Yoga Wisdom with Acharya das

This is the 1st of four talks at a recent retreat in New Zealand. This talk deals with the fundamentals of receiving and then using spiritual sound, or mantra, as the foundation of a meditation practice. The talk is brief but very informative. The kirtan at the end is a cover or adaptation of "What a Beautiful Name it is" by Ben Fielding & Brooke Ligertwood

In this talk we cover the fundamental truths concerning our spiritual existence and how I, the eternal spiritual being residing within the material body, am different from the gross physical body (and the subtle mental body or the mind) that covers me. Some of the amazing Vedic verses which speak to this subject. Some look on the soul as amazing, some describe the soul as amazing, and some hear of...

When you build a house there has to be a foundation, and an organized and planned structure on top of the foundation. To build a happy life the same applies. Your life must be built on truth – spiritual truth, and there needs to be an organized effort to build this life. The most important aspect of building such a life is a personal meditation practice, building a meditation habit. This is the ‘m...

Gratitude is a wonderful thing to cultivate especially when we express gratitude for our spiritual blessings: the knowledge that we are eternal spiritual beings; the fact that we are not the temporary material body we are inhabiting; nor are we the mind, which plagues us with troubles and disturbances; the knowledge that in this very life we can experience full self-realization and God-realization...

In March of 2023 a man in Belgium ended his life after an AI chatbot 'encouraged' him to sacrifice himself to stop climate change. He committed suicide after following a six-week-long conversation about the climate crisis with an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot. His wife, shared the text exchanges between him and the chatbot, showing a conversation that became increasingly confusing a...

This is the 4th talk in the series “Speaking Truth Matters”. Words communicate ideas. Untruth fogs the issues and will at some point result in a variety of suffering or unhappiness. To navigate life we need a compass that points to knowledge or truth. The spoken word can liberate, and it can enslave and cover with ignorance. How do we know if something is founded on ignorance? Well there is an anc...

This is the 3rd talk in this series called “Speaking Truth Matters”. Words communicate ideas. Untruth fogs the issues and will at some point result in a variety of suffering or unhappiness. To navigate life we need a compass that points to knowledge or truth. There has been a trend since about the 1960’s to use language/words to manipulate people and cover what is true. This was the domain of the...

This is the 2nd in this series - Speaking Truth Matters. Words communicate ideas. Untruth fogs the issues and will at some point result in a variety of suffering or unhappiness. To navigate life we need a compass that points to knowledge or truth. There are two types of knowledge, mundane knowledge and transcendental knowledge. Unlike mundane knowledge where “truth” changes over time, transcendent...

This is the 1st in a series regarding Truth and its importance. When speaking, words communicate ideas and untruth fogs or clouds the issues. In a lot of modern dialogue, we often find duplicity, especially in selling/marketing and politics. When selling anything there is the use of psychological manipulation and political speech often characterized by an unwillingness to be honest and straightfor...

This is a deeper look at an amazing quote that comes from an American theologian. It is more of an in-depth analysis of the quote I mentioned in my previous talk but from the yogic perspective. My feelings are not God. God is God. My feelings do not define truth. God’s word defines truth. My feelings are echoes and responses to what my mind perceives. And sometimes - many times - my feelings are o...

I received an amazing quote which comes from an American theologian. This is a brief talk about the main point, but I will also do another talk on this which will be a more in-depth analysis of the quote from the yogic perspective. My feelings are not God. God is God. My feelings do not define truth. God’s word defines truth. My feelings are echoes and responses to what my mind perceives. And some...

On Earth Day a friend had sent me a wonderful quote by Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda which read: “This planet can be made a happier, more peaceful place to live, but the change will have to come from within the hearts of all of us living here.” The implication is that we need to become more responsible as individuals, which is a profound spiritual truth.  Mahatma Gandhi has said – “Earth provides...

This is the final of 5 talks given at a retreat where we look quite deeply at the most essential and foundational practices for a spiritual life.  These are longer than usual talks, and include some Q&A segments where we address some wide-ranging topics in some detail.

This is the 4th of 5 talks given at a retreat where we look quite deeply at the most essential and foundational practices for a spiritual life.  These are longer than usual talks, and include some Q&A segments where we address some wide-ranging topics in some detail.

This is the 3rd of 5 talks given at a retreat where we look quite deeply at the most essential and foundational practices for a spiritual life.  These are longer than usual talks, and include some Q&A segments where we address some wide-ranging topics in some detail.

This is the 2nd of 5 talks given at a retreat where we look quite deeply at the most essential and foundational practices for a spiritual life.  These are longer than usual talks, and this one is a Q&A where we address some wide-ranging topics in some detail including somethings related to Christianity.

This is the 1st of 5 talks given at a retreat where we look quite deeply at the most essential and foundational practices for a spiritual life. These are longer than usual talks, and include some Q&A segments where we address some wide-ranging topics in some detail.

This is a continuation of last week’s talk where we explained that enlightenment is not only for “special” persons, but for everyone. Enlightenment does not mean ‘attaining’ something, but rather uncovering our true, eternal, spiritual nature, that which is intrinsic to everyone. We spoke about the use of spiritual sound meditation as being the most powerful and effective way to do that. However,...

It is very common for many people to think that enlightenment is something that only very special people attain, that the common folk just try but some will not attain self-realization in their life.  This is both unfortunate and untrue. Enlightenment means to uncover what is there already, your true spiritual identity, and then to live in that truth. But it requires that we apply a process (the u...

In our last couple of talks we explored how we are all seeking “permanence” in an impermanent world (LINK https://acharyadas.com/seeking-permanence-in-the-temporary/ )and that we are encouraged to cultivate and pursue what are often unrealistic expectations (LINK https://acharyadas.com/unrealistic-expectations/ ) . This leads to great unhappiness. And then if we are unhappy, this may be categorize...

We have recently seen a number of huge natural disasters which result in great unhappiness to everyone affected. No one seeks unhappiness, yet it comes into our lives, even though uninvited. There was also a report about how 3 in 5 young girls in the USA are overwhelmed by record levels of persistent sadness. CDC reports that 1 in 3 teenage girls seriously considered suicide in 2021. The spiritual...

This is a 3-part series from a recent retreat. In the 1st talk we examine what a really successful life look like? Well, it depends on what you define as ‘success’. But it is also possible to succeed at attaining a desired goal yet fail to achieve the desired result/outcome. In the 2nd talk we discuss the yogic view of a successful life and in this talk we answer some questions on the topic and ge...

This is a 3-part series from a recent retreat. What does a really successful life look like? Well, it depends on what you define as ‘success’. The dictionary defines success as “achieving the results wanted or hoped for; the achievement of something that you planned to do or attempted to do.” But it is also possible to succeed at attaining a desired goal yet fail to achieve desired result/outcome....

This is a 3-part series from a recent retreat. What does a really successful life look like? Well, it depends on what you define as ‘success’. The dictionary defines success as “achieving of the results wanted or hoped for; the achievement of something that you planned to do or attempted to do.” But it is also possible to succeed at attaining a desired goal yet fail to achieve desired result/outco...

“When does life begin?” – Simple answer – it doesn’t! There is no beginning to life – and no end!   Within the world as we know it, we are dealing with 2 distinct energies, the material energy or bahiraṅgā śakti (that energy which is external, unessential, or relating to the exterior) also known as dead matter and a spiritual energy the jīva-śakti (life-energy).  Life does not arise from...