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Karma Yoga transforms karma into Yoga. Karma Yoga never binds you to good or bad results, whereas karma ensures that you must experience the consequences of your actions, whether pleasant or painful. If your actions are good, then you face that in the form of pleasure. If they are bad, you have to face that in the form of pain. But, if you do everything for the sake of others, for the sake of humanity, neither pleasure nor pain affects you.

Instead, everything simply moves through you because you no longer identify as the ‘do-er.’ You are the ‘be-er’ and everything just flows through you. It’s something like becoming a flute. Whatever the flute player plays, passes through the hollow flute. The flute follows no sheet music; it is simply an open, empty instrument through which the music flows. It is no problem for the flute if the music is nice to listen to or hurts the ears.

What is the real difference between karma and Karma Yoga? When you do things for your ego gratification, you get the karma. It becomes Karma Yoga when you are offering your actions as a benefit to others. You don’t get affected by the result of your action if it’s Karma Yoga. Karma is accrued when you do something for your sake and you are affected by the result of it. Whether the result is good or bad that result comes to you and that becomes your karma. You have to face it. You become responsible for it. It’s almost like you cook for yourself, you eat it, you have to then digest it, and later you have to eliminate—so it’s all your job. If you cook it and give it to somebody, you don’t have to worry about it. It becomes their business. Even if they get stomachache, it’s their business.

In a way, that is what is meant by renunciation. A good karma yogi is a good renunciate because whatever they are doing, they are not doing for the sake of their own ego gratification or fruit of their action. They become a true sannyasi. Whoever lives this way is totally free from the turmoil, the push and pull of the dualities—pleasure and pain, desire and aversion.

That’s why Karma Yoga is considered a supreme form of Yoga. In whatever you do, even your meditation can be Karma Yoga. You are not meditating for your sake. That is the reason why, in Integral Yoga after our meditation, we repeat the Kayena Vaacha sloka. That sloka affirms that whatever actions we engage in, we do so as an offering. Daily we say that, but if we don’t really understand it, mean it and follow it, then these are empty words and we don’t receive the benefit.

When the sense of egoic doership dissolves, then we are totally free, free, free from any bondage. Don’t think bondage means only bad, painful things. Even good things can bind. It’s almost like putting a parrot in a golden cage. The cage may be all gold, but it’s still a cage. The freedom is not there. You may have several million dollars but if you are holding onto it for your happiness, if you are constantly worrying about it, investing it, watching the stock market every minute, then, what is that? Freedom? It’s okay to have money and possessions, but if they possess you rather than you using them for the benefit of all, then you may be wealthy, but you are still bound. If you cling to nothing, if you feel that you are an instrument in the hands of a Higher Power who is doing everything through you for the good of all, then, you truly are the richest person, the king of kings, shah of shahs. Why? Because you are totally free. That is Karma Yoga.

By Sri Swami Satchidananda

The post From Do-er to Be-er: A Supreme Form of Yoga appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

Photo by Luis Dalvan courtesy of Pexels.

If you get divinely and miraculously healed, is this part of your karma? Yes. Miraculously you are healed. Maybe you deserved it. God helped you to heal. You have done some good karma to receive that kind of healing energy. But if you haven’t healed and if you want to get healed, you can still create that karma. It’s never too late.

Suppose you are still not well and you want to get healed and there is no miracle happening. You don’t have to get depressed. Instead realize that maybe, yes, I didn’t do good karma before. But, I’ll do it now and I will have faith it will come.” Yes, have that confidence and do it, and you will be healed.

What is the best way to pray for someone else who is sick? Should you use your energy to visualize the person as a whole or just pray that God’s Will should be done with that person? You can do both. You can visualize that person. Imagine that you are sending your good thoughts, healthy thoughts, to that person. Certainly it will reach the person. And, at the same time, you can pray to God and say, “This is what I can do. This is what I would like to do. But, it is not my energy I am sending to that person. I am receiving it from You and passing it on to that person because my energy may be very little. So, I am receiving Your energy and passing it on.”

That’s the best way of praying for somebody. Otherwise, you may pray, and if that somebody gets well then there is a sort of mild, subtle ego that can develop in you: “Oh, look at that! I prayed and they got well!” Then you will want them to be your witness: “See, here is the power of my prayer!” However, that other person may get well, but, by your own egoism, you may fall sick. So beware of that.

Always be humble and say, “God, Thy Will be done. You can pray and say to God, “This person’s illness came to my notice and I feel like praying for that person. I cannot demand and command You to heal that person, but I can request You to please do so. But I know that You are not just going to do it because I request that of You. I am showing my concern, that’s all. So I am doing my part. If that is also Your Will, may it happen.” That way you keep yourself safe.

By Sri Swami Satchidananda

The post Healing, Karma, and Divine Grace: The Power of Prayer and Surrender appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

Illustration: Fixed point at top of pendulum during swinging motion.

When you watch the thoughts passing through your mind by being the witness rather than getting caught up in them, is this the same as what is meant by the expression, “Offering it up to God?” Yes, you can look at it in this way. One approach is what we can call the “Jnana Yoga approach” in which you recognize your Self as the witness of all the coming and going. The other approach is the “Bhakti Yoga approach” in which you offer whatever comes and goes to God. Ultimately, they both lead to the same goal of enabling you to remain unaffected by all that changes, all that comes and goes. When we identify with the ever-changing or look for happiness in these things we suffer.

So, in Jnana Yoga, you identify yourself to be a witness and you watch what comes and goes. The other approach is that you offer everything to God rather than taking it as your own. You don’t make it yours. That’s why we hear the prayer, “I am Thine, all is Thine, Thy Will be done.” Then, whether Jnana or Bhakti you are no longer the “doer.” You are the Be-er. That’s why I always say, “Leave it to Be-er.”  When things come, you can feel, “I am offering it.” You pass it on, you become a conveyor belt, and that way you remain always balanced

Think of it like the silver screen, a movie screen, on which various images of the movie appear.  The images may be those of a war story, a wedding story, or a crime story. Whatever the story is the screen doesn’t get affected, it simply is there, watching the movie. Shadows are cast on the movie screen and then they go away. Life is like this—so many shadows, images, dramas come and go but what remains the same? The witness—the one who is always aware of the coming and going. That is what you call the pure you or the true Self.

You simply know things and even your own thoughts and feelings. You even say, “My thoughts come and go.” How do you know that? “Well, I was all happy yesterday. Today I am a little down and I know I will be all right tomorrow.” See?  Because you seem to know the thoughts and feelings are coming and going that means you are the knower, you are not the thoughts. You knew you were happy yesterday and you know that you are unhappy now and you know you will be happy again tomorrow.  What is common here? Your knowing. You know you were happy. You know you are unhappy. You know you will feel alright again.  So the knowing never became happy and unhappy and the knowing is always the common thing. You are the knower, a pure silver screen. The unhappy thoughts and the happy thoughts of the mind simply cast a shadow on the screen, then roll on. Nothing ever stays there on the screen and just like the movie screen, when you recognize this, you won’t get affected by whatever comes and goes.

And that recognition of who you essentially are as the unchanging Self is the secret to lasting peace and happiness. The real you is never unhappy, sad, anxious, elated, and so on. All those feelings come and go. Who are you, then? You are the true witness, the real knower. That’s why you always say, “I know this, I know that.

When the mind does some mischief, it suffers. But you should not suffer, the real you. As a witness you can say to your mind and body, “I saw you gobbling up everything whether you were hungry or not yesterday. Now you complain, ‘Oh, I have a little stomachache.’ You can say, “Sorry, I am simply watching. I am sure you will be alright tomorrow once your stomach gets settled.” You can be sympathetic and feel compassion for the mind and body and, in this way, you don’t get affected by whatever arises.

This understanding and recognition of your True Nature can also be cultivated during meditation. When you sit to meditate, just watch the mind. Often, the mind doesn’t stay focused but just runs here and there. That’s the best opportunity to watch the show! Watch how thoughts arise, feelings arise, and then they go. You can observe the nature of the mind which is to be constantly moving here and there. As you become more aware of this and focus your mind on your mantra or breath, gradually the thoughts will begin to settle.

You will also be learning to not involve yourself in the thoughts or feelings that arise and that will also help them to quiet down from lack of attention. As you do this more and more in meditation, you can begin to do the same throughout your day so that the thoughts and feelings that once were experienced as disturbing the mind lose their ability to do that. Instead, you will remember more and more that you are the unchanging one. It’s something similar to how a pendulum functions: You remain like the fixed part connected at the top and then you can enjoy the movement of the pendulum as it swings right and left. Life is for enjoyment and the best enjoyment comes to the one who knows how to remain balanced in the midst of the ever-changing.

By Sri Swami Satchidananda

The post Life’s Pendulum: Balance Amid Change appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

Photo: Swami Satchidananda, Sri Lanka, 1957.

Every year on his birthday, as we gathered to honor Sri Swami Satchidananda, the tables would turn in the most profound way. Rather than our offerings of gratitude and celebration taking center stage, Gurudev would bless us with a birthday message brimming with wisdom and inspiration. It always felt as though we were receiving far more than we could ever give. His words, imbued with love and vision, carried the power to uplift and transform us, gently guiding us toward the ideals of perfect health, peace, and a life of service. As he so beautifully expressed in one of these cherished talks—this one from 1974:

“My only wish in this life is to see that you all enjoy perfect health and permanent peace, and a life filled with dedication, so that one day we will see a beautiful heaven on this earth. May God bring this wish to be true.”

This year, as we honor his Jayanthi—his 110^th birth anniversary—once more we are reminded of his unshakable faith in humanity’s potential to create a world of harmony and love—a vision that continues to inspire and guide us all. We  offer our deepest gratitude and love to our spiritual master, our Guru We offer our deepest gratitude and love to our spiritual master, our Guru, who dedicated his life to revealing the divine potential within each of us and bringing peace to the world.

Herewith, Sri Swami Satchidananda’s birthday blessing message from December 22, 1957, his 44^th birthday:

We have heard about fruits like the banana, mango, orange, grapes and jackfruit and even tasted them, but only a few have seen the spiritual fruit. This fruit is not the one we easily buy with money. If you want this spiritual fruit you have to grow it on your own. The phrase “spiritual fruit” means the fruit of spirituality. It is much sweeter than the banana, mango, jackfruit, which are supposed to be the three sweetest fruits. But, there is one fruit that would be very much tastier than this fruit mixture; that is the taste of spiritual fruit.

The great saint Sri Ramalinga Swamigal also talked about this spiritual fruit. He said that if we want a mango fruit, we could plant a mango seed, gradually it would become a full-grown mango tree, and then we could get the fruit. One person could plant the mango seed and many could have the fruit. But it is not the same way for getting the spiritual fruit. If you want the spiritual fruit, you have to grow it on your own. No one could grow it for you or no one other than you could enjoy it.

Photo courtesy of RDNE Stock project.than you could enjoy it.

Your mind is the land for growing the spiritual fruit. All kinds of trash fill the mind. We should remove all that first. How could there be trash in the mind? Desire, anger, cowardice, dishonesty, fraud, lies, pride, are the trash. Once we remove these, then we plant the seed belief in God in the mind. To enable that seed to become a tree and give us its fruit, the mind should be pure. Then it is easy to have the spiritual fruit.

As you know running after things for our happiness—wants, cravings, desires—is the reason for the impurity of the mind. We forget God amid the many desires for temporary materialistic comforts. People think that money, fame, power, and beauty are permanent. But they all go away after some time as they are impermanent.

What about power? It is also not permanent.  How much respect and importance one gets when they are the president of the country? If they had a headache, it would be news on the first page of the newspaper with their photos. So much importance when that person was in power. The moment they are no more the president, they lose all their power, respect and importance.

What about beauty? It is also not permanent! Youth vanishes when we become old. The beauty of the 1954 beauty queen becomes dull in 1955 when another becomes the beauty queen. Thus all worldly things are subject to change form in the world.

People think that impermanent things would remain permanent. Because of this attitude they forget the simple fact that all things are meant for their use and instead they live for the sake of things. Things are meant for the people but people are not meant for things. The moment we become a slave to impermanent things we are influenced by selfishness and jealousy.

The boat floats in the sea. People get into the boat and reach the shore. What if the water from the sea gets in to the boat? The boat, as well as the people, would be destroyed. The life of those who are slaves to impermanent things would also be left in the same way. As long as we are in the world, we should be able to use properly what was given by God.

The next birth depends on what we do in the present birth. If we indulge in selfish activities, become slaves to worldly comforts, and become dull in our knowledge and without wisdom, then the next birth would be a very difficult one. There should be morality, purity, and selflessness in our lives. The ethically mature mind is the mature land in which grows the seed of great faith in the Divine. Those seeds would grow into a big tree. When we pour our sincere efforts, they become as water for the seedling. Then, this tree will give us grace and blessings as the fruit that will be sweeter to us. Those who have tasted that spiritual fruit would be in spiritual bliss. May you enjoy all the spiritual fruits. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.

The post Tasting the Spiritual Fruit appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

Once, a man was hiking through a jungle. Exhausted, he could barely walk any further. When he saw a big tree with nice shade, he thought, “Ah, let me rest here a bit.” As he was sitting, he heard a loud roar—a tiger was coming toward him! He ran, and out of nowhere, his adrenal glands kicked in. Moments before, he could barely walk; now, he had all the energy he needed to flee.

As he fled, he suddenly fell into a large, overgrown pit, an old deep well. Fortunately, he managed to grab onto some vines before hitting the bottom. The vines were strong enough to hold him, but when he looked up, the tiger was still there, glaring down at him. He couldn’t climb up, and when he looked down, he saw cobras at the bottom. He was stuck, clinging to life.

At that moment, he heard a gnawing sound, “Krit, krit, krit.” Looking around, he saw that even the vine he held onto was being gnawed by a rat. Any moment, it could break. Still, he hung on. At that moment, he looked up and called, “God, what am I to do?” Just then, something dropped onto his lip.

He though, “What is that? Ah, honey!” When he fell, he had disturbed a honeycomb, and now a drop of honey had fallen on his lips. As he tasted it, he remembered his wedding day and the delicious honey his wife and he had enjoyed. In that instant, he forgot everything—the tiger, the cobras, even the gnawing rat. He was lost in a sweet memory. Our happiness from worldly things is like that—a fleeting drop of honey amid the dangers surrounding us.

Our lives hang by a vine, slowly gnawed away each day. That’s why life in this world is called a “rat race.” Every day, as you tear the page from the calendar, you’re cutting the thread of life. Any bite, any cut, could be the last one. Life has no guarantees. Even life insurance doesn’t ensure life; it only secures money for those left behind.

Death can come at any moment, in countless ways. We don’t even know how to live in the golden present. In the Thirukkural, the South Indian sacred text, Thiruvalluvar says, “People don’t even know how to live well for a second, yet their thoughts extend for millions of years.” The world is here to teach us this truth, whether we want to learn it or not. Mother Nature, the ultimate teacher, shows us that nothing is permanent—everything is fleeting. Even pleasure, pain, profit, and loss are all temporary. Life’s lessons come through both challenges and joys.

Ultimately, we must realize, “I’m not going to look outside for my peace and happiness.” True peace doesn’t come from outside. Great sages and saints have advised us not to seek God externally. At first, we might seek God outside, and that’s fine. But in time, we realize it’s all within. Even the pursuit of God outside oneself must end. When that pursuit ceases, peace arrives. This is contentment.

Contentment means not running after anything. It means simply staying put, attending to what’s before us. When that chase ends, everything else we used to run after comes to us. The Bible says to “Seek that Kingdom within you first, and everything else will be added to you.” When you stop running after things, everything will run after you. When you find peace within, your seeking and reaching changes. You realize the best ambition is to never lose your peace. Seek the Kingdom—that’s the real ambition. Everything else can be achieved easily. Moses, Muhammad, Jesus, Buddha—all of them stopped running. Their followers came to them because they saw the inner contentment they radiated.

Contentment doesn’t mean doing nothing. It means attending to the present moment, wholeheartedly, without worrying about yesterday or tomorrow. A contented person says, “God, let whatever comes, come. You are the giver; You are the taker. If it’s meant for me, it will be.” This is what it means to live contentedly in the golden present.

By Sri Swami Satchidananda

The post Seeking the Kingdom Within: A Journey to True Contentment appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

Photo by Atahan Demir via Pexels.

The only way to deal with fear is to face it. The more you try to run, the more it will haunt you. Face it and ask yourself questions: “Who are you? Where are you coming from?  Why are you coming to me? What am I afraid of?” When you ask these questions, you will find that fear is only a thought in the mind. Thoughts come and go. There is nothing permanent in the mind; it endlessly fluctuates and this is the reason we practice Yoga: to steady those fluctuations and to recognize who we are.

You are not the mind, not your thoughts, not your feelings, not an ego, not even a body. Know that you are the true Self. Fears come, fears go because the mind always changes, it gets into moods. Realize you are the Self. The Self is always peaceful and content. Even though the mind gets into different moods and feelings, you—the real you—are not tainted by that. You know these fears, upsets, and changes in mood are the nature of the mind and you can say, “Okay, today my mind is happy. Tomorrow it will be unhappy. Fine.” See? You won’t identify yourself with that. You recognize that you are not the mind while all the time asserting your real nature as the true unchanging Self.

Everything in the mind, in the body, in the nature changes. If you are afraid of losing some money, remember that you never came with a penny in my mouth when you were born. And, you are not going to take a dollar with you in the pocket when you go.  Things come and go, constantly. That’s why coins are made round to just keep rolling.  Name and fame are the same. One day everyone says you are so wonderful and throws a parade to celebrate you. Sometime later, they throw you in the ditch. It doesn’t matter because what comes will eventually go. That is the nature of the world, of the duality: anything that comes will go. Remember: Where there’s a coming, there’s always a going.

What other kinds of fears might you have? Losing something? Losing some friends?  Were you born with them? When you get into the train, you see someone already sitting in your same section. You start to chat and soon become friendly during the trip. When your stop comes, should you say: “Oh you must come with me” or “I’m not leaving as I must stay with you.”? No, you get down from the train at your stop and your new friend goes onto their stop. So, as long as they are with you, next to you, enjoy the friendship.

There’s no losing or gaining in this world because you can’t hold onto anything; everything is impermanent. Even these bodies are impermanent. Will we all live forever? No. The sage, Dharmaputra, the oldest brother of the Pandavas, was asked one day, “What is the most laughable matter in this whole world?” He said, “For me to think that I am not going to die is the most laughable thing.”

No body is permanent and no buddy is permanent. That’s why it’s called buddy.  Somebody, nobody, everybody. Buddy, buddy, buddy. Because it’s a body. It comes, it grows, it becomes old, and it dies. No shirt is permanent. No car is permanent, however careful you are in keeping it. Intelligence is like that. Go to the college, learn something, record it in memory. One day you may forget everything.

Tell me anything that is going to be always with you. When you know this, what is there to be afraid of? Fear of losing what? Fear of losing your life? It happens every day, every minute. In a way, a fearful person dies every minute. A fearless person lives longer until the real death comes. So there’s no need to be dying while alive. Keep on doing it. And if you keep on doing it, that negative thought will wait for a little while and then it will get tired and walk out.

Be strong in thinking positively and if the negative thought is stubborn, question it, “Hey, come on, tell me, what is the problem? Why are you bothering me? What do you want to do with me? Why are you here?” Challenge, question, use your intelligence. Analyze it and it will begin to dissolve. If you question your fears and anxieties that’s the way to face them. You will see fear for what it is, you will understand it as a superficial ripple. Just go a little underneath and there is peaceful, calm lake. Only on the surface you see the waves, and that’s natural. Go deeper within and you will find the peace that is your true nature, the real you.

By Sri Swami Satchidananda

The post The Antidote to Fear appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

Photo by Cotton Bro via Pexels.

The secret of spiritual practice is not what you do but how you do—that is more important. Sometimes a newcomer who gets into spiritual practice will make a big list of resolutions, “I will practice half an hour every day in the morning, pranayama, three malas every morning, three malas every evening. I will write likhit japa. I will do this. I will do that. I will sleep only four hours a day.” I have seen a lot of resolutions like that. And probably they last only for a couple of days and then one by one, one by one they drop away. So, instead of taking on too many things, take one thing and stay with that at any cost.

The real secret to success in spiritual practice is that through steadfastness you will have mastered your mind. You made a vow and you are sticking to that. Tests will come.  Where is the proof that you are sticking to your word, that you have mastered your mind? God will send tests. It’s not easy. You have to face the test and pass it. If you stick to that and pass it, you proved that you are the master, not your mind.

How often do we make resolves and then we slip. One day you say, “Well, I’ll fast on Monday on just water alone.” But, by 11:30 a.m. your long lost sister will be coming to see you with a nice apple pie. Really, it’s God who sends your sister with an apple pie to test your resolve. But of course your ego will convince you to put your resolve aside with thoughts like, “Well, Mondays will come again and again. My sister won’t come this often. After so many years she’s coming. How lovingly she prepared this and brought it. If I say no to this will I not be breaking her heart? What is more important?  Stick to my word or hurting somebody?”

Philosophy will easily slip in. All kinds of excuses: “Oh, she will think that I am crazy, saying, ‘You and your practices!’ I think God will forgive me.” And you receive the apple pie and gobble it up. Another Monday something else will come. Tests are sure to come. And you will find good excuses to break your resolves. And they will be very logical excuses. So, the moral of the story is to make a vow, stick to that, at any cost.  Then you have proven that you are the boss and not your mind.

It is the mind that tricks us. It always looks for every opportunity to trick us. So, a spiritual pursuit means constantly there will be a challenge between you and your mind or ego. “Who is the boss?” is the question here. You will want to say, “I am the boss,” the mind will say, “No, I have been always your boss. You have been listening to me, obeying me always. The other day I asked you to go to the movie and not to the church and you followed me? Didn’t I tell you to pick up something because it doesn’t seem to belong to anybody and nobody was there in charge, so just take it and you did.” Constantly, constantly the mind takes the upper hand and assails us through the senses and we succumb to that. If we do that then we can never achieve anything on the spiritual path.

You may be very regular in your asana, very regular in your pranayama. Even if there is something boiling, cooking in on the stove, when the bell rings you drop everything and feel, It’s meditation I have to go.  Fine, you are very strict, very punctual in your meditation but are you sticking to your commitments? That’s very important. And above all the commitments, what is the biggest commitment? Service. When a house is on fire you cannot say, “Noon is my meditation time. I made a vow, I have to go there.”  There’s no greater practice than service. Nothing should stop you from that. The mind will say something, the stomach will say, “Oh, don’t you think you are hungry, you haven’t been eating well since the past two days? How can you go and do this? You are tired and need some rest.” Excuses will come. That’s the way mind tricks.

Sometimes even unforeseen aches and pains will come the minute you think of doing something you don’t like. All of a sudden you get a cramp—from nowhere all of a sudden it comes. Then it becomes a regular habit because the mind plays through the body. It can create a headache. It can create tired feeling. It can create a nauseating feeling. And you will say, “Don’t you see, it’s genuine, I am perspiring, I can’t do my Yoga today.

Remember: As you think, so you become. If you want to be positive, think positive. If you want to be negative, think negative. What is important to you? Do you want to succeed in your spiritual pursuits? If you realize that it is important to you to do so, then the importance of thinking positive thoughts that will help to encourage your spiritual practice will come automatically. So, positive, positive thought is very important.

By Sri Swami Satchidananda

The post The Secret of Spiritual Practice appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

Photo by Zac Durant via Unsplash.

To learn from a spiritual teacher, more than anything else, you need faith in God: “God, I really want to experience the Truth. Put me in good hands. Present a good teacher to me.“ Then, when you meet them, feel—not through the head, but through the heart. And if you feel very comfortable, and if their approach is good for you, then say, “I’m here as an empty cup; you fill it.” You don’t go as a half-filled cup and ask them to fill the other half.

There is a story where a teacher refused to teach the student so the student said, “All right. You refused. But I’m going to learn from you. I took you as my teacher.“ So the student made a crude image of the teacher, sat in front of it with the thought, “Sir, you are going to teach me everything,“ and started meditating. And he learned. That means it’s not even the Guru who is important, it’s the disciple. How much sincerity do you have? How much confidence you have?

In the ancient way of teaching—not only Yoga, but all the ancient arts—no teacher taught in the sense of classrooms and lectures and things like that. In the ancient way, you just live with the teacher. For example, if you want to learn music, you approach a music teacher to whom you are drawn and you live with them, serve them, wash their clothes, carry their instrument, help in the kitchen. Maybe after a couple of years the teacher will begin to teach you “do, re, me, fa.“ That is the way real lessons are imparted—through living, observing, and listening. Sri Ramakrishna used to tell a story about somebody who came and said, “How can I see God? I want to experience God quickly.” The teacher replied, “All right, I’ll teach you something after we have a bath. He took the seeker to the Ganges, and as the student was bathing, the teacher put his hand on the student’s head and held him under the water. He struggled to get out but the teacher kept him under for a few minutes. He knew the moment he had to take his hands off.
The gasping student came up demanding, “Why did you do that?“
“Before I answer your question tell me, what were you thinking of under the water? What was it you were looking for? God realization? The Bhagavad Gita? Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras?
“None of that sir; I wanted air. Nothing but air!” If your interest is that keen, if you want nothing but God, then you are a good seeker and you can attain faster.

Spiritual longing is not something that we build up. We are prepared by nature itself. How? By going out in the world, doing things, getting burnt, and then leaving the world, forgetting how it burnt us, going back and getting burnt again. Then we understand the world. Then we say, “Whatever I start to do, it seems to affect me. It’s not the world that is the cause—it’s my wrong approach to the world, my wrong interest. I don’t want that kind of selfish approach to the world. What else can I do? There’s nothing more to try, so let me try sadhana (spiritual practice).”

There’s a saying, “I’m sick and tired of the world.” When we know the world well, we get sick and tired of running after things to make us happy, and then we begin to seek. When we become “sicker,” we become a “seeker.” It’s Mother Nature, the world itself, that prepares us. Mother Nature says, “Don’t come to me for your permanent happiness. I’m not the one to give it to you. That’s how we learn from the world. We get tired of the world—money, name, fame, this, that. And we think, “Everything is a problem, nothing but a problem. I just want to be free from all this.” Only then we really look for God. At that point we are ready.

We all must come to the realization: “Out there I cannot get anything. It’s all inside.” The teacher is like a mirror. If you are trying to find out whether you have a face or not, you will look everywhere and but don’t see your face. But when you stand in front of a mirror, you will say, “Ah yes, I have a face!” It’s not that the mirror brought it to you; you already had it. The teacher only reflects what you have. If you don’t have a keen interest, you don’t see it. I tell students that if they depend on the Guru, they’ll be in trouble. A Guru is only a temporary helper. If you want to eat a lollipop, you have to hold the stick. Eat the pop, and when you finish it, throw the stick away. A Guru is like the stick. Stick with them until you experience the sweetness of the lollipop. Then you don’t need a Guru. But until that keen interest arises, it’s very hard to teach proper Yoga. You can give students something that can make them comfortable, happy, healthy. But these are not really reasons for Yoga. The real reason is ultimate peace, ultimate happiness, without depending on anything.

Yoga is not one-sided. Nobody can practice only Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, or only Jnana Yoga. You need a combination of everything. When you want to understand something, use Jnana Yoga. When you express your feelings, use Bhakti Yoga. When you want to do something, practice Karma Yoga. You are a mixture—you have a head, you have a heart, you have a hand. I can’t teach only through your head or only through the heart. It should be a combination. That’s what we call it Integral Yoga, complete Yoga, Pūrna Yoga. I see the student’s attitude and capacity and guide them to what will be most beneficial for that seeker. I present what you need. What do you want to achieve? Optimal health? Even there, it’s not just about the body—it’s how comfortable you are in the body you have. If you are physically challenged and you are living with that disability comfortably, you are not disabled. Keep the body as healthy as possible and the mind as peaceful as possible. What is your natural condition, disease or ease? You had ease. You did something to disturb it, so you say you are “dis-eased.” Disease is nothing but disturbed ease.

The same case with people who ask, “How can I find peace?” You don’t have to find it. You have it. Do not disturb it. The question is, “What did I do to disturb my ease and peace?“ Simply stay away from doing that—that’s Yoga. So, it’s up to you. When peace and happiness are your aim, you will begin to think, “Will I be always happy by doing this?“ Put that question to everything. Take a cigarette, for example: “Will I be healthy in smoking it?“ If the answer is no, then throw it out. Negate things that will make you sick, that will make you uneasy. That is what we call spiritual practice.

You are not going to get anything from outside. If you get happiness or peace from outside, you’re depending on outside things. When they go away, you lose your peace. When there’s a coming, there’s always a going. But what is within is always within. So find your peace and happiness, without depending on things to make you happy. Temporarily, you can make use of those outside things, but remember that permanent peace and joy only come from inside.

Photo: Sand painting of the Integral Yoga All Faiths Yantra

All spiritual paths have this common theme: Whatever you do should make you healthy and happy. If you don’t want to fall sick, if you want to remain peaceful and happy, you should follow certain guidelines in life—like we see in the ten Commandments, or the Buddhism’s ten Dasa Sila, or Yoga’s ten Yamas and Niyamas, for example. There are certain precepts that are common to all faiths. In the same way, you have to follow certain guidelines if you are not to disturb your mind. There are hundreds and thousands of restaurants. Because I start an Indian restaurant, should I say, “All the people should come here and eat this food, otherwise they’ll go to hell?” No. My taste buds are different from yours. You may like less spicy food, I may like spicier food. That’s natural. We have various restaurants, but they all have one purpose—satisfying your hunger.

So there is one goal, but many ways of approaching it. What is important is total freedom in religion. If you don’t find freedom in religion or spirituality, you can’t enjoy anything. But we gain freedom by following certain disciplines. For example, our center in Virginia is called “Yogaville.” Thousands of people come and go in Yogaville. Those who live here full-time accept certain conditions—no smoking, no alcohol, no drugs—certain conditions like that. If you can’t follow these conditions, stay outside, do whatever you want, and come for a visit if you wish. But, this is the place especially kept for the people who want to follow rules that will make them healthy and happy.

It’s almost like airplane seating—there is a no smoking section and a smoking section. If you want to smoke, we don’t have an objection but go to the smoking section. This isn’t your section. People come to Yogaville to stay, and then say, “Oh, I find it hard to follow these things.“ All right, go and do whatever you want. When you feel that a yogic lifestyle is the best thing for you then come back again. The doors are always open. Many come and go—it’s their freedom. If you can’t find freedom in religious practices, spiritual practices, where else will you find it? No teacher can command the student to come. You come on your own accord. If you find it difficult, maybe you are not yet ready for it. Go back, get burned out, and come again. Then my work will be easy for you. It will be easy for me too. Otherwise, you’ll sit here and think of outside things and grumble.

We expect residents to be Yogavillians not Yogavillains! They should understand that everything here is designed to be a support for their spiritual path. But, naturally conflicts will arise. Why do they usually arise, even in a Yoga community? There will always be some conflict as long as there is the thought, “I, me, mine.” Getting into this conflict will make you realize that nothing was ever “mine.” When it really begins to burn you, you think, “Oh boy! Did I bring all these things with me? Can I take them with me when I say goodbye? That kind of understanding will come only when you get burned enough by the world. You will get into conflicts and begin to think, “Why am I in this situation? Because I am making it my own. I’m trying to possess, control, or cling to people and possessions.“

The world is not interested in binding you—not at all. The world is neutral. The way you approach the relationship you have with the world—the way you make use of it—makes you happy or unhappy. This is true of anything in life. A small pen knife, is it good or bad? If you use it to cut a fruit, it’s good; if you use it to cut a throat, it’s bad. Who makes it good or bad? Me. When you realize this, you are free. If I know how to have proper relationship with everything, everything is fine. It’s my improper relationship to people and things that brings me problems, brings me likes and dislikes, along with their ups and downs. But if I am neutral, no problem. And that lesson you learn only by living in the world, by getting tossed, fried, roasted, then you get cooked well. You have to become properly matured, ripened. Unripe fruit is not so enjoyable.

Maturity comes only in the field. There you face challenges. Facing challenges brings strength. Life is a challenge. Take a seed, put it on your altar, worship it daily, and pray, “Seed, please grow.” Will it grow? No. Dig a hole, put it in there, and it gets a challenge. Then it begins to sprout.

from a Yoga International Magazine interview in Yogaville with Swami Satchidananda, August 1992

The post Spiritual Longing appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

Photo by Greg Rakozy via Unsplash.

Healing from addiction or any other unhealthy habit is a spiritual practice. It’s impossible simply to say, “Oh, I don’t want to indulge in this or I have to get rid of that.” We cannot. The more we try to push it away and get rid of it, the more we wind up suppressing it, not releasing it. If you don’t want to release it, to really heal from it, nobody is going to force you. But you will be forced by the problem itself. It will teach you very soon. That’s what the Mother Nature does.

Whenever we develop an addiction or attachment toward anything it very soon teaches us that, ‘You cannot be happy with me always. And even the little happiness I give you is mixed with 99 percent of pain.’ That is the reason why in life we go through a lot of pain in various aspects of our life, including relationships—be it a family relationship, teacher-student relationship, a friend relationship, or a work relationship. Ultimately they have to end up causing pain when we invest our happiness solely in that. That is the nature of the world and how it teaches us to find the happiness that is already in us, as us.

Dukham eva sarvam vivekanaha: “For a discriminating person the entire world is created to give you pain and nothing but pain,” the great sage Patanjali said. Not that he was condemning the world, no. If you have a wrong approach, the world is there to give you pain. If you have the right approach, it won’t cause you pain. A wrong approach has to give pain because it’s usually only through pain that we learn the lesson whereas with pleasure we seldom do. By suffering we seem to learn more. Once we learn the lesson there’s no pain. Nothing is there to pain us purposefully; it is caused by our wrong understanding. If we even see the pain as a blessing, we will seek to undergo it in order to liberated from whatever is binding us.

I always tell the story of the two women who went to the doctor. One women wanted the pain of her stomachache to be cured. She got the remedy and left the doctor’s office relieved that her pain would go away quickly. Another women went to the doctor and said, “Doc, could you induce some pain?” The doctor said, “What? Are you crazy? Why do you want me to induce pain?” She replied, “Well, Doc, don’t you see me? I am expecting a baby. I should have had the labor pains two days ago and without pain how can I deliver? So, please induce the pain.”

This woman knew that without that pain there would be no gain, right? No pain, no gain, we say. If we know the benefit of pain, we will understand it. One of the important Yoga practices is “tapas,” which means “to burn.” We have to undergo a type of burning of all our selfish desires and all our unhealthy habits so they can be cleaned out. Only by burning these up can you clean it up, not by pampering. How does a goldsmith get the highest carat gold? By heating the gold to the greatest heat so all the impurities are removed. The less impurities, the higher the carat.

I like to use a pun to describe how pain purifies and heals us. You know how in the church there is a friar? We are all like fritters. We are all dropped in the hot oil in the wok and God is our friar. We have to be fried of our moisture—the unhealthy attachments, addictions, and selfish desires that bind us. Once the moisture is totally taken away by frying in the hot oil, we don’t make any noise—all the bubbling, hissing that occurs when a fritter is placed in hot oil stops. It just floats around peacefully. We are all going through a sort of frying process. Life is like that hot oil and whether we like it or not we are constantly being purified. But if we know the benefit of pain for purification we won’t suffer more. The fact that we deny the pain, run away from the pain, causes more pain, which leads to suffering. However, when we know the benefit of the pain we will accept it and then it’s no longer experienced as pain.

There are so many examples I could give. How does milk become butter? It is churned and then it floats. Unlike milk, if you put the butter into water, it will float. We have to be good floaters and not let the world affect us negatively. Once we undergo the churning we need in order to be balanced, peaceful and joyful in life, we will just float through life. Before becoming butter, the milk is afraid of getting lost if it is placed in water. But when it becomes butter it will be floating on any water we place it on. And at that point, no water can enter into that butter. We can become much better when we become like the butter!

Just like the many women who endure labor pains because it means that the precious baby they have been waiting for will come soon, so let us learn that this is nature’s formula, nature’s way. Mother Nature is there to purify us. If we voluntarily offer ourselves to get purified it will be much easier. Otherwise, like some children who don’t want to go into the bathtub, the mommy has to hold them tight and apply soap all over. It gets into the eyes and ears and then it irritates and burns. She won’t let us get out of the tub until we are clean. So let us be conscious of this truth.

By Sri Swami Satchidananda

The post Healing Unhealthy Habits as a Spiritual Practice appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

Photo by Zac Durant via Unsplash.

It takes a long time to learn how to pray just for the sake of praying and not for anything else, not for our own selfish desires. The reason that we obtain little satisfaction from our prayers is that they are not really sincere attempts to touch God. When we begin to go deeper—to seek God and nothing else—then we will be satisfied in our prayers and reap its benefits.

I realize that there are a number of people who do not believe in a God who is “sitting somewhere, out there.” “What is this God?”, they ask me. “Is God going to come running just because I cry?” I do not believe in such a God either. I think that God is everywhere and has no name or form, no limitations like that. God is Consciousness Itself. In that case you might ask, “Then what is the purpose of prayer? How can you say God is going to hear our prayers and answer them?” I would reply saying that God is all-present, all-knowing. God is not bound by any particular form but is an all-pervasive Awareness or Power. And by your concentrated, sincere, and unselfish prayer, you are tuning your mental radio to receive that Power.

I can tell you that there is beautiful music in the room where you are now. Some of you will agree and some of you will not agree. Those who deny it will say, “We don’t hear any music now. How can you say that there is music in this room?” To you I say, “Bring a radio. Plug it in, and tune it. You will get the music.” By tuning the radio you are not creating the music. The music was already there; your tuning simply attracted the radio waves. If your tuning isn’t correct, you won’t hear a thing. In the same way, God’s Grace, God Consciousness, or the Cosmic Power, will be attracted only when you tune your mind to the proper wavelength.

Some people say they tune in through meditation; others say they tune in through prayer. In either case they are doing essentially the same thing. Meditation means to focus the mind wholly on one thing. Real prayer means to meditate on the conversation, the giving and receiving, between you and God. An unmeditated prayer, without full concentration, will not be very powerful, so it is not surprising if such a prayer brings no satisfaction. There has to be proper attunement; the mind should be one-pointed, focused, and free from selfish motives.

Some people say that it is unnecessary to do anything but sit quietly in order to get into that higher state, Satori or Samadhi. When you can make the mind and body quiet, you are attuning yourself—“at-one-ing” yourself—to that state which is always there waiting for you. Through your discipline and effort in meditation you are being cleared and opened up to receive that true essential channel within you.

In other words, you are not doing anything to create that state, but you must do something in order not to disturb the flow of it. You must remove the “interference,” decrease the “static” that constantly bombards us through the senses, and learn to master the ego-thoughts so that they do not enslave you and block your attunement and at-one-ment. That is what we do in the name of Yoga, in the name of prayer and meditation.

By Sri Swami Satchidananda

The post Reflections on Prayer appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

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God or Infinite Consciousness is That through which our own egos move. Unfortunately, the ego tends to overlook the fact that its capacity to function is from that Source, and instead it comes up with the notion that I am doing everything by myself.

But it would be a sad mistake if anyone thought we had to destroy the ego. Nothing—good or bad—is possible without the ego, but it should learn to accept its place. Eastern sages have compared the ego to a puppet with someone backstage pulling the strings. The puppet appears to be dancing by itself—that is the ignorance of the ego. This delusion can be overcome when the ego can truly realize its part as an instrument. As egoistic people we should turn toward that real Self and say, “God, or Divine Consciousness, without Your help I can do nothing. It is because of Your presence that I am able to do anything at all, so let me turn over all the benefits to You.”

Suppose I am speaking into a microphone. If it is disconnected from its power source, I won’t be heard. In the same way as electricity, the Unseen Force runs through every action, and this “divine electricity” is God. The ego moves because of the presence of that Power. When the ego really comes to terms with that, that is what is meant by spiritual surrender. To bow before the altar is to say that we know our limitations, to acknowledge that it is by the Divine Will that all is done. Having realized this we can pray: “I am Thine. All is Thine. Thy Will be done.”

As long as the ego realizes that it is an instrument of God, then it is a healthy ego; it will never bind us because we take everything as God’s Will. You accept what God gives, you accept what God takes.

Because we are in the world, moving through different relationships with different people, we find it convenient to talk in terms of “This is mine, that is mine.” Really it is like a game of chess where you pick up a piece of wood and say, “The Queen is moving.” If you give a name to it and play with it, and allow it to have its own limited movements so that the play can go well. But just behind that action is the awareness that it is all just temporary. It is the same way for “my” and “mine.”

At least on certain occasions, in times of need, we are made to remember this truth. In calamities we forget our petty differences, our enmity, and we come together. My spiritual master, Swami Sivanandaji used to say, “Oh pain, what a great blessing you are to me. You are my good friend because it is you who makes me remember God.” While enjoying ordinary happiness and worldly things we don’t call on that Higher Force, but when we suffer something, we immediately blame God. “God, how could you let this happen to me!” At least we think of God then!

By Sri Swami Satchidananda

The post Understanding the Ego appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

Photo: Melissa Askew via Unsplash.

The goal of Yoga is to realize the Divinity within. This can be explained in different ways. A devotee will say, “I want to know God. I want to commune with God.” The jnani will say, “Tat Tvam Asi. I am That. I want to know this Truth—this Self or Cosmic Consciousness—fully.”

These are different pathways to God, to the one Truth. Pathways are like escalators or ladders. To go up, we make use of the escalator, but once we go up, we no longer need it. Pathways help to raise us up. That is the very idea of spirituality and religion. Religion means to bind back or to go back from where we came. We came from God; we are to go back to God.

Or, if you do not believe in the word God, think of yourselves as parts of the whole universe. We have forgotten and we think that we are just individual separate selves. We need to remember the Oneness. You may ask, “Why am I separated now? Why am I calling myself an individual? What separates me from other individuals?” The answer will be, “My body and mind, which are different from another’s body and mind.”

So in what way we can become one? We can try to transcend the different bodies and minds, but ultimately, we must realize they are all one and the same. That is our goal: to realize that Divinity, that God is within us and everybody. When we realize that Divinity in us, we will be able to see the same Divinity in everyone and everything and thus feel the Oneness. That is the real communion, the real Yoga. Only in that way will the entire world become one family.

That doesn’t mean that we should discard all these differences. The differences will be there, but we discard the idea that they are permanent differences. They are only temporary and ever-changing. That which always remains, that which never changes is the pure Divinity.

Differences are necessary but the point we put the stress on is the universal, the common thing that unites us. When we remember the Oneness, we can enjoy the many, the variety. Then the differences become a nice flower garland, a flower bouquet of multivarious flowers. We are all flowers that make up one beautiful bouquet. We are all the different jewels to make up one beautiful necklace.

If we forget our essential Oneness, we focus on the differences and distinctions and then we fight and make ourselves unhappy. So let us be rooted in that unity to enjoy the diversity. That is the goal of life. The aim of Yoga, and all the different spiritual paths, is to see and, even more so, to experience the same Truth that underlies all these different philosophies and teachings. Let us enjoy the Oneness of our shared Divinity now and always. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.

By Sri Swami Satchidananda

The post Pure Divinity appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.