Sutras from the

Yoga Vasishtha Edited by Deepak Chopra

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Notes

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SUTRAS FROM THE YOGA VASISHTHA

Edited by Deepak Chopra

1. Brahman alone is the cosmic soul (mahajiva) and the millions of jivas.

There is nothing else. 2. In the infinite consciousness, in every atom, infinite universes come and go like

particles of dust in a beam of sunlight that shines through a hole in the roof. These come and go like ripples on the ocean.

3. Death is ever keeping a watch over our life span. 4. What is called fate or divine will is nothing other than action of self-effort of the

past. 5. There are four ways to liberation:

o Contentment o Inquiry o Self-Awareness o Satsangh

6. Even as movement is inherent in air, manifestation is inherent in consciousness. 7. All objects are experienced in the subject, not elsewhere. 8. For it is only as long as one invests the perceived object with reality that

bondage lasts; once that notion goes, with it goes bondage. 9. As long as there is a “you” and an “I”, there is no liberation. 10. Movement of thought creates the notion of created objects. 11. The unreal has no existence and the real does not cease to exist. 12. When the infinite vibrates, the worlds appear to emerge. When it does not

vibrate, the worlds appear to submerge, even as when a firebrand is whirled fast, a fiery circle appears. And, when it is held steady, the circle vanishes. Vibrating or not vibrating, it is the same everywhere at all times. Not realizing it, one is subject to delusion; when it is realized, all cravings and anxieties vanish.

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13. In everyone's consciousness there is a different idea of the world. Death and other such experiences are like cosmic dissolution, the night of cosmic consciousness. When that comes to an end everyone wakes up to one's own mental creations, which are the manifestation of one's ideas, notions and delusions. Even as the cosmic being creates the universe after cosmic dissolution, the individual creates his own world after his death.

14. The universe is but a long dream. The ego-sense, and also the fancy that there

are “others,” are as real as dream objects. The sole reality is the infinite consciousness which is omnipresent, pure, tranquil, and omnipotent.

15. Whatever is in the mind is like a city in the clouds. The emergence of this world

is no more than thoughts manifesting themselves. 16. All these worlds are no more than modifications of consciousness. 17. In the infinite consciousness, we have created each other in our fancy. 18. Dear ones, we are all individualized cosmic consciousness. 19. When the intelligence is established in the conviction of its ethereal nature, the

physical body is forgotten, even as in youth one forgets life as a fetus. 20. What is the mystery of time? Whatever one thinks within oneself in his own

intelligence, that alone is experienced by him. To a suffering person, a night is an epoch; and a night of revelry passes like a moment. In a dream, a moment is no different from an epoch. But to the sage, whose consciousness has overcome limitations, there is neither day nor night.

21. As and when one turns away from the notions of "I" and the "world," one is

liberated: the notion of "I am this" is the sole bondage here. 22. Jiva (individual soul) is just a little agitation on the surface of the ocean of

Brahman (universal consciousness) or just a little movement of the flame of a candle in a windless room.

23. When many candles are kindled from one another, it is the same flame that

burns in all candles; even so, the one Brahman appears to be many. When one contemplates the unreality of this diversity; he is freed from sorrow.

24. Whatever the mind thinks of, that alone it sees.

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25. The Self does not go nor does it ever come. Space and time derive their meaning from consciousness alone. Where can the Self go when all that is, is within it. If a pot is taken from one place to another, the space within it does not move from one place to another, for everything is forever in space.

26. If the mind is fully saturated with something, whatever happens to the body

does not affect the mind. The mind is even unaffected by boons and curses, even as the firmly established mountain is not moved by the horns of a little beast. The body does not create the mind, but the mind creates the body. The mind also is the seed for the body: when the tree dies, the seed does not, but when the seed perishes, the tree dies with it. If the body perishes, the mind can create other bodies for itself.

27. In truth, the cosmic mind, the personal mind and the infinite space are all of one

substance, pervaded by the infinite consciousness. Therefore, regardless of what you have created, you can create as many worlds as you like.

28. We create worlds as the natural expression of our own Being. 29. Individualized consciousness appears as the subtle or ethereal body, and when it

becomes gross, that itself appears to be the physical or material body. That individualized consciousness itself is known as the jiva or the individual soul, where the potentialities are in an extremely subtle state. And, when all this juggling of the jiva ceases, that itself shines as the supreme being.

30. Because Brahman alone is all this, even what is inert is pure consciousness. 31. Since the entire universe is within the mind, the notions of bondage and

liberation are also within it. 32. When bondage is non-existent, surely liberation is false too. 33. Egotism is but an idea based on a false association of the self with the physical

elements. In reality, this egotism does not exist any more than water exists in the mirage.

34. If "the mind is elsewhere," the taste of food that is being eaten is not really

experienced. If "the mind is elsewhere," one does not see what is right in front of oneself. The suns are born of the mind, but not the other way around.

35. One who knows the deathless nature of the Self is not afraid of death.

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36. The firm conviction that, "I am not the absolute Brahman," binds the mind; the mind is liberated by the firm conviction that, "everything is the absolute Brahman."

37. The one infinite consciousness alone shines in all names and forms. 38. Whatever is, and is known as the universe, is the one infinite consciousness.

There is no beginning, no middle, no end: all is all at all times, beyond the comprehension of mind and speech. The infinite has never abandoned its infinity. In its undisturbed state the infinite consciousness is the blissful supreme being; in its disturbed state the same supreme being is viewed as the object, as the world. Even as space exists in space, one with space, even so what appears to be the creation is Brahman, existing in Brahman, as Brahman. The notions of far and near, of diversity, of here and there, are as valid as the distance between two objects in a mirror in which a whole city is reflected.

39. The individualized consciousness perceives what it thinks it perceives on account

of its conditioning. 40. On account of ignorance, when the notion of an ego-self arises, at that very

moment the delusion of a beginning, a middle and an end also arises. 41. Hallucinations become reality when experienced by many, even as a statement

made by very many people is accepted as true. When these are incorporated into one's life, they acquire their own reality. After all, what is the truth concerning the things of this world, except how they are experienced in one's own consciousness?

42. It is by the action of consciousness becoming aware of itself that intelligence

manifests itself, not when consciousness apprehends an inert object. 43. It is not correct to say that there is a mixture in this universe of the sentient and

the inert, for they do not mix. All things are full of consciousness, and when this consciousness comprehends itself, there is knowledge.

44. When the division between the seer, the sight, and the seen is abolished, that is

the supreme. 45. Millions of universes appear in the infinite consciousness, like specks of dust in a

beam of light streaming into a room through a hole in the roof. 46. Time is the consumer and we are its food. We are time's food.

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47. He sees the truth who sees that there is no division at all between the Self and the other, and that the one infinite light of consciousness exists as the sole reality.

48. He sees the truth who sees that the non-dual consciousness which dwells in all

beings is omnipotent and omnipresent. 49. He who is bound by the ego sense (me) and by the conditioning of the mind,

even if he is regarded as a great man or as a man of great learning, can be defeated even by a child.

50. They in whom the ego sense (me) and its counterpart (the tendencies) do not

exist, know neither craving nor anger. They are invincible. 51. Just as space is unaffected and untouched by the clouds that float in it, this

infinite consciousness is unaffected and untouched by the universe that appears in it. Just as a light is not seen except through the refracting agent, even so the infinite consciousness is revealed through these various bodies. It is essentially nameless and formless but names and forms are associated to its reflections.

52. Just as in this universe there are countless beings of various species, in other

universes too, there are similar beings, with different bodies suited to their universes.

53. Renounce all notions and then renounce the renouncer of these notions. When

even the notion of the ego sense has ceased, you will be like infinite space. 54. Created beings acquire the character of the things with which they associate. 55. Subtle notions, ideas and mental conditioning are dormant even in the unborn

being; at birth, the veil that covered them is removed. 56. What is the duration of a lifespan in eternity? This lifespan of ours is but a trivial

moment - eternity stretches before and after it. Existence is the infinite unbounded consciousness. A lifespan is just a single thought in that consciousness.

57. There are beings in this universe whose winking is of the duration of an epoch to

humans. 58. Intention alone is the seed for this world appearance.

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59. They in whom the twin - urges of acquisition and rejection have come to an end, do not crave anything nor do they renounce anything. They are spontaneously established in Being. Established in Being, they spontaneously perform right action - action that is evolutionary.

60. You are the knower of all - the Self. You are the unborn being, you are the

supreme lord; you are non-different from the Self that pervades everything. 61. He who has abandoned the idea that there is an object of perception, which is

other than the Self is not subjected to the defects born of pleasure and pain. He is known as a yogi.

62. Consciousness minus conceptualization is the eternal Brahman – the absolute.

Consciousness plus conceptualization is thought and the universe. 63. Between the experiencer and the experience you are the experiencing: knowing

this, remain in self-knowledge. That which I call “me” (conventional me) is the experiencing - the impermanent, temporary flux in the vast expanse of infinite consciousness. The "real me" is not the flux but the ocean of consciousness - the experiencer, the experiencing and the experienced - eternal and always.

64. The desire that arises in the course of one's natural functions devoid of craving,

is that of a liberated sage. But that desire which is bound up with craving, is conducive to bondage.

65. The following four types feelings arise in the heart of man; (1) I am the body

born of my parents; (2) I am the subtle alive principle different from the body; (3) I am the eternal principle in all the diverse perishable objects in the world; (4) The "I" and the "world" are pure void like space. Of these, the first is conducive to bondage and the others to freedom.

66. The inexorable passage of invisible and intangible time eats up all creatures.

Knowing this, the wise keep their attention on the timeless. 67. They are at peace who are established in witness consciousness. 68. They are beyond hope and despair who are established in witness

consciousness.

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69. This world exists in me, the self or infinite consciousness, even as a reflection seems to exist in a mirror. I am the fragrance in flowers, the light in radiance and even in that light I am the experience. Whatever mobile or immobile beings exist in this universe, I am their supreme truth or consciousness free from conceptualization. I am the very essence in all things in the universe. Just as butter exists in milk and liquidity exists in water, even so, as the energy of consciousness, I exist in all that exists.

70. Enlightened beings, though they are constantly engaged in activity, do nothing.

The enlightened being's inner state is, "Even though I'm constantly engaged in activity, I do nothing. All happens. Living happens. There is nothing to cling to or grasp, nothing to renounce or run away from."

71. The mind knows only its own point of view, which it considers the truth. 72. Just as the silkworm spins its cocoon and is caught in it, so do humans weave

the web of their own concepts and are caught in them. 73. Even as the ocean exists in the past, present and future as ocean, and the same

water temporarily assumes the form of a wave, all this world is forever the cosmic being at all times.

74. To him who is established in Being, the mind, body and the senses are

playthings. Purity, total fulfillment of all desires (and hence the absence of cravings), friendliness to all, truthfulness, wisdom, tranquility and blissfulness, sweetness of speech, supreme magnanimity, lustrousness, one pointedness, realization of cosmic events, fearlessness, absence of divided consciousness - these are the constant experiences of one who is established in Being.

75. Just as when the firebrand is swung around, an illusory circle of fire is formed,

there is an illusory appearance of the world due to the vibration that arises in consciousness.

76. By the following attitude you will also gain divine insight and remain firmly

established in self-knowledge. "I am space. I am the sun. I am the directions, above and below. I am the gods, I am the demons. I am all beings. I am darkness. I am the earth. I am the oceans. I am the dust, the wind, the fire and all this world. I am omnipresent. How can there be anything but me?" By adopting this attitude you will rise beyond joy and sorrow.

77. The senses by themselves are inert and insentient, they are the avenue through

which awareness flows out to create objective experience.

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78. The sickle harvests with the energy of the farmer, hence the farmer is said to be the harvester. Similarly, though it is the sword that cuts, the man who wields the sword is the killer. The mind itself is inert, its intelligence is derived from the infinite consciousness. That self or infinite consciousness, knows itself by itself, experiences itself in itself, by itself.

79. When the mind ceases its agitations, all the good and noble qualities blossom.

There is peace and purity of heart. People do not fall into doubt or error. There is friendship, which promotes the happiness of all. Worries and anxieties dry up. When the darkness of ignorance is dispelled, the inner light shines brightly. Mental distractions and distress cease, just as the ocean becomes calm when the wind ceases to agitate its surface. Infinite consciousness alone shines.

80. Be firmly rooted in the non-existence of your ego self. It came into being

through ignorance and delusion. When you lose this false identity, you will realize your existence as the supreme being or infinite consciousness and you will be freed from all conditioning and all limitations.

81. I am the infinite consciousness whose kinetic state alone appears as the

universe. 82. Non-dual consciousness is Brahman. It is the void, it is the atman or self, it is

also non-self or ego, it is purusha or witness, it is Ishwara of the yogis and it is also Siva's silence, which is eternity and Siva's movement, which is time. It is all - one undivided intelligence seeing itself as divided into infinite forms and phenomenon, infinite subjects and objects.

83. The ignorant man's body is composed and decomposed on account of the status

of his mental conditioning. In the case of one who has no such conditioning, there is no momentum for decomposition.

84. He in whom the notions "this I am" and " this I am not," do not arise, thus

limiting his consciousness - his ego self is dead. He in whom the very notion of calamity, poverty, elation, pride, dullness and agitation do not arise, his ego self is dead and he is liberated while living. Utter purity prevails in a liberated sage whose ego-mind is dead. Such a mind of the liberated sage is full of noble qualities - intense friendliness, love, compassion and natural goodness alone remain.

85. Motion is natural to prana (the life force of consciousness – the energy

component of consciousness) and when it moves in consciousness, mind is born (a pattern of prana - information); thus the conditioning (i.e. the pattern) keeps the prana in motion. When one moves, both move; when one is arrested, both fall.

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86. The notion of an object (of knowledge, of experience) is the seed for both the

movement of prana and its change of pattern. Movement of prana and change of pattern give rise to manifestation. When a desire for experience arises in the heart of consciousness, then movement of prana and mental conditioning arise and subject and object of experience are born.

87. Knowledge of the Self, company of holy men, the abandonment of conditioning

and the practice of pranayama are the means to go beyond the conditioned ego and the constricted ego self.

88. Even as movement is inherent in air, manifestation is inherent in consciousness. 89. All objects are experienced in the subject, not elsewhere. 90. Knowers of truth have a still mind and are in a state of equilibrium; they live

their life here playfully. They behold the inner light all the time, even though they seem to be engaged in diverse actions.

91. That which is known as a “person” is nothing other than the self-experiencing on

the infinite. In truth, it is the magnificent and infinite ocean of consciousness in which numerous universes appear and disappear like ripples and waves.

92. When the subject-object notion is transcended, all the veils that envelope the

reality are removed. The individual is nothing but the personalized mind. Individuality ceases when the mind ceases; it remains as long as the notion of a personality remains. So long as there is a pot there is also the notion of a space enclosed within or confined to that pot; when it is broken, the infinite space alone is, even when the pot space was imagined before.

93. What is the truth? I have nothing to do with sorrow, with actions, with delusion,

with grasping or clinging. I am at peace, free from sorrow. I am Brahman - such is the truth. I am free from all defects, I am the all. I do not seek anything nor do I abandon anything, I am Brahman – such is the truth. I am blood, I am flesh, I am body, I am consciousness. I am the mind also, I am Brahman - such is the truth. I am the firmament, I am space, I am the sun and the entire space. I am all things here, I am Brahman - such is the truth. I am a blade of grass, I am the earth, I am a tree stump, I am the forest, I am the mountain and the oceans, I am the non-dual Brahman - such is the truth. I am the consciousness in which all things are strong and through whose power all beings engage in all their activities; I am the essence of all things - such is the truth.

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94. Even as the taste of the juice of sugarcane cultivated in a hundred fields is uniform and the same, even so the consciousness indwelling all beings is the same - that consciousness I am. I am that conscious energy (cit-shakti) which is larger than the universe and yet subtler than the minutest atomic particle and therefore invisible. I am the consciousness that exists everywhere and whose very nature is experiencing. Even as ornaments made of gold are only gold, I am the pure consciousness in the body. I am the self that pervades all things within and without. I am that consciousness which reflects all experiences without itself undergoing any change, untouched by impurity. I vibrate constantly in all substances as all substances.

95. Bhusunda, the immortal crow speaks out the secrets of his immortality, "I do not

contemplate either the past or the future; my attention is constantly directed to the present. I do what has to be done in the present without thinking of the results. Without consideration of being or non-being, desirable or undesirable, I remain in the self; hence I am happy healthy and free from illness. I do not entertain vain notions like, I have obtained this and I shall gain that too. I neither praise nor curse anyone - neither myself nor others, nor anything at anytime; my mind does not exult on gaining what is considered good, nor does it become depressed on gaining what is considered evil; hence my state of happiness and health. My mind does not entertain cravings, but is peaceful and balanced. I behold the one common substratum in all things - a piece of wood, a beautiful woman, a mountain a blade of grass, ice, fire and space. I am not worried by thoughts like, "What shall I do now?" or "What shall I get tomorrow morning?" I am not bothered by thoughts of old age and death, or by longings of happiness, nor do I regard some as 'mine' and others as 'not mine'. I know that everything at all times, everywhere, is but one cosmic consciousness. These are the secrets of my state of happiness, health and immortality.”

96. Either realize, "I am not this and these experiences are not mine", or realize, "I

am all this and all experiences are mine." In both cases you will find liberation. Nothing is me or mine or all is me and mine.

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97. Who is God? How should God be worshiped? How should one contemplate Him? Meditation alone is true worship. Meditation allows one to experience God as pure intelligence and know that He is as radiant as a hundred thousand suns risen together, He is the light that illumines all lights, He is the inner light. The limitless space is His throat, the firmament is His feet, the directions are His arms, the worlds are weapons He bears in His hands, the entire universe is hidden in His heart, the gods are the hairs on His body, the cosmic potencies are the energies in His body, time is His gatekeeper, and He has thousands of heads, eyes, ears and

arms. He touches all, He tastes all, He hears all, though He is beyond thinking. He does everything at all times, He bestows whatever one thinks of or desires, He dwells in all, He is the all, He alone is to be sought by all. Thus should one contemplate Him. He is attained without the least effort, not through waving of lamps, lighting of incense, offering of flowers or food or sandal paste - but by Self-realization alone. This is the supreme meditation, this is the supreme worship: the continuous and unbroken awareness of the indwelling presence, inner light or consciousness. While doing whatever one is doing - seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving, sleeping, breathing or talking – one should realize one's essential nature as pure consciousness. Thus does one attain liberation.

98. You are Brahman, I am Brahman, the whole universe is Brahman. Whatever you

are doing, realize this truth at all times. This Brahman, or the self alone is the reality in all beings, even as clay is the real substance in thousands of different clay jars. Even as wind and its movement are not different, consciousness and its internal movement which causes all these diverse manifestations are non-different. It is the seed of notion (a modification of consciousness) falling on the soil of consciousness that gives rise to apparent diversity.

99. One should contemplate the Lord in the following manner: He is the light that

illumines the stars and galaxies, He is the intelligence that eternally lies hidden in all material substances, He is the extrovert awareness that flows through the bodily avenues onto the external world, He is the prana that flows in one's nose, lungs and body, He transforms contacts of the senses into meaningful experiences, he rides the chariot of prana and apana, He dwells in the secret in the cave of one's heart. He is the knower of the knowable and the doer of all actions, the experiencer of all experiences the thinker of all thoughts. He is without parts but is all, He dwells in the body but He is omnipresent, He enjoys and is the witness of the enjoyment; He is the intelligence in every limb. He dwells in the prana, in the heart, in the throat, in the middle of the palate, the middle of the eyebrows and in the tip of the nose. He is the one who produces the internal sounds and he brings into being the bird known as mind. He is the reality in what is described as imagination and He is also the witness of imagination. He shines as pure consciousness. He is immediately seen

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everywhere, for He is the pure experiencing in all experiences and apparently polarizes Himself into both the subject and object of all experiences.

100. The Lord should be worshipped with all kinds of pleasures that are granted to

one unsought, whether these pleasures are sanctioned by the scriptures or forbidden by them. The Lord should be worshipped in those that are considered desirable and also in those who are regarded as undesirable. Realizing that everything is the one Self, one should look with equal vision upon that which is pleasant and beautiful and upon that which is regarded as unendurably unpleasant. Thus should one worship the Self.

101. One should abandon the diverse notions of, "This I am", or "This I am not", and

realize that, "All this is indeed Brahman", the one indivisible and infinite consciousness.

102. When one is firmly established in the Self, there is no craving and there is no

rejecting; and all is obtained effortlessly and naturally and enjoyed as well effortlessly and naturally. In such a one, although there is great enjoyment, there is never undue excitement (melodrama) nor depression. One enjoys but one neither craves nor rejects - just as neither sky nor space are affected by the diverse objects that live, move and grow in it.

103. It is the Self or Cosmic Consciousness which is indicated by expressions such as

'this world'. Oh, what a mysterious wonder it is that the Self, which is pure consciousness or intelligence, somehow seems to forget its own nature and comes to regard itself as the jiva (the individual). In fact, in that Cosmic Being, which is the reality in everything, there is not even the division into worshipper, worship and the worshipped. It is impossible to completely grasp intellectually that Cosmic Being which supports the entire universe without division. It cannot be understood without meditation. They are not ready to understand, who do not practice meditation and consider that God is limited by time and space. Hence abandon all such limited concepts, even the division between the worshipper and the worshipped (the Lord) and worship to Self by the Self. Be at peace, pure and free from cravings and rejection. Consider that all your experiences and expressions are the worship of the Self.

104. All beings that have a body (including gods and goddesses) are subject to the

dual forces. Whether one is ignorant or one is wise, as long as one is embodied, the body is subject to happiness and unhappiness, pleasure and pain, clinging and aversion, hope and fear, forbidden lust and divine love. By enjoying satisfying objects, one experiences pleasure and by deprivation one experiences pain. Such is nature. If the Self, which is the reality and which is pure, is forgotten even for a moment, the object of experience (painful or pleasurable) attains expansion. If there is unbroken awareness this does not happen. Even

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as darkness and light have come to be firmly associated with the movement of the earth, pleasure and pain are the movement of the body. In the wise being however, even if such an experience is reflected in consciousness, it does not produce and impression. As in the case of a crystal, the wise man is influenced only by the object when it is actually and physically present nearby. But the ignorant person is so heavily influenced that he broods on the object even in its absence.

105. By renouncing everything including the ego, anything and everything can be

obtained. 106. Psychological detachment is more important than material abandonment.

Psychological abandonment is not as easy as breaking out of a material cage. 107. True liberation is freedom from all conditioning. 108. When there is freedom from all conditioning there is pure creativity. 109. Pure Creativity, Pure potentiality, Pure Freedom are the attributes of the

Supreme Being. Atman is one with Brahman. You and I are the Supreme Being. 110. As long as there is the idea that there is something to renounce, renunciation is

not possible. 111. True renunciation is an internal knowing that there is nothing to cling to or grasp

and nothing to run away from or have an aversion to. 112. True awareness is to see the light of consciousness in all the objects of

perception and also in the instruments of perception. 113. The light of pure awareness is the light of Divine Love. 114. Silence, mantra and conscious speech are effective ways of going beyond the

ego. 115. Prana is energy. Waves of prana are mind. (Energy and information are

inseparable. Energy vibrating at a specific frequency is information - mind). 116. Ever present witnessing awareness in the midst of action is karma yoga. 117. Surrendering the fruit of all action to the Divine is karma yoga.

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Living this Moment Sutras for Instant Enlightenment

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Notes

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LIVING THIS MOMENT Sutras for Instant Enlightenment

1. This moment is free. 2. The only thing that is important and real about my journey is the step I’m

taking this moment (Eckhart Tolle). That’s all there ever is – this step in this moment.

3. Execute this step, this moment with awareness. This is finesse. 4. Execute this step, this moment with lightness and with ease. 5. Make this step, this moment an act of beauty and perfection. 6. My entire past (karma) manifests this moment as my thoughts, sensations

(emotions) and sensory experiences. To be free of the past, I have to be present to all these experiences (thoughts, emotions and sensations) NOW.

7. My thoughts, moods reactions and behaviors represent my past. By

witnessing them in the present, I liberate myself of the past NOW. 8. My past is my conditioning. By observing my conditioning, I am free of it

because I am not my conditioning; I am the observer of it. 9. Close your eyes and say to yourself, “I wonder what my next thought is going

to be?” Then become alert and wait for the next thought (Eckhart Tolle). You will find yourself in the presence of presence.

10. You cannot be in this moment by thinking about it. You can only Be it.

11. To inhabit your body fully – to have total body awareness, is to be present.

12. The observer observing itself is presence.

13. Listen to the silence between words.

14. Observe the spaces between thought, words, movement, objects, breath. There is stillness, presence, in those spaces.

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15. Feel the body. Be alive in the body. Inhabit the body fully, totally. You will feel the presence of Spirit, of Presence.

16. Feel the body from within as a single energy field – alive, vibrant, blissful.

17. Have a feeling of presence in your body at all times. This is life centered, present moment awareness.

18. Have inner-body awareness at all times. Make it permanent. Stay anchored

in it.

19. Listen with the whole body. While listening, feel the body.

20. While looking, feel the body.

21. In any other interaction with another person, feel the body.

22. The only way to know a person or anything else, in the so-called external world, is through feeling your body. The whole cosmos is experienced as sensations in the body.

23. Being or God is the One Life at the root or ground of all lives.

24. Love is feeling, knowing and being with the One Life at the root or ground of all lives.

25. To have complete acceptance of what is, is to let go of all drama.

26. All suffering is mental, is ego created and from resistance to what is.

27. To surrender is to join the flow of life.

28. Total, unconditional, unreserved acceptance of this moment – of what is – is liberation.

29. Surrender to this moment as is – this is the presence of God or Spirit. To act

from this level is to act from the level of soul. To act from the soul level is to act without anger, self-righteousness, resentment, grievance. To act moment by moment from this level, recognizing that the only action that is real is the one I’m taking right now, is to have spontaneous right action – with finesse and timing. This action is effective and does not entail suffering.

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30. The situation that surrounds this moment may be intolerable but this moment is still perfect. Be in this moment, be one with the presence of Spirit, act in this moment, intend in this moment, have detachment in this moment. Act without anticipation and without being compulsively driven by a memory of resentment or being wronged – and you act like a true spiritual warrior. The situation will change moment by moment if that is God’s will and if your will is aligned with God’s will. Even as the situation resolves into something different, something better moment by moment, the moment itself remains perfect moment by moment.

31. Unconscious resistance patterns to situations perceived as intolerable,

perpetuate those intolerable situations.

32. Even if the situation is unpleasant, separate the situation from this instant this moment and surrender to the moment. Then act without resentments, grievances and expectations but certainly with an intended outcome. An intended outcome without anticipation or expectations, orchestrates its own fulfillment.

33. When there is resistance, observe the resistance and you will automatically

surrender to what IS.

34. Whenever something goes seriously wrong – surrender. Surrender separates the moment from the situation surrounding the moment.

35. Surrender to the moment and then do whatever the situation demands.

36. No situation creates suffering. Resistance to what is creates the suffering.

37. If you find yourself unable to surrender to an external situation, then surrender to your reaction of pain and suffering. Witness the pain and suffering.

38. Don’t think about the pain, feel the pain.

39. Die to every moment.

40. Remain as the ever-present witnessing awareness, the presence behind the thoughts and emotions.

41. The conditioned mind is a slave. The witnessing mind is free.

42. What in this moment is lacking? (Zen)

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43. If not NOW, when? (Zen)

44. What is wrong with this moment?

45. Past and future veil God from our sight; burn up both of them with the fire of Presence. (Rumi)

46. There never was a time when your life was not this moment.

47. There never will be a time when your life is not this moment.

48. God’s presence is this moment. Time is the only obstacle to God.

49. Break the habit of present moment denial and replace it with life centered present moment awareness.

50. Observe without labels and witness the witness in all you see.

51. Witness the witness in all you hear, touch, see, taste and smell.

52. Be not the reaction but the observer of the reaction.

53. To be in God’s presence, free all identification with past and future.

54. No situation, circumstance, relationship or thing can make you happy or unhappy. Happiness is NOW.

55. Now is independent of hope and despair.

56. Watch your thoughts, feeling, emotions and reactions. Then watch the watcher.

57. The mind is the prisoner of past and future. The Spirit is NOW and free of

both.

58. To be aware that I am not present is to be present.

59. Resistance against what is - is time.

60. Acceptance of what is – is NOW – timeless presence.

61. Craving, grasping, clinging is resistance against what is.

62. Repulsion, fear, flight is resistance to what is.

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63. A crisis can suddenly throw you into the NOW.

64. Danger demands the presence of NOW.

65. Finesse demands the presence of NOW.

66. Fulfillment is NOW – never in the future.

67. Practically, deal with the future NOW.

68. Practically deal with the past NOW.

69. Established in Being, perform action.

70. I am where I am.

71. You can only Be where you are.

72. I am that I am. (God to Moses)

73. Before Abraham was, I am (Jesus Christ)

74. Be Here Now. (Ram Das)

75. All I have to deal with is this moment as it is happening. (Kriya Shakti)

76. I can’t deal with what does not exist this moment. The future and past do not exist this moment.

77. The future and past are only in imagination. Reality is this moment.

78. Suffering is in imagination. Freedom is this moment.

79. This moment propagates itself.

80. This moment is eternal, timeless and ageless.

81. This moment is fresh.

82. You are that freshness and I am with you NOW. Nowhere again – inside the majesty. (Rumi)

83. Whatever is happening this moment, I can deal with.

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84. The ego is time-bound. The Spirit is timeless.

85. The time-bound comes and goes. The timeless always is.

86. The time-bound is the known. The timeless is the fresh unknown.

87. That which was born must decay and die. That which was never born is Eternal.

88. The best way to prepare for the future is to be free this moment.

89. Happiness and suffering are limited. Bliss is timeless.

90. No resistance, no grasping, no resentments – only NOW.

91. God is not difficult to find. God is impossible to avoid.

92. There is nowhere where God is NOT.

93. This moment is omnipresent.

94. This moment is omnipotent.

95. This moment is omniscient.

96. The real reality is behind the curtain (of time). In truth, we are not in time. (Rumi)

97. We dwell in the timeless. Time is our shadow.

98. In love with life, let your soul live the subtlest of passions. Live like a gypsy, each day a different house, each night under the stars. (Rumi)

99. This journey has no distance.

100. In a non-local universe there is nowhere to go.

101. What you are looking for is the One who is looking.

102. We are tasting the taste, this minute, of Eternity. (Rumi)

103. This moment is Infinite Possibilities (Pure Potentiality).

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104. This moment is immeasurable. This moment is all that was, all that is and all that will be.

105. This moment is the generation, organization and delivery of all these

universes (G-O-D).

106. If you are HERE NOW, you are ALIVE.

107. Look at these universes spinning out of nothingness – NOW. This is within your power – NOW.

108. There is only LOVE and it is NOW.

109. Behind all this noise is silence – NOW.

110. Beyond all this activity is stillness – NOW.

111. The disturbed state of consciousness is all these universes – NOW.

112. The undisturbed state of consciousness is bliss – NOW.

113. I exist as I am, that is enough. (Walt Whitman)

114. Instead of resisting any emotion, the best way to dispel it is to enter it fully,

embrace it and see through its resistance.

115. Every moment is a door to Eternity.

116. Living in the moment is living from the soul.

117. Spirit never leaves us, it is only over-looked, when we camouflage the present with our imagination of past or present.

118. Spirit is always with us. It wants to lift our pain. It does this, not by

abolishing painful memories, but by putting us totally in the present, where the past doesn’t exist.

119. Awareness is aware of itself before it gains knowledge of anything else.

Awareness aware of itself is presence, profound wisdom and peace. Awareness of anything else is mere knowledge.

120. There will never be any more perfection than there is now.

121. Communion is shared awareness in the moment.

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122. Communion or shared awareness in the moment is the territory of lovers.

123. Questions answer themselves if you stay in the moment.

124. Problems solve themselves if you stay in the moment.

125. Every time you are tempted to react in the ‘same old way’, ask yourself if you

want to remain a prisoner of the past. Simply observe your internal reaction. You will jump into the freedom of the moment and open the world of infinite possibilities.

126. The happiness of this moment is not based on expectations.

127. This moment is safe.

128. I am this moment. You are this moment. All this is this moment.

129. This moment transforms the ego’s world into God’s world.

130. The world of the mind, of imagination is:

o ego desired o fragmented o personal o temporary o unshareable o hanging on the thread of memory.

The world of Spirit – this moment free of past or future, free of memories or anticipation is:

o open o common to all o accessible to all

It is the world of:

o community o insight o love

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It is the world that is: o real o uncaused o independent o undivided o unshakeable o unquestionable o unreachable by effort o blissful

The source of all creativity

o understanding o peace o harmony o laughter o all possibilities.

Stay in this world and observe the passing picture show.

131. There is no experience other than the present experience.

132. What you are actually aware of is just what is happening at this moment and

no more.

133. You know the past in the present and as part of the present.

134. This moment is always here since we know no other moment than the present moment.

135. There are no feelings but the present feelings. I am what is happening this moment. I am a pattern or flux of the universe this moment. I am the universe experiencing certain localized sensations this moment. I’m a localized momentary itch [sensation] this moment.

136. The universe is experiencing itself from an infinity of perspectives this

moment. One of these perspectives is me this moment.

137. To hold on to anything is like holding your breath. If you persist you’ll

suffocate and die.

138. The only way to deal with change is to plunge into it, move with it and join the dance.

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139. Trying to “fix the flux” is the cause of all misery. Life is movement, fluidity and flux this moment.

140. To pursue happiness, fulfillment in the future is to pursue a constantly retreating phantom. The faster you chase it, the faster it runs ahead.

141. Our present insecurity comes from trying to be secure in the future.

142. Having formed the habit of looking ahead or behind, but never here, we never live in the real world.

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Time is the measurement of experience, the measurement of energy, the

measurement of motion. When we think “now” we tend to think of the shortest interval of time that is immediately here and then suddenly – suddenly, immediately gone. This perception of time creates a present that is constantly and instantly vanishing into the past. Before you have time to “capture” the present, it’s gone. This idea of time does not allow us to actually experience a present. It’s too short-lived. We actually experience time slipping away. We develop time urgency as expressed in phrases such as “Don’t waste time”, “Time is money”, “Time is valuable”, etc. So time becomes anxiety. This becomes an actual sensation in the body, a cognitive and perceptual experience of past and future. When we are asked who we are, we describe who we were. Of course, we also project a future and an idea that this future has the ability to supply us with something that will give us what we are really looking for – satisfaction, fulfillment, happiness, peace of mind. This is because we live in a present that is so short that it’s not really here.

All this is of course a hallucination because in reality there is no such thing as time. There is only NOW. Both the past and future are projections in imagination – the measurements of experience. There is only NOW. Every experience, real or imagined, is NOW. To not live in NOW, is to live in a demented world of hallucinations. Time is the measurement of experience. Measuring is done through symbols. It is an extraordinary human ability to create symbols through which we can measure. Every symbol is a measuring device and usually a number. These symbols measure experiences against each other, each experience, of course, happening in the NOW. And so, in the creation of symbols, we sacrifice reality for a map of reality. We sacrifice wealth for a symbol, money. We sacrifice eternity for numbers of seconds, minutes, hours, years that elapse in the imagination NOW. Space is a state of consciousness that measures the distance between objects, projected by us (consciousness) NOW. We use numbers to measure it – inches, yards, miles, light years, etc. We describe the experience by attaching numbers to it but of course the description of the experience and the measuring of it is not the experience itself, which is NOW.

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The experience is reality. Its description is a symbol. In other words, the menu is not the dinner. You can’t eat the menu, you can only eat the dinner. This mad compulsion to constantly measure creates the experience of time. This is the real meaning of sacrificing the soul for the world, or the spirit for the ego. My ego is a collection of status symbols, images. Reality is a state of consciousness NOW. Happiness, fulfillment, joy, love, beauty, gratitude, peace, are reality NOW. They are the original attributes of consciousness in its pure state. Fear, anxiety, greed, anger, hostility, guilt, time, lack of abundance, are states of consciousness in its measuring mode – replacing reality with symbols of reality. Time is an abstraction, so is money, so is matter, so is the world – all abstractions, projections of symbols. There is nothing wrong with this. Actually, it can be a lot of fun as long as you realize, “I am not the symbols.”

I measure out the world by quantifying Myself.

I am God quantifying Myself by creating symbols of Myself.

These symbols I call mind, body, physical things – all abstractions. This is God’s game. I forget Myself by creating symbols. I remember Myself by not clinging to symbols.

The stock market is a symbol of how we are feeling. When we’re feeling lousy about ourselves, it crashes. When we’re feeling good about ourselves, it goes up. Our skills, our brains, our abilities, our talents, our potential, our universe, does not change drastically overnight, but how we feel about ourselves changes and so the world appears to change.

To conclude, the symbol is not the reality. The map is not the territory. The menu is not the dinner. The experience is not its measurement. However, our compulsion to do this all the time creates a mad and demented and crazy world. In valuing the symbols and ignoring the reality, we rape the earth, destroy the forests and murder ourselves and our ecosystem.

If you think money is wealth, you will always be poor. If you hold on to symbols, you will live in fear. Money is not valuable in and of itself. What is valuable is you and me and our transaction of love. If you are not here, you will never get there, because when you get there, you won’t be here. Addiction to time is the terrifying fear of death because death, in our imagination, stops the future, but the future is never here. I can only taste, smell, see, feel, hear, NOW. And when I’m doing that, that is the definition of being alive. Not doing that, I’m dead already. Therefore, please wake up and be alive NOW.

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Summoning the Sacred

Presenters’ Biographies

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Deepak Chopra, M.D.

Co-founder of the Chopra Center for Wellbeing

Deepak Chopra is a world-renowned authority in the field of mind-body healing, a best-selling

author, and the founder of the Chopra Center for Wellbeing. Heralded by Time Magazine as the

"poet-prophet of alternative medicine," he is also the host of the popular weekly Wellness

Radio program on Sirius/XM Stars.

A global force in the field of human empowerment, Dr. Chopra is the prolific author of more

than fifty-five books, including fourteen bestsellers on mind-body health, quantum mechanics,

spirituality, and peace. Dr. Chopra's books have been published in more than eighty-five

languages. His New York Times bestseller Peace Is the Way won a prestigious Quill Award, and

The Book of Secrets was awarded the grand prize at the 2005 Nautilus Book Awards; his

bestselling novel, Jesus: A Story of Enlightenment, was released in 2008. He is a columnist for

the San Francisco Chronicle and Washington Post On Faith and contributes regularly to

Intent.com and the Huffington Post.

Deepak Chopra's popularity as an international presenter and keynote speaker is exemplified by

an impressive list of honorariums. For more than a decade, he has participated as a lecturer at

the Update in Internal Medicine event sponsored by Harvard Medical School's Department of

Continuing Education and the Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Dr. Chopra is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, a member of the American

Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, an adjunct professor at Kellogg School of Management,

and a senior scientist with the Gallup Organization.

Before establishing the Chopra Center, he served as chief of staff at Boston Regional Medical

Center. He received his medical degree from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and did

his internship at Muhlenberg Hospital in Plainfield, New Jersey. He then completed various

residencies and fellowships at university-affiliated medical centers in Boston.

Jean Houston, Ph.D.

In 1965, along with her husband Dr. Robert Masters, Dr. Houston founded The Foundation for

Mind Research. She is also the founder and principal teacher since 1982 of the Mystery School,

a school of human development, a program of cross-cultural, mythic and spiritual studies,

dedicated to teaching history, philosophy, the New Physics, psychology, anthropology, myth

and the many dimensions of human potential. She also leads an intensive program in social

artistry with leaders coming from all over the world to study with Dr. Houston and her

distinguished associates.

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She is a prolific writer and author of 26 books including A Passion for the Possible, Search for

the Beloved, Life Force, The Possible Human, Public Like a Frog, A Mythic Life: Learning to Live

Our Greater Story, and Manual of the Peacemaker.

As advisor to UNICEF in human and cultural development, she has worked to implement some

of their extensive educational and health programs. Since 2003, she has been working with the

United Nations Development Program, training leaders in developing countries throughout the

world in the new field of social artistry. Dr. Houston has also served for two years in an advisory

capacity to President and Mrs. Clinton as well as helping Mrs. Clinton write, It Takes a Village to

Raise a Child. She has also worked with President and Mrs. Carter and counseled leaders in

similar positions in many countries and cultures.

A past President of the Association of Humanistic Psychology, she has taught philosophy,

psychology, and religion at Columbia University, Hunter College, the New School for Social

Research and Marymount College, as well as summer sessions in human development at the

University of California at Santa Cruz and the University of British Columbia.

In 1985, Dr. Houston was awarded the Distinguished Leadership Award from the Association of

Teachers Educators. In 1993, she received the Gardner Murphy Humanitarian Award for her

work in psychology and the INTA Humanitarian of the Year award. In 1994, she received the

Lifetime Outstanding Creative Achievement Award from the Creative Education Foundation.

The following year, she was given the Keeper of the Lore Award for her studies in myth and

culture. In 1997 she was made a Fellow of the World Business Academy and in 1999 she

received the Pathfinder award from the Association of Humanistic Psychology. In 2000 she was

given the prestigious Millennium Award from Magical Blend Magazine.

Dr. Houston holds a B.A. from Barnard College, a Ph.D. in psychology from the Union Graduate

School and a Ph.D. in religion from the Graduate Theological Foundation. She has also been the

recipient of honorary doctorates.

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davidji

Lead Meditation Teacher and Dean of Chopra Center University

Since 2003, davidji has apprenticed with Drs. Deepak Chopra and David Simon traveling the

world teaching meditation, stress management, and personal transformation at Chopra Center

workshops, retreats, programs, and immersions. He grew up in New York City, and now lives in

Carlsbad, California in the sunshine of the Chopra Center, which he refers to as the “sweet

spot” of the universe.

Before arriving at the Chopra Center for Wellbeing, he spent almost 25 years in the hard-

charging corporate world as a management consultant, author, entrepreneur, COO, and

business advisor. Shortly after watching the twin towers fall on 9/11, he left New York on a

journey of self-discovery that took him to Oxford, England where he met Dr. Chopra and then

on to India where he discovered his greater purpose.

Within the nurturing environs of the Chopra Center, and under the daily guidance of co-

founders Deepak Chopra & David Simon, davidji became the Center’s Chief Operating Officer, a

Certified Perfect Health Ayurvedic lifestyle educator, the Center’s lead Primordial Sound

Meditation instructor, and a guiding force behind helping others learn the practical tools to

integrate these timeless teachings into their 21st

century daily lives.

On November 1, 2009, he took on the role of Dean of Chopra Center University.

davidji has lived a full life, experiencing loss and tragedy as well as triumph and abundance.

Blending his life-lesson gravitas and a gentle lightheartedness, every month he inspires,

empowers, and transforms thousands throughout the world to be the calm amidst the chaos,

the stillness within the storm, and the fulfillment of their most passionate beliefs.

Brent BecVar

Brent BecVar has worked in direct association with Deepak Chopra for more than twenty years

in both Massachusetts and California. During 1991–1993, served as a guest administrator and,

eventually, acting director of the Maharishi AyurVeda Health Center in Lancaster, MA. In 1993,

in association with both Dr. Chopra and Dr. David Simon, Brent established and supervised the

Sharp Center for Mind Body Medicine Residential Program in Del Mar, California. He continues

to serve as an educator, counselor and director of the Vedic Counseling Program for the Chopra

Center. He was one of the first certified instructors of Primordial Sound Meditation and

Ayurveda/Perfect Health.

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Brent BecVar received a master’s degree in education and psychology from the University of

Kentucky and worked as a psychotherapist and university administrator. He was trained as a

certified yoga instructor by Swami Satchidananda and the Integral Yoga Institute and has been

teaching yoga for several decades. Brent has also worked as a psychotherapist and university

administrator.

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Notes

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Sanskrit Glossary

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Notes

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SANSKRIT GLOSSARY

Agni: Digestive fire Ama: Toxic residue which accumulates in the physiology

due to undigested Food, emotions or information Ananda: Bliss Asana: Yogic posture Ashram: Hermitage, retreat center Atman: Soul, individual expression of pure Spirit Avatar: Direct incarnation of God Ayurveda: Science of life Bhagavad Gita: Sacred, Sanskrit, epic poem of eighteen verses Chakra: Center of subtle energy Dharma: Purpose in life Dosha: Mindy-body principle Guru: Dispeller of darkness, great teacher Homa: Sacred fire ceremony Japa: Repetition of a mantra for a specific number of

times Jyotish: System of Vedic astrology

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Kapha: Dosha responsible for structure, protection Karma: Action, a record of our previous actions Loka: World, dimension, location Mahabutas: Great elements Mala: String of beads or flowers Mantra: Instrument of the mind, used in meditation Marma: Junction point between consciousness and matter

on the body Maya: Illusion of the senses Mudras: Positions of the eyes, hands or body Nadi: Subtle channel through which energy flows Ojas: Subtlest life essence, which exists at the junction of

consciousness and matter, giving strength and vitality

Panchakarma: Purifying therapy Pitta: Dosha responsible for metabolism, transformation Prana: Life force / vital breath Pranayama: Yogic breathing exercises Puja: Ritual worship Rishi: Seer, highly evolved spiritual being Rudraksha: Beads sacred to Shiva, commonly worn or used for

japa

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Samadhi: Balanced mind and intellect, settled in pure

awareness Sanskrit: Ancient language Satsang: Gathering of people seeking the Truth Seva: Selfless service Shakti Power or energy Surya Namaskar: Salutation to the sun, set of twelve yogic postures Sutra: Thread, collection of statements with inner

meanings Swami: Certain order of monks Upanishads: Collection of 108 Vedic texts dealing with higher

states of consciousness Vata: Dosha responsible for movement, change Yantra: Geometric shape, visual form of a mantra Yoga: Union with the Divine

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Notes

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Notes

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Namaste

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