Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Roar OM

One of my favorite quotes from Swami Sivananda:
"Do not bleat like a lamb, roar OM OM OM like a lion of Vedanta!" (Yoga in Daily Life, iv full passage below)

In a recent class, we opened with OM (we always open with OM), and I was hit with a wall of sound like never before.  If I had longer hair, it would have looked like the old Memorex commercial.  The students are always enthusiastic, always present, always give full effort, this is not a comment on a change in effort, only an observation.  They roared.

They roared.  I did not tell them to, I did not make them, I only gave them an opportunity.  They roared.

Will it happen again?  Don't know, I'm not in control of that.  Do I expect it to happen again?  No, I have no expectations of anyone's practice.  As a teacher, in a class, my only job is to provide an opportunity, a safe space, a laboratory for students to experiment with their practice.  A free space to roar OM. The student's job is to take the opportunity, the suggestion and run with it to their ability at that particular time.

We cannot know why, we don't control why.  We can control our own actions/reactions.  Positive happens, roar OM.  Negative happens, roar OM.  Nothing seems to be happening, roar OM. 

Vibration is the subtlest form of creation.  OM is the name of that vibration.  The significance of Gen 1.1 is not "Let there be light," the significance is "God said." 

The full passage from Yoga in Daily Life
Do not say: “Karma. Karma. My Karma has brought me like this.” Exert. Exert. Do Purushartha. Do Tapas. Concentrate. Purify. Meditate. Do not become a fatalist. Do not yield to inertia. Do not bleat like a lamb. Roar OM, OM, OM like a lion of Vedanta.

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