General Articles 
Svaha: On Giving Up my Father
18 September, 2011 @ 10:36 pm
My father is dead. I watched it happen, as he performed his own funeral service on the banks of the Ganges. I have heard that Sanskrit (Hindu) phrase, svaha, idam na mama: I make this sincere offering: it is no more mine, over and over again, my entire life. It is said with every offering given on the altar, into a consecrated fire or sacred river. In my family, it is said with humor and resignation, over opportunities or items lost. Svaha: our mental shrug: Oh, well, it's gone. I may as well let it go.
We are all his hands and feet
13 August, 2011 @ 5:30 am
Wonderful people pass through this small bit of land. I hope that what they are comes alive in this story. Here in India, soon after I stop wearing my winter hat to bed, Passover comes.1 Though I don’t celebrate Passover in the traditional way here, it finds its place in me, and I feel at home. Along with the flush of new flowers, birds and the wild flurries of Holi colors, Passover brings alive the gratitude that comes with the end of the dark winter cold. It takes its name from the angel of death who passed over the houses of the Jewish slaves in Egypt and protected their children from the 10th plague on Pharaoh’s Egypt, the death of every firstborn. After this, the Pharaoh set the Jews free. In the spring of every year, my mother would tell me to go outside and pick a rock. She would put this rock together with our Passover dishes and utensils in a gigantic pot of water and boil it. She said that we cleaned the dishes like this to remind us that we were a part of the earth. Only then would the dishes be clean like the earth for Passover. It was as if we were not just here for ourselves. We were part of a larger flow. Lately, I have been reminded of this quite a bit.
Challenges on the Spiritual Path
18 July, 2011 @ 10:48 pm
To a person who is increasing his or her commitment or intensity of their practice, the worldly situations will start testing your faith, commitment and your determination. You will all of the sudden start to see things becoming difficult in every aspect of your life. Starting from family, spouse, kids, vehicle, work, boss, your own meditation – everything will have a challenge all of the sudden. From a spiritual point of view – it is positive. Those are good signs.
Reservations for the 2013 All Teachers and Sangha Gathering
18 July, 2011 @ 8:12 pm
This event has three parts. The first part is 28th February - 9th March, the 10 days of inspiration from Swami Veda and others. The second part is 10th March, which is a day of “Sacred Celebration.” The third part is 11th - 19th March, a nine day silence retreat. Not everyone will be attending each of the three parts, but Swamiji is encouraging all who are coming to be there on 10th March.
Guidelines for the Sangha
22 June, 2011 @ 2:57 pm
He has arranged for us to get the complete recording immediately so we all can listen to it. You can download the entire audio from the given link.
“I’m telling you of the joy I have experienced.” – An Interview with Nina Johnson
18 June, 2011 @ 11:05 pm
Nina indicates that she only teaches what she experiences. She was an only child. She took care of her Mother who passed at the age of 107. Her husband was quite ill during his life. While she would care for these two relatives, she felt sorry for herself. These two relatives passed during the same year - 2005. Thereafter, she was totally free to pursue her spiritual practice. Her first India trip was in 1974 for the Kumbha Mela. The next time she went was in 2006.
Service To Our Elders As A Path Of Love and Spiritual Growth
18 June, 2011 @ 10:57 pm
Mother and Father are two eternal principles in this world. They’re two gods to the infant, and are so important to us both physically and emotionally that the effects of our relationship with our mother and father reverberate throughout our whole life. There is a quote from an ancient scripture of India that goes like this: “The root of comfort and happiness is harmonious relationship and sufficient wealth. The root of harmonious relationships and sufficient wealth are wise choices. The root of wise choices is self control. The root of self control is humility and discipline. The root of humility and discipline is service to the elders. Through service to the elders, one obtains experiential knowledge and wisdom.”
Use of Yoga Nidra for Creativity
22 May, 2011 @ 5:39 pm
What is creativity? It seems an obvious question. We know what it is? Do we? The word comes from Latin “Creo” to make. Who makes? Makes from what? The answer has changed over the course of history and is different in different cultures! Peter Meusberg’s research showed 100 definitions of what creativity is.
A Successful Yoga Nidra Retreat
19 May, 2011 @ 6:39 pm
It came about as a response to the fact that programs teaching yoga-nidra are proliferating worldwide using a wide variety of preparatory exercises that are usually mis-characterized as yoga-nidra. These practices often differ from the processes discussed in traditional textual sources and the oral tradition of yoga. Research on yoga-nidra has tended to focus on alpha and theta wave states that, by definition, cannot be yoga-nidra.
AHYMSIN Annual Report – 2010
27 April, 2011 @ 3:59 pm
Due to Guru’s grace, the collective strength, spirituality and mindshare of each pearl of our Sangha, our universal family our mission experienced yet another successful year. We have progressed and we have learnt. Each experience has contributed towards our endeavor to continuously improve and evolve without losing the sight of our goal i.e. dedicated to making available and teaching the Himalayan Yoga Tradition as taught by Swami Rama of the Himalayas.