Melbourne, Australia is the host City for this year’s 63rd Annual United Nations Conference for Non-Governmental Organizations, on the theme “Advance Global Health: Achieve the MDGs.”
More than 1,600 participants and NGOs from 70 countries have gathered to collaborate, network and exchange best-practices, information and narratives on the challenges and progress made in the global quest for achieving the MDGs. There are 8 Millennium Development Goals declared in 2005 by world leaders as necessary to achieve by 2015. Although with just five years left to reach the goals set for child health, women’s health and the continuing fight against HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, it is clear that progress achieved so far, is not what everyone hoped it would be 10 years ago.
The conference roundtable presentations and workshop discussions are examining critical issues such as:
bridging the health gaps that still exist and encouraging equity of treatment and access
addressing failed maternal and child health strategies
promoting civic activism around health and wellness
and strengthening an integrated approach to achieving health for all.
The UN Department of Public Information hopes this three-day exchange of ideas and best practices will leave a lasting legacy, to inspire and also reinvigorate NGOs to advocate with governments, businesses, researchers and the wider public to galvanise the world at large, to better contribute towards the Millennium Goals and improving global health.
Yoga in Daily Life’s Hands-On Experience at the Conference:
“Yoga saved my life” said Sue, matter-of-factly, with no emotion, yet her words were filled with utter conviction. We met as we queued to enter this week’s United Nations conference for NGO’s on the theme ‘Advance Global Health’. Sue had flown in from America and while we waited in line, told me her story of being savagely attacked and left for dead. Prior to the attack she had been a regular yoga practitioner and knew the far-reaching health benefits. She diligently applied these techniques in her rehabilitation and gives yoga the credit for her physical and mental rehabilitation and thus her presence here today.
Yet another chalk mark up on the board in favour of yoga. How to get this message out to others?
In his opening speech at UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, said simple measures can make a huge difference. Yoga is simple. He also said, the wealth of nations is inextricably linked to the health of its citizens. The practice of yoga costs nothing. Mr. Moon further said studies show that by investing in health, poverty is reduced.
While manning our yoga exhibit today, dozens of people from all over the world approached us for information - many were medical professionals or people who had been recommended yoga by their health care advisor. One doctor stated her first preference is always to prescribe relaxation and meditation in response to stress and anxiety, rather than pills. Others said that yoga offered them sanity and relief from chronic back problems. Still others said how they had been sharing yoga techniques with disadvantaged communities elsewhere in the world and how it enhances life.
These stories reminded me of the words of H.H. Vishwaguru Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda, ‘Yoga makes you a better person, which makes a better family, which makes a better neighbourhood, which makes a better community, which makes a better nation…. in this way, yoga contributes to world peace.’
A journalist asked: “Do you feel there is a place for yoga in conversations about global health?” Most definitely, I replied. All the yoga and meditation practices serve to nurture physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing. Give these practices consistent priority in your life and yoga will foster health on all levels, simultaneously benefitting others around you. Yes, Yoga has a place in discussions about global health. It’s already happening.
Yoga in Daily Life is scheduled to hold a 45 minute class at the conference in Room 103, this Tuesday night at 6.30pm
Thanks to Yoga in Daily Life members, Mahamandaleshwar Swami Jasrajpuri, Prabhupuri, Rod Morgan, Jyoti and Gita for their representation of Yoga in Daily Life at this major world event.
Bhakti Johnson, National Coordinator for the Australian Association of Yoga in Daily Life
Monday, August 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Our new Frount Garden (before)
A shot of our frount garden after the council put a border around it and before our volunteer gardeners get their hands dirty.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Doing Something -National Volunteer Week by Yogeshwari
National Volunteer Week - Talk to YIDL volunteers
Doing something
On Thursdays I am unavailable for work or family commitments. Thursday is my volunteer day. The description is inadequate for what I do, but it’s the language I use to describe my activities to the world at large.
I became a volunteer four years ago when I retired from an overwhelming career in TAFE. My last day at TAFE was a Friday. On Monday morning I went to a yoga class, then signed up to volunteer one day a week with Yoga in Daily Life. When asked if I was available for three or six months, my reply was, “Oh no. I’m in for the long haul.”
How did I know? What was it that brought me in through that door with such a strong sense of belonging? The building had beckoned for years before I was free to attend my first Saturday yoga class. Then the standard of teaching and quality of teachers left me, as an educationalist, intrigued as to the foundations on which such quality was built. Even so, when I signed up on that Monday morning I wasn’t consciously aware of what I was really doing. I was joining an ashram.
Yesterday, sitting at my desk at the back of the kitchen, I was working on developing a protocol for external usage of the yoga halls. And the introduction gently reminded users that this was no simple yoga centre. This was an ashram. Then followed a sentence defining ashram as: a place where all are welcome to come and do something for the benefit of body, mind and soul.
The editor in me baulked at the phrase ‘do something’. It sounded so lame – so non-specific. There must be a better way of saying it.
Now someone else happened to be in the room, ‘doing something’ at the kitchen sink. As all writers do when they are stuck, I consulted. The ‘someone’ was fortuitously my philosophy teacher, colleague and mentor Yogasiddhi. “Ah,” she said. “That is a direct translation from Sanskrit asramah. ‘A’ means near and ‘shram’, from the root ‘sramati’ means to practise or do something.”
“Ah, hah!” went a deeper section in my brain, recognising the profound value in so many non-specific Sanskrit expressions, allowing as they do countless interpretations suited to our current level of understanding. So the phrase remained.
Early this morning it was quiet. A thought arose about a task I needed to perform today. On the program for tonight’s satsang was an entry for 6.55pm: Yogeshwari’s inspiring talk. It was time to get inspired. And up came the words I had so nearly deleted the previous afternoon: an ashram is a place where all are welcome to come and do something for the benefit of body, mind and soul.
What is it that we volunteers actually do? We sweep floors and rake up leaves, we come up with creative ideas for fund raising and follow them through, we research solutions to anything from retreat venues to suppliers of high quality mulch, we smile and welcome newcomers to our centre, we plan and implement a complete reconfiguration of the garden, we forge relationships with local media in order to effectively promote our classes and courses, we manage special events, implement effective search engine marketing, cook, photocopy, fold, laminate, build, repair, clean and polish, systematise, enter data, answer phones, take bookings, edit, stand in for each other, write protocols and procedures, handle money, coordinate wwoofers, twitter, use google adwords and … I would sum it with, “work on constant quality maintenance and quality improvement.”
The most challenging task I have so far been asked to do was introduce Swamiji when he was giving a public talk at the centre after an absence of a couple of years. I was well briefed, knew the important stages of the introduction, knew, in fact, what to say … but what on earth was I supposed to do! Bhakti is wise. Seeing my anxiety she gently explained my role: to make Swamiji feel relaxed and comfortable, to orientate him to the centre and the topic for the evening, and to respond to any needs or directions he might express. Recognising the “something I had to do” allowed me to do it.
What is that word ‘recognition’? It means knowing again, or becoming aware that we in fact already know something. I feel it is recognition that brings all of us to volunteer here, in this ashram. And what we are recognising is the tremendous importance of being born human, carrying with it as it does both the opportunity and responsibility for self-enquiry and self-improvement.
There is a beautiful bhajan that we sing at satsang composed by the mystic saint Kabir. It points out the fragility of this human life, this delicate shawl that has been so carefully woven for us. And how easily we can neglect and damage the shawl, leaving it dirty, full of torn threads and gaping holes.
As Kabir says, When my shawl was ready
I gave it to a dyer for dyeing:
And he dyed it with the softest of reds.
Don’t be shy about wearing this shawl,
It is given to you for just a few days.
Not knowing its secret, foolish people
Allow it to become dirtier day by day.
Doing something
On Thursdays I am unavailable for work or family commitments. Thursday is my volunteer day. The description is inadequate for what I do, but it’s the language I use to describe my activities to the world at large.
I became a volunteer four years ago when I retired from an overwhelming career in TAFE. My last day at TAFE was a Friday. On Monday morning I went to a yoga class, then signed up to volunteer one day a week with Yoga in Daily Life. When asked if I was available for three or six months, my reply was, “Oh no. I’m in for the long haul.”
How did I know? What was it that brought me in through that door with such a strong sense of belonging? The building had beckoned for years before I was free to attend my first Saturday yoga class. Then the standard of teaching and quality of teachers left me, as an educationalist, intrigued as to the foundations on which such quality was built. Even so, when I signed up on that Monday morning I wasn’t consciously aware of what I was really doing. I was joining an ashram.
Yesterday, sitting at my desk at the back of the kitchen, I was working on developing a protocol for external usage of the yoga halls. And the introduction gently reminded users that this was no simple yoga centre. This was an ashram. Then followed a sentence defining ashram as: a place where all are welcome to come and do something for the benefit of body, mind and soul.
The editor in me baulked at the phrase ‘do something’. It sounded so lame – so non-specific. There must be a better way of saying it.
Now someone else happened to be in the room, ‘doing something’ at the kitchen sink. As all writers do when they are stuck, I consulted. The ‘someone’ was fortuitously my philosophy teacher, colleague and mentor Yogasiddhi. “Ah,” she said. “That is a direct translation from Sanskrit asramah. ‘A’ means near and ‘shram’, from the root ‘sramati’ means to practise or do something.”
“Ah, hah!” went a deeper section in my brain, recognising the profound value in so many non-specific Sanskrit expressions, allowing as they do countless interpretations suited to our current level of understanding. So the phrase remained.
Early this morning it was quiet. A thought arose about a task I needed to perform today. On the program for tonight’s satsang was an entry for 6.55pm: Yogeshwari’s inspiring talk. It was time to get inspired. And up came the words I had so nearly deleted the previous afternoon: an ashram is a place where all are welcome to come and do something for the benefit of body, mind and soul.
What is it that we volunteers actually do? We sweep floors and rake up leaves, we come up with creative ideas for fund raising and follow them through, we research solutions to anything from retreat venues to suppliers of high quality mulch, we smile and welcome newcomers to our centre, we plan and implement a complete reconfiguration of the garden, we forge relationships with local media in order to effectively promote our classes and courses, we manage special events, implement effective search engine marketing, cook, photocopy, fold, laminate, build, repair, clean and polish, systematise, enter data, answer phones, take bookings, edit, stand in for each other, write protocols and procedures, handle money, coordinate wwoofers, twitter, use google adwords and … I would sum it with, “work on constant quality maintenance and quality improvement.”
The most challenging task I have so far been asked to do was introduce Swamiji when he was giving a public talk at the centre after an absence of a couple of years. I was well briefed, knew the important stages of the introduction, knew, in fact, what to say … but what on earth was I supposed to do! Bhakti is wise. Seeing my anxiety she gently explained my role: to make Swamiji feel relaxed and comfortable, to orientate him to the centre and the topic for the evening, and to respond to any needs or directions he might express. Recognising the “something I had to do” allowed me to do it.
What is that word ‘recognition’? It means knowing again, or becoming aware that we in fact already know something. I feel it is recognition that brings all of us to volunteer here, in this ashram. And what we are recognising is the tremendous importance of being born human, carrying with it as it does both the opportunity and responsibility for self-enquiry and self-improvement.
There is a beautiful bhajan that we sing at satsang composed by the mystic saint Kabir. It points out the fragility of this human life, this delicate shawl that has been so carefully woven for us. And how easily we can neglect and damage the shawl, leaving it dirty, full of torn threads and gaping holes.
As Kabir says, When my shawl was ready
I gave it to a dyer for dyeing:
And he dyed it with the softest of reds.
Don’t be shy about wearing this shawl,
It is given to you for just a few days.
Not knowing its secret, foolish people
Allow it to become dirtier day by day.
National Volunteer Week is all about recognition. But I feel what we are actually recognising … is recognition. And we who are recognising, and we who are being recognised, as well as what we are being recognised for, is all exactly the same. That is unity – the unity of yoga.
By volunteering at the ashram we are joining a community of wisdom, and by so doing, working at preserving and protecting the fragile weave of our precious shawl. There is even the potential for value adding, of enhancing the soft red of the dye until the shawl begins to glow.
So next time we are invited somewhere and it clashes with our volunteering, what answer are we going to give? We might say, “Sorry. I’m volunteering,” or, “Thursday is my ashram day.” Or we might just say, “Not possible. I’m doing something.”
by Yogeshwari
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Guru-Disciple Relationship by Paremeshwari
This essay is by Paremeshwari who is a student of the Yoga in Daily Life Philosophy and Teacher Training Course. It was written as part of her groups presentation of the Bagavad Gita.
GURU – DISCIPLE RELATIONSHIP
The Bhagavad Gita is the most insightful and inspiring example of guru-disciple relationship. In fact, the scripture itself is the result of this very relationship. Arjuna is the spiritual seeker…the good man who, as yet, is not steady in his wisdom, alluded by the restless mind that attributes and divides life into pleasant and unpleasant.
Sri Krishna is regarded as the supreme manifestation of the Creator Himself (just as Rama, he is the incarnation of Lord Vishnu) and represents the very highest aspect of ourselves so the part we long to identify with.
According to Mahabharata Krishna and Arjuna have been the great friends all their lives. Approaching the battle on the field of Khurushetra, Arjuna the warrior asks Krishna to become his charioteer and place his chariot in the middle of the battlefield so he could see his enemies closely.
Symbolically already here Krishna becomes Arjuna’s guide (Guru) but it is only later that the true surrendering of the disciple Arjuna, which will prompt (inspire) the exhilarating stream of wisdom know as Bhagavad Gita, takes place.
At first, at the very beginning of the scripture, Arjuna still holds onto his reasoning, logic and intellect – the toy-dolls of the ego that try to measure things and come to the appropriate solution.
After Krishna, on Arjuna’s request, places his chariot in between two armies, Arjuna who a moment ago was ready and resolute to fight suddenly becomes overwhelmed with fear, doubt & confusion. This is where Arjuna’s restless mind becomes noticeable. At one moment he is ready to embark into the inner battle but soon when given a chance trembles & finds millions of logical excuses (that could be easily acepted by un-alert mind) why not to do so.
At this point, the disciple’s ego is still too proud to show his weakness. He expresses his thoughts to Krishna but without asking for advice. Krishna listens and smiles. He keeps quite observing his disciples confusion. But what can a Guru do before the disciple is ready, before the disciple asks for the help.
In his commentary Swami Venkatesananda writes, and this is message that we should meditate upon:
“The Guru waits not only for the disciple to ask, but to get into the proper attitude of receptivity, surrendering him self as he comes to the end of his own intellectual resources, abandoning the solutions to the problems, discarding his knowledge, or better to say ignorance.”
“If spiritual knowledge is treated as a commodity, the seller (Guru) goes on his knees pleading with the prospective buyer (disciple) which makes the latter feel he is superior. He might condescend to buy, but remodels it to suit his taste, affixes his own label to it and re markets it.”
This is why Krishna waits. And the twist happens in verse 7 of the second chapter. Arjuna turns to Krishna and says:
“My heart is overpowered by the taint of pity, My mind is confused as to duty. I ask thee, tell me decisively what is good for me. I am thy disciple. Instruct me who has taken refuge in thee.”
Arjuna drops his ego's proudness, honestly reveals his weakness admitting he is unable to distinguish right from wrong and what is even more important recognizes that Krishna knows this answer. He asks for help and advice. He knocks on to the door of wisdom and enters the universe of spiritual truths and guides.
We should note here that it is not Krishna who says I am your Guru, but Arjuna who says, “I am your disciple.”
Lord Krishna who, as we’ve heard has been patient, silent and receptive now recognizes that the disciple is ready for the teachings and enlightenment. Now, as the clouds of ignorance have been removed, the rays of sun reach the disciple.
This is where the Gita truly starts, as Lord Krishna readily takes his disciple on the road of the highest revelation, instructing Arjuna on how to reach the highest goal of the spiritual development.
From this point on, it is Krishna who speaks. The disciple Arjuna remains mainly quite through the next 16 chapters asking only a few more, additional questions absorbing his guru’s rays of wisdom, keeping silent and focused.
The verse that we have heard, changes the direction of the whole journey through the Gita.
The beautiful and uplifting Guru-Disciple relationship presented to us by the Gita serves as a revelation of the importance of the master who can help us curb the restless tendency of the mind, overcome our own spiritual weakness and support as in making the right decision.
The Bhagavad Gita is the greatest of all moments in the history of the world, the moment when the yoga was revealed. Arjuna was the chosen channel. But the Gita belongs to all!
Krishna's words to Arjuna are the words of every Realised spiritual master to his disciples and sum up the thrilling and immortal promise each guru makes.
In Chapter 4 of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna, who is the incarnation of God Vishnu, the preserver, reassures us that we will be taken care of at all times. When the spiritual truths become shaken and values changed he will come to set the world on the right path. In Chapter 4 this is clearly stated when Krishna says that ‘God takes incarnation to establish righteousness in the world’.
He reveals that he has lived through many births, always teaching Yoga for the protection of the pious and the destruction of the impious and stresses the importance of accepting a guru.
“In each age the guru comes to make man aware of his divinity, to free man from his bondage and to lift him to a higher plane of being. The disciples effort in transcending and purifying his own nature is not confined to a passive and stoic endurance of challenges encountered with his guru, but extends actively into every area of his life - meditation, service, every aspect of his existence is his sadhana. He comes to welcome difficulties as a reflection of his own attachments and expectations, and learns not to cling, to let go of these parts of himself. He begins to realise that his life is really an extended workshop on God-Realisation, and that every hardship or problem simply presents him with another opportunity to achieve progress through surrender and desirelessness. His life becomes a meditation in action, increasingly centred in the consciousness that is growing within him.”
This is the karma yoga of the Bhagavad Gita.
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