The Torn Page

“The very idea of private property is a fairly recent one.” At one time, whether it was Native American tribes or even the commonwealths of England, property was distributed amongst the people. But, as Shunyamurti, the director of the Sat Yoga Institute, reminds us, “Now we have a situation where one percent of the population owns about 90 percent of the property of the world, and everyone is deprived of it. And this is why you have revolutions and terrorism and all of that. There is a basic unfairness in the way that the goods of the universe are distributed today because of greed; it has absolutely corrupted the minds of people.” Recorded on the afternoon of Tuesday, August 18, 2009.

The Nataraj, or the iconographic, dancing Shiva, is a well known symbol in Indian mythology. However, this symbol of the four-armed Shiva is often taken literally rather than metaphorically. It depicts Lord Shiva dancing atop the head of a dwarf, the dwarf representing the ego and Shiva representing God-consciousness. And as Shunyamurti, the founder and director of the Sat Yoga Institute, reminds us: "If we choose to identify with the dwarf, then we're going to be in pain; we're going to be in suffering. If only for the fact that God is dancing on our head giving us a headache."

So why not choose Shiva and move past the suffering of the ego and straight into God-consciousness. The choice is up to you. Recorded on the evening of Thursday, August 13, 2009.

We live in an age that "valorizes the doing rather than the being." Now more than ever, in this age of crises and chaos, do we need a solution to our numerous problems: societal, economical, political, etc. And this, explains Shunyamurti, the founder and director of the Sat Yoga Institute in Costa Rica, lies paradoxically in our ability to rest. We can no longer externalize that which will save us but instead must rest in the heart, in order to heal this world. Recorded on the evening of Thursday, August 6, 2009.

Mind expanding teaching by Shunyamurti, the founder and spiritual director of the Sat Yoga Institute in Costa Rica, about the the four renunciations that one must take on the spiritual path.  Thursday evening, July 30, 2009.

"The spiritual path, in whatever culture or religion it is found, is a path of renunciation.  But the meaning of renunciation is understood differently in different paths in which the religious discourse is addressed to beings at different assemblage points, or different levels of consciousness. And the understanding of the meaning of renunciation is most clearly and fully articulated within the context of Indian philosophy."

Spiritual knowledge regarding ego attachment through performance anxiety as answered by Shunyamurti, the director of the Sat Yoga Institute in Costa Rica, on the evening of Thursday, July 30, 2009.

Student Question:

There are some times during the day when you have to perform, like when the singer stands up in front of the crowd. And sometimes you're aware that your ego is making you feel like, “You can’t do this. You're nervous. You're gonna start shaking or something.”

And sometimes I excel, and I surpass and perform. But other times it’s not that successful, and it makes me feel bad. But I know that if I prepare myself with meditation, or other practices, it’s more probable that I will excel. So how could you be more prepared?

Moving teaching by Shunyamurti, the founder and spiritual director of the Sat Yoga Institute in Costa Rica, about the ego's fears and misunderstandings about death. Afternoon of Tuesday, July 28, 2009.

"Namaste. Meditation is the process of making friends with death. The ego is the enemy of death; it's afraid of death. And it experiences death as an event horizon; as an event which ends its existence.  But the yogi recognizes that death is not an event but a passage to a state of eternal life that transcends the duality of life and death."

This podcast is a response to the following question on the afternoon of Tuesday, July 28, 2009:

I have a question regarding childhood education, of all of us. We have all received an education by our fathers and mothers, which has in a way strengthened our ego. I, as a mother, raised my children by saying to them, “Yes you can; you are intelligent; you will succeed!” because the child needs this to enter to school, in society, and this is what forms the ego. But what happens to that child if we don´t communicate this message of self-confidence to it, at the moment that it has to enter in society?

If I would have a child today, how should I raise it? If the child suffers from insecurity or shyness, and one begins to create this atmosphere around it so it feels safe, so that it can grow securely, but if one does not do this, if one does not strengthen its ego, how can the child enter and function in society?

Spiritual and expanding teaching of Shunyamurti, the founder and spiritual director of the Sat Yoga Institute in Costa Rica, the evening of Thursday, July 23, 2009.

Excerpt: “Namaste. The good news, the eternally good news is that, God, the Supreme Being, the Intelligence that is the creative power responsible for the entire universe, lives within you; at the very center of your being dwells the Supreme Self. Do you realize that? Do you recognize the implications of that fact?”

Spiritual and wisdom teaching of Shunyamurti recorded on Tuesday afternoon (June 30, 2009) at the Sat Yoga Institute in Costa Rica.

Excerpt: “And so you have to ask yourself, do you want that freedom or not, you may not [Shunyamurti is refering to the freedom of Self-Realization]. But, it is the only way to release all the huntings, all the suffering, all the misery, all the tendencies and conditionings. There aren´t any half-measures, nothing else is going to do. Even the best drugs will wear off and you are back in the same mysery. This is the only way out.

Once you have come to recognize that, that there is no other solution than Self-Realization, then it doesn´t make sense anymore to put it off to the future.”

Spiritual and wisdom teaching of Shunyamurti recorded on Thursday evening (June 25, 2009) at the Sat Yoga Institute in Costa Rica.

Excerpt: “The human soul is plagued by four major issues: Human egoic love can be characterized by frigidity; and the human egoic mind by stupidity; and the soul with impotence; and it is all set in a frame of obstinacy, refusal to let go of these characteristics. In fact, an inability to let go of a kind of petrifaction of our capacity to be - so how do we break through this?

In the ancient world the primary Goddess, who in Greece was named Sophia, was the antidote to all of this, because Sophia is the Goddess of wisdom, and of love, a non-frigid love, a love of total divine generosity, openness, flowingness, and potency; all powerful, and yet light; spontaneous, free, freed even to fly onto other dimensions, other worlds beyond this physical plane. Where is Sophia? Where has She gone?”