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The Cosmos Within
“Beautiful parks, palaces, and music await you inside. You have the strength, courage, and capacity to experience inner peace and joy and to share it with everyone. Why going looking for these things outside? The entire cosmos is within.
God bless you. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.” —Sri Swami Satchidananda
(photo: Swami Satchidananda inside glass meditation pyramid, Santa Barbara, California, mid-1980s).
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The world constantly changes. Nothing stays permanent for even a second. So, find the middle path, the center—neither this way nor that way. In the midst of the changing world, you have to find the one the essential part that never changes. So, what is it that changes? Only the form and name. That’s why the entire world is called nāmarūpa in Sanskrit: name and form. The world is nothing but a gathering of name and form. When you break up the name and form, you come to the essential part. Even the modern scientists say that. Each thing has a name and a form. If you take them all and put them in an atomic power machine, a machine that can polarize everything, what will be there? Only atoms because everything is made of atoms. The different gatherings give rise to different forms. And because of the different forms, you give things different names. But essentially they are all nothing but atoms. The problem is that if we are all essentially atoms, how can I recognize you as separate from me? So, for convenience sake, we give the form a name. Otherwise, if you are all atoms and the postman comes, how will he deliver the mail to you? MORE
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In this new series, we will focus on a specific yama or niyama each month, as the Yogaville community has been doing as a group spiritual practice. We begin with the first yama, ahimsa. For an overview of the yamas and niyamas, see Swami Karunananda's earlier article here.
Ahimsa means non-violence—in thought, word and deed. In its fullness, it is an expression of universal love, treating everyone and everything with kindness and compassion, with awareness of the divine presence that pervades all creation. If we want the nations of the world to give up enmity, mistrust and conflict, we can foster that process by cultivating loving-kindness and forgiveness in our own hearts. Since we are part of the world, personal practice translates into global benefit. Any change we wish to see can begin with us. Reflections for your practice: 1. Do I move through life gently, or am I rough or careless in the way I handle things? 2. Are my thoughts or actions harmful toward myself or others in any way? How could I do better? 3. Do I have any forgiveness issues, am I holding onto any resentments, that I can try to resolve and release? MORE
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Swami Satchidananda gave this talk during a celebration of Father's Day at Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville in June 2000. He speaks about the relationship between fathers and their children and then he goes on to illuminate the qualities of the Heavenly Father, as well as the different aspects of the Divine in Hinduism.
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Integral Yoga Media is pleased to announce the relaunch of the website dedicated to the life, teachings, and service of Sri Swami Satchidananda, founder of Integral Yoga. The new website features a special tribute in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Woodstock Music Festival, which was opened by Swami Satchidananda in August 1969. You can watch the new short film, "The Woodstock Guru," listen to Swami Satchidananda address to the gathering, and follow a timeline of milestones in his life and service, among many other features. Special thanks to Sam Eberle for the website design and our gratitude to Karuna Kreps for creating the original website.
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Viewed by over 3 million people, this film is a beautiful journey — through sacred sound, sites, and teachings — on the illusory world that is known as "maya," and the journey to move beyond maya's illusions into the awakened state of samadhi. The film was produced by Awaken the World Initiative for the purpose of humbly serving the awakening of humanity by bringing the perennial wisdom back into the world for free in every language. This is the first part of a two-part film. Enjoy! (Thanks to Ananda Shiva Hervé for recommending the film).
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You can help put Dr. Dean Ornish's new book on the bestseller list! UnDo It! How Simple Lifestyle Changes Can Reverse Most Chronic Diseases by Dean & Anne Ornish, talks about the latest groundbreaking work they have been doing. Some of our readers will recognize Swami Satchidananda's teaching on "undoism"—a term he coined—as the inspiration for the title. Let's help to get these important teachings out there more widely by putting the book on New York Times bestseller list. It takes 10,000 books to be sold to make the list and just 1,000 more books are needed to be sold by Saturday 5pm EST to accomplish this. You can purchase the book from Amazon or other booksellers. Once it does make the list, then it’s put in the front of book stores, discounted, etc., making Swamiji’s teachings available to a much larger group of people who can be empowered and transformed by them! Thank you for your support of this amazing book!
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On Sunday, June 9, Sri Swami Vimalanandaji, President of Sivananda Ashram (Rishikesh) and the Divine Life Society attained Mahasamadhi. After his Guru, Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, (who was also Swami Satchidananda's Guru) attained Mahasamadhi in 1963, Swami Vimalanandaji served as personal attendant and secretary to Sri Swami Chidanandaji, who succeeded as President of the DLS organization. Being Secretary to Swami Chidanandaji, he traveled widely, both in India and abroad. He was an embodiment of patience and self-sacrifice, always referring to himself as "this servant." He was appointed General Secretary of the Divine Life Society in 2004 and in 2008 as Chairman of the Divine Life Trust Society and President of the DLS. Swami Vimalanandaji often accompanied Swami Chidanandaji on visits to Yogaville. Swami Satchidananda would also see his brother monks during his annual visits to India, and in Switzerland for the annual conference of the European Yoga Federations. The hearts and prayers of the Integral Yoga International sangha are with all the devotees of the Divine Life Society worldwide at this sacred time.
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In this series of short talks, Swami Asokananda (Integral Yoga) shares his insights from years of study and contemplation on the great Indian scripture, the Bhagavad Gita. In part 6, he opens with a refresher from part 5, in which he read us the first verse of chapter 1, in which we meet Dhritarashtra, the King of the Kuru Kingdom, who is blind. In this week's installment, Asokanandaji discusses a special boon Sanjaya, the king's chief minister, received from sage Vyasa, and also how we can apply the practice of self-reflection in our own lives before making decisions.
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Rev. Jaganath, Integral Yoga Minister and Raja Yoga master teacher, has spent a lifetime delving into the deepest layers of meaning in Patanjali’s words within the Yoga Sutras. We continue with sutras: 2.26 – 2.27, in which Patanjali explains how viveka removes the blocks to spiritual liberation.
From the practice of unwavering discriminative discernment, the spirit of deep inquiry is ignited and seven insights arise that strengthen the yogi’s resolve and expand the boundaries of consciousness. This prepares the individual for intuitive insight, which leads to liberation. Patanjali offers no details on the seven insights he is referring to, but a commonly accepted list follows:
1) Through viveka, the causes of suffering are recognized. Therefore, there is nothing more to be known on this subject. 2) The causes of suffering, having been identified, are progressively weakened. 3) Through samadhi, the causes of suffering are eliminated. There is nothing more to be gained in this area. 4) Mastery in viveka having been reached, there is nothing else self-effort can accomplish. 5) Sattva dominates the functioning of the mind-stuff. 6) The gunas, having fulfilled their purpose, lose their foothold like stones falling from a mountain peak, and incline toward reabsorption into prakriti. 7) The Purusha is realized as independent from the gunas. Liberation is attained. MORE
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The LOTUS has been under repair due to ongoing leakage issues. The Italian glass tiles that originally adorned the exterior petals had to be removed years ago due to adverse effects from the the freeze/thaw winter conditions that caused leaking. The original waterproofing membrane was meant to be a temporary protective covering, but due to a pressing schedule to complete the construction for the grand opening in 1986, the membrane wasn't replaced—leading to the current situation. The current restoration project is focused on waterproofing and protecting the LOTUS petals. A top quality professional team has been identified to assist. Additionally, a LOTUS Task Force has been formed to organize and manage the repair project, plan ongoing maintenance and fundraising to support the care of this beloved shrine. The Task Force (see photo) is led by: Jeeva Abbate and includes Priya Abbate, Ganesh MacIsaac, Karuna Marcotte, Swamis Dayananda and Jyotirmayananda, and Rev. Siva Moore, assisted by Elle Anandi. For more information or to get involved, you can email the Task Force and you can also donate here to support the LOTUS.
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Inspiring Meme of the Week
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