Category: Swami Ritavan Bharati

Dear Beings of Light, our theme for the evening. And it will have two parts. First, a contemplation on illumination as the very birthright of your Being as the realization of becoming, and second, the experience of reuniting as dispelling the darkness of ignorance. On this pilgrimage from the self to the Self. And you will pass through the ignorance of causation and identification to again realize, awaken, and return to the pure light as the Consciousness—’That’ you are.

You had a most beautiful one this morning [referring to Rabindra’s session]. You might say a lullaby and song for your heart. The science of mantra is a living experience of enlightenment that awakens the consciousness darkened by ignorance.

So, a little background to this beautiful and experiential meditation. You’ll find it in Swami Veda’s book Kundalini: Stilled, or Stirred. Kundalini, the beautiful light of consciousness, and when ‘stilled’, an intensification in its subtlety. For this reason, “When I left the sun,” the narrative by Swami Veda, will be your meditation for the evening. It becomes a contemplation that naturally leads you inward, pulling and guiding you through the pilgrimage that eventually returns you to the source of light, the source of hiraynagarbha, the womb that births the sacred word, the living word, the word that is carried through transmission in our lineage. In the same manner that St. John has said in the Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, the Word was God.” A living lineage by way of understanding these subtle principles of mantra,‘man’, to think, and ‘tra’, to protect, to hold, to share and nourish. As you learned this morning about the nourishing aspect of the mantra, nourishment for the soul, nourishment for the heart, the nourishment for your personality to beautify your relationships.

Swami Veda’s pre-sanyasa name was ‘Usharbudh Arya’. ‘Usha’ is another name for the dawn. He is a holder of the dawn and was known as Pandit Usharbudh in his early years. During this time, he created one series of poems called ‘Hymns to the Mystic Light’. With this background, you can better understand the principle of mantra as word. Mantra is the vibration of consciousness that carries feeling that you recognize as your own being. A feeling that carries an identity of your self. Mantra has that illuminating quality that awakens of an internal light of being. Swami Veda would recall that when Swami Rama passed the diksha to him through that sacredness of the lineage, it felt like 10,000 suns radiating immense light. This is called the solar initiation. The lineage, through initiation, passes these principles of consciousness that awaken and draw us out of the darkness of misidentification and ignorance.

‘Light’ has been the greatest subject of adoration throughout human history, and addressed in the Rig Veda, the most ancient of the ancient scriptures of revelation. The lights shining in the skies must have attracted the attention of the Vedic sages, and thus they began to sing what was revealed through that revelation. And the coming of the light of dawn, after the darkness of night, gave them hope. And thus they referred to ‘Usha’, the dawn, when looking to recognize their own spiritual light. They knew that a subtler light of consciousness lay hidden in the shadows of perception. For those attending to the outer world, there were layers of light waiting to be discovered deep within the human soul. It is called ‘Jyoti’. We have just sung of that – tamaso mā jyotirgamaya. So Jyoti, the light of wisdom and truth, becomes manifest in the ideals of the spiritual life, and this became the ambition of those Vedic sages. The Vedic rishi realized the source of light, and the process of awakening, and the purification of the darkness of ignorance. In that state of awakening, the voice of God spoke to the ancient sage and enjoined him to guard the oath of light through non-harming, kindness and compassion. And they received mantras, as the oath of light. They received the revealed word to guard the path of light which wisdom had opened.

As an introduction to our pilgrimage and meditation, let me share a verse from Swami Veda’s narrative, “When I Left the Sun” that will also introduce our Sangha Mantra and the Vasudeva principle.

O fellow beams of light, have we journeyed so far, forgetting our birth as the light beams of that magnificent light, the sun. As sun rays we have been one with the light of the sun. As the sun rays, each of us, the sun rays, we have been one with the light of the sun. We, whose nature, in that illumination, in that nature is light and remains light. Whose nature is bliss, and always remains blissful, whose nature is sweet, sugandhim, and ever remains sweet. For your eternal nature is in that Lord, and that Lord dwells within you, Vasudeva. Your eternal nature is the Lord, and that Lord dwells within – Vasudeva.

On your pilgrimage along the spiritual path, you begin to recognize the depths of light you are pursuing. Such a person searches for the inner light when a calling arises, ‘know thy self’ in relation to the outer world, with its laws and with its causes and effects. And, one passes through many stages of transformation, thus eliminating the lower for the higher, the gross for the more subtle, merging the smaller into the greater, and uniting the small part of that personality into a wholeness, crossing the boundaries and loosening the ties of bondage until the outer world and inner world are realized as one. These infinite divine forces, these universal forces, are the forces within our personality. They are our experiences that express an inner craving, express that quest to know and to love and be loved. This is the quest of light, to be in light, with light, and experience the human fullness of that enlightenment as peace, happiness, and bliss. This inherent impulse, is felt in every human being, every living being, every sentient being. It is the impulse that becomes the breath. And in that impulse the thought of SoHam arises with each breath. Thus every human being can realize their true nature. The darkness of ignorance and confusion that surrounds, that veils, that diminishes the light of knowledge, remains the bondage to which we seek freedom.

Thus your true nature is light. Why would you claim knowledge in untruth, happiness in jealousy, friendship in harmful relationships, and freedom when living with fears? The darkness of untruth, the darkness of those angers and guilts and depressions hold on to the instinct of the fear of death. That abhinivesha is our primary attachment that maintains ignorance.

So aspire for truth that leads to immortality.

mṛtyormā amṛtaṃ gamaya

And from the shadow of darkness, that fear of death, lead me to the immortality.

oṃ asato mā sadgamaya
tamaso mā jyotirgamaya
mṛtyormā amṛtaṃ gamaya

Cross this ocean of darkness and you arrive at the shore of truth, goodness, and beauty. The very nature of the immortal one that you are.

Once again, dive within the very mindfield of your buddhi, your intelligence, not to use it superficially simply for judging or deciding, but for the power of that iccha shakti, the power of intention, the power of sankalpa, willpower. So as you resolve that “May the intention be in this life to awake and attain the purpose of life, to diminish the darkness of ignorance, to reveal the light of love.”

So as to now mentally recite Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudeva with full intention as purposeful life unfolds through these sacred words, through the sacred word, that illuminating and vibrating quality of the consciousness that is awakening and carrying you further and further on that pilgrimage. As a ray of light from the Center of Consciousness, you venture outward into the darkness to be lost, and then once again to be found and and thereby return to the light. That is what is called samsara. You, a being of light, venture out from that pure sun as a ray and become mingled and entangled in the darkness. And, you say, “I am darkness.” When the mantra is there to protect you, when the living lineage of the revealed word is there as your companion and guide, a moment will dawn when you understanding your life. With that awakening, you follow that light wave back to the source of light. You are the ray of consciousness returning to the Sun, the source of Consciousness. Let each meditation become this pilgrimage.

In this moment, relax, release, breathing out, letting go; and breathing-in rejuvenating, filling and fulfilling.
Smoothing out the breath rhythms and uniting the fractured mind into that one wave of the mantra thought. Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya mantra, Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya, as the japa of the special Sangha mantra, that prayer for humanity, the peace and internal joy of the minds of humanity.

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudeva,

Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti, Om.

Editor’s Note:

• Vasudeva Principle was the theme of the AHYMSIN Sangha Gathering in 2026.
• To learn more, kindly read the Vasudeva Principle by Swami Veda Bharati
• Swami Ritavan Bharati, the Spiritual Guide of AHYMSIN, gave the Vasudeva mantra (ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय। Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya) to the AHYMSIN Sangha on 4th March 2026 as the Sangha practice, and will be practiced by all the members of the AHYMSIN Sangha for the duration of three years, until the AHYMSIN Sangha Gathering in March 2029.
• To watch the live video of Announcement of the New Sangha Mantra by Swami Ritavan Bharati during the AHYMSIN Sangha Gathering 2026, kindly visit – AHYMSIN Channel on YouTube
• To learn the meaning of the Vasudeva mantra, kindly visit “https://www.ahymsin.org/om-namo-bhagavate-vasudevaya/” by Rabindra Sahu.
• To read the detailed meaning of the Vasudeva mantra, kindly visit https://www.ahymsin.org/meaning-of-vasudeva-mantra/ by Rabindra Sahu.
• To learn more about Lord Vasudeva, kindly read “Introduction to Lord Vasudeva” by Raghavendra Adiga.
• This article is a transcript of Swami Ritavan Bharati’s talk on 6 March 2026 during the AHYMSIN Sangha Gathering.

Om. Come to the awareness of your being. No conditions, forms, no past, no future.

You, the pure being, sitting now in that presence where body remains – head, neck, and trunk straight – breath flows. A gentle breath, deepening, smooth out that flow, where mind and breath now flow as a single stream of awareness. That stream thereby merging, that stream thereby submerging, finding that depth that is beyond the waves, experiencing those currents that are beyond the feelings, where at the riverbed, all that is flowing becomes still.

Enter that stillness.

And gently open your eyes, remaining in that presence.

We talk about presence, but what is presence other than this solitude, a stillness within the movement, a solitude that has brought the dualities and multiplicities into some essence of a wholeness, a wholeness that is the reflective joy of your true nature. In the anandamaya kosha, that sheath of your personality that is really so near and dear, the sheath of your being, by way of a personality that carries a joy, that carries a sense of that joy that is not conditioned by the waves. So, I am so happy to be no longer surfing. The waves are there, no doubt, but you are starting to dive and you are going deeper and you are finding nothing. That’s the best way.

But you are finding your answers. Because you have come here with a question and most of you, with many questions because life is life. Every day the questions of what to do, how to do, when to do, who to do it with, you are now diving into a depth of, yes, that is life. But there’s something to me that has this solitude, this beautiful sweetness of life that is beyond these waves, where it has a depth, and it’s beyond even these currents that you feel of a sense of depth by way of feelings. Because the feelings shape the thoughts and the thoughts shape the actions. So, you’re going back from the actions and the reactions, no doubt, to the thoughts that have preceded, to the feelings that have nurtured those thoughts by way of now a deeper aspect of the feelings in your habit patterns, your samskaras, that which you’ve already put in yourself as an experience. The pleasures of life are many, but also are the pains. So, we are taking them both as a reality. Yet in solitude, those realities merge each night, each morning, to taste the solace.

Anyone taste it yet? Such a beautiful merging of all these personalities, all the flavors and colors, the shapes of personalities as that silence, that no doubt has its own range of experience by way of, yes, your samskaras. So, you are just tasting those samskaras when you are trying to meditate.

But not to worry, you have planted those seeds, you have started growing those flowers, but when you thought you had an apple seed, you have an orange. So, you have to be careful what you are planting and nurture that as your spiritual way of living.

Swami Rama talked about identifying the fears of your life. Those are the things that are binding you, holding you. Meditation unbinds and releases the holds of those habit patterns. So, in that sense, ‘Freedom from Fears’ is the first message. And the second message from the Himalayan sages is, ‘Be Aware of the Reality Within’. Now this has become our theme for the Sangha, the Vasudeva principle, and we are approaching it in various ways so that you find the doorway that you can enter.

Taking a moment to once again dive deep.

Simply no movement, no change within the context of the present moment. That is your doorway. That which takes you through that doorway is the breath, breath awareness.

And at the threshold of that doorway, you realize the tensions now in your shoulders and in your lower back or in your legs by way of body conditions. Breathe through those areas where the stress and strain is felt. An exhalation through that area releases, unties the knot. An inhalation through that area rejuvenates and revitalizes.

So, at the very threshold of that door, full body awareness, full body breathing, to which the breath has opened the door, has taken you through that state of concentration called body relaxation. And within that space, the body occupies, full of prana and vitality and life force, to which there’s a gratitude, svaha, to which there is an understanding of letting go, letting go, letting go, namaha.

Now you’re ready to receive the word, the mantra as a word, the thought that comes from that flow, that flow that in the depths as pure illumination carries the message of your soul. Carries the Atman as atma tattva avalokanam, I am that Atman.

And in this samadhi state you maintain. Now open your eyes.

Samadhi is not just a word in a text called Yoga-sutras. It is you, your natural state of mind, your most natural state that is ever present of your mind as the samadhi state, the harmonized unified state of consciousness. So let go of your efforts and identity as the doer. Rest your awareness in being. And, now in this transition of Being to Becoming, develop the tools to be skillful in this becoming. First, recognize this tool of entering the waveless flow. And in that submerging you enter the oneness that is always present. And you recognize the true nature of that ananda, that beauty, joy, and love. But we forget, and we forget often, and we become upset that we are forgetting. And we become depressed because we are upset. So, there is a chain by way of the samskaras of these habit patterns of mind. So, what to do?

You came from many places, so your view of the world was vast. So why not start with your spiritual understanding with this vastness? Everything is God. So, you are understanding that this expansive understanding of the spiritual nature of being is vast. It is said in the scriptures,

ब्रह्म वेद ब्रह्मैव भवति

brahma veda brahmaiva bhavati

– Mundaka Upanishad, 3.2.9

One who knows the expansiveness of this self, the Brahma, becomes that Self.

So, yes, you identify, but you are simply picking and choosing, and that becomes the associations, that becomes a relationship that shapes your identity. But if you are holding the view that all this is the Lord, all this is the manifestation of the Lord, and I too am that manifestation. When you truly start to understand and believe that you too are that manifestation, then that inward looking, antar-mukha, that now is the doorway for your spiritual life. For life, let’s say, because it is the spiritual nature. In that spiritual nature, as I said, the most intimate, subtlest personality of yourself is the Ananda. And Ananda is pure love. So, remember that love is first. The beloved is found later. We are searching because we are bahir-mukha, looking outward. I am saying be antar-mukha; look inward. So, you realize that love, and I am love, and I am the source of love. And others love me and I love them as that expansion, by way of the Ananda, nature of your being. You may seek joy, which is also the synonym of love. Love, joy, and silence are the synonyms of God. So, seek this basic meaning of any one of those, and the rest will be found.

We understand that love is not just a feeling. It is a force, palatable force. Joy is not a temporary sentiment. For, as a force, it wells up and fills you from within. Now it’s the internal stimuli that seek external alambanas—objects, supports. It is the internal stimuli that is seeking something to be expressed to as an object, the alambana, the support, or a prop, or something to hang on to, or something to reflect back that love.

Many attachments arise from an inner stimuli that is called love. But we have mistaken love for the attachments. When we realize that such pleasures are temporary, that they are subject to change, then we seek a different way to find that which is unchangeable, that which is a continuum. Yes, we want love and seek joy that is unconditioned. But we are searching outwardly. We must search inwardly through silence, introspection, and prayer, contemplation, and meditation. These are powerful tools for spiritual life.

And in that way, you will discover that intensifying the prana force within yourself will be that which then continues to lead you inwardly to that source of love and joy. So again, that’s full circle. The inner stimuli has reached outward, however, trace it back to the intensified prana force. Return to the source of the stimuli, in the prana and mental forces. A force called ‘yearning’ that has come from that pure source of love, and joy. This is the process called bhakti.

You will hear this word bhakti and devotion as we focus on our inner path by way of the Vasudeva principle. The way in which the divine forces become identified through the path of bhakti. On this path, you will find beautiful ways connect and merge into the subtle relationship of God and the Lover-of-God. Through bhakti, devotion, it is said that love is God and that a name for God is called Prema, which means love. Also, joy is God. And so, the word ‘anandam brahma’ is the joyful God.

In the Vasudeva principle, we come to understand that the outward projections are simply calling you to come inward to ‘you’, the ‘lover’. And you find how easy that is, in this very moment. That moment is the doorway. That urge opens the door into the breath flow. That exhaled breath flow is the release, the unattached state of letting go. The letting go opens the horizons of an unconditioned mind, a joyful mind, and loving heart in the moment, this moment, this moment. And the inhalation as the filling and fulfilling gift of awareness. These twin principles are the actual first verse of the Isha Upanishad –

ईशावास्यमिदं सर्वं

īśā vāsyamidaṁ sarvaṁ

– Isha Upanishad, v. 1

Remembering at all times that the Lord of life is sarvam, everywhere.

In this inclination of outward looking, bahir-mukha, you begin to recognize the inward looking mind, antar-mukha, by way of the same inclination. When you remember that all things have been given to you as gifts, and what God has given, it is always perfect. That’s why there is that beautiful verse, “All this is perfect.” Yet that which is actually taken as perfect from the perfect remains perfect in its fullness and in its parts as perfect. These gifts are life’s flavors, colors, and sensations. All such stimuli are calling out, ‘please recognize me, realize me’, I am the Lord, I am the inward pulling God that wants you to recognize me, hold me, cherish me, love me, because I am you and you are I. Thus life become beautified in the God-given gifts of beauty, goodness and truth. Thus, remembering God in each moment and enjoying each situation, letting your mantra, your remembrance, carry that state of union into each moment.

Now seeking the happiness of others is another stage, another step. Otherwise, it turns to selfishness. “Oh, I am just self-aware.” But the self-aware becomes, “I only will accept what I want, what I do. All this “me and mine and I’s” are desires of a selfish nature for it is conditioned by the ego. Practice allows the transformation of ego through sharing, giving, and that you are the instrument of divine will. To understand the other and the self to be one in the continuum that is God, that is pure Joy.  “If we can share happiness with others, we can transform the modern world and take civilization to its next level” in the words of Swami Rama. He inspired us to seek the happiness of others, thus transform the modern world and take civilization to the next level.

With such inspiration we take up an expanded awareness to practice. Yes, practice, practice, practice. Practice is the self-transforming prescription. If you prepare yourself to know the higher knowledge, and if you prepare yourself to receive the gift of higher knowledge, then you are deserving. Then you are deserving, not that you will get it. But you will be open-handed, open-hearted, open-minded to receive. And When? When you are deserving, that is the perfect time, and you will receive.

What does deserving mean? To deserve means to increase your capacity. So, if you practice to create this understanding of deserving, then that too is giving you the understanding I am practicing to increase my capacity. So, you start with sincere efforts. You start to practice. You will find that guidance on the path. There is always guidance, like a light, illuminating the path for the next step. Put your foot there, then leave that step for the next, the next step that guides you from within. The light of consciousness is within you and will guide you.

Swami Rama would remind to us not to be disappointed with our failures, for it causes weakness. He would say, ‘it’s like a rubber ball that gets depressed and has no bounce to it.’ The rubber ball, he used that analogy. You are a rubber ball, you must bounce again, respond with inner confidence and faith.

As life provides these lessons, you develop the capacity to deserve. To accept is to be humble enough to be deserving, and the light will show the way. If you ignore the inner light and simply look to the external, you will not understand the messages that are coming from that subtle [inner] source. And even if you find that satisfaction in a teacher, you’ll be projecting your wants, your desires on that teacher, and not listening to the message that is coming through that teacher. Not in their external appearance, but in their teaching. They are only the instrument for you to recognize, “is this truth? Does it resonate with eternal truth.”

So be aware that we are learning and loving to enjoy life. Life as the unifying principle of our life. And in that way, searching for a unity that is beneath the diversity, a harmony that resonates the Oneness. Our Vedas and the Upanishads keep reminding us of the one unifying principle, whether it is called the One God or Brahman, Atman, and that realization is always present. Through our mistaken identity we, have forgotten and thereby suffer, for you have forgotten the truth. Yet the moment that you become aware of the truth, you are free. This awareness alone gives you freedom. And this alone will guide you to realization by way of awareness and by way of your constant practice.

[Swamiji stops speaking and is silent for one minute]

Was that an effort? That one minute of silence? Was that a practice? Practice is not limited to methods. Practice is that taste, the taste of the eternal, or the taste of love and joy. You are that love. You are that source of joy. You are that eternal One.

Editor’s Note:

• Vasudeva Principle was the theme of the AHYMSIN Sangha Gathering in 2026.
• To learn more, kindly read the Vasudeva Principle by Swami Veda Bharati
• Swami Ritavan Bharati, the Spiritual Guide of AHYMSIN, gave the Vasudeva mantra (ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय। Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya) to the AHYMSIN Sangha on 4th March 2026 as the Sangha practice, and will be practiced by all the members of the AHYMSIN Sangha for the duration of three years, until the AHYMSIN Sangha Gathering in March 2029.
• To watch the live video of Announcement of the New Sangha Mantra by Swami Ritavan Bharati during the AHYMSIN Sangha Gathering 2026, kindly visit – AHYMSIN Channel on YouTube
• To learn the meaning of the Vasudeva mantra, kindly visit “https://www.ahymsin.org/om-namo-bhagavate-vasudevaya/” by Rabindra Sahu.
• To read the detailed meaning of the Vasudeva mantra, kindly visit https://www.ahymsin.org/meaning-of-vasudeva-mantra/ by Rabindra Sahu.
• To learn more about Lord Vasudeva, kindly read “Introduction to Lord Vasudeva” by Raghavendra Adiga.
• To read a transcript of Swami Ritavan Bharati’s talk during the AHYMSIN Sangha Gathering – Your True Nature is Light

Dear Fellow Initiate,

“To shape your mind into a beautiful vessel for the divine Name,

Wash off the darkening shadows of sunsets of karmas with the brilliant light of the full moon of knowledge,

Persevere, uplift, & transform from the mirages and emotional storms of sorrowful bondage.

For this, let us remember the Guru’s work within the eternal lineage in which compassionate grace is our primary link.”

~ Swami Veda Bharati

Each time someone comes before you angry, disturbed, or troubled, it is a wonderful occasion for you to find that juxtaposition, to look at yourself and see how harmonized and integrated you are, so that their conflicts are not becoming imprinted and affect you. In this way, you create spiritual exercises called Svadhyaya.

Now remember, you are meditators, so you are skilled at reinterpreting those actions. In this manner, reinterpret the situations of your daily life. When you have trained your mind to look at yourself in juxtaposition to someone else’s conflicts, there will come the realization of joyfulness in you.  Your joyfulness will radiate from you and enter the other person’s mind.

Discover spirituality in all the daily routines.  Take each activity, all your involvements, and reinterpret them. For this, you need a life philosophy where meditation becomes the guiding force, a force known as the sakshi-witness. You remain the witness, the observer. Thus, your actions and reactions do not become attachments that produce pain, worry, and anxiety.

At this sacred time, we pay homage in gratitude to our Gurudeva Swami Rama, who takes the form of our spiritual guide. A guide who protects us on the journey from this shore to the other shore. A guide who graces our spirit in each breath, to re-cognise our true nature through his gift of mantra—sacred name.

May we continue to experience our true Self daily in the luminosity of our pure mind and loving heart. Meditate, Meditate, Meditate, and listen to the inner music of your soul that is your mantra.

With blessings of the Himalayan Lineage on this Guru Purnima day,

Tasmai shri gurave namah. Om tat sat.
– srb

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