Articles by Swami Rama 
Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas
4 April, 2023 @ 10:48 am
The knower, the known and the process of knowing comprise the three-fold nature of the drive to action. Instrument, activity and event are the three-fold components that accomplish action. Each of these three divisions is in accordance with the three qualities of sattva, rajas, and tamas. The universe contains many beings. Each being is unique. Variety is the nature of the universe. In this diversity, one feels the presence of oneness; this is due to sattva-endued knowledge. The site of the undivided reality is known because of sattva. For example, the ocean has many waves and they are distinct from one another, yet they are all made from the same water.
The Method for Inner Study
4 February, 2023 @ 10:09 am
Human beings are always disappointed in the external world, yet they have not turned inward to understand anything about the internal world.
Discipline
3 February, 2023 @ 11:49 am
You have to light your own lamp. No one will give you salvation. I am talking of enlightenment. All individuals have the responsibility to enlighten themselves. Do not think you cannot do it. You have that spark. You are fully equipped. You simply need to discipline yourself. Discipline is not a prison. It simply means practice.
Streams of Negative Emotion
30 December, 2022 @ 12:38 pm
When you study the emotions you find that there are seven main streams of negative emotions that arise from the four primitive fountains or appetites. Desire, or kama, which we have already discussed, is the first stream and the mother of them all.
Perpetual Youth
3 December, 2022 @ 3:34 pm
A yogi does not measure his life by the years but by the breath he takes. To say that he is old is an impossibility and a joke. Old age is a mere reflection of the mind, and not of years. Weakness and decrepitude creep in for lack of trust in truth, in justice, in oneself, and in one's kinsmen.
Mind and Prana
3 November, 2022 @ 10:01 am
The mind stands like a wall between us and reality. When the student comes in touch with the finer forces called prana he can learn to control his mind, for it is tightly fastened to prana like a kite to a string. When the string is held skillfully, the kite, which wants to fly here and there, is controlled and flied in the direction desired. All yogic breathing exercises, advanced or basic, enable the student to control his mind by understanding prana.
The Preaching of the Plants
5 October, 2022 @ 10:49 am
The world of plants preaches a unique gospel. It expresses not only the beauty but the thoughts of God’s creation, with no intent of its own, and without deviation. Trees in particular are mysterious and seem to me to be direct embodiments of the incomprehensible meaning of life. In the woods I feel close to my inner self, and the deepest meaning is revealed with awe-inspiring workings.
Karma
2 September, 2022 @ 2:35 pm
Karma is the expression of the rule of perfect justice within us. It is the law of the cosmos reflected in the microcosm. There is nothing arbitrary or punitive about it. It is universal law and inevitable fact. No success can be attained without understanding the law of karma, and most of the human beings in this world follow the path of karma consciously or unconsciously. Those who know that the path of karma is like worship of the Lord perform their duties skillfully, selflessly, and lovingly.
My Swollen Ego
1 August, 2022 @ 1:06 pm
When one begins to tread the path of spirituality it is essential to be humble. Ego creates barriers, and the faculty of discrimination is lost. If discrimination is not sharpened, reason does not function properly and there is no clarity of mind. A clouded mind is not a good instrument on the path of enlightenment.
Collective Happiness
23 June, 2022 @ 2:13 pm
History reminds us that a particular society, community, or nation retards its growth when, out of rigidity or omission, it does not acknowledge its weaknesses. Fearing humiliation or suffering from inferiority complexes, such a society justifies its weakness, by either hiding it or pretending it is a great quality. Such a society or community moves towards its own doom. A human being or a society purifies itself, not by hiding its defects and weaknesses, but by removing them.