1. The Master’s Introductory Remarks

Translated from the Hindi by the Sat Sandesh staff

After a period of three months, I am once again sitting among you and having your darshan, by the Grace of Hazur Maharaj Ji. That Power is One, and continues working through a human form, and from there, taking work from others too.

The word yoga comes from the Sanskrit root yuj, which means to rejoin the soul back to God – Oneness. There are many different phases of this yoga, and as everything has its own use and value so we find various types of popular yoga to perfect the physical form, to lengthen life; there is Prana Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Laya Yoga, Mantra Yoga, and others. This place, Sawan Ashram, represents the natural crown of all phases of yoga. Swami Gitanand Ji has knowledge of many kinds of yoga; he has a large ashram in Trijnapali, but also travels extensively, holding classes and teaching the asanas of Hatha Yoga, Prana Yoga, etc. He works with love and dedication. The Lord has made arrangement that this Satsang represent every phase of yoga, and so it gives us much pleasure to have Swami Ji with us today.

The natural yoga is the Surat Yoga, which is free from severe austerity of any kind and can be easily practised by the young or old, regardless of religion, financial status, or country of residence. The sun and a ray from the sun are one and the same. Surat, or attention – the soul – is of the same essence as the Greater Attention – God. So the practice of Surat Yoga starts when the attention is connected to the Greater Attention – also known as the Word or the God-into-Expression-Power, or Naam – even the least expression of that, by some competent Personality performing the Spiritual Operation of raising the attention above the body consciousness and opening the Inner Eye and Inner Ear to see and hear the Light and Voice of God. This is really the basis of all religious teaching: to join the soul back to God.

In the Upanishads it states that within man there is the Sun of Maha Brahmand from which proceeds the Sound, or Nad, vibrating; the secret teaching of which was given to Krishna, the son of Devki, by Ingris Rishi. The word guhyam is used in this context, which means secret. In olden days it was also given to children of five, seven, and nine years of age, at the sacred ceremony of dvij, which means to be twice born. One birth is in the physical form and the other into the beyond. What is the second birth? They used the Sanskrit words,

Tat Savitur Varenyam –

an experience of the rays of the Sun of Maha Brahmand – by withdrawing the attention from outer things and giving the way up into the beyond.

This Spiritual Experience was given to small children; and still today when the children are given a sitting they receive the very same experience. It can be given through an Enlightened Soul, a Complete Master, Who is in fact Guru of the whole world manifesting in a human form, giving this Grace of God to all. This principle of Guruship is referred to in every phase of religious history through the ages. So, by God’s Great Mercy, He is before you in this Satsang – complete in all aspects.

The Supreme Lord, Who is known only by numerous names, cannot be known in Truth unless He manifests Himself in some Human Pole, and makes Himself and His whereabouts known to the seeking souls. So at different times and in different climes, the practical Spiritual Masters have come to guide the child, humanity. God has concern for all His children and is ever preparing them for advancement. This is no new teaching, but one which was in existence before the world began. Man has forgotten this science and so the Masters come to revive it.

Swami Gitanand is practically acquainted with different forms of yoga, which some of you may have studied from my book, ‘The Crown of Life.’ He will very kindly give a talk on the subject – whatever he chooses to cover. As I mentioned, the Surat Shabd Yoga can be practised by people of all ages, but what can be said in a few words of a practical Way back to God, journeyed by Saints and Mahatmas? It comes with great good fortune, through the Lord’s Grace. Where is He? You might more appropriately ask, where is He not? But unless He manifests in some Human Pole which is His mouthpiece, His whereabouts cannot be realised. He is in the house of this body, but we search for Him outside. To find Him, there must first be some preparation of the ground, and therefore each method of yoga has its own utility, but the final Goal is one and the same. Now I will ask Swami Gitanand Ji to tell us something on the subject.