Tag: Meditation

New Moon Meditation for World Peace

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Message from Dr. Mohan Swami, President, AHYMSIN

The Asia Sangha, with the blessing of Swami Ritavan Bharati, is initiating a meditation for World Peace on New Moon days commencing June 28, 2022.

The New Moon is when the Sun and Moon and Earth are all aligned; with the Sun and Earth on opposite sides of the Moon.

Swami Veda Bharati initiated the Full Moon meditation in a global scale for us to experience the grace and guidance of the Lineage. He explained that when all sit together at the same time even in different parts of the world, we connect to the Universal Guru Mind. (ref: Ahymsin Publication: 10th March 2009)

The practice of the meditation on the New Moon days will be graced by the use of the Saumya mantra as proposed by Swami Ritavan.

ॐ सौम्या सौम्यतराशेष सौम्येभ्यस्त्वतिसुन्दरी ।

परापराणां परमा त्वमेव परमेश्वरी ॥

तारे तुत्तारे तुरे स्वाहा ॥

Om Saumyā saumyatarāśeṣa saumyebhyas tvati sundari.

Parāparāṇāṁ paramā tvameva parameśvarī.

Tāre tut tāre ture svāhā.

This mantra was described by Swami Veda Bharati and Swami Ritavan often during their satsangs. It refers to the Divine Mother as Saumya. It is a special mantra which is used to cultivate and develop our personalities into becoming a gentle and soothing individual. Swamiji was an embodiment of this virtue in its perfect sense.

In any mantra recitation, Gurudev Swami Rama always taught us to know and understand the meaning of the word, words or sounds. Only then the recitation has its full effect.

In its first half of the mantra, the word ‘Saumya’ refers to the soma or lunar attributes which are peaceful and kind.

‘Saumyatara’ means more lunar or peaceful than the Moon itself,

‘Ashesha saumyebhyas’ means even more beautiful than all the lunar-like and peaceful forces in the entire Universe.

The second half of the verse describes the Supreme One, ‘Parama’ and all things of the transcendent realities, including the experiences in this world. The Supreme Lady, ‘Parameshvari’, thou art the Supreme, thou alone art the Supreme, who transcends all immanent forces.

This mantra describes the emotional purification and balancing of the three gunas.

Let us, wherever we are in the world, join Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama in this New Moon Meditation for World Peace through the Grace of Swami Veda Bharati and Gurudev.

May all be blessed.

Aum Tat Sat representing the Unmanifest and Absolute Reality.

ms

Editor’s Note:

Saumya-Tara Mantra Recitation by Pandit Priyadarshan (Pierre Lefebvre)

One may sit for meditation at their home and know that you are not sitting alone at that time, and be aware of the connection with the Himalayan Tradition.

Meditation as Mother

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maa

Audio Recording on “Meditation as Mother” by Swami Veda Bharati

Transcript of “Meditation as Mother” by Swami Veda Bharati

Only a joyful mind immersed in the beauty of the ever-present facets and faces of the Divine Mother can meditate. A mind laden with anguish, sorrow, anger is not yet a vessel that has been prepared for meditation. Therefore, in your daily life, endeavour to make your mind joyful and beautiful, resonating to the floods of the waves upon waves of joy and beauty that touch you, course through you, pass through you at every instant. Remember that your sense of individuation is a myth to be discarded and that which you have discarded as a myth and that is the awareness of the totality and unity of the indivisible, undivided universal consciousness has to become a reality for you. Learn instant by instant to dip into your share in the ocean of joy. And the aliveness and the awareness of the universal conscious reality because of its fullness is wanting nothing. Therefore, it is all joy, all bliss, bliss, all completeness, purnam, purnam, purnam.

It is the flavourful essence, rasa, the juice of the very being of the universe, whose custodian is the Mother Deity, the Divine Mother, Shree, who is the resort and refuge of all forms and facets, of all thoughts and sentiments, of the power of will, power of knowledge, power of creativity. Lalita, the tender, the gentle one. Tripurasundari, the beauty of the three realms. She whose name is beauty, whose faces are the forms. She is not the beauty of the faces; the faces are the forms of that force called the Great Mother named Beauty.

Know yourself to be as a particle of her being, her wave, the wave of fullness, of joy, of bliss, of completeness, of totality, of consciousness, indivisibility of life force passing through you like the mother’s mind wave, prana wave. And nourishment coursing in her body passes through the foetus, so sheltered, so protected, so guided, so having no cause for anguishing fear. Be nourished on this wave. Know yourself to be the wave of the fullness of life immersed in the beauty of the ever-present facets and faces of the Divine Mother and meditate. A mind laden with anguish, sorrow, anger is not yet a vessel that has been prepared for meditation.

Therefore, in your daily life, endeavour to make your mind joyful and beautiful, resonating to the floods of the waves upon waves of joy and beauty that touch you, course through you, pass through you at every instant. Remember that your sense of individuation is a myth to be discarded. And that which you have discarded as a myth, and that is the awareness of the totality and unity of the indivisible, undivided Universal Consciousness has to become a reality for you. The wave of the ocean of consciousness and perfection, which is everywhere, as far as you can stretch the vision from your third eye in the form of a ray emanating in all directions.

Let your awareness catch hold of this breath principle, whose wave is interwoven with the wave of prana, coursing through your entire individuated continuum of the breath and prana, through your entire body and you gently bring your hands down.

And 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 hands, with all thought in the head, I give you the love of the Himalayan lineage and worship the divinity, whose wave flows within you. God bless you.

Editor’s Note

The audio and transcript of this special meditation was shared by Swami Ritavan Bharati.

Meditative Posture

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Swami Rama

 

The requirements for a good meditation posture are that it be still, steady, relaxed, and comfortable. If the body moves, sways, twitches, or aches, it will distract you from meditation. Some people have the misconception that to meditate, you must sit in a complicated, cross-legged position called the Lotus Pose. Fortunately, this is not accurate. There is only one important prerequisite for a good meditation posture – it must allow you to keep the head, neck, and trunk of the body aligned so that you can breathe freely and diaphragmatically.

In all the meditative postures the head and neck should be centered, so that the neck is not twisted or turned to either side, nor is the head held too far forward. The head should be supported by the neck, and held directly over the shoulders without creating tension in either the neck or shoulders. Face forward with your eyes gently closed. Simply allow your eyes to close; don’t squeeze them shut or create any pressure in your eyes.

Unfortunately, some people have been told to force their gaze upward at a point in their forehead. This creates strain in the eye muscles and may even produce a headache. There are some yogic practices that involve specific gazes, but they are not used during meditation. Simply let all your facial muscles relax. Your mouth should also be gently closed, without any tension in the jaw. All breathing is done through the nostrils.

In all the meditative postures, your shoulders and arms should be relaxed and allowed to rest gently on your knees. Your arms should be so completely relaxed that if someone were to pick up your hand, your arm would be limp. You can gently join the thumb and index finger in a position called the “finger lock” … This mudra (gesture) creates a circle, which you can think of symbolically as a small circuit that recycles energy within.

Editor’s Note

This is an excerpt from the book – Meditation and Its Practice, pp. 23-24, by Swami Rama, published in 1998 by the Himalayan Institute Press.

16 Steps of Basic Meditation

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Below is a guided practice audio and transcript on the “16 Steps of Basic Meditation” by Swami Veda Bharati

  1. Draw all your senses to yourself. Bring your mind’s attention to the seat you are sitting on.
  2. Sit with your head, neck and spine erect.
  3. Draw around yourself three circles of light, so that no samskara invades from outside and enter you. Resolve that the mind should not cross these protective lines of light.
  4. Let your mind dwell within yourself. Be aware of the temple of God that is your body.
  5. Relax your mind. Let the mind be free of all wrinkles. Let the entire mind that permeates your whole body, relax. Let the mind dwelling in all the limbs and organs relax and thereby, letting limbs and organs relax. Let the mind in your forehead relax. Relax your forehead – relax your eyebrows – relax your eyes – relax your nostrils – and gently observe your breathing for a few breaths. Relax your cheeks – relax your jaw – the corners of your mouth – relax your chin – your neck straight – relax your neck muscles – relax your shoulders – shoulder joints – upper arms – elbows – lower arms – wrists – hands – fingers – fingertips. Breathe as though your breath is flowing through the finger tips – washing out all the tensions. Relax your fingertips – relax your finger joints – relax your hands – wrists – lower arms – elbows – upper arms – shoulder joints – shoulders. Relax your throat center of consciousness. Relax your chest muscles. Relax the heart center of consciousness. Gently observe your breathing. Relax your stomach. Relax the navel center of consciousness. Relax your lower abdomen – relax your thigh joints – thighs – knees – lower legs – ankles – feet and toes. Breathe as though your whole body is breathing – from your crown to the toes – and the foundation, adhara, to your crown. Relax your toes, relax your feet, ankles, lower legs, knees, relax your thighs – thigh joints – relax the lower abdomen. Relax the navel center of consciousness and the surrounding organs. Relax your stomach. Relax the heart center of consciousness and the surrounding organs. Relax your chest. Relax the throat center of consciousness and the surrounding organs. Relax your shoulders – shoulder joints – upper arms – elbows – lower arms – wrists – hands – fingers – finger tips. Relax your finger joints – hands – wrists – lower arms – elbows – upper arms –shoulder joints – shoulders – relax your neck muscles – relax your chin – jaw – corners of your mouth – relax your cheeks – nostrils – eyes and eyebrows. Relax your forehead.
  6. Breathe as though your whole body is breathing, your mind, prana, breath, from the crown to adhara, foundation, and the toes, from there all the way to the crown, slowly, gently, smoothly, every cell of your body breathing, every cell of your body breathing. Breathing the subtle breath. Slowly, gently, smoothly.
  7. Then come to seat of your prana, the navel center of consciousness. Observe the gentle rise and fall of your stomach and the navel area.
  8. Here, take a word like So-ham, or the name of your ishta, your favorite name for God, or your personal mantra. Exhaling, thinking that divine name, inhale, thinking the divine name. Observing the gentle rise and fall of that area, your stomach and navel gently pulling in as you breathe out, how gently relax as you breathe in.
  9. Observe the pathway of the breath, from the navel to the nostrils, nostrils to the navel, a slow, slim breath, a narrow channel, along a being of light, with the divine name, ascending and descending. Maintain the flow, a very slim smooth channel.
  10. Now, with the same divine name, feel the flow and the touch of breath in your left nostril. Feel the breath in your right nostril.
  11. Feel the breath, the flow and touch of the breath, in both nostrils. Breathing gently, slowly, smoothly – No jerk in your breathing – Thinking the same thought of the divine name. When you come to the end of the breath, let there be no pause, immediately begin to feel the next breath. Continuous cycle of awareness of the breath flow, continuous cycle of a thought of the divine name.
  12. Now even ignore the breath awareness. Let the divine name or the mantra gently arise as a thought in the mind. Not in the mouth, not on the tongue, only in the mind. Same thought, same thought. Same mind wave. Observe the presence of the name in the mind.
  13. And now, cease even this observation. Let your mind become a chamber of silence. Absolutely still. Only silence.
  14. From this pool of silence, again, calm mind, divine name and the breath. Observe how breath, mind and the name are flowing together as a single stream. The entire mind becomes an even flowing stream.
  15. Resolve in your mind that you seek no benefits from this meditation. If any benefits, may they accrue to the countless myriad human beings who are in ignorance and in suffering. May they be enlightened. May their suffering be alleviated. As to yourself, say, “Thy will be done. Not mine.” Observe the mind, free of all claims of ego, lightened and surrender to the divine being. The stream of consciousness, flowing.
  16. Observing the flow, without breaking the feel of that flow, gently open your eyes. You may warm your hands, rub your forehead, hands, feet, without changing the state of your mind. You may change the position of your body.

HYT-TTP Fall 2021 Virtual Workshop on Meditation: The Core Practice of the Himalayan Tradition

We are pleased to announce to our worldwide AHYMSIN spiritual family, Yoga Teachers and Practitioners that registration is now open for the Fall 2021, 20-hour HYT-TTP Virtual Workshop.

After the very successful spring 2021 virtual workshop, where our presenters skillfully addressed different aspects of the practice taken from all the ten subjects of the HYT-TTP syllabus, for the fall workshop, the HYT-TTP team is inviting you to dive deeper in the practice of meditation. It is one of the most important practice of the Tradition handed down to us by Gurudev Swami Rama of the Himalayas and Swami Veda Bharati.

The Fall workshop will be held in November. It is titled Meditation: The Core Practice of the Himalayan Tradition, and today we are pleased to share the details of the schedule and invite you to register as soon as possible to secure your place in this important event.

This 20-hour Virtual Workshop is designed for all HYT-TTP Students, Graduates and Teachers, as well as current Yoga Tutors and serious practitioners. We will provide Yoga Alliance CEUs (Continuing Education Units) for all sessions.

Fall 2021 HYT TTP 20 Hour Virtual Workshop 2

The Workshop will be held from November 6th to November 21st, 2021. The sessions will be on Friday evenings at 7:30 PM EST (U.S. eastern standard time), and Saturday & Sunday mornings at 9:00 AM EST, with the exception of November 6th, which will begin at 10:00 AM EST, due to Daylight Savings ending in the North American region on November 7th.  (This will not affect the timing in other regions).

As in the spring virtual workshop, the HYT-TTP Faculty will teach sessions of duration of approximately 2 1/2-hours, including live Q&As. Please find details of the schedule below.

  • Saturday Nov. 6th: Workshop opening and Basic Elements of Meditation in the Himalayan Tradition – Swami Ritavan Bharati, with Adhikari Bhoi and Ramprakash Das
  • Sunday Nov 7th: Hatha Yoga as a Gateway to Meditation – Pt. Ashutosh Sharma
  • Friday Nov 12th: Meditative Practices of the Himalayan Tradition – Swami Ma Radha Bharati
  • Saturday Nov 13th: Deepening Meditation Practice through Emotional Purification – Dr. Stephen “Stoma” Parker
  • Sunday Nov 14th: Breath, Mind, and Meditation – Carol and Charles Crenshaw
  • Friday Nov 19th: Meditation Sadhana as a Way of Life and Full Moon Meditation – Chuck Linke
  • Saturday Nov 20th: Advancing Mantra Practice After Initiation – Swami Ritavan Bharati
  • Sunday Nov 21st: Panel discussion, questions and answers – All Presenters

Click here to register for the workshop.

If you are unable to attend all the live sessions from your time zone, we will allow video access to the sessions for 3 months, so that you can schedule a time that is convenient for you to view the sessions.

To help sustain the Ashram during this difficult period, all the proceeds from this workshop will be donated to SRSG.

We are recommending a donation of US$180.00 for those that live in High-Income Countries, US$140.00 for those in Middle-Income Countries, and US$90.00 for those in Low-Income Countries. Of course, any additional donations to support the ashram will be appreciated.

The registration site is open for constant contact and it will allow you to pay using your credit card or your PayPal account.

If you cannot attend or wish to donate to support the mission and ashram of SRSG, please click here.

If you wish to sponsor one or more students from low-income countries, please click here, and after providing the donation amount, fill in the PayPal “Write a Note” box with the purpose of the donation.

We hope that we will once again be able to help the sustenance of Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama through your committed support to the tradition and lineage.  We look forward to meeting you in the workshop.

In Loving Service,

HYT-TTP Administration

Message for Full Moon Meditation – October 20, 2021

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Dear Friends,

On 20.10.2021 the autumn full moon shines in the sky

Let us all be still together, each in her place, and think of all the people who enrich our lives and often demand that we confront our greatest weaknesses.

It’s getting cold and damp. Winter is looming. Life forces contract and focus inward. A time of reflection could begin with this full moon. The haste of life and our fellow man tempts us to ask for more days from life, because time never seems to be enough. But now through contemplation in dull, dark hours we get the opportunity to give more life to the days. Silent concentration can develop intensity in meditation, which gives dignity to the moment of life and makes time seem insignificant. Now we can come to understand the motto of our school: “Yoga is meditation in action”. By practicing silent meditation from 9 to 10 p.m., meditation becomes life and life begins to become one meditation.

” O man stop and reflect!”

The divine source within me, bless my hands,

that they may be gentle,

that they may hold without becoming shackles,

that they may give without calculation,

that they may have within them the power to comfort and bless.

 

The divine source within me, bless my eyes,

that they may perceive need,

that they do not overlook the inconspicuous,

that they may see through the superficial,

that others may feel at ease under my gaze.

 

The divine source within me, bless my ears,

that they may be able to hear the infinite voice.

that they may be sensitive to the voice of need,

that they do not ignore the uncomfortable,

that they may be closed to noise and gossip.

 

The divine source within me, bless my mouth,

that it may guard what has been entrusted to it,

that nothing may come from it that hurts and destroys,

that it may speak healing words.

 

The divine source in me, bless my heart,

that love may dwell in it,

that it may give warmth and shelter,

that it may share sorrow and joy,

that it may be rich in forgiveness.

(Prayer according to St. Martin, 4th century)

 

I wish you a pleasant, silent hour.

in loving solidarity

Wolfgang

Peace Mantra Meditation

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Guided Peace Meditation by Swami Veda Bharati:

Gather all your senses. Let your mind, body, breath be in harmony and peace. The seat of your mind at peace. Bring that peace to all your limbs., organs, and faculties. Feel the peacefulness in your forehead. Peacefulness in your vocal organs and your jaw. Peace descending into your neck and shoulders. Peace in your arms. Peace in your hands and fingers. Let them rest in peace as you breathe. Breathing gently, slowly, smoothly.

Peace in your fingers, hands, arms, and shoulders. Peace in your shoulders, peace in your throat center of consciousness and all its internal organs. Peace in your bosom, the heart center and all its internal organs.

Peace descends into your navel center of consciousness and all its internal organs. Peace in your thigh joints, legs, feet, and toes. Peace in your entire body from head to toe. Breathing with a smooth, gentle breath from toes to top and top to toes three times.

Guide the mind and breath upwards. Follow the ascending breath of peace to each center, pausing with three breaths in each. Peace in your navel center of consciousness. Peace in your heart center of consciousness. Peace in your throat center of consciousness. Your speech organs resting in peace. Peace in your forehead and deep within the seat of peace in your mind. 

Peace in the seat of your mind. Peace descending like a gentle dove in your whole mind, body, breath and through all your organs. Your whole-body breathing peace. Your breath descending and ascending from the crown to toes and from toes to crown. Feel this breath of peace, this gentle dove-like peace flowing through your whole body in each breath. 

As you breathe in and as you breathe out, let the feel of the thought ‘OM SHAM’ flow through your whole body. Inhaling and exhaling with OM SHAM five times. 

Inhale as though you are inhaling from your toes through your whole body. Your consciousness ascending with OM SHAM. As though you are exhaling from your crown and the peace prayer is spreading into the whole world with that exhalation with OM SHAM. 

REPEAT: Inhale as though you are inhaling from your toes through your whole body, your consciousness ascending with OM SHAM through the crown. Exhaling from your crown and the peace prayer is spreading into the whole world with OM SHAM. 

Continue five times.

NOW, inhale and exhale as though you’re inhaling and exhaling from the opening of a cave in the heart center. Remembering OM SHAM as you breathe. Enter the cave of light in your heart center. Light and peace and the mantra OM SHAM reverberating in that luminous cave of peace. Dwell in the luminous cave of peace absorbed in the reverberations of OM SHAM. 

And now even the reverberation of the mantra subsides. Be assimilated into the divine silence of this emptiness, of this sacred-space. Again, the conscious thought of OM SHAM and the luminous cave of peace in the heart. Your heart cavity expanding, expanding to include all who are brought into your intention. Their hearts, your hearts, your peace, their peace; OM SHAM.

Let this cave of peace expand, expand to include all living beings. All as One, life-force-beings together in your vast expansive cave-space of the peaceful heart. The entire earth, all living beings, all sentient-beings in harmony, love and peace as a unified stream of being.

Dwell in this vast expansive space cave of unity, of the all-pervading, all-permeating life force. All consciousness at peace. Resting in this universal presence. 

Slowly return coming back from that expansive space into the luminous cave of your heart reverberating with OM SHAM. 

Now follow the course of your mind into your breath. Feel the flow; navel to nostrils and nostrils to navel. Feel the touch and flow of your breath in your nostrils. Exhaling with the thought OM SHAM and without a break inhaling with the thought OM SHAM. Your mind, mantra and breath flowing as a single stream. 

Remaining attuned to the stream of consciousness in mind, peace mantra, and breath, gently open your eyes. Let the peace, the vibration of OM SHAM continue flowing even with your eyes open. Just sit and be at peace. Maintaining that presence when you leave from here. And wherever you are, whatever you do, let the peace-filled heart and mind, bring blessings of peace, harmony, and love to all. OM SHAM

Meditation is Renunciation

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Swami Veda Bharati gave two lectures on “Peaceful Planet, Heart, and Mind” in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, on August 5 & 7, 2010. This is an excerpt of the original lectures.

[Guided Meditation]

Let your mind unwrinkle; Relax your forehead,

Feel the touch and flow of the breath in the nostrils,

Breath flowing deeply, smoothly, without a jerk, without a pause between the breaths. 

Breath flowing nostrils to navel and navel to nostrils.

Now, along this pathway, enter your heart cave.

As you breathe, feel the heart cave expanding.

Light of love and mantra reverberating in the heart cave. 

All living beings–their consciousness dwelling in the cave of your heart.

Their love and consciousness is in you, and yours in them.

Vow never again to cause any hurt to a living being…….

Without breaking the flow, gently open your eyes. 

Maintain the same stream of consciousness even with your eyes open. 

May the divine spirit that is this living spirit of all living beings, may that One bless you and all living beings.

May all living beings bless you.

[Lecture]

Any further commentary is unnecessary because you have expanded your heart and understood the unity of all living beings in you. 

The Bhagavad Gita says, “he who knows action in inaction, he who knows inaction in action understands the mystery of action”. Only a meditation master knows this mystery that is also the principle of Tao and of all spirituality. 

Action in Inaction; and Inaction in Action. Those contemplations are your guide, your inner guide, your voice of conscience, your third-eye of wisdom. Spirituality means meditation but meditation is not a withdrawal from the world. 

Let meditation be in your home and wherever you are. Contemplate it in whatever you do. What conclusions you draw from it for your life, for your actions, for your words, for your choices, for what you eat, what you wear, and what you do when sleeping, when dreaming? 

Someday, sometime, somewhere, in some incarnation, through the build-up over all of this time, build-up, build-up, build-up, build-up, there comes a moment. You will not know where that moment came from. It is part of that eternity that flows, flows through you; flows as the life and consciousness forces through all beings. You will realize that these ascending and descending forces, these expanding and contracting forces are not confined to this frame, to the skeleton of you, the body, or “I” “Me” and “Mine” as the possessions of your personality. It is part of that eternity that flows, flows through you and all beings. Then you will not be looking at your problems piece by piece. 

Someday, sometime, do you know when, when you made a choice, and those choices became the actions that brought you the results you call “my” life. You have made plans for everything. You plan for holidays; you plan for what you are going to wear. You have plans for your accounts, and for your insurance. You have plans for your son’s or daughter’s schooling or wedding. Yet, you have no plans for reality, though Reality has a plan for you. When will you cease identifying with these actions you call life, with the possessions you call your personal property, with this body and the issues you have with your organs? What you have now is not what you had as a child. Your personal property is only for a period of time. Whose property will they be fifty years from now? I don’t know who is going to inherit the molecules of my nerves fifty years from now. So, come on tell me when? Now don’t tell me; you decide it quietly and keep at it, and you will find your spiritual plans revealed when you meditate. 

Today everyone lives in pieces. You have fear of this; you have desire for that; you have anxiety about something; you have jealousy against someone; you have temporary love for this one; you have temporary aversion against someone else. You have a problem of losing weight and gaining weight, a problem with economy, politics, and all manners of social problems. Yet, when that moment of a flash occurs, your consciousness becomes unified, and no problem is separate from all of the problems. 

In the unified mind, you understand the force and source. Yet, today the way you handle your problems, others throughout the world handle their problems; it is all in pieces. Again, I say you keep looking at problems piece by piece. Somebody is talking about children dying hungry, somebody else about climate, someone is negotiating about limiting the nuclear weapons, and others signing a peace treaty somewhere. I would like to know over the last ten thousand years, how many peace treaties have been signed on this Earth. By now there should be peace, don’t you think after signing so many peace treaties, recorded or unrecorded…? So, each problem is looked at separately, separately, separately. Whom should I vote for? What is happening in my economy? These politicians are all wrong. So many problems, so much confusion.

When I was speaking the other day, I asked– “What do you want? Do you want to suffer recession, or do you want to enjoy renunciation?” If you will pursue an unbridled desire; you want this, you want that, and somebody else wants that and somebody else also wants that. For three months or two years, they are very happy with those possessions and at the end what? The book of Tao – the law of nature, states: ‘things return to their opposites’. And, unbridled growth brings a collapse. Why do you pursue those desires in an unbridled way? Because you have no other means of satisfaction. For that moment, you feel satisfied with the larger piece of the pie, but do you feel fulfilled even with that larger piece? 

When you discover a unifying stream, your sonar force, and your solar force, which are not confined to your five-foot-four, or six-foot frame, the forces of this universal connection, then you find connections among all things. And when you solve one problem and truly solve it, you will have solved all problems. There is a verse in a very ancient text of the Jain system of religion and philosophy, which you may not have heard of –  

एको भावः सर्वथा येन दृष्ट

सर्वे भावा सर्वथा तेन दृष्टाः

सर्वे भावाः सर्वथा येन दृष्टा

एको भाव सर्वथा तेन दृष्टः

Eko bhavah sarvatha yena drshta

Sarve bhava sarvatha tena drshtah

Sarve bhava sarvatha yena drshta

Eko bhava sarvatha tena drshtah

He who has seen one being, one aspect, sarvatha, in all its modes, from all its directions, thereby, he has now seen all beings, all entities, all aspects, all states, in all their modes and beings. That is called universal consciousness. 

I was saying that this economy is going to collapse 20 years ago. Nobody was listening, not because I have some great, some prophetic vision but because I know the laws of nature. The laws by which the forces of consciousness operate that the economies don’t read about. And you want to stop the next recession, stop the problems. How? Understand the forces of consciousness. Something I said that day with great, very great sadness, humanity, the way it is going, is going to go through enormous suffering. You haven’t seen anything yet. Unless you understand the laws of consciousness. The way your consciousness is going, humanity is bound to invite upon itself dreadful, terrible misery. Nobody will listen. Cut your desires down. It’s a very long time before humanity starts living by wisdom… very long time, very, very long time… 

Simple question, “So what do I do with my desires? I want it. But I really want it. If I don’t get it now, I am going to be upset. I am going to be angry. So, what to do with those desires? Because if I don’t fulfil them, I get so frustrated.” Meditation naturally, slowly, gently reduces the forces of your desire. Because inside you, you discover fullness. Not in emptiness, that you must pour a yet larger bowl of something into your stomach, thereby your mind will feel filled. When you will learn to renounce that which would otherwise be taken away from you feel the equilibrium of satiety. So, I leave you the question; “do you want to suffer recession or do you want to enjoy the renunciation?” Your renunciation will be helped by your mind discovering its inner fullness through the practice of meditation. That’s all. 

Meditation is renunciation. Renunciation means reduction of, reduction of possessions, property. Reduction of wishes and desires is renunciation; and with that naturally comes what in Sanskrit language we call ‘Abhaya’. This word ‘Abhaya’ means not causing fear in anyone, being of no danger to anyone, being a place of asylum for everyone. When the Swami raises his hand, that blessing says, “I grant Abhaya” I grant this recognition of the unity of all living beings; that is renunciation. May you be blessed with Abhaya.

[Guided Meditation]

Once again bring your mind’s awareness to yourself,

Renounce all external thoughts,

Feel the unity of life, the life-force breathing in you, the breath of all living beings breathed through you,

Breathing gently, slowly, smoothly,

Feel the flow with one divine name in each breath. 

Mind, breath and divine name flowing in a single stream,

Now, at this moment of mind’s calmness, renounce one, any one desire of yours…….. 

Having renounced making this offering to the inner light of the heart-cave.

Continue with the mind-mantra-breath as a single stream.

Maintain this flow of consciousness even with your eyes open. 

God bless you.

Full Moon Illuminations – Next steps in Meditation

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Become Space Born

When your meditation becomes that empty space in the sky of the heart, it becomes like the moonlight in the space of consciousness. What a subtle and refined pleasure, beyond the mystic ecstasies of tears or laughter.

Akasha-ja, one born of space or space-born. Imagine a being whose being is space alone. Space is not considered an emptiness in ancient Indian physics, but a condition of matter. The subtlest condition of matter. Many of you have practiced the purification of tattva, these subtle conditionings of matter through practices such as bhuta-shuddhi, and others.

So continue to aspire for that as much as you can. When in meditation you have purified and refined your inner-eye, you will find that this physical body is a cave in which you dwell. And there is a deeper cave inside that cave, and yet deeper, so you keep going.

In that inner space, in moments of absolute silence, slowly you learn to dwell in that cave and all sense of dimension ceases. You return to your breath and to your mantra. Then you will go deeper, touch a moment of silence, come back to your breath or your mantra. Go deeper, letting the breath refine, let the mantra refine, letting stillness expand where mind becomes centered on a single point, the whole mind becomes a single point.

This is no longer meditation of concentration which is separation; but a union where even mystic emotions rest in quietude and stillness. Such a subtle state reveals the light within, for you now are that appropriate receptacle, you are the pure space (akasha-ja), consciousness, and a configuration of space. The very nature of such a space means, the “holder-of-light”, Chidgangana-Chandrika, as Kalidasa has written in his poem of the same name. When such a brilliant light shines illuminating sushumna – the prana-path guiding in this sky of consciousness – para-akasha, illumination is revealed in its source.

May silence and stillness unfold as light and fullness in your daily meditation. Om

Meditative Discipline

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Meditation expands awareness, but this does not mean that awareness should be external. It is a natural tendency of the mind to roam toward the objects of the world. This also can be considered awareness, but such awareness is completely dissipated and gross. The schools of meditation use awareness in a different way. Meditation teaches the student to make the mind one pointed and inward. To some degree all human beings are aware of their environment and the things related to them. This is the dimmest and most superficial state of human consciousness, and we are not discussing that sort of awareness here. Human consciousness flows through various degrees and grades from the center of consciousness, and systematically going back to the source of consciousness within is the purpose of meditation.

The mind is in the habit of identifying itself with the objects of the world, and it does not become aware of internal states as long as it remains in its dissipated condition. But with meditative discipline, the mind starts traveling inward toward the subtler, finer levels. When one attains a state of perfect stillness and tranquility, that which is beyond the mind reveals itself. Actually, nothing is attained in meditation-a meditator simply allows the Reality to be revealed through a calm and tranquil mind. Tranquility of the mind is an important factor, but more important is breath awareness. The first step in the practice of meditation is a steady, comfortable, and easy posture. The second step is calm, serene, and even breathing. The third is a calm and steady mind; this is the only means for experiencing the deeper levels of being. The fourth step is control of the conscious mind used during the waking state; this control can make one dynamic and creative. In the fifth step, the involuntary system as well as a vast part of the unconscious mind, including the memory, is brought under conscious control. In the sixth step, the mind becomes aware that it is conditioned by time, space, and causation. Through prolonged, unbroken concentration and the regular practice of meditation, the mind can be trained to remain aware of the now, which is an essential part of eternity. This is the seventh step, in which a superconscious state full of bliss, peace, happiness, and wisdom is attained.

After serious observation and analysis of the working of the mind, we find that the mind forms a habit of being conditioned either by remembering past experiences or being conditioned either by remembering past experiences or by imagining future experiences. There is no technique that helps the mind become aware of the now except that of meditation. Meditation is not a method of allowing the mind to roam aimlessly. It is also not something that dawns all of a sudden; it is not an instant method, as some lazy and confused people think. It is a conscious effort of training the body, the breath, and the mind. Meditation should be practiced systematically. No doubt a few visions and unusual experiences are possible by practicing meditation haphazardly, but it is not possible to attain the fruits expected by such methods. But it is not possible to attain the fruits expected by such methods. If a student practices systematically, it will not take much time for him or her to realize the highest state of bliss.

Editor’s Note

This article is an excerpt from the book titled “Inspired Thoughts of Swami Rama”.