"The first stage in guidance is an initiation into a specific mantra..." - Swami Rama Initiation is a fundamental element within the Himalayan Tradition Swami Veda Bharati invites people to prepare themselves for initiation and urges teachers to “prepare your students to become linked to the Guru lineage by way of initiation.” “The first stage in guidance is an initiation into a specific mantra… The word mantra means that which liberates the mind from all griefs, sorrows and agonies. A mantra...

You are invited to sit in meditation for an hour wherever you are, in your home or with friends. Total beginners and longtime practitioners, non-initiates and initiates are welcome. If you cannot sit for the entire hour, sit as long as you are able; as Swami Veda has said, “Let the quietness of the mind continue even after you rise..” Swami Veda Bharati has written: Yoga Philosophy views the mind as Universal field; its waves passing through us and becoming our individual minds. This...

Swami Rama (Meditation and Its Practice) Why isn’t “Meditation music” considered helpful in deepening meditation? Music is an external stimulus, which takes your sensory system and mind in the direction of external awareness, rather than toward the inward focus of meditation. Concentration on some pleasant, external stimulus-such as a rose or soft music-can be quite soothing, but it doesn’t lead you in the direction of the highest state of consciousness within. Enjoy music at other times, but...