Friday, December 25, 2009

"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

Thursday, December 10, 2009

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


Monday, December 7, 2009

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

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Kriya

blog (n.), a web based forum for publishing ideas and stories for others to read.
blog (v.), the activity needed to make this web page a blog.

a little action ... a basic action ... write in my blog.

The literal meaning of "kriya" is "basic action" or "fundamental action."

The word "kriyajnana" means the basic wisdom needed to practice yoga ("suptajnana" is the culmination of wisdom).

The word (and suffix) "kriya" has many meanings, depending on context, but the meanings are always an extension of "original action."

Basic action without karmic content is kriya.

A kriya is a tantric exercise involving the visualization of prana moving through various channels. There are many kriyas.

A yoga sadhana built around a kriya or a group of kriyas is called kriya yoga.

Patanjali's Yoga Sutras say that kriya yoga - the basic action of yoga - is self-study, attentiveness to god, and spiritual heat (austerities).

Kriya Yoga (proper noun) is the name for numerous schools of yoga that ascribe to the lineage of Lahiri Mahasaya. The most predominate school of Kriya Yoga in the west was founded by Pramahanasa Yogananda, but there are several different lineages that have descended from him.

In the context of puja, kriya yoga is the discipline of performing puja.

Yogakriya means (according to Dharmanidhiji) "action without karma"