Category: Swami Ritavan Bharati

A Secret Yogi and his Sacred Journey

The events surrounding the departure of Pope Francis are not merely a time to look back with remorse, but to look forward, embracing the teachings we have received from the life of Pope Francis. We now have a sacred opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to the sacred journey emblematic in his life. This reverie of his life is an invitation for us to journey together, bringing together all faith traditions, and drawing ever closer to the ultimate truth and joy that our beloved form of Divinity has illuminated as the path for us all.

Pope Francis was the People’s Pope who maintained a deep personal prayer life of active contemplation. Through his many encyclicals, he addressed matters of faith, righteousness, morals, and social justice recalling the accountability of conscience as primary in one’s actions. He maintained an emphasis on interfaith harmony and dialogue and had sent an invitation to Swami Veda Bharati to be a delegate to the Vatican for Interfaith Dialogue. Since it was received after Swamiji had left his body in 2015, the invitation was acknowledged with regrets. Pope Francis promoted peace and dialogue among different religions and cultures, urging individuals to collaborate in building a more just and peaceful world. We can honor Pope Francis’s legacy by living with the integrity he embodied through humility, mercy, and purpose. Together, we can create a world filled with peace and understanding, guided by the eternal wisdom of Truth.

We invite each member of our global spiritual family to reflect on their life and renew their faith. We are reminded by the life of Pope Francis that transformation can be realized when dedicating one’s life to God and trusting in the saintly influence of Francis of Assisi. Through such profound love he showered upon the world, let us renew our commitment to his vision of a world united in love, mercy, and peace.

We invite all initiates to offer prayer by way of their japa of Akhanda-mandala-karam… dedicated to the Guru Force that has been manifest in Pope Francis as prayer for a loving transformation.

Editor’s Note:

Now, please take time to meditate and reflect on the truths offered in the attached pdf document on Pope Francis and through the words of our Spiritual Master and Guides.

With overflowing joy and profound gratitude, we extend a heartfelt invitation to all members of the Guru’s family to unite in celebration, honouring the birth centenary of our revered Gurudeva, His Holiness Swami Rama. A beacon of ancient wisdom, he seamlessly wove the ancient teachings of yoga meditation from the Himalayan Masters into our lives.  As we celebrate and commemorate the centenary of his earthly presence in 2025, we bow in loving reverence.

In the year of 1969, Swami Rama’s Gurudeva, the venerable Bengali Baba ji, asked him to traverse westward, to share the sacred teachings of the Himalayan Tradition of yoga meditation with the masses. Leaving behind his beloved Himalayan mountains, he journeyed across the globe, igniting the flame of inner transformation within the hearts of countless students and initiates wherever he wandered. This flame continues to radiate brightly within us. His life is a testament to the transformative power of authentic yoga meditation, unfolding through unwavering dedication to one’s sadhana and the pursuit of Truth, under the benevolent guidance of the Guru. His divine wisdom and selfless love have illuminated the meditative path for innumerable souls over many decades, uplifting our spirits and guiding us toward peace, wisdom, and awakening.

This Centennial Year calls upon all initiates of the Himalayan Tradition and all disciples of the Lineage to renew their intention, their commitment, their sankalpa and sadhana to live in the world yet above, to live skilfully and selflessly without attachment embracing life as a means and not an end. Swami Rama taught us the art of joyful living that requires wisdom and courage.

Along with abhyasa and vairagya, this year is dedicated to the Guru by way of Swami Rama’s teachings. He reminded us that life is both fleeting and precious, and not to waste time. He has taught us to translate all desires of life into a desire for the One, to seek Atman, the eternal witness, and to discover the mystery of this life.

This centenary celebration is not merely a time to look back at the blessings and grace we have received from Swami Rama; it’s a sacred opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to this sacred journey. This is also an invitation for us to journey together in the footsteps of our Guru, drawing ever-closer to the ultimate truth and joy that our beloved Guru has illuminated for us.

May this Centenary Year be a time of renewal and transformation for all of us, as we deepen our connection to the divine within and around us. Let us honour Swami Rama’s memory by living with integrity, compassion, and purpose, and by supporting one another on this sacred journey. Together, we can create a world filled with peace, harmony, and understanding, guided by the eternal wisdom of our Gurudeva.

We invite each member of our global spiritual family to take part in the various events and gatherings planned throughout this new year, where we can share our stories, learnings, and experiences. Let us celebrate the profound love Swami Rama has showered upon us and renew our commitment to his vision of a world united in love and peace. In doing so, we ensure that his light continues to shine brightly for generations to come.

Editor’s Note:

Swami Ritavan invites and strongly encourages all initiates and disciples to plan to dedicate this year to the Guru Force with a prayer for a loving transformation within. You may write to him at SwamiRitavanBharati@gmail.com

Meditate silently and meditate lovingly, where love and silence are one and the same.  The secret of love is revealed through meditation in silence. When you quiet the noises of the mind that is silence.  When you pacify destructive emotions that is love.  The two are one and the same. May your commitment to your spirituality and your commitment to loving become the commitment you make in thoughts, speech and actions toward others through expanding your capacity to love.

Meditation introduces you to the center of consciousness which is the source of light, life, and love. Meditation makes you aware and gives you the direct experience of your finest self that reveals perennial love. Meditation is that path leading beyond the body, senses, breath, conscious mind, and unconscious mind, and then to the center of consciousness. Meditation is this inward journey and a journey without movement. This journey of the self through the self to the Self, reveals the means to “know thy self”.  Meditation is a method of self-inquiry, self-understanding, and self-analysis that leads to self-control and self-enlightenment. By way of training the distracted mind, such a purified mind becomes free from all disturbances and obstacles. A one-pointed mind experiences inner peace, tranquillity, and silence leading to the center of consciousness and the source of infinite love, your essential nature.

Meditation may be a withdrawal when you close your eyes, but when you open your eyes from meditation, there is a fountain that gushes forth from you through your eyes. Eyes so satiated as though drinking the amrita—sweet honey of this “ever-so-sweet world.” Find the source of your lovingness within.

May you love your meditations and may your loving nature become your meditations.

With blessings of the Himalayan Lineage,
srb

Guided Meditation (from a series of specialty meditations by Swami Veda Bharati)

Come to the place where you are sitting.  Be aware only of the space that your body is occupying from head to toe.  Be aware only of this moment in time.  Let your awareness turn to the subtler essences of your being.  Be alone.  Be in solitude.  Dwell by the self within the self.  Gently scanning the inner recesses of your being come in touch with the subtle essences of your being.  Be aware of that field of life energy that occupies the same space as your body.  The way magnetism occupies the same space as the lump of iron.  As the electric flow occupies the same space as the conducting wire. So your life energy occupies the same space as your body.

Become aware of the flow of the totality of your life energy as a field in which the body is being charged continuously.  When you become aware of the suffusion of life energy, your breath flows as though it is flowing through your entire body.  As though your entire body is breathing from top to toes and toes to top.  Feel as though your breath is flowing through your whole body.

Remaining inwardly tuned, I join my palms before my heart and bow my head;

With all the love of the heart;

With all the power of action in the hand;

With all the thought in the head;

I give you my love and worship the deity who is within you.

God bless you.

Jyotir Bhava: Illuminating Joyful Living

“May all the lights you see remind you of your self-luminous soul.

Seated in the lotus of the heart, pray to that, the source of light, love, and happiness.”

We have gathered here, in solemn remembrance and joyous celebration, as we recall the teachings of our Himalayan lineage through our Master Gurudev Swami Rama and the life of our beloved saint, Swami Veda Bharati, and through so many others to whom we give gratitude in appreciation.

Who are these masters and saints and spiritual guides influencing our life journey? Mysteriously they entered into our lives, like a whisper upon a breeze. And before we knew it, they were in our hearts. Yet, perhaps they were always there and we did not know.

We are blessed with the love and light of our guru-guided path through those words: Love, Serve, Remember.  We remain steadfast to continue on the path of light serving selflessly as our expression of gratitude.  The essence of sacrifice is giving selflessly. It is a complete expression of love in the true sense. We have learned to be content with our essential needs fulfilled using our resources in service of others.

We are all here for a purpose; it is an ongoing spiritual process. We are all here for spiritual liberation and to serve that mission. This spiritual path, the Guru’s mission, is alleviating pain and suffering in the world. All pain and suffering arise from our mind: from the conflicts in our mind, from the selfishness in our mind, from the greed, anger, and desires in our mind. Meditation serves as a way to heal the wounded mind. So in your mind decide what area of the pain of the world you want to alleviate, by what means, and offer your services there with all your capacity. Today, let us resolve to consciously weave the fabric of our lives with waves of illuminating light.  Let Sadhana ignite hope in reforming and transforming our deep emotional patterns, deconditioning our minds, and to use the inner eye to “see” through the light of compassion, with empathy and understanding.

We are all aspiring to live a spiritual life, and we are linked through that spiritual aspiration to the Tradition and the mantra-seed that was planted is part of this beautiful garden of the guru-mind. We rejoice in this common-unity, this community that is with us always even when we are not aware of it. The beauty of this garden extends worldwide, embracing the entire global sangha.

Our sangha, spiritual community, is a single mind-field in which the stabilized personal minds, the stabilized lives of each of us, are as soft, gentle ripples in a calm lake.  So raise your level of consciousness.  Raise your level of awareness.  Let these Realities become your Realities.  You operate in the world knowing that this world then operates within another world, and you are in both worlds, so remain aware of both simultaneously.  You become aware of a heartfelt connection and linkage to the Tradition.

Tasmai shri gurave namah.

srb

Editor’s Note:

To know more about the 2024 American Sangha gathering, you may want to read

1) Experiences from the AHYMSIN U.S. Sangha by Dowlat Budhram – https://www.ahymsin.org/experiences-from-the-ahymsin-us-sangha/

2) Why I Will Joyfully Attend the Sangha of the Americas by Jenny May – https://www.ahymsin.org/why-i-will-joyfully-attend-the-sangha-of-the-americas/

3) A loving invitation to the Sangha of the Americas by Swami Ritavan Bharati – https://www.ahymsin.org/a-loving-invitation-to-the-sangha-of-the-americas/

4) AHYMSIN Sangha of the Americas – https://www.ahymsin.org/event/ahymsin-sangha-of-the-americas/

‘VITA-RAGA CHITTAM’ – THE DISPASSIONATE MIND-FIELD OF GURU

In the Yoga Sutras, the meditation practice prescribed in I:37, guides the disciple to concentrate on “yoking” uniting his mind with that of a sage, saint (guru).  This sutra of Patanjali offers an aspirant a methodical practice of purifying the mindfield by presenting a subtler object of concentration.  The object of concentration is the mindfield of those free from desires (vita-raga chittam). Such a method of meditation is honored as Guru-dhyana.

The meaning of this sutra rests in the experience of deep contemplation on the guru-disciple relationship. It is a practice of concentration (ekagra-chittam) on the presence of divine grace as light, love, and bliss. Guru’s light of knowledge dispels the darkness of ignorance and transforms mind-energy (chitta-shakti) revealing the highest consciousness (chit-shakti) and one’s true nature.

By continual practice (abhyasa) and dispassion (vairagya), the aspirant concentrates on the progressively subtle and subtler relationship with the Guru.  Thus, the dispassionate mind-field of the Guru, becomes the supportive factor in the aspirant’s meditation.

The personal (guru) mantra, as the seed of the guru’s mind, grows and replaces egotistical identity with a glimpse of the infinite cosmic mind.  It is the “dispelling of darkness” (gu-ru).  When the disciple, through constant and faithful practice, makes firm the ground of his meditative state (samadhi), the knowledge of that level of awareness in the Universal mind-field (samasthi-chitta), is at his disposal.   All relativity is dissolved into the substratum of pure love, and the liberated disciple knows himself to be Pure Consciousness.

The disciple slowly refines the mantra through continuous, unbroken practice for a long time with deep sincerity (I:14).  By cultivation and absorbing the meaning of mantra (I:28), he attains the realization of the inwardly conscious Self (I:29, II:26).  At this stage, the mantra begins to lead the disciple through the increased power of the disciple’s own free volition.  Upon refining the mantra through these stages of cognition: as idea and feeling, the disciple no longer repeats the mantra mentally.  He hears the mantra with his whole being as though his whole being is an ear through which he listens.  In this stage of ajapa-japa, the mantra starts absorbing all other content of mind.  The highest level of mantra absorption (samapatti) is described by Swami Rama as “the mantra becomes an ocean of bliss in which the mind is floating.”

On the spectrum of progress in meditation, mind reflects the same light for the light of knowledge has never ceased. Knowledge is knowledge, enlightenment is always present. Only when the disciple is attached to and identifies with the objects reflected by the light does mind’s awareness recognize the ‘raga’ the spectrum of colors as impure mind. As one cultivates deeper states meditative awareness, a process unfolds from exterior to the interior self-identification of consciousness.

According to this meditation in the Himalayan Tradition, the disciple reaches the highest level of consciousness when the guru, disciple, and mantra become One.  This level of unitary consciousness is identified by Swami Rama Tirtha as “I am You”, (Twam Aham), and evolves to “I Am” (Aham).

The bhakta poet Kabir describes this stage in the following verse:

“When I was, then you were not; when you are, then I cease to be. This lane of love my friend is very narrow, two cannot walk on it abreast.”

Om Tat Sat

Yoga Year 2024-25

Yoga Meditation is the song of your soul, the sweetness of being. The music of your mind is the melody of feelings, and the music of your heart is the rhythm of emotions. The music of your soul is bhava and the subtlest is mantra. When your thoughts settle, when your emotions calm, when the entire mind is pure, the soul sings in the most inaudible, pleasant, and loving manner. A quietness that is so sweet, a savoring that attracts your attention within to experience your essence. This unified experience of aliveness-of being – this bhava is your most natural state, your mind in samadhi.

In each meditation, let the current of that mind-energy, that light and vibration arise from that willful source.
Let it move the prana, thereby moving the air that becomes your breath.
Go back to that connection, start your entrance right where you have emerged from it into the world of forms, and trace it back by the same pathway.
Trace it back, now, at this moment.
Just feel the flow and the touch of your breath in your nostrils.
Let it become an awareness of that oceanic current that in this form, is sending forth its rhythm through your embodied form.
Let the Mantreshvaras, Lords of the Mantras, send forth a stream of consciousness, mantra stream, breath stream, and awareness stream flowing as one stream, the flow as a single unconditioned, formless, effortless stream of consciousness.
In this most natural state of mind, you will understand Yoga is Samadhi.

As you transition and arise from your meditation seat, invite the mantra to be that aliveness that carries the flow of the perennial witness throughout your day.  What you have experienced in meditation, this experience of bhava, is your purpose of being, your life philosophy. Resolve to apply these sentiments to your attitudes and behavior as your life psychology.  Let these natural sattvic sentiments arise; the sentiments of loving, sharing, humility, and contentment arise to become the message of yoga through your sadhana each day of this Yoga Year 2024-25.

With homage to the living Lineage of the Tejo-rishis of our Yoga Tradition,

Swami Ritavan Bharati

Jyoti Bhava: Illuminating Joyful Living

“We are members in the spiritual body of the Gurus. Their life-force, their grace flows through us. Our own minds grow in this grace only when we remember that in all our work we are serving as members, as organs, of that Spirit.” – Swami Veda Bharati

As constituents of this Sangha, connected by the radiant presence of the Guru, we aspire to come together regularly to tread the path towards spiritual enlightenment. Gathering with reverence, we contemplate our individual paths, plan our future steps, and fortify our resolve for profound dedication to our spiritual practices and to the Guru’s Mission we serve.

I am thrilled to extend my personal invitation to all members of the Guru family to join us at the beautiful St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, USA from July 25th to August 3rd, 2024, as we commemorate the 25th anniversary of our inaugural Sangha Gathering at this very location with Swami Veda Bharati.

Recognize the source of yearning, and listen to the pleading of your soul. Listen to the inner call and receive the blessings of the Tradition deepening your sadhana during this unique gathering of like-minded seekers. Through daily yoga and meditation sessions, and inspired teachings, you will renew and transform your knowledge, and experience the deepening silence of introspection and contemplation enhancing the clarity of your spiritual journey.

Our theme for this special gathering will be ‘Jyoti Bhava: Illuminating Joyful Living’. There will be daily presentations by senior members of the Tradition offering valuable insights into the practice of Mantra Sadhana (japa & ajapa japa), the eight limbs of yoga, upayas (spiritual practices), chitta-prasadana (purification of consciousness), and ishwar-pranidhana (surrender to the divine). These teachings serve as a guiding light, inspiring participants to embrace joyful living and cultivate a deeper understanding of the Self.

“May all the lights you see remind you of your self-luminous soul. That Divine Force pervades and permeates everything, animating all living beings. Seated in the lotus of the heart, pray to that, the source of light, love, and happiness.” – Swami Veda Bharati

Editor’s Note:

To know more about the 2024 American Sangha gathering, you may want to read

1) Experiences from the AHYMSIN U.S. Sangha by Dowlat Budhram – https://www.ahymsin.org/experiences-from-the-ahymsin-us-sangha/

2) Why I Will Joyfully Attend the Sangha of the Americas by Jenny May – https://www.ahymsin.org/why-i-will-joyfully-attend-the-sangha-of-the-americas/

3) Sangha Blessings by Swami Ritavan Bharati – https://www.ahymsin.org/sangha-blessings/

4) AHYMSIN Sangha of the Americas – https://www.ahymsin.org/event/ahymsin-sangha-of-the-americas/

[Swami Ritavan completed a weeklong seminar on Intensive Meditation that was well received by those attending where he introduced the importance of rasana-buddhi. Through mindfulness and meditation, the experience of any perception can be transformed through entry into the subtle body and experiencing the sacred in buddhi. This art of joyful living will be the subject of the upcoming 10-day Entrance to the Subtle Body seminar at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama, Rishikesh from 25th February through 5th March.]

Entering the subtle realms of Mind in the Buddhi

There is a word in the Sanskrit language. The word is RASA. The word, rasa means a juice, the flavor, as the essence. Rasa means that essence as the experience. That which you taste, not merely the object of taste but the object of taste, the process of tasting, and the experience of tasting.

The object of taste, the process, the interaction that occurs between the one who is tasting and that which is being tasted, and the experience of taste itself. The sense and the experience of the juice. The sensation of the experience and the juice of what you are tasting all combine together – not as divided ideas but as a singularity that is called RASA. And, when you know the art of tasting, the art of experiencing the juice, the flavor, the subtlest possible essence, then you know the art of life.

We have lost the art of enjoying life. In the ancient texts of the meditative tradition, there are some passages; and in the Bhagavad Gita 4:24, the verse Brahmar Panam… That (Brahman – God) is rasa. Brahman is the flavor, Brahman is the essence of everything. All pleasure that flows from Brahman, and Brahman alone remains. When any pleasure becomes an experience of Unified Consciousness- a Divine presence, then you are experiencing, you are enjoying, RASA. The yogi lives in the mental field of that RASA, that essence, that ecstasy, that flavor, that juice of universal existence — becomes so blissful. When you are enjoying your food, when you go to its subtle-most essence, you are then enjoying that omnipresent God which being omnipresent is also in the food.

People try to derive pleasure by paying attention to the object of enjoyment. The term RASA implies that you concentrate on the experience itself, not only on the object.
There are two sources of pleasure.

1. One source is restraint so that you engage slowly with awareness from moment to moment.
2. The other source of pleasure is concentration itself, absorption of the experiencer, the object of the experience, and the process of experiencing.

Moment to moment concentrate on the smallest, the littlest taste bud that has been touched. The RASA is the essence, revealing the universal principle, Brahman – God, the ever-present omniscient consciousness.

Then you have understood how to enjoy in the totality principle and this is the art of enjoying.

A yogi, whose awareness rests in atma-artha operates from the rasana-buddhi and is called a RASIKA — the enjoyer. It is a term used in the ancient literature as the enjoyer. The yogi’s game is the whole universe. He plays with universal consciousness as a game called reality. He can change water into wine, or feed a multitude out of five loaves. What a game, what a play, what ecstasies he enjoys and experiences.

The entire essence of the experience of body and mind is hidden in the subtlest faculty of buddhi. When the sattvic buddhi is filled with light, the rasa – enjoyment of this sublime illumination, becomes the flavorful juice(amrita) that assimilates into the entire personality. This nectar of immortality-rasa drop by drop is introduced throughout the body and mind as the experience of aliveness. The essence of our entire sense experience becomes a light, drop-by-drop, sent forth through every possible cell of the body. Then one enjoys not only the objects of senses but that faculty of mind from which enjoyment proceeds. His joy is not in the sensual pleasure of the physical act. Only the novice is aware of that enjoyment in a physical object. He is the master who enjoys the very principle that enjoys. That principle is rasana-buddhi, and that rasana-buddhi is the reflective mirror of the Atmartha, where Atman remains Brahman as pure Consciousness.

It is with that experience within the buddhi that the modification or alternations may occur through the practice of mindfulness and meditation. By imbuing any particular experience with something more pleasant, virtuous, sacred that the experience changes. Rightly or wrongly, by whatever samskaras and associations the experience changes. When you put the spiritual, the atmartha into that same normal ordinary meaningless experience, which caused attractions and aversions, the experience is transformed and now becomes a holy act.

To apply this principle in your life, there are two steps in your introspection, in your spiritual observation, examination, and analysis.

First ask yourself: “Does this emotion lead me to the sublime? Examine the feeling. and if not, then discard it for it is not worth pursuing. Next, ask yourself, does my present emotion lead others to the sublime?

These two questions are the basis of your examination and analysis: does it lead me to the sublime, and does this state of mind emanating from me lead others to the sublime? If not, discard it, It is not worth pursuing. When you have cultivated a sublime emotion within you, that sublime emotion becomes so filling, makes you so full that it overflows, you become so full, that you overflow with that- sublime emotion and carry everyone along who is near you into the flood of that emotion. Cultivating such a sublime emotion is an art; then you learn to learn this art of entering the subtle body and enjoying life.

(Adapted from HSP #2506 – 06-07-1984 from Yoga concept of God: Rasa – the Flavor of Essence by Swami Veda Bharati)

A – U – M the eternal pauseless transition moment-to-moment, year-to-year, life-to-next life, created, sustained, dissolved, reflected in the Transcendental Breath. The gift of life is light, the infinite’s delight. The gift of light is love, received in your sadhana as knowledge, devotion, and selfless actions.

This theme, “Aapo Deepo Bhava”, “Light thy own Lamp” has been our contemplation throughout the year. The theme of our Sangha gathering in Rishikesh was also the theme for the regional sangha retreats in Taiwan and Thailand. The light of mantra in meditation, the light of contemplation in the silence retreats of Europe and America, ignited the heart-flame of our initiates across the globe.

Far too often we remain hurried and worried, burdened and buried in habit patterns of desires and possessiveness. We seek freedom from this ignorance of hurt, harm, and hate, but we are unable to discover our innate goodness to support the qualities of non-attachment, forgiveness, sincerity, and truthfulness. This year we have searched our hearts for answers to free ourselves from the limitations of temporary distractions.

Let us resolve to consciously weave the fabric of life through the illumination of our sadhana that ignites hope in reforming and transforming our thoughts, speech, and actions. Resolve to use the inner eye that ‘sees’ with the light empathy and understanding to experience peace and harmony in our relationships.  We are blessed with the firmness of the Ganesha mantra to remain steady in our faith, and through prayer, meditation and contemplation, we continue on the path.

Sadhana ‘lights’ our intellect to reveal our samskaras and vasanas, and illuminates the path with intuition and inspiration from the higher force of Atman. We are continually reminded, from this Centre of Consciousness, to live with the light of purpose and attain the highest goal. Our sadhana remains our path to freedom, to train our intellect, and to reorganize our lives and transform our personalities.

With the Blessings of Gurudev, we are reminded to meditate, thus attuning to the inner light that cultivates a mind-culture of peace, harmony, and love. May your contemplations reveal this truth that the whole world is One family through our intention of loving-kindness and compassion. In this coming New Year, resolve to live in the world selflessly and effectively, becoming resourceful and enjoying the inner light that guides our lives in service of humanity.

With Blessings of the Lineage,
srb