"Stay linked to the Lineage of the HimalayanMasters, and reduce your ego,' urged Swami Veda Bharati a group ofnearly a hundred yoga and meditation teachers at a recent intensiveteacher training seminar on the campus of St. Olaf College inMinnesota. They have come from as far as England, Singapore,Malaysia, Burkina Faso in Africa, India, Trinidad, Canada and allparts of the United States to study for two weeks with Swami VedaBharati, a disciple of Swami Rama of the Himalayas.
Swami Veda started lecturing at the age of 9, andby the time he was 13, he addressed crowds of thousands of people inIndia. He has lectured all aspects of the science and philosophy ofyoga and meditation for 53 years. He has written a number of books,among them the most authentic commentary on the Yoga Sutras ofPatanjali, and is a much esteemed meditation master and spiritualguide.
Talking about the current practice of yoga in theUnited States and Europe, Swami Veda has this to say: 'Yoga isbecoming Americanized, and that is a tragedy. People havecommercialized yoga and are exploiting its rich treasures forpersonal benefit. With a million dollars for advertising, thesepeople promote themselves as great yogis. What a joke! And theyforget about the tradition, about their debt to their teachers andthe guru lineage. This is like a great, dark cloud overyoga.'
'And the situation is the same with Ayurveda, theancient 'science of life.' The spiritual roots of this knowledge andscience are ignored and only its health and healing aspects are beingexploited nowadays as an 'alternative healthcare system.' But withoutits spiritual side, also these attempts will fail and in a fewdecades will be forgotten.'
'And that is my calling ... to make sure that theLineage is not forgotten, that those who teach and practice yogaremain aware of the initiatory guru lineage - the parampara - andalways stay linked to it. Otherwise, the teaching is not authenticand will not be effective. From the ancient rishis and yogis, thissacred knowledge and science has come down to us in a long, long lineof direct transmission from teacher to student, from an accomplishedmaster to a deserving disciple - generation after generation, forthousands and thousands of years.'
And he continues: 'Our task is to preserve thislink to the Perennial into the future generations...to preserve theteachings of the Himalayan Tradition exactly in the same way that itwas taught to us by our gurudev, Swami Rama of theHimalayas.'
'Forget about advanced practices. Go back to thebasics -- that is the advanced practice! Take 30 minutes to do the'sun salutation' and see the result. Be keenly aware of the subtleflow of the prana, of your breathing, and watch your mind. Relax theparts of the body that are not involved in the posture. You will beamazed at the result!
Attain mastery of practice. Mastery of a practicemeans that you are able to access its full depths at any time,anywhere, instantly. That's mastery! Strive for that.'
'Twenty-three of you have an incorrect sittingposture: your necks are not straight,' says swamiji, as he surveysthe class preparing for the evening's guided meditation. His normallyloving gaze becomes stern. 'Now it is 24,' he says a couple ofminutes later. But he is not joking, he is very serious. 'Work onyour foundation. To make progress in meditation, you need to have afirm posture, like a rock. If your posture is unstable, it means youare emotionally unbalanced, your mind is distracted. Purify yourself.Purify your emotions. Do the 'nadi-shodhanam' practice. And you willmake progress.'
A master can transfer all his knowledge to a fullyprepared and deserving disciple in one single, silent night. And theydon't even have to be in the same room. 'All my knowledge I havereceived from my master, Swami Rama of the Himalayas,' recalls SwamiVeda. "One night, Swami Rama was meditating in his cottage, and I inmine, and he passed on some of his vast knowledge to me. In onesingle, silent night. Afterwards, he came over. 'Any questions?", heasked. 'No questions, swamiji,' was all I said. Such is the power ofan accomplished master. Such is the power of the lineage. Keep goingto this source, again and again. Never, for one moment forget theguru lineage.'
'Refine your practice, make it sacred and make itsecret. Before teaching, establish the link with the Lineage. Alwaysremember: it is not you who teaches. It is the guru lineage thatteaches through you. You are only an instrument. That's all. If youare aware of your class, you cannot teach meditation. And surrenderall your work to the Lineage. Reduce your ego, make yourself small.Then, you will succeed.'
What are Swami Vedas plans for the near future?This is what he has to say: 'In Rishikesh, in the foothills of theHimalayas, we are preparing to build an Ashram for training newgenerations of swamis. Not the next generation. The next generations.The present generation is fine, all of you are well established onthe spiritual path. I am not concerned about you. But we have toprepare the next two generations of swamis, to lay the foundations tomake sure that the teachings of Swami Rama will continue in theirpure form, exactly as he taught us. That is the most importantproject ahead, my ultimate project before I can withdraw to do mysadhana for my own enlightenment.'
'The Perennial wisdom and knowledge of the gurulineage will always be there. Two thousand years from now, the mainreligions of today will be forgotten, just as the immensely popularreligions of the past are all gone today, without a trace. Newprophets will appear and bring a message better suited to the newcivilizations and the new cultures of tomorrow. But the perennialtradition, the tradition of the Himalayan Masters, will still bethere, continuing to guide the humanity as the ever-lasting,ever-pure, ever-true fountain of spirituality,' concluded SwamiVeda.