The great South Indian sage Thiruvalluvar said, “What is tapasya (penance)?” Tapasya doesn’t mean go and close your eyes and meditate. That’s easy, comfortable. Tapas means to burn. A spiritual seeker is supposed to practice tapasya. Thiruvalluvar says, “The more you...
In the previous chapter of this journey tracing the spiritual legacy of Swami Satchidananda, we touched on the mystical experience he had while meditating at the samadhi shrine of Siddhar Bhogar in Palani. It was there—surrounded by the silent vibrations of Tamil...
Everything takes its own time to mature, including one’s spiritual maturity. Just because you pray a raw fruit will ripen, it won’t ripen overnight. Imagine that you plant a seed and you just sit there and pray, “Please seed, I have planted you and I hope you will be...
In our last installment, we journeyed back to 1942, when Ramaswamy (later known as Swami Satchidananda) traveled to Palani, a sacred pilgrimage site steeped in centuries of spiritual significance. This holy place in Tamil Nadu has long been a sanctuary for saints and...
For many years, I’ve given a talk on New Year’s resolutions at our annual Integral Yoga New Year’s Retreat. I focus mainly on setting achievable goals for a regular spiritual practice of poses, breathing, relaxation and meditation. Here’s a few suggestions from that...
The United Nations General Assembly has set a powerful intention for global harmony by unanimously declaring December 21st as World Meditation Day. This landmark resolution on December 6, 2024, invites the world to pause, reflect, and embrace the transformative...
If you want to see well through a window, you have to clean both sides. Practice (abhyasa) and non-attachment (vairagya) work much the same way. They are the complimentary practices given in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras as a means to quiet the movement of thought in the...
A few years ago, I read an article titled “Humility, The Virtue No One Wants.” It was a good title, I thought, because humility is maybe just a little too close to the word humiliation for comfort, a bit like shame, the sort of thing we think we’d like to get away...
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...
Integral Yoga Media is please to offer the newly mastered audio recording “Swami Satchidananda Teaches the Meditation Ślokas.” These ślokas are part of the daily meditation sessions at Satchidananda Ashram Yogaville and Integral Yoga centers around the world. Integral...
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...
Huddled inside my heaviest winter coat at the edge of a pond, I watched as my coffee steam merged with misty clouds of my breath. At dawn the cranberry bog in coastal Massachusetts was an expanse of frozen sand and wiry tangles of russet vines; old snow scudded across...
What is Yoga? In simple words: to remain with ease and peace. You might wonder what that ease is. I am talking about that ease, which you disturbed and then called yourself dis‑eased. Even to become a diseased person you should have had ease before, is it not so? If...
In North America, the Spring season will soon be behind us giving way to the Summer Solstice in June. Spring has long been a time of transition, when the dark and barren days of winter give way to light, warmth and new growth. Before summer is upon us, this month’s...
As someone who enjoys crafting, the advertisement for the “Original Magic Mat” (a die-cutting crafting aid), suddenly took on an entirely new meaning after experiencing Yoga teacher training. I’ve seen this ad before, but I’ve never thought about anything more than...
Wayne Teasdale (1945-2004) was a lay monk who combined the traditions of Christianity and Hinduism in the way of the Christian sannyasa. In The Mystic Heart (1999), he presented a bold and imaginative picture of the dawn of a new age of interspirituality when people...