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High on Waves

Prasad is that which gives peace.
Prasad is the embodiment of shakti.
It is divinity in manifestation.
Prasad energizes, invigorates
and infuses devotion.
Divine grace descends
through prasad.
Swami Sivananda

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Samatvam
The Yoga of Equanimity
Swami Satyananda Saraswati

Balance of Mind and Karma Yoga
If one is able to balance the mind in pleasure and pain, in gain and loss, in praise and criticism, one will never experience grief and agony. However, to attain this balance, the nature of karma and its effect on the mind and external behaviour needs to be understood. With this appreciation one will then need to redefine one's relationship with the karma one is involved in.

Karma means action. Every karma is an outcome of a previous karma and, at the same time, every karma gives birth to a new seed, which is again responsible for the next karma. It is this chain of karma which is invariably linked to every moment of life, and which binds man to an endless cycle of births and deaths. Whenever karma is performed through the mind or the body, a seed is produced in the deeper recesses of the mind and becomes a part of the personality. That seed is an impression, known in yoga as samskara, and it remains in a dormant, potential state in the mind, known as the seed state. It is that seed karma which again comes up and influences one's psychological apparatus, behaviour, temperament, inclinations and ambitions. It is responsible for happiness and unhappiness, for successes and failures, for deep-rooted neuroses and complexes, and, of course, for enjoyments. That seed karma influences one's whole life.

It is also very important for aspirants to understand that every karma in life, every relationship, every thought and every enterprise bears mixed results. Both desired and undesired results will happen as a result of your actions. You cannot eliminate this process and you cannot eliminate the possibility of negative and mixed results, because they have to happen. If you consider your own life, you will agree that these mixed results can happen both at the same time, simultaneously, or sometimes one after the other.

Attachment to karma creates bondage
Attachment to karma creates impressions, governs the mind and rules over the willpower. As a result the mind and emotions become so completely shattered and remain in such a state of turmoil that one is unable to adjust or adapt to prevailing circumstances. If karma is performed with this ordinary outlook, then it causes more and more bondage. This chain of karma is an eternal cycle, one that replays itself again and again in the lives of worldly minded people, until they redefine their relationship with karma.

The way out of this eternal cycle of karma is through the practice of karma yoga, the yoga of detached karma, or the yoga of unselfish action. If you do not redefine your relationship with karma, it will keep you in absolute bondage and shackles. You can never become free of your karma unless you perform it with the disinterested attitude of a karma yogi. Even if you run a business successfully for thirty years, you will still feel insecure. This insecurity relates not only to your business affairs, it also concerns your love for your wife and children, or any service you are attached to.

In this manner a kind of error is created in the mind, because the moment you become aware of the karma you also become aware of the results. Certainly, no one will want negative results, or his affairs to fail. Nobody with a family will say, "Oh, let everything deteriorate!" By nature man wants everything to happen in a positive way. If the fruits are good, it is easy to accept. However, one must know how to manage the mind and keep it balanced if the results of the karma are negative.

Spiritual philosophy of karma yoga ............... Samatvam
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