Transformation

Change is the only constant. If we’re awake to it, life is a constant process of transformation and change. The changes may be intentional or not - more often not - but through dynamic awareness and loving-presence we have the power to accelerate the transformations we choose and to slow or inhibit undesirable changes.

One of the barriers to intentional transformation is indecision. Lack of a clear vision, a burning desire, and a definite plan, leaves one vulnerable to the whims of circumstance. “Crystalize your thinking,” create a clear and precise image of what you want to bring into (or remove from) your manifested reality - be specific as to quantity, quality, and time (the dharmakshetra returns indeterminate results for vagueness). Nurture a “burning desire” for the changes you imagine (luke-warm motivation yields indeterminate results). Develop a workable plan to attain the changes you desire - be specific (“Plan your work and work your plan”).

In this continuous process the transformation and change is usually gradual and undirected, but sometimes the changes are huge (or seem so). I’m currently attempting to navigate what seems to be a huge transformation - either moving into another stage of my spiritual development or spinning off into a God 
Realm fixation. I’m still in the process of “crystalizing my thinking.”

This morning I was meditating on this by the river. While I mediated the tide went out. “Coincidentally,” at my feet the receding river had revealed a sign-board with this colorful artfully scripted epigraph:

* Although I’m honest in my trilogy
yall niggaz aint really feelin me!
Isit B’cuz your equilibrium’s
unbalanced, childish & undoubtedly
one of the foulest?

How can you have a palace when you’re a
King/Queen without a crown, or a throne, or a
regime w/o clean sense of discipline?

* Listening 2 yesmen and end up inna perdicament.
Wrapped by the Rapture & Captured ... Get Beheadded

* Where are we heading?... Spiritually, morally, meta
physically, mentally? Probably 2 The Terrordome, also
known as “The Slaughterhouse”!

* Just a Bunch of Sheep w/no dain shepard or any
guidance. Open up your eyelids .. GOD is our provider!!
JEHOVAH JAIRAH
----> Written By: TiaPreyinMantis 2013

The Purpose of Yoga

Yoga is a system of physical exercise, breath control, relaxation, meditation, spirituality, and health culture designed to strengthen the body, train the mind, and cultivate inner and outer harmony. Regular practice reduces stress and improves stamina, longevity, confidence, awareness, peace-of-mind and happiness.

Yoga has many benefits. Some of the the benefits of yoga include improved stamina, vitality, concentration, awareness, self-confidence, peace, happiness, longevity, and zest for life. Yoga strengthens your pulmonary and cardiovascular systems, tones and stretches your skeletal muscles, stimulates and massages your inner organs, improves your mental clarity, reduces anxiety and the effects of stress - maintaining physical and emotional fitness.

Yoga will provide you with increased energy, strength, flexibility, balance and can also give you a cardiovascular work-out. It provides effective stress management through positive thought patterns and deep relaxation techniques, which are essential for our modern lifestyle demands. Yoga’s meditative movements improve circulation and the health of internal organs while cleansing toxins out of the body and accelerating the body’s repair processes at a cellular level. A regular yoga practice will help improve and maintain both your physical and mental well-being.

Yoga has many obvious physical and mental benefits, but it’s true esoteric purpose is to cultivate the union (“yoga”) of the individual-self (jivatma) and the Cosmic-self (mahatma). For Patanjali (a dualist) this meant a kind of joining together of individual and Divine. In non-dual tantra yoga is seen as becoming aware of the true nature of your union with the Divine.

Yoga is a total comprehensive approach to spiritual, mental, and physical health and fitness. The practice of yoga makes the body strong and flexible, it also improves the functioning of the respiratory, circulatory, digestive, and hormonal systems. Yoga brings about emotional stability and clarity of mind, and - if you're lucky - Self-Realization and spiritual liberation (moksha).

The Four Aspects of Life

Our natural inclination is to grow toward the Divine Light, just as a plant naturally tends to grow toward the sun. Sometimes conditions encourage that growth, other times it is just one obstacle after another. The path that God is leading you down is the path toward the Light. The meaning of life is God-Realization (or Self-Realization). Your meaning - right here and right now - is the meaning you give to your life.

A Divine Life is living to serve others (including family) on their journey toward the Ultimate Reality while you continue on your journey. Devoting yourself to raising your family is one of the most meaningful lives available to anyone. Although it sometimes seems futile and insignificant, raising a family is one of the most important things a person can do. But remember, it is not necessarily selfish to do good for yourself first - you must care for your needs before you can offer care to others.

For me, yoga is not about physical exercise or health - yoga is my spiritual practice. The purpose of my practice is to develop a direct experience of my relationship with the Divine. The meaning of life for me is expressed by sharing my journey in order to help others touch the Divine. I am often distracted by the more mundane cares of the world, but thanks to the generosity of my students I am able survive without the energetic dissipation of keeping a more normal job. I am currently living a very blessed life in that I am able to spend all of my time studying and teaching and deepening my practice. Om!

For you - if you would like to enrich your mind, body, and spirit - then just do it. There is no reason to wait - there is only now so act now! The challenges you are facing right now in your life will not be any more challenging or demanding if you invest in wisdom for your mind, body, and spirit; in fact, the investment in yourself will make you more capable in dealing with the rest of life's challenges.

In tantra it is said that there are four aspects of life that need to be properly actualized - [1] life's purpose (dharma), [2] livelihood (artha), [3] pleasure (kama), and [4] spiritual liberation (moksha).

Dharma means law, but in this context dharma means (in part) "your life's proper purpose". It is the idea that there is a role or activity that you are supposed to be acting out - be it teacher, builder, fire-fighter, businessman, or bum. God-Realization requires we find our dharma and fulfill it. "It is better to perform your own dharma poorly than to perform another's dharma well." Raising children and caring for family is a part of your dharma, but it is not your entire life's purpose. (Dharmanidhiji calls your underlying life's purpose your "Nadi".)

Artha means wealth. We all need a certain amount of money for survival. Exactly how much we need depends on the responsibilities we have taken on and our dharma. The tendency is to want much more than we need, this leads to spiritual difficulty. Another common problem is earning your livelihood in a way that conflicts with your dharma.

Kama means pleasure. Life should be pleasurably (but not glutinously). It is important to enjoy life appropriately. Taste life's pleasures without becoming attached to them or developing a habit requiring a particular pleasure (and without causing harm to yourself or others). Don't lust for immediate gratification and don't indulge pleasures that conflict with your dharma.

Moksha means liberation. We are bound to this apparent reality ("samsara") because of the desires (and aversions) of our senses and heart (mind). Samsara exists for the sake of working through our karmas (karma is a huge topic). Liberation is to experience the Divine Reality and no longer be bound by the limitations of samsara. This is a very misunderstood topic and this brief description probably only adds to the confusion. Liberation is not escaping from reality, rather it is escaping into reality.

Integral Kriya Yoga is a system to investigate these four aspects of life and perhaps to bring them into proper balanced expression. Since this actually involves everything in life it is easy to be overwhelmed. But, "yoga is not for the weak." This doesn't refer to physical strength, but rather it is about will and resolve. If it were easy everyone would know they are enlightened (everyone is, they just don't know it).

There is no magic ... no instant enlightenment to earn (although God can grace you with enlightenment at any moment, mostly it is just the gradual unfoldment). There is an endless procession of hypothetical bull sh*t and interesting factoids, but information only adds a little to the process. The real treasures are the practices to practice - practices that reveal your true nature and aid you in your investigation and spiritual transformation.

A Day Without Talking!

I observed a day of silence for New Year’s Day - January 1, 2011 (1/1/11). It was at once easier than expected and more difficult than anticipated, but it was an interesting practice.

From first waking until I went to sleep I abstained from all speech and all forms of media and communications. No magazines, books, or newspaper; no texting or email; no surfing the web; no video or music. Only dwelling in silence with myself and my Self.

My morning started like any Saturday - 5:00 AM on the road to Berkeley for my Siva Puja. Before leaving Antioch I hit Starbuck’s for a coffee just as they are opening. The barista didn’t like my hand gestures and said, “Choosing to be a mime is a lousy New Year’s Resolution! I know you can talk!” She was not amused, and I resolved to write a note before I ran into anyone else. On a scrap of thin cardboard I wrote, “I am observing a day of Silence. Thank you for your patience, And Happy New Year!”

Since there was no one else at the temple I didn’t need to perform and explain the puja for an audience, so I was able to do the entire puja as manasika (“of the mind”), focused completely on the perfect mental recitations of the puja mantras.

After puja I went to Safeway and then home for the rest of the day. Throughout the day I kept repeating “HLRIM” (“HLREEM”) - Bhaglamuki’s bija (Bhaglamuki is the goddess of speech) to not have the internal monologue running. I was not reminiscing about the past or dreaming of the future - I was entirely present in the moment. I managed to keep that sense of presence for the entire day with only a few brief lapses of attention.

Be here now.

http://www.mandalayoga.net/index-newsletter-en-antar_meditation.html

http://www.yogic-wisdom.com/static/yogainfo/meditat...ion/antarmounaarticle.html

http://www.yogamag.net/archives/1996/esep96/antamoun.shtml

"What is a Divine Being?"

Transcend the conditioned mind and let go of it's ego processes and you can directly experience the divine essence.

You are the divine being - the divine light - divine essence eternally expressing itself physically. You create a universe around you (in concert with the universe I am creating with you - "interdependent origination"), perhaps to better know yourself. Liberation (moksha) may be the continuous direct awareness (rather than intellectual understanding) of this divine inter-relationship.

Don't confuse the various ideas and images of divinity with divine being or divine essence. Images and ideas are objects of the mind, but divine essence is objectless (and yet subsumes all objects).

You are the Divine Light, so shine on!

Lokāh samastāh sukhino bhavantu

shanti prem

Satyananda Saraswati’s Sankalpa

I am an invisible child of a thousand faces of love,

That floats over the swirling sea of life,

Surrounded by the meadows of the winged shepherds,

Where divine love and beauty,

The stillness of midnight summer’s warmth pervades.

Life often cuts at my body and mind

And though blood may be seen passing,

And a cry might be heard,

Do not be deceived that sorrow could dwell within my being

Or suffering within my soul.

There will never be a storm

That can wash the path from my feet,

The direction from my heart,

The light from my eyes,

Or the purpose from this life.

I know that I am untouchable to the forces

As long as I have a direction, an aim, a goal:

To serve, to love, and to give.

Strength lies in the magnification of the secret qualities

Of my own personality, my own character

And though I am only a messenger,

I am me.

Let me decorate many hearts

And paint a thousand faces with colours of inspiration

And soft, silent sounds of value.

Let me be like a child,

Run barefoot through the forest

Of laughing and crying people,

Giving flowers of imagination and wonder,

That God gives free.

Shall I fall on bended knees,

And wait for someone to bless me

With happiness and a life of golden dreams?

No, I shall run into the desert of life with my arms open,

Sometimes falling, sometimes stumbling,

But always picking myself up,

A thousand times if necessary,

Sometimes happy.

Often life will burn me,

Often life will caress me tenderly

And many of my days will be haunted

With complications and obstacles,

And there will be moments so beautiful

That my soul will weep in ecstasy.

I shall be a witness,

But never shall I run

Or turn from life, from me.

Never shall I forsake myself

Or the timeless lessons I have taught myself,

Nor shall I let the value

Of divine inspiration and being be lost.

My rainbow-covered bubble will carry me

Further than beyond the horizon’s settings,

Forever to serve, to love, and to live

As a sannyasin.

~Swami Satyananda Saraswati

SWAMI SATYANANDA SARASWATI 1923 - 2009

I feel the sorrow of loss, but more importantly, I feel the joy of having been blessed by his writings and teachings. He served us all well. May we return his service with ours.

Om Satyanandaya Namaha!

I received the following in an email. I am reproducing it without permission ;-) I would have just posted a link to it if I could have, but I did included the author's name and contact information.

======

SWAMI SATYANANDA SARASWATI

1923 - 2009

RAM RAM SATYA HAI

OM NAMAH SHIVA

http://www.yogavision.net/home.htm

At midnight (Indian Time) on December 5th, Swamiji left his body while sitting up doing Japa, a smile in his face. He was born in Almora, at the Himalayan Foothils and it is impressive to feel and think of all the light, all the peace, all the wisdom, all the health, all the service, all the compassion that he imparted in all his disciples, all the teachers he trained, all the students who ever took a class, learned a practice, picked up one of his books. One being can bring so much light into the world, his will be missed and yet he will live on in the minds and hearts of those who he touched.

I am one of those for his teachings and the work of the Swamis that studied with him have been the source of much of the Yoga Therapy knowledge that has enlightneded my professional life. On a personal level, the practices he brought to life have been tremendously instrumental in my understanding of Yoga and their effect had only made me a better person. May myself and IYTC do service to his greatness by spreading the deep knowledge that he brought to these times.

His parents were large landowners. At the tender age of six, Satyananda started having spontaneous psychic and spiritual experiences. During such events, he used to become completely unaware of his body for quite a long time. By the time he reached fifteen years of age, Satyananda started practicing Kundalini Yoga. In another two years, he began asking complex questions like 'what is the difference between perception and experience?'

At nineteen years, he decided to find a Guru who would guide him towards the highest state of consciousness and left his house in this pursuit. It was in the year 1943 that he met Yoga Master Swami Sivananda Saraswati in Rishikesh city of Uttar Pradesh and his search came to an end. He stayed with the Guru for a period of three years. Thereafter, he was initiated by Sivananda Saraswati into the Dashnami order, as a Poorna as well as a Paramahamsa Sanyasi. He was then given the name of 'Swami Satyananda Saraswati'.

Paramahamsa Satyananda completed his initial sanyas training of twelve years in the year 1956. This was followed by his initiation into Kriya Yoga, again by Swami Sivananda. Thereafter, he began to practice Parivrajaka (Mendicant) stage of sanyasa. During this period, Swami Satyananda Saraswati traveled all over the Indian subcontinent. This travel helped him in meeting numerous saints of that time as well as knowing the needs of the society. Swamiji spent years in seclusion, practicing and perfecting his Yoga Sadhana.

Swami Satyananda Saraswati went on his first World Tour in 1958, under the guidance of his Guru. This was followed by several international and national tours, to promote the teaching of yoga. In July 1963, after Swami Sivananda Saraswati passed away, Swami Satyananda established the headquarters of his mission in Munger city of Bihar. In the subsequent years, he set up the Bihar School of Yoga, International Yoga Fellowship Movement, Sivananda Math and the Yoga Research Foundation.

In 1973, Paramahamsa Satyananda Saraswati was recognized as an Adept (God realized Yogi). The International Yoga Convention was held to commemorate the Sanyasa Golden Jubilee renunciation of Swami Sivananda. It was here that the renowned saints and sages of India accepted him as one of the principal experts in the filed of esoteric knowledge as well as the leading proponent of Yoga.

In the years that he devoted to Yoga teaching, Swami Satyananda Saraswati mastered over eighty masterful Yoga texts. He renounced teaching, in 1988, to take up the lifestyle of a Paramahamsa. After settling in the small village of Rikhia, he lead a life of meditative seclusion.

Thank you for your attention, I look forward to sharing more of the knowledge imparted by this great Guru with you in the years to come.

Antonio Sausys

International Yoga Therapy Conference

P.O. Box 64

Fairfax, California 94978-0064