Established in 1916, the mission of Yog Sadhan Ashram is to provide all individuals, regardless of income or religious background, the traditional and complete teachings of Yoga philosophy and practice free of charge.
Pranayama is the science of breath control. It is a subject worth studying due to the effect breath has on our five koshas (sheaths), including the pranamaya kosha (vital energy sheath). For example, the quality of our breath can change due to our mental and physical states, but how we breath can also affect our mental and physical states. The Yogic scriptures thus give great importance to pranayama, and it’s mastery is considered a prequisite to dharna (concentration) and dhyana (meditation). We will explore it in a series of articles over the next several months.
In the Bhagavad Gita, kama (desire), krodha (anger) and lobha (greed) are referred to as the three gates leading to the downfall of the individual (16.21). Those seeking to make progress on the spiritual path must give them up on all three. Yoga practitioners of Yog Sadhan Ashram have made a resolution to work on anger this year. Here are some inspiring words from Hershji to motivate us all:
The serious practice of yoga incorporates a traditional sattvic diet. The general characteristics of the sattvic food are pure, light, and fresh. In other words, these foods possess the highest vitality to support all the koshas or layers of our selves. Organic foods also possess a high vitality in comparison to foods grown with pesticides and herbicides.
Sattvic foods are more easily digestible and are not fat laden nor protein dense as in animal products; therefore, the sattvic diet is primarily lacto-vegetarian. This type of diet leads to a greater clarity and equanimity of mind while also being more beneficial to the body.
Breaking through the material layers of our existence to discover the ultimate reality at our core being is the goal Yoga. The culmination of that great effort is called moksha, liberation, or self-realization. While the Upanishads give many indications of a realized person, the references lie scattered in the pages of those sacred texts. The signs of a self-realized person were first compiled in the Bhagavad Gita by Ved Vyas in the concluding 18 verses of chapter 2. In those verses, we see the portrait of an individual who is liberated even while living, also known as jivanmukta.
The self-realized person is a dynamic person of action. In order to understand him, and we must understand him as he lives in the world, not as he sits under a tree lost in contemplation. How does he see the world, react to problems and relate himself to others?
Our Guruji established Yog Sadhan Ashram with the purpose of teaching everyday people how to achieve liberation without running away from the world. In this lecture, Acharyaji describes what this looks like and the characteristics we must develop to achieve this goal.
Click play to listen to this 17 minute podcast.
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The Ashram holds a philosophy class every Sunday at 10am. Over the past few years, we’ve studied the Bhagavad Gita, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and just recently completed Vivek Chudamani. It took us roughly 2 years to get through it, but it was definitely worth taking the time to fully absorb such a deep scripture.
Beginning October 11th, we began studying Yoga Vasisth. While the original work is 32,000 verses of dialogue between Sage Vasisth and Lord Rama, overtime it has been condensed considerably. Anyone is welcome to attend the classes if they’re interested in learning about Yoga from one of the original sources.
Below are some pictures of our last day studying Vivek Chudamani, where we each offered flowers to the scripture.
While truth can be relative or absolute, a yogic view of truth is that which brings permanent happiness. This happiness is not related to material success of pleasure, but by the joy that is found in the soul’s attunement with God. This podcast begins with this simple concept to explain the facility of intuition and how it can be cultivated to bring us closer to our real selves.
Click play to listen to this 21 minute podcast.
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The word karma is used loosely these days. What is it’s actual meaning? Listen to this 21 minute podcast to learn more about how we create karmas and how we can turn our everday karmas into karma yoga to experience moksha or self-realization.
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We all know something about the nature of the conscious mind. We think, feel and act and are conscious of our thoughts, feelings and actions. And whatever we think, feel and do, in other words all our experiences, they’re all stored in the subconscious mind.
We can remember certain things we did. Why are we able to remember? Because what we did remains embedded in the mind. Every thought, feeling, and action leaves an impression, or samskara, on the mind. Nothing is lost. The sum total of those impressions is what constitutes the character of an individual. In other words, we are the result of what we have thought, felt and done.
On July 12th, about 100 people gathered at Yog Sadhan Ashram to celebrate Vyas Puja. For those unfamiliar with this special occasion, it is the day to celebrate one’s Guru. At the Ashram, we honored our Satguru Chaman Lal Kapur Ji, as well as Swami Mulkh Raj Ji (Guruji’s own Guru) and Prabhu Ram Lal Ji (Swamiji’s Guru).
In addition to reading from the scriptures, singing beautiful bhajans, demonstrating yoga asanas and cleansings and eating delicious sattvic food, Acharya Hersh Khetarpal delivered a sermon on the importance of a guru in one’s life. As always, her speech was illuminating as well as inspiring, and it covered the deep questions we all have about why it’s necessary to have a guru, what a guru provides in our life that cannot be found anywhere else, and what to look for in a guru. You can watch the 14 minute lecture as well as view pictures from the event below.
Prayer is talking directly to God. For great yogis who are in a perpetual state of prayer, God is more real than the external world. But to ordinary men, prayer relies on faith in God.
For this reason, it has been questioned whether there is a necessity for prayer. Some ask, “If there is no God, what good is prayer? Can it change the laws of karma?” It’s difficult to provide proof that is easily tangible and verifiable to our grosser minds.
In this lecture, Acharya Hersh Khetarpal makes several points that show the efficacy of prayer. She answers the crucial questions of why we pray and the various ways we pray. As with any yogic practice, one should also contemplate on their progress from time to time. For this reason, Acharyaji ends the lecture by providing simple yet powerful questions to help us assess whether or not we’re actually realizing the benefits of prayer.
Click on the play button to listen to the 23 minute lecture:
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