The Greatest Gift God Has Given Us - Baiji's Satsang

Mahatma Gautum Baiji did her satsang this Sunday almost entirely in English. Here it is, paraphrased:

Yoga actually comes from yuj, to unite with our self.

So when we do that - when we practice yoga and unite with our selves - we tend to naturally experience questions like "Why are we living?"

Why are we living?

To achieve something.

Obtaining material things? No, we know there is more. So what do we really want to achieve?

Peace.

When we're missing peace, the mind is upset. Without peace, everything else - especially the material things - are useless.

And nobody is selling peace...

Cell phones can do many amazing things. They can make calls, give directions, bring you news, etc. But they won't do any of those things if you don't charge it.

But when you get home at night and are ready to charge it, do you merely set it on top of the charger without plugging it in? No - you must connect it.

In the same way, we cannot find peace outside of ourselves. We must connect to it.

If I say, "God is in my heart..." Is my heart in a temple? Is my heart in a church?

God is in my heart, which is inside of me. (The word yoga itself refers to linking with God.)

So we might then ask ourselves, what is God?

God is energy. Think of electricity. It's not a bulb, but it can light up a room. It's not the air conditioner, but it can cool the room, or heat the room through a heating unit.

Once we realize God is within our heart all the time, we will understand that we need nothing else. This is peace.

But we need the eye to see it.

If you have a mound of sugar and sand mixed together, an ant will always know where the sugar is - such is his ability to focus.

A magnifying glass can burn paper because of its ability to focus on it.

Once we realize that God is within our heart all the time, we will need nothing else.

Without it, we are wasting our life...

The ability to be still and go inside to experience this - to meditate - is the greatest gift God has given us.

In the Bagavad-Gita, it is the technique that Krishna gave to Arjuna.

And yet if someone says "Let's go to a movie," we're ready, but if someone says "Let's meditate for fifteen minutes," we're suddenly too tired. Or busy.

We can have a healthy body, but a sick mind from no meditation and too many worldly distractions helps no one.

If you have a boat in the water, you are fine. But if too much water gets in the boat, you will sink. The same with too much of the world...

With meditation, we can get whatever we want. And what do we want most?

Peace.

 

A Great To-Do List

Start With the Thoughts

Now here

We Need More Gardeners

What a different world it would be...

From crime to mental health issues, homelessness. From students to office and factory workers.

And especially the raising of our children.

"When a flower doesn't bloom you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower" is a statement that empowers us. It doesn't just state a problem - the solution itself is embedded.

And because it's an empowering statement, it doesn't make us victims.

It shifts our perspective and puts us in the driver's seat. That's why I shared it.

Thanks to Alexander den Heijer.

Amen

Let the Light Out

To the Point

We Are Like the Rain - Baiji's Satsang

On Sunday, the baiji said:

What our life becomes... who we become... is largely due to the people we surround ourselves with.

In this way we are like water, which can find itself in many places, and become many different things.

The water that falls from the sky as rain and lands on dirt becomes mud.

The rain that falls into the ocean helps create the pearls found in clams.

Some rain will land on banana leaves and create camphor.*

And without water for the snake, there would be no venom.

Unlike the animals and insects, we are conscious creatures who can direct our lives and choose where we will land.

*A highly regarded waxy flammable solid with an aromatic odor used in cooking and spiritual services 

We Only Have the Capacity For So Much Flux

Why is Ganesh Represented as an Elephant?

Here's a relatively short answer to Ganesh's (or Lord Ganesha's) appearance:

"The ancient sages, in their infinite wisdom, have designed Hindu deities with specific Vedantic attributes in mind.

Lord Ganesha, also called Ganapati or Vinayaka, is presented in the form of a human body with the head of an elephant. This blend of human and animal parts is a symbolic representation of a perfect human being, as conceived by Hindu sages. His head symbolizes wisdom, understanding, and a discriminating intellect that one must possess to attain perfection in life. By worshipping Ganesha, a Hindu seeks God's blessings for achieving success in one's endeavors in the physical world and for attaining perfection thereafter."

And this:

"Lord Ganesha, popularly known and easily recognized as the Elephant-God, is one of the most important deities of the Hindu pantheon. Before every undertaking, be it laying of the foundation of a house, or opening of a store or beginning any other work, Lord Ganesha is first worshipped so at to invoke his blessings. Ganesha has many names. The main ones are Ganapati (lord of the ganas, or attendants), Vighneshwara (controller of all obstacles), Vinayaka (the prominent leader), Gajaanana (elephant-faced), Lambodara (pendant-bellied), and Ekdanta (having one tusk)."

Seeking Union

This Love is Rare

Yin and Yang

Do yoga and be okay with all of it.

Don't Disturb Your Mind With Seeking

to be simple

Rinse and Repeat

Have You Checked to See If You're Truly Free?

A cliche? Perhaps. But still, many of us won't fully embrace our true selves and live a life of joy and freedom.

We're crippled by the fear of being seen as dumb, weird, or stupid, which we're afraid will lead to being ridiculed, humiliated, unaccepted, unloved and ostracized, which would be hell for most of us.

Just for being who we want to be, and doing what we want to do.

So instead, we do what we think we're supposed to do. And we're unhappy.

We could change overnight, but it can be difficult to overcome years of conditioning.

Yoga and meditation helps immensely, and fairly quickly. Counseling and workshops help also.

Being in an inquiry about it is a great open-ended way to approach it. It means that "even if there are no easy or immediate answers, I will continue to inquire and focus on it until I'm healed."

As long as we acknowledge it's there in the first place.

It helps to have a little support.

To sum it up, we pleased X people by doing X things, then later realized we liked Y things. We knew X people didn't like Y things, so we buried it and kept doing X things unhappily, not realizing the Y people were waiting for us to be Y with them.

Then we couldn't bear it anymore and starting doing Y things. X people got confused and went away, but we found Y people and that was good. You can't get mad at X people for not liking Y because they're X people. To them we changed. To us we took off a costume we didn't know we were wearing. Now we feel freer.

The end? No. The beginning. 

Words of Love

Can I Take It Home in a Jar?

Ego Fights Change, Then Self Reaps Reward

self vs. Self

This sounds strange to a part of me. "Not leave footprints?! Not make my mark? But... people need to know what I can do!" we might say pridefully.

For me, there is a lingering echo of ego that gets validation out of being known as "a something," a label that used to make me feel very ego-proud (artist, writer, produced playwright, whatever)...

...as opposed to a spiritual being having a human experience.

I would have defended it before. I would have taken umbrage if I thought someone was trying to "take it away from me" (the label) because I had convinced myself it WAS me.

"Let it go."

We hear those words often, but rarely do we let everything go.

What do we have to unburden ourselves with that would make life easier and our spiritual journey more joyful? It might be good - and educational - to take an inventory of the things we believe ourselves to be... and see if we can let them go.

And if we can't let them go today, maybe tomorrow. Or next week or next month.

(Note: I would keep labels like "mother" and "father" because we embrace them with love and joy - unless we indeed do take too much pride in the labels, then maybe we need to look at our relationship to them.)

Then enjoy your freedom!

Edit: I saw this and had to add it.

It makes sense that our ego is trying to get validation and fit in and be accepted and respected... by other people's ideas of who we should be.

Instead, we can let go and let God.

Edit #2: Okay, ONE MORE addition to this topic:

Ego, ego, ego.
Let it go, let it go, let it go.

A River of Coolness, a River of Peace

The baiji told this story:

Once there was a man who was peacefully going about his simple life. One day several men approached him and began mocking him. Their leader took particular joy in making fun of this simple man.

How did the man react to the taunts? He listened to them, and he kept listening. Most people would be deeply wounded by these words that were meant to cause great pain. Some might be moved to commit violence, but this man appeared unaffected.

After a time, the simple man spoke. "I'm sorry, but I have somewhere I have to go right now. If you like, I can return afterward and you can continue saying these things to me."

The leader looked at him harshly, then left in disgust.

The man watched him for a moment, then turned to go on his errand.

One of the others ran up and stopped him, saying, "Why did you not react to his nasty words? He was trying to hurt you, but you seemed to not even care!"

The man looked at him plainly. "You could say his words were like fire, right? And when fire meets water, what happens? It's extinguished."

"What do you mean?"

"There is a river in my heart. A river of coolness. A river of peace."

And at that moment, the men were instantly transformed. Not because the man tried to force them to change, but because of who he was, because of who he was being.

Now, they had the knowledge.

Without the knowledge, Baiji said, we react without thinking, too quickly to respond from our heart.

This knowledge must be taken to heart, so we can come from there in all our interactions. This will help provide the life of peace and bliss we are looking for.

20 Minutes of Yoga Can Make You Smarter

I have to say, I feel smarter after doing yoga for 20 minutes this morning. Science even backs it up.

By smarter, I mean aware (not groggy), relaxed (not anxious on a Monday morning), and... happy (not the opposite of happy).

This article explains it: "The ability to maintain focus and retain and use new information improved immediately after practising Hatha yoga just for 20 minutes. Participants performed significantly better immediately after the yoga practice than after moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise for the same amount of time," said researchers at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

The other good news? Yogis healthy relationship with their ego won't let this information go to their head.

 

the ability to maintain focus and retain and use new information - improved immediately after practising Hatha yoga just for 20 minutes.

"Participants performed significantly better immediately after the yoga practice than after moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise for the same amount of time," said researchers at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/47748063.cms?cfmid=7000000&utm_source=CTNNetwork&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ETPAN_02JULY15&utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

the ability to maintain focus and retain and use new information - improved immediately after practising Hatha yoga just for 20 minutes.

"Participants performed significantly better immediately after the yoga practice than after moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise for the same amount of time," said researchers at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/47748063.cms?cfmid=7000000&utm_source=CTNNetwork&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ETPAN_02JULY15&utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

the ability to maintain focus and retain and use new information - improved immediately after practising Hatha yoga just for 20 minutes.

"Participants performed significantly better immediately after the yoga practice than after moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise for the same amount of time," said researchers at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/47748063.cms?cfmid=7000000&utm_source=CTNNetwork&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ETPAN_02JULY15&utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

What You Focus On Grows

I've sampled many different spiritual texts and practices. Some resonated with me more than others.

But I was essentially a jack of all trades, master of none.

You heard about the man who tried to serve two wives? Or was it two masters?

Same thing. It didn't work out well for either.

It turns that we can only get real value out of something by concentrating on it, on just that one thing. 

I'd always heard that. Always believed it. Now that I am experiencing it, I see what all the hubbub is about. 

When we focus, we go deeper. 

What we focus on expands. 

And we're rewarded for our efforts.