yoga Meditation Tradition. He spent years learning closely from Swami Veda Bharati, and time personally attending to Swamiji in India and elsewhere. He has taught the Himalayan Tradition in the USA, Europe, India (at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama), and in Thailand and Taiwan.

Om Gurubhyo Namah

A lesser known fact to me until last year was that our beloved Swami Rama, decades back, has started the service of donating food, grocery, vegetables, clothing etc to the sadhus, sadhakas living at Himalayas to survive the winter season as they don’t get access to these during this time. This service, with so much of love and care is still continued by the ashram with greater efforts in terms of planning and execution of the service. What an endeavour it is!

On 2^nd of Nov 2022, a team of 7 people started in two vans carrying all the needed stuffs from ashram to Gangotri. It was a 3-day trip in total covering 600Kms altogether.

In the scriptures it is said that the sadhakas keep traveling to the source of the river while they keep progressing spiritually as a sign of going to the roots. We all were travelling to the source of mother Ganga to meet those sadhus and sadhakas and offer the noble service started by Swami Rama. Ganga, the mother of all rivers, was flowing along-side the road, in between the mountains, and when eyes were closed, She was flowing inside. The scenic beauty, snow peaks were a visual retreat to one’s eyes which silences the mind without any effort and one is at peace. What a scintillating trip indeed!

We stayed at Harsil on day 1, a town known for apple plantations, 25kms ahead of Gangotri. Though it was freezing cold at night we started around 6am the next day from the hotel with all excitement for the service. Having reached Gangotri around 7.30am, we started unloading items from the two vehicles to bring them to Mauni Baba’s ashram. The ashram is shallow deep in the valley and the vehicles stopped on the road. It took almost 5 hours for 7 of us to unload, categorise and arrange the stuffs, a humongous task.

By noon, Mauni Baba in complete silence started distributing stuffs to sadhus who arrived in. He in-turn had put in tremendous effort in-terms of collecting the requirements from the needy, passing it on to ashram, distributing the same with all check and balances. Terrific efforts were put in by Rabindra Ji, Surendra Ji, Pt. Kushalananda Ji & Pt. Deepak Ji. They had all the highest level of energy to accomplish this toughest task with all smiles. What an inspiration they are!

On our way back, day 2, we stayed that night at Uttarkashi and the next day (day 3) early morning, we visited Kashi Viswanath temple and offered our prayers and started back to ashram.

Thoughts were still lingering around Gangotri, the snow peak mountains that surrounded us, the frequently changing weather, the soothing melody of the passing by river, a group of sadhus & practitioners, smiling, helping each other and receiving all the needed stuffs, the scent of the plants and trees in the surrounding, the prasadam etc… It was a great treat for the 5 senses for lifetime. These evergreen moments captured in the memory will be there till the last breath. Just remembering of this experience now, pulls in all the 5 sense inward takes into a deep meditative state. What an overall lifetime experience and opportunity it was!

I sincerely thank Swami Ritavan Bharati Ji, Rabindra Ji and Divya Ji from the bottom of my heart with all gratitude for this opportunity and also on behalf of my friends who joined the trip in person and on-behalf of those who contributed.

Editor’s Note:

Gopalakrishnan Venkatesan has been associated with the Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama ashram and the Himalayan Tradition for many years as a student. He lovingly offered his services to the ashram and redeveloped the new AHYMSIN and Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama websites through his web development company – SolutionChamps Technologies.

With the auspicious celebrations and austere practices during the 9 days of the Navaratri, we invoked the Grace of the Mother Divine at the ashram [Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama] and sought Her loving guidance and blessings for the beginning of a new chapter in our lives – the Gurukulam.

Keeping up with the traditional way of celebrating the Navaratri, this year too, we continued with the 24-hours non-stop recitation of the Lalita Sahasranaama with both the priests and the residents during the nine days. The priests did the chantings for 12 hours each day, while the residents did the chantings for the remaining 12 hours. The Navaratri days bring forth a new force of energy within all of us in the ashram. One could hear the surroundings vibrate through the chantings of the Lalita Sahasranaama, where one is naturally drawn to immerse oneself within that force-field.

On the 9^th day of the Navaratri, we worshipped 9 little girls (kanya pujan), representing the nine forms of Goddess Durga (Navadurga). They are considered as manifestations of Shakti, to whom the offerings of mantras, food, clothes, and other gifts were made.

          

With the Grace of Gurudeva Swami Rama and our beloved Swami Veda Bharati, and with the blessings of Swami Ritavan Bharati, we feel blessed to share with you that the Swami Rama Dhyana Gurukulam accepted the new batch with five students on the auspicious day of the Vijayadashami (or the Dusshera).

This one-year program for the Gurukulam has been carefully designed and planned to include the teachings of the Himalayan Tradition through Swami Rama, Swami Veda, and attempt has been made to include as many aspects of the ancient traditional Gurukula systems of spiritual education and training as possible.

We began the new session of the Gurukulam with purification through the fire ritual – Virija Homam, and seeking the blessings of Lord Ganesha, the Guru Lineage, and the Divine Mother Saraswati (the Goddess of Wisdom). The blessings of the Mother Saraswati were invoked through the chanting of the Medha Suktam and the Saraswati Suktam.

The students and the faculty walked to the Sadhana Mandir, the seat of Gurudeva and sought the blessings of the Lineage. Together, we meditated in the Meditation Hall and Swami Veda’s Silence Hall.

At SRSG, students were briefly introduced to Swami Veda’s teachings on the ‘Unifying Streams of Religion’ as they paid their obeisance and prayed at all the places of worship in the ashram. The students offered flower garlands, fruits, sweets, and Dakshina (Love-offering) at the Initiation Room, the Buddha temple, the Mother Mary temple, the Adi Sankaracharya temple, the Ma Tara temple, and the Shiva Temple, and at the altars of Mahavira and Ma Saraswati.

The five young Gurukulam students, who have arrived at the ashram and joined the one-year program, brought a new force of energy with them. Our students arrived two days before the program began, and cleaned the entire Gurukulam building. They then proceeded to clean the Knowledge Center (KC) and removed the two layers of carpets from the KC. The carpets were hand-washed twice. It took them about 4-5 hours each time. They began the cleaning at 3pm and they worked non-stop until 8pm, even though they had to wake up at 4am the next morning. It was so heartwarming to see them preparing their classroom space with such enthusiasm and joy.

The program then had already begun with their loving Seva (service) towards the ashram. They are now studying Sanskrit and Vedic Chanting, along with classes on Hatha yoga, meditation, proper sitting and breathing. Their self-study plans for the first month is to study and contemplate on Gurudeva’s writings – the Living with the Himalayan Masters and Inner Dialogue.

The students and teachers adopted the system of eating meals only twice a day and will be having their brunch at 10 am and dinner at 7 pm. They will be cooking their own brunch. Once the food has been prepared and served, the students chant the 15^th chapter of the Bhagavad-gita and the ashram meal prayers.

We all know that the Gurukulam was very dear to our beloved Swami Veda and he laid much emphasis on the continuity of the teachings through long-term Gurukulam studies at the ashram. We feel humbled to be able to continue his vision of the Gurukulam.

We seek the unseen blessings of the Lineage and pray at the feet of the Masters for our self-purification so that this endeavour may be successful. I am sure that the Gurukulam will provide an opportunity for all of us to learn, practice, and live the teachings of the Tradition.

We are grateful to everyone who continues to contribute towards this vision, inlcuding our DMT trustees, AHYMSIN family members, teachers, Ashram sahayakas and all well-wishers. We seek Swami Ritavan’s continued guidance on the path forward.

Om Tasmayi Shri Gurave Namah,

Rabindra

In Scotland the Edinburgh International Festival, the biggest arts festival in the world, is once again alive after a break of two years.  Included in the many shows, plays and concerts was a dance programme called Samsāra.

A single beam of light shines vertically down onto a naked embryo struggling to enter into the shape of a human being. With a second human they dance in strife until they find a music to align with and so discover the source of it all in a great climax of light and sound.  The dancers then defer to the gods they have come to know with puja of an extremely fluid sūryanamaskāra.  It was exciting, poignant, spectacular and well received by the audience.

There is the same sense in Swami Ritavan’s talk on Mantra Sadhana in the recent online course where he speaks of the remembrance of the Guru, Iśvara, the Tradition and the song of Atman, of finding alignment with spiritual practice.

But what is it to sing the song of Atman in the midst of a world turning in samsāra?  How to enquire into the meaning of Swami Ji’s talk?

The approach to an answer is slow, middling or quick. It’s not the idea of a great song from words revolving in the mind, but freedom from all ideas and words that matters. But how can you think about this if you have dispensed with words and thoughts?  First, we will have to climb out of our assumptions: that we can get things right with words and thoughts alone.  Yet it helps to start with words and thoughts. We know that samsāra is the turning of life as prakriti, the world of Nature making and breaking and consisting ultimately of the gunas in a perpetual state of change. They do get a rest from time to time in pralaya.

We know that the gunas make up the world and one’s self in the great material union of being.  As I am made of vritttis, of kleśas and samskāras and vāsanās and antarāyas comprising my karmāśaya so is everybody else. It is a great sea of mind and activity extending through the world. The teaching that OM is the vessel to cross that sea of samsāra makes sense when we see the karmāśaya as the shared body of suspect humanity doing their best and their worst.  In a state of ignorance of the true nature of both Nature and spirit we share our mistaken sense of individuality with every other individual. When we transcend that we are not individual.  Here understanding gets difficult.

Contemplation helps.  So instead of seeing by ideas justified by self, there is a wider sense which does not separate self from others which is how we are in fact.  Seeing the wider context of the unending field of kleśas and karma then the sense of the individual is subsumed in generality – it becomes a philosophical description of the human state.  In coming to know oneself one comes to know how others are too.

The brahmavihāras is such a contemplation: friendliness, care, delight, equanimity regarding those who are happy, careworn, good and bad respectively make a clear and pleasant mind. This attitude is not perturbed by the tossing seas of samsāra.  So, we can go out and about in a state of calm which is an accomplishment of vairāgya.  The mind is steady in itself and the senses at work without excitement.

Swami Ritavan describes this accomplishment at the start of his talk: Breathing deeply, gently and smoothly. Each exhalation releasing, letting go. Each inhalation rejoicing. Every breath guided by the prana stream.  Awakening. And that mind and prana and breath flowing together, a single stream of awareness, a single prayer that the Atman sings through you.

The brahmavihāras are presented in the Yoga Sūtras within the context of meditation methods.  The previous sūtra to it recommends the practice of concentration on a single thing and the following the cultivation of the fineness of breath until it is known by its cause in prāna.  The brahmavihāras are more than an ethical prescription, they prescribe how the meditative mind can maintain itself at all times.

The mind thus stable and freed from desire and aversion is unconstrained within and without and dances and sings and quietly rejoices.

Editor’s Note:

Jim Fraser teaches yoga in Scotland. He has received 500 hour certification through the Himalayan Yoga Tradition – Teacher Training Program (HYT-TTP).