My Sweet Lord, Krishna's Birthday

My Sweet Lord, with lyrics on YouTube

Its that time again!  Join the festivities for Janmashtami, Lord Krishna's Birthday on August 16/17, 2014 at the Bhartiya Cultural Society and the Radha Govinda/ISKCON Temple.

Legends of Yoga: The Birth of Patanjali

Patanjali, Image Source: Wikipedia

Patanjali, the author of the Yoga Sutras is often referred to as the Father of Modern Yoga, but many modern yogis know very little about him, or why he is so revered.

Around two thousand years ago Patanjali wrote the wisdom of yoga down for the first time.  He wrote it in the form of Sutras, a codified style of writing meant to be memorized and then interpreted, or "unpacked" by one's guru.

Today, The Yoga Sutra, also known as Yoga Darshana is considered one of the most authoritative texts on yoga, famous for outlining and elucidating an "eight-limbed" path known as Ashtanga (asht meaning "eight" and anga meaning "limbs").

Admittedly, scholars know little if anything about his actual birth, but nevertheless, as with all teachers of great renown, cool legends abound!



The word "Yogini" in Devanagari script.



Once there lived a great Yogini named Gonika.  She lived alone in a small hermitage where she practiced diligently and meditated happily. 

One day she caught sight of her reflection in the surface of her water pot.  She saw deeply etched lines on her face and white streaks in her hair. 

She realized that her time on earth was limited and wondered what was the point of all her realizations if she had noone to pass them on to.  So she prayed for a worthy student. 

As she stood in the river one morning offering her prayers to the sun, she contemplated this.  She scooped up water from the river in her hands, and as she did so, she saw something flutter lightly down like a feather or a little leaf.  It landed in her cupped palms.

When she looked down she was surprised at what she saw! 

Some say she saw a little snake in her palms, homage to the belief that Patanjali is an avatar or incarnation of Adishesha.  Some say it was a teeny, tiny child.  Either way, she placed the being gently onto the shore and instantly he grew into a handsome, intelligent boy who asked respectfully for permission to be her son and her student.

Gonika, of course, accepted.  She named the boy Patanjali because he had fallen or floated down (pat) into her prayer-folded hands (anjali).

He studied the wisdom of yoga with her until he was a young man and then founded his own school of yoga which emphasized swadyaya or self-study. 

His teachings have showered blessings and wisdom onto generations of yogis to this very day!

Om Namo Narayanaya: Chant for World Peace



Image Source: Sivananda Ashram, Uttarkashi

Raja Yogis and Yoginis!  Remember a couple of months ago when we gathered together to write the mantra for peace, Om Namo Narayanaya in Sanskrit?

Our friend Jenny was embarking on a voyage to the Himalayas and kindly agreed to deliver and "deposit" our prayers to the Swami Vishnudevananda Peace Bank near the Sivananda Ashram near Uttarkashi. 

Well, check out this beautiful update from Jenny!  Blessings from the Himalayas!



"Hope everything is going peaceful and smooth for you all <3 I have been thinking about you and our night writing Om Namo Narayanaya - the peace mantra - to send along to the Himalayas.  Here's a short story about the travel of our little love letter:) ...  

So when I left Edmonton there was snow across Canada and the flights were all delayed.  I missed every flight except the one out of Edmonton and got rerouted twice on the way to India.  My bag, which had the peace mantras in it (because Tara was totally right - they'd keep the bag safe) also went on its own adventure, spreading peace and harmony wherever it went... then it came to meet me in Montreal so we could travel together to India:)  

Made it to Uttarkashi and the little village Netala... along the Ganges... The energy at the ashram and in the Himalayas is amazing.  And Mathaji, the spiritual mother at the Sivanada ashram there loved to receive all our writings for the peace bank.  She collects them from all over the world and organizes them to be offered at the entrance to the cave outside of Gangotri (the end of the road heading toward the mouth of the Ganges) where they fly to spread the peace all over:)  

Anyways, I feel so blessed to take the Peace Mantras part of the way:)  Hope to see you soon! 

Much love and many blessings to you and yours!  

xxox

Om Shanti

Jenny"

Thank you Jenny!  We can hardly wait to hear more about your adventures in India! 

Om Namo Narayanaya!

Jupiter, Venus and Mercury in Yoga

For the past couple of weeks, and until June 7th, 2013, Jupiter, Venus and Mercury are in alignment or Yoga.  (A "yoking" or coming together of astrological entities.)

Watch this Animation of 2013 Triple Planetary Alignment.

In my life things have been both brilliantly coordinated and jarringly discordant lately.  Maybe this has something to do with it. 

According to Vedic Astrology or Jyotish:



Brihaspati with Tara (Image Source)

Jupiter गुरू, बृहस्पती (Guru, Brihaspati) is the teacher of the gods.  He helps the gods in their ongoing wars against the demons, or lower, crueler aspects of human nature.

Guru also means "priest" so Brihaspati is the "lord of prayer or devotion." 

Brihaspati wears yellow garments and is generally worshipped on Thurdays.  Appeasing him is said to cure stomach ailments.

Venus शुक्र (Shukra), also known as Shukracharya, is Brihaspati's arch-nemesis, the spiritual advisor of the demons or Asuras. 

He helps the demons in the wars against the gods and revives their wounded and dead with a secret mantra given to him by Lord Shiva. 


Shukra (Image Source)

Shukra means "clear, pure, brightness, or clearness."  He has a light complexion, wears all white and likes to be worshipped on Fridays.  His influence can relieve eye problems, even though he is half-blind:

"In one story, Lord Vishnu is born as the Brahmin dwarf-sage Vamana. Vamana comes to take the three worlds as alms from the asura king Bali. Lord Vishnu wanted to deceive the king Bali who was the grandson of the great king Prahlada, in order to help the Devas. The sage Shukracharya identifies him immediately and warns the King. The King is however a man of his word and offers the gift to Vamana. Shukracharya, annoyed with the pride of the king, shrinks himself with his powers and sits in the spout of the Kamandalu, from which water has to be poured to seal the promise to the deity in disguise. Lord Vishnu, in disguise of the dwarf, understands immediately, and picks a straw from the ground and directs it up the spout, poking out the left eye of Shukracharaya." Source: Wikipedia

Shukra presides in the areas of love, fertility, romance and sexuality, creativity, the physical body and material life, wealth, the opposite sex, pleasure and luxury, the sacred feminine, music, dance, painting and sculpture, appreciation of nature and harmonious relationships.

Both Jupiter (Brihaspati) and Venus (Shukra) represent brilliance, intelligence, memory and above all spiritual devotion... but for entirely different goals!


Mercury बुध (Budha) (not to be confused with Buddha, the enlightened sage) is the son of an illicit liason between Chandra, the god of the moon, and Tara, the wife of Brihaspati. 

(Hmmm... sense the potential for some astrological tension there?) 

Here's the story:

Budha (Image Source)

"Chandra was a student with Brihaspati, the Teacher of devas. Tara was the wife of Brihaspati. Tara fell in love with the beauty of Chandra and started living with him, deserting Brihaspati. When Brihaspati asked her to come back, she refused. Brihaspati became angry, and a war eventually started between Chandra and Brihaspati. Sukracharya, the teacher of the Asuras, joined Chandra in the battle, while The devas joined Brihaspati. As the battle was due to desire (kama) for Tara, it was known as Tarakaamayam. Lord Brahma, the creator of the universe, feared the war might abolish the world. Hence, he came down and stopped the war. He convinced Tara, took her away from Chandra, and gave her back to Brihaspati. Budha, a beautiful child, was born to Tara. Both Brihaspati and Chandra claimed to be the father of Budha, but Tara kept silent. Budha himself got angry over this tussle and asked his mother to tell the truth. Tara said that Chandra was the father of Budha.^{"  Source: Wikipedia}

He is known for his good looks, his wisdom in the Vedas and the arts, his shining intelligence and his disdain of his father's immoral behavior!

Budha means "awakening, clever, intelligent, wise, learned man, wise man, or sage."  He represents communication, analysis, the senses (especially the skin), science, mathematics, business, education and research. The written word and journeys of all types fall under his domain. 

His favorite color is green, and he is generally worshipped on Wednesdays.

Well, I'm no Vedic astrologer... but it seems to me that with these three forces engaged and in close proximity with one another, we may experience some conflicting ideas about what is right or wise, and perhaps some poignant inner or outer turmoil about how these are expressed or put into practice.

Given my own recent ups and downs, I feel reassured by the reminder that we are all under the influence of many factors beyond our control, for worse... and for better.

The Meaning of Om

Om Painting by Omkari

My Guru appears to me in the most unexpected places and moments! 

Yesterday I was given a pop quiz on Om by a gas station attendant. 

He looked at me intently as I paid, and then gesturing to his own throat and my necklace asked, "You are knowing the meaning of this?"

Yak bone Tibetan Om necklace from Nepal

"Yes", I said "It's an Om, a Tibetan Om."

"Ok..." he grinned with a slight Indian head wobble, "but you are knowing the meaning?"

I said the first thing that came to my mind.  "Well, it depends who you ask."

"It's very good for concentration."  he stated matter-of-factly as he took the next customer's payment.

"Yes, very sacred.  Thank you!", I replied and scurried out. 

The whole way home I pondered the meaning of Om and how to express it in a nutshell. 

• Om is the echoing hum of the universe.  Some astronomers refer to this as "interplanetary harmonics".
• Om is Pranava, the breath of the Divine.  Religious folks might call it the Name of God.
• Om is the Bija mantra, the seed of all creation.  Yogic cosmologists compare it to the Big bang theory.
• Om is the fullness of the range of human vocalization.  Linguists consider it a progression of enunciation.
• Om is the essence of the Vedas.  Vedantins believe chanting this mantra is as powerful as chanting all of the Vedas. 

Om represents the multitude of sacred trinities.  For example:

• past, present and future
• body, mind and spirit
• Brahma shakti (creation), Vishnu shakti (preservation) and Shiva shakti (transformation or dissolution)
• the three states of awareness; waking state, dreaming state and unconscious state

But how to best express what it means?

Om sticker from India

Ultimately the true meaning of Om cannot be expressed in words. 

At best, words can only point the yogini toward the direct experience like the teacher who points at the moon and admonishes the student for staring at his finger.

I heard a story in South India about the difficulty of expressing the meaning of Om: 

Kartikeya, the son of Lord Shiva approached Brahma, the Lord of Creation and asked him to explain Om.  Although Brahma claimed to understand and recited twelve thousand verses, Kartikeya found his explanation insufficient and was displeased. 

He approached his father, Lord Shiva who readily admitted to not fully understanding Om, and submitted himself humbly as a student to his son to receive the teachings on Om.

Om plate from India

So the real answer to the gas station attendant's question is in the heart of each individual to be revealed through practice over time.

Ramakrishna said that people immersed in the world cannot know the full meaning of Om, in fact, cannot even hear it.

As it says in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras 1.27-1.29:  (Please forgive my liberal translating!) 

The sacred word representing the Source of All is Om, or Pranava. (1.27)

Repeat this sound with deep reflection on its meaning. (1.28)
From this (repetition with reflection) comes Self-awareness and the removal of the obstacles to bliss. (1.29)

So, repeat Om.  Concentrate with reverence on all of the auspicious aspects of its significance and we will discover its true meaning for our Selves. 

Thank you, Gas Station Guru!  Your observation was a gentle and timely prompt!
 

Namaste!

Light in the Lotus

Radha and Krishna Standing on a Lotus

The Sacred Lotus or Padma is one of the most prominent symbols in yoga, representing purity and enlightenment.

"One who performs his duty without attachment, surrendering the results unto the Supreme Lord, is unaffected by harmful action, as the lotus is untouched by water."

—Bhagavad Gita 5.10:

With its roots in the mud, and its fragrant, pure beauty rising up, the lotus is also a metaphor for our human experience. 

We have roots in the muck and mire, and yet we rise above the waters of life to fulfill our aspirations and blossom into the light.

Many spiritual teachers use the image of the lotus to encourage us in times of difficulty to show our highest Self to the world no matter how murky our circumstances.

In other words, they advise us to allow insult and injury to roll like "water off a lotus leaf", or as we say in the west, (like) water off a duck's back. 

It is also said that in the lotus of the heart, or the Anahata Chakra, there is a divine light.




Lakshmi (left) and Saraswati (right) seated on Lotus flowers
beside an altar at the Sivananda Ashram. 
Note the Lotus rising from Vishnu's navel. 
Seated in the Lotus, is Brahma, the God of Creation.

Chapter One, Verse 36 of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali says:  "Vishoka va jyotishmati"

Meaning roughly, "Concentration on the inner light brings stability and tranquility."

Take a look at the following commentary from Swamij.com:

Concentration on painless inner luminosity:

The easiest way to practice this is to place your attention in the space between the breasts, the heart center. Simply imagine that there is a glowing luminosity there, about the size of the palm of your hand.

Whether or not you literally see with your inner eye is not important; the practice works either way. Maintain an inner attitude that it does not matter what other thoughts, images, impressions or memories might arise in the mind field; you will hold that stance that these will not disturb or distract you. Stay only with that glowing inner luminosity in the heart.


And here is an excerpt from The Himalayan Academy, Merging with Siva, Chapter 9, The Lotus of the Heart:

"A beautiful practice is to try to sit quietly, visualizing within the lotus within the heart a light, a strong light emanating clearly, a light that is always there. This light is radiating at a higher vibration than any form with which you are familiar.

Let us say, if you were to have this light in your hand and were able to use it in the external world, each form you turned it upon would disappear under the vibration of the light itself. That is as powerful as the effulgent light emanating from the Self, the Sivaness, which you will see within the lotus of the heart."

Lotus Candle Holder Photo Courtesy of one love origami

If you would like to create an outer reminder of this inner light, I invite you to fold an Origami Lotus Candle Holder.

And if you would like some music to accompany your peace-crafting, click here to listen to a beautiful track from The Beatles, called The Inner Light.  It was recorded in India, inspired by a letter from Sanskrit scholar Juan Mascaro.