SWAN Sadhana

In a Lifestyle which is constantly getting cluttered muddled and in tangles, I have found SWAN sadhana the most useful technique for defragmenting the mind.

Navaratri and Saundarya Lahari Upasana

The deities of Kali yuga are Devi and Ganesha. They are manifesting everywhere and have infiltrated  our very lives.  Ganesha represents good living, comfort, luxury, good food. good clothes, art, literature and music. Devi symbolizes immense wealth and unlimited power, coupled with beauty and glamour. Is that not what the whole world is mad about today? So this attraction for Shakti has filtered down through the ages to the present day, inspite of the overshadowing influence of other religions and cultures. India is the only land that addresses women as Devi. Whether a mother, sister, daughter or wife, she is regarded as Devi.

Ma Tripura Sundari

Devi is a combination of Lakshmi, Parvati, Durga and Saraswati. All of her roles are sacred and enacted in every home, such is her immense influence on this land. Twice a year Devi is worshipped throughout India for nine days during Navaratri. This worship is conducted in Christainity also and is known as Novena, nine days worship of Mother Mary. navaratri means the nine nights when the soul has to journey through immense darkness to experience light. The nine nights represent the eight apara prakriti, which are the five tattwas, mind, buddhi and ahamkara, the symbols of darkness, and the one para prakriti, the symbol of illumination.

Significantly, both periods of Navaratri occur at specific times of the year when nature is in transition. The first occurs in March, when nature transits from winter to spring, and the second in October, when it transits from autumn to winter. At these times nature is in motion and vibrant with prana to facilitate this transition. The Navaratra worship is very special, because at these times Shakti comes alive. this gives immediate and immense benefits to the worshipper, which can range from the mundane to the sublime. Like Rama, Arjuna and much later (Adi) Sankara(charya), we too are in dire need of help during times of distress. There are moments of crisis in our lives when we do need divine intervention, and in this lies the importance of Saundarya Lahari.

Saundarya Lahari can also alleviate mental conflicts such as fear, turmoil, insecurity, depression, disappointment, lack of self confidence, despair, worry and anxiety. It can be utilized for the cure of disease that are adhidaivika in nature, due to some unknown, mysterious causes that no medicines can heal. Most modern day ailments, which are not of an infectious nature, come under this category.

~ excerpt from Sri Saundarya Lahari, The Descent by Swami Satyasangananda Saraswati. Yoga Publication Trust, Munger, Bihar, India

Worshipping Shakti - Mother Nature

Image Credit: Vimanika Comics

Shakti has to be worshipped and revered if you are to experience her full benefits. Since she present in everything, you will have to inculcate an attitude of reverence for all that you are, all that you have, and all that you experience. A culture that regards Shakti as an energy to exploit, use and strip naked can never attain her full glory, which is of immense and unimaginable potential. From the day you were born, you have been surviving on her handouts. The air you breathe, the water you drink, the food you eat, the homes you live in are all the gifts she has bestowed upon this earth. The iron, steel, gold, silver, gems and wealth are all her creations. No creature has used nature for this sort of benefit, apart from man.

Shakti is abundant with prosperity which she reflects through her cosmic nature. She is always replenishing the creation which she has given birth to. So, if you wish to experience the full force of her benevolence, you will have to develop an attitude of reverence towards her, not arrogance. That is the secret key to release the great power of Shakti.

~ excerpt from Sri Saundarya Lahari, The Descent by Swami Satyasangananda Saraswati , Yoga Publication Trust, Munger, Bihar, India

Karma Yoga - Kriya

Let me share with you my education at the most premiere institution of Life .. Guru Sharan!

Whenever we go to Ashram, we do Seva aka Karma Yoga. The way it works is pure magic. Scrubbing that our ego and minds. Evrytime something new comes up. The task maybe as menial as cleaning the garden of dry leaves. (I am sure those from the old school of RK Mission, Narendrapur, have gone through this experience also). Or cleaning lavatories. You are supposed to do just that, without any thought or question, giving it everything. It is such a habit, that today when i clean my house, i do it imagining my Guru will come home. I write something or devlop some program, i believe it will be seen by my guru. I cook thinking my Guru will eat. It has become a habit. Even when i was working for a MNC, i believed my work was meant the way my Guru wants me to do it.
who is Guru? The Ultimate, The Perfect. You want to give nothing but your all towards it. It may not be that we are always giving ourself totally, yet the daily effort slowly slowly becomes a habit for perfection dedicated towards perfection.

Krishna - God of Love

This has been taken from rikhiapeeth blog

http://www.rikhiapeeth.net/2012/08/krishna-god-of-love.html

Satsang by Swami Satyananda

Sri Krishna was the avatar of love, the incarnation of celestial love on earth, an element that is missing everywhere today. At present we have everything, but we lack love. Love is that aspect of emotion where you think about others, not about yourself. Love is giving, not taking. Love is not an act. Love does not expect anything. Love is just sacrifice. It is total consecration of your emotions. Sri Krishna was the symbol of that aspect of life.

When he walked, it was love that walked, when he smiled, it was love that smiled and when he laughed, it was love that laughed. Madhuradhipaterakhilam madhuram - "O God! You are nothing but sweet love."

Krishna is the symbol of God with all His attributes. He lived as a man but he was a superman, a perfect man, a poorna purusha. He incarnated many thousands of years ago at the end of the cycle of Dwapara Yuga in order to destroy evil and restore righteousness. Before he was even conceived, he was on the hit list of Kamsa, who was his uncle and the king of Mathura. Although he was born into a royal family, his actual birth took place in a prison in Mathura. As a newborn he was smuggled to Gokul where he lived incognito for many years.

Prior to Krishna's birth, atrocities were being committed in the world. When the people prayed for relief from suffering, their prayers were heard. When prayers from the heart reach God, He manifests in a human form. Krishna destroyed the demons and lived in a playful way, sometimes stealing butter, sometimes duping people, sometimes teasing, sometimes dancing with the gopis and becoming their heartthrob.

Sri Krishna has brought life to philosophy and religion so that we can also smile. There is only one culture and civilization in this world where the gods dance, sing and play with the gopis, where they playfully steal and participate in wars and at the same time give enlightenment. Where will you find such a civilization, except in India! We still long to see such a man as Krishna descend to earth. Krishna was a great teacher. The love between Radha and Krishna was like that of the individual soul and the cosmic soul, like prakriti and purusha. He behaved like her disciple.

Sri Krishna was an incarnation of God, not an ordinary child. He took birth to teach the other children. Sri Krishna led a very natural life. He was a good child, a great child, a powerful child, a philosopher, a god, a friend and a warrior. At the same time he loved all the girls of his time. The gopis did not marry because Krishna loved them all.

The story is told in the Srimad Bhagavatam. It is also told in the Krishnavatar series, where Krishna is a child full of divinity. The story is told with sweetness, with melody, in a way that we can understand. It is one of the best stories about God. God must become the subject matter of stories, music, dance, discussion and dialogue. God is not beyond the mind. God is just here.

You should have a relationship with God in such a way that you can understand Him, just as you understand your son, your father, your brother or anyone else. If you start with the hypothesis that God is unknowable, it is a problem. God is knowable. Once you are told that God cannot be realized, you think that is final. Close your books and start from where you can feel Him. The love you express for your child is a glimpse of God.

Krishna has many followers throughout the world. He was a playboy, a philosopher, an orator, a yogi, a fighter and a saint. He is the epitome of beauty, grace, love and dynamism. He is also the indweller of all hearts, especially in this modern age.

Krishna Janmasthami 9^th August 2012

Bhadrapad Krishna Asthami, the birth of Sri Krishna, is celebrated as Janmashtami throughout India. This auspicious day will be celebrated in Rikhiapeeth with akhanda kirtan and by offering prayers to Bal Gopala.

Power of concentration

Once, in America, Swami Vivekananda was watching some boys. They were
standing on a bridge trying to shoot at egg-shells that were floating
on the river. The egg-shells bobbed up and down. The boys could not
hit any of them. They fired the gun many times, but always missed the
target!

They noticed that Swami Vivekananda was watching them. So they called
out to him: 'Well, you are watching us. Do you think you can do
better?'

Swami Vivekananda smiled and said: 'I will try.'

Then the boys said: 'It's not so easy as you think!'

Swami Vivekananda took the gun and aimed at the egg-shells. He stood
very still for a few minutes. Then he fired the gun. He fired twelve
times, and every time he hit an egg-shell! The boys were very
surprised. How could any man shoot egg-shells like that? They
thought. They said to Swami Vivekananda: 'Well, Mister, how did you
do it? You must be a practised hand.'

Swami Vivekananda laughed and assured them he had never handled a gun
before.

'Whatever you are doing,' he explained, 'the secret of success lies
in the power of concentration. Put your whole mind on it. If you are
shooting, your mind should be only on the target. Then you will never
miss. If you are learning your lessons, think only of the lesson. In
my country boys are taught to do this.'


The power of concentration is the only key to the treasure-house of
knowledge.

--Swami Vivekananda

Significance of Mahashivaratri - Tantra perspective

Satsang by Swami Satyananda Saraswati

Shivaratri, the cosmic merger of Shiva and Shakti, is celebrated on the dark moon of Magha (February /March). This union symbolizes the concept of kundalini yoga in which Shiva goes to meet Shakti. It represents the awakening of consciousness at the material level of existence and uniting with shakti at the higher point of evolution. Shiva means higher consciousness and ratri means night, referring to the 'dark night of the soul', the state just before illumination. Shivaratri is considered to be the most aus­picious day for sannyasins and for taking sannyasa diksha.

As the story goes, on Shivaratri, the darkest night of the year, Shiva, lord of yogis, sets out for the home of Parvati, daughter of the Himalayas. Shiva is an ascetic, and covered in snakes. His marriage party of demons and ghosts, sym­bolizing the instinctive and animal propensities of which he is controller, is equally horrendous. Some have no head, some walk on only one leg or maybe three. Some have huge elephant ears which flap in the breeze, others have a red eye in the middle of their forehead or in their belly.

However, no sooner do Shiva and his companions enter Parvati's Himalayan kingdom than they are all instantly transformed into lovely beings with beautiful faces, fine clothes and glittering ornaments. Instinct becomes intuition. Thus the marriage takes place amidst great wonder, joy and merrymaking. Then Shiva and Shakti go up to the top of Mount Kailash, symbolizing sahasrara chakra, where they embrace and merge in the highest bliss of cosmic consciousness.

After consummating their marriage, Shiva and Shakti descend together, symbolizing that the highest conscious­ness is now manifesting on the plane of duality. Having become one, Shiva and Shakti are now able to act in the world as two. This event is of great significance for the evolution of all beings because it also represents the process taking place in every aspirant who experiences a spiritual awakening and then returns with heightened awareness to work in the world.In tantra, Shiva represents the male principle, consciousness beyond all action and change. Shakti represents the female principle, eternal evolution through action. She is negative to his positive; he initiates, she receives and transmits. Shakti is the creative energy that manifests the universe in response to the inspired consciousness of Shiva. We perceive them as two, but really they are the complementary aspects of the one, for energy without consciousness is dissipated and consciousness without energy is impotent. They are inherent in each other, like brightness in the sun, and their union is the primal image of blissful communion and awareness of oneness through duality.

On the physical plane, the sages have long maintained, and science now agrees, that matter, consciousness and energy are one. The basic unit of matter, the atom, is now known to be a static, positive core of energy balanced by a dynamic, negative force field - the union of Shiva and Shakti. What applies to the microcosmic atom also applies to the macrocosm which is held together by intermeshing energy fields.

In the realm of the human psyche, the union of Shiva and Shakti is a deep-rooted archetype of the personal integration achieved when, through yoga, we come to understand the forces that constitute our personality. Within everyone is the masculine and feminine ideal, and by exploring this complementary inner nature, we can pass through to a richer mode of being. Through tantra we explore the dark terrain of the unconscious mind, granting conscious recognition to the unruly passions, violent impulses and irrational fantasies that are suppressed in the daily business of living. This instinctive part of our nature, symbolized by Shiva's demonic companions, is transformed when we yoke together the opposites within ourselves ­positive and negative, masculine and feminine, Shiva and Shakti. An awakening takes place and the unfulfilled potential within our psyche becomes actualized, revealing our true inner nature. What we have long considered monstrous becomes divine.

Shiva is the eternal faculty of awareness, the unchanging, unmoving spark of the divine in each of us. Shakti gives us the mind and body that are our tools for the direct perception of this divine awareness. Shakti is the power that propels us to the peaks of expanded awareness. On the spiritual plane, the union of this cosmic couple is the primal image of blissful union in the Absolute. In sexual rapture we forget our isolated selves and experience a fragment of joy, but this is just a foretaste of the eternal ecstasy that dissolves the individual consciousness into the supreme.

The union of Shiva and Shakti is the primordial symbol of eternal communion with the divine. Here there is neither purity nor impurity, neither affirmation nor denial, neither form nor formlessness, but a state of superconscious being that is beyond all duality. The union of man and woman becomes the union of Shiva and Shakti; the physical union becomes psychic union in the highest state of transcendental consciousness. The ordinary man and woman, the creatures of passion and ignorance, are transmuted into transcen­dental Shiva and Shakti, unconditioned and free.