Understanding Enlightenment and Awakening For many, the terms enlightenment and awakening evoke the promise of extraordinary experiences. Referring to a concept that has intrigued and captivated truth seekers throughout history, these terms are often associated with...
The essential teaching and goal of Yoga is to make the mind calm. “Yoga chitta vritti nirodha,” says the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. That means that Yoga is the calming of the waves created in the chitta, the mind by keeping the mind balanced under all conditions. In...
To understand a jivanmukta you have to become a jivanmukta. Jivanmukta means one who is alive and liberated. There is still karma but probably not their own karma. They perform actions for the sake of others. That’s also a karma. They are liberated souls, but not...
It is not what you do that is so important. What is more important, is why you are doing anything. We must ask ourselves, What is there to gain by doing something? Remember, you are God’s image. So, you must have all the qualities of God, such as purity, love, and...
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...
A student once told me how he was having beautiful experiences in meditation but was distressed because his experience of his daily life wasn’t beautiful or good. I asked this student to explain what his meditation experience was like. His reply was, “Well, I...
The ego should either become nothing or everything. When it comes to the ego, I don’t believe in the proverb that says that something is better than nothing. You should either become nothing or become everything, but not something. Nothing is better than something. We...
I often quote Avvaiyar, a very great saintly female poet from South India. She was clever with her use of words and never wasted any. Just a few words were enough to give you a great message. Somebody asked her, “How can I arrive at my home?” or in other words, “How...
We all talk about realizing “the Truth.” If you want to realize the Truth, you should know what the Truth is. Otherwise, you might have it right here and not even recognize it. Whatever it is that you want to experience, you should have an idea in your mind what to...
Question: If the Self is already realized and if it is already Divine, why do we need the experience of enlightenment to know this? Swami Satchidananda: Who said the Self is already realized and already Divine? Do you know positively? If you know this positively, you...
Recently, someone asked a question: “If peace and unconditional love are our natural state, why is it that we have forgotten? We have forgotten because we’ve been given the free will to forget. You are free to choose either way. Peace is our nature no doubt, but we...
Many westerners are first introduced to Yoga through asana, the practice of the yogic postures. As one’s practice deepens, it can lead to an interest in further exploring aspects of Yoga. In this interview, we talk with Dr. David Frawley—considered to be an acharya, a...
The aim of all spiritual practice is to know your real Self, to know the Knower. Spiritual practices are done, essentially, to help clean your mind so that you can realize your spiritual truth—to realize the divine in you. Only when you have a clean mind can you...
Sample from the Fall 2007 issue of Integral Yoga Magazine By Jean Dunn Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj is considered one of the twentieth century’s great Jnana Yogis. He was regarded as a Jivanmukta (living liberated soul) and as such, he was surrounded by many sincere...
Sample from the Spring 2008 issue of Integral Yoga Magazine An Interview with Sri Dharma Mittra In 1984, Sri Dharma Mittra completed the now famous “Master Yoga Chart of 908 Postures,” an offering to his Guru, Sri Swami Kailashananda, that can be found hanging in many...