Category: Swami Rama

If you want to create a situation for meditation you have to pay attention to the point where the nostrils bridge to the upper lip – the point at which your mind notices which nostril is blocked and which nostril is open. Usually you will notice that one of the nostrils is passive and the other is active. When you have learned to change the flow of the nostrils with your mind, then after some time both nostrils begin flowing evenly. This may take some months or perhaps a year, depending on your capacity and the burning desire within you.

When both nostrils flow evenly the mind cannot worry, because it is disconnected from the senses. Mind does not know how to worry then. It attains a state of joy called sukhamana, the joyous mind. That state of mind is conducive to deep meditation. This is an accurate and effective procedure for you to follow, and it is important not to rush or be impatient.

For meditation, the finest of all breathing exercises is sushumna application. When you learn how to apply sushumna, there is no way for your mind to go anywhere but into the inner journey. At present, when you try to meditate you are disturbed and your mind is disturbed. Some days you have a good meditation and other days you do not, depending on your ability in sushumna justify.

According to the ancient yoga manuals and the science of yoga, there are three important points in the inward journey. The cream of yoga science is to learn first to apply sushumna; next to awaken kundalini and lead her to the highest dimension; and then to attain the knowledge of the Absolute.

This is the entire procedure of the yoga system, and these practices are meant to help you toward that goal.
The science of breath actually ends with sushumna application. It is the method by which you establish harmony between two aspects of breath. During that time both nostrils flow freely. Without sushumna application, meditation- the inward journey – becomes difficult, so you should learn the method of sushumna application.

When you attempt sushumna application, ask your mind to focus at the nose bridge. Let your thoughts come and do not be afraid. You are trying to discipline your mind. When you do that, your whole being will be alert, and the whole unconscious mind will become active and bring forward many hidden and forgotten things. When this happens people often get upset, thinking that the meditation is disturbing them. But it is not the meditation that causes the disturbance, it is what you have bottled up. You have to go through that process of release in meditation therapy. This is a very good process. Let the distracting thoughts come forward, and then allow them to go. After a while a time will come when no thought patterns disturb you, and you can watch your thoughts. Then you can witness your whole life. If a disturbing thought comes, you allow it to go away.

Editor’s note

This passage has been taken from the book Path of Fire and Light Volume 2, pp 41 – 75, by Swami Rama (Rama, S., 1988. Path of Fire and Light Volume 2. Himalayan Institute Press).

The sages say that the only difference between you and them lies in the nature of your thoughts and your mind. If someone tells you that you are bad or have done something wrong you accept it, and you become bad. If you even think it, then you feel bad. You cannot forget that thought. You want to forgive yourself, but you have a habit of retaining such negative thoughts. Some people retain good and helpful thoughts, and others retain negative and passive thoughts. That is why the view of yoga is that those thoughts that are helpful should be encouraged, and those thoughts that are not helpful should not be encouraged. On the path of meditation you learn this process.

Suppose a thought comes into the mind that you should slap someone. The faculty of discrimination can tell you that it is not a good thing to do, and then the thought will diminish. An ordinary man retains the negative thought, while a sage allows it to pass away.

There is one issue that is very practical and concrete, and you should remember if you really want to practice meditation. Often a thought comes into your mind and you become absorbed by that thought because of your habits and lack of training. Then, after a few minutes or hours, you suddenly wake up; you wonder what has happened and why this thought has controlled you. You need to practice to be free from the strong grip of those thoughts that do that to you. If one thought comes and then another thought comes, and if this continues indefinitely, then what becomes of your mind?

Then your mind is a catalog of thoughts, which include desires, wishes, and wants, and you can put these into various categories, such as inclinations or sensations. You can certainly create a hell that way! Every individual makes hell for himself. You create hell wherever you go, because wherever you go, your mind goes with you. As we said earlier, the world created by you is the mind. When you use the word “mine” and emphasize your individual identity, you strengthen your sense of “I”. That is a mental habit: you strengthen that vibration by repeating and repeating “I”. But this sense of “I” is ignorance; it is what keeps you from expanding your sense of self. By taking off this shackle and barrier for yourself, you are beginning to understand your essential nature. You create this barrier of the ego out of insecurity.

But human beings have a tendency to blame others for their difficulties; first of all they blame nature, and then finally, God. They do not want to take the responsibility themselves. They do not think, “If I am ignorant, why should God be responsible for my ignorance?” Most human beings do not think that. If you are suffering, why should others be responsible for your suffering? In reality, you are the sufferer; you created suffering for yourself. When you take this sort of responsibility – the moment you understand that – you gain a new courage, and it is a courage and strength that you need.

At the lowest level of the human mind you have ignorance; then at the next stage you have control plus knowledge; and finally you have the perfection to be with the Eternal. Then that absolute Reality or eternity assigns you jobs. Do not think that you are presently assigned to a job: you are presently assigned to suffer, because you have assigned it to yourself. But at the highest level of human development, the sages see that human beings are not utilizing the eternal wisdom. They come to this plane and teach and suffer. The great people, like Christ, Krishna, Moses, and Buddha – all those people who led the masses and whom still today the masses love, respect, and follow – have come from the Source, from eternal infinity.

Editor’s note

This passage has been taken from the book Path of Fire and Light Volume2, pp 41 – 75, by Swami Rama (Rama, S., 1988. Path of Fire and Light Volume 2. Himalayan Institute Press.)

Be nice, be kind, be gentle, be loving. What is new about what you are studying, tell me? Have you read anything new anywhere? You have learned ten words for one word, is that improvement in your knowledge? Then what is that knowledge which we are trying to explore and understand today? My whole life, my mother, my father, grandfather, my teachers, everyone says, “Speak the truth,” and I do not know how to. That’s a very serious problem. I would like to speak the truth, everyone wants to speak the truth but nobody teaches you how. You see at home, children are spanked by their parents when the children lie. But after ten minutes, the child finds that Mommy is lying to Daddy, and Daddy is lying to Mommy. The child is confused, “Is it a rule for me not to lie?” So the child tells her brother, “We are not allowed to lie. They are grown up, they can lie.” We don’t find good examples in our childhood. All aspects of education are given by the institutions of the world, except one education called exemplary education, where you learn through example. We suffer on account of this lack of exemplary education.

Now, what is happening in your families? No matter how many lies you speak from morning till evening, you spank your children, saying, “Always speak the truth.” No matter how great a liar you are, you don’t want your children to lie. The father constantly lies, mother constantly lies, and child is confused. He thinks that my parents have a license to lie, but I’m just a kid, I don’t have that license. This is true. So he’s confused. How to practice truth? No mother or father ever teaches the children that. You don’t teach them how to speak the truth. This is the point because you do not know yourself. So, for ages there is this myth, “Speak the truth, speak the truth, speak the truth.” This is all nonsense, it’s a principle, it’s not practice. It happened with me. I was confused in my childhood. My Master never spanked me, but others spanked me and everybody said, “Hey, speak the truth.” I said, “Look, I am not what you think, don’t touch me.” But I was a kid. I said, “Tell me what is that truth.” Nobody ever told me that.

One day I was very upset and I told my Master, “You have ruined my life.” He looked at me and said, “I brought you up, I educated you, I gave you so much love. I don’t want to hear such a thing from you. Do you ever find me selfish?” I said, “It’s not a question of being selfish or not being selfish. My life has been ruined by you.” He said, “Why? What have I done to you?” I said, “I am still ignorant and a fool.” He said, “I tried my best to teach you, but you have not been able to learn.” I said, “What you are teaching me today, ‘Do this, do that, do this, do that,’ that’s the same thing that all mothers at home teach their children.”

I told my Master, “I know that I should speak the truth but I don’t know how to. Will you please teach me? Show me how to speak the truth.” He taught me that the simple way of speaking the truth is by not lying. If you do not lie, you are speaking the truth. But if you are trying to speak the truth and you do not know what truth is, then you are making your own truth. You say my truth is my truth and I am speaking the truth and you should listen to me. That is confusion. Do not lie. By not lying, you practice speaking the truth. Do not do what is not to be done according to your conscience. By not doing what is not to be done, you start doing what is right.

Practice is different from the principle. It’s easy to say, “Don’t do this, don’t do that.” Learn to practice. Don’t give up your practice. If you are defeated by others, it doesn’t matter; but if you are defeated by yourself, that’s a very bad thing. Then you are helpless. No one can cure you. There are diseases which cannot be cured by anyone when you become helpless. “No medicine is helping me, nothing is happening to me, I am going to die. The world is so gloomy.” When you become totally negative, you cripple your willpower. Don’t allow that to happen.

Editor’s Note

This is an excerpt from Conscious Living: A Guidebook for Spiritual Transformation by Swami Rama, Lotus Press, pages 106- 108.

Conscious Living: A Guidebook for Spiritual Transformation by Swami Rama is available as a paperback, in Kindle, or as an audio book (at CD Baby, iTunes, and Amazon).

The twin side of vairagya is abhyasa. Abhyasa means practice and practice means discipline and attention. The two are linked as night and day. A person cannot develop nonattachment or vairagya without abhyasa. Similarly, abhyasa without vairagya amounts ultimately to a waste of time.

These two, nonattachment and practice, are the most powerful vehicles for spiritual progress. Separately, they are like a boat with one oar. There is movement, but little progress.

In the preceding chapters the preliminaries to a spiritual life were discussed. These steps constitute the broad strokes on the canvas of your spiritual life. They are the essential background. The more refined strokes, from which the sharpened images and details come, are created by abhyasa or sadhana. Sadhana is spiritual practice, and usually refers to the specific practices of a tradition—hatha yoga, pranayama or breathing exercises, repetition of mantra, and so on. Abhyasa is a more encompassing term that includes not only practice of specific techniques, but the overall goal of life and the application of belief systems. In this book the two terms are used almost interchangeably.

To begin understanding abhyasa remember you are the citizen of two worlds—the outer world of family, community, and dharma, and the inner world you wish more fully to explore. Abhyasa begins with balancing these two worlds. Living in the external world, learning and growing, yet remaining above so the whispers from the inner world can be heard, is the sadhana of a person’s life. When a balance is achieved between the inner and outer worlds, the outer world can be used to gain access to the inner, and the inner world facilitates a richer and fuller life in the outer world.

Jesus was completely balanced. He was in the world but above it. He was both human and divine, as all human beings are. His great importance as a public spiritual figure was to show humanity that they are divine because they are human, and human because they are divine. Jesus demonstrated his divinity out of full expression of his humanity.

As the Kathopanishad suggests, humans are not so much bodies with souls as they are souls with bodies. The divine is immanent in humans and humans are inherently divine.

Living a spiritual life does not require escaping from the world. It is not useful to look at the flaws of the world and say it is ugly and sinful. Turning away from the world will not lead to spiritual happiness. Live in the world. By living fully in the world with all of its apparent imperfections one can attain spiritual perfection.

Along with the effort toward balance and non-attachment, practice selflessness. Selflessness is an art that requires much practice to perfect. Strength, non-attachment, love, and fearlessness grow from the practice of selflessness.

Make it a part of your daily life to do things for others without anyone knowing. To be selfless and attentive toward others is not so much an effort as it is a very natural way of being. At the same time, do not forget yourself. In the observances of yoga the first principle is ahimsa, non-harming. This principle is not meant to be applied only to others. Ahimsa should first be applied toward yourself. You should not harm yourself or allow yourself to be harmed by others. Be sensible in your non-attachment and love. While it is not helpful to be ego- or me-centered, it is also not beneficial to be exclusively you-centered. The Upanishads teach that all is One.

Approach your life wholeheartedly. Whatever you do, do with your whole heart and fullest attention. When you are with your children, be with your children, not your work. When you are at work, be with your work, not your children. Be in the moment at hand, not in the moment or day that has passed, or in the moment or day yet to come.

Be decisive. Exercise your buddhi, that aspect of your mind that chooses, makes judgments, and decides. It is a very powerful part of mind. Make the best decision you can, and take action accordingly, leaving the outcome up to the divine force. Choose your friends, activities, and livelihood wisely. All of them should be compatible with your higher goals.

Be gentle with yourself. This is a long and difficult journey. Your goals should be reasonable so as not to create frustration and disappointments. Be willing to crawl before you walk. Perfect each skill as you move along on the journey, and forgive yourself when you stumble, or even slide backward. Setbacks are temporary and meant to be instructive. Let yourself slide backward, observe what has occurred, get back on your feet, and move forward.

Editor’s Note

Reprinted from Sacred Journey, an HIHT publication.

When I left the Himalayas, I thought I knew something. But when I came to the West, let me tell you that I learned a lot. I came to Detroit, and there I spoke, after the conference was over. So, when I wanted to cross the road, green light turned into red light. And I had to wait. So I always used to meditate wherever I went. I forgot to cross and again there appeared red light. It took me 15 minutes to cross the road. So there a policeman stops me, “Lord, which country do you come from?” I said, “Of course from Himalayas, India.” He said, “Nobody walks on the streets of Detroit. People are killed here.” I said, “Why are they going to kill me? I don’t have anything. I don’t possess anything.” “No, no, out of fun people kill here. You understand?” I said, “Out of fun?” After the congress was over I was invited at San Diego, and in the evening I go for walk. So I was staying with a guest, with a host of mine. He was a doctor. He said, “Don’t go out, people are dangerous here.” I said, “What will they do?” “They will beat you up.” I said, “If I deserve, they should.” Anyway I went out, I walked, I was walking, as I walk freely. Many people wonder and say, oh he’s very egotistical the way he walks. No, you should learn to walk straight. When you keep your head, neck, and trunk straight, when the spinal cord is straightened, you will enjoy your walk. Don’t put your weight on the locomotor. Then you walk, you walk like dancing. So I was taught to walk that way.

Suddenly two huge men came. “We are going to beat you up.” I said, “Ok.” So I threw my shawl on somebody and hit the other person. Whom I hit, he fell down. I said, “What have you to say?” “Are you a karate master?” I said, “I am a kung fu master.” They said, “Sir, what is your fee?” I said, “Only $40.” One ran away, other paid me $40. And then I said, “Look here, don’t come to this colony again. And don’t do this again, remember this.” “Can you teach us?” I said, “I don’t have time. I have to leave tomorrow.” I had to learn many things to prepare myself to come to the West. How to cross the road, how to drive the car.

But let me tell you, when you analyze life with currents and cross-currents you come to know that life is clearly divided into two aspects—life within, and life without. If you are trying to understand and analyze the world, you will fail for you have not understood your internal states. The problem of modern age is communication. Swami Rama Tirtha said two people fight because they don’t understand each other’s language. That’s why they fight. Language is a poor media of communication. Communication starts on thought level, on emotions. Before you came here, I knew you, you knew me. And we are knowing each other well. Even you have left, and I will be here, we will be knowing you, we will be knowing each other. Why this gap of communication? One nation, with one nation to another. First word, second word, third word, you talk of many words. Why this communication gap? Because we human beings are still primitive. We have not established a bridge between the two external and internal states. It’s important for us to know external world. External world offers the means but if those means are not applied carefully, external world creates a large wall between you and the reality.

Now, let us analyze. Is there anything in the external world that will help us knowing the truth, or reality, or center of consciousness within that is called master within, anything? Let any scientist come forward and say yes, we have got large telescope and we can see sun, moon, and stars, and we can see all the galaxies. You are able to see, and you will be able to see. But if you turn that towards yourself you will see nothing. Laws are different in the internal world. Educational system today is very superficial, based on imitation. A particular system that doesn’t offer much. Best part of education comes when you have come out with flying colors from colleges and universities, and then you try to learn and understand yourself. That is called self-education, how to educate yourself. And for that you need some qualities. You need to understand things as they are. If someone says bad, you have not to accept it. If someone says good, you should accept it in unattached way. This way you go on learning. Everyone is teacher for a student. If you are a student of life, you learn from everywhere. You don’t jabber much just listen to the people, and learn that method which is called filtering. The greatest of all filters is time. Do not forget, what you have to do today, do not postpone it for tomorrow. You have all the capacity. Don’t ever say that you cannot do it, you cannot be successful. Always say that I will do it, I have to do it, and I can do it. Never lose that courage. A human being has tremendous power if he knows how to dive deep into the inner recesses, how to fathom all the states of consciousness within. He can come out with beautiful things which will be helpful for others.

Editor’s Note

2018 Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust

Can the external world help you in attaining the goal of life? Yes and no, both. If the external world does not creatThe Upanishads say that first you will have to face the external world. You will have to learn the technique of doing your duties in the external world. If you know how to live in the external world, perhaps the external world will not create any barriers on the path of unfoldment.e problems for you, then it is helpful. If external world creates problems for you, then it’s impossible for you to progress on the path of unfoldment. I am here, now. If you all decide that Swamiji should not meditate, I cannot, for you will kick me from this side, give me a blow from the other side, creating hindrances for me. How can I meditate? So, external world can create barriers for you. If the barriers are not there, it is a great help.

When Alexander the Great invaded India, his teacher asked him to bring back two things: the flute and the scripture called the Bhagavad Gita. So after conquering a part of India, he told his prime minister, “I want to meet a swami, a wise man, because the flute and Gita will be of no use if there is no swami.” The minister went in search of a wise man. He asked the people around and someone said, “Such and such a person, sitting on that mountain is a wise man and he will help you, sir.” That wise man was sitting on a rock. Alexander approached him and said, “What can I do for you, sir?” He smiled, but did not look at Alexander. So the prime minister said, “He’s Alexander the Great. Perhaps you do not know that he’s a very great man of the world, a very famous warrior who conquered the whole world.” The wise man would not look at him. So again Alexander asked, “What can I do for you, sir?” He replied, “Just remove yourself, let the sunlight shine on me. That’s what you can do.”

What can you do for others? If you do not create any barrier, any hindrance, any problem for others, that is a great help. This is my point. When you go out to help somebody, perhaps your selfishness and ego are mingled, and that will not help. Don’t create barriers, hindrances and obstacles for others; let them grow. Let them unfold; let them tread the path of light. That is the greatest help that you can give. It’s called minding your own business!

All the things in the world have a name and form. Is there any form that does not go through change, death and decay? So name and form are temporary aspects of that something which goes on changing. There is one word in Sanskrit for this world, samsara. It continues, goes on, like a river that goes on flowing. One mass of water passes, yet another mass comes, fills that gap and there is no gap at all. There is continuity. We will all go away, others will come. There will be continuity. This world will always remain crowded, over-crowded. So, this is the world, this is samsara. Now this external aspect of samsara, of this universe, is called Vaishvanara.

Herein lies a secret for the sadhaka, the aspirant. To turn the consciousness within, you will have to use a method of withdrawing the senses from the external world. That is called sparsa yoga, yoga of touch. If you analyze two things in your life, one called pain and another called pleasure, you will come to know that pain and pleasure, these two stimuli, are received when your senses contact matter. The Gita explains it this way, matra sparshastu kaunteya sheetoshna sukha dukha da. You feel pain and pleasure, heat and cold because your senses contact the objects of the external world. If you can stop doing this, you will not feel pain or pleasure; you will not feel heat or cold. So all the time, with the help of your senses, you are in contact with the objects of the external world. You do not know how to withdraw your senses. That is why on the eight runged ladder of yoga, ashtanga yoga, the fifth rung, pratyahara or sensory withdrawal, is very important. There are no books on the subject of pratyahara. There are books on concentration, there are books on meditation, there are books on samadhi, but there are no books on pratyahara, because it’s a practical technique. You should learn to withdraw your senses, to turn inward, because the senses make you contact the external world and that’s why you feel pain and pleasure. You have to be free from pain and pleasure; you can be free!

Editor’s Note

Reprinted from Om the Eternal Witness, by Swami Rama.

At some point every human being becomes confused about his dharma or duty. Arjuna, a warrior who specializes in the science and art of war, should learn to practice and perform his duty, so Sri Krishna instructs him not to think of renouncing his dharma. Instead he shows him the path to follow in order to fulfil his dharma. For Arjuna, fighting the war is the only dharma that can open the gate of heaven for him. All heavenly joys can be experienced if one learns to perform his dharma. As it is used here, heaven means knowledge of the higher dimensions, which frees one from the apparent reality of the external world. All great traditions of the world conceive of a heaven that one may attain after death. But those who understand the science and art of death and dying can glimpse the life hereafter while still living.

When one learns to study the past, present and future as different parts of one whole, he can have a vision of life hereafter, for whatever one was before, that he is today, and the way one directs the course of his life today will create his future. After death the individual soul does not go to heaven or hell but remains in the atmosphere created by his habit patterns. Negative habits lead to unpleasant experiences, which are called hell, and positive habits lead to pleasant or heavenly experiences. Heaven is a predetermined factor that one creates in his unconscious where the habit patterns of merit and demerit remain lively. No external agent can force another to go to hell or heaven. Heaven and hell are realities that one creates with his thoughts, deeds, and habit patterns.

Editor’s note

This passage has been taken from the book Perennial Psychology of the Bhagavad Gita, pp 70 – 71, by Swami Rama, published 1985 by the Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy of the USA.

Bhakti is a powerful path for learning to channel one’s emotional power, which arises from desires. Desires themselves spring from the four primitive urges—the drives for food, sex, sleep, and self-preservation, which exist in every living creature. But there is another inborn force within us that does not arise from these primitive foundations—the drive to know, experience, and enjoy Truth. It is this drive which gives rise to devotion and bhakti.

When the force and power of all our desires can be channeled toward the Divine, rather than toward attaining the charms of the external world, then love, the strongest force in the universe, lends its energy to the path. That love exists within all, and can be experienced when the mind is no longer dissipated by the ego and the objects of the senses. When the spark of that love is ignited, it can create a burning desire to experience union with the Absolute. That flame is capable of burning away all the little desires of life, until only one flame exists—the flame of devotion that burns eternally in the chamber of the heart.

This quality of one-pointed devotion can also be compared to a wave of joy and beauty that sweeps across all the little waves made by emotional distractions, and has such power that it can transform a human being. This is a state of surrender of one’s little self to a higher reality, in which one accepts oneself as being one with the Absolute. This is a subtle and profound transformation of the human heart. After this change has taken place, one does not necessarily have to stop his or her involvement with the world; instead, everything that is done is done with a new awareness. Then, everything becomes an act of devotion and worship, directed toward the Divine principle. One works, eats, talks, and sleeps—but these are no longer mundane activities. Instead, each of these actions is done with an awareness of the Divine and is transformed into an offering and a surrender of oneself.

Selfishness is the opposite of this process of surrender. When we are selfish, we seek to maintain the priorities of our own individual egos and personalities, and we deny the existence of any higher entity. This is why selfishness is so destructive to any sincere seeker on the spiritual path. When we are selfish we contract ourselves and think only in terms of “I, me, and mine,” which limits our ability to allow consciousness to unfold. When we expand our personalities through selflessness and surrender, we are actually allowing the expansion of consciousness and freeing ourselves from the prison of our own egos.

That is why love and non-violence are also so important on the path of bhakti. Learning to cultivate love on the human level in our daily relationships also serves to assist us in unfolding love for the Divine. Love expresses our awareness of the unity that exists within all. But it is very challenging to love, because it means surrendering all our expectations and demands. This concept of surrender does not mean surrendering ourselves to another person or allowing ourselves to be treated badly by others. Instead, surrender means surrendering the little self of the personality to the highest Self. When one cultivates this attitude, there is no sense of sorrow or deprivation, but only the desire to give and serve, and the ability to receive joy and delight from that process.

In the higher levels of bhakti and surrender, one actually begins to think of oneself as an instrument of the Divine, and every action is a means of expressing devotion. This is an unlimited and unconditional love for the Divine. When one lives in this state of consciousness, then many miracles and unusual things can be accomplished, because the seeker no longer thinks of himself or herself as separate from the One. This is the final stage of bhakti, in which one has united his or her consciousness with the Divine, and identifies with the Beloved.

Before this stage can be accomplished, however, there are preliminary levels in which one experiences bhakti from the perspective of duality and separation from the Divine. In many mystical traditions, the devotion of bhakti is expressed as the seeker’s longing for union with the Beloved. This theme can be found in the writings of some of the Christian saints, such as St. Teresa, and also in the devotion of Meera for Krishna. Many well known poets in the East, such as Kabir, Tagore, and Tulsidasa, also wrote beautiful devotional poetry that expressed their longing for union with the One.

Editor’s Note

Reprinted from Yoga International, Jan/Feb, 1992

Some people think that many men and women turn to married life only for the sake of security, motivated by selfishness and the fear of being alone. Actually, the institution of marriage exists for a much higher purpose; it is not simply a biological or emotional convenience. The great sages teach that marriage is more sacred than a mere contract or arrangement in which two people decide to get together and live with each other. Marriage has a goal, and both partners should have a common purpose, regardless of the country from which they come or their cultural, religious, philosophical or historical backgrounds. Everyone seeks happiness in life, but the problem is, how do we achieve a state of genuine happiness in the world, when everything around us in changing constantly? Whatever makes us happy will not last forever. This external world of people and objects is transient and impermanent. So how does a human being achieve a state of enduring happiness?

Most people wait for others to make them happy, and they think that at some specific point they will achieve happiness – when they are married on a child is born or they purchase a home. But none of these joyful events creates lasting happiness. Thus, the mind itself creates suffering, because it harbours expectations that are unrealistic – the only real happiness lies within.

We expect marriage of family life to make us happy, but this institution is not the goal itself, it is only a means to a deeper happiness. If two people share this understanding, then they can enjoy their married life with a sense of contentment, rather than expectation.

The highest aim of life is to possess the deeper happiness that is eternal, undisturbed, and unchanging. To achieve such happiness, human beings need to understand not only themselves, but others as well.

In ancient times men and women did many experiments and finally decided to live together with a certain understanding in the arrangement that we call marriage. In Persian the world for marriage is cushy, which also means “happiness”. In Sanskrit the word for marriage is vivaha, which signifies that two people have decided to tread their paths together and attain the highest state of happiness in this lifetime.

But I have observed that all too often, marriage does not lead to such happiness. Rarely have I seen a genuinely happy couple. Couples often come to see me smiling, and I feel very happy when they affirm their love for one another. The first question I ask them is whether they love each other, and they usually insist that they do, but often after some time passes, I discover that their claims are false. I have tried to understand the root cause of this superficial level of commitment and insincere life, and I have found that the cause lies in their individual selfishness.

When people decide to marry, they need to recognize that up to that point, they have lived alone, which is easy, because a single person can think only of himself or herself. Now, they must learn to live with each other. People who wish to marry should ask themselves, “Do I have the capacity to live intimately with this person? Can I adjust to him or her? Do I have the essential qualities that are needed to live with others –truthfulness, sincerity, faithfulness, tolerance, patience, acceptance, and self-sacrifice? Do I have the qualities that I will need to live peacefully with another person? If not, I must develop them, or I will not succeed in my marriage.”

Editor’s note

This passage has been taken from the book Love and Family Life, pp 13 – 15, by Swami Rama, published 1992 by the Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy of the USA.

When you have developed a still posture and when you have done the breathing practices, you have made the first preparations for the technique of meditation. Next you have to deal with your conscious mind. The moment you start meditating, your mind becomes very independent. The whole mind will come forward to fight with you. You also want to eventually come into touch with the unconscious. Psychologists have not yet found a way of taming the unconscious, of knowing its vast reservoir, of tapping the unconscious, the source of the infinite library within you. The unconscious mind brings up things that are of the past, such as images. In meditation you are trying to maintain that state that is in between, neither the past nor the future, but the present – this moment.

This is a battlefield within. A meditator has to face this battlefield. Meditation is not meant to be a battlefield, but you use it as a battlefield. Perhaps an image or sensation comes to your mind that you decide is good – or a memory of a boyfriend whom you have forgotten long ago comes into your meditation, and then you decide that is bad. Thus you fight with yourself – all your impressions from the conscious and unconscious mind come forward.

You think you are small, petty, and good for nothing – you condemn yourself because of the limitations of the mind. Therefore you need to purify the mind. You need to understand your mind and to make it one-pointed. You need to make your mind dynamic so that you do not think that you are limited. All your troubles are created in your mind. But the mind also has the capacity to lead you. It works both ways: if you do not know how to make use of your mind, it can create hellish problems for you; if you know how to use it, it can lead you to a kind of heaven. You can realize that hell and heaven are concepts created by your mind. There are no such physical places, according to yoga science. One is not punished and sent to hell; it is your mind that takes you there. Many times you experience hell here in this world – but your efforts with the mind can convert this hell into heaven, and then you can enjoy this life.

So the next step is learning to cultivate sankalpa, determination: that feeling “I will do it! I can do it! I have to do it!” no matter what happens. You make the effort with full determination. It is not like being forced by any outside authority; you are committing yourself, and this is your sankalpa, or resolve. You cannot attain anything without sankalpa. There are many intelligent students that do not have sankalpa, and that is why they lack confidence. They may be brilliant, but they do not have self-confidence, because they do not have sankalpa. They never disciplined themselves, so they lack sankalpa shakti.

Sankalpa shakti is a power. Without shakti you cannot be successful. All the great ones on the earth needed shakti; there was a shakti behind them to inspire them. Without inspiration even the greatest ability is scattered. If you do not have sankalpa shakti, no mere technique imparted by either your teacher or the  scriptures will help you. The teacher can give you all the techniques, but if you do not have sankalpa, nothing will happen.

Sankalpa is determination. Willpower is a one-pointed mind plus determination. The more one-pointed your mind and the more determined you are, the more you have willpower; if these two things are absent, then you have no willpower. Usually you do not have enough concentration or determination to develop willpower, but you can build your dynamic will, and then you can do wonders.

The first aspect of shakti that you can see is not kundalini herself, but sankalpa shakti. One aspect of the great power of manifestation and creation is actually sankalpa shakti, or determination. You can reduce a mountain into a molehill, or you can magnify that molehill into a mountain, with sankalpa shakti.

Editor’s note

This passage has been taken from the book Path of Fire and Light: Volume 2, pp 117 – 119, by Swami Rama, published 1988 by the Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy of the USA.