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Problems Help Us
“Problems help us develop our inner resources. Don't expect a smooth, problem free world—there would be no learning or growing.
God bless you. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.” —Sri Swami Satchidananda
(photo: Swami Satchidananda praying inside the LOTUS).
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You Bind Yourself and You Can Liberate Yourself
By Sri Swami Satchidananda
It’s alright to have a nice body, nice ideas, nice learning, and a lot of money. As long as you have a lot of money in the bank you call yourself rich. When the money goes away, immediately you change your label: I am poor now. You identify yourself with the money in the bank. But if you could isolate yourself from this, if you could separate your I, you are saved from all the clutches, from the attachments. The language beautifully calls it identification because each one is a dent in your I. If you relieve your I from all these dents, you are fine again; you are the clean, simple, pure I, and that is what is called, liberation, or, in Sanskrit, moksha. What should you liberate yourself from? From your own identifications. The Bhagavad Gita beautifully puts it: You are your own friend, you are your own enemy. You bind yourself, you liberate yourself. You become what you identify with. To relieve your I from all the limitations is a very direct approach that is called Jnana Yoga, the path of wisdom. You don’t need any rituals. If you are really capable of using your intelligence, you can sit and analyze and affirm, “I am that I am. All these identifications are temporary, and I use them for temporary purposes. They are my temporary addresses. I don’t need to get caught in it.” MORE
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Three centuries after the Buddha, the teachings of Yoga were compiled by Patanjali as the Yoga Sutras, and another two millennia later, the teachings of both Buddha and Patanjali have found a new home in the West. Lion’s Roar asked Phillip Moffitt, Anna Douglas, Stephen Cope, and Sarah Powers—all of whom practice both Yoga and Buddhism—how the two can work together.
Phillip Moffitt: First of all, I want to be very careful in distinguishing between Yoga as a complete spiritual path and Hatha Yoga, which refers to the practice of the Yoga postures, or asanas. I have followed both Patanjali’s path and the Buddhist path. I’ve tried to live the eight parts of both, as best I have been able. For me, the number one thing that Buddhist practice offers is mindfulness, which broadens your ability to manifest your values in your life. Mindfulness is a critical element in actually living your dharma, whether you follow Patanjali’s path or the Buddha’s. It makes such a difference in our daily lives. Second, a strength of the buddhadharma is that it’s so beautifully complete and integrated. That’s useful to the questioning Western mind, which seeks answers to lots of different questions. The buddhadharma is very complete and you can find answers in a kind of straightforward way. MORE
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With a remarkably soulful voice that touches the deepest chord in even the most casual listener, Krishna Das—known to friends, family, and fans simply as KD—has taken the call-and-response chanting out of Yoga centers and into concert halls, becoming a worldwide icon and the best-selling Western chant artist of all time. In this webinar, recorded during KD's recent "Yoga of Devotion" program in Yogaville, Avi Gordon (Integral Yoga Teachers Association director) asks KD questions submitted by IYTA members. KD talks about chanting, spiritual practice and awakening, as well as his experiences at the ashram of his Guru, Neem Karoli Baba (Maharaj-ji).
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The United Nations proclaimed June 21 as International Yoga Day to recognize the global impact of this ancient practice. The perfect day to express gratitude for the gift of Yoga that enriches our lives. Join Yoga Gives Back on June 21 and make a life changing difference. India has generously given the world the eternal gift of Yoga. It is Yoga Gives Back's goal to create a community of #OneMillionYogis to give back and uplift India’s underserved women and children. Over the past 12 years, Yoga Gives Back has funded over 1,200 mothers and children in India with micro loans and education funds, each with a five-year commitment. The success of #OneMillionYogis is completely dependent on the Yoga community. There are many ways to participate. Learn more here.
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It is said that the ancient rishis received Sanskrit words from the gods while in deep meditation, which they then shared with their devotees who began chanting these. While saints and sages affirmed the benefits of chanting mantra thousands of years ago, modern researchers are just now realizing the power of kirtan. Psychology Today reports that, "A team at the University of West Virginia interested in examining the effects of kirtan on cognitive impairment found that doing a kirtan mantra for 12 minutes a day for 12 weeks altered plasma blood levels involved in cellular aging which were associated with improvements in cognitive function, sleep, mood, and quality of life. Another team at the University of Pennsylvania, who studied the effects of kirtan on patients with memory loss, found that after eight weeks of kirtan the brain scans of participants in the study showed significant increased cerebral blood flow in several areas. Most importantly, their performance on neuropsychological testing showed improved visuospatial memory, increased connectivity, and improved verbal memory. MORE
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In this series of short talks, Swami Asokananda shares his insights from years of study and contemplation on the great Indian scripture, the Bhagavad Gita. In part 5, he introduces the first verse of chapter 1, in which we meet Dhritarashtra, the King of the Kuru Kingdom, who is blind. Asokanandaji analyzes the cause of the non-physical blindness that also afflicts the king.
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“Doing homework instead of watching Netflix.” Or, “Eating a salad instead of a cookie.” Or this one, “Pay attention in class and stop talking.” As a middle school student, these are some of the most common ways I hear people talk about self-control. We each have our version of these instructions that involve what self-control is and why we need it. It’s often phrased as some version of, “I need to do ____ instead of ______.” Just like it sounds, self-control is the ability to be disciplined and to control one’s self, one’s emotions, or one’s behavior, especially in challenging situations. My interest in self-control is related to how much I enjoy studying the mind—in my Yoga teacher training and in my ongoing study. One of the books that has helped me understand the concept of self-control is the book Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman. In Way of the Peaceful Warrior, he describes emotions as the weather patterns of the mind. We can affect these weather patterns of the mind through our thoughts. We can have some control of our thoughts through the practice of observation, of constantly monitor our emotions. It’s a practice of being the witness, recognizing what you’re feeling and asking yourself why you are feeling that way. MORE
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Thanks to the devoted service of Sri K. Ramasamy, Sri O. A. Balasubramaniam and the Integral Yoga Institute of Coimbatore, several of Swami Satchidananda's books in English that were translated into his native language of Tamil are now available online as ebooks. Current titles include: To Know Your Self, part 1 and part 2; The Golden Present, and Integral Yoga Hatha for Beginners. More titles will be forthcoming in Tamil as well as in other languages, including Italian and Belgian Dutch. These join the many titles already online in a variety of languages.
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Everyone says they want to know where their food comes from these days.... What we see on a Whole Foods 365 Organic milk carton is a happy, healthy-looking cow, beautiful blue sky and puffy white clouds — an idyllic Old McDonald farm scene. But the gulf between this facade and the reality behind it could not be greater in this case.... No matter how “humane” the marketers want to spin the truth, the modern dairy industry’s business model is built upon the exploitation of pregnant females, forcing them to birth lots of unwanted babies. Fortunately, there are so many great alternatives today and new products coming out all the time that can be equally satisfying as well as cruelty-free. Look for them and ask for them if you don’t see them. And from a nutritional standpoint, rest assured, we don’t need to go through an animal to get the nutrients we get from dairy. On the contrary The China Study concluded that casein, the protein found abundantly in cow’s milk, is the most significant carcinogen we are exposed to in our lifetime.... The documentary, Forks Over Knives (trailer above) explores in great detail this subject and other health issues involving animal products. MORE
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Last weekend, Yogaville hosted Mr. and Mrs. K. Ramasamy from South India, who oversee the Integral Yoga Institute of Coimbatore, Satchidananda Jothi Niketan, and the Swami Satchidananda Charitable Trust and opened LOTUS India in 2014. As chairman of ROOTS Group of Companies, Mr. Ramasamy revolutionized the field of power horns for cars, mechanized the cleaning industry, and so many more advances committed to technological, social, ethical and environmental betterment. He and his wife Uma see management's role at ROOTS as "empowering employees to believe in the power of ideas—a culture they call 'Ideapreneurship.'" At the same time, education and healthcare are two important service avenues of ROOTS. This includes R K Nature Cure Home, founded in 1978 by Sri R. Krishnaswamy Gounder, Mr. Ramasamy's father and Swami Satchidananda's maternal uncle. Sri Swamiji inaugurated the center's expansion in 1984. It was a joy and honor to have the Ramasamys in Yogaville! (photo l-r: Swami Dayananda, Mrs. Uma Ramasamy, Mr. K. Ramasamy, Rev. Mala Cunningham)
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Inspiring Meme of the Week
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