Swami Satchidananda

The Secret of Spiritual Practice

The secret of spiritual practice is not what you do but how you do—that is more important. Sometimes a newcomer who gets into spiritual practice will make a big list of resolutions, “I will practice half an hour every day in the morning, pranayama, three malas every...

Spiritual Longing

To learn from a spiritual teacher, more than anything else, you need faith in God: “God, I really want to experience the Truth. Put me in good hands. Present a good teacher to me.“ Then, when you meet them, feel—not through the head, but through the heart. And if you...

Healing Unhealthy Habits as a Spiritual Practice

Healing from addiction or any other unhealthy habit is a spiritual practice. It’s impossible simply to say, “Oh, I don’t want to indulge in this or I have to get rid of that.” We cannot. The more we try to push it away and get rid of it, the more we wind up...

Reflections on Prayer

It takes a long time to learn how to pray just for the sake of praying and not for anything else, not for our own selfish desires. The reason that we obtain little satisfaction from our prayers is that they are not really sincere attempts to touch God. When we begin...

Understanding the Ego

God or Infinite Consciousness is That through which our own egos move. Unfortunately, the ego tends to overlook the fact that its capacity to function is from that Source, and instead it comes up with the notion that I am doing everything by myself. But it would be a...