New Post: "Sivananda Gurugram: December 2009"

[swamiji]

OM NAMAH SIVAYA

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THOUGHT OF THE MONTH
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Peace dwells in Silence. Silence is Brahma, the Absolute.

- Sri Swami Sivananda

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NEWS
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Om Namah Sivaya, Blessed Selves –


We are glad to inform you that in the month of October Swami
Mahadevanandaji visited Japan with Mani Chaitanya, for an intensive
one week program, which was a great success. Now there are plans to do
a TTC only for Japanese students in Thailand. The search is on for a
suitable location. If any one can help in finding a place please get
in touch with us.


We are glad that 2009 is been a very successful year with two other
new centers: opening one in Luthuania, another in Milan, Italy. Also
there were many new TTC's around the world. The momentum is picking up
for the World Wide Sivannada Yoga Teachers’ Reunion at the Yoga Camp
in Val Morin in summer 2010.

Pranams to all.


To live in perfect goodness is to dissolve in the Infinite.

- Sri Swami Sivananda

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SIVANANDA YOGA FAQ ~~~ Frequently Asked Questions
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Q1: Can prayers cure diseases when doctors fail? Is it true that more
things are wrought by prayers than the world could dream of?

A: Doctors and medicines are only instruments in the hands of God.
Unless God wills, none can cure, or get cured. Man should do his best,
with initiative, enterprise and perseverance, but depend on God's
grace for everything. To bear with suffering, and accept it as a
blessing of God in disguise, is great wisdom. Prayer invokes the inner
potentialities of the individual, which flow only from God, and can
certainly work miracles.

Q2: What are the methods to develop unruffled serenity and mental
composure under all conditions of life? Is absolute serenity possible?

A: Yes. Develop Atma Vichar Sakti. Identify not with the mind, senses
and intellect or with any of the other modifications of the mind.
Always be engaging yourself in the thought of the Divine. Have no
thought of yourself or the surrounding world. Be absolutely
indifferent to yourself, as you ought to be towards the surroundings,
the various daily happenings and the worldly repercussions. Knowledge
of the Self, when once attained, absolves one of all mental
disruptions and psychic derangements. Where there is firm-grounded
knowledge of the Self in the spiritual seeker, where there is the

consciousness in him that "all indeed is Brahman, Sarvam Khalvidam
Brahma" and that he is none other than that Supreme Brahman, and where
he understands that all happenings-- good, bad or mixed-- are but
passing phases on the screen of the world, there can never be any ill-
balanced mental life. It is the mind that is the sole cause for
bondage or Moksha.

The mind is the substratum behind pleasure or pain, happiness or
misery, success or defeat. Rise above the pairs of opposites by
resorting to a Guru and his instructions. Study the lives of saints
who underwent various trials and the books by realized souls. Develop
the spirit of true surrender wherein you have no thought of body or
bodily needs or self-protection even in the slightest degree and
wherein you forget the idea of life and death altogether. Serenity is
merely mental. Therefore, cultivate mental equipoise by gaining
spiritual knowledge.

Think truly. Speak truly. Live truly. Act truly.

- Sri Swami Sivananda

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HATHA YOGA TIP
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SHALABHASANA – Locust Pose - Level one

Lie on your belly with your arms by the sides of your torso, palms up,
forehead resting on the floor. Turn your big toes toward each other to
inwardly rotate your thighs. Exhale and lift your head, upper torso,
arms, and legs away from the floor. You’ll be resting on your lower
ribs, belly and front pelvis. Reach strongly through your legs, first
through the heels to lengthen the back legs, then through the bases of
the big toes. Keep the big toes turned toward each other. Raise your
arms parallel to the floor and stretch back actively through your
fingertips. Imagine there’s a weight pressing down on the backs of the
upper arms, and push up toward the ceiling against this resistance.
Press your scapulas firmly into your back. Gaze slightly upward, being
careful not to jut your chin forward and crunch the back of your neck.
Keep the base of the skull lifted and the back of the neck long. Stay
for 30 seconds to 1 minute, then release with an exhalation. Take a
few breaths and repeat 1 or 2 times.

Benefits:

• Strengthens the muscles of the spine, buttocks, backs of the arms
and legs

• Stretches the shoulders, chest, belly and thighs

• Improves posture

• Stimulates abdominal organs

• Helps relieve stress

Do as you would be done by. This is the gist of ethics. - Sri Swami
Sivananda

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YOGA SANSKRIT GLOSSARY
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ANANDA – Bliss, happiness, joy

HIRANYAGARBHA - Cosmic intelligence, the Supreme Lord of the Universe;
also called Brahman

Jnana Yoga is the subtle and analytical path of wisdom. Mental purity
is of paramount importance for Self-realization. - Sri Swami Sivananda

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RAJA YOGA
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From Discourse II: "Sadhana Pada - On Spiritual Disciplines"

II.37. ASTEYA-PRATISTHAYAM SARVA-RATNOPASTHANAM

'When non-stealing becomes firmly established, all wealth comes to the
yogi'.

Commentary:

The more a yogi flees from material objects, the more they seem to
come to him. The purpose of this natural law is two-fold. The first is
so that he may be tested and confirmed in his renunciation. The second
is so that he, as a wise person, may appropriately dispense the wealth
to benefit mankind.

Seek internal peace of the Eternal, which will destroy all sorrows and
pains and lead to final emancipation. - Sri Swami Sivananda

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VEGETARIAN CUISINE - from 'The Yoga Cook Book'

– a collection of recipes from the Sivananda Yoga Centres

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SWEET POTATO with PINEAPPLE – This lovely dish is part of the Yogic
Feast for the Winter Festival in the Sivananda Yoga Cookbook. Serves 4
-6

Ingredients:

5 large sweet potatoes, total weight about 1.4kg (3¼lb)

25 g (1oz) butter

1 very ripe fresh pineapple, about 1 kg (2¼ lb)

150ml (5 fl oz) orange juice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp salt



Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 190C/375 F.

2. Scrub the sweet potatoes and bake them for 1- 1 1/2 hours until
soft.

3. Remove the sweet potatoes from the oven and reduce the temperature
to

140C/275F.

4. Leave the potatoes until cool enough to handle.

5. Peel and mash them with the butter.

6. Peal & core the pineapple using a sharp knife. Cut into small
pieces.

7. Combine the mashed sweet potatoes, pineapple and all the
ingredients.

8. Transfer to a baking dish.

9. Bake for about 40 minutes.

Serve hot.


Wisdom of the Self is the ripe fruit of the beautiful flower of
virtue.

- Sri Swami Sivananda

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SPIRITUAL CALENDAR
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DECEMBER 2009


02 - Full Moon

12 - Ekadasi

16 - New Moon

28 - Ekadasi

31 - Full Moon ( Swamiji's Birthday)



With the wings of love and wisdom, fly to the immortal abode of
Brahman.

- Sri Swami Sivananda

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