Tuesday May 14, 2019 NYC
Editor’s Note: Pranavadipa Volume 54
“The aim of life is to realize the Truth.
What is Truth?
This is impossible to answer with the intellect.
Yet one can experience it.
The wisdom and the means to do so are contained in this very Yoga.”
– Satguru Shri Mahayogi Paramahansa (from The Universal Gospel of Yoga)
This month’s issue of Pranavadipa (Vol. 54) features the Satsangha that took place in New York, during the final days of Shri Mahayogi’s visit this winter. There were a number of attendees at this particular Satsangha who were meeting Shri Mahayogi for the first time, and for some, this was their first real encounter with Yoga.
Responding to a request to introduce the newcomers to what Yoga really is, Shri Mahayogi speaks very passionately about the topic, leading us through an in-depth discovery of what Yoga is, where it comes from, and what the most important aspects of it are. Whether new to Yoga or a practitioner of many years, the freshness and passion with which Shri Mahayogi speaks seems to itself carry the very vibration of Truth that he is speaking about, sparking or re-igniting our own passion to live for Yoga in every moment.
Shri Mahayogi then teaches about the three treasures taught by the great Yogi of ancient times, Shankarcharya, and the great significance of meeting a Guru—leaving us with the palpable feeling of preciousness for being born into this life and having met a Master who truly knows Yoga.
As the Satsangha continues, Shri Mahayogi teaches about karma, its cause and how to eliminate it; the importance of leaving suffering behind for realization of the Truth that is beyond all phenomena of this world, the secret of overcoming trauma from the past, and the meaning of True Love.
And perhaps as the highlight, Shri Mahayogi offers a teaching on the meditation on death, in which he describes in detail how to proceed with this meditation and where it will lead the practitioner.
Throughout this Satsangha, no matter the topic of the teaching, it seems as if Shri Mahayogi is again and again impressing upon us the fact that Yoga, the Truth, is closest here and now. Its realization is the true aim of life and within each and every moment there is an opportunity to live our life according to It!
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Latu (The pre-monastic name of Swami Adbhutananda, a disciple of Shri Ramakrishna who was considered to be his greatest miracle.)
For this month’s Testimony we have the great opportunity to read one of the speeches from the occasion of Sanatana Dharma Avatara Mela, which was held this past April in Kyoto, Japan.
The ceremony this year was centered on the Avatara, Shri Ramakrishna, and this particular speech, made by Anandi, focuses on Latu, who was one of the disciples of Shri Ramakrishna and considered to be his greatest miracle, and how she learned through Latu’s example and the very guidance of the Avatara Shri Ramakrishna himself, that continues from beyond time and space.
Anandi’s speech is filled with sincerity and passion that have the power to touch the heart of the reader and inspire within them the same desire for practice, as well as the practical example of how to learn from the disciples of the Avatara that have come before us.