Saturday June 13, 2020 NYC

Editor’s Note: Pranavadipa Volume 67

“Seek nothing but what you must Attain.
Seek nothing but what you must Realize.
Seek nothing but the Truth.”

-Satrugu Shri Mahayogi Paramahansa,
from The Universal Gospel Of Yoga

These words, spoken by Shri Mahayogi and recorded in the teaching “The Aim of Life” in The Universal Gospel of Yoga, straightforwardly speak directly to the core of every human being’s existence. These words are simple, yet so strong that they can shake one’s mind out of being caught up in its own stories and illusions and make it recognize at once that the only thing that truly matters is precisely that. These words stand boldly, unable to be touched or moved by any worldly matters.

But what do they mean? Is it enough to merely read these words and experience one passing moment of recognition? What is it really that we must attain? What is it really that we must realize? And how do we do it? With the world constantly changing around us, bringing one new situation after another, how can we keep our minds unshakeable amidst external conditions and clear about aiming for the Truth?

In this month’s Pranavadipa (Vol. 67), the primary content is around the seriousness needed by practitioner to seek the Truth, as well as the practice of discrimination, the process of differentiating between the content of the mind and the teaching of the Truth, in order to bring the mind to the Truth.

The Satsangha in this issue, coming from the first Satsangha that took place in New York during Shri Mahayogi’s most recent visit (Dec 2019 – Feb 2020), has many questions that relate to how to correctly practice discrimination, which at times can be a practice that many practitioners may not be clear on how to approach or go about. However, Shri Mahayogi carefully responds to each question, at times clarifying misunderstandings, at other times breaking down how to approach the mind, and then also firmly directing the mind to always aim towards a content that is the purest of the pure—the unchangeable Existence.

At the same time, Shri Mahayogi teaches us about what seriousness is when it comes to seeking the Truth and the imperativeness of “staking your life” on it. In response to the shock expressed by some attendees as they try to interpret what this strong message means, Shri Mahayogi compassionately helps us all to see, through the simple example of romantic love, how we already know how to stake our lives on something and rather all we need to do is to instead direct that action towards something that is unchangeable and eternal.

“Seek nothing but what you must Attain.
Seek nothing but what you must Realize.
Seek nothing but the Truth.”

To constantly remind ourselves of this, to empty ourselves of that which is changeable and unnecessary, and to instead fill ourselves with the teachings of Yoga, will surely bring about the seriousness to seek only the Truth, and bring the mind to concentrate and base its activities upon it. Then the process of discrimination will come more naturally, our seriousness will become stronger and our capacity to understand beyond the surface level of the words will be continuously developed. As we read through this Satsangha, let’s aim to think deeply on Shri Mahayogi’s words, and strive to discover what they really mean by trying to put them into action.

*

Yoga is practical—Shri Mahayogi says—it is not about intellectual understanding. It is about transformation. True transformation can happen only through experience. Experience can happen only through actually putting our body and mind into action. If we sincerely want to learn Yoga, and in order to understand the teachings, we need to experience them through putting them into action—to do so is to embark on the true path of learning. Otherwise the depth of the meaning remains veiled to our eyes and does not fully penetrate into our heart and our being.

This month’s Testimony is coming from the first part of “Living on the Words of Mother,” and is the writing of Yukti, a disciple of Shri Mahayogi in Japan. These articles were originally published in Paramahamsa (Mahayogi Mission Japan’s bi-monthly publication) between Sept. 2012 and Jan. 2014.

The first part of this month’s article begins with her narration:

“On March 11, 2011, I was working as a nurse and left Japan to volunteer at Mother Teresa’s facility in Kolkota, India, in search of an answer to a question I had been continuing to pursue while attending to patients. I found the answer in the words of Mother. It was for me myself, who is attending to the dying, watching over a person’s final hours, to become holy. However, just getting that answer was not enough, because the answer must be realized and lived.”

“……. As I began to know her more, I began to think of her words more deeply, meditate on them and I began to act on them. What I have come to understand from that is that if we meditate upon the words of holy beings, and seriously continue to apply them in practice through our actions, then we will surely come to see the Truth ahead.

From now on, I would like to write about what I have practiced and what I will be practicing. First I would like to revisit my previous article about my experiences in India, “Message from the Mother,” and share with you the things that I felt more deeply.”

Then the article goes on to detail her actual course of actions, her journey of striving to discover and understand the deeper meaning behind Mother Teresa’s words, even to the point of designing her life around putting herself in situations that would make her test Mother Teresa’s words and try to experience for herself their meaning and where they come from.

This is a remarkable Testimony, whether you practice Yoga or not, there is so much that we can all learn from. In fact, in her writing, she rarely uses the word Yoga, even at one point writing, “after I returned [from India] to Japan, I could not think about Yoga anymore,” however her actions themselves are her own example of exactly what Yoga is, and exactly how Shri Mahayogi teaches us. Throughout her journey the underlying presence of her great master, Shri Mahayogi, is always there, and through this example we can see that Yoga is indeed universal, the essence of religion and the genuine search inherent within our human nature.

This is the first of three parts that will be published over three volumes of Pranavadipa. And we look forward to continuing to share her experience, learning, and transformation in the next two Volumes.

In preparation for reading this Testimony we suggest first reading “Searching for God’s Love”, an article by Yukti that is already published on the Mahayogi Yoga Mission website.http://www.mahayogiyogamission.org/teaching/gods_love1.html