What is Yoga?
Nowadays the word yoga appears quite often in our everyday life. We can find it in the books, the newspapers, hear of it in the radio, on lectures or during the conversation with our friends. Probably you have already come across this concept and created your own opinion on yoga. Perhaps you associate the word yoga with a healthy and elastic body in an unusual posture, a motionless yogi in meditation or with the philosophy of the East. Yoga is all this and still much more.
The Story of the Bird and of Love
One day a young boy found a bird lying on the ground, squawking for help. The boy felt compassion for the bird, petted the bird gently and wanted to help it, but didn’t know how. So he took the bird in his hands, carried it carefully home and showed it to his parents. They washed the bird and found it a little wounded. It would need time and care to recover. As the bird had become dear to his heart, the boy immediately offered to care for the bird.
The Light of Life
In Sanskrit, the cosmic Self is known as Atma. In contrast to the individual soul, the Atma is Universal. It is the "Light of Life" in all beings. The relationship between the Atma, the individual consciousness and spirit can be illustrated by the following example.
The Atma is the light, the light bulb is the individual, and the beam of light that radiates from the lamp is the spirit. In English the expression "spirit of the soul" is used and in this expression it is clear that the spirit emanates from the Atma. This "spirit" possesses qualities such as clear or unclear, strong or weak, confused, lively, creative, lethargic, etc. But the Atma is completely without attributes, comparable to a cloudless sky or water without waves. The clouds in the heavens, the waves in the sea, a film projected onto the screen, all allude to movement. Mostly, our consciousness identifies with this movement and remains unaware of the background, the "Atma".
Mind Mantra Meditation & Yoga
Mantra is spoken in the ancient language of Sanskrit. The spiritual masters of India consider this language divine because of its vibrational energy. Sanskrit mantras provide the opportunity to establish a connection with the highest spiritual energies. The practice of Mantra helps to overcome daily worries and concerns. Mantra removes obstacles from the spiritual path and purifies the mind. Mantra is a word or phrase that contains great vibration and powerful spiritual energy. Mantra literally means to ‘liberate the mind’ - it liberates the mind from fear, dependency and sorrow. It gives the mind peace and guides our thoughts. The vibrational energy of the Sanskrit Mantra, as given by an authentic meditation Master, is tuned with the universal source of peace. The great saints, yogis and spiritual leaders of yester-year practiced and perfected Mantras and Prayers before conveying them to humanity for the welfare of all beings. The author of this article His Holiness Swamiji reguarlly visits Australia. you may also view his spiritual lectures and live webcasts on line for free at http://swamiji.tv/
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