From Darkness to Light

The Purpose of Yoga

2011-01-19T10:19:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-11T10:52:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-01-02T15:31:00.000-08:00

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/yogai nfo/meditat...ion/antarmounaarticle.html

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

"What is a Divine Being?"

2009-12-25T13:50:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-10T09:06:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-07T15:08:00.000-08:00

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

Kriya

2009-12-02T18:55:00.000-08:00

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"

to do or not to do?

2009-07-29T11:07:00.000-07:00

What is the key to being motivated into action (or inaction)? It seems like it should be so simple; you either want to do something or you don't, then you either do it or don't. Simple, eh? Then what's up with all the unfinished (and un-started) projects?

Primacy of the body: all action is an expression through our body, usually in response to our body. Our attachment to the senses seems to be the starting point for most action or inaction. In all living creatures and plants, desire and aversion are associated with sensory experience. The basic motivation for all organisms is pain avoidance. All organisms try to move away from painful experiences and toward comfortable and pleasurable experiences. Even non-sentient (or low-sentience) organism move toward food and away from injury (pain). This is easily observed in microbes and plants, as well as higher creatures. This is a basic operation for survival and the reason for pain.

But it gets a little more complicated when we add a brain. The part of the conditioned mind that arises from the central nervous system can imagine pleasure and pain, and so act in anticipation. But often the conditioned mind mis-associates behaviors as painful or pleasant. We attach to imagined ideas about sensual fulfillment or potential injury (physical or emotional) and act as if the experience were real, rather than imagined. Still that doesn't explain how we can imagine a particular action for a desired outcome and still not act, or worse, do something we imagined we didn't want to do.

The simplest explanation is our habit-molds or 'samskaras'. Our karmic conditioning creates these samskaras and then we usually react to external events and stimuli from habituation rather than genuine volition. Our conditioned mind being the wonderfully complex thing it is, we imagine that our reaction was a choice. One of the benefits of a regular meditation practice (according to the Dalai Lama) is that we begin to see 'the gap'; that brief moment between an event and our habituated reaction. The more clearly we experience 'the gap' the more able we are to choose our response (free will volition) instead of unconscious reaction.

But what about the things we imagine we want to do but then don't? Even if my inaction is an expression of some samskara, shouldn't my awareness of that empower me to act?

One of my students is a brain researcher. She has been studying people with Parkinson's disease. A common problem for Parkinson's patients is an inability to make themselves perform certain tasks. They can usually do queue driven tasks, but then may be unable to perform a self initiated task. The example she shared with me was about a client going to catch a bus. Once started, he was able to walk to the bus-stop (queued action, one foot after the other), but once the bus arrived he was unable to get off the bench and onto the bus (self-initiated, need to get started). Wouldn't that be horrible - knowing that you want to move, your body is capable of the movement, but you just sit there.

Is that really that much different from having a list of things I think I want to do, and still not doing them? I hope you weren't expecting an answer here. Now I need to look at my to-do list and see what I will do.

To Blog or Not to Blog? That is the question.

2009-07-28T23:35:00.001-07:00

Greetings and Salutations, dear reader!

Today was semi-typical. I started my morning a little late (I didn't get out of bed until almost 6:00), but still got some quality time on the cushion. After opening my mandala I did tattva shuddhi and Rudi's toilet exercise and double-breath before heading downtown for my 8:00 yogasana class. I teach a morning class at AINH on Tuesday's and Thursdays. (Mondays and Fridays I teach a 10am class - and Saturdays and Sundays a 10:30 am class - at the YMCA.) I was back home before 10:00.

I spent the rest of the morning and the first part of the afternoon switching between catching up with my email and trying to figure out how to access a remote database using php with xml and soap. Soap is new to me (there must be a joke hiding there;-) and xml is not my strongest skill. Around 2:00, after too many seemingly unproductive hours I decided to grab a bite and make a cup of coffee.

After lunch I was planning to spend a little time memorizing some more puja mantras and practicing my anashtup before getting back to the web programming, but instead I sat down at the keyboard and tried to write a new entry for this blog. I don't know how it is that some people find the time to write a nice long blog post every day; I will be happy when I'm getting at least one out every week. I started to write a brief auto-biographical sketch, but then suddenly it wasn't so brief (and I only got started). I decided that what I was writing didn't belong in this blog. Maybe some bits or pieces, but mostly I think I might have just started my memoir.

By then it was 4:30 and I had to start thinking about my evening class. Tuesday and Thursday I have a 6:30 class at the YMCA. On Monday and Friday evenigs my YMCA class is at 7:00. Sunday evenings I have a 7:00 class at AINH (I also teach a 4:30 class Monday and Thursday at the VA hospital) I was going to do a quick chakra meditation, but was distracted into visiting with my housemate untilit was time to go. I hit the road for the YMCA around 5:30. After gas and all, I got there a little after six.

I really enjoyed the class. I love my students at the Y, and this evening I took a completely different approach to sequencing than usual. I try to mix things up and have a lot of variety in my classes, but at the same time I try to keep the class familiar. But tonight I just came in from left field and skipped my usual preliminaries. The class was challenging, but everyone did well and after class I heard a lot of compliments on the class (maybe more than usual;-) so everyone had a good time, even if I did push them a little.

On my way home I stopped at a friend's house to drop off a newspaper article I thought he would enjoy. We visited for awhile and I finally got home about ten. I checked my mail and then set out to write this post.

So now it's 11:20 pm. Another day has passed. I am going to do my dhautis and trataka, re-establish my mandala, then nidra until dawn.

Shanti Shanti Shantih

- Yogakriya Nadananda

Teacher vs. Therapist

2009-07-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

I am a yoga teacher (at least that is the role in life that I choose to self-identify with ;-). Primarily I teach yogasana (the physical movements and poses of hatha yoga), meditation techniques, and the basic yoga philosophy (as I see it ;). I gladly share, whenever I am given the opportunity, almost everything I know about the theoretical bases, traditions and myths of yoga, Sanatana Dharma and tantra. Sometimes I imagine my knowledge is vast, but more often I realize how little I know. Sometimes I imagine that I have somehow risen above it all, but most of the time I know how deluded I am.

My yoga is not just a type of physical exercise. Everything in life is part of my yoga; I endeavor to be continuously aware of my practice in this moment. Everything I do, and everyone I interact with, is for the sake of my practice and is a tool for positive transformation. I do not always remember this - often my samskaras express themselves without my intentional awareness, but hopefully I notice that on later reflection. This process requires constant evaluation and self-analysis (hopefully not judgmentally).

Although my transformations are internal, my practice is external - both in private and in my interactions with others. Internally I am analyzing my thoughts, feelings, and actions, and I monitor my physical health and well-being. Because I project my internal world outward, I am frequently performing the same kinds of evaluations on others. Because I am a teacher I often share those observations with others - sometimes prescriptively. Often times a student will ask for guidance or advice, but because of my world view and beliefs about the "core problem," my prescription is always the same, regardless of the current problem: Do more yoga; meditate more; practice centered presence and perpetual-mantra (second-attention). I am not a therapist, psychiatrist, doctor or counselor - I am a yoga teacher.

- Nadananda

Pujari Training

2009-07-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

I've been studying the proper practice of puja (worship) for the past month. Tonight is our written exam, so today I am studying for the test and getting together all my puja materials.

I am surprised at how challenging the class has been for me. When I decided to take the class I imagined I would be able to slide right through it. For the past several years I have been doing a daily personal Siva puja that I had put together based on what I knew and what I had observed in India, so I imagined I knew something. From my current studies I now know that I knew almost nothing about puja. I am also delighted to discover that studying puja is an excellent sadhana for me right now.

The basic puja theory has been easy enough for me to grok, but my sanskrit pronunciation is atrocious - and we want to use correct sanskrit for the puja (ritually very important). For all of my years of studying and reading sanskrit words I've never really learned to pronounce sanskrit correctly. When I was studying ideas and practices the sanskrit was just in my head -more visual then aural - I seldom spoke sanskrit out-loud and when I did it was mostly asana names without much attention (lazy sanskrit). Now as I try to pronounce the sanskrit correctly I get tongue-tied and stumble through it. I think the process might be easier if I didn't have years of bad habits; but I'm loving the challenge and looking forward to deepening my sanskrit pronunciation and understanding.

But pronunciation isn't the challenge for this evening - it's a written puja theory test. ;-)

I am so grateful for all my wonderful teachers;

"Long life and health to our wisdom masters ..."

Shanti Shanti Shantih

- Yogakriya

Just Getting Started

2009-07-08T10:05:00.000-07:00

Namovaha!

I feel like Steve Martin in "The Jerk". "I really AM somebody!" Here I am with my very own blog! This is either a good thing or just another way to burn time.

My intention is to use this forum as a journal. I endeavor to live as a modern yogi, but what exactly does that mean? Perhaps recording my trials and tribulations (and my boons and exaltations) will help me to deepen and perfect my own practice.

If you are reading my blog I hope you find it informative and entertaining. Please comment freely and feel free to contact me.

Hari Om Tat Sat.

Siva'Ham.