From Babaji’s classes at Retreats, Prisons, and SRV CentersSpring Visit, April & May 2010 Notes from SRV Hawai’iIn this day and age, Indian Philosophy is focused most around Vedanta, Advaita Vedanta.  SRV spells “serve” and this is what we are about — via presenting a spiritual education.  We have to look back at these darshanas as the touchstone of what …

  Notes from Babaji’s classes in Oregon, San Francisco, Hawaii, and various prisons. Yogic Connections At the yogic level, if you are disconnected from something, then you reconnect with it and then transcend it.  “Freedom from the senses, not freedom to the senses,” is the yogic way.  (Swami Aseshananda) People often attribute sentiency to things in Nature, such as fire, …

Notes from Babaji’s Classes in Oregon; arranged thematically AUM & IntelligenceThe power of the Word is very underestimated.  In the beginning is the Word, which is Ma’s own pool of potential, like a hidden cosmic chest of drawers.  In the depths is that changeless Reality, Akhanda Satchitananda; It links us all together.  But when Christ talked of the Word, He …

Notes from Babaji’s Classes (thematically arranged)
Hawaii, Oregon, and prison classes from June to August, 2009

NON-ORIGINATION & NON-TRANSFORMATION
There are 2 laws of Nondualism:
1- Ajativada (non-origination): There is no birth and no death.  Creation (out of nothing) is not possible; something is always present, though most often unseen, unnoticed, due to the human mind’s preoccupation with objects and senses.   There is no origin to anything; everything always exists.  It all exists in the Word, which is the remote cause of everything.  So it is only a matter of manifestation or nonmanifestation in cycles – the cycles themselves being unoriginated (without beginning or end).  Thus, the greatest of mantras, “Sarvosmi – Everything Is.”
2 – Aparinama (non-transformation): Reality is changeless.  So why all this constant flux and change?  It is apparent only, not actual.  Penetrate these appearances to that stable foundation of everything, which is Consciousness.  Birth, growth, disease, death — these  all seem to be but never are, as in a reflection, dream, play, projection, etc…..

Babaji’s recent summer visit to SRV San Francisco was during the usually foggy month of July, and our first morning class began at 9:30 a.m. on July 4^th.  You could hear the neighbors getting ready for their afternoon barbecues, and knew much of the city was looking forward to the celebration of a night sky illumined with a boom of sparkling colorful lights.  Yet on this morning, SRV students listened to Vivekananda’s teachings:  Higher Knowledge, States of Consciousness, and the Attributes of Turiya.  An evening puja illuminating Ishvara by candlelight, and a garland offering to Swami Vivekananda was our reminder of courage and independence from our own small self.

From Babaji’s Classes on the Mainland, April-May From the unreal to the Real These darshanas [philosophical systems] of India form one composite mass of realization of the Seers of India.  Call it Sanatana Dharma (Eternal Truth).  It is not based on one savior or teacher, or a single scripture or book.  It’s wide open and catholic.  It is the Mother …

From the Seattle Spring Retreat on Gaudapada’s Karika with Babaji

Though I have been studying Vedantic/Advaitic Wisdom for a while now, it was only a taste of the immersion and depth of what I experienced in the recent retreat in Seattle. It opened my eyes to these deep Truths that, though they had been lurking, waiting on the sidelines to introduce themselves to me, came out in all their magnificence, in their full expression, and presented the power of this deep tradition. Now it is not that I feel that I have the answer, rather this showed where to best apply myself to the work yet to be done. And yet, from the deeper perspective, I see that within, everything is already one with the Divine. Words cannot even begin to express the deep heartfelt gratitude I feel for the opportunity of having been able to participate in this. Mahalo and Namaste, James Grazzini

Selected Class Notes from Babaji’s Winter classes in Oregon, San Francisco, and the Prison classes – Dec. 2008 to Jan. 2009

[Babaji’s arrival in Portland coincided with the snowiest weather in Portland in decades.  For two weeks snow chains and tires, skis, sleds, snow shoes, and snow shovels were a daily experience and sight for all. It was a challenge for many students to come, and those with four wheel drive helped the others. Those of us in the ashram experienced that rare hush that falls upon an urban dwelling when snow blankets the rooftop.] 

[“Sarva Shukla” — All white, is the epithet given to Saraswati, Goddess of the Word, who sets in motion that Knowledge that becomes the worlds of name and form and the Wisdom teachings that lead us back to our Source.  Our weeks with Babaji were, as always, a constant flow of Mother’s Wisdom.  Following are some excerpts.] 

Holualoa class on Feb. 1, 2009 Mother is calling us…. [Babaji’s introduction to our class began with a simple offering to Goddess Saraswati, whose puja (special worship) was the day before.  Saraswati is depicted as a four-armed Goddess.  In two hands She holds the Vina, representing the music of the spheres and the primal vibration, Om.  In another hand She …

Class Notes from Babaji’s Fall Visit

Saturday, October 25, 2008
Kali Puja Day – Teachings on the Divine Mother

Babaji presented the following charts:
Waves in the Ocean of Mature Universalism
The Purusharthas – the Four Fruits of Life

There are two distinctive features of Sri Ramakrishna’s advent. He was a paragon of universality. He practiced all the religious systems of India, Christianity, and Islam. This had never been done before, at least not in the full view of humanity. Sri Ramakrishna once said to someone, “I have practiced the disciplines of all paths, each for a few days. Otherwise I would have had no peace of mind. I respect the Shaktas, the Vaishnavas, the Vedantists, and also the modern Brahmajnanis. Therefore, people of all sects come to me. And every one of them think that I belong to his school.” – Sri Ramarkrishna