What is a value? How do we follow our highest good? In seeking moksha, or liberation, I must find a path that is suitable to me and connect with my personal values. This is my intention. So many things I am cultivating along the way, so many lessons to be applied. Slowly, slowly; but with a burning desire to attain self-realization in this very lifetime. At the end of the day, if I have acted upon my values I can remain at peace with myself and my truth.
One of our guest speakers, Dr John Beaulieu, gave a series of talks and meditations on The Sound of Yoga. He discussed the anatomy of sound, the visual representation of the elements through cymatics, the psychology & physiology of vibrations, inner & outer sound, and how to use feeling tones to connect with our values. In perfect coordination with the TTC mantra initiation, his group meditations using tuning forks & bija mantras were profoundly healing and left us all buzzing with inner sound.
At the center of a spiral is a point of stillness, through the center vortex you can go anywhere and do anything. The journey is always to find the center, all answers to all questions reside here.
Last week was definitely a time of shifting gears, mentally and physically, as all the TTC students have departed and all of the karma yogis moved into dorm rooms. With the slow season now in full effect I am taking the opportunity to intensify my sadhana, spiritual practice. Finding great benefits from small group discussions led by Swami Brahmananda, as well as opportunities to chant in satsang, help out in the kitchen, and cleaning yoga mats, in addition to teaching classes regularly at the ashram and at Ocean Club. We celebrated the Bahamas Independence Day and welcomed many locals to join us in our asana & pranayama classes, Friday morning my class had 40 students!
Today is Swami Sivanandaji's mahasamadhi, consciously detaching from his body in 1963. We were blessed with an inspiring lecture from Swami Brahmanada describing the character and traits of the enlightened guru. Sivanandaji was dynamic, unpredictable and would never put down another person but rather uplift everyone around him. One of his disciples describes, "He was not opposed to anything, even opposition."
 |
"I have negated names and forms, I alone exist ... I behold God everywhere, there is no veil"
|
In the temple today we held 12 hours of akhanda kirtan (unbroken chanting). Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya. Each of us taking turns chanting for 30 minutes, literally translating as "Salutations to the Enlightened Sivananda". When I arrived I felt strained at first, alone with my voice echoing through the room, alone with the gurus, the deities, the flowers. My voice cracked and I gasped for breath between repetitions, at a point I wondered if I might pass out - the realization hit me that I could not leave. The chanting cannot be broken. Then I closed my eyes and suddenly felt a rush of energy and prana filling up my lungs, strengthening & sculpting my voice. I lost all sense of time and allowed the chant to flow through my entire being. When the next yogi showed up to "relieve" me I was surprised to realized I had been chanting for a full hour. I left feeling high on the energy bestowed on me through Swamiji.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God. We live in a vibrational universe created from the very fabric of sound. The sanskrit mantras encase the cosmic energy into sound form. The bija, or literally "seed", is first an inner experience of sound that is translated into an outer sound and empowered by consciousness.
 |
| "When the mind becomes attuned, it is capable of hearing the voice of the unknown" - Dr. John Beaulieu |
