TheSILENCERETREAT with 45 participants was the firstone had in England. The main work of the Himalayan tradition inEngland has been going on under the guidance of Peter Glover whomBaba, that is Swami Rama, had initiated several decades back. He hasa beautiful, wonderful group of deep meditators under his guidance ashe is also an initiator. He remains linked to the Himalayan Institutein Honesdale. At the same time he gives to Swami Veda all the due,affection and regard and has helped with Swami Veda's work in manydifferent ways such as:
1) having his institute in England make acontribution toward the yoga manuscripts project,
2) from time to time moderateofferings,
3) organizing a lecture or two every time SwamiVeda visits England. His serenity and even mindedness is something toemulate. He cannot be agitated, cannot be disturbed and remainsalways balanced, a true mark of spiritual progress.
Swami Veda has been visiting England on a regularbasis now for at least four years during which time he has heldlectures through number one, Peter Glover's Himalayan Institute,number two at the Bharatya Vidya Bhawan--a highly recognized andrespected institute of cultural education in India which has it'svery flourishing and large presence in London. Three, for the lastthree years he has been visiting the Yoga Place which is a yogacenter run by Jenny Pretor-Pinney, and by Alexander Medin bothinitiated by Swami Veda Bharati.
October 18 to 24, 2003 was the firstSilenceRetreat held by Swami Veda Bharati inEngland. With all the efforts put in by Jenny Pretor-Pinney, and byTejaswini, also greatly assisted silently and humbly by theself-effacing and most capable initiate, Andrew Henley. It waspublicized through Tejaswini's and Jenny's effort and the attendanceof forty five, from all walks of life, in a country where Swamijidoes not have a center of its' own, was really very fulfilling.
Swami Veda Bharati flew in on fourteenth ofOctober after his retreat in Italy near Florence. Stayed with ZiaRawji, one of the sponsors of the SRSG (Sadhka Grama, Rishikesh), abeloved initiate. On the October 16, 2003 Swami Veda Bharati visitedthe Center for Hindu Studies at the University of Oxford. It was aground breaking visit with promise for much greater future contact.
Spiritual life and relationships consist ofconfluences. The retreat was had at a convent in Hants county. In abeautiful convent in the middle of the English countryside.
Currently the monasteries and convents in Europeare more and more empty. The monasteries made for a thousand monksare occupied sometimes by as few as eight. So monks and nuns arebrought from India to keep these sacred locations operated and lit.All the nuns in this convent are from India. They introducedthemselves to Swami Veda and then what a confluence! They said we doChristian mediation here with practice of breath awareness.
It turned out that they have been taught byVandana Mataji. Who is Vandana Mataji? She has a beautiful littleashram in Rishikesh, a Christian ashram where she has been teachingmediation for as long as one can remember. She calls the Himalayas asher source and resource. Many visitors to our Rishikesh ashram havehad the opportunity of enjoying the worship and mediation at herashram. She is now quite aged, with a face filled with light andserenity and now retiring. She had last visited our ashram asrecently as March, 2003. Swami Veda had least expected that he wouldmeet up with those guided by her in this remote country side ofEngland, not only that but to hold a mediation retreat at such acongenial place.
The retreat was actually guided by Pandit Ananta.Pandit Ananta has made himself a name in many countries as far asSaba (Borneo), Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Singapore, Korea (where herecently lead a teacher training program and helped certify severaldozen teachers), Holland and now England. These days Swami VedaBharati makes an appearance only once a day in the evening.
On the first night of the opening Swami VedaBharati gave the participants freedom to continue to converse amongthemselves until next morning after breakfast. Pandit Ananta wassurprised that no one took the offer. People had come for silence andthey all immediately went into silence. Pandit Ananta said to SwamiVeda that he was astonished and Swamiji replied, "this is England".On the last day people were advised that they may get to know eachother by breaking their silence. Some were happy for the opportunityfor social interaction, but he majority said that they felt cheatedthat their silence was reduced by one day.
This is being written here to inspire the peopleof other cultures, where such stability and recourse to silencebecomes more of an effort than a natural enjoyment.
SCOTLAND
Through the presence of a leading psychiatrist ofEdinburgh, capital of Scotland, it now seems possible that soon therewill be lectures, retreats, and who knows, even a mediation group orcenter in that city starting right from 2004, with a visit of PanditAnanta and after he has cleared the way through the presence of SwamiVeda.
A word here about Nandani, who wrote the firstpart of this report. Swami Veda first came to England at the end of1953. In 1954 he gave his first lecture in English to the GloucesterVegetarian Society. There he met a Anglican priest who then invitedhim to his small little gothic church in a village in Gloucestershireand it became Pandit Usharbudh Arya's (as Swami Veda was then known)family and home. Their three children became as Swami Veda's littlesisters. Swamiji would take the smallest one on his shoulder and gofor a walk in the village, this he so fondly remembers. Years anddecades past and suddenly after more than forty years, Elaine turnsup at the Rishikesh ashram with her tall son to receive initiationand guidance for teaching. Since then Nandani has received a speciallight, and has created a group around her own light in a town calledGlastonbury, and now has established a small retreat center inSpain.
Besides Nandani there were many others luminouspersons at the retreat including Zia and Andrew Henley, a lawyer inEngland. He spent forty days in the Rishikesh ashram a year or twoago and returned well established in spirituality and practices. Henow along with Tejaswini and Jenny is the leader of the informalHimalayan Yoga Mediation Group of the United Kingdom.
Next retreat in England isplanned for May 13 to 19, 2004.
ANOTHER SHORT VISIT TO NEWYORK
Lately Swami Veda Bharati has been making shortvisits to New York. Dr. David Alcol's very flourishing Genesis centerhas organized his lecture in September earlier this year. SwamiVeda's New York visits also pertained to the fact of his being amember of the World Council of Religious Leaders. Here a littlebackground:
Gopi Anand organized the Millennium World PeaceSummit of all the leading statesmen and heads of state at the end ofthe last millennium. Ted Turner, the owner of CNN, suggested to GopiAnand: Mr. Anand this is all very well, but there is one segment ofworld leadership that you are neglecting. The religious leaders holdtremendous power, sway, and influence over the peoples of the world.Why do you not bring them together? So a Millennium World PeaceSummit of leaders in religion and spirituality was organized.
It is now a permanent office lead by Bawa Jain, adisciple of Muni Sushil Kumar. Muni Sushil Kumar belongs to thetradition of Jaina monks. For those who do not know Jaina religionwas founded by the great enlightened being known as Mahavira, asenior contemporary of the Buddha. Its emphasis on absoluteasceticism, austerity, self purification, and especially totalnon-violence made it one of the most powerful surviving spiritualforces in India.
The monks of the Jainatradition are divided into two major orders:
1)Shvetambara, the white clad ones. Theywear white with a flap over the mouth so that no invisible creaturesmay be hurt by the hot air emanating with ones speech. They carry avery thick velvet brush with which they gently wipe the ground asthey walk so that no ants may be crushed under their feet. They donot ride chariots and cars because these crush all kinds of littlecreatures under the wheels.
2) theDigambara, the sky clad ones. To reach thestatus of a sky clad monk requires such rigorous training, testing,and education in discipline and austerity and purification that it isbeyond the power of more than a handful. Even when they come to acold place like Rishikesh and further up the mountains, they are notpermitted to cover themselves even with a sheet when sleeping atnight--they have such a tremendous self-control. At one time aDigambara monk was visiting Rishikesh. Swami Veda took the ashramvisitors to have his darshana (this word cannot be translated) wherethe monk was addressing a crowd. Upon return to the ashram Swamijiasked some of the American ladies, "did you feel as though you werein the presence of a naked man? The answer was "absolutely no." Thisis the level of purity in these monks. Muni Sushil Kumar worked inNew York area for several decades and one of his products is hisdisciple, Bawa Jain who is director general of the Millennium WorldPeace Summit. As he is so deeply ingrained in the teaching ofnon-violence, none is better suited to lead the world leaders tospread the message of tolerance and mutual understanding.
A part of the Millennium World Peace Summit (MWPS)is the World Council of Religious Leaders (WCRL) in which Swami VedaBharati is active as well as being a member of the Central Council ofthe Ethics Initiatives (EI), of the MWPS. This sometimes brings himto New York to attend conferences of the WCRL.
Swami Veda flew into New York from London onOctober 27, 2003 evening. On 28th he addressed a crowd at the AryaSpiritual Center, which is lead by Pandit Ramlall. Here a few wordsabout Pandit Ramlall. When Swamiji went to give his spiritualservices in the country called Guyana (then known as British Guiana)Pandit Ramlall was his first right hand man to help organize all ofhis work throughout that country from 1956 to 2003. A very close,often silent, relationship has remained.
The spiritual center established by Pandit Ramlallis mostly populated by the Guyanese people of Indian origin. In theaudience were people who are now the third generation that has grownup hearing Swami Veda or hearing about him. Many children have grownup only hearing his name and seeing his picture and this was theirfirst opportunity to actually see the person who large number ofpeople in that region almost regard "a legend" because of theservices he rendered there from 1956 to 1962.
TAIPEI, TAIWAN
Swami Veda Bharati left England on October 29,2003 via Tokyo to Taipei, Taiwan. Here a little back ground on thecenter in Taiwan. In 1994 a Buddhist nun, Shui Jo-Han visited theRishikesh ashram with a group. She came back in 1996 to seek for theguidance. After a year or two Swami Veda Bharati initiated her intothe swami vows, giving her the nameMa TapasyaBharati (Ma meaning mother, in the normaltitle of swami nuns).
This spiritual daughter of Swami Veda Bharati is acause of pride to him and a source of inspiration to hundreds. Thosewho have seen her know what absolute stillness of body and mind canactually mean. She has followed intense austerities and spiritualpractices both at the Rishikesh ashram and back home in Taiwan whereshe established the Himalayan Dhyana-Yoga Mandir of Taiwan.
She has translated Swami Veda's booklets intoChinese. and made them into very attractive pocket books. Over a yearago she established a lovely ashram in Nantou county in centralTaiwan. The mediation hall can seat over two hundred people. The Gurupresence is really palpable. Here something about the culture ofTaiwan, that is (China). Just a few examples will suffice.
Four years back in a February program of fifteendays duration at the Rishikesh ashram, a group of twenty fiveTaiwanese under the guidance of Ma Tapasya participated. Except forMa and one more member no one knew a word of English. All 25 satthrough all the lectures absolutely still and incredibly serene. Whenasked, they said "we do not come for lectures we come for thePresence and the Transmission". This attitude was cultivated in thatculture first by the Taoist and Confusion traditions, then after theIndian monk Bodhi-dharma (founder of the Shao Lin monastery) visitedChina and introduced Buddhist mediation practices. The traditioncontinues to this day.
A Taiwanese (Chinese) will never come to see aholy person empty handed. When they come to receive the Swami at theairport, they come with gold and red envelopes to make an offering ofwelcome. Swami Veda no longer gives lectures in Taiwan. He is onlyasked to come and sit in front of the silent and serene rows of Mas'disciples for a few minutes. Then each person rises, comes forward onhis or her knees, bows down with joined hands as in the Chinesetradition, and is anointed with lotus oil on the forehead, then withSwami Veda placing his hand of blessing on the disciple's head in asilent prayer. And that is all that is requested of him, expected ofhim just a blessing, just a presence. No one in this culture asks:What is the meaning of my manta? It is a gift. It is a benediction.
During the current visit to Taiwan from October 31to November 4, 2003 as in the previous visits, Swami Vedaparticipated in the recitations and the sacred fire offerings. Theatmosphere gets so charged because of the serenity that the Gurufield is palpable. Those who want to learn the meaning of stillnessshould come and seek to study with Ma if she would really acceptthem.
To help Swami Veda and to take care of him inTaiwan two of his beloved students flew in to keep company. One wasRaj Verma from Singapore who has been one of the organizers andhelpers of Sadhka Grama also. She is Swamiji's permanent host inSingapore. The other person who flew in was Shilpa from Kuala Lumpur.We'll put her photo here at a later time. Shilpa has been teachingyoga in Malaysia for nearly a decade and was initiated by Swami Vedathree years ago. Her classes and the center have so flourished thatshe the newspapers vie with each other to publish stories about her.Her name has become synonymous with yoga in Kuala Lumpur, and thefull page articles about her extol her ability to lead people toexperience of stillness through the practice of breathing as well asthe asanas.
The current American Express Platinum magazine hasher picture, with a one page article on the meaning of yoga thatextends to an understanding of breath and stillness as well as thedeep relaxation of mind. Swami Veda says, "I am so proud of thesedaughters of mine."
SINGAPORE
Swami Veda left Taiwan on November 4, 2003arriving in Singapore. There was a satsang at the home of Raj Vermain Singapore organized by her and by W. Yoong Khiang.
Here a little background. Six years ago there wereonly four or five initiates in Singapore. Since then the group hasgrown to over fifty members. All very active meditators under theguidance of W. Yoong Khiang, in short known as Yoong. Yoong startedvisiting the ashram some years before Baba left the body. Baba taughthim and guided him. I used to see him briefly at the ashram a lean,trim, straight, sattvic person with clarity on the face. After Babaleft his body we became very close. Baba had told him to startinitiating people in Singapore. "Who will train me to be aninitiator?", Yoong asked. Baba said, " Swami Veda will." Yoong hassince then continued teaching not only in Singapore but has been thecoordinator of Swami Vedas programs for the entire south-east Asia.
Singapore is a unique community a city state witha couple million population, with four official languages: English,Malai, Chinese and Tamil (the chief south Indian language). Today itis an independent republic. During the British colonial times it hadbeen become part of Malaysia, then known as Malaya, but centuriesbefore that it was colonized by the Hindu and Buddhist kings fromJava and Sumatra and the Sanskrit name means the "City of the Lion."At that time it was a controlling point for the international tradethrough the Malacca straights. Today it is a major maritime center,among other things. It's population is cosmopolitan. English andMalai are the major spoken languages, but one may choose to beeducated in Chinese, or in Tamil--thus the cultures of all thecommunities is not only preserved, but they all play a major role.The immigration officer checking your passport may be wearing aheadscarf as Malai Muslim women do, or may be wearing a red dot onthe forehead, as married Hindu women do. There is no conflict, andthe language of each culture is encouraged, yet unity is maintainedthrough a very strict discipline.
Our own initiate group represents the tamagraphyof Singapore. There are Indians and Chinese and Europeans, butunfortunately not he Malaise who identify with an Islamic coat.Although in Malaysia itself we have many Muslim students in the yogaclasses which are flourishing.
Those who wish to know what Swami Veda taught inthis multi-racial initiate community may ask for the cassette inwhich he quotes from the Sufis and from the book of Tao and from theUpanishads, tying it all together into one simple theme "do notbelieve in God; know God personally".
WHERE HAS SWAMI VEDABEEN?
Last report we published about him was about hisvisit to Bangalore in south India. If you find the reports ofBangalore as well as the ones being published here, you can justimagine what an interesting life he leads through so many othercountries, cultures and cities. Unfortunately there is no onetraveling with him with a writing skill who can keep sending thereports. It is our effort that in future we can give a continuousstory about his various visits to the countries and centers.
In the immediate future Swami Veda Bharati ismaking a stopover in Singapore on November 5, 2003 reaching India onNovember 6th. November 7th he will lead a small group of people fromHolland from New Delhi to Rishikesh. This is also the time to do someinterviews for the applicants for the Gurukulam program and toreceive some students for the same who are coming for 3, 5 or 7years of training and study for the purpose of, eventually, becomingspiritual guides.
From November 16-30, 2003 there will be visitorsfrom the Zoroastrian community of Mumbai, for whom special courseswithin the Zoroastrian tradition have been announced. Please read theseparate article on this subject on this web page.
The month of December looks roughly as follows:6th through the 9th December pre-conference of the World Parliamentof Religions in New Delhi. On the 9th December night Swami VedaBharati will fly to Jerusalem for a meeting of the World Council ofReligious Leaders. He will fly back to Mumbai for two days 17th and18th December. then arrive in Rishikesh on the 20th December to starta four day silence and akhanda japa (unbroken mental mantraremembrance by groups of people) until December 24, 2003.
Copyright 2004 West Art, Prometheus 91, 2004