Author: ahymsin

Jaina festival of Paryushana and Forgiveness (Kshamavani)

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It is that time of the year when Jainas celebrate Paryushana. This is the most holy celebration in the Jain calendar. It is the time when Jain laity take on vows of study and fasting with spiritual intensity similar to temporary monasticism.

I belong to the Shvetaambar (meaning white-clad, so nuns and monks dress in white) sect of Jainas and we will celebrate this occasion from 2nd September to 9th September this year, and Ksamavani will be celebrated on 9th. Other sects (Digambar – sky clad monks do not wear clothes and Sthanakvasi – who do not worship idols) may celebrate on different dates in the same month. For more information on Jainism you may wish to check this link http://www.india-religion.net/jainism.html

Swamiji wrote about the festival last year, and I have included this below:

 

Of the many religions indigenous to India, three stand out as the most ancient:

 

Vedic-Hindu,
Buddhism and
Jaina.

Of these the Jaina religion is the epitome of ahimsa, non-violence at all levels. It is the most pious and most ascetic. Its monks are still today masters of ascetic life.

The Jaina religion was established by a succession of twenty-four founding Masters, tirthankaras (fjord-makers) dating back to lost periods of antiquity.

The monks of all three of the above religions wander and then take a period of sojourn at one place during the four months of the monsoons; it is called chaaturmaasya (simply, ‘four months’). This is a time for contemplation, meditation, deep study and other observances. This is also the time when they take new initiates.

For Jaina religion, the start of this period is celebrated with great devotion by the laity. It is called paryusana (lit., fasting). It is eight days of fasting, sacred readings, select recitations, listening to the monks and so forth.

Ninth day is the day of seeking forgiveness. Kshamaapana or kshamaavani (other variations in various state languages of India). It occurs on 4th day of waxing moon in bhadrapada month, approximately August-September.

On this day, everyone (a) grants forgiveness and (b) asks for forgiveness. This includes renunciation of condemnation, judgment of others, irritation, anger.

The word kshamaa is derived from Sanskrit verb root ksham. The verb root means to have capacity, to be capacious. This requires the ability to absorb and dissolve all assaults. The word kshamaa is also one of twenty-one names of earth in the Vedas. It means for one to be as forgiving, as all-absorbing, as the earth that withstands and forgives all our trampling and digging into.

Here I may present an oft-quoted Sanskrit proverb:

kShamaa veerasya bhooShanam
forgiveness is the adornment of the brave.

This concept is re-enforced in other human experiences such as

• in India, holi festival celebrated as the day of forgiving the year’s aggressions and transgressions;
• in Thailand’s culture, every child is taught that anger is bad manners and the adults follow that in daily practical life and interpersonal relations;
• in Africa, in the training and initiation of spiritual guides in traditional African religions it is essential for the guide to conquer anger – as per my personal investigations.
• there are many such examples in world cultures that we all need to emulate.

In the Jaina day of forgiveness, the kshamaapana-sutra is recited in the ancient Prakrit (sister of Sanskrit) language:

khAmemi savve jIvA savve jIvA khamantu me.

mittI me savvabhUesu veraM majjhaM Na keNa vi

I forgive all living beings, may all of them forgive me.
I have friendship with all, enmity with none.

evamahaM AloiyaM nindiyaM grahiyaM duguNchhiyaM sammam
tiviheNaM padikkanto vandAmi jiNaM chauvvIsam ..

Thus, I truly reflect, reproach, censure and abhor (my wrong doings)
I atone threefold (for my acts of mind, speech and body) and pay obeisance to the 24 Jinas (Founding Masters of Jaina Tradition).

This festival should become part of the worldwide human community without restriction of nations and religions.

As a young child I would just do what I was asked and thought it was quite funny to say those unfamiliar words. As an adolescent I would do this shyly, not quite knowing why I was feeling shy to say these words and gesture by bringing the palms together. As a teenager I became sceptical about the whole thing of asking for forgiveness because I felt that even if I did ask for forgiveness it did not stop me from not liking someone, and I still found that people did gossip, and judge, etc. As I grew up it seemed a pointless thing to do because I felt I did not mean it.

I remember how my mother used to be so enthusiastic and go to this festival every year without fail, wearing her best saris and she would come back home in the evening beaming with happiness and on the last day I would go to the celebrations with my sisters and we would say Michchhami Dukkadam to our mum and she would so enthusiastically and lovingly greet us back. At that time I wished I had the same enthusiasm and love and wondered why it was absent in me.

Now, under the influence of Swamiji and his teachings, I have come to understand the power of forgiveness, the need to do this regularly. I have also come to appreciate the festival of Paryushan and the significance of the last day of Kshamaapana. Of course there is a long way to go but it is a good start. Swamiji always asks us to recite 7 Gayatris as pryaschit (atonement) for having hurt someone by thought, word or deed. Also, as I am sure is the case in a lot of other cultures, we would ask for forgiveness from a very ill or dying person if we happen to be there and similarly the person would also reciprocate the sentiment if they can.

To forgive is to forget the harm or misdeed, or hurt that one has suffered and not to have any a grudge or ill will against the perpetrator. When one asks for forgiveness, one also has to have the attitude of not repeating the act for which one has asked for forgiveness and asking is done with humility and sincerity. This is not easy and requires courage, faith and humility. Forgiving and asking for forgiveness can also be done in the form of a silent prayer.

I also feel that meditation is a form of forgiving and asking for forgiveness because one is not accumulating any karma during that time, good or bad.

The Jain community is now spread all over the world and with modern technology, communication and coordination of celebrating festivals has become easier.

In the UK, the community is widespread so different areas have different venues. Some hire halls; in some places, like London and other big cities, they have their own community halls and temples (Jain temples are called Deraasar or Apaasro).

In the mornings for two hours either there is a lecture, or the Kalpa-Sutra (sacred book) is read. It consists of biography of Tirthankar Mahavir, and other Tirthankaras. Mostly the biography of Tirthankar Mahavir is read.

The other sacred book called Tattvartha Sutras written by Archarya Ummaswati is also read if there is someone present who can teach the text.

In the evenings (from 6 to 8 pm) people sit to do Pratikraman (means turning back. It is a form of meditation where one reflects on his spiritual journey and renews his faith) for two hours, except on the last day when it lasts for four hours. Here is a link for more information on this https://sites.google.com/a/dfwjains.org/education/paryushan. Now the Pratikraman is also conducted in English for the benefit of the younger generation who do not understand Gujarati.

After Pratikraman, there is Aarti, Mangal Divo (means auspicious lamp), and on some days folk dancing. Most of the younger generation come to this later event after returning from their jobs.

On the 5th day, there is a special celebration in the evening when normally there is a play celebrating the birth of Tirthankar Mahavir and the 14 auspicious dreams of Mother Trishla before he was born. Most of the ladies will wear Red or Green coloured saris on that day.

People wear their best clothes and gold jewellery to come to these occasions. There is a sense of happiness and goodwill amongst everyone.

On the 7th day, all the tapasvis (people who have been fasting for the whole period on water only) will be honoured and given a gift(s) by community members. A lot of people fast to their capacity, some 1 day, some 3 days, some six days; some may eat only one meal a day during that period, some may give up certain foods. Generally people would refrain from using onions and garlic in their cooking.

On the 8th and last day, there is a 108 diva Aarti. Every day people pledge money to have the honour of holding the Aarti and especially so on the last day. A lot of money is collected which is then used to pay for hiring the halls and other expenses like inviting guests like Aarcharyas from India to give discourses and read sacred texts.

Then everyone will greet each other with this phrase “Michchhami Dukkadam” which is in Prakrit language and means – may all the evil that has been done be fruitless. People do this with palms joined together and head slightly bowed.

 

People will call their elders and loved ones by phone, email, or letter if not present during this festival.

Samvatsari is celebrated in following few days as convenient, mostly over weekends when the whole community eats a meal together. This is either donated by one family, or a few families share the honour, or if no donations are received it would be given by the community. It is considered meritorious to donate in these occasions.

During this festival lots of people volunteer to offer their services.

In ending this article, I join my palms and say michchhammi dukkadam to all.

 

Day of Forgiveness, 2013

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Dear Friendly Souls,

On 18th September is the KSHAMAVANI, day of forgiveness in Jaina religion but the sacred observances have already begun.

At this time, I bow to you and seek forgiveness for any hurt or harm I may have caused to you or to any other soul, directly or indirectly, knowingly or unknowingly.

I offer unconditional apology. Please forgive me with the lovingness and generosity of your heart.

In service of the divinity in you —

Swami Veda Bharati

[Note: Please read Jaina festival of Paryushana and Forgiveness (Kshamavani) at http://ahymsin.org/main/misc/jaina-festival-of-paryushana-and-forgiveness-kshamavani.html.]

How Is Your Silence Going?

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Many of my friends and initiates in all continents write me asking, “Swamiji, how is your silence going?” I am tempted to answer, “How is your talking going?”

Majority have a not five-year but life-long vow of talking. To many, silence is something not so natural. To others, seekers after truth and serenity, silence is the nature from which we have emerged and into which we will dissolve. Through all our externalised sense operations, an inner substratum of a silent stream continues to flow. Some of us have chosen to take a dip into that stream.

Some treat my five year vow as ‘heroic’ or something I have done; perhaps an act of tremendous self-denial! The fact is that I have chosen to indulge into this pleasure.

Yes, my indulgence in this pleasure is going very well but it is not accomplishing all that I had meant to accomplish through it. My hope was to be free of all involvements in matters of the organization and the Ashram. Few leaders have taken over certain areas of these and freed me to a certain extent, but not yet fully, and there are still hundred e-mails a day, all needing attention. So also matters relating to the Ashram. I manage to give thoughts and suggestions in writing but I would rather write instead my Vedic poetry that flows in moments of silent contemplations.

One thing I find unpleasant is anyone talking in my presence. I want total silence but people around me go on chattering and do not always even realize when I am inwardly tuned and my solitude needs to be accepted.

I do speak sometimes (a) giving guided meditation or initiation to a very select rare few and (b) in blessing children under 8. I find hugging a child a great experience in silence and it enriches me and enhances my silence. There is no better lesson in mind’s silence than hugging a child.

Silence has helped conserve the shakti in many ways. It has helped improve the physical strength of this 80 years old body and when I do give the rare initiations and guided meditations, the energy manifests itself. This is because my Guru has taught me how to absorb the shakti and assimilate it and not waste it all the time in talking, chattering and idle pursuits. Instead of ex-pressing, I have chosen to im-press this energy into myself and it grants a subtle joy and serenity.

Swamiji, how did this idea of a five year silence come to you?—people ask. It came when I was perhaps six years old. My father and I had gone for an evening walk on Rajpur Road in Dehradun where I was born. We were going uphill. From the opposite side was walking down our neighbour Pandit Dharmadeva Shastri, a philosophy teacher at the Gurukula where we lived. Later he established one of the most important relief Ashrams for lepers under Gandhiji’s guidance (another inspiration that remained waiting to be realized until KHEL was established).

He, coming downhill, was accompanied by a Swami in saffron robes with a brilliantly shining face. Pandit Dharmadeva knew of my father’s interest in yogis. He introduced us to the Swami and told us that he met him sitting by the roadside. He was a silent swami and had not spoken a word for 25 years while living in the mountains doing sadhana. I cannot remember his name. There is more to this story but here this much suffices. That was my first inspiration. I knew then that it was something to aspire for and that some day I would take a 25 year vow of silence. My ambition remains unfulfilled.

Since then I have met a few silent swamis and each one has left a spark of inspiration, strengthening my ambition. My friend Swami Chandra who has an Ashram at the bank of the river Yamuna in Domet village near the mountains has not spoken a word for over 27 years. I often send our ashram members and visitors to visit his Ashram.

Majority cannot imagine for those who are inwardly attuned, how difficult and unnatural it is to have that attunement interrupted and to fulfil the world’s demands that you become outwardly tuned.

I wish these five years are never over but I know they will end. 138 days are already gone, too fast. When five years pass, it will be painful to speak again, a major effort of will.

I wish for the people of the whole world to learn to enter the profundity that is silence.

Yoga and Science

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The word ‘science’ is derived from Latin verb root ‘scire’, to know. So, all knowledge is ‘science’ and God the Omniscient, from the same verb root, can be translated into modern English as God the All-scientist!!

Up to 1840, what we now call science was a part of philosophy, known as Natural Philosophy. The scientists like Isaac Newton were philosophers seeking answers to the mysteries of the universe. No wonder Newton wrote a 300,000-word commentary on the Bible’s Book of Revelation. Einstein spent his entire life searching for the answers to the question “How does God run the universe?”

Yoga’s twin, Veda, may be translated as science. It is from the verb root ‘vid’, to know. In fact, in many European languages words derived from the cognates of ‘vid’ are used for science, so, the German Wissenschaft and the Dutch Wetenschap, so also ‘wisdom’ and ‘wise’.

In the traditions of India we often speak of the twins Yoga and Veda. Veda, the science, is the intuitive knowledge derived through the buddhi — whether in meditation or empirically in Nyaya-Vaisheshika-Ayurveda type of experimental procedures. In the traditions of India, the intuitive and the empirical are inseparable because one must enter the state of meditation to receive the intuitions that will then be experimentally tested and proved. Thus, without yoga, there is no Veda, no science.

As the yogi passes through all the different layers, from grossest to subtlest, of the constituents of personality s/he unearths the secret of each element of nature at the cosmic level. By seeing the workings of muladhara-chakra, s/he learns the secrets of gravity. [The word ‘gravity’ is derived from ‘gurutva’ as it is referred to in 6th century BC Vaisheshika texts. Where did Newton get it from? – I wonder.]. The yoga-sutra (YS.3.26) says : One obtains the knowledge of cosmology by concentrating on the sun. The sun here is an internal concentration, the cosmic counterpart of which are the external suns. It is thus that the Vedic rishis (? c.3000 BC) sang of a heliocentric solar system and numerous texts composed by the rishis speak in wonderment about ‘uncountable trillion universes’ (ananta-koTi-brahmaaNDa).

It is on this basis that, I, a disciple in yoga, have lectured on SCIENCE IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SPIRITUAL POEM EVER COMPOSED.

That Vedic poetic beauty of science, with all its rhymes and rhythms and cadences can be enjoyed only by a yogi. Yoga grants the ultimate, the Transcendental Joy, Ānanda. Along the way the yogi and the yogi alone enjoys the poetic secrets of the cosmos through his internal scientific revelations.

Much more is to be said on this topic, for example how we are confirming the findings of the ancient yogis in the Meditation Research Institute Laboratory in Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama in Rishikesh to which all are invited. But here we take a short cut and cease.

A Vedic rishi is a scientific poet, a poetic scientist.

Enjoy yoga.

Enjoy science; it is something to enjoy, like poetry.

To truly enjoy science, enjoy yoga.

THE SPIRITUAL FESTIVAL — 2013

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The Spiritual Festival

(June 13th – July 22th)

 

The 40-day Spiritual Festival is a time period when students in the Himalayan Yoga Tradition undertake special spiritual practices to refine their meditation and lifestyles in preparation for Guru Purnima (July 22nd ).

 

Along with Swami Rama and Swami Veda’s audio and video recordings, books and booklets, these recent articles provide a helpful list of things one might undertake during this period to make positive lifestyle changes:

 

SADHANA IN APPLIED SPIRITUALITY

http://ahymsin.org/main/swami-veda-bharati/sadhana-in-applied-spirituality.html

SHIVA SANKALPA SUKTA

http://ahymsin.org/main/practice/practice-for-the-next-five-years-and-the-rest-of-your-life.html
http://ahymsin.org/main/swami-veda-bharati/shiva-sankalpa-sukta.html
http://ahymsin.org/main/swami-veda-bharati/shiva-sankalpa-sukta.html

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GUIDELINES & SUGGESTIONS FOR THE SPIRITUAL FESTIVAL

In reviewing the guidelines and making your own commitments, please keep in mind your own capacity. Success with a series of smaller goals will lead to greater purification and capacity for next year. Assess your own capacity and do not try to push to complete “on time.” Accommodate for your family responsibilities.

 

Self-Examination

• Maintain mindfulness and an attitude of self-examination throughout the day. Observe your thoughts and emotions, asking yourself: “What mistakes did I make today?”
• “Where there was fearful or aggressive thoughts/words/actions ask, “What was it in me that evoked that response and reaction?” and replace such negativity with kindness and compassion.
• What right thing that should have been done have I omitted doing? (Refer to Swami Veda’s Yoga Sutra summary of I:33 on Chitta prasadhana.)
• For any thought critical of anyone, do 11 recitations of Gayatri.

Sadhana Practice
• Recite the Morning & Evening Prayers
• Do Nadi Shodhanam (channel purification) 3 times a day
• Do one to three malas (or more) of your personal mantra daily
• At juncture points in your day (or about every 2 hours), sit for 2 minutes, observing the flow of breath in the nostrils and repeating your personal mantra.
• Make your last formal thought at night the Gurur Brahma prayer and entry into meditative mode as you fall asleep. Your sleep will become a meditation.
• Awaken with a Yoga Nidra practice or simply breath awareness in bed before rising.

Meditation & Mantra Japa
• Resolve to enter into non-self-centered meditation
• Surrender samskaras & random thoughts to the inner Guru
• Om Tat Sat Brahmarpanam Astu – dedicate prayers to the enlightenment and happiness of others.
• If you have been irregular with your meditations, become regular now.
• Increase your meditation time even by five minutes.
• Be punctual in getting to your meditation seat.
• Participate in the World-group Full Moon Meditations. See the dates for 2013 and beyond: http://ahymsin.org/main/practice/full-moon-meditation.html

Hatha Yoga
• Practice of hatha yoga to purify the body, breath and mind.
• Consider undertaking a practice of Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutations) during these 40 days. (Please refer to Chapter Two in Swami Veda’s Philosophy of Hatha Yoga about asana as worship.)

Meals
• If possible do not eat alone. Take a small portion and give it to a companion or co-worker. If it is embarrassing and not socially acceptable, then surrender the first portion to the Great Prana of the Universe.
• Recite Grace.
• Eat 5 mouthfuls less than enough to fill the stomach at each meal.
• Try to not eat solid food after 9:00 p.m. A glass of liquid may be taken at night. Special health and medical situations are exempt. Total fasting is not suggested.
• Try to avoid eating meat or fish during the month although you may serve it to your family.

To further deepen your practice
• On Guru Purnima day you may decide to undertake further observances of self-purification for next year.
• Vow to give special love to your family and reach out to others, beyond your blocks and fears
• Keep a personal journal on ahimsa in your personal life, e.g. an unjustified sharp tone of speech, or in using objects obtained by violence and disregard for the rights of other living beings.
• Be patient, understanding and compassionate with difficult people in your life.
• Conquer anger, laziness and selfish thoughts.
• Consider taking a vow of one month’s celibacy, but only with the happy consent of your spouse.
• Look for ways to reduce your possessions, acquisitions and energy consumption at least percent.
• Dedicate 10 percent of your month’s income plus one dollar to a charity of your choice, in addition to your usual commitments.
• Experiment with a practice of silence or increased japa. See Swami Veda’s writings on silence in Night Birds or in The Song of Silence for more details. This could be through observing your speech in daily life to see if you are using more words than necessary, speaking louder than necessary and if your tone and voice evokes a positive response in the listener. You could undertake to practice a half day of silence or a longer period.
• Undertake a weekly, biweekly or monthly practice of a half day of silence or a longer period.
• Take a personal retreat – at SRSG if possible!
• Ask guidance to undertake a purash-charana – an expanded japa practice with a Special Mantra. Please read Swami Veda’s writings on SPECIAL MANTRAS: https://www.ahymsin.org/main/index.php/Swami-Veda-Bharati/special-mantra.html

 

During the Day
• Be mindful of your breath throughout the day.
• Keep your forehead relaxed at all times.
• Be mindful of keeping your spine straight.
• Use the tongue lock with japa and maybe the root lock. (Note if there is any difference in your meditation.)
• Get up and go to bed at regular times and get adequate sleep. (Note the effects this has the the way you feel during the next day.
• Resolve to get out into nature and walk with your mantra on a regular basis.

Read
• Swami Rama’s Art of Joyful Living. Assess your progress on the paths shown in the book.
• Weak Mind/Strong Mind: https://www.ahymsin.org/main/index.php/Swami-Veda-Bharati/mind-field.html
• Marks of Spiritual Progress: https://www.ahymsin.org/main/index.php/Swami¬-Veda-Bharati/marks-of-spiritual-progress.html Make your own list of the “marks of progress.”
Create an ongoing spiritual journal, and enter the signs of your personal progress.
• Questions for Self-Examination: https://www.ahymsin.org/main/index.php/Ityukta-2010/questions-fo-self-examination.html
• Yoga Sutras: Chapter I, Verse 33. (Definition of Chitta Prasadhana) Also Chapter 17, Verses 14 to16.
• Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 2, Verses 54 to 72. (Definition of Sthita-prajna)
• Bhagavad Gita: Chapters 14, 17 and 18. (Definitions of the three gunas: sattva, rajas, tamas)
• Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 13, Verses 1 to 12 (Basic principles of Sankhya philosophy)

 

On Guru Purnima day you may decide to undertake further observances of self-purification for next year.

 

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SWAMI VEDA’S COUNSEL
ON THE
SPIRITUAL FESTIVAL
FROM
PREVIOUS YEARS

Dear Pilgrim in Yoga,

We are all here for a purpose; it is an on-going spiritual process. We are all here for spiritual liberation and serving that mission. For that purpose we are purifying ourselves of our pride and ego.

For these reasons we train ourselves in constant self-observation: to see oneself, to hear oneself to develop this internal dialogue. I have used one criterion for all my thoughts, my words, and my actions: “Is this conducive to spiritual liberation.”

You are still learning to walk on this path and have not yet fully learned to observe the effects of your attitudes and actions on others. For this reason, please allow me to offer you some of the ways I have used in my own life to guide my attitudes and responses. They have been my experiments in life and pass them on for you to experiment with.

For over twenty years we have celebrated a festival of spiritual purification. Its core is in the forty days of intense sadhana specific to a given year. But actually it is the theme for the whole year.

 

The theme for this year (2006) is:
Prayash-chitta and Chitta-prasadana:
through Self-Examination & Meditation

 

• Keep some time for silence and for introspection
• Carry a state of mindfulness & talk to yourself with internal dialogue. (See my writings on internal dialogue).
• I encourage you to again listen to the “Marks of Spiritual Progress,” the lectures given in Rishikesh 2002 and make your own chart or list of where you are in relation to this particular mark of spiritual progress, and if you do not fit there then ask, “What should I do to improve myself?”
• Use my points in applying prayash-chitta (self-examination, confession and atonement.)
• Study Swami Rama’s (1) Art of Joyful Living and (2) Conscious Living: A Guidebook for Spiritual Transformation, available from your own Center.

May you not encounter boulders, only little pebbles, on your pilgrim path.

You are still learning to walk on this path and have not yet fully learned to observe the effects of your attitudes and actions on others. For this reason, please allow me to offer you some of the ways I have used in my own life to guide my attitudes and responses. They have been my experiments in life and pass them on for you to experiment with.

1. Say the unpleasant in a pleasant way

2. Make excuses for the other party

3. Reduce negatives by one half before forming negative reactions

4. Reconcile the opposites

5. Learn to get along with those one was previously unable to trust

6. Make no decisions without wide consultation

7. Reflect and recognize one’s own needs, conflicts, insecurities, failings, without projecting them on others; and learning to resolve them through:

a. internal dialogue
b. internal confession
c. outward confession
d. apology

8. If there is suspicion that I might have been wrong or right presume to be wrong and acknowledge that to others, letting them make the choice, and then accepting their decision with out denying or justifying from your personal interests. Trust in their sense of forgiveness.

9. Willingness to surrender one-half of one’s ground, thereby finding that middle ground between one’s view and someone else’s view.

10. If you have a problem of conflict with someone, solve the problem s/he has with you.

11. Promote a spirit of prayash-chitta, the spirit of apology. It is a self-purification as confession, atonement and apology. It is related to the Pali word pratimoka, release, related to moksha.

12. Remember, you are not becoming angry because of “THIS incident or situation.” You were angry because of your past mental habit, and the habit has deepened to the point of wanting to release it and get it out. So now, knowing this, find other ways to ease the mind by such ways as:

a. learning to apologize for the other person
b. what might be the limitation in the capacity of the other person that I was not sensitive to and overlooked and chose not to make an adjustment in my expectations.
c. what pains has the other person suffered, not as judgment, but by way of compassion
d. figure out what excuses you can provide for that person’s behavior

13. Carry authority without carrying “authority.” Lead without seeming to be leading. Bring others along, including them, informing them, sharing with them. Ask for their ideas and opinions and thereby reaching a consensus – a collective decision. In letting people listen and accept you and your ideas, you will develop the art of bringing people along with you, and that is leadership.

14. We all have ability, and we all have the urge to serve, but when we feel the need to take on areas of responsibility that are not “ours,” ask yourself whether you first spoke with that person or persons, and how did you communicate that failing? Remember, you must first learn to hold back the urge to blame. Then it will be said pleasantly.

15. REMEMBER: Chitta-prasadana – Pleasant-Mindedness (YS I:33) – at all times.

16. Over the next 40 days see if you can make a 10% reduction in:

a) hostility,
b) fear,
c) anger toward others
d) your consumption of goods and energies

Practice this anger sublimation and humility, for it affects the entire mission. Take courage to face your angers reflected in that harsh tone, insulting comment or confronting body language that evoke a negative response in the other person.

17. Ask yourself what caused the person to react in that way. What are the pains of that person over the last 5 or 10 years that has caused such an accumulation of suffering that one reacts in such a manner when “triggered.”

18. Then as a kalyana mitra (noble friend), speak openly and listen back to oneself.

19. Remember: no instant reaction without full contemplation on the points given above.

If you love “me” then love my “family.” When you want to get angry, think of giving that anger to me first.

Be an “insider” for that is our work; that is what we are here for. Our internal work on the points above are the teaching, and that is the path we are on as pilgrims in yoga. This is the true festival of spiritual peace.

Swami Veda Bharati

 

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Dear Spiritual Seekers,

 

My job is to help people grow, and I will help them grow in whatever way I can.

Everyone should consider himself or herself in spiritual training. Spiritual training requires inner examination of oneself at all times. This is the spiritual part of daily life, and I would like people to do some self-examination on that issue. The second part is communication which has nothing to do with communication skills. It has to do with spiritual growth – contemplation and confession.

Spiritual training requires inner examination of oneself at all times. That’s why I gave the series of lectures, Marks of Spiritual Progress, and I’ve asked people to listen to those and develop those in the following ways:

1. Make charts and check: “Where I am in relation to this particular mark of spiritual progress?” “And if I don’t fit there, then what should I do to improve myself?” “Why is it that somebody is not listening to me?” “Why is it I am not getting somebody’s cooperation?” “Why is it that somebody is insulting to me?” “Why is it somebody is harsh to me?”

2. As a morning and evening sandhya prayer and contemplation, one would ask oneself two things: “What transgression did I commit?” and “What right thing, that I should have done, have I omitted?”

3. The morning and evening prayers and meditations should be times when we do self-examination – at night when we go to sleep and in the morning as part of a morning contemplation. “Who was it who was rude to me today?” “What in me evoked that rudeness?” Not “Who was rude to me?” That is only a cue. It is only a cue for you to get to the next point: “What was it in me that evoked that rudeness?” “Okay, let me cut that out.”

4. The angers that you have against each other here, these angers are those that you have brought with you. They are not about the persons with whom you are today angry because one year ago when you were not here, you were angry with someone else. Whatever your life’s experiences are that have made you angry or that have made you reserved or that have made you self-defensive or that have made you shy so that you cannot express yourself and then you burn inside – then you resent and then you blow up – that you have brought from outside, you are here for purification of that.

You are here for purification. Purification happens only by constant purging, self-examination. Acceptance that, “Yes, I have not quite, I have not been quite up to the ideal of self-surrender and love and forgiveness. Okay then, I need to do this to change myself.” Acceptance that, “Yes, there is a flaw in me. Yes, I am carrying that past anger, that I am carrying that past frustration, that I am carrying that past insecurity” or whatever it is, “and I need to find a way to come out of it and have the courage and the strength to expand my love and to bend down and to say, ‘Yes, I am sorry.’” Not ‘I’m sorry if I hurt you.’ That is not acceptable. ‘I am sorry I did hurt you.’ And sometimes it is necessary to assuage somebody’s hurt if you are sincere within you.

Prayas-chitta, mental purification. That is atonement in Christianity, making up for ones failures on a spiritual level.

Self-purification as confession and apology.

There are two kinds of cultures in the world: “apology cultures” and “non-apology cultures.” I even found in some cultures, in some countries that if somebody apologizes, the other person thinks that now he is the winner. So nobody wants to apologize because apologizing makes him feel small. That is not the tradition in the East. Everybody apologizes. Until I see that, I will not think that you have purified.

The other part is confession. I am not seeing that here. I am not seeing the spirit of prayas-chitta. I am not seeing the spirit of apology. I am not seeing the spirit of pratimoka, confession, private or public. The Pali word for confession is pratimoka (“release”), related to moksha. Pratimoksha is a specific release. Unlike the Christian confession, Buddhist confession is public confession. In the monastery the monk stands up on a particular day, on the Upasada day and says – everybody confesses – to the sangha, to the community. And if the community, a particular sangha, has collectively transgressed they find another sangha to which they go to make a public confession.

 

That was the Gandhian way when the nation would not listen to him. He said, “I obviously am not pure enough that you would listen to me. I will fast, and I’ll purify myself.”

 

I’m speaking very candidly, very frankly, because you are my children and my friends, and I know that you have love for me but you don’t have love for each other. I have composed a prayer. I’ll recite it, we’ll recite it. I’ll read it to you first in English, and then I’ll have you recite it in Sanskrit. You can do it in English. You can do it in Sanskrit.

 

Mother Gayatri! O Gurudeva!
Grant me purity of buddhi.
May my mind become immaculate, quiet, peaceful, clear and pleasant.
May all my emotions be purified.
Grant me the spiritual strength to ask for forgiveness with a sentiment of amity.
Aum! That alone is real.
May all this endeavor be accepted as my surrender and offering to Brahman.

 

Doing Gayatri japa means “God grant me the purification of buddhi.”

Grant that my buddhi – Dhiyo yo nah prachodayāt – be impelled, inspired, awakened and enlightened
Because it is the buddhi dosha that is causing the problems.

1. Keep some time for silence, and for introspection.
2. Talk to yourself using internal dialogue.
3. Listen to my lectures Marks of Spiritual Progress
4. If advised to do so by a mantra initiator in our tradition, use the Gayatri japa during the 40 days.

Until you feel that the change has occurred after each mala of Gayatri, get yourself a book and write this prayer down three times; then go to the next mala so you know the purpose of that japa. “Grant me the spiritual strength to ask for forgiveness.” Not spiritual strength to forgive – spiritual strength to ask for forgiveness. Understand that.

Everybody is innocent. Nobody intentionally does any harm to others, but they are helpless by the samskaras, by the imprints, by the angers, by the self-deficiencies, insecurities that they bring.

And this is not a psychiatrist’s office. What we are doing is not written in any book on conflict resolution, okay, because this is resolution of inner conflicts not interpersonal conflicts. It is the resolution of inner conflicts not of interpersonal conflicts.

Everybody please unscrupulously dig out and face your own transgressions, and after each mala of Gayatri ask for strength, spiritual strength to ask for forgiveness.

I’ll release you from that when I see that a real internal change has happened. This is the true festival of spiritual peace.

Love and Blessings in the service of the Guru,

Swami Veda Bharati

 

*****************************************************************************

 

SPIRITUAL FESTIVAL 2009
STABILIZING THE SPIRITUAL MINDFIELD

 

Here is a short list of endeavours which may take a considerable amount of time, it would seem. But actually, these are simple services one can perform easily with a little dedication, a little feeling of giving importance to them.

You do so much for yourself — now increase what you do for others. This is your action plan, a business plan for living a full life.

 

***********************

ONE

 

Let your selfless service increase, whether by one percent or five percent or whatever. Increase the time and energy you spend in SELFLESS service of others. That is the first concrete action you can begin with.

 

***********************

TWO

 

Refine your personal practices and include:

a) Concentrating more on exhalations. This will help you achieve 2:1 ratio of breathing without physical effort. Send to SVB brief feedback on having achieved this feat through just this concentration and how long it took.

b) Repeat the homework that was given for the period July 2005 to February 2007, that is, (1) Symptoms of weak and strong mind and how to develop a strong mind, and (2) “Marks of Spiritual Progress” homework, until perfected.

c) Keep your regular meditation time. In addition to that, you may sit at other times in the day.

Do not forget to take 2 minutes, 3 minute breaks, for breath-awareness many, many times in the day.

 

***********************

THREE

 

Prepare a study and practice plan for yourself. This month I will read this, next month I will read that, the following month, I will read that. Plan for the last breath of your life, what will be the state of your mind at that moment, and thereby what you wish to be in your next life, what kind of life would you like to have next time. Plan for that elevation of yourself and thus, preparing a study plan and spiritual plans.

 

***********************

FOUR

 

Popularize the full moon meditations so that many more people can benefit from them. Let them know of the benefit and availability.

 

***********************

FIVE

 

Plan for a silence retreat of 3 days, 7 days, 10 days. If you are courageous, 40 days, and if you are really, really more courageous, 90 days. Come to SRSG to refresh your heart, mind, and soul. Build it into your year’s plan.

 

Do small retreats in your regions. We have established a system of regional AHYMSINs. You do not have to have lectures all the time. Five, six, seven or any number of you can join together and go to some place of silence; you can even do it in a home if you have room for five or seven to lie down in your basement. Set a day’s program modelled on the ashram: hatha at such time; breakfast at such time; a period of silence and meditation; and listening to the practices on mp3 or CDs.

 

Plan from now when you will come next for a teachers’ training retreat.

 

***********************

SIX

 

If you are a teacher, prepare your students to become linked to the Guru lineage by way of initiation.

 

Prepare your students—when they take a hatha class, what is the next step?

o Give them the book Philosophy of Hatha Yoga;
o Give them our booklets on meditation and mantra.
o Have a study plan for them.

 

The number of traveling teachers is going to increase now. Do facilitate their coming to your area.

 

You can also help many people spiritually, and this ashram in extending its teaching as well as financially, by forming groups to come to the ashram on a regular basis.

Swami Veda Bharati

 

How to Bring Spirituality into Family Life

Posted on by ahymsin

Bring your mind to your asana where you are sitting.
Turn inwards.
Relax your forehead.
Feel the flow and the touch of your breath in your nostrils, with your personal mantra.
Breathing slowly, gently, smoothly.
No break in your breathing cycle, no break in your mantra cycle.
Observe how the mind, mantra and breath are flowing together
as a single stream.
Without breaking the stream of consciousness gently open your eyes.
May God and Guru bless us all.

I plan to keep it short. I will not cover everything that I am bubbling with. You can do your own research, and more than research, your own contemplations.

There are two books by Swami Rama on the subject that are available: Love and Family Life and Let the Bud of Life Bloom: A Guide to Raising Healthy and Happy Children.

Whatever you do in life,
Whatever actions you undertake,
Whatever gestures you make,
Whatever words you speak,
Whatever glances you throw,
Whatever thoughts you think,
Whatever emotions you feel,
Establish each one’s connection with the cosmic scheme.
That is called – sacrament; living sacredly. That alone is a lifelong sadhana.

This universe is an ocean, a multilayer ocean of energies. Some energies the scientists deal with. Some energies the spiritual seekers experience and find. And many mysteries in the scientific field cannot be resolved without understanding these intangible energies called ‘atindriya’ – the ones beyond senses.

One universal energy is ‘samashti chitta’ – the universal mind.

Just one of many in the multilayer ocean of energies called the universe -as there are streams and currents, waves, ripples, and bubbles in the ocean at each layer, at each level, so in this universal mind there are streams and currents.
The yogis experience these streams, currents, waves, ripples, bubbles.

When we are in harmony with these energies we have a happy, peaceful and fulfilled life. So learn to connect every event of your individual mind. Learn to connect every event of your individual mind with this universal mind, with this ‘samashti chitta’. Only then you will understand the mysteries of life and the purpose of life.

These currents, these streams, in this energy field of the universe are the pathways that our times take. Our past, present, and future. These streams and energies cross each other, they merge with each other, they separate from each other. The mergers of certain streams occur because of the special karmic forces inherent in them.

We are participants in this universal energy,
By our actions.
By our actions called thoughts.
By our actions called? Thoughts.
By our actions called words.
By our actions called movement.

We give certain impelling direction to these currents, these streams, in the universal mind energy field. Please understand this principle if you want the meaning of life. These are called karmic forces. Where these energies impelled by these karmic forces meet each other, they are the confluences of many lives, confluences of currents. What are those confluences in this energy, confluences of currents called? They are called the family. Now understand this. What family is. The currents that have met, also separate, and go their way, with new karmic forces. So what you make of the family is up to you.

Where is the family made? What is the core? The central point?

It is the consciousness of the fetus. That is where the mother energy, the father energy, and the energy of this soul are meeting together. And yet we pay no attention to the training of the fetus.

Now please understand that these confluences, called the fetuses, are the ones where these energies meet.

Now, from here I can take many directions to this argument. To make life sacred is to live understanding that this entire universe is what we call a ‘yagna’. The word ‘yoga’ has become very popular, but actually they are twin words that have been used in Indian spirituality – ‘yoga’ and ‘yagna’ – The inner union and the sacraments of life.

The essence of ‘yagna” is ‘na mama’ – not mine. That everything I am doing is an offering in a sacred fire. When I am feeding a child I am performing a yagna. I am putting an offering into that prana fire. When I am eating, also I am performing the same yagna. Without understanding the word yagna, you will not understand the applied spirituality.

So, that is where all the sacraments come from. Understanding the karmic principles and living with the mental attitude of ‘namaḥ’, not mine.

There is a tradition in a few, very rare, families in India, where one child of the family is given to an ashram or a temple and is raised to take care of the spiritual needs of the people. There are still some families that do that. Rare ones. Less in North India. More in the East and in the South. Or if an astrologer predicts that a child will not live long, they give the child to a Guru. Because if you live for others you will live. It’s a nice trick on fate, and on karmic processes.

Or someone goes to Swami Rama and says, my astrologer has predicted that tomorrow I am going to die. He said no, tomorrow you will take vows of Sannyasa. Called him over and gave him the vows of Sannyasa.

What is the mystery behind these acts of yagna? These acts of sacraments? These acts of sacrifice? The word ‘sacrifice’ means making sacred.

Then there is the possessive way of living. The other way, as I said, is the way of possessive life. ‘My’ son. ‘My’ daughter. ‘My’ house. ‘My’ family. ‘My’ future.

You want to understand these words, understand how these cosmic currents that I have described are flowing and how their confluences have occurred.

To appreciate and recognize these confluences special rituals have been developed, in all parts of the world. Nowadays, in the modern life, there is a negligent attitude towards ritual. “Oh, that’s only a ritual.” Because you perform your rituals only with the body. Ritual is when you pray with the whole body. With all the limbs of your body. When you pray with all the senses. There is something of smell and something of sight. Something blooming, something blazing, something flowing and a sense that in the moment of that ritual, in the moment of that sacrament, in that yagna moment, these energies are more alive and awake and you take an immersion into them.

I find in the modern world for example, even before people start planning for a child – the planning they should do, they don’t do.

The spiritual planning. What is the spiritual place of this child in this confluence of energies called the family? Nobody thinks about that. When they start planning, they think of the name. They think of the room. They think of the crib or the cradle. In the traditions of India, nobody ever, well, nowadays I don’t know what the traditions of India are, because so much of India right in front of my eyes, has vanished in the last 50 years, in the last 80 years. It’s no longer there.

But I still speak of India because it is from the essences of the tradition that I draw my inspiration and my information. In that tradition nobody thinks of giving a name to a child until quite a little time after the birth. Because the consciousness of the fetus at present is in a boat. In a boat, in a stream between two shores. Those who are standing on this shore, they are only thinking of someone arriving. They are not thinking of someone who has departed from the other shore. Where has he or she departed from? Nobody thinks of that.

This consciousness of a fetus is half linked to the past life and half to what is to come. In fact, that fetus is hardly aware of what is to come.

He is aware of the loud sounds that the mother hears. He is aware of the emotions that the mother is feeling. And feels those emotions because his body and mind and prana are so intricately and deeply linked with the mother’s body, mind and prana.With that umbilical cord, you’re not only feeding or nourishing the body of the child, you are also sending your prana there;

By every thought
By every thought
By every emotion
By every emotion
By every movement you make,
you are educating that fetus.

But it’s not your child yet. The consciousness, this unit of consciousness is still in a boat, mid stream, crossing over.

Even when the child has come out of the birth cannel, he or she is not yet yours. The samskaras of the past are still very strong.

Don’t start claiming them too early. So nobody in India ever buys, well, no again, I am talking of old India, I don’t know what’s happening nowadays. Nobody in India ever buys clothes for a child until after he or she is born.
Because we know that we cannot yet claim the child. That soul is not ours yet. These processes have stations; these stations are called sacraments, samskaras. These are performed in many cultures.

I am so deeply impressed by the culture of spiritual Africa, for example, to which hardly anybody pays attention. There are a few books now about the way in which the children are welcomed into the world and the way in which they are planned to be brought into the world.

But I want to tell you something. You will not like it. What you read in English and French is diluted soup. Diluted juice. 10 parts real juice and 90 parts water. To learn about spirituality you need to go to the other languages. Korean poetry cannot be translated into English. Chinese poetry cannot be translated into English. Sanskrit poetry cannot be translated into English; people read it in English. That is why the mantra recitations in the rituals here – they cannot be translated.

So you have these stations, before you plan for, when you plan for a child, what do you plan spiritually? I was a householder, married man, Mrs. Arya is here. To welcome a son in my life, my Master gave me a special Shri Vidya practice which I had to do for 40 days in the attic of my house in USA. That is called planning for a child. You don’t do any planning. My mother did three years of Gayatri. Good for her, because then I never had to go to school. I was teaching from the Vedas at the age of nine. And my mother did all the Gayatri and it was done. So the preparations you make before birth, before conception, the sacraments you have during pregnancy.

You may not follow nowadays all of the attitudes from the times that these sacraments were developed. But you take the essence and learn of the sacraments of different cultures. Do not reject them as mere rituals because as I have explained, ritual means praying with all your senses. Ritual means praying with your whole body. Some recitation with the mouth. Some movement of the hand. How your eyes are fixed, how you are seated.

I have seen this sense of the sacred in many cultures. I watch the facial expression of the people when they receive Prasad among the Hindus. I’ve seen the same expression in the Catholics and the Greek Orthodox when they are receiving the sacrament. I’ve seen the same expression of face. I watch. And I say, the spirit is present. At that moment, the spirit, the Holy Spirit descends into you.

The Jewish rituals; the Yajno paveeta the sacred thread ceremony of India; the Bar Mitzva, the day a child is introduced to the Scriptures. Dr. Shirin Venkat, please tell about ‘Navjot’ in the Zoroastrian community.

Dr. Shirin: “Navjot is done for both girls and boys. And it’s usually done at the same age as the ‘Upanayana.’ It is an induction into the religious tradition of Zarathustra. It’s also lighting a new lamp within you to bring you into the Zarathustrian faith, and we are taught the prayers. And we are given ‘gomutra’ to purify ourselves. We are supposed to prepare a few days before, when we receive our Navjot. And it is done just like Yagna, in front of a fire and offering sandalwood and sour curd to the fire.”

So Navjot is like the Bar Mitzva, like the sacred thread ceremony, ntroducing the child to the sacred responsibility, to open the scriptures.

Now, for a community of meditators who are above the idea of confinement to specific religions, you can learn something from each culture.

You can learn from Bar Mitzva.
You can learn from Navjot.
You can learn from the sacred thread ceremony.
You can learn from the purificatory ordeals that a child has to go through to be made worthy of receiving the sacred lore in the cultures of Africa. Or of New Zealand.

But you cannot do them as rituals. They must be internalized.

There must come a sense of the feeling of the sacred. Yes, indeed. Let the spirit descend. That is, let that confluence of a family event, such as a wedding, such as a conception, such as a sacred thread, such as Bar Mitzva, such as Baptism, such as Navjot.

It’s not two people uniting. It’s not father and mother bringing the child to be baptized. There is a secret presence. And you forget that secret presence. And that is the presence of the total field of the universal consciousness. Call it GOD. Don’t call it GOD.

We have here a Chinese Buddhist Monk who is waiting also for receiving Swami vows. He can tell us about the Buddhist tradition. How the purification of the child’s spirit…

What I am saying to you: please take the essence, take the spirit, and make your life sacred and make your family sacred.

When the ancient Greeks sat down to eat they took out little bits of food, “This is unto Apollo”; “This is unto Zeus”. So also those who are brought up in the orthodox traditions, they take out a little bit of the food, place it as a ‘bali’ offering for the beings. I have seen in India, at least that was so 60, 70 years ago when I was living in this country, a father will take the child for a walk with some sugar. Finding an ants’ nest, he teaches the child to feed the ants. That is called ‘bali’. There are five daily sacraments – pancha maha yagnas.

Sometime, someday I’ll tell you about it. Well, I will be in silence, but every now and then I will teach on a computer screen.

As I told you, in the beginning of this session I am not going to give you everything I am bubbling with. But I have given you the essence. Think about it, discuss it. And see how to implement it. How to make your life sacred. And how to make the family a sacred event. And understand every thought you think, every thought you think, every emotion you feel, every emotion you feel, every glance, every movement of the finger, the clothing you wear, the clothing you wear, the food you prepare. Connect it to the cosmic reality as an experience; as a personal experience.

When we have special feasts for the monks, for the sadhus here, they recite the 15th Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita before eating. And I’ve looked at that chapter, because I recite it also by heart.

अहंवैश्वानरोभूत्वाप्राणिनांदेहमाश्रितः।
प्राणापानसमायुक्तःपचाम्यन्नंचतुर्विधम्॥१५- १४॥

The Lord says: I become the Vaishvanaro, the universal fire, dwelling in the living beings, living in the bodies of all the living beings, praninam deha masritah. I, Vaishvanaro, become the universal fire dwelling in the bodies of all the living beings, and joined by the forces of prana and apana, I take the nourishment and digest it for their continuity. How many of you eat that way?

That the divine fire is eating, and you are making it an offering.

So I wish you success in your deliberations and your internalizing how your perceptions of life will change, and how you will internalize and become a walking, sacred fire.

God Bless you All.

Thank you.

Editor’s Note

This is a transcription of a talk given by Swami Veda Bharati on 22nd February 2013 at the Nurturing Spirituality in the Family Conference at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama.

An Invitation to You to Become Kalyana-Mitras

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Seminar, 23rd November 2013 to 4th December 2013 

Dear Kalyana-mitra,

Re: Structured Guidance For Mantra Initiates 

Once a person has received a mantra, where does s/he go from there? There need to be some structured guidelines that can be followed for many years and for life.

So, I send this invitation to you to become kalyana-mitras, friends on the noble path, to many initiates who need the guidance. After this forthcoming study, the initiates should be given the names of possible mentors, including yourself, to whom they can turn for advice.

So soon after the recent big event, many to whom I am writing may not be able to accept this invitation. That is understandable. If you can make it, you will see how important this step is in strengthening our spiritual family.

I will teach by computer screen. Members of the spiritual committee (swamis and initiators) will do the commentary and share their own experience.

Do suggest any other names to be included among the invitees, or send whatever number of delegates from your Centre.

The dates are 23rd November 2013 to 4th December 2013. However, I do not teach every day and there are, as you know, highly qualified helpers who will help me in this.

Do let us know your travel plans well in advance so that rooms can be booked.

Cost? (1) Whatever donation so that the Ashram can cover the cost of this hospitality (2) Cost of the bundle of readings and audio materials that will be ready in anticipation of your arrival (3) whatever dakshina offerings to help in Gurudeva’s Mission.

Eagerly awaiting to hear from you soon please. Do CC your reply to Lela Pierce, lela.ahymsin@gmail.com and Medhawati, medhawati@gmail.com

Reminder: the Mauni Amavasya, annual day of silence, in 2014 is on 30th January and Shiva Night (Shivaratri) is on 28th February.

Love and blessings in service of Gurudeva

Swami Veda Bharati

Guru-purnima, 22nd July 2013

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In the past years Swami Veda Bharati was traveling internationally and would always celebrate Guru Purnima at The Meditation Center in Minneapolis, USA.

Now he has begun a five years vow of silence (mauna-vrata) and will be in residence at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama in Rishikesh, India, for Guru Purnima this year.

Let us plan it to be an especially serene and inspiring event this year at both ashrams, Sadhana Mandir and Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama:

  • 9 days akhanda-patha of Guru-gita at both Ashrams starting on 14th July morning.
  • 9 days yajna with Akhanda-mandalakaram mantra at Sadhaka Grama, starting on 14th July morning.
  • The above to include a few days of silence (mauna), the number of days according to each sadhaka’s choice.
  • Special puja at both ashrams on 22nd July.
  • Refresher course on using your mantra and how to progress in it.

Please register now to participate.

Re cost of stay at the Ashram and yajna etc.: as a devoted disciple, you may think of what it would cost the Ashram and help cover the expenses as a donation.

But we need to book your accommodation now; so please advise when you might be coming. You may plan on leaving on 23rd July.

Contact: https://www.ahymsin.org/main/index.php/Contact-Us/AHYMSIN-Office.html

 

Shiva-Sankalpa-Sūktam

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OM yaj jāgrato dūram udaiti, daivaṁ 

tadu suptasya tathaivaiti,
dūraṅgamaṃ jyotiṣāṁ jyotir ekaṁ,
tan me manaḥ shiva-saṅkalpam astu.

yena karmāṇyapaso manīṣiṇo,
yajñe kṛṇvanti vidatheṣu dhīrāḥ,
yad apūrvaṃ yakṣaṁ antaḥ prajānāṁ,
tan me manaḥ shiva-saṅkalpam astu.

yat prajñānam uta ceto dhṛtiś ca
yaj jyotir antar amṛtaṁ prajāsu,
yasmān na ṛte kiñcana karma kriyate
tan me manaḥ shiva-saṅkalpam astu.

yenedaṁ bhūtaṃ bhuvanaṁ bhaviṣyat
pari-gṛhītam amṛtena sarvam,
yena yajñas tāyate sapta hotā
tan me manaḥ shiva-saṅkalpam astu.

yasminn ṛcaḥ sāma yajūṁṣi yasmin
pratiṣṭhitā ratha-nābhāvivārāḥ,
yasmiṁś cittaṁ sarvam otaṁ prajānāṁ
tan me manaḥ shiva-saṅkalpam astu.

suṣārathir aśvān iva yan manuṣyān,
nenīyate ‘bhīśubhir vājina iva,
hṛt-pratiṣṭhaṁ yad ajiraṁ javiṣṭhaṁ
tan me manaḥ shiva-saṅkalpam astu.

OM shāntiḥ shāntiḥ shāntiḥ.

Practice for the Next Five Years and the Rest of Your Life

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The Last Statement of Swami Veda Bharati

Before Taking the Five-Year Vow of Silence

At the Gathering of the Sangha 9th March 2013

[During Swami Veda’s talk on 9th March 2013 at the 2013 Sangha Gathering, Swamiji introduced the practice for “the next five years and the rest of your life.” This is a transcript of that talk.]

Om
Gurave namaḥ.
Parama-gurave namaḥ.
Parameṣhṭhi-gurave namaḥ.
Paramparā-gurubhyo namaḥ.

Akhaṇḍa-maṇḍalākaraṁ vyāptaṁ yena charācharam.
Tat padaṁ darshitaṁ yena tasmai shrī-gurave namaḥ.

Hiraṇya-garbhād ārabdhām sheṣha-vyāsādi-madhyamām.
Svāmi-shrī-rāma-pādāntāṁ vande guru-paramparām.

Om tat sat brahmārpaṇam astu.
Om sham.

Hari Om

In the past nine days we have covered the grounds on spiritual stations. Stations in meditational and spiritual progress. We have also covered a little of the traps into which we can fall along the way.

I am sorry to say that today I am not going to say anything profound. Not that I was saying anything profound before.

You can ask my Gurus. They will tell you how shallow I am. They will tell you.

I wish One of Them could be present here, and could guide you personally

with Their own presence,
with Their own words,
with Their own voice and sound.

Then you will know what a Guru is.

Yesterday I had the honour of welcoming not very formally, my spiritually adopted sister, Professor Bettina Sharada. Today I have the pleasure of welcoming Dena Merriam.

Little slips of paper with questions keep coming my way. Some of them I have already answered; so just go back to those answers. Do remember: do not get trapped by every experience inside of you.

For example, people talk of ‘out of body experience’. I am a very scientific-minded yogi like my Guru. Very scientific minded. If there is a scientific explanation for something, I do not accept it as pure spiritual experience.

To me pure spiritual experience is only of ātman. Some of these outer body experiences are works of, and are of certain sections of the brain that trigger certain sensations and project them, and you think that you are flying away into the heavens.

Those are not spiritual experiences. They are cerebral experiences. Now one thing to remember is that sometimes these cerebral experiences may be triggered by a spiritual station. Sometimes these cerebral experiences may be triggered by spiritual development. Quite often also these cerebral experiences may be stepping-stones to something purely spiritual. They are not to be rejected, but do not think that you are now enlightened because you have had an outer body experience.

In my own personal sādhanā, I am very careful. Sometimes I feel that I am not careful enough. I am very careful that I do not attribute to myself any special powers and special experiences and make myself into a Guru. I am careful that I do not take my spiritual experiences seriously except the ones imparted to me by my Guru. I am very careful but still not always careful enough, as I do get trapped for a short while. But l pull myself out and as I told you whatever I am teaching you is autobiographical.

Now today’s topic is a little different one. Our organizers are working on the coming programmes. I am sure that all of you have received a copy of this small book Sādhanā in Applied Spirituality 1, this is written especially for this occasion. It is applied spirituality. It is written for the family. We are not publishing it for the general public at this time.

Your next five years and for the rest of your life

For your next five years and for the rest of your life,

whatever mālās you do,

whatever mantras you do,

whatever breathing you do, do continue these, and,

in order to avoid getting trapped by

ego,

vanity,

feeling of power, feeling of position,

feeling of your worldly station – identifying too closely with it, and then dealing with other people on that basis of your assumed station,

to avoid all of that, you need to do these practices as taught in Sadhana in Applied Spirituality.

These are not practices that you do sitting down. These are what you do in your

daily emotions,

feelings,

voice quality,

communication,

relationships.

This is much more difficult than sitting down with your mala for twenty minutes a day. Do sit with your mala, but do practice this application in your daily life.

We have a word in our Tradition, a very common Sanskrit word “vrata”. It is roughly translated in English as a ‘vow’. It is an observance. For example, a one day of fasting is a vrata. One day of silence is a vrata. Three years vow of celibacy, ‘brahmacharya’, that some people have taken today that is a vrata. So your vrata for the next five years and for the rest of your life included, is the vrata of “Shiva-saṅkalpa”.

We have printed out the mantra. There will be another printout where the mantra is written in the original Vedic language and script.

Now these are six mantras of ‘Shiva-saṅkalpa Sūkta’ or the Shiva-saṅkalpa hymn. In this Ashram we recite them every night. I grew up as a child reciting them with the family before going to sleep every night. At that time I did not know that I will be advising a few hundred people to practise it. Now everything depends on your capacity. Everything depends on your capacity. So you can repeatedly in the day renew your vrata, your Shiva-saṅkalpa vrata, simply by one short phrase which is the refrain of all these six mantras of Yajur Veda. That short phrase is the last line of each of these.

It is also in the Handbook of the Ashram, but the translation is a little bit different. In the handbook it is on pages 25-27. But I will be distributing this translation and a different printout. So when you collect your CD from AHYMSIN Publishers, leave your address to which these can be mailed. By email or in printed form. [Editor’s Note: Please use this link to download the recordings: ShivaSankalpaSukta.zip]

So let us first recite this short phrase together:

Tan me manaḥ shiva-saṅkalpam astu
Tan me manaḥ shiva-saṅkalpam astu
Tan me manaḥ shiva-saṅkalpam astu

Now on this entire hymn, I have a little booklet also with translations of some great Veda Masters. The Shiva-saṅkalpa booklet you can read that with much care and very very slowly. Don’t just look at it and say I don’t understand it, and put it away. Take your time to understand it. So recite with me:

Tan me manaḥ shiva-saṅkalpam astu
Tan me manaḥ shiva-saṅkalpam astu
Tan me manaḥ shiva-saṅkalpam astu

May that mind of mine be shiva-saṅkalpa.

Shiva –

benevolent,
beneficent,
meditative,
Shiva-like,
Godly,
divine mind.

Because you cannot practice what is advised in this ‘Sādhanā in Applied Spirituality’

without applying your mind,
without purifying your mind,

this is a prayer for mind’s purification, mind’s pacification.

To make the mind one in which, not by effort but naturally, [what was that word for ‘naturally’? ‘Sahaja’!], in the sahaja way, only the beneficent, benevolent, peaceful, meditative, godly Shiva-like divine thoughts, sentiments, emotions, and resolves arise.

Swami Rama often talked about saṅkalpa – or saṅkalpa shakti – the power of resolves. These are the mantras, verses for developing the power of resolve. Developing saṅkalpa shakti.

You don’t have to do ten million recitations and repetitions of this.

Do a few repetitions at your meditation time, but during the day, just like those two other practices:

Keep the forehead relaxed.

Every 2-3 hours, do 2-3 minutes of breath awareness with your mantra.

Do this third practice:

Every 2-3 hours, Shiva-saṅkalpa -strengthening your resolve to be sāttvic so that only the sāttvic thoughts, feelings and sentiments arise in you and they become your saṅkalpa. They become your resolve.

So recite that phrase, that short fourth line again with me.

Tan me manaḥ shiva-saṅkalpam astu
Tan me manaḥ shiva-saṅkalpam astu
Tan me manaḥ shiva-saṅkalpam astu

Now I will help you recite the full first mantra. Those who have the capacity for the full recitation may do so.

I should have made the recording even before you arrived here nine-ten days ago. I was not able to do it and I kept saying ‘I’ll do it today, I’ll do it today,” but there wasn’t time, and last night I had Dr. Sanjay Shastri do the recordings so that the recordings are now available.

Om yaj jāgrato dūram udaiti, daivaṁ
tad u suptasya tathaivaiti
dūraṅgamam jyotiṣhāṁ jyotir ekam
tan me manaḥ shiva-saṅkalpam astu. 

I will not go through the recitation of all the six mantras of the hymn at this time. You get hold of the CD and learn from there. Let me read to you a translation.

 

[Note: Please use this link to download the recordings: ShivaSankalpaSukta.zip]

 

Now please remember that there is no human being on earth, no matter how much he is expert in languages and grammar. There is no human being on earth who can translate the Vedas. Yes, there are translations. You can get them. There is no human being who can render them in another language. I give you an example. if I were to start translating the Vedas – the very first word of the Vedas is ‘agni’ – “agnim īle purohitam”. The sacred fire that we burn in our ‘yajña-shālā’. It is the same word agni from which you get the word ‘igneous’ and the ‘ignition’ key in your car. When you turn the ignition key say, “agnim īle”! There is a mantra for that.

One great translator Swami Dayanand Saraswati has translated the word ‘agni’ in two hundred and fifty six different ways. “agnim īle purohitaṁ yajñasya devam ṛtvijam. Hotāraṁ ratna-dhātamam”. Nine words in that first mantra of Rig Veda. Now if I were to take two hundred and fifty six meanings of each of those words, how many translations will I do? Cannot. So just by reading this in English don’t think that you have got the translation. But here is this rough attempt at a very shallow level. I’ll read it for you –

That which travels far while one is awake
That which similarly goes far while one is asleep
May that far-reaching one light of many lights
May that, my mind, be filled with beautiful and benevolent resolves

I have expanded it to more beautiful, beneficent, peaceful, meditative, Siva-like, divine thoughts, feelings, sentiments, emotions, resolves. They are all contained in the word ‘shiva-saṅkalpam’.

That with which all the wise ones perform their actions
And the sacrificers perform their priestly duties and worship
That which is the unique, mysterious personality hidden within all beings
May that, my mind, be filled with beautiful and benevolent resolves

That which is the absolute knowledge,

That which is the reservoir of the mind stuff
That which is memory and steadfastness and sustenance that which is the light hidden within beings
That without which no action can be performed
May that, my mind, be filled with beautiful, benevolent, beneficent, peaceful, Siva-like, divine thoughts, feelings, sentiments, emotions, resolves

That Immortal One by which all the past, present, future
All of this world is held, that by which – through which the sacrifice of the seven priests (points to the seven chakras in the body) is extended and performed,
May that, my mind, be filled with beautiful and benevolent resolves

That in which the three Vedas: Rig of Knowledge, Yajuṣh of Actions, Sāman, the music of Realization
The three branches of Wisdom are held as spokes in the hub of a wheel
That in which the mind-stuff of all living beings is woven and interwoven,
May that, my mind, be filled with beautiful and benevolent resolves.

As a good charioteer controls the horses and leads them on the right path
Frequently, holding the reins fast, controlling them though they be speedy,
So the mind controls the senses,

This which has its seat in the heart ever moving, the speediest of the forces
May that, my mind, be filled with beautiful and benevolent resolves.

I am doing a much larger book on this hymn but I am not getting time to do what I need to do with it. Someday it will come to you, but in the meantime you can utilize for contemplation:

the little booklet on Shiva-saṅkalpa.

the CD,

the printout,

and of course your assignment for the years to come.

Then normally when we give ‘saṁnyāsa dīkṣhā’ (vows of renunciation) and confer the saffron vestments to the new saṁnyāsin on the banks of the Ganges, we give them a ‘māhavākya,’ a ‘great sentence’ from the scriptures.

There are many mahāvākyas, four of whom are very well known in the Vedanta tradition, but there are many others that I also use. I am not preparing you, to give you, confer on you saffron. Your one yellow shawl with Gāyatrī is enough, but I am giving you a ‘mahāvākya’ for contemplation.

 

That mahāvākya is “Om khaṁ Brahma”. “Om khaṁ Brahma”

‘Om’, for this, read Swami Rama’s two commentaries. Two commentaries on Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad2.

‘Khaṁ’ means space, shūnya, transcendental Null.

‘Brahma’. Brahman – supreme, transcendental, all expansive, absolute reality.

You can read my comments on that3.

October Teaching on Mahāvākyas

On some dates between October 15-30, 2014, I will do a special teaching on mahāvākyas, the great sentences of Vedanta and the Yoga Tradition, by sitting with a computer and you can work from the screen. My adoptive spiritual sister Bettina Baumer, at the same time, will be teaching a very fundamental Tantra text called: ‘Vijñāna-Bhairava’. [Note: Swami Veda will no longer be doing the teaching on the mahāvākyas; however, Bettina Baumer will be teaching a course on the ‘Vijñāna-Bhairava’  17th – 26th October 2014 at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama.

There will be other courses, other programmes going on here in between the times and you can keep a lookout for the announcements, and do please encourage your friends and so on to attend these. [Please see our Upcoming Events at http://ahymsin.org/main/events-maps-schedules/upcoming-events.html ]

Resolve for 5 Year Silence

Now some people think that I am some kind of a hero so bravely going into silence for 5 years. I tell you it is no big deal. For thousands of years yogis have been taking to the vows of silence.

I have a friend Swami who has been silent for 9 years. I have a friend Swami who has been silent for the past 27-28 years and I always send people from this Ashram to go and visit his Ashram. It is about less than 2 hours from here. He is also quite physically frail and old; he had very much wanted to come for this occasion, but his body would not permit. So many things that our body does not permit, so what can we do?

I will take one or two minutes extra…

Since I have been brought up in the Vedic lore and sat with my father for an hour of meditation from the age of 4 or 5. My father had been initiated by a great yogi, but that is a different story. He was always looking for great yogis. So in the afternoon, we used to go for a walk on the Rajpur Road in Dehradun where I was born. From the other side on the road our neighbour was coming with a Swami. That was a first time I saw a Swami coming down from the Himalayas. The light on his face impressed me. The neighbour friend said: I found him sitting by the roadside. He has been in silence for the last 25 years and has not spoken a word for these many years. He had been a silent Swami. That was the first time, I must have been about 6, that I met a silent Swami. From that moment on I knew this is something to aspire for. This is something to be. The duties of life, the duties for my Guru, they have kept me going and blabbing and blabbing.

But don’t you think that I need to fulfill one wish of mine? And you all can make it possible for me? You take over the mission. You take care of this Ashram. You take care of the global network we have and let me practise my lifelong wish to be a silent Swami.

So I thank you all, really thank you all for being here. At one time we had requests from 700 people to come from 25 countries. But for some in this day and age the costs are too high, and we cannot manage with less and so on. So we have 350 from outside and another 50. So we have about 400-450 people participating. I feel very fulfilled by your presence and I would like you to go feeling fulfilled and take your spiritual life one step further.

One step further

One step further

by self-purification,
by self-pacification,

making yourself peaceful beings.

Shiva-saṅkalpa – your minds and hearts filled with

beautiful,
benevolent,
beneficent,
peaceful,
Shiva-like divine thoughts, feelings sentiments, emotions and resolves.

May this vrata of yours – Shiva-saṅkalpa – be a source of fulfillment for you.

Om.

Hari Om Tat Sat.

1Available from AHYMSIN Publishers ahymsinpublishers@gmail.com

2Enlightenment without God, and Om, the Eternal Witness by Swami Rama, available through AHYMSIN Publications and other bookstores and outlets.

3Sadhana in Applied Spirituality, Swami Veda Bharati, p. 108

Note: Please see these links

Sadhana in Applied Spirituality at https://www.ahymsin.org/main/sadhana-in-applied-spirituality

Shiva-Sankalpa-Sūktam at https://www.ahymsin.org/main/Miscellaneous/shiva-sankalpa-sktam.html

Shiva-Sankalpa-Sūktam (From SRSG Handbook) at https://www.ahymsin.org/main/Miscellaneous/iva-sankalpa-sktam.html

Shiva Sankalpa Prayer at https://www.ahymsin.org/main/Swami-Veda-Bharati/shiva-sankalpa-prayer.html

Shiva Sankalpa Sukta at https://www.ahymsin.org/main/Swami-Veda-Bharati/shiva-sankalpa-sukta.html

Download the recordings: http://ahymsin.org/docs2/2013/ShivaSankalpaSukta.zip

To read the transcripts of the other lectures given by Swamiji at the 2013 Sangha Gathering: http://ahymsin.org/main/swami-veda-bharati/swami-veda-bharati-s-lectures-at-the-2013-sangha-gathering.html