Category: Swami Rama

July 5, 1990

I pray to the Divinity within you.

This day of Guru Purnima is a great day which is considered to be a spiritual day to celebrate the reverence to the noble heritage of the spiritual knowledge. This day makes the aspirant aware that the light of knowledge is eternally flowing, and overflowing internally and externally both. This day reminds us not to be caught by snares of the charms and temptations of the world, but to discharge one’s own duties selflessly, lovingly and skillfully. And do not forget that the aim and purpose of life is to attain enlightenment. It is a great day for the spiritual seekers, and it is enjoyed traditionally by all aspirants who follow the tradition of spirituality.

That which dispels the darkness of ignorance is called guru. Deva means bright beings. The bright beings that emanate knowledge and love with mind, action and speech with spontaneity is a light divine.

This day we all celebrate in honor of our spiritual teacher with great joy. May the Lord of Heavens bless us on this day so that we remain aware of our spiritual goal till the last breath of our life. This day reminds us that we have to attain our goal here and now.

God bless you all.

Peace, Peace, Peace

Faith and determination are two essential rungs on the ladder of enlightenment. Without them enlightenment can never be realized. Without faith we can attain some degree of intellectual knowledge, but only with faith can we see into the most subtle chambers of our being.

Determination is the power that sees us through all frustrations and obstacles. It helps in building the will power that is the very basis of success within and without. It is said in the Scriptures that with the help of sankalpa shakti, the power of determination, nothing is impossible.

Shakti is behind all the great works done by the great leaders of the world. When the power of determination is not interrupted, one inevitably attains the desired goal.

Decide that no matter what happens, you will do what you set out to do. If you are determined, possible distractions will still be there, but you will continue on your path and remain undisturbed.

Sankalpa (determination) is very important. You cannot change your circumstances, the world, or society to suit you. If you have strength and determination, you can go through the procession of life very successfully.

Be confident, self-reliant, and always say to yourself “I will do it. I can do it. I have to do it.” These confirmations build the power of determination, or sankalpa shakti.

Editor’s note

This is an excerpt from Sadhana, The Essence of Spiritual Life by Swami Rama, Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science & Philosophy, New Delhi, India, 1996, pages 34 – 35.

Vairagya is translated variously as nonattachment, detachment, or dispassion. It should not be confused within difference, lack of emotion, lifelessness, numbness, or anything of that sort. Vairagya is hardly in difference or numbness. Vairagya is a vibrant, open, expansive way of living. It would more accurately be described as love, as a wonderful energy of openness, freedom, joy, giving, selflessness, and fearlessness.

That is vairagya.

The Vedantic philosophy of vairagya says you own nothing, so there is nothing to fear. Everything you need for the purpose of life is there in abundance. There is no reason to be possessive and selfish. There is no reason to worry. Just live life as fully as possible with what you have. Jesus said it clearly: “Take no thought of your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than meat, and the body more than raiment?

“Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

“And why take you thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Therefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast in the oven, shall he not more clothe you, oh you of little faith?

“Therefore, take no thought saying what shall we eat? Or, what shall we drink? Or, wherewithal shall we be clothed? Your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things.

“But first seek the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all things shall be added unto you.”

Don’t fret over the things of the world. They are not there to be acquired and hoarded. They were meant to meet spiritual needs. If spiritual progress is the focus of life, everything you need, whether it is a lot or a little, will be there. Vairagya is an expression of this faith.

Technically the word vairagya means control over desires. As Buddha explained, desires are the cause of suffering in the world. Buddha meant desires in a broader sense of attachment as well. Desires hook and attach people to things and to others, making them dependent and defining the meaning of life. Suffering is the only result. Therefore, to rise above suffering, according to Buddha, rise above desires. To rise above desires sounds impossible, or not even healthy or human, but it is possible to control and transcend desires.

In the Vedantic philosophy there is only One, pure consciousness, Atman, Brahman, or however It is defined. If that is true, then desires are irrelevant, because there is nothing to desire that isn’t already there. The one who desires is also what is desired.

The reality of human existence is that as long as we don’t fully identify ourselves with Atman, we will have desires. The route to Atman is through overcoming these desires. That requires vairagya, which has two paths, the path of renunciation or the path of fulfilment and selfless action. There is also a third, or middle path, which is to balance renunciation and fulfilment.

Editor’s note

This is an excerpt from Sacred Journey, by Swami Rama, Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust, 2002, pages60 – 61.

You have to understand your mind properly in its totality. You have to know yourself within and without both. It is very easy to know yourself provided you want to. You are trying to escape. You are afraid of knowing yourself. From childhood onward you are trained to see and examine things in the external world. Nobody teaches you to look within, to find within, or to see within. You are a stranger to yourself, and others are also strangers to you. Two strangers make promises to each other, smile, talk, and establish home, and then create disaster for themselves in society. This is going on all over the world. Life as it is seems to be summed up with one word – relationship – relationship in the external world and relationship within. How is your body related to your breathing being, to your thinking being, and then to your consciousness? How is individual consciousness related to other individuals and to the whole universe?

Although the body and mind are two separate unites the work together. Your body is related to your mind with the help of two guards called inhalation and exhalation. The day they do not work together, these two units fall apart. The mortal part (your body, your breath, and your conscious mind) separates from the partially mortal self (the unconscious mind) and the immortal self (the jiva or individual soul). When the mortal self is separated from the partially mortal self and the immortal self, that is death. Death means separation of the body, senses, and conscious mind from the unconscious mind and the soul. Death occurs the moment the breath stops functioning. People worry and talk about death so much and are so afraid of it, they do not want to think about or understand or analyze what death is. Death is a habit of the body. Death is very peaceful, but fear of death is very painful. Let me tell you one thing: if you are waiting to die, you will be sorry. Death never changes your inner personality; it never helps you. Just as sleep does not change your financial condition, death does not change your personality. You have to learn to transform your personality here and now by understanding not only body, breath, and conscious mind, but also both parts of the unconscious – active and latent. Death means separation, not complete annihilation. You still live after you cast off your body. Which part of you lives? The unconscious mind, the reservoir of all your samskaras – the impressions of your merits and demerits, whatever you have done – continues to live. The unconscious mind is a vehicle for the soul. All of your acts dwell in this reservoir as a memory. It is just like starting another day. Today you are the same as you were yesterday. Sleep makes you forget some things, but that which is useful you still remember. Those impressions that you stored from your past – from yesterday, from the day before yesterday, from last year, from your whole life, from several lives – every impression that you received in the past, you have stored in the unconscious mind.

Those who are yogis recognize the people they have known before. For them the previous life is like yesterday. It is an interesting subject: my master used to check me when he was training me. It became a serious problem for me when he taught me this. I would meet somebody I had known in a previous life. That person who in a prior life was a great enemy, in this life had become a great friend. Why? To fulfil his animosity. The person who was a great enemy, now became a friend, and the person who was a friend, now became an enemy. It was very difficult for me to adjust: I was suspicious of everybody and I could not relate. Many times the impressions of two or three lifetimes came in front of me and they were very vivid.

You do not go to heaven or hell after death, but you live in your habit patterns. You go with your habit patterns, with your unconscious. That is a vehicle for the individual soul, or jiva. The unconscious mind stays with you. You are called an individual because you have an individual vehicle that has been formed by your individual habit patterns, impressions, desires, and motivations. One human being’s habits are not like the habits of any other human being. You are different, not because of different thinking, but because of different behaviour, different desires, motivations, impressions, and samskaras. All individuals have the vehicle of the unconscious even after death. That is where impressions, samskaras, and desires remain. Without knowing your samskaras you cannot purify yourself, you cannot train yourself, you cannot realize the wisdom that you have carried from your past lives or from your childhood.

Who created these samskaras for you? You resign and say that God has created you as you are and nothing can be done. You think you cannot be transformed, you cannot be helped, so you pray. Suppose food is offered to you and you are hungry and you eat. You could say, Oh, Lord, this is your grace. That would be very good. Instead you say, Lord, digest my food. Please chew for me, please circulate my blood properly. This is not going to help you. It is just like trying to churn oil from sand. A human being has the power to understand his own existence and the universal existence, that eternal Truth which exists itself.

Editor’s note

This is an excerpt from Yoga, The Sacred Science, Volume 1, by Swami Rama, Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust, 2002. Chapter “Nirodhah means to cultivate, to coordinate all the aspects of your mind,” pages 72 -74.

The Ten Commitments of Raja Yoga

In order to attain the highest state of consciousness, or samadhi, Patanjali describes eight rungs on the yoga ladder. The first two rungs are ten commitments – not commandments, but commitments. You do not have to be commanded to follow them by some teacher, yogi, sage, or scripture. You should be committed to them because you know what you are doing. So first, learn to know what you are doing; then start following. A blind follower will not arrive anywhere. On this path you come in touch with two sets of commitments: yamas and niyamas. One set helps your communication with others, the other improves your internal being.

Be truthful, be kind, be nice, be gentle – in my childhood I learned those lofty ideals by heart. But I did not know how to practice them, for they are merely words that we use to console ourselves and others. So my master said, “You should learn ‘no’ – that is, do not lie, do not do that which is not to be done, do not think that which is not helpful.”

So first your teacher introduces you to the real teacher within you, which is called your conscience. Then you start counselling within: “I should not do this because it is not helpful. This is creating an obstacle for me.” The teacher inspires you, gives you strength – that strength which is already within you. The teacher introduces you to your own conscience and says, “My child, look within and be guided by this.”

I can assure you, however, that the day you start counselling within, you will make mistakes. But so what? Life is not meant to be lived by “don’t.” You have to make mistakes, and you have to learn from your mistakes. But they should not be repeated. Otherwise, confession has no meaning: “I confess. Please forgive me, my Lord” – and again I repeat my mistake and again I confess. This is not repentance. Great are they who learn from their own mistakes and don’t repeat them. Not repeating is real repentance.

The yamas, the first rung of Raja yoga, are: ahimsa – a means “no”; himsa means “killing, hurting, harming, or injuring;” satya – not lying, not doing things against one’s own conscience; asteya – non-stealing, not having any thought coloured by greed, which makes one selfish and egotistical; brahmacharya – celibacy of mind, action, and speech for monks and having control over sexual appetites for the householder; aparigraha – not expecting gifts and favors from others, as well as keeping the mind free from wanting to possess things that belong to others.

The niyamas are: saucha – cleanliness of both body and mind; santosha – being content with the fruits you receive from doing your duties; tapas – not allowing the senses to contact the objects of the world and thus create obstacles on the path of spirituality (senses dissipate the mind, and when the mind is dissipated you cannot attend to work properly); svadhyaya
– study of the sayings of the great sages, study of the scriptures as taught by Self-realized and competent teachers, and study of one’s own internal states, actions, and speech; Ishvara-pranidhana – being aware of the Reality, witnessing the center of consciousness within, surrendering the individual soul before the universal soul, or expanding the individual consciousness into cosmic consciousness.

These ten commitments of yoga science prepare you to communicate with people outside and to be composed and tranquil within. Then you can start doing your work, start treading the path within – from gross, to subtle, to the subtle most center of your being.

Editor’s note

This is an excerpt from Inspired Thoughts of Swami Rama, The International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy of the U.S.A., 1983.

The most ancient traveller in the universe is love. It is love that travels from the unknown to the known, from eternity to eternity.

Those who want to realize the greatest delight should realize themselves in others. This is the definition of true love.

The spirit of love is boundless and emancipates our being from illusory bonds and superimpositions. It is unity that will lead us to Truth. That which is the beginning and the end of the phenomenal world is divine.

Loving somebody does not mean hating others. Remember this. If you love somebody, that means loving all. Your love should travel toward expansion, not toward contraction.’

Learn to love others and demonstrate your love through selfless action. This is very important. Try not to hurt others through speech. Dark words have no capacity to contain real feeling and love, for they are not containers. Love is immortal and needs an immortal container. People say that it is expressed through the heart; therefore, the heart is the center of love. I deny that. The soul, actually, is the real container of love, for the soul alone is the most ancient traveller, and so is love. They are one and the same.

There are two types of love: one can be expressed, and one can never be expressed or explained. Anything that can be explained is not deep love. Though we all try to express it in a million ways, it is in vain.

There is only one Reality without second, without any space, time, or causation. We call it love.

You talk of love. You always aspire to have love. You always want to be loved. If you really want to know what love is, there are two phrases: as life is to live, love is to give.

Usually love is mingled with selfishness. I need something, so I say, “I love you.” You need something, so you say you love me. This is what we call love in the world. Real love is when you do actions selflessly and spontaneously, and you don’t expect any reward.

Reverence is the first rung on the ladder of love.

Love is not mere contemplation of the truth, but suffering for it. Suffering is not punishment, but a reward and a gift of love. The reward is received when you are no more there.

May we light the fire of love that burns out the ego and enables us to pass from fearful fragmentation to fearless fullness in the changeless whole.

God bless you. God loves you, I love you, let you learn to love yourself.

Editor’s note

This is an excerpt from The Essence of Spiritual Life by Swami Rama. Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust.2002.

When you practice meditation, initially you come in touch with yourself and all your thought patterns; you come to understand your inner dialogue. Then, you learn to discriminate—to select and reject; and finally, you learn how to work with yourself. These seeds should be sown in childhood.

Instead, believers of all faiths, clinging to external rituals, impose their ideals on their children and force them to participate in their time-honoured customs. Children are taught to love and to worship pictures of Christ, Krishna, or other gods and goddesses, and sometimes even community or religious leaders. This does not help them to become independent or to acquire peace of mind. Children need to be taught how to cultivate divine virtues within themselves; they need to be taught how to look within, and how to find within in order to attain freedom. I think if everyone were to be given a spiritual education in childhood, they would have fewer problems living in the world. Without understanding the values of spirituality, with all its currents and crosscurrents, one becomes lost living in this jungle that is called world. The world is the real jungle; that which is considered to be the jungle is not the real jungle.

Most diseases originate in childhood. Children become ill because they have not learned the means of acquiring peace of mind. Why do you not lead your children to silence before they learn to be active? Mothers can do this if they are friends with their children. But these days mothers have no time. They go out and enjoy themselves while their children remain at home. The lack of communication between the younger generation and the parents is creating great chaos. First of all, you have to learn to respect the family institution where parents become counsellors to their children, and where children accept their parents, not only as parents, but also as friends.

When you make meditation a part of your life, your children will follow your example. Exemplary education is very important for children. Children imitate their parents; you don’t have to teach them to meditate. Never do that. You should teach your children through example how to sit quietly and make their minds one-pointed. When you sit in meditation, your child will also come and sit next to you and pretend to do what you are doing. In this way the child will come to know what you are doing and will also form the habit of sitting with you.

Editor’s note

This is an excerpt from Let the Bud of Life Bloom: A Guide to Raising Happy and Healthy Children by Swami Rama.

Another fundamental practice is the cultivation of contentment. Many westerners grow up believing their lives ought to be perfect. That will not happen. That is not the nature of life. Life is always changing, shifting, decaying, dying. That is its nature. To accept and understand that is the way to contentment.

Life’s so-called setbacks, as well as its so-called victories, are the same from a spiritual point of view. When the disappointments of life come along, treat them as instructive. There is a dark side to life, and everyone casts a shadow. The shadow shows the way to light. Don’t hide from the shadow, but don’t try to cling to it either. Examine and accept your dark side. Treat your setbacks, misfortune, as well as victories and what you call good fortune, with the same equanimity.

Contentment is a wonderful way to stay focused and preserve energy. Discontent breeds unhappiness and negative emotions that expend energy and disturb concentration. This is not to say you should be satisfied.

Contentment and satisfaction are not the same. You should not be satisfied until the goal is reached. The journey should be made with contentment.

In abhyasa follow three golden rules:

1. Be aware of the goal and work toward it all the time.
2. Make the best use of your time.
3. Be happy in every situation in life.

Editor’s note

This is an excerpt from Sacred Journey, Living Purposefully and Dying Gracefully by Swami Rama. Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust. 2002.

You will have to practice for a long time. Abhyasa vairagyabhyam tannirodhah. Practice means repetition of the same thing again and again and again to form a strong habit. Habits are motivation in life. If you do not have determination to attain that which should be attained, if you are not constantly aware of that

Reality, how can you practice? You will feel lazy and you will not be able to sit in meditation.

There is one alarm in your system, something coming from within that guides all the time. There is one teacher within you call your conscience. Whenever you want to do something that should not be done, immediately from inside something says, Don’t do that. It silently says no. It is not a part of the mind. Rather it is your conscience that is telling your mind, whispering to your mind. You have been avoiding that. Habit patterns are so strong that the voice of silence, the voice of the conscience, is not heard. You do not need anyone from outside to tell you what not to do. You know that you should not lie; yet you lie. Once mind listens to these secret whispers, then you are introduced to the real teacher within, your own conscience. All teachings are meant for that day when you start listening to your conscience. It does not mean that you should not listen to the external teacher who is teaching you. Your teacher is trying to make you aware that there is something within you, a teacher within, who is a great friend. No matter who you are, your conscience is always there. If you learn to listen to the voice of the conscience, you can transform your whole personality. That conscience knows everything. No book can teach you; no teacher can teach you. Conscience knows and knows that it knows. Even when you go to a teacher to ask something, you draw your own conclusions and follow your conscience.

But you do not always listen to the teachings of your conscience. In fact, you are constantly killing your conscience. According to the great books, the greatest sin of all is to kill your conscience. After some time your conscience stops talking to you because you do not listen to it. You have ignored your conscience so much that it has become silent. It continues to witness your actions but does not say anything. Learn to listen to your conscience.

Editor’s note

This is an excerpt from Yoga The Sacred Science, Volume I, Samadhi, The Highest State of Wisdom
by Swami Rama. Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust. 2002.

Worrying is a disease you have acquired. You have been worrying your whole life and yet you are still alive. If you look at your past, you will find that your whole past was filled with worries, but you are still alive and you are smiling. Based on this experience, ask yourself not to be affected by worries. Worrying consumes your energy. Worrying is like a car in motion that is not going anywhere. Your mind is going through the thinking process, but you are not progressing. There are some people who really like to worry. They feel if they do not have any worries what is the point of living.

Mind control does not make you inert or desireless. Mind control makes you creative, well balanced, and skillful. It cannot prevent you from worrying, but it can help you to control and modify worries. No one can say they do not have worries, but some people can say, ‘Yes, I have worries, but I don’t allow them to affect me.’ You cannot enjoy anything if you worry. You cannot enjoy sleep, sex, food, or anything else. You cannot enjoy your very existence. You should learn to enjoy everything by not allowing any worries to affect you. When you have to do something, do it; do not keep it in your mind and worry about it. This is a very bad habit.

Editor’s note

This is an excerpt from Samadhi the Highest State of Wisdom: Yoga the Sacred Science by Swami Rama, published by Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust.