The Sanctuary Blog

The Sharanam meditation does two things. First of all, it reassures us. It shows us that we are being taken care of, that Life is doing everything and we don’t have to worry about a thing. Yet at the same time, it is confrontational; it confronts the parts of us that aren't relaxing into what we know to be true. It is difficult to disagree with what the meditation is suggesting, but some part of us isn’t living in total accordance with it, and it is that part which is confronted. That is a healthy confrontation.  Life can do weird stuff. It can produce all kinds of karmas that can come to fruition in our life and it may feel like you are out of control and life is a mess. This is why it is crucial to regularly relax back into an unfathomable intelligence and surrender to it. Life may not always be smooth, but there is something valuable in everything that happens.  Anything forced is resisted. Whenever we force something upon ourselves out of a ‘should’, even if it’s tolerated...

There is a lot of gratitude being shown for the teachings at the moment. It is apparent through our commitment and our willingness to show up. Some of us come a long way to be at the ashram. Some of us walk down the road to be here but some of us catch the train at 4.30am in the morning to be sat in the cabin on a Saturday morning. One is not better than the other, it’s just worthwhile to bring attention to the lengths we go to to be in Satsang.  In the end, you will do almost anything. We are all doing so much to be here and it is seen by the bigger energy. Your soul has called you to the teaching - that is the bottom line. Something in you is alive, ignited and seeking itself. That empowers us to do things that others might find crazy.  Everything ultimately has to be verified within ourselves. Our lives have to be verified within ourselves. Nothing outside of us is going to be enough in the end, only your Heart. If we are clear about that, in alignment with that and true to...

We haven't abandoned anything in the practice. Everything we did before is still here but we’ve added a new dimension to it. The dimension of meditativeness. The basis of meditation is the opening of ourselves to merge with something greater than ourselves. That is a massive shift to make. It is an acknowledgement that regardless of how much we improve this little psycho-physiological setup, whether that be through the practice or other means, it will still be limited. The Yogis pointed out that even though the system is limited, it must be swimming in a limitless power called Life. If we can connect our limited selves with the unlimited Life force, then we become unlimited. It's a shift in attitude to acknowledge that we are working with a greater power and blending into it more and more, so our limited ego structure starts to give way into a universal intelligence. Then the wonder of Life starts emerging simply out of that contact. The mind may have certain ideas about how th...

  You are the Changemaker Satsang is like the sowing of the seeds. The sadhana plows the field and the satsang sows the seeds. It’s all very well having a plowed field, but you have to plant in it, otherwise, the same old stuff will grow. Even when you sow new seeds, the old stuff will still grow alongside the new stuff; weeds still grow in a planted garden. You have to continue to go over your shrub bed before you have a handle on the weed situation but the main thing is that the new growth is taking place within that. Gradually, the new growth gets stronger until it is a forest, the weeds no longer get the light and the ground clears by itself. In that situation, even if weeds start to grow, they become irrelevant next to the huge forest that you are.  One of the greatest messages to plant inside us is that we carry the power of change within ourselves. That message is sometimes palatable and sometimes not. Only you carry the power of change for yourself.  We can change...

Gathering in Satsang Receiving nourishment together is really important. As a family, it is important to eat together. As a sangha, it is important to come and be in satsang together. Recognising togetherness is a movement towards oneness.  Being able to get on in large groups together is a massive yoga in itself. To keep putting the stuff that is not important aside to keep remembering that which is important. Our species has the capacity to squabble and get into endless conflict with itself over meaningless things but this also means we must have the opposite capacity. Someone who is abiding in a great deal of effortful hatred has immense capacity for love, it is just that they’re choosing one end of the spectrum currently.  To come together and celebrate existence, that thing which is common to us all, but out of which we also all derive our uniqueness, is a really wonderful thing. We create a certain energy together, then we all move out from the ashram and spread that ene...