New Moon -- Turn a New Page

Friday night end of the month of Shivan (May 15-June 16)
Late sunset, looking West
Taking notes in a clearing near the Rivanna Trail

For good health at this time
Use upright Yoga postures
See the letter symbol Vahv (V)

O ye people of the book
Turn a new page
Let your prophet re-appear
See the letter symbol Tet (t)

I am an ocean of love and light

It’s dark on the way out of the forest
Lightning bugs keep showing me the path
Even where to pause for a dangerous dip

I remember catching lightning bugs as a boy
Punching holes in the top of the jar for air
And letting them go. Also, getting my younger brothers and cousins
To let them go free. They haven’t forgotten

On the way, on the dark path home I realize
I am this forest, these trees, this sky. It’s magnificent
And frightening too – so much mystery and depth

I stop and gently shake a lifted tree branch as a wave offering
From us – the entire forest
Now all the trees and bushes are my pals
We touch each other affectionately as I leave the woods

* * *

We Really Are Free

End of Sabbath up in the Blue Ridge Mountains
Birds calling sun descending
This is the end of a day and the beginning
Of a new day and a new week

Brought along my tenor guitar.
Singing as the sun sets:
“O I’ve come up to your mountain
Tell me what to do”

Sing my names. Dance, worship and play
Have fun and witness
And show the way

What are your names?

You know a few. Discover more
This very week

There sinks the sun
Brilliant orange gold
It’s almost too much
To behold

* * *


We really are free o m

What's the Use of your Education

What profit is there from learning and scholarship
If it does not lead you to the feet of the divine Section 1 Kural 2

What is the use of your education if you are not going to realize God and use your life for the service of humanity in the name of God? This is the purpose of education. This is real education. Examinations and grades are not that important. They have their part, but keeping the mind well balanced is the most important. Learn the lessons well, but not with the intention of competing with anybody. Even your studying can be a sort of meditation. Don't even worry about grades. Just ask yourself: "Am I studying well? Am I getting the essence? Am I getting the knowledge?" You study for the knowledge, not for the grade.

Grading itself sometimes degrades the education. Everybody is equal, but not all will have the same capacity. You do to your capacity; that's all. In a way there are no two human beings one hundred percent similar. So forget all this competition. Keep your mind calm and say, "I am doing all I can. I am learning to get knowledge so that I can equip myself for future service to humanity and that's my goal in studying. Not to make money or to do anything else. I am simply equipping myself to serve humanity better.”

This will keep your mind calm and serene. This will turn your studying into sadhana, spiritual practice. Whenever you are doing anything in the name of service to humanity, it becomes sadhana; it becomes Karma Yoga, selfless service – including all your studies.

Even when you eat, you can feel, "I am eating to gain enough pure energy to serve people.” Then your eating also becomes Karma Yoga. You’re not eating for your sake. It might seem like you’re eating for your stomach. But who ultimately gets the benefit? Others. A car gets polished, a lube job, a full tank of gas -- but for whose sake? For the car? No, for the owner who uses the car. In this way, you keep yourself, your vehicle, in good shape. Put in the proper fuel. Have the lube job done well. Don't let your radiator boil over.

In the same way, education is to equip yourself to serve others. That’s real education.

Selected from Sri Swami Satchidananda’s Commentaries on the Tirrukural
For the entire book, contact Integral Yoga Publications 434/969-3121

Good Business Yoga

When in business, if you look after the concerns of others
As your own -- your business will prosper Section 14: Kural 120

The seller should put himself in the position of the buyer.
And the buyer should put himself in the position of the seller

You can be a very good business person and also a good Yogi who does fair business. If you’re the seller, just think how would you want to buy something? You would want to buy a very clean product that’s worth the money you pay. The seller should think, “I'm honestly giving a clean product and it’s worth the price.” The buyer should be thinking, "I'm not here to get away with a steal. I should pay a fair price. After all, the seller had to take time to go far to get the product and then present it to me at my convenience. Otherwise, I’d have to go to the manufacturer myself. So, I should pay the seller the price he paid plus some of his overhead expenses, plus a little profit to continue his business.”

During my business period I used to clearly explain what’s behind the price: Parts ‑ this much; Labor - this much; My profit -- this much.” You can even explain the profit: My overhead (rent, electricity, telephone, labor, etc.) - this much.” These I've paid already including. labor and overhead expenses. This percentage is for my profit. This is the total; take it or leave it.

You’re not interested in robbing anyone, and at the same time you’re not interested in losing money because you also should grow. Sometimes there’s a rainy day. There will be a certain month business will be low, maybe not even enough to cover your overhead expenses. Think on all these things before you fix a price. Then explain it clearly if customers want to know. It might take awhile to build your business that way. But once your customers know that you’re that honest, they’ll never go anywhere else.

Once the saint Ramakrishna saw that one of his students, a very humble disciple at the time in charge of the kitchen, had gone to the market and bought a wok. “How much did you pay?” asked Ramakrishna.

“Ten rupees, sir.”

“How much did he ask?”

“He asked ten rupees."

“You just paid ten rupees? Didn't bargain at all with him?”

"No, sir, I thought it was the right price.”

“How do you know that? Is the money from your pocket? It's Ashram money. You are doing business. Go back. Bargain a little. Say that our people say it's too much. I can give you only 5 rupees.”

And he went back, bargained a little and the buyer and seller agreed on a price of seven rupees. He came back with three rupees. That's good. That's also yoga. There's nothing wrong in asking for a lower price. If you don't ask, you don't get.

A Yogi should respect everybody and everything – including money. Respect your dollars. In India there are festivals, auspicious occasions where devotees put bundles of currencies and coins on the altar and worship God as the goddess Lakshmi in the form of money. There’s nothing wrong in it. Money is also God in a different form of energy. If you don't respect it, it won't come to you.

Sometimes I see people getting change, coins and currency. They just grab it and crush it together like a rag you’d throw in the trash bin. Then they tuck it below by their buttocks. What kind of respect for money is that? Instead, take it and fold it neatly. When I receive some dollars, immediately I see if the corners are dog-eared. I straighten them up, put them together all the head all one side, fold it well and then put it in the pocket. I respect money. And the money knows. It's happy to come to you if you respect it. If you treat it in a rough way, “Oh, what kind of person is he who doesn't even know my worth.”

Nowadays pockets are low. But it’s good to carry your money next to the heart. See everything as manifestations of the same cosmic energy and treat it and respect it all properly; this is Yoga.

Selected from Sri Swami Satchidananda’s Commentaries on the Tirrukural
For the entire book, contact Integral Yoga Publications 434/969-3121

Blue Lagoon

B l u e L a g o o n
A Relationship with a Spiritual Teacher

If you have a little musical talent, you can learn to play a guitar all by yourself. Just by listening to others, watching them play and playing a lot yourself, over the years you can learn a good bit that way. But you can learn a lot faster with a mentor, a skilled master who can point out that if you just hold your arm this way, you can reach the strings more easily and move around too. Of course, you’re bound to learn this yourself eventually -- when you’re 65.

The best athletes in the world, the Olympians, all have personal coaches. And they were quite talented even before they found their coaches. Since what we spiritual seekers are up to is nothing less than self-mastery, doesn’t it stand to reason that we’ll be more effective and successful in our endeavors if we get some guidance from someone who has already achieved self-mastery? This is a no-brainer.

Wonderful books by wise people are real treasures. Altars with spiritual objects and images are safe havens. But a religious symbol or a picture or statue on the altar won’t knock us on the head when we doze off during meditation. A spiritual teacher who loves us will sometimes point out our foolishness to speed us on the way. And that’s the ticket home; find your guru

Guru in Sanskrit means remover of darkness or ignorance. However beware, sometimes the ego masquerades as your guru. It’s very useful to have a real person showing the way. But when we become convinced that having a personal spiritual preceptor is a key for all the locks, now what? We can’t insist on exactly when our teacher will appear. We can’t just snap our fingers. It’s like finding our beloved. But we can prepare ourselves for the re-union. It’s like using a Hatha Yoga Book or CD before venturing to check out the active Yoga instructors in the area.

As you come across others’ teachers and you consider them yourself, observe those teachers: are they attached to their students or to name and fame, or both? Sometimes you may go on a few false starts. You might have thought a certain spiritual teacher was right for you, but after awhile you may sense this is not what you were really looking for. That’s okay, don’t drop out now. As an old Navy Seal, I can tell you that you often have to swim through coral reefs to reach the blue lagoon.

Students and guests at a program sometimes would ask Swami Satchidananda how to find their guru, how to know if this is the right person? Sri Gurudev would say. “Ask about his spiritual background, his lineage. See how he manages funds. Look carefully at his students -- do you like what you see? But finally,” he added, “the eyes meet and they don’t want to part.”

The relationship with one’s spiritual teacher is quite subtle and even irrational, sometimes with words, sometime with no words. You ask him one question and he often answers another, which was your real issue, but you weren’t conscious of it when you asked. It’s hard to follow a person who’s always seems to be changing and will challenge you, sometimes even hurt your feelings.

Some time ago when I was editing his commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita (Song of God), with Gurudev’s encouragement I was also rewriting all the verses or slokas into modern English. A couple years had passed. One day he called me. “How’s the Gita coming, Prahaladan?”

“Just fine,” Gurudev,” I replied.

“The operation will be a success, but the patient will be dead,” he said.” I got the message and completed the manuscript in a few weeks. He wasn’t talking to me just about that book project, but also about the way I’d been doing my whole life.

Perfect Service A long-time devotee, Amma Kidd tells a story about when she was serving as an assistant in his house when Gurudev had guests visiting. They were sitting together before a glass coffee table when she brought over some coffee and dessert. After the guests had gone, Gurudev called her over. “Amma, see this clear glass table; it renders perfect service and is nearly invisible. Let your service be just like that.”

Some guests had given a beautiful Tai Chi demonstration for Gurudev and some of his secretaries. After they left, he told his secretaries, ”Be just that centered, clear and peaceful – only do it ten times faster.”

The Refuge And of course, your spiritual teacher is always a refuge of love and comfort. After my dad died and I’d come back to the Ashram from his memorial service, Gurudev saw me in the hallway, came over, took me into his arms and held me near his heart. That was all and that was plenty.

On another occasion, I was fortunate to be among a few guests at a small dinner with Gurudev. Ice cream was being served for dessert with a goopy fruit topping that could be added. I jumped up to help serve the topping. As I reached over to spoon some over his ice cream, I spilled the fruit compote right onto the clean white table cloth beside his plate. I was mortified. Immediately, but unnoticeable to others, Gurudev gently laid his napkin over the dropped fruit and softly whispered to me, “Oh Mama.” I was able to continue serving.

Some of the things he told me over the years: “Pass the word. Do your own book. Use your own experiences. Make the letters clear and straight.” And he also said: “You know the teachings. Now can you live them!” To this day I live with that challenge and this great calling.

The teacher can’t walk the path for us. But he can point the way and give us tools to smooth the journey. We use the external guru until we have an unquestioned connection with the internal guru.

And what if your teacher dies, leaves his body, transcends? What then? Should you look for another person to show you the way if you’re not yet completely “realized?”

Yes and no.

According to the sages, nobody ever really dies. “What is, always is,” says the Bhagavad Gita, “and what isn’t, never will be.” Our bodies come and go like old clothes that we discard. Consciousness continues. A deep relationship with a spiritual teacher – or with anyone we really love – surely transcends a physical death. Sri Gurudev taught that, “The guru‑disciple relationship never ends. It’s always there. Whether the guru leaves the body, or the disciple does, they are not ever separated.”

Over the ages devotees from all walks and paths report on-going, spiritually intimate relationships with their spiritual preceptors – even after one or the other has left the body. Moreover, so many sincere seekers report connecting with a spiritual teacher whom they never met in person. For example, many down-to-earth Christians report a very real and on-going relationship with Lord Jesus, who left his body almost 2000 years ago.

I remember when a group of us were traveling in India with Sri Gurudev. At one location in the evening some Indian devotees were dancing a tale for us all. One of the dancers in particular was captivating us. "The dancer is telling the story of my life,” Gurudev explained. “He's never seen me before today.” He saw that surprised us. “I have many devotees who are very close with me and who've never met me physically." That opened my mind a little further.

Beyond Time and Space Even these days many Yoga practitioners speak of an intimate connection with Swami Satchidananda – and they never knew him in person. “Sometimes it’s better that way,” Gurudev used to say. “When you come to your teacher in person, the ego sometimes jumps up and gets in the way.”

Even so, I still think it’s good to have a teacher to talk with occasionally. He or she need not “replace” your long-time beloved, your spiritual preceptor, your Satguru.

The great 18th century hassidic master, the Baal Shem Tov, Master of the Good Name, told his disciples to find a wise teacher to assist them after he’d gone on. But how will we know who to choose? they said. “Ask him how to overcome pride,” said their teacher. “If he gives you an answer, keep looking. You have to watch out for pride ‘til your dying day.”

After Sri Gurudev left his body in August, 2002, I looked about to find him in some astral plane – so I could keep in touch with him. Then one morning I heard his voice speaking. “I’m here, Prahaladan; I’m inside you now.” That’s not possible, I thought, what about all my foolishness? “That’s okay, I’m here anyway. Time for you to be that Satchidananda.”

Staying Close So many of Gurudev’s disciples and devotees report very similar experiences, and the same message. Over the years when I had to lead a spiritual program I would go before my altar and ask Gurudev if he’d please step in and do it. Even after he left his body, I’d still do this. Recently I thought I heard that familiar voice say – “You don’t have to call on me; you do it this time.” I protested and asked, “Won’t you do it just one more time.”

“One more time,” that voice said, “but next time you do it.”

I agreed. Recently I led a Passover Seder at the Ashram in Virginia. As usual, we set up a small table for the prophet Elijah with his own wine (grape juice) glass. In past years Sri Gurudev would come in, sit there and share the Seder with us. Of course, we always filled the glass, and did so again this Passover. After the Seder as I was packing up my guitar, I noticed that the wine glass beside his plate was empty. I hadn’t seen anyone come and touch it or drink it. So I concluded that he was there and it all went okay.

As the great Tibetan Yogi, Milarepa lay dying, he called his closest disciples forward and whispered his last teachings to them: “Don’t do anything you’d feel sorry for later.”

Last Words On July 20th 2002 I went to a Guru-Poornima weekend celebration at the Virginia Ashram, a full moon time when disciples and devotees traditionally honor their guru – and the ultimate guru also. I didn’t realize this would be the last time I’d see my beloved Gurudev in person this lifetime. A few weeks later, while visiting with devotees in India, he left his body rather suddenly. That July morning at Yogaville, I was still in the habit of taking notes as he spoke. These are the last words I heard my teacher say:

“The gurus are everywhere
When the moon is full the mind is fully open
This is Guru Poornima [Enlightening Fullness]

“You learn from everybody and everything
If you’re ready to hear

“Give all your fruits to others, and pray:
Make me a good listener!

“Take lessons from everyone and everything in life.”

* * *

The Healing Breath

Loving greetings of peace in Satchidananda.

Try out some deep breathing with visualizations to heal any area of your body and mind. Here is info for doing so.

1. Sit quietly and comfortably with straight back, open shoulders and chest. Call on the one you adore.
2. Begin deep three-part breathing (Dheerga Swasam). After a couple minutes
3. Add visualization and a short retention at top of the in-breath, and continue a few minutes longer.
4. Sit quietly with normal breathing enjoying the results of this practice.

Dheerga Swasam Deep three-part breathing: Inhale thru the nostrils way down into the abdominal portion of the lungs until the abdomen puffs out a little. (Don’t overdo it or strain).

Breathe it out gently and slowly thru the nostrils. At the end of the out-breath draw in the diaphragm a little to force out a bit more air from the bottom of the lungs. After a few in and out breaths, next time fill up the abdominal portion of the lungs and also the chest area. Breathe it out slowly as before, remembering to draw in the abdomen a little at the end of the exhale.

After a couple times, repeat again, but this time fill the abdominal portion, the chest portion and also breath up into the chest all the way to the chin so the collar bone tends to rise just a little -- like filling a vessel from the bottom to the top.

Be careful not to work too hard at this or move the body much. It’s mostly directing the breath with the mind. This is Dheerga Swamam, the deep, three-part Yogic breath.

The Visualization: During the in-breath visualize white light/gold light prana (vital energy) coming into your system from above, coming down through the crown of the head and down into the area that isn’t well. During the short retention, visualize the prana circulating about in that area, cleaning, purifying and strengthening all the cells and muscles in that part of the body. During the out-breath visualize any weaknesses or disturbances in that area of the body (and mind) washing out of the system, out of the body; and repeat a few times.

This is a very powerful practice. Try it out two or three times/day. You will see results within a few days, even sooner.

What I learned as a US Navy Frogman

What I learned as a US Navy Frogman (now called SEALS)

* Stick with your swim buddy, hell or high water. Dead or alive, don’t come back without him.

* Encourage an air of invincibility, also, be shrewd in the planning and the execution of a mission.

* Carefully prepare Plan Alpha, and always have a Plan Bravo, a back-up plan. (What if the boat or paddles are gone when you get back to the water’s edge with the microfilm? What’s the back-up plan? Swim out to the waiting sub? Go inland? Contact your buddy team?).

* Treat the men well; roll up your sleeves and join them sometimes during a challenging event. (Example: we have to move all the explosives manually within the next few hours. The whole team’s out there sweating – including the Platoon Commander.)

* Have fun on your missions, even outrageous. But don’t be careless or inadvertently harmful.

* Stay strong and flexible. Continue to swim when you’re not on an operation or a mission.

* There are a lot of brave people on your team. Honor them; but don’t indulge weaknesses.

* Praise a person publicly; correct him privately.

* Be pro-active. Freely come up with ideas and ways to improve the operations.

* The rules are guidelines. Be completely responsible for all your decisions and actions. Be ready for anything

Tell the Children

Tell the children through their generations to make fringes
In the corners of some of their garments

And put with the fringe of each corner – a thread of blue
A most beautiful blue

Whenever we look at that color
We remember all the teachings of God
And begin being that

Instead of being run round by old patterns of thought
Chasing after all our desires
And wander from the way

Just be these teaching; live them
That’s being holy to your Beloved
That’s back on track

Here’s the mantra:
I AM God Your Lord
Who brings you out of the narrows
To be your God
Ah-knee Elo-heem

* * *

Selections from the Book of Numbers Ch. 15: 37-41
Called BeMidbar, In the Wilderness
Prahaladan 6/8/07 15 Shivan 5767