What do you want to create? If your goal is to be useful to humanity, then it’s a creative goal. In fact, simply by thinking, we’re always creating something. But, our creation, our goal, should be useful to people. With that type of goal, you can do anything you...
There’s no doubt that Patanjali intended brahmacarya (brahmacharya) to mean “celibacy.” He wrote for and to young men who were monks in training. Let’s break the word down just a bit. Brahma means God, specifically the God of creation. And it also is a shortened form...
Here is my radical proposition: All attempts at growth motivated by disguised self-hatred ultimately fail, and often cause harm. Being “good enough” is only a thought, a mental construct. Nobody can be “good enough,” because that’s just a thought. If we imagine some...
In this column, Dale Ann Gray offers reflections on the yamas and niyamas of the Yoga Sutras, incorporating insights from classical Nondual Yoga. With the yama of asteya, we arrive at Patanjali’s second use of a negative prefix in the yamas. The definition indicates...
There is nothing more powerful than the human mind. The mind has a tremendous capacity, so it can be trained to do anything. We can see this in the mental accomplishments or siddhis. If your thought force is strong enough, just by simply looking at an ordinary piece...
When you are caught in feelings, thoughts, frustration and trying to figure out what to do, thoughts may arise like: What can I do? How can I be more spiritual? How can I be more surrendered? This is the mind just doing what it does—angling for advantage. The key here...
In this inspirational as well as practical advice video from 2020, Integral Yoga master teacher and center director, Nalanie Chellaram talks about how Yoga and meditation can help us to overcome the fears and anxieties we deal with in our daily lives and also the ones...
Cravings for pleasure are never ending. Every time you try to fulfill a craving, it’s like adding more gasoline to a fire that is already burning. We can’t eliminate desires completely and we don’t need to. Desires naturally arise in the mind. They only become...
In this column, Rev. Dale Ann Gray offers reflections on the yamas and niyamas of the Yoga Sutras, incorporating insights from classical Nondual Yoga. In this article, she unpacks the first yama, ahimsa (non-violence, non-harming). In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali,...
How to love everyone equally? It’s a beautiful question. There are so many differences among us in terms of age, physical characteristics, professions, and so on. The only way to love everybody equally is to see the common element running through all these...
In this 3rd installment of this series on "Raja Yoga Now," Swami Karunananda encourages our readers to explore what they are truly searching for in life. And, to consider how the teachings of Raja Yoga can support one's inner exploration and spiritual journey. What do...
In this new column, Dale Ann Gray offers reflections on the yamas and niyamas of the Yoga Sutras, incorporating insights from classical Nondual Yoga. In this article, she offers an overview on the distinctions between the dualistic philosophy of Patanjali’s Yoga and...
This talk was given by Sri Swami Satchidananda to a gathering of members from the Lions Club and Rotarian Club organizations in Hong Kong. The main reason behind all the world’s problems is selfishness. Living an unselfish life means that we perform our actions for...
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...
The practice of Yoga and the science of Yoga, or Yogabhyasa and Yogavidya, are two of the traditional ways that Yoga is described. Yoga is a practice (abhyasa) and a science (vidya). While asanas and pranayama are immensely popular and currently the most visible...
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...