Ashram Life

Satsang by Swami Satyananda Saraswati

I have travelled far away to fascinating places all over the world. One of them was Thailand, which impressed me a lot because of the visible traces of Vedic culture in its traditions and heritage. Vedic concepts are so intricately woven into their religion, social culture and folklore that it is certain that there was a very strong link.

The legend of Rama is a household one. Just as we do in India, the Thai people enact the story of Rama through their song, dance, art and sculpture. Just as he is for us, there too Rama is both the perfect man as well as divinity incarnated. The streets and roads are named after the heroes of the Ramayana and so too are the hotels and businesses. This indicates a mass awareness of the tales of Rama and Sita.

There I visited a gigantic Brahma temple. Apart from India, the land of the Vedas, this is the only other place in the world where Brahma, the creator, is worshipped. Part of the Vedic trinity, Brahma is worshipped as the creator, along with Vishnu, the preserver, and Mahesh or Shiva, the transformer or destroyer. Naturally, once the creation has taken place, the creator has no role to play after that, hence the scarcity of Brahma temples as opposed to Vishnu and Shiva.

In the Vedic rites and rituals, apart from the trinity, Brahma is also eulogized as one of the panch mahadevas along with Vishnu, Mahesh, Devi and Ganesha. In 1968 when I visited that temple over one crore rupees of incense was burned daily in worship. Apart from that I also visited grandiose Buddha temples, which were simply spellbinding because of the sheer enormity of their size as well as their attention to detail. I also felt that these were not just monuments of a dead and gone tradition but one that was vibrant and alive even today.

As I moved out of the capital city of Bangkok into the villages and rural area, I came across its monasteries, which maintained many of the same traditions as sannyasins in India do for our people. After all, it is the sannyasa traditions and wandering mendicants or sadhus that are to be applauded for preserving these traditions for us. If they did not do it, we would simply have no access to this knowledge.

I lived in their monasteries as a bhikshu, which is the name given to their renunciates who subsist solely on bhiksha or alms. Each morning the bhikshus set out for the villages nearby and after collecting alms from five homes they sit down somewhere to have their only meal of the day. These monasteries do not have kitchens. Each and every inmate has to go out for bhiksha.

This has been the tradition in many ashrams of India too since very ancient times. In the sannyasa tradition of India this practice played a very important part in a sannyasin's life. It gave him the practical experience of aparigraha or non-possession, which in turn purifies the ego and gives rise to an inner surrender to the will of the divine. Nowadays, however, if a sadhu goes for bhiksha in the village, he will get nothing. When you do not have food for yourself, what can you give to another? This tradition and culture is only possible in a prosperous society where you have plenty to feed yourself so that you can also think of others as well.

I saw that Thai men, women and children all come to these monasteries and spend a few days there, out of their own choice. This has become one of its unwritten traditions, so much so that even the king and queen live in the monasteries for some time to attain a new kind of experience. During their stay each and every person, even if they are from the royal family, followed the routines, disciplines and etiquette of the monastery. They wore unstitched cloth, slept on the floor without a special bed, shaved their heads, moved out for bhiksha like the reminciates, and followed all the other disciplines of that life in act, work and deed. Then when they came to leave they returned with a new and better focus, which gave them the skills needed to excel in life.

Training ground for life

This is a most valuable contribution that ashrams have made to society. Just as in the Vedic era when the ashrams of Valmiki, Vashishtha and others were visited by people of all classes and all relevant sciences were taught to them according to their needs, in the same way the ashrams today provide a learning ground for children, youth and adults.

In my own life I have realized that all that I learnt at my guru's ashram was what was useful for me in life, not what I learnt in the textbooks in school. To know in which century Ashoka ruled the empire of India had no relevance to my life, but to know how to build a house did. All the crafts I have Iearnt or skills I have developed, whether it is writing, speaking, managing, administering, organizing, teaching or propagating, have been through my total and complete involvement in the activities and affairs of the ashram.

I learnt to cook and feed others and also to look after the needs of the sick and ailing. I learnt how to assume responsibility for my duties and tasks and how to complete them successfully. I learnt crisis management too. Sometimes we would wake up to find a problem and the whole day would pass trying to solve it. It used to be a challenging experience from which I always learnt a lot.

Once when we had to construct a building and had no water, we decided to dig a canal from high up in the mountains where there was a stream and bring it down to the ashram, which was many kilometres away. For this we made a big tank or reservoir in the ashram and collected the water. When released at the top, the water took a full month to reach the tank - that is how far it was.

There are lessons that each individual has to learn about life so that he can face it squarely. Unfortunately this is not provided in schools or colleges and nor do the parents assume that role or responsibility towards their children. However, this training is crucial for the success or failure of an individual. Even if a child has no academic qualifications, if he has learnt these lessons he will be able to survive in life without difficulty. Because these lessons relate to his capacity to interact with life, to be able to take the correct decisions and formulate the correct ideas about what he should or should not do. Luck and opportunity knock on everyone's door at some time or the other, one should only know how to utilize it.

Here in India each family goes to an ashram for some time. Parents introduce their children to ashrams at a very tender age so that they can imbibe a strong and resilient foundation for their lives. Now, even that is not necessary because the children themselves are keen to visit the ashram. In an ashram you get a chance to forget yourself for a few moments and live only for others. This in itself gives you a new vision and concept, which is full of promise and confidence in yourself.

The greatest lesson we have, to learn is the lesson of life. And this becomes available to us when we decide to step out of our routine existence and adopt some different ways to live by, even if it is for a short time. One of these ways is ashram life, where you can stay for a few days as a sannyasin and live a life that is diametrically opposite to yours and learn how to deal with different situations, different people, different problems and, at the same time, also learn to deal with yourself. Both children and adults should have this experience. Children, however, will gain more from this experience as their acceptance of the ashram is simple and

straight from the heart.

In his youth, Rama lived in an ashram for twelve years, acquiring the skills needed by a young prince who is one day destined to rule. Sita, too, lived in Valmiki's ashram with her sons, Luva and Kusha. Krishna also lived in the ashram of Sandeepany. They too went out for bhiksha, slept on the floor and wore the simplest of clothing, although they were from the royal families.

Why were they sent for that life by their parents, who could have educated them in the palace itself by calling the best tutors for their education? We cannot merely say that it was the custom. Instead we will have to realize that it became the custom because of its relevance in the life of every individual.

Relevance today

Ashram life is as relevant in our lives today as it was then. Even today, to live in the ashram for a few days as a sannyasin offers you the scope for enlarging your vision about yourself, and about life as well. You begin to understand yourself better, which in itself is a great achievement because it is our great misunderstanding of ourselves that leads us to disharmony.

School going children feel more confident about themselves after residing in the ashram. They also begin to feel a responsibility towards life and the necessity for a sense of direction and focus. College kids are able to gain much more through their stays in the ashram by involving themselves totally in the ashram activities and routine. Through this they inculcate discipline and a sense of perfectionism and commitment to work, where the work is done not for its rewards but as an expression of creativity' and joy. Newly married couples learn to shoulder their new responsibilities better through their stay in the ashram and adults gain from the spiritual environment that permeates the place.

The ashram acts a shock absorber for each individual. The traumas, stresses and strains of life sometimes get too demanding for us. They eat up our energy and deplete our reserves. The ashram is an ideal place to stay and recharge yourself by stepping out of your normal life and living not just for yourself. Or if you feel that some unknown obstacle is disturbing your life on account of which you are unable to progress. Often the studies are disturbed or the job unstable. Or the marriage is not materializing. In some cases lack of direction, commitment and seriousness about life could be the cause of disharmony. No matter what the cause, the ashram is a panacea for all ills.

I have seen many people who came to the ashrams at Rishikesh, Munger and even to Rikhia, and after living there for some time engaged in ashram life had a breakthrough. The ashram is not anyone's home. It belongs to everybody and yet to nobody. No one stays in an ashram forever. They come and go like flowing rivers finding new pathways and new terrain.

Spiritual lifeline

The word ashram is derived from the word shram, which means to labour. So shram forms the foundation of ashram life. Anything you set your heart on to achieve cannot be attained without struggle or effort from your side. A student labours hard to get good marks. A housewife labours hard to look after her family. A husband labours hard to meet the needs of his children. Each and every living creature struggles hard to survive.

In the ashram too the sannyasins labour very hard, but this struggle is for perfection of one's thoughts, words and deeds. The effort is towards attaining balance in these different facets of one's personality. The head, heart and hand must synchronize if you want to realize your goals, whether they are material, spiritual or both. The ashram provides a suitable environment for this metamorphosis to take place because the lifeline of the ashram is spiritual. By spiritual I mean pure and untainted.

Purity of environment enhances that side of our personality which is ready to accept inherent weaknesses and blemishes, change our outlook and opinion as well as improve ourselves. The fault is not in the environment or in the people with whom we have to interact, the problems we face arise from within. The circumstances only act as a catalyst to bring them to the surface. Everything you feel, think, say or do is coming from deep within. Ashram life gives you the chance to reflect on this and therefore the changes that take place in you after spending time in the ashram are more permanent and abiding.

Ashram culture is going to be a panacea for the people of this modern era because it will provide them with a positive environment to explode that seed of creativity which is dormant within them.

Music Yoga

Satsang by Swami Sivananda

Music or sangita is the essence of this universe. It is the very breath of God and food for the soul. Sangita vidya is a sacred science, its goal being God-consciousness. Music is not art instrument for titillation of the nerves or satisfaction of the senses. It is yoga sadhana, which enables one to attain atma sakshatkara, direct realization of the soul. Music should be treated as yoga. True music can only be tasted by one who has renounced the world, freed himself from all taints of worldliness, and who practises music as a sadhana for self-realization.

When a devotee sings with intuitional and overflowing love of the Lord and Guru, he realizes God. Music, when clearly expressed with rasa and bhava, sentiment and feeling, bestows the wisdom of Brahman wherefrom arise the highest virtues of peace and patience. However, you must be the very greatest among renunciates if you are to realize the Supreme Being through adoration of His first manifestation - sound. Not a parrot-like repetition of words, not a masterly rendering of music perfectly set to scale and rhythm, but singing with the heart, playing on the inner veena on the strings of bhakti and love alone will enable you to enter into the spirit of a nada yogi.

Blend of all yogas

Music is a synthesis of the various yogas or paths to God-realization. It is a hatha yoga sadhana, for it involves a good amount of control and regulation of breath. There is deep and full breathing involved in singing, and this greatly strengthens the lungs and purifies the blood. Moreover, the various musical notes have their own corresponding nadis (subtle channels in the vital sheath of the body), and music vibrates these nadis, purifies them and awakens the psychic and spiritual power dormant in them. Purification of nadis not only ensures peace of mind and happiness, but goes a long way in yoga sadhana and helps the aspirant to reach the goal of life very easily.

Trapped in music, the mysterious mind with its thousands of vasanas and vrittis, lies quiescently on the lap of the sadhaka, and he can make it dance to his tune, control it according to his will and mould it as he pleases. Mind, the magic wand of maya, the terror of all spiritual aspirants, is there in the hands of the music yogi under his perfect control, for music makes the mind one-pointed quickly.

The wonder of wonders in the case of music yoga is that it is not only the musician whose mind is thus controlled, but the minds of all those who listen to music become calm; peaceful and blissful. That is why great saints like Mira Bai, Tukaram, Kabir Das, Thyagaraja, Purandhara Das and others wove their teachings into sweet music. With the sweet music, their sublime thoughts would easily penetrate the heart of the listener, which is at other times zealously guarded by the cobra of worldliness. It is music yoga that effortlessly brings about chitta vritti nirodha, control of mental modifications, practised by the raja yogi. When thus the mind is steadied and purified, and merged in nada, primal sound, the eye of intuition is opened and the music yogi gets yoga siddhi or samadhi.

 Music is, of course, an integral part of bhakti yoga. Sankirtan, singing of God's name, and bhakti are inseparable. Music purifies the emotions and fills the mind with sublime, soul-elevating higher emotions. The devotee sits with his ekatara or tanpura to melt his mind in his Lord in silence. Narada rishi roams about the three worlds with his tanpura, singing the Lord's name. Music helps the devotee to commune with the Lord. The bhakta enters bhava samadhi by singing devotional music. He comes face to face with the greatest storehouse of knowledge and wisdom, ananda or supreme bliss, and emerges from this samadhi as a jnani radiating peace, bliss and wisdom all around.

The true musician is the highest nishkama karma yogi. He removes the sorrows of the people who listen to him. Music cures incurable diseases, dispels the gloom of ignorance, wrong notions and despair from the heart, and instills joy, cheer, happiness and hope. You cannot easily repay the deep debt of gratitude you owe to the music yogi who renders you this inestimable service.

Music breaks the three granthis or knots of ignorance: brahma granthi, vishnu granthi and rudra granthi. It easily awakens the cravings and restlessness, and removes all sorts of whims, moods, fancies and wild imaginations. It removes the three doshas: mala, impurity; vikshepa, tossing of the mind; and avarana, veil of ignorance. It annihilates the three kinds of fevers: adhyatmika, spiritual; adhibhautika, caused by extrinsic agents; and adhidaivika, caused by supernatural agents. It eradicates the five kleshas or afflictions: avidya, ignorance; asmita, sense of doership; raga-dwesha, attraction-aversion; and abhinivesha, fear of death. It destroys the three kinds of karmas: sanchita, accumulated; prarabdha, bound to fructify, agami or kriyamana, current actions. It destroys rajas, passion, and tamas, inertia, and fills the mind with sattwa, purity. The mind, concentrated on the melodious sound, easily achieves the state of laya, dissolution or involution. Just as the snake is charmed by a melodious sound, so also the snake-mind is charmed by the sound of music. He who practises music forgets the body and the world. Music removes dehadhyasa, identification with the body, and brings super-intuitional knowledge. Practise, try, fill yourself. Just as the intoxication of opium lasts for several hours, the practice of kirtan continues to bring spiritual waves from the indweller of the heart. Such is the glory of music yoga.

  

Therapeutic effects

Music is an aid to treatment of diseases. In ancient Egypt, music was used in temples in healing diseases of the nervous kind. Sages affirm that many diseases can be cured by the melodious sound of a flute, violin, veena or sarangi. They maintain that there is an extraordinary power of music over diseases. The harmonious rhythm caused by sweet music has an attractive property. It draws out disease. The disease comes out to encounter the music wave. The two blend together and vanish in space.

Music soothes the brains and nerves. It lulls the whole system. It stimulates, energizes, galvanizes and vitalizes the whole system. It affects the emotions and arouses the impulses to action and thereby influences all the vital functions. It consists of a series of harmonious vibrations, electrical in their nature and make-up.

Music relaxes nervous tension and makes parts of the body affected by tension to resume their normal functions. Music is highly beneficial in the treatment of nervous disorders, sleeplessness, etc. Music has a tremendous power to bring comfort and solace when one is in a state of despondency or pain. Sangita or kirtan is the best medicine when all other systems of medicine have failed to cure a disease. Kirtan will work wonders. Try this unique medicine and realize its marvelous benefits.

Sweet melody exercises a powerful influence on the mind and physical nature of every living being. If someone is suffering from a disease, sing kirtan near his bed. He will soon be cured.

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Basis of music

How music transmutes human nature into divine nature, how it overhauls the old detrimental samskaras, how it changes the mental substance, how it transforms or metamorphoses the diabolical nature into pure sattwic nature and how it brings the devotee face to face with God is a mystery. Science and reason can hardly explain the modus operandi of sankirtan.

Music derives its mighty power from the supreme music of Brahman, the sacred pranava, the mantra Om. Listen to the vibration of the tanpura or the veena: do you hear the majestic pranava nada? All musical notes spring from the pranava. Music is intended to reverberate this pranava nada in your heart. For Om or. the pranava is your real name, your real swarupa, essential nature. You love to hear music because it is but the most melodious intonation of your own essential name. When the mind thus gets attracted and unified with one's essential nature, the great power of the primal Self stored there wells up and heals the body and mind.

Easy and effective sadhana

Music is the easiest, best and glorifying sadhana to attain moksha in this age of Kali Yuga. In fact, music enjoys the unique privilege of defying one of the fundamental spiritual doctrines: 'That which is pleasant is not good, and that which is good is not necessarily pleasant.' It is in music that you find the sole exception to this rule. It is both pleasant and good, preya and shreya, in the terminology of the Kathopanishad.

Where is music not wanted? In war, in peace, in joy, in sorrow, in palaces and in ashrams, it is welcomed everywhere. It has different expressions to suit different occasions. Music caters to people of all temperaments, wins the hearts of all and transforms all beings. The gods are pleased and easily propitiated by music. Even animals are charmed and tamed by sweet, melodious music. The enchanting power of music draws every living being. Music melts the hardest heart. Music softens the brutal nature of man. Music heals. a million maladies. It gives peace and tranquillizes the agitated mind. It gives you the strength to face the difficulties in the battle of life.

Music has a very high educative value. It is the most valuable means of upbringing the young. It adds to the character, ennobles the mind, awakens and feeds the aesthetic sense and gives grace to all human expressions. A composer can easily express his thoughts through the medium of a song. It is one of the joys of humanity and is the most harmless of pleasures. No art stirs emotions so deeply as music. Music is international and knows no barriers of religion, race, creed or caste. It makes one forget oneself, carrying one into a sort of trance, and helps enjoy divine bliss.

Even the great saint Narada is believed to have been told by Lord Narayana:

Naaham vasaami vaikunthe, yoginaam hridaye na vaa;
Madbhaktaa yatra gaayante, tatra tishthaami Naarada.

I dwell not in Vaikuntha (heaven), nor in the hearts of sages
and saints, but where my devotees sing there I am, O Narada.

Music is not a thing to be neglected or brushed aside. It, must be the aspiration of every person to either sing or play some instrument. So, start now in right earnest and practise music with bhakti bhava. A strong habit of singing can be formed in six months. Even when someone is in a dying state, the habit of singing the name of the Lord will come to the rescue at the last moment.              

Guru Purnima - Rikhiapeeth 1st to 3rd July 2012

For thousands of years Vyas Purnima or Guru Purnima has been celebrated as a day of worship of Guru.  On this sacred full moon of July we can receive the grace and blessing of all Gurus who have ever lived, who are alive today, and those who are yet to be born. Guru worship is the ultimate of all yogas.  This is a glorious time to connect with the subtle, vibrant and spiritually powerful energy of Guru tattwa. 

During his stay at Rikhiapeeth Swami Satyananda did not ever conduct the Guru puja here, as although millions all over the world saw him as their Guru, he himself said, "I am foremost and will always remain a disciple not a Guru, it is discipleship that is important not Gurudom."

This year Guru Purnima will be commemorated at Rikhiapeeth in honour of the disciple of disciples, Swami Satyananda who lived and breathed only for his Guru, Swami Sivananda Saraswati.  During this most sacred event Rikhiapeeth, the tapobhumi of Paramahansa Satyananda, will come alive with prayers and worship of Sadguru Swami Sivananda, Swami Satyananda as well as all Gurus of the universe who inspire our lives. Traditional worship of Guru will be performed along with havan, mantra chanting, spiritual discourses and diksha.

The Guru Purnima anusthan from 1^st to 3^rd July 2012 will culminate with the sacred Guru Puja from 7–11 am on the 3^rd July, and diksha will be given on 3^rd July. The grand scale event will be presided over by Swami Niranjanananda and Swami Satyasangananda. Devotees who wish to offer their love and devotion to Guru and invoke the grace and blessings of Guru Shakti into their lives may register by phone, email or letter at the earliest.

Bhakti is the Path

Satsang by Swami Satyananda Saraswati

The path of bhakti is the greatest of all paths, especially for those who want to have darshan of God, the vision of reality. There is divinity within every being. God is nearer to you than your own prana, nearer than your own breath, nearer than your own thoughts. If this is the case, then why can't you feel Him and see Him?

Bhakti relates not to the mind, but to the heart and emotions. You hate or love through emotion. The heart, that deep feeling of emotion, expresses itself as bhakti. I always had great difficulty in practising bhakti. I used to sing, pray and do japa, but I did it all through the mind. I wanted my heart to be involved in bhakti, but I did not know how to involve it, because it was a very untrained heart. I had never practised affection for anyone, never directed my heart, never given my heart to anyone. Even if I worked for yoga, it was not with the heart but with the mind. I met people, I laughed and conversed with them all through the mind, so my heart remained untrained.

When I wanted to bring my heart into operation, it was just quiet and said, "I don't know." So I decided I must develop some sort of relationship with God. I came to the conclusion that I am God's servant, which isdasya bhava. Before that I thought I was a bhakta, a devotee of God. Before that I thought I was a jignasu sadhaka, a spiritual seeker, and before that, a moksha sadhaka, a seeker of liberation. But I found out how wrong I had been all along. Once you discover your relationship with God, your spiritual life will progress by itself.

Our first glimpse of bhakti was from our mother, then from our family in the form of attachment, affection and friendship. Then we found it in the form of a romantic relationship. All love and attachment is a form of bhakti, but it is not pure love. True love is not associated with the body, mind or soul. The basic cause of true love is bhavana, intense feeling. Therefore, look for the relationship with God in which your feelings will stick firmly to Him. Find out what is most special about your attitude towards God.

First, you have to find out what your inner nature is, then what your bhavana is, then what the manifest form of that bhavana is. Some people have affection, some romantic love, some gentleness, some enmity. Your relationship with God may revolve around any intense feeling that your mentality and personality can accept. Find your relationship with God according to your inner feeling. Think that whatever you are doing is serving God. This is what your bhavana should be. God is everywhere. Keep reflecting on God. Always sing God's name.

Training the emotions

Only when you train your emotions in the right direction can they be transformed and converted into bhakti. Otherwise most people are totally dissipated. The untrained senses, mind and emotions all have to be channelled properly. How? Helping other people is a good method. The best thing you can do to help people is to love them from your heart. As far as helping people mentally is concerned, there is no better panacea than love. Love is the real healing principle. True love is loving someone even if they speak negatively about you and harm you. True love is loving a person despite his hatred of you. This love is not just. emotional, it has to be concrete. If you don't like me, I don't care, but I will still help you. True love has no conditions at all.

The love which is an expression of compassion for all beings is most difficult to practise. Love means sacrifice. True love is giving, not taking or receiving. It is an act of unconditional giving and giving and giving. Very few people know how to love. It is most difficult to love your neighbour, because he may be the one who is always creating problems for you. Love is not being emotional and passionate; it is an expression of purity that manifests when you become very strong within your own heart.

You prepare yourself for love by helping others in little ways, by small acts of kindness, by doing good turns to others. This is the elementary training in love. When you help others, you do not create karma. If there is only selfless affection, there can be no emotional disturbance, and non-attachment flourishes. Whenever you serve others selflessly, whenever you do good to others without any ulterior motive, you do nor get caught in the cycle of karma.

Selfless service will be the social philosophy of the twenty-first century, where everybody will think about others. Good karma is feeding the hungry, helping a poor person, making somebody happy. It is any act that helps somebody physically, mentally, spiritually, monetarily or in any other way. I always think of others positively because it helps me. If I think about anyone negatively, it creates bad karma which changes the chemical.secretions in my physical body, and.I do not want that. Good or positive thinking about others helps them and ultimately helps you.

Bhakti in the 21st century

The keynote of the twenty-first century will be bhakti. The bhakti movement will take us by storm. Yoga was responsible for weaning people from the material to the transcendental world. The yoga movement ushered in the spiritual awakening at large. Had yoga not been revived, humanity would never have turned to spirituality. Yoga has completed its mission successfully. Hatha yoga, asana, pranayama, mudra, bandha and other yogic practices proved extremely useful in bringing humanity to the path of bhakti. Yoga has become the pretext, the most practical excuse.

But the twenty-first century belongs to kirtan and bhakti. It will be full of sankirtan. The sound of sankirtan soirees will ring in the atmosphere. Renowned singers and musicians will step into kirtan singing, because the joy and ecstasy derived from devotional music cannot be found elsewhere. Two objectives will automatically be served in this way. First, the standard of music will improve. Second, those who find the spiritual path very difficult will find it easy through bhakti. Therefore, those of you who can sing and who have a family must sing kirtan. Dance, music and sankirtan will dominate this century. There will be metrop.olitan sankirtan, cruise sankirtan, forest sankirtan, mountain sankirtan and, of course, temple sankirtan.

Sing God's name, hear His name, write His name, draw His picture, talk about Him, live with people who talk about God. This will not only make you free from tension, high blood pressure and so on, it will make you immensely happy, a kind of happiness that you cannot imagine, which cannot come from anything else in this world. The point of singing God's name is divine intoxication, divine ecstasy.

Empty your heart

Bhakti is a science. It brings about a transformation in awareness, like a chemical change. Bhakti causes a meta-morphosis in a person's thoughts, actions and mind, as well as in their reactions, responses and lifestyle. These changes can be seen and experienced. All those who have reached the ultimate stage of bhakti, like Mirabai, Kabir and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, have told us one common truth - that bhakti is divine energy, transcendental love. It is not the ordinary emotion of love, it is supreme love. When your mind is fully and unconditionally merged in something, it becomes one with that object of love. When you turn your love towards God, the mind begins to lose itself. It slowly becomes one with God and the chasm between the devotee and God begins to narrow down.

Bhakti is the only sadhana path that is free of obstacles. Bhakti is inspired and sustained by God Himself. It is only by the grace of God. Therefore, when bhakti is God's gift, His wish, how can there be an obstacle? This is my own personal experience and the teachings of all the sages, great souls, scriptures and holy books. Bhakti is the only sadhana that is simple, easy, without hazards, side effects, risks or any chance of going astray.

Bhakti is a ninefold path, but what I mean by bhakti is just attaching your mind to God. When your mind is attached to a man or woman, it is passion. When it is attached to money, it is greed. But when you attach your mind to God, it is bhakti. I suggest you turn all your feelings and attachments that are now flowing in different directions towards one focus - God. Gather your emotions together from all other relationships and direct them to God. Leave everything behind and empty your heart.

Remember that if you want to know what is beyond name and form, beyond the senses and intellect, the simplest and easiest path is to think about others. If you help your fellow beings, even a little, God will most certainly shower His grace upon you, because to worship others is to worship God.

Sadhana for Mastering the Mind

Satsang by Swami Sivananda Saraswati

You take great care of the body. You want it to be clean, healthy, beautiful and strong. You bathe with fragrant soaps and hot water. You feed the body regularly with nourishing food. If there is the least pain or disease, a doctor is consulted and medicine is given. But you never give a thought to something much more important - the mind. The body is only an outward appearance, a projection of the mind.

The mind operates through the senses and the sense organs. If it is well, then the body is well. If it is disturbed, the body becomes ill. The mind controls your whole life. Upon it depends your happiness or misery, success or failure. As you think, so you become.

Do you fully realize the importance of training and overcoming the mind? Mastering the mind means success in all fields of endeavour. To achieve this mastery, you must study the mind. You must clearly understand its nature, habits and tricks, and the effective methods of bringing it under control.

The mind is a bundle of desires, thoughts, feelings and emotions. These desires, feelings and ideas are not at all steady. They change constantly. Some subside suddenly and others occupy their place, like the waves of the sea. Some old ones depart from the storehouse of the mind and new ones replace them at once. The mind is also a bundle of habits. The bad habits and prejudices, although hidden in one's own nature, come up and occupy the surface of the mind as and when opportunities occur.

The entire world is nothing but the expansion of one's thoughts towards various objects. It is called bondage. Most people do not have the understanding and discriminative power to know the real from the unreal. They are under the grip of the illusory power of maya, and fall prey to worldly desires and enjoyments, totally forgetting their divine birthright.

The mind is like a monkey which jumps from one place to another. It is like the air which always moves. The mind is always flitting from one object to another. The mind is also compared to an elephant because of its passionate impetuosity. Most people allow the mind to run wild and follow its sweet will and desires. The mind creates great havoc through the power of imagination. Much energy is wasted through imaginary fears, exaggeration, mental dramatization, building castles in the air.

Purify the mind

It takes a long time to purify the mind, but success is sure if the endeavour is earnest. Aspire fervently. Be on the alert. Watch your mind carefully. Check the surging emotions and bubbling thoughts. Do not allow the waves of irritability, jealousy, anger, passion and hatred to arise in your mind. Do not allow the current of bad thoughts and negative ideas to pass through the mind.

A positive thought always overcomes a negative one. This is the natural law. When the sun rises, the fog vanishes. When the light is switched on, the darkness vanishes. If you substitute divine, virtuous qualities, the evil qualities will disappear. If you entertain new, sublime thoughts, the old vicious ones will subside by themselves. Courage gets rid of fear, patience overcomes anger and irritability, love overcomes hatred, and purity overcomes passion.

Just as you saturate water with salt or sugar, you have to saturate your mind with sublime and soul-stirring spiritual thoughts. Only then will the mind be rendered one-pointed and become established in pure consciousness. Constantly think of the Lord, the hidden indweller. Remember His glories every moment. Discriminate between the unreal and the real. Determine strongly to continually think of God.

The mind can be easily contained through steady practice and dispassion. By making a constant effort to fix it on God, you can develop dispassion towards sensual objects. Enquire: "Who am I" Practise introspection. Do mental japa of Om and meditate on the atman. Thoughts will eventually die by themselves. You will rest in your own essential nature - Satchidananda Brahman.

Sit alone and watch the thought waves that arise in the mind. Be indifferent. Remain as a witness of the mental waves. Do not identify yourself with them. Do not think of the past. Do not plan for the future. Do not allow the mind to build images. Live in the solid present.

Do something the mind does not want you to do. Do not do what the mind wants you to do. This is one method of directing the mind. Do not try to fulfil the desires. Do not hope. Do not expect anything. Destroy vicious desires through virtuous desires; and eventually destroy virtuous desires also through the one strong desire for liberation.

Transform the mind

Pranayama makes the mind steady and one-pointed. It checks the velocity of the mind and reduces the quantity of thinking. It removes the tamasic and rajasic dross of the mind. A regulated diet of light, nutritious sattwic foods calms the mind. Rasjasic foods like meat and fish, onions and garlic excite the mind. Observe moderation in taking food.

Awaken your spiritual impressions through japa and satsang. Develop the impressions. Nourish and protect them. Mantra japa and worship of God turn the mind inward. Such sadhana induces dispassion and concentration and eventually leads to control of ·the mind. In this present age the easiest method for transformation of the mind and attainment of liberation is kirtan or singing God's name. Satsang overhauls the mind and changes its current and rajasic nature. It fills the mind with sattwic vibrations.

Always do virtuous actions. Watch the mind and see what it is doing. These two practices are enough to control the mind. Selfless service is highly efficacious in purifying the mind. Do not wrestle or struggle with the mind. If you do, the mind will rebel. Be regular in your concentration and meditation.

The senses are very strong and impetuous. Control them gradually by intelligent methods like enquiry and discrimination. Try not to fulfil the desires. Give up whatever object the mind likes most and dwells upon constantly. You will gain a great deal of peace and willpower. After some months the craving will slowly vanish. Violent austerities will not help much. Controlling the mind is not the work of a day or a month. It is a patient, continuous struggle.

When the mind is transformed, things which used to upset you will not affect you. Occasions which made you irritable will not do so. You have now gained strength, endurance, resistance and the ability to deal with troubles. Unkind words which used to torment you will no longer upset you. Even if you show signs of anger, you will now be able to compose yourself quickly. These are all signs of your gaining mental strength and willpower. Meditation brings about all these beneficial results.

Take everything as it comes. You will develop spiritually and gain a great deal of mental strength and evenness of mind. Patience and endurance begin to develop. Develop the power of working undisturbed amidst all kinds of difficult conditions. This comes with practice.

Be positive

Maintain a positive attitude. Dispel doubts by well-directed suggestions and affirmations such as: "It is true that I will succeed. There is no doubt about this." Everyone should understand and practise auto-suggestion. This consists of powerful assertions. The formula: "I am becoming better and better every day, in every way," will confer upon you health and success in all undertakings. Repeat it mentally throughout the day. Think you are strong, strong you will become; think you are weak, weak you will become. Think you are Brahman, Brahman you will become.

The mind has the capacity to make a hell out of heaven and a heaven out of hell. So never give way to negative or depressive thoughts, but calmly go on with the spiritual practices. Be regular and, without missing a day, proceed onward with the practices. Little by little the power will accumulate and grow.

Ultimately, the cumulative force of all the continuous, earnest sadhana done perseveringly and patiently over a long period of time will have its inevitable grand consummation at the supreme moment, when it bears fruit in the form of blissful God-realization. May God grant you strength to master your mind and enjoy eternal peace.

Yoga - The Gift of Peace

Satsang by Swami Satyananda Saraswati

In ancient times, Munger is said to have been ruled by the great tantric yogi Karna, and the hill of Karna Chaura, now Ganga Darshan, was his seat. Munger has always been a spiritual place belonging to yogis, rishis, and munis. When I first came to Munger in 1956, I never foresaw that one day I would found an ashram there or teach and preach yoga. I wanted to live by myself and understand myself more. During this period from 1956 to 1963 I came to understand the vibrations that seemed to have remained there even after 5,000 years. On the desolate and deserted hillock, I sat for days, weeks and months, but I did not know exactly what it was that I was assimilating.

All I knew was that Karna was famous for his generosity and charity and used to give gold to everyone who came to him. But that was not my mission in life as I was neither a king nor an industrialist. More than that, I knew that in the age in which I was born, gold has no relevance to mankind's real eternal existence. Of course, wealth is necessary in order to exist, to give us an idea of security, but, after all, that security is just a delusion. Prosperity was not the ultimate solution to the peace of mankind.

Ultimately an idea dawned - I would dispense yoga. After all, there are so many religions, each based oh revelations directed from the topmost leveL However, they have not been able to show man his inner being, the inner fountain of his experience. They have only touched on the external man, the social, modern, affluent man, not the effulgent and complete man, the poorna purusha. They teach and preach about it, but do not know how this innermost experience, which is the basis of all our experience, can be realized.

In 1963, recalling the teachings of my guru, Swami Sivananda, I came to a definite conclusion about the validity and necessity of yoga for people today. So I began experiments on other people and on myself. Since then yoga has gone around the world, crossing frontiers, breaking though the barriers of religion and political and philosophical ideology. Yoga is the one system of thought that has brought different communities together. Where churches, temples and mosques have failed, yoga has bought together a good cross section of humanity. Scientists and spiritual seekers, for instance, have been brought together. Today, if there is one word that rings around the globe, if there is one idea that is acceptable to all people having different philosophies, political thinking and national status - it is just yoga.

Why should people accept yoga? Is it because a powerful king or ruler has given it to them? No! If religious movements have been taken around the world using guns, swords and armies, then yoga has been taken around the world in the hearts, minds and speech of swamis . It is these people who, having no home or family of their own, have carried this science from shore to shore. They exist for just one mission alone, which is to distribute the tool of peace - yoga!

We have realized the futility of the material security we have been aspiring for, running after and dreaming of day in and day out. A choice has already been made. The West has seen the climax of material prosperity and has now realized the emptiness of these things. We have been chasing sensual pleasures, thinking perhaps therein could be found the fountain of joy, ananda. Shanti, peace, is the one thing more precious than gold or any type of prosperity. If Karna's age demanded gold, this age demands peace. In Munger today we do not distribute gold, but we offer the gift of yoga, the essence of spiritual life.

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For me, yoga is very important, not only in relation to Indian culture, but also in relation to the needs of the whole world. Once a great religious leader asked me how yoga could be incorporated into the present world situation. I told him frankly that yoga commences when you are totally frustrated, when your mind is not under control and when you are undergoing constant bouts of depression, anger, jealousy, greed, anxiety, worry and passion. When the mind has lost its stable base, you try desperately to do something in order to find a way through, and that something is the beginning of yoga.

When you get angry, when you are assailed by passions and depressions, what do you do? You try to steady yourself. This effort to stabilize the mind is the first step of yoga. Therefore, please do not say that yoga only begins with yama and niyama. Frankly speaking, when you are unhappy, you begin yoga, when you are unwell, you begin yoga, when you do not sleep for nights and nights together on account of your psychosis and neurosis, you begin yoga, when your mind is filled with impurities and loses its sense of peace, it is at that time that yoga begins.

So please do not say that yoga is only for renunciates, for sannyasins. Why should there be yoga for sannyasins? Sannyasins have no feeling of insecurity, they have nothing to worry about. Their needs are very few and whether or not these needs are met, they can still manage. It is the people who have responsibilities, obligations, worries, anxious, sleepless nights and so on and so forth that need yoga.

It was with these people in mind that I took the message of yoga from Munger to the rest of the world. Going abroad as far as Latin American countries, travelling through province after province, city after city, I have journeyed practically throughout the world, not only by plane but also on horseback and by car. I found many signs that yoga used to be a very ancient universal world culture. India has been responsible for the preservation of this culture, but once it existed over the entire planet.

Yoga is going to be the culture of humanity and no power on earth can make yoga retrace its steps. In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna tells Arjuna that yoga has been handed down from one generation to another generation ofgreat souls and that is how the tradition was created. For a period of time it had to go underground, but it was not destroyed. The sannyasins had to go underground because for a long time people did not want yoga and believed it was just for swamis. People had all kinds of strange ideas regarding this great science, and that is how yoga absolutely lost touch with man's day-to-day spiritual and material existence. .

However, with the advent of Swami Vivekananda, followed by Swami Ramatirtha, Swami Yogananda, Sri Aurobindo and Swami Sivananda, my guru, yoga has gone around the world bringing peace into the lives of millions. When I went to eastern and western countries, I found that everybody knew about yoga. It was not that I was carrying something new to them; they understood it well.

An awareness has developed throughout the world that yoga is a system of self-help which can be adopted according to individual and environmental needs. Many groups of people are now spreading the message of yoga and meditation around the world in an attempt to resurrect the inner balance necessary for the survival and evolution of the human race as a whole. It is becoming more apparent that yoga will become a universal culture. In time we envisage the re- emergence of a yogic culture which will influence future generations just as the technological culture has influenced our generation today.

Yoga is going to be a mighty force during the twenty-first century. Of course, this does not mean that there will be no hatred in the world and that everybody will become happy and free from problems and disease. Diversity is the nature of the world, and yoga cannot go against it. However, yoga will bring light to man's thinking processes and thereby improve the quality of his thoughts and perception, enabling him to understand his needs and problems.

Yoga will not replace the modern cultures, but it will make them more beautiful, more useful and more substantial. If we are fortunate to live in the twenty-first century, we will see that the destiny of nations and the philosophy of mankind will be regulated by the central philosophy of yoga. Yoga is the greatest gift that can be given to mankind today. It is the gift of peace.