Learn Sahaja Yoga

Learn: The Nature of the Spirit

2009-03-06T07:49:00.000-08:00

How Much Should One Meditate?

2009-02-24T06:33:00.000-08:00

"Eight minutes are sufficient. It’s the attitude that is going to help your growth, not you are sitting for eight hours on one leg or something like that. There are some sadhus who just stand up and put one leg like this and they say, “We are sitting on one leg”. That’s not going to help. It’s a living process, and the living process has to be worked out in a living way. Allow it to work out. Allow it to grow."

--1986-0906,Ganesha Puja, California-USA

Hamsa Chakra: Introduction

2009-02-07T10:23:00.000-08:00

a> As we head out for a capstone seminar in Toronto, for newly established students of Sahaja Yoga, I was asked to compile a handout on Hamsa Chakra. Using Nirmala Search, here is a part of what came together:

Location: Hamsa chakra is part of visshudhi chakra and is placed at a point between the eyes.

Treatment: (Not Published Online)

The Expression of Ida and Pingala is given through the Hamsa Chakra
We have never yet paid much attention to this center of Hamsa, which is, I think, very important for the Western world, rather than for the Indian or the Eastern. The reason is, at the Hamsa chakra, part of the Ida and Pingala come out and manifest - means the expression of Ida and Pingala is given through the Hamsa chakra. So this Hamsa chakra is the one that, as if has not gone up to the Agnya, but is holding on certain threads or certain parts of the Ida and Pingala. And they start flowing through your nose, expressing through your eyes, from your mouth and from your forehead. So you know that Vishuddhi chakra has got sixteen petals, which look after the eyes, nose, throat, tongue, teeth. But the expression part of it comes through the Hamsa chakra, of all these. So it’s a very, very important thing in a Western mind, to understand Hamsa chakra. There’s a beautiful couplet about this in Sanskrit, “Hansa kshveta ha, baka ha kshveta ha . ko bhedo hansa bakayo ho. Neera ksheera vivek e tu. Hansa ha hansaksh, baka ha baka ha.” Meaning ‘The crane and the swan, both are white. And what makes a difference between the two? If you mix the water and the milk together the hamsa (swan) will just suck in the milk. So it can discriminate between the water and the milk while the bakha, means the crane, cannot’. It’s a very significant thing for Sahaja Yogis to understand.

Read More: Sahaja Path Newsletter, CA

Meditation: How-To & Importance

2008-12-28T21:59:00.000-08:00

In this video, recently posted, one can know the importance of meditation. Shri Mataji elaborates on meditation, achieving the meditative state and benefiting from the process. What is the role of meditation? At what point are we in meditation? What happens to us in that stage? These questions are answered in this brilliantly selected extract:

Lifestyle Changes to Become Centered

2008-12-22T15:36:00.000-08:00

Welcome to another edition of the Learn Sahaja Yoga blog! Today's quote teaches us how to deal with our ego and superego, the two sides of our brain. Ego is the left brain, the terminal end of the right side and the superego resides in the right brain, the terminal end of the left side. (Refer to chakra chart in the sidebar).

Now we have to see that we have problems for superego and ego. Now superego is the left side, is darkness, tamo guna and our past. Those who have left side problems should think of the future - gives them balance, if they think of the future. For example, a person who is lethargic should take to working. Put your mind into working for the future planning: what to do, where to go, how to do. That will keep you away from drag of the left side, and gradually then you can balance yourself also.

Now the right side of a person, when it is activated very much, he has to balance it, not with the left side but with the center. That is, a person who is very hard-working must develop a witness state. You try to do a work, any work, indulge into work in thoughtless awareness, as a witness. Whatever work you are doing you just say that “I am not doing it.” This you can do it after Realization, become thoughtlessly aware and start doing your work.

So the compensation of the left side is done by movement to the right; and of the right side, movement in the center. Left side is the tamo guna, right side is the rajo guna, the center is the sattwa guna. But still these are three gunas. That’s not the state which we have to achieve.

Guided meditation: Video

2008-12-18T00:12:00.000-08:00

Today's meditation lesson comes from the fantastic Canadian website: freemeditation.ca

There are all possible permutations and combinations of the basic self-realization exercise available, my preference of media (video/text/images) and time constraints! Isn't that just great?

Check it out: http://freemeditation.ca/workshop/

Achieving Self Mastery

2008-12-09T10:04:00.000-08:00

Being our own master sounds too good to be true, however when you consider it is based on the living work of the true masters (Lao Tse, Confucious etc.), it starts being plausible. Vedic commentary does mention that the work of powerful saints, yogis and siddhas permeates into society via the ether through ideas that travel in the sub-concious. The ten most important masters of knowledge of this world have achieved the distinction of not only doing living work during their lifetimes, but the work remains within all humanity as the ten petals of the "void" region within us. The void region is the region surrounding the third chakra of peace & generosity below:

Religions followed the true masters, but the essence of their teachings stays within us as it is born with us (sahaja).

Toni, a yogi, recently came up with a mnemonic to remember the 10 primordial gurus, which was the inspiration behind this blog post:

R espected
A nd
M ighty
Z eus
L eads
C ourageous
S ouls and
M any
G ood
S aints

R aja Janaka
A braham
M oses
Z oraster
L ao Tse
C onfusius
S ocrates
M uhammed
G uru Nanak
S ai Baba

Udrang: The All Pervading, Living Force

2008-11-13T12:57:00.000-08:00

There is a subtle power which is described as the all-pervading Power of God’s love, as Paramachaitanya, as Udrang, as, so many other words have been used for this power, which does all the living work. Like we see the flowers so beautiful as they are but we take them for granted. We don’t see how they have come from a little seed, how they are blossoming in these different colors. All this living work we take for granted. We have also taken our evolution for granted and everything that autonomous nervous system does we have taken for granted, it’s a good thing in a way because it’s too much of a worry and botheration if you start thinking why of everything. But there is a power, which does all these things.

-- Shri Mataji, Miami, 1990

Learn & Fun Videos: Footsoaking

2008-11-10T10:16:00.000-08:00

Footsoaking is a wonderful exercise to clear out our lower chakras. The benefits are direct: at the first chakra you get grounded, at the second, reduce thoughts and at the third, reduce worries.

The first item here is a youtube video explaining footsoaking. The second one is a fun video showing two Canadian yoginis beating the odds to do a successful and fun footsoak: Enjoy!

Self-Realization Through Kundalini Awakening

2008-11-10T10:13:00.000-08:00

In the last two blog posts we got introduced to the concept of Sahaja and the inner being, our sublte system. Here we will follow a short guided meditation by founder of Sahaja Yoga, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi.

Knowing Your Inner Being

2008-11-10T07:53:00.000-08:00

Before getting to inner peace and balance, it is important to know the inner being. This animation introduces you to the system of chakras and channels within us. To know more about chakras and channels you can read on Sahaja Yoga Intro Book website.

How Does Sahaja Work?

2008-11-09T06:36:00.001-08:00

Welcome to the Learn Sahaja Yoga blog! This is the place to get some info on Sahaja Yoga form of meditation through videos, text and informative links to other educational websites. To start off, lets answer the question: What is Sahaja? Amongst other things, Sahaja means simple, spontaneous and easy. It is a way of doing things the smooth and easy way. Sahaja Yoga means getting union or awakening in a spontaneous way. The following video demonstrates the method aptly: