Articles by Swami Rama 
Niyamas
3 January, 2020 @ 10:16 am
The Niyamas are observances for oneself and are five in number. They are Shaucha or purity, Santosha or contentment, Tapas or practices that lead to perfection of body and mind and senses, Svadhyaya or study that leads to knowledge of the Self and Ishwara Pranidhana or surrender to the Ultimate Reality.
Seven Steps
4 December, 2019 @ 11:24 am
Breath awareness is an essential part of meditation. Authentic schools of meditation teach breath awareness before leading a student towards advance techniques of meditation, but some of the modern schools have failed to grasp its significance. That is why their teachers are unable to lead their students to deeper states of meditation.
Self-reliance and Happiness
4 November, 2019 @ 10:47 am
The first is to become self-reliant. If you are not happy, you should not expect others to give you happiness. Happiness can never be given by anyone. This is the only concept that can help you be happy in the world, and if you don't grasp it - if you don't really learn it - then you will never be happy. If anyone claims that they can give someone else happiness, it is not true. Nobody can give happiness to anyone; they can, at best, only create patches of happiness for them. It is just as if something should happen to your own house.
To Sit Still
5 October, 2019 @ 12:21 pm
After serious observation and analysis of its functionings, yogis have found that the mind forms the habit of being conditioned, either by remembering past experiences or by imaging the future. There is no technique which helps it become aware of the now except meditation and contemplation. But meditation is not a method of allowing the mind to roam aimlessly.
Three Categories of People
5 September, 2019 @ 11:41 am
There are three categories of people traveling through the procession of life: time oriented, goal oriented, and purpose oriented. Time oriented people move in the world without understanding why they are moving. They do not have any true vision of the future. They spend their lives fantasizing some idyllic future or analysing triumphs or defeats from the past. They lack a sense of discipline and purpose. Because they are continually living in their projections of the way things might have been, or could be, they fail to appreciate things the way they are, and are thus forever dissatisfied.
Energy of Consciousness in the Human Personality, part 4
14 August, 2019 @ 5:46 pm
Are there special procedures, processes, connections, which consciousness follows in running our personalities? The universal consciousness principle may be compared, for our purpose here, to a current into which, through many sockets, various electric appliances are plugged.
The One-Pointed Mind
5 August, 2019 @ 10:01 am
From the beginning of history there have been two major paths that people have taken in life in order to seek the goal of a deeper happiness and peace. A few sincere souls have decided to genuinely renounce the world’s attractions in order to attain the highest wisdom. The path of renunciation actually means not keeping or possessing anything for oneself. Instead, these wise ones serve others, knowing that by doing so they are utilizing their time and energy in the best way. Living their lives in service to others is the characteristic by which you will recognize them.
Kundalini
2 July, 2019 @ 3:43 pm
Kundalini is a word that is frequently used but seldom understood. It has a highly secret meaning according to the highest order of yoga and other branches of Indian philosophy and Tibetan and Chinese philosophies. You cannot understand the deeper spiritual aspects of hatha yoga if you do not understand kundalini.
Energy of Consciousness in the Human Personality, part 3
14 June, 2019 @ 5:44 pm
The yogis say that only a certain surface of the mind is asleep but that a vast area of the mind never sleeps. For if the entire mind were to sleep, who is it that continues the digestive processes during that time? Who keeps the lungs breathing and the heart pumping? If the entire mind were to sleep, who would wake us up again?
The One-Pointed Mind
5 June, 2019 @ 10:32 am
Merely knowing what to do without one-pointedness of mind will not lead one to perform his duty accurately. Therefore, the desired results will not be attained. Just as profound knowledge of what to do is essential, so having a one-pointed mind is equally essential. The modern student tends to know intellectually, but does not make sincere efforts to develop one-pointedness of mind.