Trying to put “swami” into a Western context is like trying to squeeze a tomato through a keyhole. Sometimes a swami is regarded as a monk. That seems easy at first, as many spiritual traditions have an established and accepted order of monks. But, hey, I’m not a monk, and I’m not a nun, either. I’m a sannyasin. Monistic, not monastic.
Permanent link to this article: http://www.swamishantananda.com.au/monistic-not-monastic/
Aug 05
Sanskrit and me
Years ago I wanted to learn Sanskrit. I played around with internet searches and even the Teach Yourself book (yuk), read books on Indology and read about Harappa and Mohenjo Daro. Nothing, really. I was seriously interested in the Yoga Sutras and some other texts, so I bought a Monier Williams dictionary so I could look up word by word what I wanted to know. What a shock I got when I tried looking up anything in MW! Without bothering you with the technicalities of an MW search, maybe you’d get the idea if I say that you might have to dig four entries deep to find the word you want, and then, unless you have a clear understanding of the declensions of nouns and the conjugations of verbs, you may wander in the desert for ever. My years of Latin at high school finally paid off, sorry about all the derogatory remarks I made about it in my text books at the time.
Permanent link to this article: http://www.swamishantananda.com.au/sanskrit-and-me/
Apr 23
Friendly Voice of Reason
I want to add a friendly voice to those clamouring at Ian Gawler – it is a sad thing when someone, who found himself at the edge of death yet is still alive 40 years later, has to defend himself from those who have never touched the void
Permanent link to this article: http://www.swamishantananda.com.au/friendly-voice-of-reason/
Apr 12
What is your favourite illusion? (And why do you cling to it?)
ILLUSION – A NORMAL STATE OF MIND
We all have illusions. Sometimes it is the little dream that you are up and about while really you are still snuggled in bed. The bigger illusions are those that keep us hooked on feelings of neediness. Fantasies around them prop up our sense of self or our sense of being OK in the world.
Permanent link to this article: http://www.swamishantananda.com.au/what-is-your-favourite-illusion-and-why-do-you-cling-to-it/
Jan 03
The Heretic’s New Year
Permanent link to this article: http://www.swamishantananda.com.au/the-heretics-new-year/
Dec 20
Christmas, Jesus, Yoga
Another Christmas… it is often represented by children’s faces glowing with wonder and anticipation as the presents start to pile up under the tree… followed soon by the predictable gripes about the commercialisation of Christmas.
I don’t remember it exactly like that. The presents might have been a big feature of my childhood Christmases, but actually, my memories are quite as much about a sense of pleasure in Jesus and his birth. I loved him. I still do.
Permanent link to this article: http://www.swamishantananda.com.au/christmas-jesus-yoga/
Nov 28
Yogic Solutions
All of us have difficult situations and unpleasant people to deal with throughout our lives. If only we could find yogic solutions for having loving engagement with others, easy truthfulness, powerful articulation, clear insight into issues, untouched by manipulative ploys. Our lives might be more peaceful, more fulfilling and more effective. Meanwhile. even, dealing with pleasant people sometimes has its difficulties!
Permanent link to this article: http://www.swamishantananda.com.au/yogic-solutions/
Nov 06
No More Being Manipulated
No More Being Manipulated
How do you feel when you have a legitimate issue and the other person slides out of it? Or puts you down, sometimes claiming that he is only joking? Do you feel that you have to be careful of what you say sometimes, because the other person begins to look angry, and you feel it is like walking on eggshells around him or her?
Is there someone you feel repressed by, and every time you try to talk about something it ends up in an argument?
Permanent link to this article: http://www.swamishantananda.com.au/no-more-being-manipulated/
Oct 04
Farewell Fr Sweeney
I heard the other day that Father Kevin Sweeney had died. I would have liked to attend his funeral. He brought peace to my father’s troubled soul. He married me to my former husband. He gave me a job teaching, when I had no qualifications. And he let me write sermons for him. Was I the first, or perhaps the only, woman to have delivered a sermon in a catholic church? In Melbourne!! What would a patriarchal hierarchy make of that?
Permanent link to this article: http://www.swamishantananda.com.au/farewell-fr-sweeney/
May 11
Query on aspects of the Yoga Sutras
This is a discussion on the notion of “vrtti”in the Yoga Sutras, prompted by a query from a student. The phrase, or paraphrase, for “vrtti” as “ideational choice making tendency of the mind” is from P.Y. Deshpande, The Authentic Yoga Sutra.
DC: I would like to clarify word usage and interpretation within different translations of the Yoga Sutras. I have a copy of The Authentic Yoga by Deshpande. It is his discussion of the word “choice” and his use of “ideational” that I am interested in clarifying. Firstly, what is “ideational choice making” and what Sanskrit word does “ideational” relate to?
Permanent link to this article: http://www.swamishantananda.com.au/query-on-aspects-of-the-yoga-sutras/
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