In this modern age, filled with conflict, chaos and doubt, the youth want to raise above these conflicts and come together as one global family. We have been dividing ourselves and separating ourselves in so many hundreds of ways. These man-made divisions are in the...
In 2002, Sri Swami Satchidananda was invited to be a keynote speaker at the World Congress on Peace, Nonviolence and Harmony in South India. He left the body and entered Mahasamadhi a few days after the conclusion of the World Congress—his participation a fitting...
Yoga is now known and practiced all over the world. This is because it’s not only for people who believe in religion, spirituality, or a particular philosophy. The yogic teachings comprise the very same foundation that is found in all faiths and religions. And, even...
In this short video "The Inner Guru" from 1998 during Guru Poornima, Swami Satchidananda speaks about the true meaning of "Guru" and also about attuning oneself to the inner Guru. Using examples from his own Guru (Sri Swami Sivananda), the Bhagavad Gita and South...
One question I often like to start my meditation workshops with is: Are you your thoughts? It’s quite controversial for some people and can provoke interesting responses. Sure, most of the time we feel like we are stuck in our heads. But aside from our minds, how else...
In this discussion between Dr. Deepak Chopra and Dr. Christopher Wallis, they discuss the nature of Consciousness and how we know anything that we know. And, as Swami Satchidananda always taught, enlightenment is nothing you need to "get" from outside or "achieve."...
We can find lessons in everything we do. One of the lessons that I learned as a mechanic, many years ago, is very useful in being able to control the mind. The newer vehicles probably don’t require this anymore, but way back then, a car had to be periodically...
Dr. Deepak Chopra and Dr. Hareesh Wallis discuss the nature of Consciousness as explained in the ancient text The Recognition Sutras. As Dr. Wallis explains, "Consciousness engages in this divine act of creation, preservation, dissolution, concealment, revelation....
What does it mean when a scripture or spiritual teacher tells us to “mentally keep quiet?” It means to raise above your mind. When I did that, in that moment, I didn’t see all the differences, all the separateness. I saw only the unity in all of the diversity—the...
The real goal of Yoga is to understand oneself by making the mind clean and calm. Yoga is not just a set of physical postures, meditation, and breathing techniques. Yoga helps us to develop mental purity and serenity, which are both necessary to understand oneself....
In this video, Deepak Chopra, MD talks with Yoga scholar/practitioner Christopher Hareesh Wallis about the 1,000 year-old tradition of Nondual Saiva Tantra. Dr. Wallis is asked to explain the essence of mantra and yantra, considered "pre-modern technologies," which...
To maintain our peace of mind we must raise ourselves above the duality to experience the nonduality. But what does that mean? It doesn’t mean we need to leave our homes and go somewhere else. And we don’t need to just sit and be quiet doing nothing. If that were the...
We seem to have been running around a lot, doing all kinds of things, just to find a little happiness. When everything failed we looked elsewhere and thought, Maybe I can have a little peace if I move to such and such place. Unfortunately, wherever we go, we carry our...
In this podcast, Rev. Jaganath Carrera and Avi Gordon (director of the Integral Yoga Teachers Association) discuss the importance of wonder and attention, the nature of the mind and the power of acceptance. Rev. Jaganath is the founder of Yoga Life Society. He's a...
What we call “God,” is the Cosmic Consciousness. It is our natural state of peace and joy. That Cosmic Consciousness is infinite. It has no limitation, it never changes, it is omnipresent and eternal. That’s what is meant by immortal. It is in you, as the real you. So...
Happiness is not something that can come from the outside. One of the things we seem to depend upon for our happiness is physical beauty. We don’t want to accept the fact that we will get old and our bodies will change. When we see others getting old we may think to...