The last two posts referenced December 5th’s class on Patanjali Book II, 43-45. I’m now jumping ahead to II, 54-55. These are the final sutras of Book II and describe the practice of pratyahara, withdrawal of the senses.

54.
When consciousness interiorizes by uncoupling from external objects,
the senses do likewise; this is called withdrawal of the senses.
55.
Then the senses reside utterly in the service of realization.

This talk, given at class on January 30, focused on pratyahara and mindfulness. It’s rather freewheeling in its intensity with some hilarious moments. Below the sound clip you’ll find text of the Mary Oliver poems I read that night. The talk runs 29 minutes.

This first poem is a gorgeous exclamation of the senses in service of realization; the second, a darker telling of those moments when the senses run rampant over connection to the Self:

1.
Hello, sun in my face.
Hello, you who made the morning
and spread it over the fields
and into the faces of the tulips
and the nodding morning glories,
and into the windows of, even, the
miserable and the crotchety –
best preacher that ever was,
dear star, that just happens
to be where you are in the universe
to keep us from ever-darkness,
to ease us with warm touching,
to hold us in the great hands of light –
good morning, good morning, good morning.
Watch, now, how I start the day
in happiness, in kindness.

2.
The arrowhead,
which I found beside the river,
was glittering and pointed.
I picked it up, and said,
“Now, it’s mine.”
I thought of showing it to friends.
I thought of putting it—such an imposing trinket—
in a little box, on my desk.
Halfway home, past the cut fields,
the old ghost
stood under the hickories.
“I would rather drink the wind,” he said,
“I would rather eat mud and die
than steal as you steal,
than lie as you lie.”

Beginning on Monday, 1/23/12, Monday Night Class moves to the new Princeton Center for Yoga & Health:

PCYH @ Orchard Hill Center
88 Orchard Road
Skillman, NJ 08558

In beauty may I walk
All day long may I walk
Through the returning seasons may I walk….
With dew about my feet may I walk
With beauty before me may I walk
With beauty behind me may I walk
With beauty above me may I walk
With beauty all around me may I walk
It is finished in beauty
It is finished in beauty
-Navaho Beauty Way

Please use this link for map & directions:

http://princetonyoga.com/directions-to-pcyh/

The steed called mind roams space,
covering one hundred thousand miles
in the blink of an eye.
He who does not know how to tether it
is apt to be battered to death
by the inbreath and the outbreath.
-Lalla

The second, from Swami Vivekananda has an interesting resonance with              II, 44:   Self-study deepens communion with one’s personal deity.

If there is any road to Heaven, it is through Hell. Through Hell to Heaven is always the way. When the soul has wrestled with circumstance and has met death, a thousand times death on the way, but nothing daunted has struggled forward again and again and yet again — then the soul comes out as a giant and laughs at the ideal he has been struggling for, because he finds how much greater is he than the ideal. 
-Swami Vivekananda

The third pairs nicely with II, 45:  Through orientation toward the ideal of pure awareness, one can achieve integration.

What stands in the way of course is always the vital ego with its ignorance and the pride of its ignorance and the physical consciousness with its inertia which resents and resists any call to change and its indolence which does not like to take the trouble — finds it more comfortable to go on its own way repeating always the same old movements and, at best, expecting everything to be done for it in some way or at some time.
-Sri Aurobindo

Here’s the sound clip of these readings:

[Chip Hartranft's version]

II, 43
As intense discipline burns up impurities, the body and its senses become supremely purified.
II,  44.
Self-study deepens communion with one’s personal deity.
II, 45
Through orientation toward the ideal of pure awareness, one can achieve integration.

Since many at class asked me to post this talk asap, I’ve done minimal editing. I usually remove extraneous laughter, asides, etc. This clip leaves most of that in. Since the talk was composed of three sections, I’ve divided the clips accordingly.

Here’s the main Dharma Talk on Sutras II 43-45, aka Kriya-Yoga:

Here’s the clip citing Nischala Joy Devi’s translation and connecting of Gayatri Mantra with these three sutras:

The third clip contains quotes I read at the end of my talk.  I’ll post that clip along with the text in a few days.

Finally, here’s a lovely quote to inspire your week…

It is not meaning that we need but sight…    
-Lawrence Durrell

Since this week’s class fell on Halloween, I was moved to acknowledge Samhain, the ancient Celtic holiday from which our modern celebration springs.

Here are Samhain blessings I read at class:

May wonder ever illumine your souls as the candle does a room on a long, winter night, may joy blow through your heart with the intensity of the north wind in a blizzard, may peace cover your lives like a blanket of fresh fallen snow.

May you have the hindsight to know where you’ve been, the foresight to know where you are going, and the insight to know when you have gone too far…

May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, may you be held in the hands of Grace.

Harry Potter notwithstanding, Samhain’s special connection to the Dark Goddess has been distorted in our Halloween iconography of witches on broomsticks. It is however, a night to honor the Dark Mother, so I opened class with a medley of Kali chants. Here’s the dharma talk that followed that soaring flight of luminosity…

This week’s Chant: The Sublime Tarika & Dhumavati Bija mantras.

Here’s this week’s dharma talk, inspired by the Tarika-Dhumavati bija mantras. It also touches on the Mangalam and quotes these lines from the Katha Upanishad…

Beyond the senses are the objects,
Beyond the objects is the mind,
Beyond the mind, the intellect,
Beyond the intellect, the ātman,
Beyond the ātman, the non-manifest,
Beyond the non-manifest, the spirit,
Beyond the spirit, there is nothing.
This is the end, pure awareness.

For those who’ve been asking for a recording of the Mangalam, here it is, along with words to the chant and translation/commentary. So many people ask about developing a daily inner work practice. This is a beautiful chant to include. What better way to start (or end) your day than naming and blessing each and every aspect of creation!

Bhumi-Mangalam,  Udaka-Mangalam,  Agni-Mangalam, Vayu-Mangalam,  Gagana-Mangalam,  Surya-Mangalam,
Chandra-Mangalam,  Jagat-Mangalam,  Jiva-Mangalam, Deha-Mangalam,  Mano-Mangalam, Atma-Mangalam,
Sarva-Mangalam-Bhavatu-Bhavatu-Bhavtu…

May there be peace in earth, water, fire, and air, the sun, moon, and planet, in all living beings, in body, mind and heart. May that peace be everywhere and in everyone.

Mangala is an adjective meaning auspicious, lucky, fortunate, etc. With the suffix “m,” it becomes a noun: auspiciousness, luck, etc. It is also related to the goddess Durga suggesting, “one whose touch brings ecstasy.”

We will return to Patanjali, I promise. For the time being though, we’re luxuriating in mantra practice inspired by the fall season. This cycle of practice/teachings constellates around a family of mantras beloved to long-time Monday Nighters: Gayatri, Navarna, and Tarika Bija. I’ll likely add a handful of others to the mix, but want to underline the potency and power of these three as catalysts for illuminating and strengthening the inner being (Gayatri and Navarna) and infusing that interior essence with majesty, generosity, and grace (Tarika Bija).

Here’s a sound clip from the Navarna class on 9/26. I tried using a microphone I thought would give a better recording. Unfortunately, the opposite happened. You’ll have to listen carefully to hear DanJ’s tabla. And while I was able to salvage the dharana I gave at the end of class, the volumeof my commentary is too low. So, that bit of dharma talk  remains only in the memories of those who were there. If you want to chant or listen to the Navarna mantra however, this clip will be just fine…

In closing, here are the excerpts from the Ramprasad poem I read at the end of class. This is from Lex Hixon’s book, Mother of the Universe, his ecstatic collection of Ramprasad’s poetry. This one’s on page 180:

Kali is naked reality.
She is the feminine principle, unifying wisdom.
This simpleminded lover of truth
calls her my mother, my mother,
because she is the inexhaustible affection
who never neglects her children….

This poet urges every human heart:
“If you wish to be liberated from oppression,
abandon whatever limits you cling to
and meditate on the limitless one
who wears limitation as a garland of heads
severed by her sword of nondual wisdom.”

For readers who’ve found this blog online and may not be familiar with the Navarna mantra or Goddess Kali, let me simply suggest you can think of Kali an an archetype of Truth–and think of the Navarna mantra as the lifeblood of that truth. So chanting this mantra nourishes, strengthens, and vitalizes your connection to, you guessed it, your innate sense of truth.

For those who want a Gayatri track to chant along with, here’s class recitation from 9/19. This is ***not*** the 108 reps we did later that evening. This is the Walk-In Open Chant from 7:30-8 pm. Sound quality is not great which is why I didn’t include it in the earlier post. It just occurred to me however that not-so-great audio not withstanding, some people might like the “good company” — and there’s definitely  shakti in the track!

Monday Night Class Chanting the Gayatri Mantra

This week’s class was inspired by CG Jung’s famous quote:

One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light,
but by making the darkness conscious.

We also chanted 108 repetitions of the Gayatri Mantra. If you’re unfamiliar with this Vedic mantra, I will tell you it’s considered the sonic form of light. Difficult though this concept is to grasp, one need only chant it for awhile to have the inner experience break open. It’s also considered the “Mother of the Vedas,” meaning the insight embedded in the syllables gives birth to all knowledge. I highly recommend chanting it every day through the end of the fall season. Here are words and a simple translation/commentary.

Om Bhur Bhuvah Svaha
Tat Savitur Varenyam
Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi
Dhiyo Yonah Prachodayat

Earth. Atmosphere. Heavens.
We meditate on the sacred light of the effulgent source.
Let that light inspire our thoughts.

I’m also uploading my dharma talk from this class. It runs around fifteen minutes and ends with a few repetitions of the Gayatri.

If you want a preview for class on 9/26, we’ll be chanting the amazing Navarna Mantra!