Sadhana Mandir Ashram, the personal spiritual Seat of Swami Rama of the Himalayas, serves the spiritual teachings of Swami Rama of the Himalayas including all organizations and teachers teaching under the banner of his name and inspiration. There are many unknown spiritual disciples whom he guided and we aim to search for them and to serve them also.
The Newsletter presents some news of events that occur in this circle of those we call Siblings in Spirit. Our aim is to link together all the entities, organizational or non-organizational, which are inspired by Swami Rama in any capacity. Any mutual wrinkles among them are not of our concern. The Seat loves all the Master's children whether they are acting individually or organizationally, so long as they are passing on his spiritual message or serving his mission.
Maitri, the principle of universal amity, is first of the four right attitudes taught in the Yoga-Sutras of Patanjali (I.33). Metta is the Pali word used in the Buddhist tradition describing the relationship among the Guide and fellow seekers as that of a kalyana-mitra, a noble friend, a friend on the noble path. This explains the nature of our service to you.
News from around the World
Poetry
Episodes from the Life of Swami Rama
A Moment of Philosophy
Yoga Sutras of Swami Veda
1999 YOGA WEEK IN RISHIKESH
Spiritual Questions & Answers
KHEL Update
Swami Veda Bharati
1999 World Teaching Tour
European Tour 1999
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Mailing address: Priya Naraine, 7186 NW 80th Way, Tamarac, FL 33321.
Web Site: http://www.meaus.com/Swami/Swami.html
Om. Om. Om.
Because it is social custom to share the joy at the time of the change of seasons and the start of the new year, and because a sannyasin, or a teacher, or a guide, is enjoined not to hurt people by transgressing their social customs, I congratulate you and share your joy in this celebration of a new year. Thousands of years ago, in the epic Ramayana, the younger prince Bharata came looking for his exiled elder brother, Rama, and at the same time gave him the news of their father's demise. Here, says the ancient poet, Rama who is a, it is said, Krit-Atman, one who has cultivated his spiritual self, gave assurances to his younger brother who was an Akrit-Atman, one who has not yet cultivated himself. And Rama shows a puzzlement over the fact that people celebrate the dawns and the dusks, the sunrises and the sunsets. They rejoice at the change of seasons. They celebrate the terminations of the years, not realizing that with each sundown and sunrise, one night and one day of their life span has passed.That there is one less season now left available in our karmic scheme to perform debts we have come to perform. That there is one year less to pursue the ideal goal of moksha, of spiritual liberation.
The only moment, the only change of moment worth celebrating, is the moment of enlightenment. The only moment, the only change of time worth celebrating, is the moment of enlightenment. We need times to celebrate, but the celebrations should be internal ones. The meaning of celebration here should be consecration. That we consecrate ourselves. That we say - one year has passed. In this one year, how much did I manage to cultivate my spiritual self? Just as we are advised to do, write a mental journal atnight. The same way as we invariably, helplessly, write a mental journal at the moment of death. In one last moment of that life, the entire life has become a picture that comes before us. So we are advised to do that, prepare for that each night, by letting the day flash forth before our mind's eye, to see whether this day has been a day of greater purification, a day of cultivating the Self. So also with the years. A time for consecration, for which any excuse is as good as any other excuse. Because in the yogic microastrology of which our own Gurudev was, is a master, one breath is a year. For all the constellations and stars and all the signs of the zodiac are found stationed in that breath. And the sun and the moon, the 'ha' and the 'tha' all wander through those signs of the zodiac, through those constellations of the year. It is a time of transition when we change from one breath to the next. Just as you celebrate, rather now consecrate yourself, at the moment when the year is changing, if you could learn the art of the same celebration at the change of a micro year, as in our breath, we would become immortal.
Many people wonder how is it that the yogis become masters of time. How do they manage to alter the very forces of time? The very first practice in mastering the forces of time is simply this - observe the micro moment at the turning of the breath. And that is the best consecration, the best celebration of a new year. The year that resides in the breath. There are all sorts of days and nights, there are all sorts of years. What we consider to be a fortnight, a 15s day of the ebbing and the 15 days of the flowing of the moonlight, in the consciousness of the lunar ones, that in one day and one night. The earth turns on its axis, passes through the northern equinox and the southern equinox and that, for the earth, is also for certain areas of the earth, in a certain way, is also one day and one night. And so on, so with each star. I have given you a paraphrase of the statement of sankalpa that is the declaration of a resolve to perform anything, consecrating any sacred ceremony in our tradition. And in the repetition of that, we not only speak of the solar year and the lunar year, but we state where exactly each of the planetary bodies is, and in which constellation, in which sign of the Zodiac is the Jupiter. Where is the Venus? The year of the Venus is different from the year of the sun or of the moon. The year of the Jupiter is different from the year of the Venus.So also the year of the Mars, and the year of the Rahu and Katu, two nodes. And so forth.
How many years are there? How many measures are there in the universe? Uncountable ones. Right at this moment what you are calling whatever the date is now according to the popular Gregorian calendar on this particular planet called the Earth right now, on this particular date, and this is what you're seeing as the time. Whatever time that is. You know, sometimes I ask people the question, in the audience, suddenly in the middle of my lecture, and I say what is the time? And people look at their watch and they tell me the time. It's 7:40 in the morning. Or whatever time it is there in Minneapolis. When people start giving me the time I stop them and say - you should ask me the time where? So all these relativities, we take so seriously. We can have an argument, we can have a debate whether it is 7:41 AM right now or is it whatever time it is here or in Minneapolis or in Pittsburgh or Regina and in California and so forth, wherever you are, you who are listening. So relative. Even the lifespans of human beings are relative when we know that the human lifespan is not measured in the movement of the planetary bodies. The lifespans are actually measured in micro years, they are measured in human breaths.
When I speak of emotional purification, for a moment here now, I change the topic, or seem to change the topic, this is what I mean. I have said that before, many times. One of the things that happens when one makes spiritual progress is that one's language changes. The terminology changes. You have seen a simple change in your language. Someone asks you, are you sitting? You say no, I am standing. But a meditator asks a fellow meditator are you sitting? Yes, I do. What time do you sit? We understand what we mean by that. So language undergoes a change because our association with the words changes. And as you know, in elementary psychology, the connection between our association with certain words and our emotional states, our sentiments, the language undergoes a change because our emotional pattern changes. The same very things that agitate someone of uncultivated Self, the same very excitants, pacify someone who has cultivated his spiritual Self. Just as upon suddenly facing a beast of pray in the forest, a well equipped warrior goes forward, a weakling has a completely different reaction. The opposite reaction from the same excitant. So, also, the same very things that make a person of uncultivated Self angry, exactly the same very thing, without a moment's hesitation, without having to remember some kind of spiritual advice, makes a yogi smile. The same excitant becomes a cause of a smile that for someone else is the cause of his anger. This does not require much strength. Only a little wisdom. Only a little perception. Just as we have a few moments ago, managed to change our perception about the transitions in time, so one changes one's perception about the associations we have created between certain actions of others and our reactions to those actions.
The teaching of the Bhagavad Gita, and you would read about this more in our Swamiji's writings, in the Perennial Psychology and so forth, the teaching is that you stop reacting, you only act. This has been said many times, many times before. In all the great traditions, there is a teaching of forbearance. We have a word for it. Titiksha. Titiksha. Forbearance. Yesterday we went to the place called Treveini Ghat at Rishikesh, the main ghat at the river Ganga where people come for sacred baths, where many saintly people who are passing by hold their satsangs at times, on,occasions. We went to welcome two Jain munis. Young. Young men. Walking on foot as they always do because they are not permitted to ride a vehicle because the vehicles crush all kinds of creatures under them. So a Jain monk is not permitted to ride a vehicle. They are walking. For one year they will walk, with a message of ahimsa, non-violence, throughout the country. I had seen them, a few days back, also in Haridwar, as they were entering the city of Haridwar. And there was a procession behind them. They were walking, the people in the procession were running to keep up with their walk. They are of the … branch, the sky-clad ones, who wear nothing. Sometimes here it is 3 degrees, 4 degrees centigrade at night. But these monks are not permitted to even cover the body with a sheet at night. They walk through the cities without that clothing.
And the important point was, I made a point of taking everyone from the ashram, all the guests there. And the important point was, you don't think that you are sitting in the presence of a naked man. You feel the presence of a saintly being. And you feel the power that emanates when you have gathered all the forces of your emotions, sentiments, dvandvas, the dualities within ourselves and have integrated them, and have consecrated them, within yourself. That is the ideal of titiksha, forbearance. How many times their masters training them must have taken them through, dragged them through the hot coals and taught them to learn to smile. What kind of a smile is that smile that appears on the lips only in the moments of joy and happiness around. The true smile is the smile that comes, the appears naturally on your lips, when you are being dragged over the hot coals. I would like to see all my students, all our Gurudeva's disciples, to have that kind of a spiritual strength, in which their mental associations, that your mental associations change one by one. Cultivate the Self. One by one drop the interactions between dvandvas, between the forces of duality, between the opposites that concealing themselves within you, eat you like the wood ants eat the wood from inside, and leave us hollow.
Without that sadhana it will not be possible for us to make the next jump in our progress in meditation. There is no other great high level advanced,technique that can be practiced without such purification. Become an,observer. Conquer the forces of time by learning to observe the micromoment in between the breaths. A year to me is an astronomical event, from point x to point y, the sun or the moon or the Jupiter or the Mars move. When they return to the same point that we have agreed upon, that the whole society has agreed upon, that is one year. And on that basis I have written to you, I will think of consecrating myself at the end of the century when the year 5100 ends, 5 minutes after midnight of the night of the 17th March and the morning of the 18th March. But that is also unimportant because we need to rise even above that association.
I wish you a joyful year. That you make it intentionally joyful. That you cultivate your emotions in such a way that your idea of joyful year is not a wish, that I wish you a joyful year. That you will it to be so. That your power of volition is such that it is above your psychological bondages, above the knots of the heart. That it loosens the knots of the heart. And rise above your psychological condition because now you have risen to a certain spiritual realization from where the knots that control the psychological states may be turned in whichever direction and to whichever volume. This is the principle. And I would like to join you in this process of celebration that is the process of purification, consecration. A process of a different kind of awareness than the one we have had before.
With this prayer for you, for now, I look forward to the different parts again during the year. And let us say, let us hope, that next year at this time, indeed, we will have found the control that regulates our psychological state at our command and at our will. I would like to become very willful this year. God bless you. God bless you. The first state to cultivate is that of serenity. Let us have a moment of silence together.
Swami Veda Bharati
In Rishikesh, January 1, 1999
For information: The Meditation Center, 631 University Avanue N.E., Minneapolis, MN 55413 Attn.: Pandit Ananta
GERMANY
For information: Wolfgang Bischoff, Director, Himalaya Institut, Hagener Allee 70, 22926 Ahrensburg, Germany. Fax 49-4102-51220.
RISHIKESH, INDIA
For information: Yoga Meditation Society of Trinidad and Tobago, 11a Chisholm Street, San Fernando. Attn.: Alexander Benjamin.
For information: Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy, Sabah, Malaysia. Attn.: Dr. Ganasan
European Yoga Teachers Association Conference.
Dear Initiates and Friends,
As we turn the page to the next year, I have been examining where our spiritual journey is taking us. And what are the rocks, pebbles and thorns that our feet encounter. The goal of our journey is clear, nothing short of liberation and enlightenment. It is the little pebbles and thorns that we have the most difficulty avoiding. The smaller the thorn, the more difficult it is to tweez it out.
What are these thorns? By now you must be tired of hearing my answer over and over, these are our negative emotions, our habit of not choosing the positive pictures available. Our personal relations suffer from our inability to discern and choose the positive and the beautiful. The nations suffer because many of the national and international policies spring out of the personal emotional make-up of the individual leaders. The same is true of organisations, including our Centres and meditation groups.
I experience a deep ache in my heart as I see that so many of the interactions even among spiritual seekers stem from the personal frustrations in their own lives. We stay away from each other, we suspect each other of selfish planning and plotting, and we subject the entire family, friendly circles and groups, to a disruption thinking that we are making a contribution.
The test of spiritual progress is whether we manage to serve as glue to join many people together, or we exclude and separate.
May I urge that we devote our coming year to a very practical application of the principle of positive emotions. Within a family, within a circle of friends, within the Centres and meditation groups, those who have been excluded should again be included; those who have excluded themselves should rush back with an easy smile, so that receiving arms may open.
In every situation two interpretations are possible, a positive one and a negative one. We should learn to err on the side of the positive one. Perhaps the person who seemed to insult us, meant something entirely different from what we have understood. We have misunderstood this person, because of our anger and frustration about our own situation in some other relationship, past or present. Do not examine the motives of others; examine the contents of your mind, which make you respond in a certain way.
This year I would like to give you guidelines on emotional purification. For teachers I am holding a special two week training that includes this theme, from June 19-July 2 in Calgary, Canada. For others I would like to send a series of communications, or maybe a booklet with some brief guidance, on which you will need to develop your own dialogue with your mind. Do talk to your mind. You have a problem with someone? Do not argue with him or her; talk to your mind as to why your mind has chosen to respond in this particular way. This alone is the way to create harmony and to bring your family, Centre or mediation group, or your Country and Nation, to be able to realise the goal of peace with creativity.
One more suggestion if I may. When you are in disagreement with someone, postpone all discussion and argument. Simply join them in a mediation group and meditate with them. When you come to the group, greet each other with palms joined before the heart and when you finish, do the same again--give a smile, still no discussion, and go home. Keep doing that irrespective of whether the problems resolve themselves or not.
I have written this because so many of you reach me with your problems, which are identical and arise from the exact same causes from within the mind. The principles are simple, but their application is complex. They are easy to memorise, difficult to remember.
I wish for you this year the capacity of remembrance and awareness.
Yours with Deepest Love
In Service of Gurudev
Swami Veda Bharati
Rishikesh, at the end of the page number 1998.
This day I shall say "namas" -- not mine! Of all things I have claimed, and of all my claims, of all my hopes and all my expectations, this day I shall declare, "not mine." Honor or ridicule, love or hate, attraction or aversion -- all states that arise from out of me I shall abandon. To them I shall not react. Let me read this day the lesson of equanimity.
This day I shall cease to identify with my external conditions, successes, failures, sizes, shapes and forms. Let me affirm that I am pure field of light, life, consciousness, ever-pure, ever-wise, ever-free. All my actions arise from my volition and not from situations that are around me, for I am who I am.
This day I have found within me my own ever-living soul of peace. This is my God, my teacher, my love.
This day, it is entirely up to my God to keep me or to abandon me, entirely up to my teacher in depths to teach me or to leave me ignorant, entirely up to my love to make me friends or to give me solitude, peace and light.
A selection from The Light of Ten Thousand Suns, by Swami Veda Bharati.
Vichara, or contemplation in the Vedanta system, is a thought process leading to six pre-established conclusions. What are these six pre-established conclusions?
Sarvam Khalvidam Brahman. All this is Brahman.
I am Atma Brahma. This Self is Brahman.
Prajnanam Brahman. Brahman is the purest knowledge.
Tat tvam asi. That Thou Art.
So Ham Asmi. I am That.
Aham Brahma Asmi. I am Brahman.
These six great sentences are the ultimate realizations of a yogi. When s/he really lives in that, then s/he no longer goes in and out of meditation. That alone becomes the core of his/her consciousness. If you know these six sentences, then you know the entire Vedanta philosophy. And then you know the method of contemplation.
Now, the process of vichara or contemplation is this. For meditation you have, let us say, one core thought that is the mantra and you let the power of the mantra work with you. But you don't do any rational thinking about the mantra when you are meditating. People say, "Well, I have an intellect." How do I go to spirituality by following the path of intellect? People say, "I have emotions." How do I go to the path of spirituality and highest realization by following the path of emotions? People say I have an ordinary, worldly active life. How do I make that an instrument of going to the higher path of spirituality?
The path of the yoga of knowledge and the technique of the yoga of knowledge that leads to highest realization, the technique of making the intellect serve God, is the technique of vichara, or contemplation. If I watch every intellectual wave that arises in me, and I make that an instrument of going towards God, then I am following the path of contemplation or jnana yoga. If I watch every emotion that arises within me, and try to find a way of how this emotion can lead me to God, then I am following the path of bhakti yoga. If I watch every action and every relationship in my life, and at each step I ask how is this going to lead me to God, then I am doing karma yoga.
If I just sit there and act, that is not karma yoga. If I just hide my head in a pillow and cry, that is not bhakti yoga. If I write the whole encyclopedia Britannica on yoga, that is not jnana yoga. Unless it leads me to God, unless it leads me to spiritual realization before I abandon this shell called the body.
What are you thinking now? What are you feeling now? What are your intellectual processes at this very moment, this given moment? In what way are they related to God? Take each process and ask in what way will that process of thought lead me to realize that I am of God, that I am from God, that I am in God. Let everything arise from That, remain in That, dissolve in That. That is contemplation
To reach your goal quickly, go in the opposite direction.
When faced with a conflict of choices between two opposites, have both; you will become a bi-polar magnet.
Cataclysms are readjustments for renewal. Know this and you will emerge as a fresh flower after a stormy night.
Be free, not 'from' something, nor 'to' something else... Be free.
Pretend to be attached deeply, so others feel loved. Be a secret renunciate.
God and Guru do not come by appointment.
Company of the Noble is the best company.
Did you help someone yesterday? If you remember, and say YES, you have helped no one except added to your pride.
All the kings of history have not a word to teach a saint. A single mendicant will suffice to guide all the past and future kings.
Be naughty. Prophesy something beautiful about someone's future. When it comes true, say that it was just a guess that came true coincidentally.
Be naughty. Announce a Reading of the Best Selections from World Scriptures. Arrive at the stage sans a book and sit it silence for an hour. At the end, say: Thank you, and I do hope the selections read were to your liking.
Be naughty. Grab a lighting as if to strike. Then only illuminate.
Impressions of a German participant
After those two Yoga Weeks I am back home, but somehow parts of me are still in India.
I enjoyed the two weeks thoroughly. The ashram is beautiful with a nice atmosphere and the Ganga river is beyond description. I do not know why She is so special, it can only be felt. Especially in the mornings and evenings when the mist was lying on the water, the scenery was most pleasant. The fish were jumping all the time, bird swarms were passing by and you could hear the elephants coming down from the jungle on the other side. Puja flowers were flowing on the surface of the water and the wind carried chants from the temples upstream. I went there every morning and evening to chant some mantras and to do my Qigong exercises.
The program itself was quite interesting although I must admit that I am not an obedient follower of schedules. Probably I have done too many meditation retreats in my life, so the experience to be in Rishikesh and see some of this age-old famous place was of equal importance to me as the actual program in the ashram. I went though to all teachings of Swami Veda and his silent morning meditations which were generally wonderful. The less wonderful aspect was my lower back giving me pains all the time because I am not used to sit on the floor for longer periods and at the same time feeling comfortable and relaxed. The rumour spread somehow - maybe my back sent help signals - and soon we had some little wooden benches made on which we could sit more comfortably. Not only in this case, Mother Nature and the ashram staff cared for us in a wonderful way.
The most fascinating of all the teachings and the topic which actually had drawn me to that Yoga Weeks was Yoga Nidra. This exercise also is called yogic sleep and is not easy to learn which I soon found out. Having laughed before at those people who tend to go to sleep as soon as they lie down for relaxation exercises I was one of the first who started snoring happily. After these first difficulties I tried every morning to do yoga nidra and also skipped other programmes in the afternoon to do it again. The problem seemed to be: the better you want to do it the more you strain resulting in a fast heartbeat. But you want to get it down. Also outer noises simply should not exist. Well, sharing your room with a roommate and the bathroom with 3 people, how do you find a time or place without any noise? But anyhow I learnt it and now continue to practice it at home. That exercise alone was worth the trip!
Some lectures were held by course participants or ashram residents on a variety of topics related to yoga and self-healing. The satsang in the evenings - satsang simply means sitting together and sharing spiritual subjects - sometimes were held by Swami Hariharananda. This fellow (if I may dare name him that) made us all laugh--all the time. He tried to convince us that he is a simple man from the forest who does not know anything. But quite the contrary. Apart from his funny English and expert knowledge on yoga one night he also excelled in perfect management knowhow when answering a question of a course participant about how to apply yogic knowledge to managing a company and people. This swami was just admirable.
Before I forget telling this: the food was excellent and I like Indian food. In the beginning the food was not at all hot (spiced) and I added my own chili. Since my Nepal trips in the past I knew that chili is one of the best means to kill unwanted bacteria in the food and help the body digest. The kitchen soon got the message and then the real Indian food emerged from their stoves. At lunch time we all enjoyed sitting in the garden and eating the food there from our 'thalis'. At noon the temperatures were pretty high whereas in the mornings I sometimes put three trousers one on top of the other to keep myself warm for my daily Ganga visit.
The reactions from other course participants were quite individual. Some have enjoyed the course like I have, some were not quite as satisfied with the program. Some would have liked Swami Veda being present personally more often, others missed some special yoga exercises which would be very helpful for those at home who have to deal with a stressful job let's say in front of a computer screen. But altogether people were quite happy. It was a wonderful group which had come together. It really depends on the expectations which you have. For me it was wonderful to be in Rishikesh and living in an ashram of a famous yogi. That alone was a great wish fulfilled. Whatever the program had to offer was on top of an already happy stay.
There were quite a number of Minneapolis people, groups from England, Italy, Germany, Australia, Canada, even people from Trinidad and Argentina. The big Chinese group was quite a contrast. Their not speaking English resulted in translations into Chinese which made some of the talks lengthy. Swami Veda advised us Westerners to watch the Chinese group and learn from their way of thinking and moving. When he watched us doing some movements he remarked: " They know where to relax, we know where to become tense." I do not quite share that opinion, though. He told us that in their culture something is still alive which in the West we generally have lost. Well, we tried.
Funnily enough we received a Buddhist initiation into the Heart Sutra and its mantra by Swami Veda which I had not anticipated. That helped me to get an understanding about the common elements in yogic knowledge, Hinduism and Buddhism. Also I found that Qigong and Yoga are not different paths which might have some similarities and a common goal, but they are actually the same! The yoga nidra exercise including the relaxation technique is pure Qigong! So the whole seminar for me meant an integration and reconciliation of methods and views about them. The book which I had written a few years ago about Qigong, Yoga and TaiChi now probably would need a rewrite.
Part of the Yoga Weeks program included excursions to nearby ashrams and mountain resorts at the weekend.
One of the biggest ashrams in Rishikesh had invited all of us to participate in the inauguration of their International Yoga week sponsored by the State of Uttar Pradesh (which was different from our yoga week but took place at the same time). So one morning we all entered a bus and started to climb the mountain road on the opposite side of the Ganga river. This bus ride for me resulted in the firm decision not to try another one since my stomach started feeling strange after the 3rd curve, and I really started to feel unwell after the 10th curve. This is an old problem of mine and not related to the construction of an Indian bus. The inauguration for me was essentially watching my body every 15 minutes till my face colour appeared again. The only things which I could register was: first the beautiful ashram but unfortunately that day I had forgotten the camera and second the - for us - funny way of addressing the dignitaries before each one was asked to speak to the audience. The address for each one was something like this: "... The honourable His Holiness Sri Puja Swami FULL NAME Ji Maharaj". The address to those state officials also present was quite similar, only instead of His Holiness their office was mentioned. All 6 or 7 dignitaries sitting in front of us were mentioned about 10 times altogether with their full title. For going home after everything was over I took a taxi - one of those three wheelers where you are supplied with fresh oxygen and street dirt permanently. Also I decided to come again to take photographs of those beautiful statues which could be found on the ashram's premises.
We went there again one day to hear some yoga teachings by Swami Veda who was also part of the teaching team of that ashram's yoga programme and then joined a lunch prepared especially for us. Mother Nature had heard of my problem regarding bus trips and decided to create some problems: buses were not available that day and we all could go by taxis! Events like these where wishes were spontaneously fulfilled were quite numerous during my stay and quite astonishing. This was different from strife and struggle in every day life back home. Also the lunch was quite a feast and I could finally take all the photographs I wanted especially of that beautiful big Shiva statue which was built right into the Ganga river.
Another nice trip we made was directed to some botanic/medicinal gardens in Haridwar. Again no bus! The gardens were quite small and not so impressing at first sight. But then an Ayurvedic doctor introduced himself to me and told me of a speciality which I had failed to notice. He showed me a special section of those gardens in which they planted medicinal herbs in a way that their relation to astrological signs and planets could be seen. This for me was quite interesting since I had been working as an astrological consulter in the past and also got qualified as a naturopath a few years ago.
That evening we had the opportunity to see wonderful pujas at the Ganga ghats in Haridwar which they do there every day. For us they had even organized some blankets and sheets on the floor to sit on. Some of us bought some flower arrangements which were arranged as a tiny boat, centered by a candle. As soon as it became dark the chants and pujas began, wheels of fire could be seen everywhere. We then lit the candles of our 'boats' and floated them accompanied by our individual good wishes. The scenery there must have been the same for centuries if not millenia.
The next nice experience I personally had was on a special trip to buy some rare Ayurvedic medicine. I went to those medicinal gardens again by taxi because there was no way to get what I wanted in Rishikesh. On the way I had the most enjoyable encounter of the whole journey. On the road appeared an elephant and the taxi driver stopped for me. Before I could get out my camera the elephant headed towards me, lifted his trunk and touched my hand to say hello! I was so moved and that elephant (female of course) and I really liked each other. By coincidence that meeting took place in front of some shops on that road. The elephant then decided 'to do some shopping' and looked into each shop to admire the good the shop owners offered. On the way back we met that elephant again loaded with sugar cane. Same procedure: we stopped, the elephant walked towards me and lifted his trunk again to touch me for a hello. This day for me was one of the most remarkable and enjoyable ones.
The weekend I did not join our group for their trip: the bus was going again. So I decided to go to a special place up on a nearby mountain on my own which I did not regret. This was a mother temple named 'Kunja Poori' and was dedicated to Lady Parvati, the consort of Lord Shiva. Up there one could see the white Himalayan snow peaks and the air was pure and pleasant to breathe. My meditation up there was wonderful. On Sunday our group was coming back on the Ganga - river rafting. They were quite radiant and obviously had enjoyed the trip, but they also were completely soaked, wet and cold. Since I had acquired a sore throat recently, I did not regret missing the cold and watery trip but I could sure see the happy eyes of the participants.
One last individual trip - luckily enough the course program allowed for such liberties - was directed towards the cave of the sage Vasishta. I went with two group members, Elaine and Charlie, both English. All three of us enjoyed the trip along the Ganga river very much. The cave is situated about 30 km upstream from Rishikesh. The cave stretched about 10 meters into the rock. We somehow found a place to sit and meditate in the dark. This was real Yogi life! (And I wondered how many days or only hours I would endure). After that I filled my bottle with fresh Ganga water for taking it home to Germany.
Last not least there were many spiritual insights and also emotional upheavals I had to go through - and from the tears in other course participants eyes I could see that I was not the only one. One spiritual encounter was quite remarkable and this I would like to share with you:
One day during the second week three of us (Holly, Ilona and I) went to the temple nearby, speaking to that little Shiva lingam temple which has been built under the root of a tree. In the entrance we saw 5 puppies quarreling about something which we ignored when all three of us entered the tree temple. We sat around the lingam, touched it with our fingers and wanted to start a hopefully wonderful meditation. In the midst of these lofty spiritual thoughts we realized what it was these puppies were quarrelling about, since they all had come in to join us. They were pulling at different ends of a dead bird! Finally one besieged the rest of the group and started munching the bird. The bones were cracking happily. Also another one had managed to get hold of a leg, the foot sticking out of the side of his mouth. Also his crunching on that leg made wonderful noises which had the tendency to turn my stomach upside down.
I tried hard to visualize that everything is actually a dream: the puppies, the dead bird and even our bodies. Somehow this thought helped a little but it was not quite convincing, the bone cracking being more audible than the inner sound of the mantra. To meditate peacefully was next to impossible for us. What a wonderful teaching in Lord Shiva's temple and what attachment still to overcome!
Going to India always is a shock, actually two shocks: The first shock when you get in, the next shock when you get back to your own country. I still feel out of tune with life in Germany, repeating my mantra, watching the breath and thinking that all people here are mad. I do miss the Ganga and the spiritual atmosphere of the ashram. Call it digestive problems of mind and soul. At home I now possess a 1liter-bottle of Ganga water and while I still wonder how healthy the water really is my wife happily takes her sip every day! It was collected streamupwards from Rishikesh so it should be rather clean and holy.
If you feel the enthusiasm, turmoil and inspiration then that is what I wanted to confer to you. I feel blessed.
Germany
22. February, 1999
Q: In yesterday's meditation you gave that beautiful imagery of the waves and the flow. The symbolism that came to me was as though I were a very rough rock, as I continue my mantra how smooth I start to become.
A: The imagery of the wave is not imagery. That is the reality. We take this reality and because our physical body and physical mind are not used to those realities, we take those realities and say, "oh that is very nice poetry, that is very fantastic." I have tried to explain many times that imagery or poetry is the only language in which reality can be explained. So the imagery of the wave is not imagery. It is the fact, it is the reality. That is what you are, a wave in the vast cosmic ocean of prana, of mind, of universal spirit. First you are the wave called the spirit, the spiritual being. Right? Now this spiritual wave which is not limited to any time or any spaces, encounters as it were, this capsule, this capsule that is made of prakriti, matter, matter in its finest sense, the three gunas, tamas, rajas and sattva, they too generate their own energy fields. They have their own energy fields. Matter has its own kind of energy fields. Spirit has its own kind of energy field. All right? So it touches the field generated by the physical body. It touches the field of the mind, the spirit moves the mind. The wave imparts its motion to the first sheet, through another sheet over it, the prana, it holds the prana, connected to another sheet called the body and the same wave now cannot move your bones. It moves the more pliable parts, the less solid parts of your body. The movable parts, your navel area, your stomach area, your diaphragm, your lungs and so on, moves them. As the wave moves them the air in those cavities, thereby moves, That is called breath. It is not that we move these parts in order to breath. These parts move by the wave of that life force. Because people are not easily aware of that subtle wave presence,we say, okay, grab hold of this end of the breath. And by becoming aware of the breath become aware of the force that is moving the parts that are the mechanical parts of that process, the physical parts and you become aware of the diaphragm muscle and so forth, but the purpose is not limited to the diaphragm or the breath, the purpose is to use that wave to go on to be the next subtler level of the wave.
So the wave can divide itself into may ripples, it can merge with larger waves. It can become a huge tide, it can become a sunami. It can be that tiny stir on a very quiet night and that is what your conscious being, your living being actually is. And it is not even appropriate that it is always connected to God, it is like belaboring the point that the wave is connected to the ocean. The wave is always connected to the ocean. Could you take a chalk and draw the line between the ocean and the wave? This was the ocean and now it has given birth to a wave. Or draw a line between two waves and say, this wave is to be the boundary of this nation and this wave to be the boundary of the other nation. And fight over it. So, all of these waves, Okay. Now if you throw a sheet over a wave what happens? The motion of the wave is imparted to the sheet . That is your body. And people mistake this sheet to be the self of this wave. You can also remove this sheet, instead of a yellow one or a red one or a saffron one, a heavy thick one, a piece of plastic, a silk sari, whatever you wish. That is what your physical personality is. So even to say that the wave is linked to all the other waves it is a sort a redundancy. Belaboring a self evident truth. A soul is not a photon, a particle, but a wave. People view the soul as a particle and we view the soul as a wave.
KHEL (Kindness, Health and Education for Leprosy Patients and their families) is a registered non-profit charitable organization founded by Dr.U. & Mrs L. Arya in Dehradun, India. This organization caters for the rehabilitation of Leprosy patients and their families.
The name KHEL also indicates the nature of the project - Kids' Health, Education and Laughter. The Project continues to provide daily cups of milkto its 300 children attending Lakshmi Devi Academy - its educational program. Also, once a week, a hot breakfast is provided as part of the nutrition program. Medical aid and emergencies are given to the children. About 160 Leprosy patients also benefit from food, rations and medical supplies.
The Staff and Students at KHEL send their sincere thanks and greetings to all our friends.
Swami Veda is a monk in the tradition of Sri Shankaracharya, and wears the Swamis' saffron color. But that is just the surface. Swamiji is able to induce a state of meditation in those who meditate with him, and attributes this blessing to the grace of his Master, Swami Rama. Since Swami Rama's Mahasamadhi, Swami Veda Bharati continues to encourage and guide many disciples and students of Swami Rama.
So what does Swami Veda do? He claims to do nothing yet things happen. He continues to guide close to 5,000 initiates worldwide, including USA, Canada, Europe, Korea and Singapore. He trains loving souls to teach in different countries such as India, Taiwan, Mauritius; and many initiators look to him for recurrent training.
He has completed the second volume (over 750 pages) of extensive commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and he has numerous texts awaiting final editing and printing. Swamiji also directs a project to preserve the unpublished ancient manuscripts on Yoga in one place, in the form of microfilms and manuscripts from libraries worldwide.
Swami Veda is the Spiritual Director of Sadhana Mandir Ashram in Rishikesh, India, and president of the Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy in Kanpur, India, both sister institutions of the Himalayan Institute in Honesdale and part of the legacies of Swami Rama.
In addition, he was charged by his Master to help develop the spiritual perspective of the Himalayan Hospital, located in Jolly Grant, near Dehradun, Uttar Pradesh, India. He guides those who come to the Sadhana Mandir Ashram located beside the Ganges River in Rishikesh, India. This Ashram is known as a place of advanced training in meditation, related texts and philosophy.
Swami Veda continues the ancient tradition of nurturing disciples and supporting those who keep scholarly traditions. Swamiji also helps KHEL (Kindness, Health and Education for Lepers), a project dedicated to helping feed and educate children of lepers in India.
Swamiji maintains the age-old tradition of using the monks' begging bowl as financial resource for carrying on the work of passing on knowledge from generation to generation.
Swami Veda Bharati imparts the teachings of yoga through his inspiring presence, wisdom, and ecstatic poetry.
This visit continues 53 years of non-stop world-wide teaching. His knowlege comes from a deep understanding of the 5,000 year old wisdom of the Vedas, as well as from initiatory experiences handed down to him by his revered Master, Swami Rama of the Himalayas.
Dates and times are subject to change. Please contact: The Meditation Center, 631 University Avenue, NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413. Telephone 612-379-2386, or fax: 612-379-2456.
Please register me for the following Swami Veda Seminar(s):
_____ Spiritual Festival _____ Yoga as Therapy _____Meditations in Sri VIdya
OR: Please register me for the following Meditatation Center classes: ____________________________
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Phone: Day/Night _________________________________________________
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1) Holland Yoga Teachers Association
September 7-14, 1999
Contact: Margrit Kampen
Handel Laan 53
8031 EG Zwolle
Phone: 038-421-8941
2) German Yoga Teachers Association
August 6-13, 1999
Contact: Wolfgang Bischoff
Himalayan Institute of Germany
Hagener Allee 70 D
22926 Ahrensburg
Germany
Phone: 00-49-4102-32835,
Fax: 51220,
Email: himalaya.wolf@t-online.de
Doris Schaeffer
Veilchenweg 4
88085 Langenargen
Germany
Phone: 00-49-07543-2636,
Fax: 49178
3) Zinal Conference of the Federation of the European Yoga Teachers Association at Zinal, Switzerland
August 22-27, 1999
4) Saas Fee in Switzerland
August 29-September 1, 1999
*Special three day session. Inviting those who train the yoga teachers in different European countries. The idea is to train them as to how to teach Himalayan Yoga Meditation.
5) Italian Yoga Teachers Association
October 22-24, 1999
6) French Yoga Teachers Association
October 29-31, 1999
Located: Aix-a-Provence in Southern France
7) Himalayan Institute of Italy
November 5-7, 1999
Contact: Victor Bischoff
Himalayan Institute of Italy
10C Pino Alto 30 &endash; 50050
Fiano/Certaldo
Firenze, Italy
Phone/Fax: 39-571-669-468
Email: gabgail@tin.it
The main contact in Europe for Swami Veda's European program:
Wolfgang Bischoff
Himalayan Institute of Germany
Hagener Allee 70 D
22926 Ahrensburg
Germany
Phone: 00-49-4102-32835,
Fax: 51220,
Email: himalaya.wolf@t-online.de
Sadhana Mandir Ashram has been the personal spiritual seat of Swami Rama ofthe Himalayas. A flower-filled island of peace, at the banks of the Holy Ganges, surrounded by the foothills of the Himalayas, the Ashram still vibrates with the energy bequeathed here by the Master Saint. It is now being served by Swami Veda Bharati, as President and spiritual preceptor, on whom Swami Rama conferred one of the highest yoga initiations in 1970.
The ashram is an international center for the study and practice of meditation, and its attendant sciences, texts and philosophies, as handed down in their traditional purity by the lineages of the Himalayan masters (about whom please read Swami Rama's Living With the Himalayan Masters).
The meditation and study program for each student, as well as for visiting groups from numerous countries, is individually tailored by the resident preceptor, Swami Veda Bharati. One may choose to stay at the Ashram for any duration, from one day to one year, and a program will be arranged according to one's needs, level, and capacity. There are also opportunities for offering one's services at the Ashram, depending on your area of expertise and interest. There are several programs available :
(1) For complete beginners, individual instruction in hatha-yoga as meditation; preparations for meditation; principles of sadhana (spiritual practices) and basic philosophy; meditation in daily life; mantra initiation and guidance in using the mantra. The hatha-yoga is guided by the resident expert Ashutosh Sharma.
(2) For initiates (including those who have been initiated in other traditions), intermediate and advanced steps in sadhana, as guided by Swami Veda. Entry into subtler meditations and levels of silence may be taught. A number of other highly qualified and expereinced teachers provide instruction from time to time.
(3) There is a one-month program for the study of the writings of Swami Rama, prepared by Swami Jnaneshwar (who hails from USA, received Swami Rama's grace and blessing, has made a thorough study of Swami Rama's writings, and serves the Ashram through this study program).
(4) Special meditation retreats, and advanced seminars on ancient philosophical texts are also organized. Those in health professions may also benefit from visits to the Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, a thirty minutes drive from the Ashram.
How to get there? What to bring? Costs? Just send us a fax or e-mail. All the inquiries should be addressed to the Ashram's President at the address printed in the title, or use phone, fax or e-mail.
Tel : 91-135-431485 and 433886 Fax : 91-135-431582
e-mail : <tadit@nda.vsnl.net.in>
We specially welcome groups. Do bring one from your city.
When Swami Veda Bharati, as a spiritually ambitious young man in the kumbh mela of 1952, inquired from the visiting yogis as to who the greatest yogi in the Himalayas was, it was the name of Swami Rama that was given unanimously. Then, and often again whenever such an inquiry was made, it received the same answer.
Swami Rama, born in the Himalayas, was raised by his spiritual Master in the legendary caves of the yogis where countless generations of yogis havebeen trained and initiated into the deepest mysteries of the sacred science of yoga. A monk in the Shankaracharya Order, he held the highest position as a Shankaracharya, which he then renounced to continue to serve the Himalayan Tradition.
All sciences are open to a yogi. He was a scientist who offered himself for scientific experiments to be conducted on a yogi; philosopher who wrote fortyfive books; a poet who tranlsated an epic in three months; an architect, sculptor, painter. The most well known names in the classical music of India gathered around him to accompany him in his music sessions. Dog trainer; horse trainer; it was a delight to watch him at tennis. Enlightened guide to disciples. Master of the Art of Life.
Uncountable thousands around the world came to him asking for gifts tangible and intangible. When he gave with the right hand, his left hand did not know. One meets people in all walks of life, in highest professions, who tell us how he blessed, guided, created their success in life. He would sit for hours in the company of a one-buffalo farmer while princes waited outside his chamber. When he granted funds for establishing the library of a University in the Garhwal Himalayas, he did it on the condition that his name would not be given any public association with it. As he prepared to leave his body, he left strict instructions to build no memorials, establish no shrines nor a museum, and do nothing else to commemorate his name. His memorial is in the hearts of his disciples who miss the love they received in abandon.
A philanthropist who created a Medical City in four years where there were only farmers' fields, and gave subtle hints on surgery to surgeons. A superb administrator who taught leaders how to lead and managers how to manage. Equally at home in the East and the West, he was a both a scientist and an accomplished mystic, a siddha. Above all, he was a direct descendant of the lineage of yogis, going back thousands of years, who are the founders and keepers of yoga, the source of all paths of meditation, and who confer the direct experience as initiation into the mystery of Consciousness.
Swami Rama has left many disciples behind, none anywhere near his stature and calibre, to carry on the various assignments of his work. What we all most remember about him is the magnetic, charismatic power of love, such that as he walked one felt pulled to simply walk behind him. The full impact of his spiritual legacy will be realized perhaps in a century.
Coming to his Ashram even for the first time, one experiences the special energy, inspiration and the pull to a mental silence.
The history of humanity is not the history of tool making or of social organization. It is the history of mind's unfoldment. The Himalayan tradition believes that even if one weaves no clothing nor owns a stone to crush wild nuts, one may be a saint, a sage, a philosopher, a wise (wo)man. And what use that we land a man on Mars but have conquered not the god of war who dwells within the mind, nor can curb our anger, nor can slow down our breath, nor can lower our blood pressure withot the aid of an agency external to us? The Himalayan tradition advocates complete self-sufficiency of a human being without dependence on any object external to his spirit and mind.
For this the Tradition teaches specific methods of training the human mind. It awakens the energy called Consciousness and instructs it s disciplines into the meaning of "Thou art That" - till one's very being knows, "I, indeed, am That". The methods taught are scientific, systematic and entirely internal. And then comes the mystery of initiation, the direct conferring of the energy of Consciousness into the disciple till the disciple becomes a Master in his own right.
When Swami Rama demonstrated in a laboratory condition that he could alter the count of living or dead cells at will as the scientists drew his blood, he was asked, "Swami, how do you do that ?" And he answered, "They are my blood cells; are they not ?" The power, not a process, called Consciousness is realized within as the ultimate in yoga asit has been taught by the Masters of the Himalayan Tradition, in an unbroken lineage for countless millenia. The Upanishads, Bhagavad-gita, and countless other scriptures are simply revelations of the truths thus experienced. The teachers of the tradition have taught in all known civilizations of the world and have left their mark in the writings and records everywhere.
One trained in the Himalayan Tradition knows all the paths of meditation as they diverge from it and converge into the same as their origin. The teachers of the Tradition live for others only : that the suffering of many may be alleviated. They wander -as the Buddha said to his first batch of his disciples - "Wander, ye monks, for the benefit of the many, for the comfort of the many". An Ashram of this Traditions beckons you to come and receive compassionate love in a world that causes much suffering. That love is Meditation, and its highest from is enlightenment.
For further information about the Ashram's meditation programs, write to:
Spiritual Director, Sadhana Mandir Trust, P.O. Pashulok, Rishikesh UP 249203 INDIA.
Phone 91-135-431485; Fax 91-135-431582. E-mail: tadit@giasdl01.vsnl.net.in
In Europe: Wolfgang Bischoff, Director, Himalaya Institut, Hagener Allee 70, 22926 Ahrensburg, Germany. Fax 49-4102-51220.
FOR A FREE CATALOG of lectures on audio tapes by Swami Veda Bharati on all aspects of yoga science and philosphy, write to: John Zavrel, West-Art Publishers, 10545 Main Street, Clarence, NY 14031 (USA).