I thought it would be nice to share with you all a little taste of Swamiji's recent visit to South Africa (June 2008). As you may or may not know, we have been waiting for Swamiji since Satyananda Yoga was first established in South Africa in 1973. In fact Swamiji was meant to come way back then but due to apartheid he was unable to and thus we have waited patiently for over 35 years (which is longer than I have been alive!) for him to reach our shores! The good news is the wait was more than worth it!! Not only did we get to host Swamiji but he did not come empty-handed (as if he would!!) and brought along Swami Sivamurti, Swami Anandananda and Rishi Vivekananda for the ride.
What a team!! What a treat!!

The super swami's were kept very busy right throughout their 10 day visit, with satsang's, conventions, retreats and visits to various South African organisations and homes, despite the grueling schedule their energy never wavered and not a day went by when they weren't on top form; with Swamiji's dazzling smile, Vivekananda's pragmatic sense of humour, Anandananda's not so pragmatic sense of humour and Sivamurti's piercing wisdom. At a time in history when South Africa is facing huge challenges (crime, xenophobia, poverty, unemployment, drugs etc) Swamiji's visit was a ray of hope. Finally a true leader who leads by example not merely empty words. And his message... develop excellence in life through yoga, and one only has to be in Swamiji's presence to see that he is a living example of this. His second message was one of seva and he continuously encouraged us to begin working for the upliftment of all South African's and in particular children. He said that first children must have access to shelter, food and clothing, and only once these basic needs are met can we begin to worry about skill-based and yogic-based education. He also stressed the importance of the KISS principle (Keep-It-Simple-Stupid) when developing sustainable seva projects.

Swamiji had some interesting insights that challenged conventional spiritual laws (but made absolute sense!) such as: instead of concerning ourselves with developing vairagya (detachment) we should rather focus on spreading our attachment so that instead of loving just 5 or 10 people we come to love hundreds. In this way, he said that attachment will naturally dissolve into detachment in the same way that a glass of water which is polluted with ink will become clear again when that small glass of water is thrown into a much larger bucket of water. He also made it clear that the goal of yoga should not be self-realisation or god-realisation but excellence in all aspects of life and if one focuses of developing excellence then realisation may result as a by-product but it should not be our primary purpose in practicing yoga (I guess he's telling us learn to walk before we run!!)

As it has been almost a week since Swamiji left it is beginning to feel like it was all just a surreal, beautiful dream but there is no doubt that though he may be gone he has left behind a warm glow in many hearts and inspired many hands to begin working not only for their own upliftment but for the upliftment of all beings. There is nothing quite like guru's grace!!!!

Om and Prem to everyone,
Lalita