The entire religious experience of the American Indian—purification of mind and body, prayer and fasting, a strong personal relationship with God, meditation to learn from the “Great Mystery” its teaching beyond words—describes the spiritual heritage that nourished Mahatma Gandhi perfectly in one word: Yoga, the ideal of union of soul with God and the oneness of Man-God-Nature.
Read moreCity of Light
Serve and guard the light, never allowing doubt, distrust, or despair to creep into your life. Bring the light of goodness and godliness to your own Prag-Jyotis-Pura and keep the lamp lit to draw others to their divine light. Try to see the same light in nature—the light that draws all life together, that emanates from one source and that leads, draws and guides all life onwards.
Read moreWho Weaves the Web
Marbled Orb Weaver Spider
He it is who weaves the web of this maya in evanescent hues of gold and silver, blue and green, and lets peep out through the folds his feet, at whose touch I forget myself.
Read moreThe Cosmic Vibration of Prana
Astronomers bring us to the threshold of pure Yoga philosophy with their assertion that we see only ten percent of our universe. The ninety percent that is imperceptible to our senses exists as potential to be penetrated by our minds. We must bring that light of consciousness within our minds to a similar state of vibration of cosmic light to be aware of the rest of the vast, yet unseen, universe.
Read moreUniversal Love
One who is completely free from ill will and is friendly and compassionate towards all, who has overcome attachment and egotism, who is self-composed in pain and pleasure, and forgiving, who is ever content, meditative, serene, resolute in spiritual effort, and whose mind and intellect are dedicated to me; he who is thus devoted to me is dear to me.
Read moreThe Birthright of Every Soul
The purpose of Yoga is seeking our largest, most enduring and most powerful identity. In this process we realize a potential consciousness that may seem dormant or undeveloped but is ultimately the most powerful, meaningful and sublime reality of Life.
Read moreGandhi and the Sermon on the Mount
Journalist and author, Vincent Sheean wrote the following description of Gandhi, saying that Gandhiji “was so penetrated with the truth and beauty he felt in the verses of the Sermon that through years of effort he actually became something like a summation of the Beatitudes, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemaker. His reverence for Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount illumined his long struggle and gave him strength for it.”
Read moreLight of Pure Consciousness
How do we utilize the light of consciousness, the knowing faculty of the soul? We can describe the ways that the light of pure consciousness manifests and grows in “terms of enlightenment.” First of all, the soul, as God in man, is Pure Consciousness, Suddha Chaitannya.
Read moreThat Indwelling Power
We intuitively know that within our innermost self abides the power of Spirit, the power which is so benign and efficacious that it must have its origin in God. When we become consciously aware of the presence of that indwelling power, a new inspiration quickens our hearts and minds.
Read moreIdeal of the Spiritual Life
The spiritual life has only one ideal, the realization of the Supreme Spirit, Brahman, God. The theoretical and intellectual knowledge of God is not enough; in fact it is of secondary importance in our spiritual endeavor. What is of supreme importance in our spiritual aspiration is that each of us must attain the realization of God within his own effulgent cosmic pure consciousness, for thus alone we reach Kaivalyam, we become the absolute One.
Read moreOur Legacy and Our Future
In religion, in the arts, in science, as in many fields of human relations and vocations, representatives as pinnacles of achievement emerge to help us and to teach us. We continually turn to those whose examples we need and respect for their experiences to inspire and nourish our development. In their presence and with their encouragement and guidance, we find ourselves ennobled and enriched.
Read moreThe Breath of God and Pranayam
“To live is to breathe” is to assert the obvious. We do not need medical science to tell us that the whole marvelous mechanism of the human body stops when breath departs. Otherwise stated, however perfect the physical body is, with the absence of breath it is but a corpse. Yet there is more to know about breathing than the obvious, and from the spiritual heritage of Yoga comes the invitation to learn to expand what it is “to live.”
Read moreThe Power of Ahimsa
Ahimsa, in its subtle power, depends on a cosmic principle — that of the oneness of life. Ahimsa, in its positive form, means the largest love, the greatest charity. When ahimsa becomes all-embracing it transforms everything it touches. There is no limit to its power. Gandhiji understood that power. He made a conscious and constant effort to apply the power of ahimsa in his daily life. Ahimsa is living so as to realize the oneness of life.
Read moreChildren of Immortality
The source of man’s divine qualities is the infinite perfection of God. But man cuts himself off, though not completely, from this cosmic spiritual reservoir by his own thought of self-separateness and consequently of self-limitation. “Man thinking himself separated from Brahman, revolves on the wheel of birth and death.”
Read moreMeditate on the Light of AUM
“By meditating on AUM, the Word, within the effulgence of each of the seven lotuses, the mystic centers of spiritual revelation, is gained the inner illumination of the self which consumes the causes of all finiteness and self-limitation.”— Kaivalya Upanishad “The Self is symbolized by the word AUM. AUM is composed of three mystic sound vibrations. These also signify the first three states of consciousness in the self." — Mandukya Upanishad
Read moreHong Swa & Pranayam: The Breath of Life
“Rise above the consciousness of separation and realize thyself in all and all in thee.” -Adi Shankarachariya “The flame of pure-consciousness is eternally ignited within this body. By the meditation of Hong-Swa, all delusion having been dispelled, the Self is revealed in its effulgent glory. The supreme Self is Hong Swa, which leads to the realization of Sohong in wisdom and bliss.” -Svetasvatara Upanishad
Read moreFinding Freedom from the Gunas
All aspects of creation are the various modulations of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas—the law of harmony, the self-manifesting power, and the evolving potency—but in reality these are the objective manifestations of myself. I am not limited by them, though they exist in me... Rise above the pairs of opposites, be thou firmly established on truth, be not attached to material gain and possession, be established on the Self, and thus thou shalt find freedom in and from the relative world of the Gunas.
Read morePower of Cosmic Prana
Like the spokes on the hub of a chariot wheel, all beings are established on Prana. Life, Prana, is born of Atman, the absolute Self. Prana sustains and determines the functions of various currents of life-force within the body.
Read moreGuiding the Mind in Meditation
The Self is immutable and self-composed. It is transcendental. It is more subtle than the mind. It is beyond the limits of sense perception. It is serene; yet it is more active than the mind or the sense faculties.
Read moreHeart-Centered
The state of pure-consciousness, transcends all other states of spiritual enlightenment; it is enshrined within the effulgence of the heart lotus, Anahata. Those who aspire with patience and perseverance to reach that blessed state become completely immersed in it. Meditate on the lotus of the heart with calm serenity and subjective purity.
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