Yoga Vashistha videos by Swami Premanand

India is an amazing country, its a land whose sustainable life practices which are ingrained in its culture, ensured that its civilization has continued despite facing numerous threats in past and present. Indians have had ideals like Buddha, Rama who have renounced even kingship for seeking deeper meanings of life. When the hankering in mind stops and it turns inwards, one realises the true value of our motherland. Seeking deeper meaning of life people visit saints and seek eternal meaning in this relative world. 

I too had the good fortune of learning  from a selfless master in Himalayas and attempted to learn the secrets of Yoga vashistha. There is no knowledge greater than Yoga Vashistha because it swallows the very mind which evaluates and judges knowledge as higher or lower. Some knowledge of Upanishads , Bhagavad Gita might be prerequisite to be able to understand and appreciate Yoga Vashistha. While I was in Himalayas I recorded the video lectures of regular Yoga Vashistha classes of  Swami Premanand Saraswati for the benefit of spiritual seekers who are born or even yet to be born

I understand that for a seeker Yoga vashistha can be baffling therefore have created a small summary which seeks to introduce the subject. 

Yoga vashistha says that individuality does not exists and presence of an independent identity apart from paramatmaa is an illusion. Lets discuss finer details of it.

You mean I dont exist ?

You exist, but your existence is not separate from the things you see. You see variety in nature but it exists only at surface level. All objects have one soul and are not different from Paramatman. So you exist as paramatman will be more appropriate thing to say.

So why do i feel pain, when i get hurt. Paramatman should feel pain.

.. continued in blog here 

http://antarikshbhardwaj.blogspot.com/2017/04/a-short-introduction-to-yoga-vashistha.html

It will continue to work on it and come with second part of the blog some day. 

Playlist of the videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21PWEtpJCUQ&list=PLYxIRByEkD2ABVgxU62E2pCUnIepcMHMA

A new learning : Initiatives

I conduct Regular Long Kriya at Eschborn on Sundays and its attended by people in Eschborn region. Many are registered for the messages, almost everyone value Kriya but ultimately actually few join the weekly Kriya. 

I took an initiative this time and decided to do something different than the normal message broadcast. I wrote a beautiful message which is different from usual and invoked quotes of Gita to remind people about importance of Kriya

nehabhikrama-naso 'sti

pratyavayo na vidyate

sv-alpam apy asya dharmasya

trayate mahato bhayat - Bhagavad Gita 

In this endeavour there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear.

Small investments of Yoga and meditation leads a lot of benefit cumulatively. 🙏

See you all 🙏

I then messaged few people and invited them personally for the Kriya. Today there were so many people that some had to even sit in other hall for Yoga practice. The environment had a vibrancy and the meditation deeper. 

I felt happy that a small initiative from my side made so much difference to people and many did the Kriya today.

So the learning is 

*Its not just enough to educate  people so that they understand the importance, sometimes a little nudge (follow up) is required so that they can cross over the initial sloth*  

#Learnings #Moral of the story 

HSS Camp : Raksha Bandhan unique contrast experienced

Few weeks back, i attended a yoga program organised in Bhakti Marga centre in Germany. The content of the program was designed by us with a view to inspire indians abroad and specially our younger generation which is growing up in Germany.

I conducted yoga sessions daily and also got an opportunity to take a seminar on vedic mathematics. The event had other amazing sessions like games, plays and essay writing etc.

Additionally, we also had a Raksha Bandhan event where young kids were to tie Rakhi to people at Bhakti Marga. it was such a sweet gesture intended to bring two communities together and  promote  one of the visions of Indian seers i.e “Vasudhaiva Kutumbkam” i.e one world family. I was briefing the audience about the significance of Raksha bandhan and spoke with measured words, considering the audience is western and Raksha bandhan might be difficult concept for them. I finished the introduction with a feeling  that something more should have been said and my introduction was academic without "Bhakti". 

After the event Swami Aniruddha who was a westerner born Hindu monk addressed the podium and thanked us for organising the program. I was amazed when he  recalled the story of Lord Krishna protecting draupadi as she had tied a Rakhi in the hands of Krishna. I was amazed at the aptness of the story and marvelled at the wisdom and his familiarity to traditions of India and inner spiritual depth. There are many abroad whose seeking of eternal truth has found fulfilment in India and they admire the traditions of India. 

As  a contrast i often read about some authors who try to portray Raksha Bandhan as an expression of patriarchal mindset and what not. Unfortunately these people do not know what India is and suffer from a inferiority complex. 

I recall a couplet from a hindi song  (Hum us desh ke vaasi hain Jis desh main Ganga Behti hai )

कुछ लोग जो ज़्यादा जानते है

इंसान को कम पहचानते है 

होठों पे सच्चाई रहती है

जहाँ दिल में सफाई रहती है

हम उस देश के वासी है

जिस देश में गंगा बहती है.

#BharatMataKiJai  

#Contrast #KnowIndia