Bridging Worlds: Science, Spirituality, and Service | Episode 119 with Swami Karunananda

so Swami Karunananda first of all thank you for taking the time to do this I always love spending time with you um I wanted to start to see if we can get some of your your history and ask if you can share um anything you know about your birth story like where you were born and anything you know about your birth my birth Brooklyn Brooklyn where so many people on the spiritual path seem to originate from my birth story what comes to mind if that's the question you're asking my parents told me that I started speaking
when I was 6 months old and when I look at six-month old babies now I don't know how that's possible and they also tell me that when I was 3 years old I picked up a newspaper and started reading it out loud never having been taught how to read and they asked me how are you doing this and I just said I don't know I just know I think they thought I was an alien being who had come in the form of their daughter but I think from a yoga perspective those Samskaras were probably very close to the surface and God knew I was going to have a lot to sa
this lifetime so he or she got started early do you have any kind of like intuition into why you were able to do that I mean does it just feel like it was something from a previous life or something with your skill set that you were able to pick up language very quickly it just was m I wasn't analyzing much back then what do I mean like now knowing yourself yeah what I said the S scaras those some scars were close to the surface and they just expressed themselves how about an early memory that you have you know before coming
here I just spent a few minutes thinking considering that you might ask me a question like that because I never think about that time of my life and what came to mind was if you would have asked me what was the beginning of my spiritual journey I think I would point to a walk I took when I was in sixth grade so I was about 10 years old it was on my block in Brooklyn that's what we call the streets in Brooklyn our blocks and I asked myself the question what do you want to do with your life and the answer that immediately
came was I want to help people so the next question that came was well what's the best way to do that and immediately the answer came I want to help relieve their suffering in any way I can and then the final question was well what do you think the best way to do that was and the only thing I knew was what I had had seen in my short life of people who remove other people's suffering doctors so then and there that moment I decided that is what I was going to do and I think I was about 10 years old then and I began writing I said well how
am I going to begin studying I have to begin preparing now I am somewhat of a planner so I began writing to all the medical and disease associations I could think of to send me all their literature because it would always include descriptions of the problems and and the treatment protocols that were available and that's how I began my self-education and I never wavered in college I was in a premedical program I majored in chemistry in a Premed program and I followed that for three and a half years at the time I was in New York City
at the time gurudev arrived in New York City I knew nothing about yoga I had never heard of him but my interests began to shift and it is only in more recent years that it has occurred to me that it was the proximity of his presence that either contributed to or directly caused the shift in me the subtle influence cuz I didn't live far from him I was attending Barnard College Columbia University and he was right in the area there and so my interest shifted from science itself to the philosophy of science okay I want to go back though
because I think the the the original seed that was planted Ed is very interesting right so okay this walk that you were taking were you by yourself yes you're by yourself do you remember like what you were doing where you were going I had been playing with my friend and I was going home for dinner mhm and this question just occurred to you what do you want to do with your life yes isn't it amazing how powerful that question is yeah and I think it's possible to not even really ask it like to me it's like that's amazing that you
were clear at that age and that question like what even a gift that that question came to you uhuh um but it's so simple but maybe the most important one right like just what do I want to do with my time we have this time here what do I want to do with it so I think that's beautiful that that you receive that question at that age and do you think there was like a shift that occurred afterwards like um did any part of you maybe like relaxed and knowing like okay I have a plan now whereas before that didn't that wasn't there I'll tell you
there was another line of inquiry that I had at that time that did cause a shift I was I was very good both in I guess you could call it academic studies at that age and also in athletics it might be hard to believe leave looking at me now but I was really good in athletics and I analyzed and I said again part of what I want to do with my life it seemed clear to me that I couldn't do both and do them well that I had to choose and I chose academics because I thought that would be more useful m for people I could be of more use that way
and I'm thinking now as I'm relating this to you that was probably the primary inquiry and from there I probably pivoted into okay so what do you want to do with your life so I made a shift in my focus I made a clear decision this was going to be my track so Athletics yeah right like what did what did you what did you play what did you enjoy playing I was good at running I was good at skating the kids the things kids did biking different ball games and you felt like you could just pick them up quickly and you can become
fair I had natural skills hand to eye coordination speed balance things like that I remember once when I was in junior high we were playing I think it was volleyball and I did an assist the volley came our way I haven't thought of this in decades and I somehow swiveled and jumped and I don't know what I did I did an assist that must have been quite remarkable because the gym teachers came over afterwards and they placed me on some special honor guard in the school that was you know a real privilege to be on I have no recollection of all that
and I remember too I once went to uh an athletic club in the same age range and I had never played pingpong before but I saw people playing and I thought okay me too I'll try it somehow I had an UNR returnable serve I it would go and then it would like turn backwards hang in the air you know one of those crazy sort of things and I dominated the table for a couple of hour hours until I got tired and I left so I've never thought of these things but you're Plumbing the old yeah memories yeah and you know relieving suffering
like even at that age yes I kind of have this uh hypothesis a little bit that that if all if every one of us stops to ask that question like what what do I really want that there's that's the similarity between what we all really want like we all really want to serve that like we're kind of like made for that and each of us gets to choose our unique way to serve like then the process okay like first it's like I want to help you know and then I get to choose how I want to help and there's a endless variety of different ways to
serve yes I totally agree with what you're saying I think it's a primary need of every human being to to feel like they're making a valuable contribution during their time here on Earth just like it's a primary need for a baby to be touched or it won't Thrive a baby will die if it isn't touched as we mature the need to serve is stronger and more important than we realize do you ever consider that because like in a way because of Technology um that the world has gotten much larger right like we're connected to what's going on places very far from
where we live um and we're connected to a lot of things that people are doing on social media whatever it is um and that as a result may be a common uh reaction response to that is to feel small like I even think about this living in a city when you're in a city and there's all these people around you right like you kind of for can forget your value um you know and then that feeling then then it's like kind of the opposite of that like oh like I have something to offer I can serve other people I can make a difference the the other side of that
spectrum is like what can I do like the world's so big the problems are so big like I feel like a lot of people fall into that right I think it's unfortunate and in a way wrong thinking on the one hand each one of us is very tiny and our time on this planet for any lifespan is just a a blink of an eye at the same time though the power of the Divine is pulsating within us that infinite potential to do good in this world I sometimes tell a couple of stories to inspire people in that way one is a story from the ramayana when Rama is building a bridge
to rescue saitta and all the great bears and monkeys have come to assist him and they're carrying huge trees and boulders in the midst of all this there's this little chimpmunk running around scurrying around grabbing a stick a leaf and adding his little contribution to the pile and after a while the Great monkeys and the great bearss look at this little critter and go what do you think you're doing you're so tiny you can't do much and the little chipmunk looked up and said I'm helping Rama build his bridge and they laughed
and laughed and then Lord Rama came picked up the little chipmunk stroked him and they say that's why the Chipmunk has Stripes today it's the blessing of Rama's touch and when I thought about that later yes the great monkeys and bears were grabbing these huge things and stacking them all the little leaves and twigs and whatnot was probably the mortar that held it all together right but even if it was like the smallest thing that hardly had any effect or even even just like the polishing of the bridge or something
like that right like okay I wonder if maybe the cause of of some suffering of feeling meaningless in a way is um a focus on result instead of process right so if I'm focused on process it's more about what is the experience going to be for me is it going to be healthy right like what you were talking about in terms of how we're wired MH is to serve right like just like needing food and water we need to serve we need a purpose like so to me there's a shift that happens there to the experience itself that I'm having while I'm serving not like the
outcome of you know building the whole the whole bridge I go a step further it's not about the result it's not about the process because it's not about us you just dissolve into the moment as an instrument of what is occurring I don't think about the process when I do something I don't think about the result I just think I don't even think I focus and then let something flow through that's one thing I learned to when I was really focused on ha yoga back in the day I probably taught thousands of ha yoga classes at all
sorts of venues and when I first started like everyone else I was very nervous you know am I going to do a good job are they going to like my class you know those sorts of thoughts and then it didn't take too long and I came to realize it wasn't about me at all all it had nothing to do with me somehow the universe provided me with this preparation this knowledge this skill and it's just being shared with others that's its purpose I'm just a vehicle an instrument for it to this day for decades now whenever I go to teach I
stand before my Altar and I have one prayer please make what I have to say be useful make it be useful that's it well maybe maybe your experience is different than mine but my experience is is that there's movement between levels so sometimes I'm at that level of pure Focus where there there is no me okay and uh if I'm putting a label on it maybe i' say that's the most Wonder F I love that that's in a way the goal to be in that place um but for me at least that's not sustainable I can't be there all the time where there there's no me
okay and I've come to believe that like all the levels are okay like they're a part of the process right and I want to clean up all the different levels right so sometimes there is uh taking care of the plan or even one level that I actually get a I've gotten great benefit from is seeing it as my responsibility to take care of AI like when I look at it like that and that if each of us saw it as our responsibilities to take care of ourselves and why am I cleaning up this instrument in order to serve and then I'm clear on that right but it's so easy
to get distracted on other things and if the whole world is operating that we all saw and why because I have more direct control over this being than I have of any other so it's just a very practical thing I can feel frustrated or happy what's happening in the outside world but I don't control that I do control this one um so I think about that it's like you know just the different the different ways of being and what each different way what what does it need yeah getting back to what you were saying before about people feeling
hopeless um when they look at the whole world and what you're saying now as well the thing to remember is we are part of the world you know the phrase be the chain change that you want to see if we take the time to do what is necessary to support our own peace through our practice through our service with proper attitude at least this little area of the world is peaceful and that's so much more powerful than we realize because the reverberations go out yeah I love that you brought this up cuz to me it's like the most important thing
to to talk about um and I had this thought during meditation TT too because you know the different techniques are wonderful yeah and another technique occurred to me you know related to what we're talking about so first I consider okay do I believe this do I know this that I am connected that I am a part of something larger than myself that's like first step is to get clear on that okay uh cuz in the past at least for me and I think for many people it's like I don't really believe that or maybe that's like a a
nice spiritual notion that we're all one or connected so like is this true or is it not true so for me it's true and there's no doubt about it that I'm linked up okay so now going from that premise that kind of that's a GameChanger that changes everything because however I'm feeling inside is going to have an effect on the external environment so right there that's giving me purpose beyond anything that I probably ever experienced before coming to that realization right so in a way that like kind of whips me into shape of
like everything that I'm doing to further my own growth is also helping the World At Large and in meditation um in a way like calling it like purpose meditation right this isn't just and you touched on this too I remember during the training is like what we're doing is not just um something to finish as not being like important or something I should do to you know relax my mind or something like that no it's way more important than that these vibrations if we're entering into a place of of love and Oneness and
uh these things and feeling them genuinely in our being those vibrations are going out to the world to to have uh an effect um so meditation even like the thought is is like meditation itself can provide this purpose that I think so many people are looking for if you don't have like you know oh I want to be a doctor or something like that well you can still meditate MH yeah so on like even the level of the breath and I'll tell you for for years now I've been focusing on giving that was the easy one for me to do like send
it out okay you're connected send it out but I didn't realize how much more um there was for me to receive you know uh and that has been very profound as well because the more that I take in this energy and it feels like nature wants me to take it in breathe in all this goodness all this strength then my capacity for giving heightens as well do you have a similar have you had a similar experience to that I don't think about it so much I'm really at this stage in my life I think I just am and I show up and let what needs to happen or flow
through me do so and try to grow with each passing day how do you grow I think nature itself the divine plan seized to that by placing Us in certain situations and environments that impel us to reach deeper within to come to good Solutions so like life itself is teaching absolutely all the time every moment every moment gurev used to say the universe is the great University and I believe we're put into classrooms that are divinely
choreographed to have the lessons we need to learn and as soon as we learn them we're moved out I remember once I was living at our usham in Northern California we had a lot of problems with the sewer system and it was going to take millions of dollars to correct it so we were all sent out to see if we could get jobs like real jobs and of everyone at the Asam I think I was one of five that actually managed to get a job so I was the office manager for the County newspaper the Clear Lake Observer so I would just show up every
day do what I was asked to do and then go home at night to the asham and I served there for about a year and one day I went to the job and I looked up and I looked around me and it was like I got it and I sometimes do this I talk to God I looked up and no I always opened up the office so there was no one else there and I said you know I get it I know why I was placed here I understand the lessons I was supposed to learn and I want you to know I got it if you want to keep me here I'm fine with that but I know you usually don't
like to waste time so I'm just letting you know I get it I went home from work that very day and I was told to quit my job that they had decided to sell the asham because there was no way our little what $100 weekly paycheck um five of us was going to pay for this enormous renovation that was needed the Chipmunk yeah but the Chipmunk helped us to fulfill whatever purpose we had there we had a purpose in being there so so do you think the same lessons or similar lessons will continue to present themselves until we we get it
oh absolutely absolutely no doubt you can't run away from yourself and the more that it opens up like like your situation like I got it yeah what I needed to learn I shifted something changed and then there'll be something else oh there's always something else there's always something else endlessly well if we're here on Earth we have lessons to learn when we make mistakes I always think it's not a failure it's arrogant to think we won't make mistakes because we've been sent here to learn lessons part of learning
lessons is making mistakes so it's part of the process of the evolution of the soul in the yoga sutras it says procr Nature has two purposes to provide experiences to the soul and ultimately Liberation The Liberation comes after the experiences refine purify and Elevate the soul so we can be a a recipient a vessel for that highest experience so that's Nature's purpose so I think even about this relationship to mistakes yeah that we have right like I can make a mistake and then afterwards I can uh kind of be mad at
myself about making the mistake or disappointing with myself or whatever it is and then that could happen again and again and again and that itself maybe is the lesson right it's like it's not even the actual mistake it's the response to the mistake that's the lesson and then that will keep repeating itself but this one I I feel like is so common that you bring up like mistakes right and and how much fear there is to to make a mistake like it's so natural right like mistakes like you said are going to happen like a
child learning to walk or how many mistakes does it make trying to to get up or move its legs it's like that's the way of things but we almost treat it like it's not and I wonder why that is and I'm wondering if it's this is where the ego comes into place and we almost like take ourselves too seriously like this identity this being like can be like obsessed with its performance and what do other people think about me and how are they analyzing me and all that is that the one of the major traps yeah yeah gev used to speak often from the
turo are three main scriptures of the yoga sutras of pangali Bhagavad Gita and turo turo has just little couplets and one of my favorites is never regret anything never do anything that you will regret later but he knows we're going to so the second part is but just you just in case you do it's better not to do the regretting in other words you learn the lesson and move on yeah regretting is like you've fallen into a hole and then you take a bat and you bang yourself down further in you take the lesson but not beating
yourself up for having slipped gurudev once was speaking to me about the spiritual path and he said if you were to plot the spiritual path of anyone's life he says it's very similar to plotting the path to Healing from a serious illness in a way the spiritual path healing doesn't go straight up no one gets to the goal like that it doesn't even go up on a gentle incline it's on a gentle incline but you're constantly cycling like four steps forward two step steps back three step forward one step back and you slowly learn the lessons and proceed to
the goal this is Revolution this is evolution Revolution comes and goes evolution is a trajectory in a definite Direction yeah that feels totally on point to me that's how it is yeah okay so going back to this transition that you had so you were in medical school in yeah in Barnard yeah um and not Medical School Premed Premed okay and so how were you introduced to Swami Sai danda to begin with okay so getting back to that so my interest began to shift and I realized it was shortly after he had come to reside in New York City
from the actual science to the philosophy of science to the nature of the world understanding that the nature of the Mind how they interact the purpose of language in communicating what the world presents and from those questions I became interested in a group of philosophers known as the presocratic philosophers who were very much yogis people like heraclitis he said something to the effect you can never step in the same river twice you know the only constant is change there was perenties there was Pythagoras all these great
thinkers so my thinking began to flow in another Direction I decided to go an extra year of school and do an intense ensive major in philosophy I wound up graduating with more questions than answers so I graduated from college and during the college experience the stressors living in New York City and being in such a demanding program and a very high caliber school as well began to take a toll on my body so at one point I went to see a doctor I had hardly ever seen any doctors in my life and he handed me some pills and he told me come back in a
couple of weeks and we're going to do some tests so this is a fancy New York City doctor I came out of his office I'm standing on the street I take the bottle of pills that he gave me I poured them into my hand and I stood there for a while looking at them I just contemplated them and then out loud I said no no no this is not going to be what my life is about I threw them in a trash can across the street was a bookstore I crossed the street and got my first yoga book A book on Hay yoga by Indra Dave that's how it
began and so I graduated college I was getting into yoga my mind was exploring these other teachings and we're talking now the late 60s where it was happening was the Bay Area in San Francisco that was sort of the womb of the New Age movement so I decided to go there but I will say before that even I went there in this in the summer but in the spring a friend called me and said there's a Swami who's going to be speaking at the University Chapel tonight and I got this funny feeling when I heard that and I said what's the
Swami's name and the person said Swami saand and it was like everything inside of me just stopped and at this point I was living out of state so I couldn't go but I knew in that instant that life as I had known it would never be the same again see I have to say I'm fascinated um by experiences like this that you're sharing like with the with the pills you know the message that come through and just hearing swam such itand's name yeah and so it seems to me that you are very linked up and and you we can call it intuition
whatever it is but it fascinates me because I my mother has been telling me this my whole life about the importance of following you know your gut your instincts all all of that which I get and I honor and it's beautiful you know for me and probably for many others it's not so easy like I wish that messages came through so strongly like that you know it's um it just doesn't happen you know what I think AI I think the universe is continually giving us those messages our minds are too busy to receive them but if we just can stop and
if we have the eyes to see the ears to hear the heart to receive we're receiving all the time exactly what we need I totally believe that totally but it's you know I think it's like maybe like some kind of conditioning that's deep in there that says to me like that's crazy like if you do this thing that like if just because you heard a voice or something you totally redirect your life and make like this big change because of this you know this moment like that that there's like fear there that that path to go down that path like
okay there's this one decision but now am I just going to start to make decisions like this and who knows what's going to happen and if you have a family and commitments are those all just going to go like that one day because you got another message no I don't believe in being Reckless I don't think intuition is about recklessness um I'm a very thoughtful person but you learn from experience to recognize that true voice within you it has a certain tone it has a certain feeling there's no demand in it it's it's soft
clear decisive and present and you learn from experience when you follow and when you don't I remember once I was Staffing a retreat in Colorado so we started in Denver so I came from San Francisco so I'm already one mile high and the retreat was about 10,000 or more feet it was really high up but most of the people were Denver you know citizens so they're used to living at an elevated level I just came from San Francisco so we're at the retreat and the day before the staff gathers and everyone says let's go take a sauna you know
let's all have a nice sauna together and I'm thinking me too sure and I heard that voice within me as clear as a bell don't do it but I wanted to because it was going to be fun so anyway I had an episode it was you know the air was very thin for me all of a sudden your heart always beats faster when you're in the sauna anyway anyway I just all my systems went sort of screwy and they quickly rushed me down the mountain to and they had all sorts of things hooked up and plugged into me and whatnot and my good fortune was I'm in the
waiting in the emergency room waiting to be seen hooked up to all these things the doctor comes in and I learned afterwards he happened to be a Zen practitioner and he just stood there staring at me for a few moments and he said remove all that stuff and it's sort of by the power of His Focus knowledge and intention in a way and I guess my receptivity to that everything came into order but I would I will say also for a year afterwards I couldn't go up into high elevations without getting vertigo M so there was still that sensitivity for a
while but I heard that voice and I remembered afterwards it was a good lesson so that's how you get to learn what it sounds like you don't listen to every crazy idea that the mind creates this comes from a deeper place so how often does that voice show up I don't count but like and also have you found is it is that relationship with that voice does it enhance as time goes by like does it show up now more than it used to in the past again I don't measure in that way but I would say it's the way I move through life I'm very
intellectual externally very analytical but the way I move through life is more feeling based I I feel it I sense it and that's part of this I guess you could say inner knowing of sorts is there um is humility necessary absolutely absolutely in fact it's interesting you brought it up for me the two outstanding requisites for spiritual life and profound growth are humility and faith faith faith in your goal faith in your teacher faith in the teaching faith in your practice Faith In Yourself faith in the process the faith can take any
number of forms according to the individual and then the humility to accept that you don't know everything and not only that you don't even know what you don't know you know and with the trust of a child in a way that you will be shown and guided every step of the way as your unique path unfolds because everyone's path is unique [Music] it almost seems to me that the humility is necessary in order to have faith where it's like when I when I really realize that I don't know yeah like I really don't know yeah the faith is like
right there for me in that in that opening in that unknowing mhm yeah yeah sometimes we have to be pushed to the limit of our understanding to really find our faith in a more profound way it's like when the heart is overwhelmed when the mind is confounded where action needs to be taken but all you see are smoke and mirrors and confusion we turn to a a higher wisdom a deeper knowing for help for help it's almost it's so um it's a big deal I think to be able to to do what we're talking about genuinely like I think something inside of me even
has to die I would say you know like that part of me that takes my opinion really seriously like my Outlook on the world and I know what's right and what should happen all all of that that is I'm holding on to it very tightly like that has to die like that's a that's a death of something inside of me it's not inside of you it has nothing to do with what's inside of you it's what's running around in your mind and it's interesting you bring up the term opinions I think that's one of the problems in today's society everyone has opinions about
everything like you mentioned you know how the world is connected more and opinions begin to masquerade as facts and as we see a web of confusion is spun that's what so the image that occurred to me years ago is that if you think of the Wheel of Life each one of us is positioned at a particular and unique position on that wheel and based on where we are which is based on our prior experiences and condition we see things in a certain way we have opinions about the direction that should be taken so just picture this simple
wheel and let's say the question is getting to the center you're here at North I'm here at East based on our lives experiences you say Swami karunananda we definitely must go south and I'd say AI I appr appreciate your viewpoint but you're missing the point we should go west and then if we're like everyone else in the world we fight because we think we're right and it's so important that we do that and then what happens in the fullness of time the wheel turns because nothing stays stationary so now you're East and
I'm South and you go the the same problem still exists getting to Cent and you say Swami karunananda you were absolutely right we should go west and I say thank you AI for saying that but I no longer think that's the way we should go we should go north that's I think that really describes what happens because our minds are not pure clear vessels they're conditioned by all our prior experiences and we glom that on to everything we experience I like so much the description of perception he Compares it to an oyster making a pearl
the way an oyster makes a pearl is a little bit of grit or a little parasite falls into its shell and then the oyster immediately throws its own enameling around that to protect itself from the irritation perception is like that the truth the fact is like something falling into our mind all our past experience and conditioning is like the enameling we glom onto that and then he goes on to say all that we do know all that we can can know through the instrument of the Mind are the pearls that we ourselves create our ritties this is another quote
from him are our known universe and that's why when you think of it even in those terms the importance the power the meaning the greatness of going beyond the Mind becomes ever more apparent to see things in truth as they are yeah yeah I I love it like if you ask me like what do I know and how do I know it yeah like the things I really know yeah like if can feel that like this is the truth I think it's only possible for me to really feel that way about anything when I am in that place beyond the Mind m and dwelling in that place a message
comes through and it's not mine and just comes and everything in my being says this is true that's the voice yeah that's the voice we're talking about yeah it has a certain tone it has a certain Clarity it's not aggressive it just it just is and it's like offering it as a gift here is truth is a gift for you it's an expression of isness not business we busyness but the the conditioning itself I think has something to do with lack of humility like I need to have this identity this um assurity of my opinions like this like okay like I
know for sure that we should go north right now yeah you know there's no humility in that but when I ask like well why is that because it's so obvious that mhm I don't really know that we should go north most of the time unless what happened what we're talking about what happened like that message comes through in a clear mind um but it it almost seems like in order to fit in we have to play this game of like really holding on to opinions and facts and like pretending like like we know it and maybe it has to do with
like covering up a fear that the unknown is scary like that this world is so big and I don't really I don't know how I got here and I'm not sure where I'm going or what I'm supposed to do so in order to avoid that I'm going to pretend like I really know MH I think knowledge of basic Raji yoga is so much more helpful for navigating today's world than people realize especially the basic type types of thoughts I'm thinking of two in particular now one is misconception the other verbal delusion I've read that misconception is
considered the most frequent activity in the human mind in right knowledge the first type of thought form simply put there's something out there and the Verity that forms in your mind corresponds to it so you're looking at something you think it's a rope and it is a rope misconception you're looking at it but you think it's a snake and it's really a rope based on your prior past experience that's all pervasive When You See It operative in your own own life you get a way to understand it in a bigger context the context of the world in the situations
we find ourselves in also verbal delusion I think that's the thought form for the modern era it has to do with words not corresponding to reality that sounds bad but it's also good it's bad in a way when there's lying gossip rumors fake news whatever when we fall into one of those patterns when we see the effect on us we see the effect that we cause on others when we get into those Powers then magnify that multiply it you see its effect in the world okay but good uses of this thought form when words don't correspond to reality it speaks of the
creative power of the divine within us every new creation every invention every plan begins with someone thinking and speaking about something that doesn't exist it's a portal when we understand how it functions within ourselves we can understand how it functions in the world and how to use the power of the Mind the power of intention to create peace Harmony healing instead of Discord corruption greed plundering whatever it all begins here the power of the mind to create so we learn about it we see its effects
good and bad within ourselves with that as our basis yoga is all about using our own equipment as a laboratory an experimental lab to learn about the cosmic laws we're a microcosm the universe is the macrocosm the same laws are operative on both levels we learn how it functions within us we can see how it functions in the world and we can be a more potent and useful Force for good yeah I think this very much relates to what you talked about and what you shared and when you were um a child and you were going for a walk and asking the
question what do I want what do I want to do out of life because that to me is that I need to be clear on that before I can do what you're talking about otherwise the mind is going to go it's it's just all scattered but once I'm clear on where my allegiance is yes now I can look at and say were was what was just happening in the mind useful for where you want to go if not then work with that discard it look into it whatever I need to do in order to release it and then use the mind in a different way towards the goal
but if the goal is not clear right exactly what you're talking about the power of Faith plus intention yeah that's what I think you know there's the saying from Tennison more things are WR by prayer than this world dreams of and prayer also prayer is intention wrapped in faith you know it's sending out a strong intention whether it's asking for something thanking praising it's a strong heartfelt intention the the world moves on that I'll share something with you okay this may sound woo woo but I don't care if we haven't sounded woo
woo already I don't know if this is going to be fit for airing when we're through but I used to be a big Chicago Bulls fan mhm uh people even provided tickets for me to go to their games when they were playing the Wizards in DC those guys they transcended physical laws cuz I I watched you know videotapes some of their moves they they had balls suspended in air while someone came and swooped it up I just saw them do miraculous things and when I watch games now like what was the recent thing the NFL the recent things if you watch the
guys on the field I don't know anything about football but I shouldn't be saying this probably and I hope it doesn't sound like I'm bragging because that's that's not the point but I can go before the TV watch it for five minutes and tell which team's going to win because their intention is stronger their will is stronger the other team may be favored they may be bigger but the team that you you can see it in the players faces and in their body language and the people who don't give up even if they're behind they don't give
up another verse from the turro most people give up on the verge of success and the da Ching puts it this way most people give up on the verge of success therefore give as much care to the end as to the beginning and then there will be no failure and you can see it you know when you look to see it you can see the will and the intention and that generally carries the day it draws the backing of the cosmic energy it draws that back and look at us with the Atlantic coast pipeline it was like David and Goliath but Our
intention was so one-pointed and firm absolutely this will not happen here and I don't know if you know this but we got the message that they gave up the project onee Guru por weekend as soon as all of our festivities were completed on Sunday a notice a phone tree went out throughout the entire Community the project is dead no one believed that people such as us would stop a Big M Behemoth that was behind the and it was the power of intention the power of prayer this is what I believe the power of faith and people here mobilize that
what if I can shift I'm curious like do you have an intention for integral yoga for the future what Swami Satchidananda kind of birthed here and now we're carrying forward can you share any intention you have for for the future I don't have an intention at this time but I do have faith I faith I have the faith that he planted good seeds and they will they will bear fruit for generations to come and those of us who are here now are entrusted to be good Guardians we're just passing through but I have faith this will continue for Generations
yet to come that the teachings the practices that integral yoga comprises are so much needed in the world they're so comprehensive inclusive accessible and we have the complete package in a way the physical the mental the emotional the spiritual and there's a need for it and I think if we continue on course on track doing our best like the little chipmunk God will provide what is needed that's my underlying belief how would you like to be remembered it is it doesn't occur to me to want to be remembered what occurs to me
is how can I be useful in this [Music] moment again we're all just passing through so very important and so inconsequential at the same time we're part of a bigger plan it's not about us it's not about us and we all are blessed if we're given the opportunity to help others along the way thank you so much is there anything else you'd like to share or say no this has been fun yeah thanks for the time