The Soul is a compass

In the last week I have discovered some beautiful writings by Kavi Yogi Maharishi Shuddhananda Bharati who was one of the teachers who inspired the ISHTA System. Bharati was a spiritual advisor to Ghandi and was described by Tagore as the Shakespeare of India. He lived in silence for 25 years and wrote over 1000 books on topics such as philosophy, mysticism and hatha yoga . He spoke eight languages was connected to princes and presidents and remained incredibly humble during his 92 years of life. In his book " The Revelations of Saint Meikander" he shares some of the profound teachings of Siddhanta. Siddhanta is said to come from the Agamas. The Agamas were teachings similar to the Vedas. Veda means " the knowledge that leads man to the divine" and Vedanta teaches " thou are that, thou art Brahman so be that. "Agama means " divine approach." Its major path is Siddhanta. Siddhanta is also called Saivism and acknowledges the difficulty in " just being that." We are human after all. It is said that Agama was taught by Shiva to Parvarti and then to the saints. It is a Tantric path...

What inspired me in these sutras was the idea that:
The soul is neither the body, nor universal intelligence. It is like a needle on a compass. It is either drawn to experiences through the instrument of the body or drawn to universal intelligence.
The senses are the instrument of the soul. We can tune our instrument so that we can achieve perfect awareness of our consciousness. We can know that there is something peering out into the world from behind the glass of our eyes.
We cannot know what that is, as we can't turn in and look at ourselves, but we can at least be aware that we are not our thoughts, experiences and sensations.
For this awareness to know itself it must be drawn like a magnet by grace back to that universal intelligence.
As dancers in this realm of the senses our music can either be discordant and chaotic or pure and soul stirring. The more we stir the soul the less it looks through the looking glass and the more it turns back in on itself...
The more obstacles we create through our belief in suffering the less we can hear the sweet sounds of our instrument. The trick is to enjoy the dance and know that our soul longs to be drawn back. In a way all we have to do is surrender and trust in the pull of the divine. This is OM NAMO SHIVAYA...

photo by Alan Finger www.ishtayoga.com

Who was ISHTA yoga founder Kavi Yogiraj Mani Finger

I have just discovered more about my teacher Alan Finger's
father and how he discovered and founded
with Alan, the System of ISHTA yoga.
Mani's spiritual name was:
Kavi Yogiraj Mani Finger
Kavi - minstrel poet who wandered from place to place proclaiming to his students about the ancient wisdom and power of yoga
Yogi raj- master of Yoga
Mani- Sanskrit for " Light"
Finger- ( English) we use this to point the way for others

Born in 1908, Mani met Ghandi at the age of four when visiting Mani's parents farm in South Africa. Ghandi patted him on the head and said, "He willl be a teacher and a philosopher" In 1946 he met Parmahansa Yogananda whilst on a business trip in Los Angeles and became interested in all aspects of Yoga. He went on to study with Sivananda in Rishikesh and was initiated by him as Yogi Raj in 1962. In 1971 Mani was initiated into Tantra by Tantric Yogi Maharaji Kavi Shuddhannada Yogi Bharati. Mani lectured, taught and ran a newspaper column in South Africa. He founded the " ISHTA method of teaching"( Integral school of Hatha and Tantric Arts) and taught teachers all over South Africa.

In an inspiring quote he says:
"When I meet a new pupil, his vibrations ask me?
Speak to me about the art of living
Speak to me about the beyond of stars and sun
speak to me about my destiny....my orginal face
and the organised chaos of motion
Speak about the grace of asana and the need to sit
Speak to me of loving
Intuitively I answer within:
What you ask for you have already answered
what you say is also in my mind
So I begin to understand that
your voice is merely another image of myself and my voice merely an image of yourself"
photo by Alan Finger www.ishtayoga.com

Raja Yoga- climbing the mountain

The other day I found myself describing the last four limbs of raja yoga to a group of students in a way that I had never thought of before....

When we meditate its like being a mountain climber. At first we gather our resources, we remove distractions and prepare for the climb - pratyahara. Then we concentrate on the path so we do not loose our step... ( Dharana) As we near the peak the endorphins kick in and our ascent feels effortless... It seems easy to reach the top ( Dhyana) when we reach the top we can see the magnificance of the vista below. In climbing the mountain we master the mountain. We merge with the clear air and the view below ( samadhi)

Some of us are good at gathering our strength and some of us are able to concentrate on the path... sometimes everything flows effortlessly and sometimes our perspective enables us to feel one with our experiences...

We are the changers and the changeless....