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The mind can be your best friend or your worst enemy. If your mind
lacks discrimination and will power it can operate like a
fire-breathing dragon--polluting your consciousness with all sorts
of unhealthy thoughts, desires and emotions that bring you
unnecessary pain, misery and bondage. If you want to be free, you
must take courageous, corrective action. The first step is
understanding the Law of Karma.
The Sanskrit word karma means action, and the Law of Karma is
simply the law of cause and effect. Karma is the unerring
principle of the Universe that deftly apportions a consequence for
every expenditure of energy. When applied to physics, the Law of
Karma became the basis for Newton's Third Law of Motion: for every
action there
is an equal and opposite reaction. On the human level, karma
wisely and equitably manifests physical, mental and spiritual
consequences that precisely fit every thought, word and deed.
Eventually, every consequence comes back to its rightful
owner--the thinker of the thought, speaker of the word or the
performer of the action.
To understand the profound nature of karma, it's essential to
first recognize the universe as one organic and seamless organism.
It is a field of forces rather than the alluring or terrifying
world of separate objects that appear to the senses. This supreme
organism is composed of an infinite number of lesser organisms
(like your own human body-mind-sense complex) that wittingly or
unwittingly place limitations on the one, unifying consciousness
that is common to them all. The various components of the universe
could not act and react with each other as they do, without this
shared consciousness.
This sublime idea is well illustrated by the human being, who is a
universe in miniature. The existence of the body depends on a
complex network of electrical and chemical forces--intimately and
instantaneously connecting every organ, cell, and atom with every
other. If a virus enters the body, an army of white blood cells is
dispatched to counter the invading enemy. If the foot slips on an
icy surface, counteracting muscles seek to restore balance. If a
lash is swept into the eye, tear ducts irrigate the foreign object
out of the body. The reaction is always appropriate because the
entire body is one, unified organism.
Such interdependence is a fundamental principle throughout the
universe. The atom, the human being, the earth, the solar system
and the galaxy--in their structure and workings--proclaim the
basic harmony and interdependence underlying and regulating the
entire manifest world.
The all-inclusiveness of the Law of Karma is profound. Applied to
human lives it means that every expenditure of energy--whether
mental, verbal or physical--will, at some time, have an effect on
the balance of the entire organism. As biologist and author Dr.
Paul Erlich observed, "The fluttering of a butterfly's wings can
effect climate changes on the other side of the planet." In the
New Testament, the action of karma is described more personally in
the well-known words of Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians:
"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
The senses, however, belie this truth. "We tend to see our bodies
as 'frozen sculptures,'" Dr. Deepak Chopra writes, "when in truth
they are more like rivers; constantly changing, flowing patterns
of intelligence." The Greek philosopher Heraclitus similarly
observed, "You cannot step into the same river twice, for fresh
waters are ever flowing in." Nothing in the universe is static.
Every part of the whole is in a continuous state of change. In
fact, every year 98 percent of the total number of atoms in the
body are replaced. In that respect, we are forever new--regardless
of our physical age or condition.
The implications of this phenomenon are truly astounding. It
suggests that, as Swami Rama declared, "All the body is in the
mind." The physical body is an ever-changing projection of the
suggestions that appear in the mind. If we sow a specific thought,
word or deed, we will inevitably reap its consequence. We are,
unquestionably, the architects of our lives, and the basic
building blocks we use are our thoughts. As the compassionate
Buddha taught, "All that we are is the result of what we have
thought, and what we think [speak and do] now will determine what
we shall become."
The Law of Karma mandates that the fruits of our previous actions
and the use or non-use of our will power create our personal human
experiences. So, each life is the highest form of art, and all of
us possess the potential to be magnificent artists! We already
have the tools of destiny in our hands and are gifted by the Law
of Karma every moment with endless opportunities to fashion our
thoughts, words and deeds into a rewarding masterpiece.
On the occasion of my thirteenth birthday, a close family friend
gave me a dictionary with an inscription that reflects the very
same understanding: "To each is given a set of tools, a piece of
wood, a book of rules, that each may carve, ere life has flown, a
stumbling block or stepping stone."
You're free to say you do not believe in the Law of Gravity, but
you cannot escape being constantly subject to its rule. Similarly,
you may not believe in the Law of Karma, but cause and subsequent
effect (action and resultant consequence) are as certain as the
Law of Gravity that reliably pulls a ripened apple from its tree
to the ground.
And yet, since the beginning of recorded history human beings have
spent an inordinate amount of energy trying to circumvent the Law.
But by forgetting our essential nature and true relationship with
the universe we become confused and deluded by the powerful call
of the senses, ego, unconscious habit and tide of our culture.
When discrimination is absent, intelligent, educated and cultured
people still bind and gag their will while throwing themselves
into actions that inevitably harm themselves and others. In the
ancient Bhagavad Gita it is written, "The demonic do things they
should avoid and avoid things they should do. Such distorted views
and scant discrimination cause suffering and destruction."
Today we are spending trillions of dollars on science, medicine
and technology to discover new ways of postponing or avoiding the
natural consequences of doing whatever we want. We over-medicate
our children to avoid the consequences of our own choices that
have manifested as their unwanted behavior, and we connect their
minds to the insidious flow of false ideas disseminated through
television. Since children have not yet developed the mature skill
of discrimination, they depend on adult discrimination as their
guide. The "adult" culture of television, however, teaches our
children a basic lie--one that they are not prepared to question.
If your desire is strong enough, the television culture says,
there is always a way to circumvent the consequence of your
action.
The next time you turn on the television, try to take a good,
hard, objective look at the commercials. What are they really
selling, and at what cost? In both commercials and programming,
television is peddling happiness and claiming to supply it in the
form of a fast, expensive automobile, a new house, a beautiful
mate, sparkling jewelry, a bottle of beer, a gluttonous meal, flat
abs, plastic surgery, another credit card, the latest
technological gadgetry or the drug-induced extension of sexual
prowess.
Absent from our culture are the philosophers to explain what
consequences and problems arise from this kind of unbridled,
hedonistic philosophy. Once an individual accepts the delusion
that life is only physical, there is an immediate loss of
discrimination and will power. Without discrimination and will,
the mind is quickly hijacked by the forces of fear (that we won't
get what we want or that we might lose what we have) and anger
(brought about by thwarted desires). Every indiscriminate desire
that conflicts with intuitive inner wisdom inevitably gives rise
to the consequence of pain. And if we don't heed the lesson of
pain at a low decibel level, the decibel level gets louder and
louder until we finally understand the profound message of pain
and begin to take the necessary steps toward the beneficial change
we had previously avoided.
Karma can be a gentle teacher or a harsh disciplinarian--depending
on how much attention we are paying. The sages of every spiritual
tradition speak in unison on this important point. There is a
season for childhood toys and a season for mature decision-making.
Each time we take an action a consequence follows, and each
consequence leads us closer to real happiness or farther away.
Once we appreciate and honor the mechanics of the Law of Karma
(that thought precedes action and action precedes consequence), we
can begin to make real progress on the spiritual path. As our
meditation practice expands to encompass every relationship, our
capacity to discriminate and to enjoy life is heightened. Then, as
we employ our will power to choose the perennial joy of shreya
over the passing pleasure of preya, inner conflicts begin to
dissolve and the mind is transformed from the fire-breathing
dragon of yesterday into a loyal and accomplished friend. When
this occurs, we find ourselves creating the masterful and
rewarding work of art we have always longed to experience.
The Three Arrows of Karma

A spiritual aspirant is often likened to an archer. His or her
actions, described metaphorically as arrows, are of three distinct
categories. Some arrows have already been shot in the past; one is
in the bow now, in the present, and the remaining arrows are
stored in the quiver for future use. In every moment we have
control over two of the three types of karma, or arrows. The first
arrow represents the actions we have already taken. Although we no
longer have control over those arrows, we will still reap their
consequences. The second arrow is the one presently positioned in
our bow, ready to be shot. We do have control over this arrow. The
arrows stored in our quiver represent the actions not yet taken.
We have control over these arrows as well. The essential point to
remember is that although we have no control over what comes to us
(the results of past karma), we always have control over what we
do with what comes to us. Knowing this, we are free to create a
present that is without stress and a future that is bright.
Leonard is a philosopher, educator, author and founder of the
American Meditation Institute.
If our actions today conflict with our own inner wisdom,
we are assuring ourselves a rendezvous in the future
with a challenging experience that will test anew our attachment
to ignorance.
Leonard Perlmutter
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A person performs actions and is remunerated. The fruits of the
actions motivate her to perform actions again, and then again she
is rewarded. It becomes a cycle: the fruit arises out of the
action, and the action out of the fruit. From time immemorial,
life has proceeded in this manner. This is called the wheel of
karma.
The Law of Karma is equally applicable to all. Our past habits
(samskaras) are deeply rooted in the unconscious. These latent
impressions, create various bubbles of thoughts that express
themselves through our speech and actions.
It is possible for the aspirant to be free from these samskaras.
Those who can burn them in the fire of nonattachment or knowledge
are free from the bondage created by them. It is like a burnt rope
that has lost its binding power, though it still looks like a
rope.
When latent impressions, though still in the unconscious, are
burned by the fire of knowledge, they lose the power of
germination, and will never grow. They are like roasted coffee
beans. You can use them to brew a cup of coffee, but they have no
power to grow.
No one can live without performing actions. When you perform
actions, you reap the fruits of your actions. "As you sow, so
shall you reap." Nobody can escape from this law.
When you reap the fruits of actions, those actions inspire you to
perform more actions. Seemingly, there is no end. This creates a
sense of helplessness. You cannot live without doing your duty,
but when you do your duty, you find yourself caught in a
whirlpool. You are not happy because duty makes you a slave.
The first thing you should learn is how to perform your actions
yet remain unaffected. Your duty should not lead to stress. It
should not make you a slave.
You just need to change your attitude. Decide in the morning that
you will do your duty lovingly, no matter what is expected.
If you think like that, you will find that you will not be tired
at the end of the day as you usually are.
You have no alternative but to learn to love your duty. Then it
becomes easy. If you do not love something, and yet you do it, it
creates a division in your mind, and brings you stress or worse.
Grace dawns when you have learned to act skillfully. Therefore, do
all your efforts with love. Learn to love.
It is possible to live perfectly on earth if one is able to work
and to love--to work for what one loves, and to love what one is
working at.
From "Sacred Journey," by Swami Rama. ©1996, Himalayan
International Institute, India.
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The patient was threatening to sue. Her face was flushed, her
hands were shaking, and her eyes flashed. "Tell Dr. Greene he'll
hear from my lawyer! My cancer is back and he's going to pay! He's
a quack! I'll finish him!"
Dr. Greene is a brilliant and deeply humanitarian oncologist at
one of the nation's leading medical universities. When this woman
was initially referred to him with a tumor in her lung, Dr. Greene
waived most of her fees (she had no insurance) and treated her
with chemotherapy. She was in remission for eight months; now the
cancer had reappeared.
I was new on the ward and was shocked by this patient's ungrateful
behavior. But Dr. Greene and his staff took her aggressive
outburst in stride. "She's just found out the malignancy has
returned and she's scared. She's lashing out because of fear," the
oncology nurse told me calmly. Staff members rushed to reassure
the woman and offer any help they could.
I'll never forget that day. I was a yoga student yet I reacted to
the ungrateful patient with resentment. The medical staff however
responded with compassion and genuine concern. Even her legal
threats couldn't shake them from their commitment to serve her
medical needs to the very best of their abilities. That day Dr.
Greene and his nurses showed me how to remain centered and relaxed
while responding to a mean-spirited verbal attack, to be
sympathetic yet dispassionate. They were the real yogis.
But there was another lesson here. I was astonished the woman
blamed Dr. Greene for the recurrence of her symptoms. Over the
ensuing years of working in hospitals and medical centers, I
discovered this attitude isn't rare. If a patient gets sick, the
doctor is supposed to fix it. A lot of patients are intensely
resistant to the idea that in many cases they bring their medical
problems down on themselves through their own unhealthful
lifestyles, and that nothing a physician can do will permanently
remove the discomfort until patients change their ways. For
example, the woman I just described adamantly refused to stop
smoking. She expected Dr. Greene to make her tumors disappear even
as she continued to suck carcinogens into her lungs.
Unfortunately, the pharmaceutical ads that permeate our media
foster these illusions. If your blood pressure is high, don't
worry, the doctor can give you something. If you're at risk for a
heart attack or stroke due to elevated levels of cholesterol,
relax, the doctor can manage this with medication. If your libido
is slipping, no problem, your physician can even prescribe
something to give you an erection. For that matter, why should you
even suffer with a problem as minor as a cold sore on your lip
when there's a topical ointment that will suppress it? Thank God
our government requires pharmaceutical companies to list at least
some of the serious potential side effects of these treatments in
the ads!
But the damage has been done. Many Americans naively believe the
answer to their problems lies in a pill. This was brought home
forcefully to me when we began seeing patients who had recently
contracted HIV. Incredibly, since new drugs to treat AIDS began
appearing on the market, some of these individuals had abandoned
safe-sex practices. They believed that if they became infected
they could simply start taking these medications and they'd be
fine. It was heartbreaking to have to explain to them that even
the best drugs developed so far would not prevent them from dying;
they would simply die more slowly. Some were shocked to learn
their insurance companies would not pay for these exorbitantly
expensive treatments; they would have to pay for their anti-HIV
pills out-of-pocket. The choice to rely on modern medicine rather
than on responsible behavior cost them dearly. I still cry when I
remember them.
Taking Charge of Our Lives
Having worked in the medical field for many years, I'd be the last
person to say medication isn't valuable. While I believe parents
shouldn't be putting their hyperactive children on Ritalin till
they've tried taking them off the enormous amounts of stimulants
(caffeine, sugar, and chemical additives) in their diet, a small
percentage of children suffer from serious neurological imbalances
that can only be treated medically. While most people who're
depressed can work through their despair with counseling and
emotional support, some are experiencing genuine hormonal
imbalances so severe that only medical intervention can help. In
India physicians are called "God's other self" because doctors can
give life and alleviate pain when patients are so physically sick
they're unable to help themselves.
But often we can help ourselves if we only bother to do so. We can
prevent many common ailments with common sense: eating right,
exercising appropriately, resting when we're tired, practicing
yoga and meditation. Our chromosomes may well be preparing to
express serious disease potentials passed down through our family
such as a predisposition to heart disease or diabetes. Yet even
the inevitable onset of these genetic maladies can often be
delayed by adopting a healthy lifestyle.
If there's one thing the yoga tradition teaches us, it's that we
can and must take responsibility for our lives. We ourselves-not a
priest-are responsible for our spiritual life, though a pastor,
rabbi or guru can offer spiritual guidance. We-not a
psychologist-are responsible for the content of our mind, though a
counselor can help show us where self-defeating thought processes
may be sabotaging our efforts to find fulfillment. Our physical
body is our responsibility-not our doctor's-though we should be
grateful the physician is available to aid us when the severity of
a medical condition exceeds our innate ability to heal.
Having watched thousands of patients move through the bank-breakingly
expensive American medical system, I can assure you that taking an
easy-gentle yoga class and a meditation course are astoundingly
cost effective ways to manage your physical and mental health. A
Hatha practice not only strengthens, tones, and nourishes the
tissues of your body, it also teaches you internal awareness. As
you become more awakened to the movement of energy in your body
and to the day-to-day condition of your internal organs, you gain
the ability to head off potentially serious medical problems by
attending to imbalances as soon as you sense them arising. There's
no way doctors can do this for you, even with their MRI and CAT
scan equipment. Developing awareness of your inner physical state
through yoga practice is your personal daily X-ray. It's not a
substitute for a regular medical check-up, but it's an important
adjunct.
If your eating habits are a mess, take responsibility for what you
eat by signing up for a vegetarian or Ayurvedic cooking class at
AMI, your local yoga center or community college. When the
holistic health movement started gaining momentum in the late
1970s, most people groaned at the prospect of eating "health
food." To them it meant eating lots of raw vegetables ("rabbit
food" as my aunt, a nurse, characterized it), tasteless tofu
dishes, and unsweetened treats. Thirty years later, many Americans
have experienced how easy and delicious eating healthfully can be.
If you haven't already learned how to prepare nutritious, all
natural dishes, or which restaurants in your area serve
health-promoting entrees, it's time to focus on this important
aspect of your health regimen.
But there's more to internal awareness than the condition of your
muscles, glands and organs. There is also the issue of your mental
and emotional health. Too often we hand over control of our mental
state to friends and foes. "He makes me so happy!" "She makes me
so angry!" Sometimes we turn it over to the television set,
sitting passively before a box of glowing images that makes us
laugh, lust, cheer or sneer. How often during the day are we
really lucid, fully conscious of our own being, truly self-aware?
Some people go through their entire lives with almost no
self-reflection.
When we learn to meditate we spend at least a half hour each day
(or however much time we designate for our practice) allowing the
full wattage of our inner light to shine. We take responsibility
for our thoughts and feelings, which we observe with lucid
clarity, but we don't identify with them. They arise in
consciousness but they are not consciousness itself, like images
that pass over the surface of a mirror without ever actually
affecting the mirror. As we learn to observe our thoughts
dispassionately without judging them or reacting, as Dr. Greene
and his staff calmly observed the hysterical cancer patient, we
begin to control the contents of our mind rather than allowing
them to control us. Gradually we learn to operate increasingly
from this clearer, more enlightened perspective, just as the
oncology nurse was able to serve her patient more effectively by
not letting herself become upset by the patient's unjustified
accusations.
One of the prime qualities that distinguishes a mature adult from
a person who seems never to have grown up is that the mature
person takes responsibility for his or her attitudes and actions
rather than reflexively blaming others. Mature adults also
recognize that developing the awareness and inner strength to
prevent disease and injury makes far more sense than expecting a
physician to simply write a prescription and make the problem
disappear. It's not as simple as, "I don't need to worry if I
party too much-I can always go to rehab," or "I'll start smoking
now because my friends do-I can always wear a nicotine patch if I
want to stop." Like the HIV positive patients who didn't think
they needed to use sexual hygiene anymore, these foolish attitudes
set us up for serious grief.
We can take responsibility for our health by living our lives with
our inner light switched on. Practicing yoga and meditation give
us more to do each day, but ultimately they'll give our doctor
less to do. And most physicians would be much happier, I assure
you, if their patients never needed to see them at all.
Linda Johnsen is a regular contributor to "Transformation" and
author of eight books on spirituality including "Lost Masters: The
Sages of Ancient Greece."
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Individual Counseling
Yoga Self-Therapy
Leonard Perlmutter
AMI Founder and Director
Member: International Association of Yoga Therapists
Yoga Self-Therapy is
based on the perennial psychology of yoga science. Each
individual counseling session will teach you how to free
yourself from habits and expectations that cause stress and
give rise to illness. By observing and training your internal
processes, you can become creative in all relationships while
establishing a state of personal contentment. By learning to
rely on your own Divine inner wisdom you become free to make
choices in life that continually improve your physical, mental
and emotional wellbeing.
AMI Home Center, 60 Garner Road, Averill Park
By appointment only.
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Literally, the Sanskrit word karma means something that is done.
Often it can be translated as 'deed' or 'action.' The law of karma
states simply that every event is both a cause and an effect.
Every act has consequences, which in turn have further
consequences and so on; and every act, every karma, is also the
consequence of some previous karma.
This will turn out to have the vastest possible implications. But
let me begin with karma on the individual level, where it is
simplest: the karma we sow and reap in our own little agricultural
field of body and mind.
To most people who are familiar with the word, in India as well as
in the West, karma refers to physical action. In this sense, the
law of karma says that whatever you do will come back to you. If
Joe hits John, and later Jack hits Joe, this is Joe's karma coming
back to him. It sounds mysterious, even occult, because we do not
see all the connections. But the connections are there, and the
law of karma is no more occult than the law of gravitation.
Let me illustrate. In the example I just gave, where Joe hits
John, the law of karma states that that blow has to have
consequences. It cannot end with John getting a black eye. It
makes an impression on John's consciousness. Predictably, he gets
angry--and it makes an impression, probably subtler, on Joe's
consciousness as well. Let us trace it first through John. He
might take his anger out on Joe then and there, simply by hitting
him back: that is what I call "cash karma," where you do something
and are repaid immediately. But for many reasons, John might not
act on his anger until later, quite possibly in unrelated ways: he
might explode at his wife, for example, or throw the cat out of
the house when it tangles with his legs.
Now, karma is rarely so simple; this is only for illustration. But
what is clear is that John's anger will have repercussions
throughout his relationships. Those repercussions will have
repercussions--say, John's wife gets angry at Jack's, and she
takes it out on Jack, who works with Joe; and the next time Joe
irritates Jack, Jack lets him have it. Poor Joe, rubbing his chin,
can't have the slightest idea that he is being repaid for hitting
John. All he feels is anger at Jack: and so the chain of
consequences continues, and Joe's karmic comeuppance becomes the
seed of a new harvest.
We do not realize how far our lives reach, how many people are
affected by our behavior and example. Once you begin to see this,
you get some idea of how complex the web of karma actually is. No
one has the omniscience to see this picture fully. But I hope you
can see that the idea of a network of such connections is
plausible and natural--so plausible, in fact, that even though we
cannot see the connections, we can be sure that everything that
happens to us, "good" and "bad," originated once in something we
did to someone else.
The implications of this are terribly practical: we ourselves are
responsible for what happens to us, whether or not we can
understand how. Therefore-here is the wonderful part--we can
change what happens to us by changing ourselves; we can take our
destiny into our own hands.
As I said, all this is karma on the physical level, which is how
most people think of it. The view is accurate, but not complete:
in fact, the physical side of karma is only the tip of an iceberg.
To get an inkling of how karma reaches, you have to look at the
mind.
Let me go back for a moment to Joe and John. I said that when Joe
hits John, there are several effects: one on John's face, one in
John's consciousness, and one in the consciousness of Joe himself.
To put it simply, by acting on his anger, Joe has made it easier
to act on his anger again. He may think he has relieved some
pressure, but he has actually made himself a little more angry
than before, a little less patient, a little more likely to
respond to problems with violence.
Everything we do, in other words, produces karma in the mind. This
is not at all theoretical; it has very tangible consequences. For
one, look at how Joe is changed by his actions--not from without,
from within. Over the years, if he keeps giving in to anger, he
will become more belligerent. He may find himself swinging his
fists more and more often; and by some quirk of human nature, he
will find himself more and more frequently in situations that
prompt his anger. Sooner or later he will get into a fight where
he is more than repaid in kind; that is one way in which his karma
with John can come back to him.
Even more intriguing to me is the karma of our health. Again, let
me illustrate one or two kinds of connection.
For one, the Buddha says that we are not punished for our anger;
we are punished by our anger. In other words, anger is its own
karma. Joe may think he feels better for having hit John, but a
detached physician would not say so. He would observe all that
happens in Joe's vital organs and nervous system while Joe is
getting heated up--watch his blood pressure soar and his heart
race, measure the adrenaline and other hormones dumped into his
body, and so on--and conclude, "You're putting yourself under
severe physiological stress!" To my eyes, a bout of anger is one
thousandth of a heart attack. You pay for it on the spot; and if
you go on getting angry, you go on paying for that too.
Suppose Joe's anger does become chronic. Even if Jack never gets
back to hit him, Joe is hitting himself from inside. He comes to
live in a world of constant stress, with his "fight or flight"
mechanisms on duty around the clock. There is good evidence that
this kind of stress can lead to heart disease, to psychosomatic
ailments like migraine and ulcer, and even to cancer; these too
are routes by which the karma of anger can be reaped.
Further, Joe's aggressiveness and irritability make him harder to
live with. His relationships deteriorate. Perhaps his friends
start to avoid him; perhaps his co-workers respond to him with
increasing irritation and anger, all of which provokes him even
more. Life in these circumstances can be miserable. Joe may punish
himself further by drinking heavily or smoking more. He may look
for relief in high-risk activities like skydiving, rock climbing,
or stock car racing. All these provide more ways in which karma
can be reaped, and there are many more ways also, which I do not
want to go into here.
One more fascinating point about karma: you can see that even if
Joe does not actually strike anybody, the karma of anger is still
generated in the mind and body. To the extent he gets angry, his
blood pressure will still shoot up, his stomach get tense, his
heart race, and so on. Of course, the consequences are much more
serious if you hit someone than if you do not! But the point is
that thoughts have consequences too. They shape the way we see
life, which in turn affects our health, our behavior, our choice
of work and friends--in short, everything we do.
I hope you can see how logical the law of karma is, and why I say
that karma in the mind is the most potent kind of all. It is more
subtle than physical karma, but it is also much more powerful and
longer-lived. That is why I like so much this figure of speech
that the body and mind are like a field. A thought is like a seed:
very tiny, but it can grow into a huge, powerful, wide-spreading
tree. I have seen places where a tiny seed in a crack in a
pavement grew into a tree that tore up the sidewalk; its roots
spread beneath a house and threatened the concrete foundation. It
is terribly difficult to remove such a tree. Similarly, it is
terribly difficult to undo the effects of a lifetime of negative
thinking, which can extend into many other people's lives.
I never like to talk about this without presenting the brighter
side, which is very reassuring. You may have seen from all these
examples how much in our karma depends on us: what we think, how
we respond. The real source of karma is the mind, which means that
all our unfavorable karma can be undone by changing the way we
think. If someone gets angry with us and we respond with patience
and compassion and the "soft reply that turneth away wrath," that
too is karma--good karma. Everybody benefits. The karma of the
person who got angry is mitigated, even physiologically: his
nervous system is calmed, so his anger subsides; he will not go on
to spread it to other people and create still more bad karma. And
our own mind and body benefit too.
Even if we had to grit our teeth for a while to keep back angry
words, afterwards we will feel good inside. All our vital organs
can relax, put their feet up on the desk, and say, "Good job!" We
know we have helped the other person, and we have the quiet thrill
of self-mastery too. In St. Francis's words, which appeal to me
very deeply, we know we have been an instrument of peace.
From Dialogue with Death by Eknath Easwaran, founder of the
Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, © 1981; reprinted by
permission of Nilgiri Press, P. O. Box 256, Tomales, CA 94971,
www.easwaran.org.
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The Heart and Science of Yoga:
A Blueprint for Peace, Happiness and Freedom from Fear
Review by Gregg St. Clair, Healing Springs Journal
We live in
glorious times don't we? We have information available to us
today that we never transferred to only an inner circle of top
students. This usually involved years of dedication proving
your desire to learn, followed by years of practice in the
more external realms of knowledge, and only then would a
master be willing to share the deepest levels of their art,
most highly guarded secrets. But today every esoteric subject
matter is available through books or just a quick click away
on the world wide web.
Everything has pluses and minuses and this is no exception.
Yes, it is all right there for us, but so is fast food. So how
do we discriminate what is valuable or not for our total well
being? Trial and error is, of course, an option, and something
most people have to go through on their path--be it with diet,
exercise or meditation. But when you find the right thing you
know it. This is how I felt when I read The Heart and
Science of Yoga: A Blueprint for Peace, Happiness and Freedom
from Fear by Leonard Perlmutter. I keep wanting to call it
the "Art" instead of the "Heart," probably from being
conditioned by other book titles, but "Heart" definitely works
better. Why? Because you can tell that that is where the book
comes from and that is where it is aimed.
The Heart and Science of Yoga is a manual showing how
ancient wisdom can help us with life today in an increasingly
chaotic world. No longer does one need to travel to India to
learn the deepest secrets of yoga for it is all contained in
this one book. Some might claim that there is too much
information (and at 538 pages they may be right), but not me.
It is written in a style so easy to read and so relevant to
spiritual development today that its information will be
beneficial, almost crucial, for everyone, not just yoga
practitioners.
Leonard Perlmutter has something rare among yoga practitioners
and meditation instructors today, not only a blessing from his
famous teacher Swami Rama, but a direct request to pass on the
knowledge he transferred to him and to become a full time
teacher. Leonard and his wife Jenness have founded and operate
the American Meditation Institute in Averill Park, New York--a
short drive from the capital city of Albany. A tranquil oasis,
the Perlmutters are dedicating their lives to creating
positive change in the world based on the teachings of yoga
with meditation as the key.
The book covers in detail the eight limbs of yoga is of course
more than different contortionist postures and includes a
blueprint for spiritual growth including, proper disciplines,
proper conduct, proper exercise, proper breathing, proper
control of the senses, proper concentration, proper meditation
and finally self realization. I particularly like how they use
quotations and references from all of the worlds religions,
including literature and even current sources (did you know
Elvis was a guru?), making the book very accessible if not
down right enjoyable to read.
With the invention of the airplane, the telephone and now the
world wide web, it has become obvious that it is one world and
we must act together if there is going to be hope for the
future. Unfortunately people become so caught up in their own
realities that they fail to see the bigger picture. But we are
spiritual beings, and as we busy ourselves with the illusions
of the world it separates us from our spirit, creating a
source of suffering that is only going to continue. I take
comfort in the fact that yoga has an 8000 year old history and
though I am a scientist, I don't need another double blind
study to know that it works. The key is, we have to practice
something to take control of our mind & lives, or they will
take control of us. If you are looking for a tried and true
system that has helped millions of people, then The Heart
and Science of Yoga is the perfect companion. I recommend
it for everybody. |
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All events are held at the AMI Home Center in Averill Park unless
otherwise indicated.
Every Sunday Meditation & Satsang is FREE
Every Sunday 9:30-11:00 AM. Love donations accepted.
JANUARY 2008
JAN 7 - FEB 18:
BHAGAVAD
GITA Study
Monday Nights, 6:30 - 8:30 PM, Ch. 1 (6 weeks)
JAN 9 - FEB 13:
MORNING-GENTLE YOGA
Wednesday Mornings, Kathleen Fisk, 9:30 - 11:00 AM
JAN 10:
INTRO
MEDITATION
LECTURE
Thurs. Night, 6:30 - 7:30 PM, Mary Holloway & Doreen Howe
JAN 15 - FEB 26:
AMI MEDITATION
Thurs. Nights: The Heart and Science of Yoga
6:30 - 8:30 PM with AMI founder Leonard Perlmutter (6 weeks)
JAN 18:
DINNER & MOVIE
Fri. Night, "Wondrous Oblivion", 5:30 - 10 PM, RSVP
JAN 21 - FEB 25:
EVENING-GENTLE YOGA
Monday Nights, Kathleen Fisk, 6:30 - 8:00PM
JAN 23:
COMPLEMENTARY CANCER CARE
Wednesday Night, Leonard Perlmutter, 6:30 - 8:30 PM (1 night)
FEBRUARY 2008
FEB 20 - MAR 26:
MORNING-GENTLE YOGA
Wednesday Mornings, Kathleen Fisk, 9:30 - 11:00 AM
FEB 20:
HEAL
YOUR HEART
Wednesday Night, Leonard Perlmutter, 6:30 - 8:30 PM, (1night)
FEB 21:
INTRO
MEDITATION
LECTURE
AMI Meditation: The Heart and Science of Yoga
Thurs. Night, 6:30 - 7:30 PM, Mary Holloway & Doreen Howe
FEB 22:
DINNER & MOVIE
Fri. Night, "The Namesake", 5:30 - 10 PM , RSVP
MARCH 2008
MAR 3 - APR 7:
EVENING-GENTLE YOGA
Monday Nights, Kathleen Fisk, 6:30 - 8:00PM
MAR 3 - APR 7:
BHAGAVAD
GITA Study
Monday Nights, 6:30 - 8:30 PM, Ch. 1 (6 weeks)
MAR 4 - APR 8:
AMI MEDITATION
Thurs. Nights: The Heart and Science of Yoga
6:30 - 8:30 PM with AMI founder Leonard Perlmutter (6 weeks)
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Tell
a Friend about AMI
If you know someone who might benefit from our American Meditation class, let them know
about the AMI program or call us with their name and address and we'll send them a
brochure with our current class schedule.
Karma Yoga --- the practice of selfless and skillful action
If, as part of your practice, you have a few extra hours during the week
and are interested in helping grow the American Meditation Institute, we need your
dedicated, volunteer energy. As a student of yoga science, you are already familiar with
the kinds of practical services the Institute provides. Each month we write, edit and
publish this newsletter, teach an average of thirty new meditation students and present
stress-reduction seminars to various businesses and organizations. We also invite visiting
speakers of interest to our area, organize seminars on yoga science and do continuing
personal counseling.
Our immediate needs include press relations, seminar management,
clerical assistance and general delivery work. Remember, whatever time or talents you
possess will be put to meaningful, productive use.
If you have the time, please call the Institute at (518) 674-8714.
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American Meditation Institute for Yoga Science & Philosophy. All
Rights Reserved |