Author: Divya - Administrator

The Meditation Center as a Sacred Site

Posted on by Divya - Administrator

(This is the first article in a series of writings on the 50-Year History of The Meditation Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota USA.)

THE 50-YEAR HISTORY of THE MEDITATION CENTER
in Minneapolis, Minnesota USA

#1 The Meditation Center as a Sacred Site

The Meditation Center (TMC) was founded by Swami Rama and Swami Veda (then Dr. Usharbudh Arya) in 1972. TMC is located at 631 University Avenue, Minneapolis Minnesota 55070, and it was the first center of the Himalayan Yoga Tradition in the Western Hemisphere. There is a rich history of TMC going back over half a century which will take several articles to summarize. This is first article, describing TMC as a Sacred Site.

What is a sacred site? Briefly, it is a place where one can go to experience sacred space. It is a place where time stops, and you can connect to the totality of your being and know that it is the same as the fullness (purna) of the Whole.

“Sacred space is ‘the time of Eternity —the doorway through which the ‘other world’ of gods can contact us and we can contact them. Sacred space is associated with the center of the entire universe, where power and holiness are strongest and where we can go to renew our own strength.”1

“In truth…the great siddhas on this very planet have charged certain areas. You can go there (such as with the Kumbha Melas at the confluence of the rivers), and you can feel the charge.”2

It is interesting to contemplate what factors are involved for a particular site to be considered sacred. It is said that there are certain natural geographical features that can give a location a certain energy. It could be a well, a spring, a fountain or a waterfall, a cave, a rock formation, or a mountain. It could be a great tree or grove of trees. Some people believe that there are energy channels, called ley lines, flowing like nadis from one geographic area to another.3 And there are the ancient sciences Vastu and Feng Sui, whose goal is to find the best placement of buildings relating to the earth, water and sunlight as well as most propitious architectural configurations.

“To meditate by a river,” Swami Veda said, “is especially beneficial,” but even more beneficial are places where there is a confluence (prayag) of rivers, such as at Allahabad, where the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers join; or at the five (panch) pragags (Devprayag, Karnapayag, Nandprayag, Rudraprayag and Vishnuprayag) in the Garhwal Himalayas in Uttarakhand, India. Both Swami Rama and Swami Veda did special practices in Swami Rama’s cave at Gangotri, which is situated at the confluence of the Ganges and Bhagirathi rivers.

When Dr. Arya came to the Twin Cities (Minneapolis & St. Paul) in 1967 he probably did not know that the area was sacred to the Native Americans for centuries. Minnesota means “Land of Sky-tinted Waters” and Minneapolis means “City of Waters,” because of the many lakes in the area and the fact that the Mississippi River (the largest river in North American) flows through the city. Many areas around the Mississippi were (and are still) sacred to the Dakotas. Very close to TMC is Nicollet Island. The first inhabitants of Nicollet Island were Ojibwe and Dakota, who considered it a sacred nexus to the spiritual world. It was known as a birthing place for the Dakota and a site for their vision quest ceremonies. Also, close to TMC was Owamniyomni (St. Anthony Falls)4 and Spirit Island5, and a little southeast are sacred burial mounds in St. Paul. At the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers is Bdote6 (near where Fort Snelling was built), which is, one of most sacred places for Native Americans in Minnesota.

Swami Veda, however, emphasized that a site is made sacred through the concentrated efforts of human beings:

“For uncountable millennia certain places have been dedicated only to prayer, to worship, to meditation. More such places also come into being with each new divine incarnation, each sage, each person who becomes a Master. These are places where there is a particular concentration, a vortex, of an unnamed spiritual energy, a special force that is still palpable, and one sitting there in worship or in silent meditation may even be granted a dream, a vision, a promise, or even a higher initiatory experience. I have felt this touch of a vortex of an actual electric current when taking a dip with my Gurudeva in the Ganga at the Kumbha Mela in Haridwar; while circumambulating the Rameshwaram Temple in South India; at the samadhi (holy mausoleum) of St. Francis of Assisi; in the chapel in Avila, Spain, where St. Teresa was born; while doing special practices in a meditation cave in Gangotri; at Borobudur in Java; in the sage Agastya’s cave in Bali; at a very little known cave in Delhi where, in the 13th century, a Sufi saint performed his chilla, the forty days of intensive prayer while hanging upside down in a water well.”7

When some people enter The Meditation Center, they notice “a certain presence.” In 1979, when Doug Boyd8 set foot in the main hall, he paused at the doorway, took a deep breath, showed a big smile, and said, “Wow!” Then he closed his eyes and went into silence. When Shree Ma and Swami Satyananda Saraswati came to The Meditation Center, she said that she would like to remain there for the night rather than stay at a hotel.

The Meditation Center was a charged site at that time, and it is a charged site now. It was also a charged site over 60 years before the building was purchased in 1972 because it was a convent for the nuns of St. Boniface Church, and they used to pray continually at the altar in the Chapel Area. Behind the altar area were two beautiful stained-glass windows that can still be seen today because they were restored during the Center renovations which began in 2015.

TMC Chapel
TMC Jesus
TMC - Mother Mary
Virgin Mary at TMC

In the dining room the nuns had a picture of the Virgin Mary, and Under Mary’s picture were the words “Tota Pulchra es Maria, et macula originales non est in te!” The Latin translates as “Totally Beautiful is Mary and Original Sin is not in Her.”

Originally, the Meditation Center legal name was Dhyana Mandiram, and a triangular altar with a statue of Vishnu was installed in the chapel area. That was the focal point for the general meditations, and also for the pujas and special practices done by Swami Rama, Swami Veda, Swami Ritavan, Pandit Dabral, Pandit Rajmani, Swami Jnaneswara, Mary Gail & Rolf Sovik (Pandit Upadesh) and many others. The ceiling in the chapel area turned black from a perpetual altar flame and the burning of incense.

About 1980, the leaky roof needed to be replaced. All the original slate tiles were scraped off. There were heaps of broken tiles on the ground, and it took a crew of students to clean them up. All the tiles smelled strongly of incense from decades of worship at the altar. Several students took some slate tiles home and put them near their meditation seats.

The last time that Swami Veda was in the United States was on Guru Purnima, 2012. Because of the need for a large space, the Center community gathered across the street at St. Maron’s Church. Swami Veda gave a talk about the relationship between Gāyatrī and Mahā-mṛtyuñjaya mantras, and afterwards, as everyone was preparing to sit for the Full Moon Meditation, he said:

“People ask why we don’t meditate here in this building [St. Maron’s]. The reason is ‘because the space at The Meditation Center is sacred. ‘Sacred’ means that there is a Guru presence. And our Gurudeva, Swami Rama of the Himalayas, consecrated that place. I am hoping that in eight years’ time, when you celebrate 50 years of The Meditation Center – I will be 88 – that maybe I will come and join you. And you will decide for that space to remain sacred and devoted to the teaching and practicing of meditation for another 50 years after that. And that is for you to decide, to determine, to make possible.”

It is not just TMC, however, which is a sacred site. All of the centers in the Himalayan Yoga Tradition around the world are sacred sites. They have been made sacred by the students who have maintained those centers and the meditations they have done there on the Full Moon Days and throughout the year.9

And for students who are not close to any these centers, Swami Rama’s words were “Remember that you are a walking shrine.”

“There is a space within and space without. At this time, listen to the silence in the space that surrounds you. Listen to the silence in the space that is within you. Let the space within and space without be one and the same space. Let the silence within and silence without be the same one silence. Let your mind be a space of silence with no sentiments arising. No extraneous thoughts only a presence, an awareness of being without qualifications, an awareness of consciousness without conditions and conditioning processes. Be conscious only of the principle of consciousness. Be aware only of the principle of awareness without any special objects to be aware of.”10

Footnotes:

1 Experiencing the World’s Religions by Michael Molloy, p. 36.

2 Kundalini Stilled or Stirred? by Swami Veda, p. 114

3 Ley Lines — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ley_line There is a line of Tibetan Stupas going from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Crestone, Denver and Fort Collins, Colorado. See Twelve Tribe Nations And the Science of Enchanting the Landscape by John Mitchell & Christine Rhone.

4 St. Anthony Falls — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Anthony_Falls

5 Spirit Island — https://editions.lib.umn.edu/openrivers/article/on-the-uncompromising-hand-remembering-spirit-island/

6 Bdote means “where two waters come together” and according to the stories of Bdewakantunwan Dakota, the point where two waters come together is the center of the earth. —  https://www.mnhs.org/fortsnelling/learn/bdote    https://www.tpt.org/sacred-minnesota/video/bdote-is-dakota-sacred-landscape-38456/

7 “What is a Pilgrim?” by Swami Veda Bharati.

8 Doug Boyd was the son of Dr. Elmer & Alyce Green of the Voluntary Controls Program at the Menninger Institute in Topeka, Kansas. All three were with Swami Rama in 1970 when did his extraordinary experiments of psychokinesis, clairvoyance and control of the autonomic nervous system. See Beyond Biofeedback (1977) by the Greens, and Swami (1976) by Doug Boyd.

9 “When two or three are gathered in my name, I am in the midst of them (Matthew 18:12) “When you pray, enter into your closet, and when you shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father will reward you openly.” (Matthew 6:6).

10 From a Meditation at the Rishikesh Silence Retreat (2003) by Swami Veda Bharati.

To the Mother

Posted on by Divya - Administrator
To the mother

I sing my songs by myself.

I find need for no one to sing them for me. My songs are filled with delights; they are never empty or vacant.

They are hymns of the Mother Divine.

She is the beloved Mother of all.

How magnificent, wonderful, and grand Thou art! To see Thy luminous face is the only desire I hold.

What a fate and destiny I have: Thou caresseth me, and I am unable to see Thee.

Surely, most certainly, one day I will see Thy face, in this lifetime, certainly.

How is it I am unable to see the face of my Mother?

I have been crying for ages, and Thou hast been wiping my tears.

The tears that moisten my eyelids make my vision blurred; everything looks hazy here and everywhere.

Give me vision, give me strength, and help me sing my infant song.

Editor’s Note

This article has been taken from the book Love Whispers, pp 67, by Swami Rama, published 2000 by the Himalayan Institute India.

Nine Nights of Shakti (Navaratri) at SRSG

Posted on by Divya - Administrator

इत्युक्ता सा तदा देवी गम्भीरान्तःस्मिता जगौ ।

दुर्गा भगवती भद्रा ययेदं धार्यते जगत् ॥

Ity-ukta-sā-tadā devi Gambhīrāntah-smitā jagau,

Durgā bhagavatī bhadrā yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat

‘Thus addressed, the She, the Divine Mother, who is difficult to reach, who is the blessed one with all blessing, who is the very embodiment of bene, with a deep interior smile, with a smile in her deep interior, singingly said.” – Swami Veda Bharati

Maa Tara

In India the festival of Navaratri is observed twice a year as the sacred nine nights of shakti, of the Divine Mother. As per the Hindu calendar, these days fall in the months of Chaitra and Ashwin māsa (month); the seasons of spring and autumn.

Swami Veda wrote of these days, “These events are charged with special spiritual energy and a very special time to renew your silence and sadhana.”

The worship of the Mother has been at the heart of both spiritual and ritual sadhana. This invocation of divine as a feminine principle is to understand the nature of this manifest universe in all its myriad forms, and to transform our nature from merely instinctual living to an awareness of the higher intellect and purpose of this life.

For spiritual seekers and devotees this is a time for sankalpa, sadhana and satsanga. A time to become antar-mukha, to turn inwards and listen to ‘what She says to you inside’ as Swami Veda explains in the Ity-ukta mantra from Durga Saptashati.

A part of the Markandeya Purana, the Durga Saptashati is composed of 700 verses in Sanskrit. The mantras from this sacred text sing of the glory of Mother Durga, which the ancients believed to be an allegory of the evolution of the soul; about overcoming the negativities and weaknesses of raag-dvesha, attachment, desires, greed, anger and jealousy. The devotees invoke the Goddess to slay the demons Mahishasura, Raktabeej, Chanda-Munda and Shumbh-Nishumbh, the demons are personification of human weaknesses.

At SRSG, Navaratri of the Ashwin māsa was celebrated from 7th to 14th October, 2021.

The nine days of festivity commenced with a puja performed by Pandits and resident Swamis, and heartily joined in by ashram guests and resident families.

Sankalpa

As in the past Navaratri events, the intent set by Swami Veda has been followed. The sankalpa is for spiritual growth and individual-prosperity for all the initiates in the Himalayan Tradition.

A significant part of the puja is kalash-sthāpana, of establishing a copper-pot with sacred waters, gems and herbs; called as the amrita-kalash (pot containing nectar) symbolically holds the devatas, all the rivers, oceans, and even the Vedas in it. The mouth of the kalash represents Lord Vishnu (sustenance principle), the neck is Lord Shiva (principle of dissolution), the base is Lord Brahma (principle of creation) and the centre is the Divine Mother. All the devatas are invoked to support the spiritual endeavours of the devotees.

Navaratri is a solemn time for sadhana, purity and prayers.

At the Mother Taara temple in the ashram, special care was given on purity and prayers. And akhanda japa of the Lalita Sahasranamavali (1000 names of Goddess Lalita) were chanted round the clock for nine days. Goddess Taara is one of the dus-mahavidyas in the Tantric tradition and is worshipped with the Lalita Saharanama.

The energy at the ashram came alive with aarati in the evenings, residents and guests joined in chanting the glory of Mā Ambe, praying for removal of pains and miseries and grant spiritual upliftment for all and the sharing of prasad.

In a traditional way, the nine days of honouring the Mother Divine concluded with Kumari Puja, worshipping nine young girls (below age 10) as navadurga, nine forms of Durga. We remembered Swami Veda used to say to not consider this just as a ritual but to see these young girls as Devi herself.

या देवी सर्वभुतेषु मातृरूपेण संस्थिता ।
नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमो नमः ॥

Yā Devi Sarva-Bhuteśu Mātr-Rūpeña Samsthitā |

Namas-Tasyai Namas-Tasyai Namas-Tasyai Namo Namah ||

To that Devi Who in All Beings is Abiding in the Form of Mother,

Salutations to Her, Salutations to Her, Salutations to Her, Salutations again and again.

The spiritual energy at the ashram can be truly experienced at this sacred time.

Prayers Without Words

Posted on by Divya - Administrator

Why are these verses not prayers?

The words are called prayer, but my Divine Mother, my God, is beyond words.

If I say, “I love you,” I love not.

Where feelings overwhelm the senses, there words cease to be.

Only an awareness remains.

Such awareness is meditation, a prayer without words.

A deep wave of peace comes over me in the knowledge that I, a little ring, am part of the cosmic gold.

This, the ring of love for its gold origin is my love for God.

My spark of awareness knows that it came from the same fire of consciousness from which emanate all the stars of the night.

I grow and glow in the knowledge of that majestic peace; that is my prayer; the prayer of my innermost being radiating in the light of meditation.

Are these verses, then not, a prayer?

Message for Full Moon Meditation – October 20, 2021

Posted on by Divya - Administrator

Dear Friends,

On 20.10.2021 the autumn full moon shines in the sky

Let us all be still together, each in her place, and think of all the people who enrich our lives and often demand that we confront our greatest weaknesses.

It’s getting cold and damp. Winter is looming. Life forces contract and focus inward. A time of reflection could begin with this full moon. The haste of life and our fellow man tempts us to ask for more days from life, because time never seems to be enough. But now through contemplation in dull, dark hours we get the opportunity to give more life to the days. Silent concentration can develop intensity in meditation, which gives dignity to the moment of life and makes time seem insignificant. Now we can come to understand the motto of our school: “Yoga is meditation in action”. By practicing silent meditation from 9 to 10 p.m., meditation becomes life and life begins to become one meditation.

” O man stop and reflect!”

The divine source within me, bless my hands,

that they may be gentle,

that they may hold without becoming shackles,

that they may give without calculation,

that they may have within them the power to comfort and bless.

 

The divine source within me, bless my eyes,

that they may perceive need,

that they do not overlook the inconspicuous,

that they may see through the superficial,

that others may feel at ease under my gaze.

 

The divine source within me, bless my ears,

that they may be able to hear the infinite voice.

that they may be sensitive to the voice of need,

that they do not ignore the uncomfortable,

that they may be closed to noise and gossip.

 

The divine source within me, bless my mouth,

that it may guard what has been entrusted to it,

that nothing may come from it that hurts and destroys,

that it may speak healing words.

 

The divine source in me, bless my heart,

that love may dwell in it,

that it may give warmth and shelter,

that it may share sorrow and joy,

that it may be rich in forgiveness.

(Prayer according to St. Martin, 4th century)

 

I wish you a pleasant, silent hour.

in loving solidarity

Wolfgang

How My Meditation Journey Led Me to Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama

Posted on by Divya - Administrator

About 12 years ago I felt the need to start meditating. I didn’t know why, and I really didn’t know what meditation was, nor had ever heard about it, but I just felt the need to do it. As that need increased in me, opportunities began to emerge. Within a few months, I went to a Buddhist monastery and did my first meditation retreat. Since that time, meditation became my companion and the curiosity and the need to learn more about it also aroused more in me.

During those early years, I continued to go to various centers to study and practice meditation.  At the same time, I started reading and followed a well-known Spanish yoga and meditation teacher, Ramiro Calle. His books encouraged and inspired me to continue practicing. Also thanks to him I started to practice Hatha Yoga as a helpful tool for my meditation practice. As he conveyed his teaching, I understood that it was not just a momentary practice in the day but a lifestyle.  Also in his books he narrated about his trips in India, all the masters he met and interviewed and the sacred places that he visited. These inspired me and aroused my curiosity to travel to India and to discover a little more about Buddhism and Yoga and their roots and origins.

Some years later, I travelled to India for the first time.  I remembered perfectly the difficulties that I encountered almost every time I went to a yoga center. I remembered many places where as soon I entered, they just offered me to do a Yoga Teacher Training Course. At that time, this was not on my mind and I didn’t even think then that I will end up doing it some years later. I only just wanted to know a bit more about yoga and its tradition.

That first trip lasted almost a year and it was very enriching for me on many levels. It turned out to be very self-transformative. I felt the immense benefits of yoga and I fell in love with the country and many of the places I visited. Since then, my life has been a back and forth travelling between Spain and India. Even so, the curiosity to delve deeper into yoga was still there.  But although I had visited many yoga centers, Buddhist monasteries, and visited many places in both Spain and India, I still had the longing to find a place where I can focus my studies and practice because I had the feeling that I was jumping from one place to another but not grounding.  I also started to feel a bit disappointed because I was not finding what I was looking for.

But in my search, different friends recommend me an ashram and I also watched two documentaries that showed the ashram they recommended to me. So, almost three years ago, when I went to India again I decided to visit it. I remember perfectly the first day when I arrived at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama. I felt very welcome. My stay there was an oasis of peace, and I felt I was at home. I felt that the atmosphere throughout the ashram invites introspection. During the two weeks I was there, I attended all the classes, lectures and meditation practices. I felt very connected with this way of approaching yoga. I was really impressed with its resident teachers and all they taught.  I could feel they were not just talking, they were transmitting from their inner wisdom and experience in a very humble, respectful and lovely way. The presence of the Guru was constantly present in them. This was very inspiring for me.

The following year when I returned to India, I went back to SRSG and attended the TTP Level I program. I admit that before joining the TTP, I was a bit insecure of it because I had already done a couple of trainings before and couldn’t find that inner approach on yoga that I was looking for, but something urged me to join it. As soon as I started the training, all my doubts vanished. I was completely impressed and amazed by the teamwork of all the teachers that were involved. They transmitted all their experiences and wisdom in a very selfless, humble and lovely manner and always reminded us of the presence of the Guru lineage.

The TTP is not just a course of 15 days than once it is finished, you return home. It is just the beginning of a process of personal self-observation, introspection, transformation, practice and continued studies. This is what I have been looking for all this time. Despite the distance from India, you are accompanied and guided throughout the process thanks to the assistance of the mentor that is assigned to you. In this way, you never feel alone in your personal journey. In addition, fortunately at this time, the pandemic provided the opportunity of continuing our study online, so we can all continue to feel close together.

I would like to add that I had the experience of staying in the ashram for the first two weeks more or less during the lockdown in India. During that time, I realised of all the efforts, hard work, organization and preparation that are done in the ashram in order for it to function perfectly when we are staying there. Undoubtedly, I am very grateful for having had the opportunity to start my studies at SRSG and am eager to return there as soon as the situation permits and continue with them. Luckily, there is no more need of being jumping from one place to another, I have just found what I was looking for and I have the guidance of the lineage on that sometimes “tricky” path.

Om

Rebeca Pérez García

Gems of Ancient Wisdom by Swami Veda Bharati

Posted on by Divya - Administrator

A New Book Release

The Gems of Ancient Wisdom is a reflection of Swami Veda’s love expressed in simple words that manifest deep wisdom.

Our beloved Swami ji touched the lives of many. His captivating aura effortlessly drew countless numbers of those on the spiritual path who yearned for knowledge, who sought answers and comfort. Many simply wished to be in his luminous presence. “Let every person feel loved” was the message that was consistently demonstrated.

The book is a collection of some of Swami Veda’s talks and writings. In this book, he talks about the human life as a “work-in-progress” and has said, “edit and evaluate your thoughts, feelings, emotions, words, tones, and actions in order to achieve happiness and avoid pain.” He further writes, “create a pleasant and satisfying goal in your life. Every time a painful thought from the past arises in your mind, look to the future you have set for yourself. Is this thought conducive to creating that future? If not, just dwell on the pleasantness of future successes and slowly everything self-destructive and self-deprecatory will vanish.”

Gems of Ancient Wisdom by Swami Veda Bharati

Swami ji’s teachings in the book reach out to seekers of all backgrounds at various levels of spiritual progress. Many of our AHYMSIN global family members have offered their loving and selfless seva in bringing this book together, including our wonderful team of transcribers and editors.

Ms. Rajini Prakash, Ms. Prakriti Bhaskar, Mr. Hans Gerritsen and Mr. John Sellinger worked tirelessly in choosing the right articles and organising them as a sequence, presenting the readers with a wide range of topics relevant to life today. Some of the chapters are a response to seekers’ questions; some are narrated as a story; others are direct guidance from a sage. All are drawn from the experience of eternal Truth by a realized being. Each chapter carries profound messages that engage and inspire the seeker to uncover layers in the journey to the discovery of the Self.

We are immensely grateful to all of them for the beautiful book that has now been published due to their loving efforts. Also, we would like to thank Ms. Nouf Marwaai for writing a profound foreword and Ms. Lea Sellinger for designing the book cover.

The book is now available on Amazon Kindle and via our publications office at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama (SRSG).

Editorial

Posted on by Divya - Administrator

The AHYMSIN Full Moon Illuminations Newsletter this month recognizes the pains and sufferings of recent events as we reflect upon current and on-going global issues with a spiritual salve of healing through the teachings of the Tradition.

Gurudev Swami Rama explains how we must all understand the source of our instincts, urges, emotions, and desires to lead a free, happy, and joyous life. A simple practice I follow each day is to read the ‘Quote of the day’ from the Perpetual Calendar of Swami Rama’s teachings.

Recently, one of the quotes was:
“Be confident and self-reliant and say to yourself, I will do it, I can do it, I have to do it”
yet, the next day seemed to make this more practical for me:
“Increase your capacity slowly and gradually and learn to be patient with yourself.”

The ambrosia of decades of teachings by Gurudev and Swami Veda were a blessing for us. To live life harmoniously is to be free from the internal and external conflicts that fear creates are truly the illumination we need on our path of sadhana. When there is peace in the heart there is peace in the home. Through skillful and selfless living, let your inner-most virtue come forward from that infinite source to purify our personality. Let prayer, meditation, and contemplation be the healing salve for the mind. Let the mind reflect its most natural state of quietude, contentment, and joy.

You are invited to participate and respond. Begin with listening to the guided peace meditation by Swami Veda to gain freedom from the wrinkles of mind and conflicts of heart. With this sattvic mind, read the newsletter articles and contemplate a deeper meaning in your life and relationships. Over the coming days, make time to listen to the full lectures [Swami Veda’s lectures from the seminar on “Peaceful Planet, Heart, and Mind” – Sacred Activism and Meditation as Renunciation] making notes in your journal. Resolve to listen to the meditation twice each week over the next month to experience the depth of peace you may reach.

You may respond by addressing your comments to Divya or Adhikari at ahymsin@ahymsin.org.

Your audio references for the themes of Spiritual Activism and Meditation as Renunciation and the Peace Meditation are as follows:

Guided Peace Meditation by Swami Veda Bharati:

Lecture on ‘Spiritual Activism’ by Swami Veda Bharati:

Lecture on ‘Meditation as Renunciation’ by Swami Veda Bharati:

 

Yours in service of Gurudev,
Swami Ritavan Bharati

Examine your Fears

Posted on by Divya - Administrator

You should learn to examine your fears. Why are you committing the mistake of not examining your fears? Learn to examine your fears. Why think negatively all the time? Do you know what happens, what you are doing to yourself? Fear invites danger, remember this. Don’t put yourself in danger. 

From these four primitive fountains [food, sleep, sex, and self-preservation] arise the streams of emotion. Your emotional problems are related to one of these four fountains, there is no fifth fountain. I am putting before you twenty-five years of experiments and studies. Somehow or other, all your fears, all your emotions are related to these fountains. Those emotions could be converted into creative emotions. Gauranga [Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu] knew how to use emotion and attain a state of ecstasy. All the great men of the world, somehow or other come in touch with this, their emotional power. Wisdom through mind, through thinking, is not complete. Wisdom through emotion can lead you to heights of ecstasy. All the great sages following the path of bhakti or love, came in touch with this power.

So these four fountains, food sleep, sex, and self-preservation, are related to each other closely, very closely. There was an Irish woman, whom I respected very much, I respected her like my mother. She helped me establish the Himalayan Institute in the United States. Sometimes we used to fight with each other. At night she would quietly go to the refrigerator, eat, and in the morning swear that she had not eaten anything. I said, “Mama, it’s not good.” She said, “Son, I Promise I’ve not done anything, I’ve not eaten anything.” She would forget. When habit becomes deep-rooted, then you give up. There is compensation, law of compensation. She was not married, the psychological analysis was this. And in an Irish family, they are very conservative and she used to control all her brothers, their wives, children, and everybody. She was the head of the family. And she did not get married for the sake of the family. Remember this formula, this point, all of the body is in the mind but all of the mind is not in the body. 

We talk of God, we talk of this bible and that bible, we talk of this religion and that. It’s of no use if we do not understand the very basics in our life. Learn to regulate these four fountains, because all your problems come from one of these four. 

You are the victim of your habit patterns. Who are you? You are the sum total of your habits, that’s what you are. And your habits are the result of your repeated actions. Your actions, your deeds, are related to the four fountains. There are no books available for it. There are no books available on practical subjects anywhere, I tell you that. Self-discipline is missing in our educational life. Where are the teachers, the curriculum where children are asked to walk straight, to talk straight, to be gentle and straightforward? There is no such curriculum. These basic points are missing in our daily life. These disciplines should be introduced in the schools, they will be very helpful. Something about food, something about sleep, something about sex, something about self-preservation; these should be taught to our children. It will help them. We have to understand the primitive fountains if we want to lead a free, happy, joyous life

Editor’s Note

This article has been taken from the book Conscious Living, pp 27 – 29, by Swami Rama, published 2005 by the Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust. 

HYT-TTP Fall 2021 Online Meditation Workshop

Posted on by Divya - Administrator

The HYT-TTP team would like to take this occasion to thank you once again for your wonderful participation and great generosity in helping Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama during the pandemic through the HYT-TTP spring 2021 virtual workshop. 

After the great success of the spring virtual workshop, we are very happy to share with all our AHYMSIN family members that we are in the final stages of planning for our HYT-TTP fall 2021 virtual workshop. 

The fall workshop will be held during the month of November. While the spring workshop touched on all ten subject areas of our teacher training, the fall workshop will focus on the primary practice of our tradition – meditation. Different aspects of meditation practice will be emphasized from a practical approach based on sadhana, by a group of teachers who have themselves delved deep in the practice. Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Units (CEU’s) will once again be available for those registering to the workshop. 

All proceeds from the workshop will once again help to support SRSG through this difficult period until the end of this pandemic, when once more all sadhakas from around the globe will again be able to visit our spiritual home in Rishikesh again. 

Registration for the fall virtual workshop will begin in early October. Please watch out for the announcements coming later this month. 

We are looking forward to seeing you again and to be virtually together one more time for this once more very interesting event. 

Please also note that if you had registered for the spring workshop and have not yet received your letter of participation with your Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Units, you will receive it soon via email.