Sri Gurubani

~ Excerpts from the orations of Swami Sadhanananda Giri Maharaj

Value of Prayer

From experience and realisation this much I can say that prayer is something imperative to escort an aspirant easily to the threshold of self-realisation.  By means of prayer the practitioner of Kriya Yoga has to exhaust everything he has into the lotus feet of Sri Guruji.

Yoga is the avenue of communion between the individual self and the Supreme Self.  Prayer affords the energy and devotion necessary for a journey through this avenue.  According to the scale of dedication and submission, appeal and invocation prayer will vary from man to man.  But the outcome is peace and zeal and ecstasy, which fill the heart of the sadhaka when he, during and after prayer, finds his Sri Guruji with smiling countenance nodding to all his endeavors.

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Aim of practising yoga

I am sure that all of you are familiar with the word yoga. For most people, today yoga means some kind of physical exercise to relieve tensions and to acquire good health. This aspect of yoga which can be classified under hatha yoga or asana. Yoga is also sought out to acquire mental peace and prosperity. We have to be careful about this.

The original idea of yoga is spiritual. Yoga means union; union of the individual soul with the Supreme Soul. This could imply that there is a separation between the individual and cosmic consciousness.  But such an idea of separation is only an illusion. We are not only one with the Cosmic Consciousness; we actually are the Cosmic Consciousness. Therefore yoga is to be understood not so much as achieving the union but as realising the inherent union that already exists. In practice yoga means all that we do become aware of our inherent identity with the supreme self.

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 Pranayama aims at control of respiration

Spiritual knowledge emanates from yoga practice and the concentration of mind comes out of yoga.  So the best way to do away with the restlessness of the mind is control and concentration of vital air or life force (prana) which cannot be achieved without pranayama.

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Pranayama is best tapasya

There is no tapasya superior to pranayama. It purifies all our impurities and unfolds the petals of wisdom. By pranayama a yoga practitioner reaches the acme of tapasya. He attains the state of  a sthitaprajna or a state of wisdom keeping mental predicament un-wavered amidst all pleasures and pains.

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