JULY 1 - 4

As the high season winds down here at the Yoga Retreat, the close-knit community of the ashram begins to shine. If you're looking for a more personal experience, with one-on-one attention from our experienced instructors, now is the perfect time to visit the Retreat.

This month, our senior staff can assist you with creating a stable base for your practice with one of our Foundation Courses. June also features a variety of programs on how to cope with emotional issues in unique ways, like how to use aromatherapy to deal with stress, anxiety or depression or how asanas affect your mind and spirit. Dr. Michael Pyfrom will also present workshops on Yoga for the Spine.

Om Shanti. Om Peace.

What is faith, and how does one acquire it?

Answer: First of all we have to understand that faith is not blind belief but a way of knowing that does not come through the five senses, or through the intellect, but through the avenue of higher intuition, an intuition that is the result of the purification of the mind, and more importantly, the purification of the heart.

How do we purify the heart? In yoga we purify the heart by the practice of karma yoga, or selfless service to all fellow beings. The method is very simple: In small ways, we have to start serving others. We also have to stop thinking that we are the most important people in this universe, because we are not. In karma yoga, the most important person is our fellow being. The idea is that this I-I-I-me-me-me has to go gradually. Usually, when we come to a place we think, "What can I get out of it?" Rarely do we think, "What can I give to it?" This is how our psyche works. In karma yoga, this ego-centric tendency is replaced by the love of our fellow beings and the desire to alleviate or remove the suffering of our fellow beings, to improve their situation, to cheer them, and this can take many forms.

Every moment offers us an opportunity to serve, although it's not really an issue of quantity - how much did I serve? Even small service is important. For example, there is a person in the Bahamas who in my opinion is a saint. I've known him for many years; Swami Vishnudevananda also knew him. He is Christian, and he is like the Mother Theresa of the Bahamas. He's a saint. One day I asked him, "What is your secret?" He said, "It's very simple. Every day you should do one good deed. That's it. Every day, do one good deed. Simple." I meditated upon this and I found it profound, and also true. So when it comes to karma yoga, it's not the quantity that counts, it's the persistence. We have to persevere. The ego-centric tendency has to go. Interestingly, the person who will benefit the most from this practice is the karma yogi himself! People ask how to be happy. It's very simple. Make another person happy, cheer another person; it is the easiest way. You can be egotistic the whole day, and just one act of karma yoga is enough. It doesn't have to be a lot to purify the heart, and when the heart is pure, faith will come. It will come to the degree that the heart is pure.

Faith is not what people think. It is not blind belief; it is knowledge. I remember reading from the New Testament when Jesus was asking his disciples, "Can't you believe without seeing?" It's easy to believe after seeing, right? Everyone can do it. But can you believe without seeing? Faith is like this; faith is knowledge, not through the senses or the intellect, but through a much higher faculty. The way to achieve it is practical and it would definitely benefit everyone: karma yoga, selfless service to our fellow beings.

Om Shanti, Om Peace
Swami Swaroopananda, Director