XIV/10
Now Sattva arises, O Arjuna, having overpowered Rajas and Tamas; now Rajas, having overpowered Sattva and Tamas; and now Tamas, having overpowered Sattva and Rajas.
The introspective spiritual aspirant is amazed, shocked and terrified when he discovers that though in spite of himself his moods continually change. Now he is happy; now he is restless; now he is lazy. How is it, he wonders, that in spite of being one whole, I am sometimes human and at other times beastly.
When he is advanced enough in meditation and when he has developed the witness consciousness, he will realise that these passing moods need not necessarily affect “him”, that they do not “belong” to him, but that they are triple streams of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, which are part of the Divine Nature, which merely cast their shadows on him as they march past.
In ignorance however, he superimposes their effects upon himself. It is like the foolish man who, not seeing his dark hand at night, thought it had left him. Even though these qualities of Nature may obstruct the vision of the true Self, they do not affect or alter it.
Swami Uditramananda spent six years with the Himalayan saints and in the Ashram of his great guru, Swami Sivananda. He has been teaching for the Divine Life Society (Sivananda Ashram India) internationally since 1963.
I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to be in Swami Udit's company at the retreat at Sivananda Ashram. It’s very hard to put into words exactly what my thoughts were to meet someone of such calm intelligence and relaxation. To be in his company was quite something and as for his fitness as a yoga instructor it was really quite some thing.
To dedicate his life and thoughts is again unique in every sense of the word, thank you for this opportunity to be able to say just a small snippet about my appreciation for meeting this Swami and sharing company with him.
thank you Kevin
“The Ashram always feels like a second home and we’re most grateful to have the space we can head back to.
And its only 5 hours for us to travel.
Thank you to everyone for all the hard work that we know and appreciate goes into making the Retreat available for us.
Of course we loved a very minute of it from the fire to the meditation to the participants to the infectious giggles and laughter.
Swami taught us to be ok with who we are today this moment and to laugh at past mistakes and anger. He has a beautiful energy and we felt it was an honour to be in his presence for the 7 days
The passion that drives Shoba to be the person of humility and grace is someone we aspire to.
See you all at Summer School and next Swami Retreat.
Namaste
Keitha Bradley and Wendy Ward – “partners in crime”
I thoroughly enjoyed the retreat and the opportunity to meet Swami Uditramananda.. I enjoyed his Yoga classes, his wisdom and his great sense of humour.
And the food was superb..🙏
It was also wonderful catching up with some women I had met at a previous Summer School.
Thanks so much to all the Ashram staff for organizing the event..all so efficient.
Cheers Deb 🙏
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