VO L U M E 8 | I S S U E 7 |

Light of the Vedas

The VEDIC VISIONof a NEW HUMANITY

B I M O N T H LY N E W S L E T T E R O F A M E R I C A N I N S T I T U T E O F V E D I C S T U D I E S

W W W. V E DA N E T. C O M

We are happy to highlight new advanced training options for our students with Kerala Ayurveda, including special discounts that they can receive through ataking Kerala Ayurveda programs.

We are introducing the first excerpt from Vamadeva's upcoming new book, Vedic Yoga: The Path of the Rishis, which will contain an extensive study of the deities, mantras and seers of the Rigveda, the oldest of the four Vedas.

The newsletter contains a study of the sacred word Bhagavan by Yogi Baba Prem. It has a special note on the passing of Swami Kriyananda, who was our good friend for many years.

For future programs we are highlighting our upcoming Agni retreat in Adrasan, Turkey Nov. 18-25, for experiencing the ancient sacred fires in the Mediterranean region.

Our prayers go out for the many victims of the Himalayan floods, especially for the destruction at Kedarnath, our favorite Shiva Temple. The message is clear. We must protect the Earth and remove greed from our holy places or they will leave us!

With the Light of the Vedas,

Vamadeva and Shambhavi

Message

Yogini Shambhavi

Vamadeva David Frawley

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KAA now offers online options for learning as well as in depth hands on intensives (licensed and approved by the state of Washington). Due to our association with KAA, we are able to arrange a special benefit package with the Academy. Vamadeva is now a Kerala Ayurveda Academy Advisor.

Kerala Ayurveda Academy offers a 500 hour direct study certification course (not simply distance learning). It has agreed that any AIVS student that has completed our “Ayurvedic Healing Course” can enroll in Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor course for a discounted amount of $3,000.00 (this course is regularly $5,000.00). This is an online course with University grade e-learning support. Students will be able to use their e-learning system to learn and review the course through classroom videos of all topics, class presentations, home study guides, online library and many more features. You can see the tutorial and the overview of Kerala Ayurveda A c a d e m y ' s e - l e a r n i n g s y s t e m a t http://ayurvedaacademy.com/overview.php

Nature of the Kerala Ayurvedic Practitioner Program

Kerala Ayurveda Academy also provides 6 sessions of in-class hands-on intensives to augment the e-learning with the applied and practical part of the same topics. If you wish to attend all 6 weekend long, in-class, hands-on, live intensives please add $1,000.00. If you wish to attend only specific hands-on, weekend, live intensives please add $200.00 for each individual weekend you plan to attend and notify the Academy Director of the specific dates and locations.

To join the Ayurveda Wellness Counselor of KAA or for more information please contact Leslie Gallaher, Senior Manager (Admin) of Kerala Ayurveda Academy at admin@ayurvedaacademy.com or call 1-888-275-9103

It is our hope that people who have worked with us and have studied with us will look into all that Kerala Ayurveda Academy has to offer; their benefits, many teachings and products, wonderful staff, brilliant teachers and great doctors who all work to make KAA a wonderful learning facility.

How to Sign Up and for More Information

Join our Alliance with Kerala Ayurveda for Advanced Training in Ayurveda

Kerala Ayurveda is a global company that is based in Ayurveda, their goal is to modernize Ayurveda while preserving its ancient authenticity much the same as our teachings. Kerala Ayurveda Academy is one of the largest schools for Ayurveda in the West and operates a number of Ayurvedic programs in various cities throughout the country. KAA has managed to keep Ayurveda authentic and is spreading it worldwide. They offer advanced clinical and class room trainings teaching Ayurveda at deeper levels. These trainings supplement the work we do in a very important way.

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The Vedas can take us back to the 'consciousness of Manu', the primal human being or root state of human consciousness, in which a new Manu or new humanity can arise – implying a new mind and consciousness. This is perhaps the greatest gift of the Vedas, to seed a new Veda for the future. To bring this inner revolution in humanity about, we need a new group of Vedic Yogis, who have mastered deep sadhanas on all levels, as well as possessing a deep knowledge of Vedic mantras.

Sri Aurobindo alluded to this potential global change in his call for a Supramental humanity, a new type of human being reflecting

divine energies rather than the powers of ignorance and karma that presently dominate us. Many yogic and spiritual traditions have looked to create such higher human beings. Clearly our current species needs to undergo a radical transformation at a very deep level, so that we can truly fulfill the ultimate human destiny of divinity. This is not a matter of one generation, but is a millennial concern.

The Rishis themselves are said to be manifestations of Manu and each Rishi carries special energies of human culture and spirituality. The Rishis are called world-makers, meaning that they can help create new species

Vedic mantras, applied as part of a deep Vedic sadhana, have the power to create a new world age or yuga and a new humanity. They hold the keys to cosmic creation. Our higher evolutionary potential as a species can be unlocked through the right understanding and application of Vedic mantras. However, for this purpose, a mechanical repetition of the mantras is not enough. One must repeat the mantras along with the consciousness of the Rishis, which means that one needs to create an inner link to the Rishi consciousness and higher awareness in one's own heart.

The VEDIC VISIONFrom Upcoming Book, The Vedic Yoga: The Path of the Rishis,

by David Frawley

of a NEW HUMANITY

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and new cultures. This the Rishi does through the power of consciousness within, not through genetic manipulation on the outside. The Rishi has the power to change karma, not simply to alter physical DNA.

Avatars, like Rama and Krishna, are also manifestations of Manu, and connect to the Rishi vision, helping to develop new human potentials. We need to open up to their flow of grace. Today we do need a new avatar, not as a new hero figure or savior, but as a new creative consciousness to enlighten the planet present within everyone. Such an avatar mind and avatar consciousness is required, not just a single sage to guide us.

Manu is the earthly manifestation of the cosmic intelligence that comes through the Sun. Manu brings us the evolutionary power inherent in the Sun, which is responsible for the unfoldment of the solar system. The Sun is the source not only of light and life, but also of intelligence, consciousness, and spirituality. The Sun is the abode of the Vijnana, Buddhi, Dhi, Supermind, and cosmic mind, which are all connected in Vedic thought. The Kundalini is but a portion of the solar energy latent within our deeper consciousness.

The Vedic seers drew in this solar transformative force through Vedic chants and mantras, notably the Gayatri Mantra to the Supreme Light. The Gayatri Mantra is directed to the aspect of the Solar Deity called Savitri, which is the most important manifestation of solar intelligence. Savitri governs all transformations, daily and seasonally, outer and inner, including the unfoldment of all higher evolutionary potentials through the process of Yoga.

A new Manu and a new Rishi order can help us create a new humanity that can better reflect the cosmic intelligence and its enlightened dharma, and help us move beyond the vagaries and violence of the ego-mind. Developing that vision of Manu and creating such a new humanity is the need of the times, however one may look at the details. This new humanity is a species that reflects and develops a new

planetary consciousness, based upon an inner Self-knowledge as linked with an outer cosmic knowledge.

A new Rishi order implies not only a new Manu, but also a new Brihaspati, who is the leader and primal guide of the Rishis. A new human consciousness needs a new seer-order, a new Rishi consciousness and Rishi community. We need a new Brihaspati or new founder of such a new Rishi order for a new Vedas. The works of Ganapati Muni and Brahmarshi Daivarata on Brihaspati can aid us in this direction.

Such a new humanity would have a connection to the old priestly families and monastic orders of the past, but consist of their renovation and transformation for a new era, no longer bound by local or regional boundaries and limitations. It would create new spiritual communities, such as Sri Aurobindo and Swami Yogananda foresaw. These new spiritual communities would have a semi-monastic orientation, in that they would aim at the primacy of the inner life, but also be creative and innovative in the outer realms of art, science, healing, and culture building. They would be forces not simply for renouncing the world but for a new spiritual and intellectual renaissance for the planet. They would consist of families but like the ancient Vedic Rishi lines, of a more spiritual than emotional nature, with ties of the soul, not simply of the body or blood.

Such new Vedic communities would aim at restoring and enlivening the ancient Vedas, but also bringing into consciousness a new Vedic vision, with a vision of future Vedas as well. These groups would not rest upon emotional fervor or expectations of an external savior, but on the ability of serious individuals to dive deeply into their inmost consciousness and reality, looking not only to elevate the human, but also to create a path beyond the human to the Divine.

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Swami Kriyananda's PassingSwami Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters), who moved on to the higher lokas at the end of April, was one of the most important western teachers of yogic spirituality over the past fifty years. He was a profound thinker, philosopher and visionary with a concern for all humanity, who understood the deeper traditions of India. He has left many noteworthy books that should be exa m i n e d fo r ye a r s to c o m e . K r iya n a n da , a s a ma ny s ided personality, was also a refined musician and dramatist who could access the best creative aspects of European culture.

Besides his extensive work in the fields of the mind, Kriyananda was a powerful influence in the social world. Kriyananda was probably the most important recent voice in creating new spiritual communities, and has trained a remarkable set of teachers. Very few from his generation in the West have been able to approach even a small portion of his many accomplishments. Kriyananda has left an important legacy that can help guide not only the Western Yoga movement, but also the dawning global culture.

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Bhagavan is an important term within Sanatana Dharma and yoga; as frequently it is interpreted to literally mean “lord”. But there is more that can be derived from this common, yet illusive term. Bhagavan is derived from the Sanskrit root Bhaj, meaning to distribute, share, grant, and bestow indicating these qualities are present within bhagavan.

Bhagavan is commonly used as a reference to anyone that is considered highly evolved, as well as being used for a variety of deities including Shiva, Vishnu and more recently to Krishna as an incarnation of Vishnu. Interestingly, many do not realize the powerful association of bhagavan with Shiva, the lord of yoga, or Shiva's Vedic form—Rudra; as the word 'bhagavan' appears within such well known Vedic mantras as the Rudram from the Taittiriya Samhita of the Yajur Vedas. The Rudram opens with the mantra:

Om Namo Bhagavate Rudrāya.

Salutations to lord Rudra (Shiva).

Bhagavan and the Sun Gods.

The sun gods are called Adityas, as they are the sons of Aditi. The number of sun gods varies, but when the number of sun gods is 12, it is often a reference to the zodiac. Bhagavan and its root 'Bhaj' are powerfully connected with one of the Adityas known as Bhaga. As one of the sun gods, Bhaga represents qualities such as joy, happiness, delight, bliss as well as knowledge. Bhaga is mentioned by name in the Rig Veda and is connected with Savitā, the deity of the well

known Gayatri Mantra (Rig Veda 3.62.10); indicating an important connection with realization and transformation as well as the joy or bliss of spiritual awakening.

Bhagavan as Mantra

Using bhagavan as a mantra is a powerful tool to accelerate spiritual evolution. Bhagavan as a mantra is believed to represent prosperity, strength, happiness and exclusion of negativity. But upon examination of the primal roots of bhagavan one discovers important additional information. Within the Puranas, Bhagavan is broken into the primal roots--Bha, Ga, Va, Na. It is said these primal roots provide protection, non-attachment, and knowledge. These primal roots carry a variety of energies within their sound structure. Bha is a reference to Bharata which means protector; additionally it is a name of Venus, and is linked with the 27th nakshatra of the Zodiac. Ga means creator or mover, in later times it became a reference to Ganesha the remover of obstacles. Va carries the energy of air and wind. Na means unbroken, praised, undivided.

Even without a deep understanding of mantra, one can see that bhagavan is connected with numerous subtle energies and can be quite beneficial in spiritual growth. It can have a powerful transforming effect on the mind, and can aid as part of a holistic approach toward transformation of the ego. As a mantra, bhagavan is a simple and easy tool for spiritual growth, though it should be learned from a skilled teacher, familiar with Sanskrit.

BhagavanBy Yogi Baba Prem Yogacharya, Veda Visharada, www.vedicpath.com

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