An evening with Swami Suryapada

On Friday September 17 2010, Art of Living Austin had the pleasure of hosting Swami Suryapada, a traveling saint from India. Since he was in town for a few hours we had to be satisfied with a satsang and nothing more.

I had heard about swamiji earlier through some senior teachers like Rajima and Commanderji but had never met him in person.  So, needless to say I was excited that he will be coming to town. By the time we managed to reach the venue he had already entered the hall and was working on his Harmonium. In the first impression I was blown away by the simplicity of his attire and in some aspects he resembled the guru himself, the beard and the long hair added to the resemblance.

The satsang (or as I usually refer to as Sat Sang) was very different, instead of starting with random songs, he started us off with an initiation mantra which he recited in sanskrit and then we sang a song in the praise of lord Ganesh, next song was in the praise of the guru or teacher and the very next one was in praise of goddess sharada (goddess of learning). At the end of each song he would recite a few more verses in sanskrit. His voice was so captivating and his pronunciation of the mantras felt so authentic that the whole room had gone into a trance. After these three we sang for a while and by then I had lost track of time.

At around 7:45PM or 8:00PM, he said lets meditate and I was expecting we would be getting all the kids out, closing the doors and dimming the lights but to my great surprise none of it happened. He just asked us to clasp our hands above the head and start chanting “Narayani Narayani” and after the continuous chant for a while he asked us to lower our hands and guided us through a small procedure and asked us to open the eyes. I felt  lighter, more energetic, I felt I had meditated.

After the meditation, he gave a small knowledge session. He was natural, dynamic, effortless, completely in the moment, spontaneous and had an awesome sense of humor. His talk did not feel pre meditated or targeted towards anybody nor did he have any specific agenda. I felt perhaps after sri sri himself, here was one person who could translate the complicated knowledge of spirituality into a concrete, tangible, practical wisdom. He had the audience captivated. When somebody asked if this talk were recorded, he said all it matters is it being recorded up here (he was pointing to the head). He had the breadth and depth of knowledge.

I would have loved to listen to him if he had spoken the whole night, but the evening had to come to an end and we ended with the kannada song “baghyada lakshmi baramma”. Many people in the audience couldn’t understand what he was singing but his voice, music and the tune made us all enjoy the song.

It was truly a pleasure hosting him and spending the evening with him. Thanks to all who made it happen. I only wish he were here for a longer time and had conducted a course or two. If you ever get a chance to be in his presence, do not miss the chance.

The post would have been more effective if I had posted some pics from the satsang, I do not have any with me and will post them once I get them.  

Health and Happiness Series in Austin

The Health and Happiness series is a weekly 2-hour session covering a range of topics on (you guessed it) living a healthy and happy life.

Here's a picture of Jai leading a small group in a problem-solving exercise during last week's session, which was titled Freedom from Mind Games.



This series is open to all, and costs $10 per session. Upcoming topics include:

• Understanding Emotional Intelligence
  
• Stepping Into the Big Mind
  
• Finding Real Communication
  
• Overcoming Obstacles
  

Read more on the series on the registration page for HnH.

Kudos to volunteer organizers Varsha and Bimal who put together the topics and the framework for this series to happen. Varsha is now busy planning the next series, which will take place immediately after this one ends, so watch this space...

Swami Suryapada’s visit to Texas

Swami Suryapada better known as Chayanna is coming to Texas to spend time with us, we at the Art of living Austin are hosting a satsang on Friday September 17 2010. Here are the details for the same

Date: September 17 2010
Time: 6:30PM-8:30
Venue: Art of living Austin Center (5555 N Lamar Blvd  Suite C104 Austin TX, 78751)

If you want more of Swamiji you can follow him to the Sri Sri Ashram in Uvalde and take part in the Rudra Puja conducted by Swamiji himself on Sunday September 19 2010. Here is a little secret for you, this will be the first ever Rudra Puja performed at the Sri Sri Ashram.

Please RSVP for either or both the events by registering on the secure site.

For satsang follow the link here

For Rudra Pooja at the ashram follow the link here

If you are interested in the ashram event please register asap for the accommodation is limited and the volunteers really do not like last moment surprises.

About Swami Suryapada

Swami Suryapada embodies what he teaches. His blissful, open-hearted presence and beautifully simple exposition of yogic wisdom have inspired thousands around the world. He is one of the few Art of Living teachers who give extempore commentaries on Astavakra and Bhagavad Gita. He has traveled extensively in Australia, the Caribbean's, Germany, New Zealand, South East Asia, UAE and USA and his courses and satsangs are much sought after wherever he goes.

Swamiji has been with the Art of Living Foundation since 1991 and trains all of SSRVM (Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Vidya Mandir) school teachers. He completed his master’s degree in Physics from Bangalore University and has served at the prestigious R.V College of Engineering in Bangalore as Head of the Department in Physics. He is a gifted musician and plays the harmonium and keyboard.

Health and Happiness Series: BODY MIND SOUL EXPERIENCE 2010

All sessions are not mandatory and no prior knowledge or experience is required.
These are 2 hours workshops every Saturday and are OPEN to ALL.
These sessions present the basics of Yoga, Meditation, Breath work to beginners and more experienced practitioners alike. During these sessions emphasis will be given to learning the rhythm of our breath to increase our overall focus and awareness.

Buy Tickets

Guruji in Hartford

(Crossposted from Anoop's blog)

We are in Hartford, Connecticut. Guru Poornima celebrations are in full swing. A few hundred people are now in silence, in the Art of Silence course. Guruji is here.

Here is my transcript of what Guruji said in satsang yesterday... starting with:

Look around and see who is not smiling... Now for the next few days, you take care of them.

Becoming an Expert

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are an authoritative text on the practice of Yoga. Ever since I was introduced to this ancient text, I've always liked and remembered some specific lines from it. Today I want to share one of them which has deep meaning for me in the practice of Yoga, Sudarshan Kriya, and meditation, but also in other aspects of my life.

sa tu dīrgha kāla nairantarya satkārā sevito dṛḍhabhūmiḥ

In the context of Yoga, Maharshi Patanjali says three things are needed to establish oneself and be firmly grounded in the practice of Yoga:

dīrgha kāla: For a long period of time.

nairantarya: Without a break.

satkārā sevito: With honor and respect.

Doing the practice for a long period of time, without a break, with honor and respect — that's what it takes to become firmly grounded in the practice of Yoga and all the benefits to the mind, body and spirit that it brings.

But wait, that applies to becoming an expert in anything, doesn't it? All around us we see people who are experts in their domain. More often than not, the above three steps outline how they got that expertise. Very few people are born as prodigies; expertise gets built up over time. And time alone is not enough; steady application of oneself unbroken in time is essential. And these two together do not make one an expert, if the attitude and approach to the task or craft are casual or irreverent. A sense of honor and respect is also essential.

Want to master a musical instrument? It takes years of unbroken practice. Want to become a pro golfer? You need to hit the links several times a week for years together. Want to be great at what you do? Keep at it... with honor and respect! Often we dabble in something and give it up after a while if we don't get results from it, and take up something else... without realizing that value gets built up more and more over time when we stick to one thing.

There are many more such simple and insightful lines I love from Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, including the definition of Yoga, which I will leave for another post. Hint: it's not just the practice of tying your body up into pretzel shapes. Thanks to Shriram Sarvotham and his amazing teaching of the Sri Sri Yoga course for awakening my interest in this text. Guruji has given a fantastic commentary on the Yoga Sutras in 11 talks; I highly recommend listening to the whole series.

First AOS Course Experience

We just returned from our first Art of Silence(AOS) course from the ashram this weekend and felt like sharing this with you all.

We have taken our time to dive into the part2 and until 3 weeks ago had no plans to attend this one too. Then out of the blue, Mamta suggests to me that she wants us to do the AOS course together as her birthday (6/30) gift. She was riding HIGH after just finishing her first YES+ course with Anoop/Shraddha - I asked her once just to make sure and needless to say signed us up.

Due to a last minute instructor re-arrangement Philip Fraser taught the course instead of Jim. We had the pleasure of picking up Philip from San Antonio airport en route to the ashram - we had a nice conversation and got to know him a little bit. At the ashram, everyone said, "we were lucky to do this course with one of the very best teachers".

Both Mamta and I have to agree - Philip has such a calming, peaceful, graceful personality. No "Do's or Dont's" - hearing him play the flute was magical ... he even woke us up at 5:45 a.m. with sounds of flute.

Pakshi, Neelam aunty and the seva volunteers did a magnificent job of making us feel at home and food was so healthy and delicious.

Satsangs were fun especially the last night when the energy level was so high with everyone dancing away to the melodious voices of Yamuna, Neelam aunty, Birjoo and others.

For me, the course was an "eye opener" ... thoroughly enjoyed the silence, nature and saw the mind settling down. Though I did often experience deep meditation, I couldn't resist the urge to doze off at times missing out on the instructions. Couple of times, I wondered when this torture would end :)

Mamta was anxious the first night ... The course was everything that's not in her nature!

• Wake up at 5:30 a.m. (oops. not a morning person)
• No caffeine (can't function without bed tea)
• Silence (she sleeps best with T.V on :)

She was 100% committed ... got to the hall 15 mins before and did not miss a single session. During one of Guruji's speech, she thought he was speaking to her and burst out laughing when he said "You may have doubts that this is not for me .... may be you opened your eyes and saw if you were the only misfit and saw everyone else deep in meditation!"

Philip had earlier told us that it is ok to have neutral or negative experiences at different times. Sometimes, we expect every time/everything to be positive and are disappointed or have doubts about ourselves when it is not so.

Those who know Mamta a little know that she is black and white - The first words that came out of her mouth when the course ended were "Thank God, It's over ... Ahh .... the sound of my voice, I am not repeating this again" :). As everyone shared their experience, they encouraged "first timers' to repeat (eying Mamta) ... she agreed then to repeat only if Philip came back to teach the course!.

What finally sealed the deal was our ride back to San Antonio airport with Philip. Mamta insisted that she drive the car with Philip in the front seat. Since we got to the airport early, we spent another hour with him. Even though we were still 'supposed' to be in silence, the conversations with him were just out of the world. He shared stories of his beginnings with Guruji when there were just 5-10 of them back in 1989, his stay in India from 1991-95, on 'spirituality' in general, how it is ok to have doubts, he himself along with others he mentioned were not sure when they first started. I think it was Guruj's plan to send Philip as a guide for us! :)

I'd like to end by sharing a miracle story. As everyone was getting ready to leave and head out to their cars, they noticed a lot red ants all over their front and rear seats. It had rained quite a bit and then the sun coming out monday, along-with possible food in the cars must have driven the ants towards them - it took them at least 30-45 mins spraying ant killer, RAID etc. to get rid of the ants.

Our car was parked in between with an empty fruit bowl that we had taken for Philip still lying in the front seat - when I opened the car to check ... NO ANTS ... Not a single one! The only explanation we have is Philip rode in it and we planned to take him back in it! His Grace!

Written by Akash Verma.