We offer our deepest respects to HH Bhakti Tirtha Swami who’s blessings on the Atma Yoga Program have given it the potency to change thousands of lives
A message to Atma Yoga Teachers
Everybody wants something…
The people who come to your yoga classes and spiritual events want something. They want something real; something they can taste. They want to be inspired.
They must be inspired.
Some of them have latent ambition and others are brimming with it. Your job is to uncover it in those within whom it lies hidden and channel it for those who are overflowing with it.
Ambition is a gift from God. But if it is misused it will only generate suffering. If it is directed toward spiritual goals it becomes transcendental rocket fuel. What are spiritual goals? Cultural knowledge, meditation, charity, selfless living and working for God. For a fortunate few Bhakti yoga will become their spiritual goal. For everybody the ultimate goal is to be constantly aware of divine grace… to always think of God.
Your job is to inspire them to spiritual ambition.
This requires vision. You must have within you a vision of the bright future you believe in your heart is possible. Not a utopia, which lies outside the scope of the material world. Nor should you have to select between the lesser of two evils as suggested by the political activists.
A Vedic Vision on the other hand is a realistic synthesis of progressive goals and conservative (read: morale and spiritual) values. The beauty of the Vedic agenda is that it demands total respect for every living entity. It forbids any form of exploitation and requires that everyone be not only protected but also given opportunity and support necessary for advancement (material and spiritual.) Additionally the Vedic system insists on the dynamic support of moral and spiritual values. It does not insist on a specific religion or belief system but encourages multiple systems for pursuing ones absolute spiritual nature. The Vedic system recommends sane principles for any society such as non-violence, respect for life, and respect for nature, as well as sobriety, truthfulness and compassion. Simultaneously it does not advocate forcing beliefs upon any one. At the end of the day it is always left up to the individual to choose his or her path. The individual’s free will is never to be superseded.
Where do we go from here? You must give the yearning public an experience. It should be bold, powerful and based in the truth of the soul (Atma Tattva.) Don’t let your personality become the arbitrator of your capacity. Don’t be hampered by a self esteem based in material concepts. Negatively identifying with your body will defeat you. Positively identifying with your body will delude you.
And if you happen to feel weak or scared… Remember! You work for God.
So think big, feel big, act big. Remember stories of transcendental figures. Teaching yoga is a yajna (a sacrifice.) Sacrifice your attachments, your sense of who you are and act out of confidence and compassion. Don’t hold back. Don’t save the good stuff for later.
Your students need you. But they need to work from where they are. They are not coming thinking they want to join a movement. They want to feel better about who they are. They want to get an edge on their goals. They want to have an experience.
Create a space and environment that is stable and consistent. Let them come to a space where there is no pressure to join anything. Let them feel loved as they are. Keep the program simple and free of philosophizing. Let the mantras, stories, and prasdam be your philosophy. When they are hungry for more information let the Vaisnavas come and give workshops and seminars. Have CDs and relevant books available.
Make the class experience your laboratory. Don’t be afraid to coax people into a new experience of their body, breath, and soul. Be strong with your audience. They want to have an experience, but they need permission. They need to know what is possible.
Your job is to show them what is possible. Do you know what is possible? Have you looked deep into your heart and chased down the dark shadow of your past? Are you fearlessly putting forth your most sincere effort? Are you committed to spiritual progress? Are you avoiding the deluding trap of spiritual perfection? Are you avoiding the neophyte blunder of assuming humility and confidence to be mutually exclusive? Humility means feeling that you are not the doer. Confidence means knowing that God is capable of anything; including using the useless to save the world. For God anything is possible. Stand up in front of everybody filled with pride in God’s capabilities. Stand up determined to make a difference in the lives of others even if you can not see the results.
Stand up and fight for humanity. You should fight out of a desire to win one for God. You should fight to please those who have sacrificed on your behalf to help you and to teach you: from Jesus to Mohammed from Buddha to Shankaracharya, from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to Bhaktivedanta Swami. You should fight for your Gurus and spiritual masters.
Above all though you should fight for the sake of fighting and think constantly of God.
Thank you very much.
