Difficult times like those which we’ve been living through this past year, with rampant disease, political upheaval, and economic challenge, offer us an opportunity to choose whether to react unconsciously with agitation, anger and fear, or to discover a deeper place within ourselves from which we maintain serenity and happiness.

The Himalayan Yoga Meditation Tradition provides tools to enable the second choice, but each must do the practice to make it happen.

On July 14, 2015 our beloved Swami Veda Bharati left his body.

Below is a message from Swami Ritavan on the fifth anniversary of Swami Veda Bharati's Mahasamadhi.

"Share with the world a wrinkle-free forehead, a calm, soothed, wrinkle-free mind-pool of stillness and silence." the often repeated words of Swami Veda.

Our mandate of the Lineage remains -- "share with the world the pure form of meditation: as a process and a goal." Through meditation, prayer, and contemplation we change the world, from within.

And today we are ready to embrace a world that has changed, and in a subtle way, has become purer, more beautiful, kinder, and more compassionate. We send a quiet, yes, very quiet message to the forces of the subtle world and having done so, leave it there, surrender it to the divine will, and do not struggle.

A force unites us around the globe, this unified experience of Oneness challenges us to remember those who are experiencing the pain and suffering of illness and loss with patience, compassion, and understanding.

When faith and hope have matured in the fires of sadhana, a loving mind, the gold of the pious alchemists' forms as the pure-hearted gem of the saintly world. This aspiration, this sankalpa for a life well-lived, is what unites us, and these are the aspirations, as well as, the gifts we bring to the world today.

We gather in celebration on this fifth anniversary of the Mahasamadhi of Swami Veda, with this gift for the collective mind-field of humanity. Please receive the blessings of this sacred fire and our akhanda-japa from our residents at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama (SRSG). And, as we continue with our Saumya-Sangha Mantra, Tare Tut Tare Ture Svaha, may this Mantra of Peace, find sanctuary in our interior solitude - a sacred place of peace, beauty, fullness, and wholeness in the heart-cave of humanity. We honor this revered saint, who touched our hearts, in our lives bearing witness to his teaching: "Let each person feel loved."