For a meditator, Vivek, the power to discriminate between the Unchanging and the ever-changing, is an absolute necessity. Without it s/he is eternally caught in the wheel of the mind that can only discriminate within the duality of its limited spectrum. The mind will know the difference between good and bad, black and white, right or wrong and especially between what it likes and doesn't like. In other words, the mind has the ability to discriminate within the dimension of th

Is it an exaggeration to say that the mind has the power to torture us? In a moment of stress, take 1 minute to sit and watch the content of your thoughts as they race through the mind. How much kindness and support are you seeing? Even the casual observation of everyday thinking reveals recurring patterns of self-judgment and doubts, of negative self-talk and the constant chatter of an insatiable inner critic. Becoming aware of the weighty messages we receive from our mind i

Many books have been written on the subject of Saadhana, a Sanskrit word that loosely translates as spiritual exercise. The term Saadhana is used to describe the variety of yogic practices that open the awareness of the Saadhak (the practitioner) to his True Nature, the Self. Most people are familiar with the practice of Aasana (physical postures) referred to as Yoga. They may also know about various exercises of relaxation and concentration that are the precursors of Meditat

Every time we sit down and close our eyes to meditate, we engage in a powerful process of transformation.

Santosh is the Superpower of Meditators. It gives one the ability to remain content under all circumstances, be they pleasant or unpleasant, challenging or not. Imagine a life where nothing and no one can shake you out of an unwavering sense of contentment and inner peace. Life still happens as it always has, but your inner power of Santosh is such that you remain unaffected by its ups and downs. You no longer react to life’s challenges by fighting to change them or bend them

Satsang is a Sanskrit word. It means to gather in the presence (sang) of the Truth (Sat). Satsang is a gift to yourself. It is the opportunity to consciously tune in to your ever-present inner Source or Self - to open yourself to it and to rest in it. Through Meditation, the chanting of Mantras and through discussion and dialogue, we realize that we are never separate from our eternal Source. In Satsang, accessing the space of Oneness is direct, simple and easy. Satsang with

Have you noticed how we can spend entire days or sleepless nights ruminating, thinking and trying to figure out the answer to a problem, without ever finding the solution? It seems that the more desperately we try, the more muddled the thinking becomes. When we eventually decide to set the problem aside, to go for a walk or take a shower - in other words, when we direct our attention away from the frantic thinking, onto something else - the answer often just pops into our hea

One of the many obstacles to Meditation concocted by our mind is the idea that we can’t meditate if we are in a noisy environment. We think of noise as a distraction to Meditation and an interruption of our attempts at concentration. Sometimes our mind will even use the noise it perceives as an excuse not to meditate... When we are overwhelmed by stimulation, agitation and sounds, we tend to crave stillness as a means to recover our inner calm. We believe that if the surround

Meditation develops an extraordinary power: the ability to know, in our own being, that we truly are Divine Beings having a human experience. In Meditation we reconnect with our innermost Being, our own Divinity. It is how we can know ourselves as whole. Struggle, doubt and the sense of not being enough can't reach there. Immersed in the space of Meditation we know that our innate state of being is Freedom. In that state we are free from feeling small, free from old condition

What if everything we have been told and believed about ourselves were inaccurate or, at the very the least, incomplete? Many seekers have an innate sense that there is more to them than what they can see in the mirror. Their path often leads them to read the ever more popular classical texts like the Patanjali's Yoga Sûtras or the Bhagavad Gîta, only to find that they are not easy to understand without guidance. There is a very good reason why the ancient yogic texts seem so

As human beings we have an interesting relationship with the concept of truth. To our waking-state mind the idea of truth seems straightforward and relatively reliable. Something is either true or it isn't. When we perceive something with our senses, or we reason out a fact with our mind, we think of that as the truth. Since our eyes perceive the sky as blue, we regard blueness as the truth of the sky. Someone who says the sky is green is considered to be deluded or lying. Wh

As a Meditation teacher and lifelong meditator, I can say with absolute certainty that Meditation works. Success is inevitable and guaranteed. How can anyone be so confident about the outcome of an endeavour? It is my own experience and that of countless friends and students, as well as the knowledge transmitted by living sages and scriptures throughout the ages, that allows me to be completely doubtless in my affirmation. Whoever applies themselves to meditating regularly, w

Two very talented friends and meditators have recently created a YouTube Channel called Yog Tales, where they share deep and inspiring animated stories depicting the philosophy of Yog. 'Yog' (a sanskrit word translated as 'Oneness') is the name of an ancient science investigating many of mankind's fundamental questions such as 'Who am I?', 'What is the purpose of my life?' and 'How do I fulfill this purpose?'. These are the topics of each video presented there. Their stories

The human condition is to forget that our originality or True Nature is Pure Free and Forever. We are born of that Divine Purity and Freedom, but as soon as our ego/mind/intellect starts to develop, the knowledge of our Divine Nature is lost. We are told from an early age that we are a girl or a boy, that we have a name, a family, a skin color and a nationality that define us. Growing up we accept different roles that society determines for us and so we become daughters, sons

Today’s quote is from Yog Vashishth, one of my favorite scriptures that Swami Shyam has brilliantly revived for those who want to know the Essence or Truth of Life itself. As described in many previous blogposts, the study of the mind allows us to become aware of its functioning and its limitations. One of the mind’s hardwired attributes is to be filled with information that churns through our head all day long. Depending on what is going on in our life, the mind will be fill

The part of you that recognizes that you are already Free is not the human mind. It is the Self, the Freedom itself, that recognizes its own Truth. This statement may appear cryptic, for as human beings, we think our only way of knowing is through the individual mind or intellect. That‘s what we were told from an early age and that‘s what we have practiced and believed throughout our lives. The Sages and Saints have been telling a different story for thousands of years to tho

Love is infinite and omnipresent, it has no beginning and no end. Love is all-encompassing and all-permeating. Love is the Source of everything in manifestation, for it is the essence, the power and the expression of the Divine. Without Love there is no world and no breath to give life to all the manifested beings. Love is the power that animates our every thought and movement, yet here we are, believing that love is merely the feeling we have for another person. We think lov

The eternal Self, our Source, is unchanging and ever-present. The same is true for Grace, which is the very nature of the Self. In fact, we could say that Self, Source and Grace are synonymous, for all three words are attempts to describe the indescribable, infinite Space of Divinity. Grace is not something we need to deserve or seek, it is who we are in essence. We may have accepted our body and mind as our identity, just like a wave has accepted the sense that it is separat

Our friends in the United States will be celebrating Thanksgiving this coming Thursday. The Holiday of Thanksgiving is traditionally a time when people count their blessings. Engaging in gratitude is also a recommended practice in many ancient and more recent spiritual traditions. As for how to practice gratitude, it is commonly understood as focusing on the good things and the blessings we have in our lives. Often it means paying attention to the things we take for granted:

Great Wisdom is sometimes found in the most unlikely places. A friend was recently driving from Vermont to Illinois when she stumbled upon a Chinese restaurant along the highway. To her surprise and delight she found the unexpectedly profound quote on the photo below in a fortune cookie. When we are tuned in to the invisible Life-force and its Source, we find signs of it everywhere... This beautiful quote addresses the fact that what we see with our eyes is but a shadow of wh