Arjun questions Lord Krishna:

Some devotees worship personal God with rituals, prayers and loving devotion

While others seek the Imperishable, Undefined, Unmanifest, and second to none

Tell me Supreme Lord, which Yogi is the superior knower of the path of devotion?

Replied Lord Krishna:

Those who have controlled all senses and rejoice in the good of all

Those who renounce the fruits of actions and live with high moral

Those who fix their mind on me with faith, love and deep devotion

Those for whom I am their Personal God are Yogis with best intention

Clarified Lord Krishna:

For human beings to pursue the Unmanifest is a tedious process and unrealistic

Personal God is easily envisioned and worshipped, hence this path devotees pick

Their temperament determines the path they choose to connect with the divine

What matters is that they renounce all actions to God and with Him forever align

Lord Krishna then promised:

Those who surrender all  actions, take refuge in me and make me as the highest goal

Those who worship me with an undivided mind and meditate on me as they are told

I immediately become their saviour from the endless cycles of birth and death

I lift them up from the ocean of ‘samsara’, the worldly life of limitless breadth

So suggested Lord Krishna to all kinds of devotees to first try to fix their mind and intellect firmly in Him with full faith:

Then aspire to reach me by studying spiritual disciplines and its practice good

Better still is meditation, contemplation and self-realization well understood

Best of all is to do self-less service to humanity, committing and acting for my sake

Renounce the fruits of all actions and you will surely attain peace and God’s grace

Lord Krishna then enumerated and explained the attributes of a devotee (qualities to be cultivated to the perfection level):

That devotee is dear to me:

Who is friendly, compassionate, empathetic, and hates no one

Who is egoless, and is equal-minded in sorrow and happiness

Who is forgiving, tolerant, content, and firm in his conviction

Who surrenders his mind and intellect to me with full devotion

That devotee is also dear to me:

Who is free from impulsive fits of joy, envy, fear, and anxiety

Who is undisturbed, unperturbed and deals with equanimity

Who is knowledgeable, competent, always alert, and resourceful

Who is unattached, quiet observant, silent, pure, positive and hopeful

That devotee is also dear to me:

Who is equal- minded towards friends and foe, in honor and disgrace

Who grieves nor rejoices in pleasure or pain, hot or cold, blame or praise

Who has renounced all sense of doer ship and never says “it’s mine”

Who with a still mind, is absorbed in the contemplation of the Divine

Lord Krishna concluded by saying:

Those who follow this guideline of Immortal Dharma

Those who develop divine qualities and good Karma

Those endowed with faith, deep devotion and intent on me

They achieve peace, salvation and God’s grace –I guarantee!

On Shanti, Om Shanti, Om Shanti

Source:      Rishi: Vashishtha         Rigveda: 7.35.2

MEANING:

O God! By your grace, humankind has attained wealth, power, intelligence, comforts,
luxuries, independence, and a lot more. We pray that we must not misuse these powers and riches.
They should be used to enhance comfort, peace and justice in the world.
No being should ever suffer from these powers.
Our wealth and fame must beget peace, our intelligence must always be the cause
of comfort, upholding truth and peace. May your justice extend peace and
happiness everywhere.

This past weekend over 20 students participated in a workshop on the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. In addition to learning the great wisdom contained in this yogic scripture, everyone also had the opportunity to learn and practice asanas as well as cleansing techniques, like neti and vaman. Pranayama, mudras, and bandhas, practices less commonly practiced in the U.S., were also discussed and practiced.

Above all, students walked away knowing more about the true purpose of Hatha Yoga, which is preparation for higher consciousness. While yoga is commonly thought to be a practice for the body, we wee reminded that  we are not merely seaking the freedom from diseaeses but the freedom from the bondage and the waverings of the mind.

The scripture proved to be full of information, and we will likely be studying it in even more depth during Sunday philosophy classes in the future. Stay tuned!

They refer to universal obstacles and enemies of one’s spiritual development. As long as we indulge in these traits of daily living, we cannot faithfully follow the teachings of Yoga. Hence we cannot attain Moksha, the ultimate goal of human life.

1. Kaam: The sensous feelings. They prevent one from rational thinking, and if denied or are not attained, it leads to Anger.

2. Krodh: Anger. Anger leads to fuzzy and irrational thinking, which leads to irrational behavior. A mind not thinking clearly definitely is a cause for one’s total destruction.

3. Lobh: Greed. Greed leads to attachment. Fulfillment of greed increases attchment and more greed. Non fulfillment of desires leads to anger. Both attachment and anger prevent one from an unbiased thinking.

4. Moh: Attachment (to a person or possessions). As above, attachment is a slow killer. It promotes biased, irrational and depressing behavior.

5. Ahankar: Ego. This is the worst of all enemies. It is the root cause of all other behaviors. It makes a person non humble, non cooperative, possessive, empowering over others and leads to all other four cursive personalities.

“Dhyana Moolam Guror Murti, Pooja Moolam Guror Padam, Mantra Moolam Guror Vakyam, Moksha Moolam Guror Kripa”

Hershji translated this beautiful mantra for us: I want to meditate on the form of my Guru, pray to the feet my Guru, every word of my Guru is sacred, and moksha comes only from the grace of my Guru “guru kripa”. Simple words but hard to comprehend, Hershji explained that we want to identify with the Godliness of our Guru. This is the real “puja” of the day, not just the rituals.

Finally, Acharyaji spent some time discussing the relationship between the Guru and disciple. It is important to do seva (selfless-service), not because the Guru needs it but it makes us humble, heightens our intellect, and helps us see God in everyone. Seva prepares one to absorb the knowledge from a Guru, but one must actually be in the presence of their Guru to do this. Just like the dialogue between Krishna and Arjun happened in person, we must make the effort to engage in a conversation of questions and answers to progress on the Yogic path.

To find your Guru, look for someone who has knowledge of the scriptures, an ability to explain them to you, nobility of character, and actually experienced what they are teaching.

१    दिन        =  ८   पहर
१   पहर        =   ३   मुहूर्त
१   मुहूर्त       =   २   नाड़ी
१   नाड़ी        =   १५   लघु
१   लघु         =   १५  काष्ठा
१   काष्ठा       =  १५   क्षण
१   क्षण        =   ३   निमेष
१   निमेष     =   ३   लव
१   लव         =   ३   बेध
१   बेध         =   १०० त्रुटी
१   त्रुटी         =   ४   त्रसेणु
१   त्रसेणु      =   ३   अणु
१   अणु        =    २ प्रमाणु

1  day               =  8 pahars
1  pahar            =  3 muhurats
1  muhurat         =   2 nadis
1  nadi               =  15 laghus
1  laghu             =  15 kaashta
1  kaashta         =  5 kshans
1  kshan            =  3 nimeshs
1  nimesh           =  3 lavs
1 lav                  =  3 bedhs
1  bedh              =  100 trutis
1  truti                =  4 trasenus
1 trasenu            =  3  anus
1  anu                 =  2 pramanus

Contributed by Louella Harty

On Sunday mornings, ten to twenty students gather to learn from the timeless Yoga scriptures. Acharya Hersh Khetarpal guides us through these rich texts, helping us understand the deep teachings and applications to our daily lives. For the past several months, we have been studying the Kathopanishad.

The Kathopanishad recounts the encounter and subsequent dialogue between Nachiketa and Yama, the God of Death, which was the direct result of Nachiketa’s father’s angry response to a question asked by Nachiketa.  As a result of Nachiketa being a patient and honorable guest waiting for the arrival of Lord Yama, he was granted three boons by the God of Death.

Here the story unfolds as told in the Kathopanishad as Hersh lectures every Sunday morning. She recounts Nachiketa’s three requests and the Lord of Death’s response to each one of them.  She has her student’s undivided attention as the captivating story unravels and the real teachings of this great scripture are explained. In essence, the Kathopanishad teaches us that our soul is indestructible, while the body comes and goes. We have learned in this class that we must see ourselves as our aatma, not as our body, and act selflessly in order to reach moksha (liberation).

While the lessons in the Kathopanishad mirror what we’ve learned in other scriptures, such as the Bhagavad Gita and Yog Chudamani, the way Hersh leads the class is magical and leaves students spellbound, anxiously waiting for next week’s lecture.

A Kalp is said to be a wink of Lord Vishnu, and Vishnu has a life span which cannot be calculated by any known scale. That is how old the universe, God’s Srishty, is. Here is how a kalp is calculated by Earth time.

There are 4 Yugas: Sat yug, treta yug, dwapar yug, and kali yug.
1 Sat yug = 1,460,000 Earth years
1 Treta yug = 1,095,000 Earth years
1 Dwapar yug = 730,000 Earth years
1 Kali yug = 365,000 Earth years

Sat yug + treta yug + dwapar yug + kali yug = 1 CHATAR YUGI = 3.65 million Earth years

1000 Chatar yugis = 1 day of Brahma
1000 Chatar yugis = 1 night of Brahma
2000 Chatar yugis = 1 Braham Divas = 7.3 Billion Earth years
365 Braham divas = 1 Braham Varsh =2.6645 Trillion Earth years
100 Brahm Varshs = Age of BRAHAMA = 1 KALP = 266.45 Trillion Earth years