International Day of Yoga

International Day of Yoga

- By Purnima Ramakrishnan: Sahaj Marg Abhyasi and SRCM Prefect

During the declaration of June 21^st as International Day of Yoga at UN General Assembly, Mr. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, mentioned,

"Yoga is an invaluable gift of India's ancient tradition. This tradition is 5000 years old. It embodies unity of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and fulfilment; harmony between man and nature; a holistic approach to health and well-being. It is not about exercise but to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world and the nature. By changing our lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can help us deal with climate change. Let us work towards adopting an International Yoga Day."

The world is realizing today that the great tradition of Yoga would help create individuals and societies with a deep sense of oneness with the Higher Self or Innermost Self or Source and with each other, and with Nature. It helps to create that sacred harmony within oneself, and with ones higher consciousness. Yoga awakens the deeper sense of unity and oneness with the whole Universe. 

In the words of Honourable Secretary General of the United Nations,

"By proclaiming 21 June as the International Day of Yoga, the General Assembly has recognized the holistic benefits of this timeless practice and its inherent compatibility with the principles and values of the United Nations."

-      Ban-Ki-Moon, UN Secretary General

Even important actionable like Climate Change are battled better by following a holistic and balanced life. How?

Indian Prime Minister Mr. Modi says, “Respect for nature is an integral part of spiritualism. We treat nature’s bounties as sacred. Yoga is an invaluable gift of our ancient tradition. Yoga embodies unity of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and fulfilment; harmony between man and nature; a holistic approach to health and well-being. It is not about exercise but to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world and the nature. By changing our lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can help us deal with climate change.” A balanced life can helps deal with anything in a holistic way.

Climate change too starts within the human heart, which is purified and divested of all fear, hate, laziness, doubts and desires; this manifests in a simpler and more harmonious lifestyle, creating a world of peace and love.

World renowned teacher of Heartfulness Meditation, talks about yoga as follows.

Yogah – one that joins. Yahudi yogah – one that joins. The word in Sanskrit and the word in English both convey the same meaning, the same understanding that I have to unite myself with my Maker. My atma must merge with paramatma.”

Please view the entire talk in the below youtube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuaZ1Ba8eZ8

[Kamlesh D Patel, President of the Heartfulness Institute, elaborates on the need to experience meditation on the light emanating from the ultimate Source from one’s own heart. He invites you to experiment to feel the 'presence' of this light or love or life, emanating from your heart, facilitated greatly by the help of Transmisssion of Life Force or Prana-Ahuthi from the Teacher or trainer).

Meditation is continuously thinking on a particular thing, undivided attention on a single object. All the yogic postures and breathing exercises are meant to enable the body to sit in meditation effectively for hours together. The yogis meditated for centuries together, in the jungles, or  in the mountains like Himalayas.

However today, we have less time and energy than the ancient yogis, yet the need for yoga is even greater than their days.  Nature has offered us today a way to meditate effectively, to connect with our hearts, for a brief period in morning. This practise enables us do it again for short moments during the day whenever we feel need, (resulting in a permanent connectivity to the innermost Source and enjoy the nourishment from the ultimate Source, during all our work. The spiritual experiences mature into a direct perception of the inner ‘Reality’ beyond experiences, resulting in a permanent secure Inner contentment, joy and peace.

This Yogic transmission of Pranahuti helps the spiritual practitioner to go deeper into meditation, helping in creating that unity with his own consciousness, with his own inner self. Delving deeper into these subconscious states as often as one can, help in maintaining the same state of serenity all through the day. Meditation with Yogic transmission helps in feeling that inner joy.

On June 21, 2016, the International Day of Yoga, different schools of Yoga and meditation around the world are organizing Yoga and meditation sessions. The importance of this Yoga Day is best understood with a deep meditation session along with Yogic transmission called pranahuti.

Please join us, for a session of Heartfulness Meditation Session. Write to info@heartfulness.org to find your nearest Heartfulness centre.

Sahaj Marg Prayer: What should we pray for?

By Sanskrit Kannan (SRCM Preceptor)

         This is very important because Rev. Babuji Maharaj has said, “Whenever a man enters into that state, even for a moment, his prayer is granted”.  Therefore, having established our link with the Supreme Master through Prayer, is it not foolish to pray for petty worldly things?  Rev. Babuji Himself says, “It is folly to pray to God for petty worldly ends except in most exceptional cases when peace of mind is greatly disturbed for want of bare necessities”.  Rev. Chariji Maharaj also has said, “We should pray only for noble things and we should pray without any selfish notions.  Very often, when our prayers are answered we are in trouble”!  He has also said that we should not pray for the relief from head-ache, for getting money or even for knowledge.  Therefore, we have to be very careful even when He asks us, “What do you want?”  We should say, “Nothing except you, Master”, for everything other than Him is only transitory.

         Unfortunately, in all our religious literature, including our sacred Vedas, we find the sages praising the powers of Nature or Gods and praying to them to bless them with wealth, health, progeny, strength etc.  Even the first Ṛg of the Ṛg Veda (considered to be the oldest literature) says,

“agnimīḻe purohitam yajñasya devaṁ ṛtvijam hotāraṁ ratnadhātamam”

(“I worship the Fire, who is the priest, the deity of the sacrifices, the knower of Vedas, the performer and one who gives the precious jewels”).

         Similarly, all throughout the Stotra literature, we find people glorifying the various gods and finally begging the gods to bestow upon them various benefits.

         In the Bhagavadgītā (VII.16), Lord Kṛṣṇa says,

         “caturvidhā bhajante māṁ janāḥ sukṛtino'rjuna

 ārto jijñāsurarthārthī jñānī ca bharatarṣabha

(“O, Arjuna, four types of people worship Me.  They are those who are afflicted, those desirous of knowledge, those desirous of wealth and a Jñānī”).  But of these four, who is the best?  The Lord answers (VII.17) thus:

“teṣāṁ jñānī nityukta ekabhaktirviśiṣyate

 priyo hi jñānino'tyarthamahaṁ sa ca mama priyaḥ”

(Among these, the Jñānī, who is ever established in Me with single-minded devotion, is the best.  I am dearest to him and so is he to Me”)

         This also clearly shows what we should pray for.  Rev. Chariji Maharaj referred one incident during His speech on 30^th April 1986 (Rev. Babuji Maharaj’s 87^th birth anniversary celebrations) at the Congress Grounds in Chennai.  An abhyāsi was about to leave Shahjahanpur after staying with Rev. Babuji Maharaj for some day.  Rev. Babuji Maharaj asked him, “What do you want?”  The abhyāsi replied, “Babuji, I want 25 paise to go to my village”.  Later, Rev. Babuji Maharaj remarked, “This man had come all the way to Shahjahanpur and what he got was only 25 paise”.

         It is also important to note that most of us pray only with selfish notions, i.e., ‘I’ predominant.  I pray for my wealth, health, to get rid of diseases, for my spiritual progress.  Rev. Chariji Maharaj said once, “To Rev. Babuji Maharaj also we prayed like that, when He was in the physical frame.  When He was in the hospital, some abhyāsis prayed to Him for liberation, Central Region, Realisation etc. before He passed away.  Just imagine, what would have He thought at that time.  How much of agony and suffering He would have undergone at that time.  He would have felt, ‘Look, these people don’t want me.  They want only Central Region etc.  There will be someone who will come next to me.  He would give them all these.  Let me go away”.  This is a very, very great lesson for us that we should be aware of what we pray for”.

         Rev. Chariji Maharaj has also said, “Wrong prayer gives you wrong result”.  We have many stories in our mythologies to illustrate this.  Let us see one simple story.  One demon (Bhasmasura) did penance for a long time and when Lord Śiva appeared before him and granted him a boon, he prayed, “Lord, on whose head I lay my hand upon, his head should be burnt to ashes”.  This was granted.  He wanted to test this on Lord Śiva Himself and poor Śiva ran from him!  At last, Lord Viṣṇu had to come in the form of a beautiful damsel and made the demon touch his own head so that the demon was burnt to ashes.

         So, we should always pray for the noble cause, for the right cause.  We should always pray for the ‘highest’ that He can give us.  And what is that ‘highest’?  Nothing except Himself!  So, we should always pray to Him for Him alone and not for the things that He can give us, however great that may be.  In The Garden of Hearts, Rev. Chariji Maharaj has pointed out this great truth with the story of Arjuna and Duryodhana.  Before the Mahābhārata war started, both of them went to Lord Kṛṣṇa seeking His help.  Arjuna said, “My Lord, I want only You”, whereas Duryodhana was happy to take all the army of the Lord.  We know what happened in the end.

         This teaches us a great lesson that when the Master Himself is with you, what is the need for anything else at all?”  I we possess all the wealth in this world and yet do not possess Him, then it is absolutely useless.  On the other hand, even if we don’t possess anything materially and possess Him in us always, we are the monarchs.  As Rev. Babuji Maharaj said very clearly that not even all the riches of the greatest emperor of this world could be equal to the one what Rev. Lalaji Maharaj gave Him.  What was that?  Rev. Lalaji Maharaj gave Himself to His disciple Rev. Babuji Maharaj. 

Therefore, we should pray to the Master that we need Him and Him alone and not for things that He can give us.  If we pray sincerely like this, even He won’t have any choice and He will yield Himself as He is always ready to give, Nay, He is always giving – giving Himself.  Once, Rev. Babuji Maharaj said, “Spirituality is a charitable work.  The Master always gives to whom-so-ever comes to Him because of His compassion and love towards all the beings.  He goes on giving.  We have to pray in such a way that He is always in us.  Now, we come to the most important and final question which will be addressed in the next article. 

The Importance of Guru in Sahaj Marg: Dr. Sanskrit Kannan

This article is a continuation from the previous article titled, "The concept of God" by Dr. Sanskrit Kannan, an SRCM Preceptor (Prefect), which was published at: http://sahajmargyoga.blogspot.in/2016/01/the-concept-of-god-sahaj-marg-angle-dr.html

This grand statement that “Guru is God” brings us to the next important aspect of our discussion, viz., the importance of the Guru and the significant role that He plays in our life.  Swami Vivekananda has said, “Know your Guru as Brahman” and Lord Kṛṣṇa too has said, “know your Guru as myself” (“ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīhi”).

In Indian tradition, the ‘Teacher’ or ‘Preceptor’ or the ācrāya or the ‘Guru’ has always been held in high esteem.  We have this well-known verse in Sanskrit.

         “guruḥ brahmā guruḥ viṣṇuh gurur devo maheśvaraḥ |

guruḥ sākṣāt parabrahma tasmai śrīguravenamaḥ” ||

This says that the Guru is the Creator (Brahmā), for He creates the disciple.  According to our tradition, we are twice-born (dvija) – the first birth is when we are born out of the mother’s womb – the physical birth.  The second birth is when one is initiated by the Guru.  Guru is the protector (Viṣṇu) as he protects the disciples from many obstacles that come across in their path of journey (yātra) towards the Ultimate Reality.  He destroys (Śiva) the samskāras of the aspirants.  That is why the derivation of the word Guru is given in the Advayatārakopaniṣad (16) as,

         “guśabdas tvandhakāraḥ syāt ruśabdas tannirodhakaḥ|

  andhakāranirodhitvāt gururityabhidhīyate ||“

(The syllable “gu” stands for “darkness or ignorance” and the syllable “ru” stands for its removal.  Since, he removes the (inner) darkness or the ignorance, he is called “Guru”).  The Guru is the Ultimate Reality (Parabrahma).  The Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (VI.23) says,

         “yasya deve parā bhaktiḥ yathā deve tathā gurau |

 tasyaite kathitā hi arthāḥ prakāśante mahātmanaḥ”||

(“These truths, when taught, shine forth only in that great Soul, who has supreme devotion to God and an equal degree of devotion to the Guru”). Thus, the scriptures proclaim the greatness of the Guru and equate the Guru to God Himself.

In Sahaj Marg, the importance of the Living Master (as Guru is addressed) cannot be explained by mere words but can only be experienced.  That does not mean that Sahaj Marg advocates “gurudom” or one should become a slave of the Guru and serve him all through his life.  What our system say is that since God does not possess any organs and mind, He cannot receive our prayer and come to our rescue.  But the Guru in the human form possesses the mind and more importantly the heart full of love and compassion for all the beings so that He is able to serve all at the appropriate moment.  Since the living Guru under the Sahaj Marg system is established in God, He is divine and hence, Omni-pervasive.  So, a sincere prayer in the heart by anyone from anywhere in this vast universe reaches Him instantaneously and necessary action is taken automatically (This is done so naturally!)  

That is why Lord Kṛṣṇa has said in the Gītā (XII. 5) “kleśo'dhikarasteṣamavyaktāsaktacetasām, avyaktā hi gatirduḥkhaṁ dehavadbhiravāpyate” , i.e., it is futile to worship the God in His unmanifested form.  So, he suggested to Arjuna to worship Him, love Him, dedicate everything to Him as He was the Master in loving form for Arjuna.  If we look at the Bhagavad gītā and Kaṭha Upaniṣad, we can find one striking evolution of thought in the Gītā.  In Kaṭha Upaniṣad, the body is considered as the chariot, the intellect as the Charioteer, the five indriyas as five horses, mind as the rein and the Soul as the person in the chariot.  But the Gītā goes one step ahead and presents the Lord in human form as the Charioteer (instead of Buddhi).  Rev. Chariji Maharaj said that the Guru in the human form represents the divinised mind and by connecting oneself with Him, one can reach the goal smoothly.

The Kaṭha Upaniṣad (III.14) also proclaims “uttiṣṭhata jāgrata prāpya varān nibodhata” (Arise, awake, realise (that) by approaching the Chosen One”).

Rev. Chariji Maharaj also pointed out this in a very telling manner.  While talking of knowledge, He said, “You can know a thing only if you become that”.  If you go and ask him, he would say,

“Be it”.

“How to be it, Sir?”

“Become it”.

“How to become it, Sir?”

Go to the one who has already become that!”

This clearly brings out what has been quoted above from Kaṭha Upaniṣad.  So, we need a personality amongst us who can make us become ‘That’, what He represents, in this lifetime itself.  This means the personality should be of the highest calibre and a Chosen One for the purpose.  He is beyond space and time and can act so, according to the need.  Age or knowledge is not a criterion for such a personality.  We have this wonderful verse ascribed to Śaṅkara in Dakṣiṇāmurthi Stotra

         “citraṁ vaṭatarormūle vṛddhāḥ śiṣyā gururyuvā |

 gurostu maunaṁ vyākhyānaṁ śiṣyāstu chinnasaṁśayāḥ”

(“It is a wonder under the banyan tree.  The disciples are old (aged) and the Guru is young.  The explanation offered (by the Guru) is silence and the disciples remain with their doubts dispelled”).

Nobody can claim to be a Guru by the merit of their ‘sādhanā’ or knowledge or age.  In fact, these are not at all a criterion for becoming a Guru.  It is only the grace of the great Master who chooses, prepares and places one of His associates as his disciple, representative as the Master by the Divine Master and always remains a disciple to his Guru.  Thus, He has to play twin roles – as the Master for all the beings and as the humble disciple of His Master.  So, there is no question of even the thought of power, position, fame or any such things.  It is a position of tremendous responsibility, total commitment for the welfare of all – even those who do not accept Him.  Anyone can claim to have left Him but He cannot leave anyone, for having merged in the Absolute and the “Nothingness”, He cannot exclude anything or anyone!  That is why, I said, in Sahaj Marg, “Guru is God”, for, God alone can remain like this.

Rev. Babuji Maharaj has also pointed out that in the strict sense, only God is the real Guru.  

Patañjali also accepts this view and says (YS I.26) , “sa eṣa pūrveṣāmapi guruḥ kālenānavacchedāt”.  This proves again that the Guru, living in the present, represents all the knowledge and the evolution of the past extending upto the unimaginable future.  In short, though his body is limited, He is not limited by space and time[1].  He represents, in the hearts of all the seekers of Reality, without any barrier of space, time, sex, nationality, colour etc.  This great phenomenon unknown in the history of mankind, perhaps hinted in the sacred scriptures of our land, is practically experienced by all of us.  This is called “prānahuti” in our system.  It is beyond words, for words cannot represent the Reality whereas the Master can.

Suffice it to say that the Guru of Sahaj Marg represents the Reality, nay, He is the Reality, He is the means and the path to lead us all to the Reality which He himself is[2].  Our prayer also says, “O Master, thou art the real goal of human life.... Thou art the only God and power to bring us upto that stage”.  That is why Rev. Babuji Maharaj, in “Efficacy of Raja Yoga in the light of Sahaj Marg” has said, “If A is equal to B and C gets equal to A, then ultimately C becomes equal to B[3].  Hence, in our system, mergence in the Master is synonymous to mergence in God (Brahmalaya). 

Shri. Kamlesh D Patel, the current President of Shri Ram Chandra Mission (www.srcm.org) and the Spiritual Master of Sahaj Marg has said in one of his talks with an emphasis: “We are all here for brahma vidya. We all want to practise and achieve. Then, why not do it wholeheartedly? Why not do it with joy?”

Thus we see the uniqueness of the status given to the Masters of Sahaj Marg conforming to the views expressed in  sacred scriptures. 

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[1] There is a beautiful verse by the great poet Māgha with which he begins his great poem Śisupālavadham (I.1) “śriya patiḥ śrīmati śāśituṁ jagat jagannivāso vasudeva sadmani|

vasan dadarśāvatarantaṁ ambarāt” which means “The great Lord, who is the container of the whole Universe is living in the house of Vasudeva”.

[2] See the views of Viśiṣṭādvaita wherein it is stated that God is the upāya (menas) and upeya (the goal)

[3] Complete Works of Ram Chandra (Volume I) (p.133).