Today, Asha and I remember our esteemed mentor, Bede Griffiths, who was born on 17 December 1906. His spiritual legacy remains with us and many others who were touched by his life and presence.

I first discovered what Bede Griffith meant by the word presence when I accompanied him to an inter-religious conference on the outskirts of my native city of Chennai. The conference was attended by many distinguished spiritual luminaries of the time, including Swami Satcidananda, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Reverend Marcus Braybrooke, and many others. Meditating with Bede Griffiths twice a day introduced me to a quality of consciousness that became the benchmark of what I would, for want of better words, call The Presence.

The human ego recognizes the word presence as something imposing, as in the commanding screen presence of an actor. This kind of presence is a quality of dominating a field of attention through embodying a role and being fully in character. Spiritual Presence is...

There are three dimensions of music worth discovering, and although the three are related, we may value one above the other. In our Yogic Mystery School, we are discovering all three of them at this time, even though we emphasize one during our current process. These three dimensions are aesthetic, therapeutic, and mystical, and each offers specific benefits.
In our process, the method is primarily directed toward the aesthetic, because, in order to create beauty with our voices, we've got to learn theoretical and technical components that have been simplified into three parts: chromatic calibration, developing ragas, and rhythm that involves timing.
We are three groups working as one whole. On the one hand, some are tone-deaf and have no sense of music theory or technique, while on the other, there are skilled musicians who are well-trained technically and theoretically. In between are the developing musicians who have various levels of theory and technique, some more than others....

Life is precious, and it is precious to be in a relationship with other humans. There is a beautiful mantra that we pray that goes, Sarvesham Svasthir Bhavatu.

It's a beautiful mantra to pray for the world because many mantras, Vedic mantras in particular, are praying for the well-being of all. Sarvesham means everybody, all creatures, all beings. Sarvesham Svasthir Bhavatu.

Svasthi is this beautiful word that connotes blessing on the one hand and well-being on the other. May there be a sense of well-being that prevails in our world with everybody. Sarvesham Svasthir Bhavatu.

Sarvesham Shantir Bhavatu. That there be peace, that there is this prevalence of peace in human consciousness. Sarvesham Purnam Bhavatu.

Again, the word Purnam, in the middle of these other words that are recurrent, Sarvesham and Bhavatu, means fullness, and we can interpret it two ways. On the one hand, we can say that this is a prayer asking everybody to be filled with the fullness of God's presence, and we...

Science, we know, is constantly making discoveries in ways that reinforce some theories while others are either discarded or forced into being modified or upgraded. In Darwinian fashion, only the fittest theories survive. In this manner, science mimics the development of our consciousness in our lives.

As we evolve, some of our thoughts, behaviors, habits, and beliefs are reinforced because they align with the discoveries we make in life. In many instances, however, we are challenged to discard outmoded ways of thinking and behaving or upgrade them to be in alignment with our evolving consciousness. Many humans resist this process.

We often tend to embrace only those discoveries that align with our established thoughts, behaviors, habits, and beliefs. Adapting ourselves to change does not come naturally to us, especially when the rate of change is as rapid as it is in our post-modern civilization. It is our predicament today, and mantra practice can help.

The way to work with...

It is a time for healing. Since COVID, we've all been through a lot, some more than others. Whether directly or experienced vicariously through our news feeds, life has been stressful. Music is a modality that offers us much.

When modern music therapy was discovered during the Second World War, nurses documented wounded soldiers healing much faster when music was part of their process. They also noted a reduced dependence on morphine.

Many cultures knew the healing power of music. Of significance are the ancient Greeks, including Hippocrates, the father of ancient Greek medicine, honored by our present-day system of Western medicine.

It is fascinating that as far back as 400 BC, around the time of the Upanishads, Hippocrates was inspired to use music as part of the treatment for ailments. And it wasn't just the physical dimension that was addressed through music. Hippocrates realized that mental health was integral to overall health and that music could "heal the mind."

In the Yoga...

I am inviting you to begin a daily engagement of prayer, puja, and practicing peace. Each of these pieces represents an aspect of the spiritual life. Practicing peace is part of our self-development process. It is founded upon meditation, which is part of our self-care and cultivates our capacity for self-control. For some of us, meditation is the only spiritual discipline we engage in daily. Prayer and puja (sacred ritual) involve different sensitivities.

In our Yogic Mystery School, we are, for the first time, consciously exploring the role of prayer in our mystic, gnostic, and meditation approaches, particularly in what we call Absorption, which for us is the most profound experience of Tantra, Yoga, and the Vedas, aka samadhi, moksha. Prayer is a respectful communion with the dimension of Ultimate Reality.

Puja is powerful because it is profoundly healing. The knowledgeable use of sacred gestures (mudras) with mantras (sacred sounds) and contact with natural elements (fire,...

Diwali is the most auspicious time in the Hindu calendar, celebrating the triumph of light over darkness metataphorically and practically as daylight gets shorter.

Diwali, among other symbolisms, venerates Lakshmi, one of the most ancient harvest goddesses. She symbolizes abundance, wealth, and beauty. In our school, we study and practice Lakshmi Tantra.

To help you invoke the goddess Lakshmi during this auspicious time, in a 15-minute abundance meditation, visualize what you want to manifest for yourself, your loved ones, and the world. 

We hope you can feel the blessing of this moment when the stars and deities configure to grant us prosperity and well-being. Wear a good headset for an immersive effect, and make yourself comfortable before you begin the meditation.

Diwali starts a new year in the Hindu calendar. We grow in abundance consciousness over time. Without this daily application and constant growth in what abundance consciousness is and what it can be for each...

Peace is always within our reach, depending not on what is going on in our lives or the world but on our fundamental, prevailing attitude. Regardless of the concerns that arise in the mind and cloud our hearts with anxiety, all it takes (sometimes) is a turning within, a shift in perception, to realize that peace is intrinsic to our deepest nature. 

Buddhist meditation teacher Susan Piver shares this story about the loss of a love relationship. She is taking out the garbage barefooted on a hot Texas morning; her heart is caught in a circle of tumultuous emotion. Recurring phrases such as "he fears commitment" and "he is too selfish to care about anyone else" continually barrage her mind. Suddenly, she realizes nothing is happening except that she is standing barefoot on a Texas street on trash day, with some birds flying overhead. At that moment, she realizes that all of her emotional pain is entirely the result of her thought patterns. It had nothing to do with anything...

The human voice, a truly unique instrument, has always fascinated me. Its preciousness, however, became even more apparent in the face of the widespread violence and bloodshed that plague our world today.

Did you know hearing is among the first human faculties to develop in the womb? And hearing is postulated to be among the last of our senses to leave us as we die? Hearing leads to the development of our voices. If our eyes are the gateways to our souls, could our voices be their bodies? In all their diversity, our voices are the universal embodiment of our souls.

The human voice, a unique blessing of life, characterizes our aliveness. The voice can express itself through the body and be heard through the ears, a manifestation of sound moving in the air medium. This aliveness of sound sets the human voice apart from all other sounds, making it a truly extraordinary instrument.

Unlike the mechanical sounds emitted from electronic music synthesizers or everyday equipment, the human...

A famous Hindu chant is often chanted in yoga studios and training worldwide. The words are “lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhinaḥ bhavantu.” While the word "sukha" is usually translated as happiness, giving the mantra the meaning of "may the world be happy," there is a more meaningful etymology to this word that is particularly significant at this time.

"Sukha" does mean joy and delight, but there is equally, or perhaps more strongly, the sense that it refers to ease, comfort, and coziness. Consider regions around the world where people are struggling with the necessities of life under the daily threat of war, oppression, or violence. One way of holding them in our prayers is to ask that their lives ease up into a more comfortable existence.

In this guided meditation, taken from our Yoga of Sound Immersion, you will engage in a simple yet powerful prayer that embodies the spirit of the Vedas. It is designed to be accessible to everyone, even those without knowledge of Sanskrit,...