Observances

Hanuman Jayanti

Hanuman was born with immense power, which is also true for us; if we think of what that means for us internally, it represents our divine aspect that lies dormant until we awaken it. Each of us has an Atman (soul). Remember, God is omnipresent. The question is, how do we awaken or even stir that consciousness that lies within each of us? We awaken it with the power of Sadhana (Sadhana Shakti). Hanuman is born with you; Hanuman helps you cross the ocean of consciousness to unconsciousness. When your unconscious changes, that is when you change. You can have letters behind your name, win the lottery, win accolades, switch jobs, and move to a different state, but you will be the same person. Real change happens when your unconscious changes; this change is profound. Your habits change, and your samskaras change.

When you practice sincerely, Hanuman destroys the negative tendencies within you by burning them up. Remember, he burned Lanka to the ground.

When Lord Rama asked Lord Hanuman, "Who are you?"

From the point of view of the physical body, I am your servant, and you are my master.

This point of view represents karma yoga or seva. As Swamiji says, you must grease all your actions with love; then, you are effectively doing God's will and not ego will. Think of Hanuman crossing the ocean; he could have killed Ravana and all the demons in Lanka and brought Sita back. He has the same capacities as Rama, but he lets Rama do it because it is Rama's will that Hanuman only be the messenger. When considering this story, we are beg to consider the following questions:

How do you serve? When you do something for someone, is it on your terms? If you give a gift, do you think of the person and offer what you want or consider what they want?

If you do something for someone, do you broadcast it all over Facebook to anyone who will listen? Can you do it quietly with no notice? Do you take credit for something you have not done?

From the individual soul (the concept of the soul comes from the mind), I am a part of God; I am a wave; you are the ocean. You are the sun, and I am a ray of the sun. Bhakt yoga is devotion to God. When the sugar merges with the sugar, it can no longer taste the sugar; the bhakta wants to taste the nectar of God, the sweetness of God's love.

From my innermost Self, I am you. Paramartha explains this as the highest truth. Parama means everything, and artha understands, so it is knowledge of everything when we apply jnana (wisdom), dhyana (meditation), and Samadhi (spiritual absorption).

Navaratri Navaratri begins on October 3 this year and ends on October 12. Navaratri is a celebration in honor of the Divine Mother, who slays the demons, wreaking havoc on earth and not allowing the Rishis to complete their pujas and offerings. As without within, this means the internal monsters (lust, greed, stealing (remember we steal time and energy from people, not just stuff), lying) that wreak havoc and keep us from doing our sadhana are also the external monsters we see running rampant in the world and causing so much distress to all beings. Navaratri is the season of Shakti; you can think of Shakti as energy, strength, fortitude, the power to be and the power to become, the power of will, and determination. These are indeed the traits we need to slay our inner demons, those afflictions that cause the heart to be full of inner turmoil (hate, sadness, loneliness, anger, and jealousy, to list a few). Our hearts are full of these impediments, meaning sadhana is paramount. During Navaratri, we get to tap into the energy of practice of millions of people, which will enhance our sadhana. During this time, we join the millions of other devotees praying, worshiping, honoring, and adoring the Divine Mother as we invoke her to slay the darkness inhabiting the world and ourselves. 

What does this mean? Her energy is more palpable in the outer world during this time, which makes it easier for us to attune to her energy, meaning we have more power to slay our darkness. We are effectively calling as a unified group to our Divine Mother, and we know there is strength in numbers. If we use this time, we can tap into this energy to help remove some of our inner darkness and inertia. We can pray to the Divine Mother to free the mind from its negativity stream and release the heart from its blackness.
Navaratri is a big celebration at TYS because we are committed to slaying our demons and freeing ourselves from our afflictions. Killing those demons is, in fact, a cause for celebration. If we can free ourselves from one agitation when Lord Yama arrives to take us to the other side, it will not have been a wasted existence. Each year, we join the nine-day celebration to honor the Divine Mother by reflecting, meeting together for satsang as a group every day during the nine days, and having a celebratory feast after the 9 days are finished. At TYS, we dedicate to any tapas that we have committed to, and we start this sadhana on the first day of Navaratri and complete it 14 days after Navratri has ended.

We also fast (fasting isn't just food; you can fast from social media, negativity, cell phones, you choose), contemplate, and self-study. We aim to intensify our practice during this time to have more courage to look at our darkness and bring light to it.

This year, we are invoking a 9-day sadhana practice to strengthen our sankalpa shakti (inner resolve or determination). From October 3 - 12, we will have group asana classes; during asana class, we will discuss the Devi Mahatmyam and group meditation classes at the Traditional Yoga Society; we will have a week of kirtan and culminate on the last day of Navaratri with a free public kirtan. We invite you to share this time with us in any manner that challenges you and creates friction, as friction is what brings illumination. Whatever you decide to commit to, you must stick to it, making you stronger and more luminous as this is your sankalpa shakti working for you. Cultivating your will and determination will allow you to accomplish the most significant goal of knowing your Self. 

In addition to the nine-day sadhana challenge, we encourage you to pick one or more of the items listed below and refrain from doing them for 30 days. Refraining from one or more items on the list will help you cultivate your inner power of discrimination; include journaling about your experience, including when it felt hard and easy and how it felt after and during the fast. 

• Drink only water

• Eat less or no refined sugar

• Eat only food you have prepared

• Eat in silence a minimum of one time per day

• Smoking 

• Drinking

• Refrain from social media

• Secular music

• Television (only watch Swamiji videos)

• Watching the news

• Procrastinating

• Shopping

• Impatience

• Intolerance

• Anger

• Need to control situations

• Idle conversation

• From using plastic bags

• Unnecessary texting

• Premade foods

• Restaurants

• Paper towels

• Fast from buying coffee or tea out, save the money you would spend, and donate to a charity at the end of the 30 days.

• Fast from hoarding and give one of your favorite things away each week for four weeks

• Fast from bringing your phone to the bedroom

• Delete your top 3 most used apps from your phone

• Fast from talking (spend one day a week in silence)

• Unnecessary social gatherings

• Gossiping and negative conversations with friends

• Taking credit for anything (even if you did it)

• Lying even the white lies

• Going first 

• Snacking

• Eating meat

• Commit to reading only HH Sri Swami Rama books.