Dear {subtag:name},
March 2020 Newsletter
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News
"...recognize the source is within you, and thereby, recognize these natural forces of patience, forbearance, tolerance. Such sentiments arise from your purified and pacified mindfield showing their fruits in goodness, satiety, kindness and compassion.
Let it be a process of a different kind of awareness and a renewing quality of our selves thereby influencing in a positive way the well-being of many." – Swami Ritavan Bharati
The Spiritual Plan for the Sangha by Swami Ritavan can be read by clicking on “Announcement for Covid-19.” In addition to the guidance from Swamiji, more messages about this time of the Covid-19 can be read in this newsletter; there are articles from Dr. Mohan Swami, President of AHYMSIN; Wolfgang Bischoff, mantra initiator and member of the AHYMSIN Adhyatma Samiti [spiritual committee]; and Rabindra Sahu, manager of Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama (SRSG).
“May each of us as representative souls of the Tradition do our part to alleviate the current crisis through our prayers and actions.” – Dr. Mohan Swami
We invite you to share some of the ways that these current events have given you the opportunity for spiritual growth and understanding, for a greater understanding of the teachings and of yourself. Please send to ahymsin@ahymsin.org attn. AHYMSIN newsletter.
The next Full Moon Meditation will be on 8 April 2020, and you are invited to participate wherever you are. The photo of the full moon was taken on Holi at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama (SRSG) by Michael Kissener. PLEASE INVITE ALL YOUR FRIENDS TO JOIN. All are welcome!
To read “Ahimsa” by Swami Rama, please click on title.
A lecture on “Karma and Samskaras” given by Stephen Parker (Stoma) at the Himalayan Yoga Tradition - Teacher Training Program (HYT-TTP) retreat in March 2020 at SRSG can be watched by clicking on the title.
Questions on Spiritual Practice can be sent to the Adhyatma Samiti by clicking here.
"Online Resources for the Covid-19 Time" can be viewed by clicking on the title.
Upcoming Events
Our Upcoming Events web page has been updated with many new events and retreats. For more information, please check the link or contact ahymsin@ahymsin.org for more information about these and other programs. Links to listings to other websites are also provided there.
Share Your News!
We invite you to share what is happening in their centers and your experiences, insights, and questions. With such sharing, we can learn more about one another and strengthen one another in our sadhana, becoming a true “sangha”. We welcome your articles. You can write to ahymsin@ahymsin.org
This Month's Newsletter
Please click here to view this month's Ahymsin March 2020 Newsletter in your browser or click one of the article "Read More" links below.
March Articles
Two Blood Cells
by Swami Veda
[This is an excerpt from God by Pandit Usharbudh Arya, 1979, Chapter "God Within," pages 92 - 93. Pandit Usharbudh Arya became Swami Veda Bharati, and the author of the book is sometimes listed as Swami Veda Bharati.]
Once upon a time two blood cells in a person’s body each developed into a genius. One became an inspired mystic and philosopher while one became a cynical scientist. The blood cell that had become a mystic stood by the walls of an artery and announced, “Fellow cells, harken! I must share with you a great vision I have been granted. We are not all apart, each cell having a separate life of its own. There is a great omnipresent being whose life force we share, from whom we are born, in whom we dwell, and into whom we each finally dissolve. Though the individual cell may die, life continues in that great being. That great one is so vast that billions of us all cannot fathom his greatness. None of us can comprehend all his thoughts, knowledge and action. This being is called man.”
Read More : Two Blood Cells
Living Beauty
by Swami Rama
[This is an excerpt from Love Whispers by Swami Rama, 1986 hardback edition, page 49.]
What beauty and grandeur a flower bestows! The naïve take this lightly and are not sensitive enough to perceive the depth of the colors of the delicate petals.
For a short while the flower blooms, and then the petals drop to the dust without receiving any admiration or touch of love. Do you know, they cry for want of love, and that is why they are shy and drop their blossoms unnoticed in quiet lonely nights.
A flower is a living beauty that blooms only once and vanishes forever. It whispers vainly – for the deaf ears of the cruel human being have no power to listen to that pain. The flower waits to offer its petals to her Beloved before the dust assimilates her beauty and blends it into its grey ugly color.
Read More : Living Beauty
Prayers and Succour for
Current Global Uncertainties
by Dr. Mohan Swami
My very dear souls
My prostrations to the Divine Master.
Some of us are witnessing for the first time in this lifetime what a pandemic is and what is currently being spread by the Corona virus.
A century ago, in 1918, the world experienced the Spanish influenza (H1N1) pandemic where it was estimated that 25% to 30% of the world population became infected with this virus. Then years later, we heard of the H2N2 Asian flu, the H3N2 Hong Kong flu and more recently, the H1N1 swine flu ten years ago.
Read More : Prayers and Succour
Dignity to Every Moment of Life
by Wolfgang Bischoff
My dear Brothers and Sisters,
In this special time of transformation and spiritual growth I want to send you my love out of my total isolation in Ahrensburg, Germany. Allow me to send you some thoughts out of my silence:
In deep meditation I heard one of the most beautiful definitions of Yoga: YOGA MEANS TO GIVE DIGNITY TO EVERY MOMENT OF LIFE.
Now is the time and opportunity to practice it without disturbances from outside activities. Samkhya Philosophy is teaching that the only faculty which can lead us to freedom is the discriminative faculty of our mind.
Read More : Dignity to Every Moment
Covid-19 Updates from SRSG
by Rabindra Sahu
Namaste and Greetings.
We at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama (SRSG) are remembering all our AHYMSIN Sangha members around the world at this present global coronavirus situation. As the World Health Organisation (WHO) and many nations have announced the situation as a global pandemic, everyone is concerned regarding their health and safety. Under these extraordinary circumstances, extraordinary measures are being undertaken by the governments, institutions, communities for the larger interest.
The ashram trustees, in line with the advisory guidelines from the Government of India, have taken a policy of not accepting new guests in the ashram with effect from 12:00 PM IST, March 13, 2020 for the larger interest of our students on campus, teachers, staff and residents. All future programs in the ashram stand cancelled at this moment. Kindly feel free to write to us at sadhakagrama@gmail.com or ahymsin@ahymsin.org for learning more about future programs and updates.
Read More : Covid-19 Updates
AHYMSIN Board Meeting March 2020
Reported by Rajini Prakash
A considerable number of family members came together for the AHYMSIN Board Meeting on 14th March 2020. Swami Ritavan blessed the meeting with a message that has since been communicated to the Sangha. If you are yet to see the message, please click on “Announcement for Covid-19”.
Primary focus of the Board meeting was on reaching out to the Sangha by carrying the message of the Guru in these challenging times. It was decided that online programmes would be offered, which would enable the Sangha to connect, engage and immerse itself in the Guru’s teachings. The AHYMSIN Education team is working hard to extend this offering as soon as possible. Please stay tuned for further information.
Information is shared on the AHYMSIN website keeping all of us regularly updated on the status and future events regarding our spiritual home on this physical plane.
Please visit https://ahymsin.org/main for updates.
MahaShivaRatri 2020 at Sadhaka Grama
by Riemke de Groot
MahaShivaratri was the night from Friday 21 on Saturday 22 February and at the ashram, a 3 day retreat was organized. Many Indian members of the spiritual family had come for this occasion, together with the ashramites and guests from all over the world.
The retreat started on Thursday, this weekly silent day being a good preparation to turn inward. In the evening meditation, an audio was played, Swami Veda guiding us through a special manasa-puja for MahaShivaratri. As we were sitting in the initiation room hearing his voice, it was as if he was present again in the body.
Thursday evening Swami Prayag Giri told us in her lively way about Shiva and the Shiva worship all over the world: that he is the most easy and accessible to be worshipped, no rules for shrines, even a simple Shiva-lingam will do. So you find Shiva shrines everywhere in India, from small ones along the roads till the big ones, like the nearby Virabadhra temple. She also told some legends about Shiva. The one that stays in my mind is that of the robber, who came to a Shiva temple and wanted to rob the copper bowl that was hanging over the lingam. To reach it, he had to climb onto the lingam. In that moment Shiva appeared, being very pleased because this person had offered himself, instead of water, milk or leaves. Swami ji emphasized to cultivate a positive and happy mind at all times, to honour and please Shiva. She also led us into a beautiful Shiva bhajan.
Read More : MahaShivaRatri 2020
Eternal Dedication to Swami Veda Bharatiji
by Rashmi Bawa
My yoga teacher Chandnaji introduced me to Swami Veda Bharati in March 2008, since he felt I was so curious about meditation and probably needed it at that point of time.
On our way to Rishikesh I had picked up my book Walking with a Himalayan Master by Justin O’Brien which I had bought some time back, but never read. Well, on this trip the book became very engrossing and fascinating to me. Before this day, my ‘religion’ only stemmed from my parents and society, but even then I had a questioning mind; who knows if there really is a God, can you ever ‘find’ Him? Is there a logic to Karma theory? How valid are mantras in Sanskrit? Etc.
That day is entrenched in my mind. Arriving at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama perhaps around 11 am, my first impression was: Serenity, and that it looked organized and above all clean and calm. We had a simple lunch (sitting traditionally on the floor) and then we waited, seemed like a long time, till maybe 4 pm when we could finally meet Swamiji. We were tired and my thoughts were, is really worth coming all the way?
Read More : Eternal Dedication
Dear Yoga Mentor, My Question Is…
Sometimes students have written to or asked Swami Veda Bharati, Swami Ritavan Bharati, and other senior teachers in our tradition questions about practice. This is one such “Question and Answer,” or Q&A.
Question:
My question is - Under the theory of karma, we understand that ego (ahamkara) is the root cause of the sense of doership, which in turn envelopes one in the karmic whirlpool. However, what is this ego? Where does it generate from? How does it generate? What is its source? What is the process? And finally, how does one get rid of this ego?
Answer:
Lalita Arya (Ammaji), Stephen Parker (Stoma), and Carolyn Hume have answered this question.
Read More : Dear Yoga Mentor …
Luminosity
by Anu Gupta
We were graced by Swami Ritavan Ji’s loving calm
presence in Edmonton from January 3 to 5/2020.
Swami ji shared from his vast reservoir of experiential
wisdom pearls strung for luminosity of eternal self.
We the “CEO’s” of the temple of our bodies & minds
Propelled by our “individuated” samskaras
Finding our way back to the eternal higher Self
By the way of Yoga – Union of higher Self.
“Breath – the doorway to Infinity”
Anchoring the mind
Experiencing inward silence,
Inward silence
In which lies the reservoir of infinity,
“Sat Chit Ananda”.
Read More : Luminosity
Italy before Covid-19
by Stephen Parker (Stoma)
Just before the corona virus really began to spread, I made a visit to Italy in early February 2020. I flew into Rome hosted by a recent friend, Professor Antonino Raffone Ph.D., a professor of neuroscience and psychology at Sapienza University. On February 6th I gave a lecture to the neuroscience faculty and graduate students on “Yoga and Meditation” with the intention of showing the commonalities between the yogic and Buddhist traditions of mindfulness and meditation.
Then February 7-9 we held a seminar on Yoga-nidrā for about 15 participants. Both events were well attended and a good relationship was forged that will probably result in repeat visits after all the disruption around the corona virus settles down. We also had a chance to do a bit of sightseeing and spent a day at Villa Adriano, the country retreat of the Roman emperor Hadrian. I had read about his life in the beautiful 1950’s novel Memoirs of Hadrian by classics scholar Marguerite Youcenar.
Read More : Italy before Covid-19
Share Your News!
We invite you to share what is happening in their centers and your experiences, insights, and questions. With such sharing, we can learn more about one another and strengthen one another in our sadhana, becoming a true “sangha”. We welcome your articles. You can write to ahymsin@ahymsin.org
Other Links
Full Moon Timings
- 10 PM in New York. Surrounding countries and regions of South, Central and North America and the Caribbean to match their time to 10 PM New York time.
- 8 PM in U.K. (London Time).Those in all European, and all African time zones, please adjust your sitting time to coincide with 8 PM United Kingdom.
- 8 PM in East Asia, 8 PM Singapore time. Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand etc. adjust their times to coincide with Singapore time 8 PM.
- 7 AM in India (IST), surrounding countries adjust the time accordingly, for example Iran is 5 AM.
Also, Toronto "Himalayan Yoga and Meditation Society of Ontario" members meet at 9:00 pm (local).
Yours in service, — Ahymsin Office
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