And Mother Claps Her Hands In India the relationship with the spiritual teacher is the greatest in life. In the West the teacher simply gives intellectual knowledge. The guru, however, teaches us and leads us into spiritual knowledge as a living link in the chain of divine truth. Swami Vivekananda once said, “my guru is my nearest and dearest relative …
Teachings from the Summer Retreat
Teachings from the Summer RetreatSelected Teachings of the Dharma Babaji took up the verses of the Bhaja Govindam stotram as the central text of the Summer Retreat. The first 12 verses are ascribed to Shankaracharya and each of the others were written down through the centuries by the heads of the maths he founded. The stotram is full of Vedantic …
Manasana Book Release at Opening to Life
Manasana Book Release at Opening to Life Once again the Opening To Life Studio in Portland, Oregon, was filled with the blessing of Babaji’s teachings, and a new book was launched into the world: Manasana: The Superlative Art of Mental Posture. Babaji spoke to us of taking up a posture in the mind in order to master one’s awareness and …
Hawaii 2015
d-OM-inoes
This month one of our sangha families from Portland came for an extended visit to the Big Island, where our Hawai’i center is located. Their older son, Mikah, has been taking classes for a couple years in Portland, and got to have classes at the Hawaii center too. The first class, after a little puja with flower and food offerings, focused on Om, or more precisely, AUM.
Mikah learned that the three letters of AUM stand for our waking, dreaming, and deep sleep states:
- In our waking state (“A”), a lot is happening! Our mind is connected to our physical senses — our eyeballs, ear flaps, tongue, nose, and skin, our hands and feet — and so we experience a lot of things while we are awake.
- When we dream (“U”), our physical senses are turned off but our mind is connected to our inside senses — our dream senses! We walk with dream legs on dream land, we swim with our dream body through dream water, we use our dream eyes and ears to see and hear things in dreamlands, we even fly through dream air.
- Then we enter deep sleep (“M”), everything we experienced in waking and dream become like seeds, even our waking and dream senses, and earth, water, fire, air, and ether all become seeds. It is very peaceful without anything happening for awhile.
But then we begin to dream and all those seeds start to sprout, and when we wake, they are all on the outside again.
A Seva & Sadhana Summer!
A Seva & Sadhana Summer! Many thanks to all those who took up seva projects this summer at the Portland SRV ashram. After three years at this location, it was time to do a deep cleaning and sorting. Appreciation goes to Svabhava and Lavanya for organizing the effort. On that main Sunday in July, the entire first floor was …
Antaranga:: Swami Advaitananda
The advent of Sri Ramakrishna was a phenomenon of extraordinary mystery and wonder. As a large ship leaves an immense wake long after it has passed, the reverberations of the Kali avatar’s appearance is, to this very day, continually unfolding. One means of understanding Sri Ramakrishna is to examine the lives of his direct disciples. Each of the disciples is …
Manasana – The Superlative Art of Mental Posture
Next in the series of Essential Indian Philosophical Teachings: Manasana – The Superlative Art of Mental Posture by Babaji Bob Kindler 132 pages 22 charts $15 Available in August, 2015 order now In the sacred Sanskrit language, “manas” means mind, while “asana” refers to both a physical position for the body as well as the cushion upon which one sits …
The Subtle Intrusion and Recognition of Maya in Daily Life
The Subtle Intrusion and Recognition of Maya in Daily Life The five-fold Maya, consisting of name, form, time, space, and causality, as defined by Swami Vivekananda can be abstract, inscrutable, and difficult to recognize in daily life. The aspirant may hear of it repeatedly from the guru, and through study and contemplation, yet still fail to recognize its subtle presence …
And Mother Claps Her Hands
And Mother Claps Her Hands During Babaji’s last Visit in May, we celebrated the holy day of Phalaharini Kali Puja, which is particularly auspicious to the devotees of Master and Mother, and also welcomed our newest sangha sister who took initiation that night. Crusita Corral received the precious name of Sita, the ever pure, patient, forbearing, and devoted consort of …
Manasana Retreat
Manasana Retreat Notes and Reflections Over Memorial Weekend, Babaji gave a retreat on Manasana, or mental posture. The main chart used for this retreat placed manasanas (manas-asana) into three categories: Salubrious – manasanas that heal; Spiritual – manasanas that purify the mind; and Sempiternal – those representative of Eternal Truth. In August, Babaji’s latest book on essential teachings of Indian …