603 – Ganesha Meditation

Visualization in this meditation step by step.

Become aware of your mooladhara chakra. Concentrate upon it. It is at the tip of the cervix for females and between the anus and the scrotum for males. Gaze at the nose tip and practice nose tip gazing (Nasikgrah Drishti), which stimulates the mooladhara chakra. The mooladhara chakra restores your stability and balance. It grounds you. Stay with the sadhana for five minutes. Continue reading

545 – Happy Birthday, Rama

How do we celebrate the birthday of Rama? We do so by dedicating ourselves to the worship of Rama. Chanting the name of Rama, grants us deliverance. Repeating Sri Rama is enough to award us positive energy and awakening of our soul. Our Ida-Pingala nadis are balanced and the Sushumna nadi starts flowing, with saying the name of Rama. Continue reading

488 – How to offer flowers to the Deity

There is a ritual to be followed when one offers flowers to the Deity. There are many flowers which can be offered. Some of the favorites I have listed below.

Hibiscus—Botanical name Hibiscus rosa-Sinensis. The goddess loves the Hibiscus flower. It is her favorite flower. The hibiscus belongs to Kali. She represents empowerment, and with that comes destruction of evil. Therefore, she is considered a fierce Goddess. The red hibiscus is symbolic of Kali’s tongue. She portrays a form of energy and this blood symbolism becomes life affirming and it ties her to the life forces that pulsate in all of us. Continue reading

386 – Five habits

  1. Personal purity. Cleanliness of one’s body, promotes health and well-being. Observe your mind. Practice self-observation. What are you taking in, how are you influenced by what you are perceiving. Go to satsang which means be with genuine people and also listen to chants. Be non-judgmental and do not be influenced by uncharitable and hostile thoughts. Do not focus on their faults because then you will have a negative view. Look holistically at people.
  2. Be content. Do not hanker for baubles, which disrupt your inner calm. Greed and cravings can lead you on a profligate path.
  3. Be simple in your deeds and actions. We tend to make our lives unnecessarily complicated, and the bunch of hankering thoughts lead us to a waste of our time. We gain clarity when we are uninfluenced by our motley thoughts.
  4. Engage in self-study. Observing your interactions with yourself and the world.
  5. Practice devotion, which is to hear, reflect and meditate.

Continue reading

Gunas, devotion and values – James Swartz – Yoga of Love, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Sutra, Narada

How to overcome tamas? When you are rajasic and succesful you
have no time to pay attention to yourself. Stuck in sattva. Danger
of vanity and stop of growth. Verse 58: “Success is easier to attain
by informal devotion than by any other means.” If you bring
discipline into your life you do things that are good for you and
your self esteem grows. Verse 59: “Devotion is easiest because it
does not depend on any other authority; it is self-validating.” In
Vedanta you have to live according to the scripture. Verse 60:
“Furthermore, devotion is the embodiment of peace and supreme
joy.” Verse 61: “Once all worldly and spiritual duties are consigned
to God, the devotee need not worry about gain and loss.” Ishvara
takes care of your worldly affairs. Do the best every day and then
see what happens. Manusha the one who thinks and worry. Verse
62: “To attain non-dual devotion, do not abandon responsibilities
in this world, but surrender the results of all actions to the
Lord.”Expression of Karma Yoga. When you give the actions to the

Lord then your worry stops. Karma Yoga and gratitude. Gratitude
as a sadhana. Honesty and purity. Verses 63, 64: “Don’t chase
money or entertain yourself with sex. Don’t compromise your
values and don’t quarrel with others. Relinquish false pride,
hypocrisy and other vices.” Fearless moral inventory is necessary.
12 step program. Sorting out spiritual and material values. Fully
assimilate the good values, renounce the bad values. In the
Bhagavad Gita the values are called knowledge.

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James Swartz – Great souls and devotion – Talk 15

One achieves devotion through Satsang. Satsang builds a devotion habit. Make the worship of god a habit.

Verse 38: However, the primary method by which one develops devotion is association with great souls, that means a free person of the vedic tradition. Teacher who was taught properly. The teaching sets you free not the teacher.

Verse 39: Contact with great souls is rare, difficult to understand and infallible. The reason is that qualified students are rare. Great souls: you see the self in a person pretending to be a person. Great souls transform your life. The effects of meeting great souls are infallible. The spirit of renunciation is the essence.

Verse 40: The association of great souls can be obtained, but only by the grace of the Lord. Don’t seek them. Isvara will supply a great soul when you are ready. Many schools are knowledge averse.

Verse 41: There is no difference between the Lord’s grace and the great souls that manifest it.

Verses 42-43: Strive only for God’s grace. By all means, renounce all relationships with ignorant, negative, selfcentered individuals.

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James Swartz – Devotion and dharma – Talk 11

Verse 10: Elimination of nonessential desires: Worldly or emotional security, wanting to be recognized. Single goal is freedom. Active sense of renunciation is important. The only security is your self. Five stages of devotion: 1. Sakama Bhakti 2. Nishkama Bhakti. Praying to Isvara to resist your desires. “Zorba the Buddha” versus “Sin intelligently”. 3. Istha Devata Abyasa, Personal deity 4. Visvat svarupa. Worship of everything 5. Non-Duality.

Verse 11: Suitable values. Crazy wisdom gurus. Follow dharma to protect society.

Verse 12: Firmly commit yourself to maintaining an ethical code even after your devotion to Isvara/God is firm.

Verse 13: As long the notion of doership is present there is the danger of a fall. Enlightenment Sickness. Dharma trumps enlightenment.

Verse 14: For as long as the body lasts, one should minimally engage in worldly activities and only perform those actions necessary to sustain the body. Non-dual devotion is expectation-free.

Verses 15-22. Various definitions of the characteristics of devotion. Love in presence, love in absence. Unconditional love.

Verse 23: If you forget that every person is your self, only selfish passion remains.

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James Swartz – Conciousness and matter – Talk 10

Swami Chinmayananda. Consciousness and matter. Four types
of devotees: Devoted to god because of suffering. Spiritual
materialism principle and Vedanta. Seeker of god or truth. Nondual
devotee. The lower and the higher self. Krishna, Arjuna and
the cosmic vision. Until you see the beauty in the ugliness you
are not free. Understand what is imperfect is perfect. You are
perfect.

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James Swartz – Nature of non dual love – Talk 8

Beginning of the verses of Narada’s Bhakti Sutras. Traditional
versus modern style of teaching. Vers 1: Using intellect for
justification is not useful. Devotion is directed to God. Treat
the people around you as if they are God. Devotion is rational.
Vers 2: Focus all of your attention on one topic: who am I?
Samadhana. Love is willing attention. Love of what is right
here and now. You are always present. You love your self.
Selflessness. You are the goodness that makes goodness
good. Hate is a perverted form of bhakti. Duality: Men are
defined by women. You don’t love objects, you love love.
Chasing love in objects is useless. Vers 3+4: You know you
don’t die and get a security benefit. The worry goes away.
Immortal love. Perfection benefit. Gain of knowledge, loss of
ignorance. Enlightenment sickness. Love is your nature. You
are not the body. You were here before your body was born.
Solution is to accept the words of the scripture. Vers 5: Life is
not jiva centered anymore. Free of passion for objects. No
need to feel special. Vers 6: Feel wonderstruck because you
understand and fulfilled the purpose in your life. You know you
are love.

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James Swartz – Love, Ishvara and Informal Devotion to God – Talk 4

By reading Vedanta texts it is easy to misinterpret them.
Ignorance and knowledge are mixed up. Teaching makes
difference between ignorance and knowledge clear. Live your
life based on knowledge not on emotions. Isvara and action.
What is real? You see reality on the basis of your experiences.
Reflecting media. Three gunas and the mind. 2. Informal
devotion. Personal deity, ishta devata. Religion. Influence and
judgements of the family. God is a helpful concept in the mind.
God doesn’t judge. Dead gurus don’t judge. Living gurus make
you grow. In informal devotion you bring God down to your
level. Vedanta lifts you up to Gods level. Karma Yoga as the
beginning stage.

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Karma Yoga and Devotion – Vedanta, Self Growth and Self Discovery with Swami Nityabodhananda

Talk 2 of Swami Nityabodhananda at Yoga Vidya Center in Cologne, Sept 2019.
Subject: Karma Yoga and results of actions. Prasadam. Attitude of Devotion to Ishvara. Roles in life. Vers 2:51 Bhagavad Gita. Clarity of purpose. Atma and body. Substance and form.

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Bhakti Yoga – Meaning and Purpose

How to develop devotion? How to experience God?

Bhakti Yoga gives answers to these questions. Leela Mata gives the essence of Bhakti Yoga in a nutshell.

Leela Mata gives seminars on Bhakti Yoga at Peaceful Valley Ashram Pennsylvania and at Yoga Vidya Ashram Germany.

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Essence of Bhakti Sutras of Narada

Short Podcast on Narada’s Bhakti Sutra. This classiscal text is of of the important texts on devotion, Bhakti . The essence is: All Lasting Joy comes from God. Awaken the inner love by devotion and knowledge by experiencing God. The study of the Bhakti Sutra helps to reach it. This Yoga Podcast is part of an interview of Sukadev with Leela Mata. Leela Mata gives Seminars on the Yoga Sutra at Yoga Vidya Germany.

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What is the Meaning of Bhakti Yoga? What

How can you develop devotion? How you experience the Presence of God? Bhakti Yoga gives answers to these and other questions. In this short talk of a few minutes, Leela Mata gives the essence of Bhakti Yoga in a nutshell.  Leela Mata gives seminars on Bhakti Yoga in Peaceful Valley Ashram Pennsylvania and in  Yoga Vidya Ashram Germany.

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