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.

Photo: Swami Satchidananda teaching, Monroe, New York, early 1970s.

In this short, self-directed, free online course, “Introduction to The Essential Teachings of Swami Satchidananda,” you will be able to watch Swami Satchidananda sharing some of his core teachings in his fun, loving, and inspirational manner. He also reflects on how he himself has dealt with life’s biggest questions.

All the teachings and practices of Integral Yoga help us to regain the health and happiness that is our essential nature. They enable us to can cultivate equanimity and self-mastery in the face of life’s many challenges.

Topics in the 3 modules include:

• What are we all searching for?
• Obstacles to enlightenment
• What is life for and what is death?
• Suffering and evil
• All paths lead to the same goal

The post Introduction to The Essential Teachings of Swami Satchidananda appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

Photo of Lopez at Cloudbreak, Fiji, 1995, by Jeff Divine.

Gerry Lopez is one of the most influential surfers and surfboard shapers of all time. Known as “Mr. Pipeline”—for his mastery of the huge waves that form large, hollow, thick curls of water that surfers can tube ride—Lopez is an entrepreneur, a family man, a movie star, and a lifelong yogi who brought surfing to new frontiers. In an interview about the documentary of his life story, The Yin & Yang of Gerry Lopez (Patagonia films), Lopez reflects below on his surfing career and the tremendous influence Yoga had on it and him.

Surfing didn’t really click for me until I was in college in California. A friend of mine who was surfer invited me to go to Mexico. The water was freezing. Eventually I got too cold. I was laying on my back on the beach, had my eyes closed, and I was seeing in my mind’s eye images of surfing. All of a sudden I looked a little closer, and it was the first time I saw an image in my mind’s eye of me surfing. I was doing all these things that I’d never done before on a surfboard. I was born to be a surfer. I didn’t know it until that month, at the moment.

After college, I moved back to my native Hawai’i. One day I saw a group of girls looking at this announcement for a Yoga class, and I went to that Yoga class expecting to see them again. And this was like an outdoor class, and the instructor was this young gal. And I remember just watching her move, going, wow, look at how smooth and fluid that is. By the end of the class, I was convinced that Yoga was going to make my surfing better. Right from the start, I dove into it. I embraced it in a bear hug. I went to the Honolulu bookstore and I said, let me see all your books on Yoga. The one that I still have and really made an impression on me was The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga by Swami Vishnu Devananda. From the beginning, there was this relationship that I was striving for between surfing and Yoga. It wasn’t something that I had to bond with. I was already bonded with it. I remember thinking that if I could be as smooth doing the poses on my surfboard then I could be a good surfer. I was 20 years old.

I felt like my surfing was improving. I was doing my Yoga. I was competing in events. Studying Yoga, that’s what allowed everything to happen at the Pipeline for me. There was a real fascinating advertisement in Surfer magazine in 1972 for a Guru named Yogananda. I started reading Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi. It really revealed to me, obviously, the concept of yin and yang, which is more of a Chinese philosophy, but also a very big part of Yoga philosophy, especially the part where it said that health and harmony is created when yin and yang are in balance. He said that a person with a calm mind is a happy person instead of becoming uptight. One should be able to swing into intense activity and like the pendulum return to the center of calmness Yoga produces that calmness. Isn’t that amazing and that was in Surfer magazine?

What Yogananda is preaching, so to speak, was this balance—a pendulum swing between dynamic action and stillness and calm and that it’s that pendulum swing, not living in one space not living in the other but the balance of the two. You know, it’s constant, you know readjusting. All of that requires tremendous discipline, you know, you got to practice, you gotta do it the Yoga poses over and over again. But that’s what surfing was too. And that’s why both of them were things that I embraced more than anything else in life because to me they were going the same way. They were side by side. I needed that same stillness and calmness at the pipeline. You had to be at peace with this wave. You had to have that type of concentration where your mind was steady. For your mind to be still, your breath has to be still.

And to calm the breath, your body must be still. So, you know, a lot of times you’d see pictures of me standing really still. But I’m not standing really still. I’m going like a bat out of hell because the surfboard’s going really fast. But my body is still because I’m trying to still my mind. And that was really the only way to really connect with that wave at the Pipeline. In a Western sense, the concept is you’re riding this wave and you’re concentrating on it, but you’re concentrating by thinking all these thoughts about this wave.

And Yoga concentration is much different. It’s one-pointed focus on the object of concentration. By focusing your mind steadily on this object, you actually absorb the essence of your object of concentration of this wave. And this is what developed for me at the Pipeline. To be a great surfer you have to have some kind of physical advantage, you have to have great balance, great awareness about your body.

I wanted to say something about waves. They are hard to ride. In the process of learning this demanding and often uncompromising activity, we can discover something extremely profound. So while the waves of life may seem indeed more difficult to ride than the waves on the ocean, when we apply those lessons learned out in the surf, we sometimes can find, in a metaphorical sense, that easier paddle out. You know, like hooking into that rip current that slides us smoothly through day-to -day life. So, you know, I’ve been studying and practicing Yoga for a long time and I found that the state of samadhi, or enlightened consciousness, can be attained through a regular an

Photo: Gerry Lopez practicing Yoga on his surfboard.

d dedicated practice of deeply focused meditation.

I’ve been a surfer for a long time too and I truly believe that the focus necessary to surf successfully is also a state of deep meditation. So it just may be that we’re onto something a lot deeper than we thought the first time we decided that surfing was going to be our life. The waves of life are difficult and dangerous to ride, but these are waves we must ride, and we have to ride them on our own. No one can ride them for us. And in these waves, we encounter outside sets of doubt, shallow reefs of guilt, close-out sections of fear. With endless currents, rips, tide changes, we easily and often lose our way. You know, on our board, too. I mean, the board gets dinged, takes on water, delaminates, and frequently buckles when we least expect it, and usually when we need it the most.

And if none of this lends itself to the development of a peaceful and happy state of mind, we need one to stay on the wave. Where do we find the balance and the direction, keep our feet on the board, stay ahead of the whitewater? You know, I’m speaking here in a figurative sense, I think you figured that out. But surfing and Yoga teach us about living a life in harmony with nature. The most natural thing we do, the simple act of breathing, really becomes the foundation of our surfing and Yoga practices.

For many of us, every time we paddle out or come to our mats, this may be the only time we breathe the right way. We were born knowing how to breathe properly, but along the way, life came along, we forgot. You know, that rapid, irregular, shallow mouth breathing takes the place of rhythmic, slow, deep breathing through our nose. And when we breathe correctly and concentrate on our breathing, we become aware of an increasing sense of mindfulness.

And from this mindfulness, we begin to understand the value of being in the present. Mindful awareness and being present are all about paying attention. Our world has endless distractions. Losing focus is easy. Concentration and staying focused is hard. A large part of attention is being able to be in the moment, right here, right now. How easily we drift back to the past where nostalgia makes us sad, where we worry about the future and are too anxious to stay in the present. This moment is all there is. The past and the future only exist in this moment. I mean, think about that. If you weren’t thinking about what’s already happened or what hasn’t even happened yet, where would they be?

Only by thinking about them now makes them happen. So when we live in recollection and anticipation, we have a much less clear picture of the present. Staying present is really an excellent intention to set for ourselves before we paddle out, before we start a Yoga session. Before each day, surfing and Yoga mindfulness build a really solid foundation for our life. Staying present is really an excellent intention to set for ourselves. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama was once asked, what surprised him most about humankind? And he answered that man, sacrifices his health in order to make money and then he sacrifices his money to regain his health. And he’s so anxious about the future that he’s not able to enjoy the present. The result being that he’s not able to live in the present or the future. He lives as if he’s never going to die, and then dies, having never really lived. The message here is that life is for living. So if you have the intention to try and live each moment to the fullest, even if you miss a few along the way, you’re doing good.

I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize to all the people that I stole waves from because you know, I know that my surfing has been a subject of admiration and the way my surfing got to that level is stealing a lot of waves from other surfers. You see taking waves from other people is really the same thing as stealing and if you do it enough, and I did a lot, you can become pretty good at it. You also stop thinking about what a low thing it is .You know everything that I read in my Yoga studies talked about full acceptance. No resistance. Yielding, allowing nourishing understanding love. And I guess my disharmonious behavior with a lot of other surfers I felt was balanced out by my trying to be in total harmony with the waves.

I’ve come to realize that Yoga and surfing have been perhaps the most significant yin-yang relationship, yin-yang balancing act of my entire life. As I grow older, I find that sharing what I’ve learned has become more and more important to me. And so I’ve traveled quite a bit to different parts of the world to do Yoga retreats. I hadn’t been back to Bali in about 30 years, and I went back to teach some Yoga and to help raise some money for the community there at Uluatu. I feel what my role is now is I’m just a conduit for all this information that’s been there for a long, long time.

I’m a little nervous about teaching, you know, because I don’t feel as though I’m completely qualified to do it. I’ve been practicing Yoga for over 50 years and when I teach Yoga, I’m not making anything up. Everything I teach comes from a source that I believe to be completely unimpeachable.

The post The Yoga of Waves appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

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Cover of new book by Barbara Courtille.

Philosophy on the Mat: An Essential Guide for Yoga Teachers, a new book by Yoga educator, author and artist Barbara Courtille, is a comprehensive guide tailored for Yoga teachers looking to enrich their practice and share the profound wisdom of Yoga. It includes clear and concise summaries of foundational yogic texts as well as tools and insights to unlock the wisdom within these texts in a practical way. Inspired by the book, this article gives an overview of the evolution and significance of Yoga philosophy in contemporary contexts. It traces Yoga from its spiritual origins to its modern applications.

Yoga, historically a spiritual and meditative discipline, was crafted to guide practitioners towards enlightenment through a profound connection between mind, body, and spirit. Its purpose transcended physical postures, aiming to foster self-awareness, inner peace, and a transcendent understanding of existence.

In the modern era, Yoga has evolved to encompass physical, mental, and spiritual dimensions, offering comprehensive benefits for overall well-being. Physically, Yoga enhances flexibility, strength, and balance. Mentally, it reduces stress and cultivates mindfulness through breath and meditation. Spiritually, even in secular contexts, Yoga fosters connection, purpose, and inner harmony.
Yoga philosophy, rooted in ancient wisdom, equips practitioners with tools to navigate the complexities of modern life. By integrating these teachings, practitioners can nurture resilience, inner peace, and purpose amid life’s challenges.

In the realm of Yoga philosophy, practitioners explore enduring questions about identity, purpose, and existence. The Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Yoga Sutras, Tantras, Puranas, and Hatha Yoga Pradipika offer diverse perspectives and guidance.

o The Vedas offer insights into the spiritual and ritualistic aspects of Yoga. Highlighting enduring concepts such as the interconnectedness of all life and the importance of ethical conduct. Today, practitioners can draw inspiration from the Vedas to harmonise their inner selves and outside world.

o The Upanishads explore the nature of reality, the Self, and the pursuit of the ultimate Truth. These philosophical scriptures guide practitioners on the path of Self-realization and the quest for meaning. In today’s chaotic world, these teachings resonate with students seeking inner peace and purpose in their lives.

o The Bhagavad Gita offers practical guidance on ethics, duty, and the path to spiritual realization. It enables its followers to align with their natural inclinations by presenting them diverse approaches to practice Yoga. Its teachings on integrating life’s demands with spiritual growth provide valuable insights for practitioners seeking balance in both personal and professional spheres.

o The Yoga Sutras present a classical text that articulates a systematic approach to yoga, incorporating ethical guidelines and meditation. The text provides tools for effective stress management, enhanced mental clarity, attainment of serenity and inner peace. The Yoga Sutras offer a timeless resource offering guidance for navigating the challenges of contemporary life.

o The Tantras highlight the integration of the physical and spiritual realms. Tantra teachings serve as a reminder of the inherent potential for spiritual growth within our daily lives. These sacred texts offer a valuable perspective on bridging the gap between the mundane and the sacred, fostering a holistic approach to spiritual development.

o The Puranas offer a treasure trove of mythology, containing stories that captivate while imparting moral and spiritual lessons. Despite their antiquity, the Puranas offer insightful narratives that resonate with modern students. This connection enhances the learning process, creating an engaging and enlightening bridge between ancient wisdom and contemporary understanding.

o The Hatha Yoga Pradipika marks a significant shift from earlier texts by placing a primary focus on the physical body’s transformation. This departure from tradition persists to this day, and its teachings continue to be relevant in our modern world. The writings equips students with essential tools to cultivate strength, flexibility, and inner peace in their daily lives.

To effectively teach Yoga philosophy, it is crucial to present these concepts in a relevant and accessible manner. Integrating philosophy into Yoga offerings enriches the student experience, fostering personal and spiritual growth. Embrace the journey of exploration and allow the wisdom of these texts to enhance your teaching and personal practice.

About the Author:

The post Journeying Through Yoga Philosophy: Exploring Ancient Wisdom for Modern Practice appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

Shanti mantra from Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and Ishavasya Upanishad.

This shloka is a Shanti mantra from Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and Ishavasya Upanishad. This is an innocuous looking verse: one noun, two pronouns, three verbs and a participle for emphasis. Yet, someone once said: “Let all the Upanishads disappear from the face of the earth. I don’t mind so long as this one verse remains.” Can one small verse be so profound?

This Pūrnam, the single noun in the verse, is a beautiful Sanskrit word which means completely filled—a filled-ness which (in its Vedic scriptural sense) is wholeness itself, absolute fullness lacking nothing whatsoever. Adah, which means ’that’, and idam, which means ’this’, are two pronouns each of which, at the same time, refers to the single noun, Pūrnam: Pūrnam adah – completeness is that, Pūrnam idam – completeness is this.

[ Translation of Shloka by Sri Swami Satchidananda:
That is full, this also is full.
This Fullness came from that Fullness.
Though this Fullness came from that Fullness.
That Fullness remains forever full.
Om Shāntih Shāntih Shāntih ]

Adah, that, is always used to refer to something remote from the speaker in time, place or understanding.Something which is remote in the sense of adah is something which, at the time in question, is not available for direct knowledge. Adah, that, refers to a Jñeya vastu, a thing to be known, a thing which due to some kind of remoteness is not present for immediate knowledge but remains to be known upon destruction of the remoteness. Idam, this, refers to something not remote but present, here and now, immediately available for perception, something directly known or knowable. Thus it can be said that adah refers to the unknown, the unknown in the sense of the not-directly known due to remoteness, and idam refers to the immediately perceivable known…

So in context, adah, the pronoun ’that’, stands for what is meant when I say, simply, “I am”, without any qualification whatsoever. ’That’ so used as ’I” means Ātmā, the content of truth of the first person singular, a Jñeya vastu, a to-be-known, in terms of knowledge. When that knowledge is gained, I will recognize that I, Ātmā, am identical with limitless Brahman – all pervasive, formless and considered the cause of the world of formful objects.

So far, then, the first two lines of the verse read:
Pūrnam adah – completeness is I, the subject Ātmā, whose truth is Brahman, formless, limitlessness,considered creation’s cause; Pūrnam idam – completeness is all objects, all
things known or knowable, all formful effects, comprising creation.

Pūrnam, Completeness

Therefore, when it is said that aham, I, am Pūrnam and idam, this, is Pūrnam, what is really being said is that there is only Pūrnam. Aham, I, and idam, this, traditionally represent the two basic categories into one or the other of which everything fits. There is no third category. So if aham and idam, represent everything and each is Pūrnam , then everything is Pūrnam. Aham, I is Pūrnam which includes the world. Idam this, is Pūrnam which include me. The seeming differences of aham and idam are swallowed by Pūrnam – that limitless fullness which shruti (scripture) calls Brahman.

If everything is Pūrnam, why bother with ’that’ and ’this’? My everyday experience is that aham, I, am a distinct entity separate and different from idam jagat, this world of objects which I perceive. My experience is that I see myself as not the same at all as idam, this. When I hold a rose in my hand and look at it, I, aham, am one thing and idam, this rose I see, is quite another. In no way is it my experience that I and the rose are the same. We seem quite distinct and separate. Because shruti tells me that I, aham, and the rose, idam, both are limitless fullness, Pūrnam.

Based on one’s usual experience, it is very difficult to see how either aham, I or idam, this can be Pūrnam;and, even more difficult to see how both can be Pūrnam. Pūrnam, completeness, absolute fullness, must necessarily be formless. Pūrnam cannot have a form because it has to include everything. Any kind of form means some kind of boundary; any kind of boundary means that something is left out – something is on the other side of the boundary. Absolute completeness requires formlessness. Sastra (scripture) reveals that what is limitless and formless is Brahman, the cause of creation, the content of aham, I. Therefore, given the nature of Brahman by shruti, I can see that Pūrnam is another way for shruti to say Brahman. Brahman and Pūrnam have to be identical; there can only be one limitlessness and that One is formless Pūrnam Brahman.

Photo by Greg Rakozy via Unsplash.

Thus, the verse is telling me that everything is Pūrnam. Pūrnam has to be limitless, formless Brahman. Thus, shruti says there is nothing but fullness, though fullness appears to be adah, that (I), and idam, this (objects). In this way, shruti acknowledges duality – experiences of difference – and then, accounts for it by properly relating experience to reality. Shruti accounts for duality by negating experience as nonreal, not as nonexistent. Thus, to the Vedantin, negation of duality is not a literal dismissal of the experience of duality but is the negation of the reality of duality. If one to be Pūrnam, a literal elimination of duality is required.

Shruti is not afraid of experiential duality. The problem is the conclusion of duality – not experience of duality.The problem lies in the well-entrenched conclusion: “I am different from the world; the world is different from me.” This conclusion is the core of the problem of duality – of samsāra. Shruti not only does not accept this conclusion but contradicts it by stating that both ’I’ and ’this’ are Pūrnam. Shruti flatly negates the conclusion of duality.

The Upanishad vākyās (statements of ultimate truth), when unfolded in accordance with the sampradāya (the traditional methodology of teaching) by a qualified teacher are the means for directly seeing – knowing – the nondual truth of oneself. The teacher, using empirical logic and one’s own experience as an aid, wields the vākyās of the Upanishads as pramāna to destroy one’s ignorance of oneself.

For aham to be idam and for idam to be aham they must have a common efficient and material cause.Consider an empirical example, a single pot referred to both as ’that’ and ’this’: for ’that’ flower pot which I bought yesterday in the store to be the same as ’this’ flower pot now on my window sill, there has to be the same material substance and the same pot maker for both ’that’ and ’this’. It is clear that this ‘twoness’ of ‘that’ pot and ‘this’ pot is functional only; the two pronouns refer to the same thing which came into being in a single act of creation.

Is it possible to discover a situation in which two seemingly different things are in fact the non-different effects of a single, common material and efficient cause? Yes, in a dream. Our ordinary dream experience provides a good illustration of a similar situation. In fact, a dream provides a good example not only of a single cause which is both material and efficient, but also of effects which appear to be different but whose difference resolves in their common cause. In a dream both the dream’s substance and its creator abide in the dreamer. The dreamer is both the material and efficient cause of the dream.

Furthermore, in a dream there is a subject-object relationship in which the subject and object appear to be quite different and distinct from each other. The dream world is a world of duality. The dream aham, I, is not the same as the dream idam, this. But this dream difference is not true – is not real. When I dream that I am climbing a lofty snow-covered mountain, the weary, chilled climber, the dream aham is nothing but I, the dreamer; the snow-capped peak, the rocky trail, the wind that tears at my back, the dream idam, the dream object, are nothing but I, the dreamer. Both subject and object happen to be I, the dreamer, the material and creative cause of the dream.

From formless, chain-free gold comes formful, chain-shaped gold. Is there any real change in gold itself? There is none. Svarnāt svarnam – from gold, gold. There is no change.
Pūrnat Pūrnam – from completeness, completeness. What a beautiful expression! It explains everything.

I am Pūrnam, completeness, a brimful ocean, which nothing disturbs. Nothing limits me. I am limitless.Waves and breakers appear to dance upon my surface but are only forms of me, briefly manifest. They do not disturb or limit me. They are my glory – my fullness manifest in the form of wave and breaker. Wave and breaker may seem to be many and different but I know them as appearances only; they impose no limitation upon me – their agitation is but my fullness manifest as agitation; they are my glory, which resolves in me. In me, the brimful ocean, all resolves. I, Pūrnam, completeness, alone remain. Om Shāntih Shāntih Shāntih

[Note: Learn from Sri Swami Satchidananda how to chant this shloka here: https://soundcloud.com/yogawisdom/22-om-purnam-adah ]

About the Author:

A teacher of teachers, Swami Dayananda taught many resident in-depth Vedanta courses in India in the US. Through these courses Sri Swamiji  created many full-fledged teachers of Vedanta who are sharing the wisdom of Vedanta throughout India and in different parts of the world. Under his guidance, various centers for teaching of Vedanta have been founded around the world. Among these, there are three primary Institutes in India at Rishikesh (Arsha Vidya Pitham, Swami Dayananda Ashram), Coimbatore (Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, Anaikatti), Nagpur (Arsha Vijnana Gurukulam) and one in the U.S. at Saylorsburg (near NJ), Pennsylvania (Arsha Vidya Gurukulam). There are more than one hundred centers in India and abroad that carry on the same tradition of Vedantic teaching.

The post A Deep Dive into Fullness appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

                                                                                                              Undoism.com launches

Have a spiritual question? Get clear answers to life’s big questions via the new website: Undoism.com. SISProject.org is pleased to announce the launch of Undoism.com, featuring “Ask Undoism” – a real-time question-and-answer option.

“Undoism” (trademark pending) is a term coined in 1973 by Swami Satchidananda that summarizes the practical spiritual approach he taught in order to undo everything that seems to veil or disturb our essential nature of peace and happiness.

“We can’t get peace and happiness by doing something. It’s time to undo all we have done to disturb our essential nature of peace and happiness.”
–Swami Satchidananda

As he traveled the globe as a Yoga master and world spiritual teacher, Swami Satchidananda was often asked what his religion was. He would usually reply: “Undoism.” Then, he would explain:

“We don’t need to do anything to be happy. We are happiness itself. We have done many things to disturb the mind and that has only brought unhappiness. We have forgotten our child-like innocence. Babies aren’t ‘doings’ but are Beings. When you undo all the conditioning, all the imposed limitations, problems and disturbances, then you will see yourself as you essentially are: pure peace and happiness.

“Thousands of years ago, the Vedas plainly said that to realize your True Self you need not do anything. Rather, undo all that is non-essential to who you are and your essence will be revealed. This is why I call my religion, ‘Undoism.’ We’ve done enough damage by too many ‘isms’ and ‘do-isms.’ Let’s undo all the becoming and just be.”

NOTE: This website is hosted by SISProject.org (headquarters: Spain). It was inspired by Swami Satchidananda and the question and answer section draws from Yoga and the perennial wisdom’s vast teachings. The site is generously supported by the Harry M. Wadhwani Family Foundation.

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I’m not going to stipulate certain practices to achieve this, do anything you want. But see that your mind remains in that tranquility, that purity, that neutrality. No Guru can ever take some Light and put it into you or bring God to you. And there’s no need for them to do that because you have it already. If you were to get it from them you might lose it one day. Instead, you have it—know you are that. The Guru only helps you know it.

If you really give yourself totally, your Guru will swallow you up one day. You will lose your sense of separateness and thus they will make you a Guru. What happens to a drop of water when it falls into the sea? It loses its name “drop,” and the form of drop, but it becomes the sea. You see?You fail to notice that Light because of the unclean or selfish ego and the mental disturbances it causes. So purify the mind; control the mind. Or, first control the body and the prana [life force] and when they are calmed, the mind will be calmed automatically. Then nothing can hide the Truth from you. If you are that pure, you are blessed. Then the God in you shines out. You know that you are God and others know that you are God.

So may that great Guru, the omnipresent Guru who is everywhere, shine from all angles by your refinement. May that Guru express through your own purity, humility, charity and generosity so the whole world could enjoy peace through you. That is my sincere wish and prayer. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti.

~Excerpted from The Guru Within by Swami Satchidananda

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Photo: Original page from the Pratyabhijñā-hṛdayam.

The Pratyabhijñā-hṛdayam is one of the most profound sacred texts that illuminates a tradition that teaches that every human being is lacking nothing but the recognition of their Divine essence-nature. Christopher Hareesh Wallis, PhD, one of the foremost scholar/practitioners in this field wrote what is perhaps the most accessible translation and commentary on this text. The text is just 18 sutras that offer a direct path to the nondual understanding and practices to help with recognition of the nondual. An excerpt from a blog by Hareesh Wallis is below as well as a sample sutra, sutra 1:

SUTRA 1. citiḥ svatantrā viśva-siddhi-hetuḥ
Awareness, free and independent, is the cause of the performance of everything. (from The Recognition Sutras: Illuminating a 1,000-Year-Old Spiritual Masterpiece)

“One thousand years ago in the valley of Kashmīr, a great tāntrika, Rājānaka Kṣhemarāja, wrote his masterpiece: the Pratyabhijñā-hṛdayam [referred to as The Recognition Sutras, in English] which means ‘the essence of the Recognition philosophy’ or ‘the heart of the teachings on Recognition’—recognition, that is, of oneself as an expression of the universal divine Consciousness.

“The Recognition philosophy is the most fully developed body of teachings in nondual Śaiva Tantra. It arose in Kashmīr in the early 900s and eventually traversed the whole length of India, being especially well studied in the far South as well as the far North. Even back then, it was considered an intellectually challenging philosophy—I think it’s amongst the most intellectually challenging in any language—and so to make the teachings accessible to a wider public, Rājānaka Kshemarāja composed this short work, about fifty pages in the original Sanskrit. It was a concise primer, written, he said, to introduce spiritual seekers to the Recognition philosophy in more approachable, less formally philosophical, language. What he created turned out to be one of the great spiritual masterpieces, breathtaking in its brevity but stunning in its power. It came to be considered equivalent to scripture itself by later generations, because of its undeniable inspiration. Since the text is anchored by twenty key sūtras (aphorisms), my translation of it is called The Recognition Sutras. 

“The text itself is extraordinary, but the fact that we’re able to read The Recognition Sūtras today—that it exists at all, in any language, let alone in English—is nothing short of a miracle.” [Read more here.]

Interestingly, this text and many others from the Kashmir Valley, were thankfully preserved by King Pratāp Singh, who was aware of the treasure trove of scriptures that were in decay and would disappear without preservation efforts. This tradition of preserving sacred texts continues with the efforts of the King’s grandnephew, Dr. Karan Singh. Dr. Singh is  a close friend and interfaith colleague of Integral Yoga founder Swami Satchidananda. Dr. Singh donated the magnificent Nataraja murti that is enshrined at Kailash, at Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville in Virginia.

Hareesh Wallis teaches a wonderful course on The Recognition Sutras via The Sutra Project and his book is available in bookstores and Audible.

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Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.

Live in the golden present, then you won’t have any anxiety or any fear of losing anything. Look at the sparrows, they just fly around. If they are hungry they just go and pick up a grain from anywhere. They are not constantly worried about what will happen tomorrow, what will happen to this or that. Human beings seem to be the opposite. The minute somebody predicts there will be a flood we try to buy all the grains and store them. We don’t see the birds doing that. They don’t worry about tomorrow. They seem to feel, “Today, I have the grain, fine, let me enjoy.” That is why they are so happy. So, living in the golden present is important if you want to keep your peace of mind. That doesn’t mean that you should not plan for tomorrow. Plan it, but don’t worry, obsess, insist on that plan.

Remember that there is a Cosmic plan, a greater plan. God, or the Cosmic Consciousness, has already planned everything and everything goes according to the unfolding of that plan. Even our plans are part of that unfolding. Things will happen like that. Sometimes, you think of the “right” plan and it happens. Sometimes you think of something and it may not happen. Ultimately, there is only the unfolding of the plan, so you shouldn’t worry about it. That’s why I appreciate the quote from Thomas à Kempis: “Man proposes and God disposes.” So we can propose things and then leave it to the Higher Power. We shouldn’t insist, “Oh, this must happen.” If it doesn’t happen, then what? We lose our minds. So, make tentative plans and feel, “This is my plan, how about You?”

That way, we will never get disturbed over anything. After all, what is the most important thing in this life? What is it that we all want to have? Peace and to be happy always. Eternal happiness is what is called “ananda,” joy or bliss. There’s a verse in the Bhagavad Gita where Sri Krishna at one point, in a kind of exclamative way says, “Ha! People want peace, peace, peace! People want to be happy, happy, happy! That seems to be the quest, the common goal. But, how on earth can they be happy without peace in their mind?” His exact words are, “Ashantasya kutah sukham,” which means: “How can there be happiness without peace?”

If you ask him, “Well sir, that’s what I really want then. If you say without peace there is no happiness, how can I get peace?” Naturally, you will ask that question, no? Sri Krishna knows this question will arise so in another place he offers us the key to peace saying, “Tyagat shantir anantaram, the dedicated enjoy unending peace.

We may get into peace temporarily when we sleep, but the minute we wake up, we are completely disturbed. “What am I to do today? I don’t even have a single penny to get a ride to the office.” I see a lot of unpaid bills.” The minute we get up, we become ashanti, restless. Only in deep sleep we seem to find the peace. Why? Because in that sleep we forget everything. We are not connected with anything, including the body and mind.

Imagine there is an abscess on the hand and it pains so awfully, you find it difficult to forget it. You go to sleep, with great difficulty, and the minute you sleep do you feel the pain? No. But, the abscess is still there, is it not? Your arm is there, the abscess is still there, you are there, but you don’t feel the pain. However, no sooner do you wake up and the pain is there immediately. So, what happened to that pain when you slept? Where was the pain? If the pain was there in your hand you should have had the pain. If it is in you, you should have had the pain in you sleep.

So, what is pain after all? Your connection. The connection between your bodily sensations and the thoughts about the pain is the link. In sleep, the connection is temporarily cut off. The “switch” is in off position. When you wake up, the switch goes on automatically. Then you feel the pain, you feel the pleasure, you feel everything—everything is experienced in the waking state. But the minute you sleep, everything is gone. So, all the pleasures and pains, all the dualities are in the mental imagination. Once the mental connection is cut off, there’s no pleasure, no pain.

Now, how can we experience the same thing while we are awake? If we can enjoy the peace of that same deep sleep while we are awake we will be super happy. This is what is called: jagrat sushupti, to sleep while you are awake, or in other words, samadhi. How to achieve this? By knowing what has happened in our sleep. In our sleep, the mind gets detached from everything and just rests in its True Nature, in pure Consciousness. That Consciousness or Self is pure peace, contentment, openness.

So, when we are aware of ourselves as that Self while awake, we will be always peaceful and joyful. That awareness can only dawn when the ego stops demanding, expecting, and attaching to things. Then, we can lead lives of tyagat, of dedication, of trust in the unfolding of the Cosmic plan. Then we will truly enjoy the beautiful things of the world, without the tensions, stresses, and worries. The most precious thing in the world is inner peace—that will save your life today, tomorrow, and always.

By Sri Swami Satchidananda

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Yoga is, of course, a vast subject, but it’s also very simple. Sri Swami Satchidananda would say, “Yoga is simple. Be good and do good.” I would add to that “Feel good,” because that is what you get from a Yoga practice. If you’ve never experienced this, it’s a little hard to swallow how a few movements and breathing could make you feel so much better. So, I guess the first thing I love about Yoga is the movement. You get to move! It begins with asana.

But it doesn’t stop there. That brings me to what I love about Integral Yoga. Yoga has changed a lot in the United States over the past 20 years, often becoming more of a physical workout than anything else. Here is where I love the Integral approach. It truly is an “integrated” system, designed to “integrate” the individual through various practices.

Once the body and breath are taken care of and calmed down or tuned up through Hatha Yoga, we turn to the mind. There are many ways to get the mind on Yoga in the Integral system: you could read and reflect on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, to which I have referred earlier, through what’s called Raja Yoga, aiming at ethical perfection, basically, and the ways you live your life.

If you are more of an intellectual skeptic, you could look into Jnana Yoga, which deals with the ultimate reality of what truly exists and who you really are—a kind of peeling of the onion to see what’s there and there and there.

Bhakti Yoga is the Yoga of devotion, appropriate for someone who feels deeply spiritual and expands his or her world through oneness with the cosmos.

Karma Yoga can take you to that altruistic place that may arise spontaneously from exposure to the practice. Feeling your heart expand can give you a launching pad for Karma Yoga, or selfless service. It’s not just about you and your Yoga but about how you can help in the bigger sense.

Finally, there’s Japa Yoga, which can get you there through vibration, sound, and chanting. This is a non-intellectual approach that really goes more around the mind than through it, tapping into the Source through a vibration bigger than you yet which you also produce.

These six approaches of Integral Yoga are a great, holistic way not only through Yoga but actually as a way of accessing a deeper sense of connectedness throughout your life. I personally love all these approaches and enjoy each at various times. Simply put, I love how it makes me feel and the direction it gives to my life.

About the Author:

Karl Krishna Spicer, RYT 500, began practicing Yoga 25 years ago, beginning at the Integral Yoga Institute of New York. The mixture of movement, breath and attention was an immediate revelation and the peaceful after-effects of class made a huge impression on him, especially in such a chaotic city as New York. After many years of taking occasional classes, and much home practice, Krishna found his way to Basic Yoga Teacher Training at Integral in 2017. After graduation, Krishna was offered a regular class at Integral, and the 25-year journey from beginner practitioner to enthusiastic adept to certified instructor was complete. The study of Yoga is, of course, a life-long pursuit, and the journey continues. He is certified to teach Hatha I, II, Meditation and has certifications in Therapeutic Yoga I, II. In his other life, Krishna is a professional musician, playing bass, guitar and shakuhachi flute.

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