In her most recent album, The Eternal Nature of the Soul, Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2, yogi and musical artist NIKUNJA sings the slokas of chapter 2 in English. The album, awash with inspirational orchestration accompanying NIKUNJA's ethereal voice, may be streamed and...
I crunched through the leaves toward the trailhead. A chill wind chased the clouds from the turquoise face of the sky. I paused under the maple tree to chant Om before my morning walk. In the branches overhead, yellow leaves fluttered like prayer flags. One released...
To know a Satguru you should know how a Satguru would be. That’s what Arjuna asked of Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita: “How am I to know a person of steady wisdom (sthitaprajna)?” Arjuna then asked Sri Krishna to describe how such a person would walk, how they would...
The Himalayas are indeed a crown and spread their victory flag in the sky. The Indian Ocean, in the south, acts as though it washes the feet of the emperor. In between, a thriving sun of culture has been shining for thousands of years over the waves of the Ganga and...
Satya, truth, stands second in Patanjali’s list of virtues or “restraints.” Most often rendered with respect to speech, like ahimsa, satya broadens to include thought and deed. Under the rubric of ahimsa, the commentators advocate that truth not be spoken unkindly,...
In part 4 of this series, we talked about Dhritarāśhtra, the blind king. We can consider him to be manas, the lower mind. And we also talked about Sanjaya, his minister, who we said could be considered our conscience. The king is blind, but he is not deaf. He does...
As long as you feel that you are doing something, then you are responsible. But when you don’t feel that you are doing anything, and you feel that you have completely surrendered into the hands of a Higher Power that does everything, where is the karma for you? When...
Many of us come to meditation for the first time to still our mind. We recognize that the source of suffering has something to do with the way our minds work (or don’t work) and we believe that by sitting still and taming our mind we will become calm and peaceful. One...
In Part 3 of this series, we read the first verse of the first chapter, and we were introduced to the blind King Dhritarāśhtra. This week I’d like to introduce us to Sanjaya. Let me share the first verse again: “Dhritarāśhtra asked, What did the Pāndavās and my sons...
On August 12, 2002, Sri Swami Satchidananda gave satsang at the Integral Yoga Institute of Coimbatore during which he answered questions. This excerpt is part of the last recorded satsang of Sri Swamiji and follows his participation as a keynote speaker at the World...
I would like to continue this series with a little more background and history to set the stage and context for our study of the Bhagavad Gita. Throughout the ages people, probably throughout the planet, maybe possibly other planets, went deep into the mind,...
Integral Yoga Publications is pleased to announce the release of The Living Gita by Swami Satchidananda on Audible (read by Sri Piyush Agarwal). Listening to the Gita come alive is a whole new experience! The Bhagavad Gita tells the story of how Arjuna, the great...
In Episode 14 of the "Two Old Fogey Yogis" podcast, our two yogis discuss the study of foundational texts in the Yoga tradition and how to work with these in a way that engages them as “literary incarnations” filled with living wisdom. They also explore what the...
Stephen Cope changed my life. He might change yours, too. Need inspiration today? You got it. Put away your yellow highlighter when you read a Stephen Cope book. You’ll find yourself marking almost every sentence. The whole book will be yellow. Fifteen years ago, I...
The entire Bhagavad Gita is a series of questions and answers between Sri Krishna and his disciple, Arjuna. In chapter 13, Arjuna asks for knowledge about prakriti and Purusha. Arjuna asks: “What is knowledge and what is it that is to be known?” In those days, none of...
In this interview, renowned Yoga teacher Rod Stryker explores the four motivating forces in life and how a steady spiritual practice can bring those to fruition in a way that helps us live happy, healthy and fulfilling lives. Stryker believes that the aim of practice...