Meet Shukra the Venus Equivalent in the Vedas

Now that most western societies are ready to celebrate one more year of Valentine's day let's take a step away from the chocolates, pricey flowers and cupid to look at an interesting symbolism of Venus in the Vedic tradition.

The Vedic wisdom was developed by the ancient sages of India about 5000 years ago. The Vedas include sciences such as Ayurveda, Vastu (architecture), Jyotish (astrology) and Yoga. This ancient literature details the relationships between astronomy, astrology and human beings.

Like in western astrology, planets have an influence in many aspects of life on Earth. Komilla Sutton in her book "Indian Astrology" describe the planets as "representation of the seven level of consciousness that are encasing the evolving soul and the universal law of time."(1)

Shukra is the name of Venus in Sanskrit and is a male deity in the Vedas. As in his western counterpart, Shukra is related to the arts, refinement, pleasure, money, love; in excess greed, jealousy and materialistic views.

Shukra is the teacher of the Rakshashas (demons). Demon is a word derived from Latin that meant divinity, spirit and it was until late Latin came around that the use of daemon meant evil spirit.

Vedic astrology has a relation to the old Latin meaning as they use demons as highly evolved souls who have lost their purpose. For that reason we as humans are more related to demons in nature because of our greed and desires. "Venus as the adviser of the demons is a spiritual teacher who guides the demons towards their lost soul" (2) Komilla Sutton explains.

The lesson of Shukra is the recognition that even fulfilling all our desires, there is no warranty of happiness unless you share your wealth with others and find a deeper meaning in life. At the moment I am writing this, the images of Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan come to mind as an example of great artistic talent wasted by excesses. On the other hand I saw a recent interview with Bill Gates, another talented man whose goal has been to use part of his wealth to eradicate harmful diseases in the the world.

As for most of us who don't ave that amount of resources, it is important to reflect on the symbolism of the demon with so much potential but has forgotten the reason of his existence. Another important lesson of Shukra is to recognize that everyone is doing the best they can with what they have. We all are facing different challenges so less judgment and more compassion are needed in the world and should start with a continuous practice of compassion.

One thing is clear, if you have loved unconditionally and unselfishly, you know it is a powerful force that lets you see the connection among all making you less fearful and much more compassionate.

(1)(2) Indian Astrology by Kolilla Sutton. Viking Studio 2000. Page 14.

It hurts to grow up!

By Rocio Morales

During the holiday season, I had opportunity to visit and spend time with the youngsters in the family. Many of them are teenagers or in their early twenties now. I like to talk to them because they are full of energy, hopes and aspirations. Interestingly at different times they mentioned in the conversation “I didn’t know it hurts when you grow up!” or “I didn’t expect life to be hard when you grow up!”

I understood exactly what they were trying to say. When you are young, you depend mostly of your parents and the decisions they take for you whether you have a Tiger mom or a more slacking parent, you will mostly do what they say because they say so and more importantly you will learn from their actions that will have a heavier weight on you than the pep talks. At teenagers years, you don’t have this idealized idea of your parents and usually the teens try to break free from them acting up and looking for options that would make them unique and different.
At the late teens kids stop fighting with the authority figures and start accepting them for being just humans; at this moment if they are aware they will be able to see glimpses of those adults and their impact in their life; something that can be quite disturbing.

I guess the hurting comes from the realization that you are the creator of your life, regardless of the baggage; you are the one taking decisions and watching the consequences unfold.

Sages of all times have tried to answer the question how to live fully?

Here are some points that might help to anyone awakening to the human experience:

a) Recognize that life is impermanent
b) Be aware of you baggage, sort it out and let go of what you don’t need
c) Be objective yet compassionate with others and yourself
d) Become aware of the contents of your mind and how it reacts to daily events.
e) Learn to control your emotions and think twice before acting
f) Be humble, mistakes are part of the human experience, the more you learn from them the easiest will be to avoid them in the future
g) Ask for help when you need it. You are not alone. There are many who have experienced the same as you and found ways to overcome the challenges
h) Find someone who will inspire you by his/her actions and integrity and commitment to be better and leave a better world
i) Learn from the foolish actions that you or others make
j) Attune to life everyday by looking at the sunrise, the trees, the kid trying to walk and all that inspires you and opens your heart

In Yoga the purpose of the human experience is to be aware of who we are in many levels of our psyche and open up to Reality. That is really the purpose behind the poses, and twists and turns. When the mind is resting it is easier to pay attention to the miracle of Life.

Ayurveda Day in Austin

During the first week of October, a small group of people interested in Ayurveda got together to celebrate the first Ayurveda Day in Austin.

AAPNA (Association of Ayurvedic Professionals of North America) has declared that the first Monday of every October each year will be "Ayurveda Day". Ayurveda Day falls on the eve of the birth celebrations of Dhanwantari. Lord Dhanwantari is the creator of Ayurveda.

AAPNA started as a discussion amongst a group of Ayurvedic Professionals back in 2003 and officially incorporated in December of 2007 as a non-profit 501(c)(6) corporation in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, USA.

Ayurveda is one of the world's oldest medical systems. Like Yoga, the origins are traced back to India. The maing goal of Ayurveda is to integrate and balance the body, mind, and spirit using hebs, massage and yoga.

Narender Pati organized the Ayurveda Day bringing a paned of experts in Ayurveda and Joytish (Indian Astrology) to discussed health in the US and how Ayurveda can become a support system to the US as complementary medicine.

Kerry Meath an Ayurveda practitioner and now a Master degree student of Public Health mentioned that 28% or Texas residents are obese and 30% overweight. Also 10% of the population in Texas has diabetes and only 45% of youth get regular physical exercise. In terms of cost to the society, the cost of obesity is 5.4 million dollars.

She thinks that Ayurveda principle of understanding the seasons and what to eat depending on each person's dosha (body's constitution) could help to iprove quality of life and health.

Renu Namjoshi a joytish practitioner mentioned that Ayurveda along with Indian astrology can help people recover from illnesses and keep their body in balance. She mentioned that in India, many of the important actitivies of a person are established after consulting the joytish astrologer.

Rocco Bruno mentioned simple tips to improve health like avoiding eating late, exercise frequently, the importance of fresh air and sun's exposure, and cultivation of love.

Though the attendance to this event was modest, they were deeply interested in the subject and eager to learn more about these two sciences that have endured thousands of years.

For more pictures from the event click here.

For more information about this and other Ayurveda events in the area contact Narender Pati at aumayurveda@yahoo.com or visit www.iwfusa.org

Yoga Sanga First Anniversary Celebration!

Hard to believe a year ago we started with the first Yoga Sanga Magazine issue! It has been a great experience to meet great yogis and yoginis commited to their practice and to share what Yoga is about in a deeper sense with the community.

To all those who have written for us, given us an interview or supported the magazine, we thank you so very much!

To celebrate our first anniversary we invited the community in Austin to share with us an evening on a Forum format with the main theme as Yoga & Consciousness.

The speakers gave very interesting and deep reflections related to the theme. We had great food, door giveaways and a very unique Kirtan led by our guest Sant Dharamananda from Wisconsin.

The event was possible because of the generosity of the speakers: Charles MacInerney, Keith Kachtick , Peggy Kelley, Craig Williams, and Sant Dharamananda who came from Wisconsin to celebrate with us. We were so blessed on counting of such great teachers that together have more than 100 years of yoga practice!

Here are some notes from the Forum.

Charles took us into a journey on how life had emerged on Earth and the 200,000 years humans have walked on this planet. He made a point on how technology affect consciousness and the YSF28. Yoga Sanga Magazineexponential rhythm of it that will change our future dramatically. He recommends being mindful and using meditation to accept all the aspects of reality.

Keith used the second sutra of Patanjali's fist book "Yogah cittavritti nirodhah" to make us realize that when we meditate is not much to quiet the mind but at first is the recognition of the mental mechanisms that the mind operates with, with time and practice the awareness will expand to understand Consciousness in a more expanding way.

Peggy used Patanjali's Yoga Sutras to remind us the goal of Yoga, that goes beyond the physical twists and turns of the Asanas. Those poses at the end will prepare the body to explore subtle areas of our being.

YSA17-150x150Craig Williams talked about the western civilization proclivity to commodify everything, including yoga. As an ayurvedic practitioner, he uses this ancient healing science and sister of yoga along with Vedic astrology to help the body open its recuperative healing qualities. All the spiritual practices help to bring our awareness back to what is internal and never dying, our spirit.He invited us to turn inside and to remember who we really are.

Sant Dharamananda talked about the Bhagavad Gita and how Hatha Yoga, Yoga of Knowledge, and Dhyana (meditation)are tools to recognize who we really are. He mentioned that we are spiritual beings trying to live a human life. When we realized that and act in accordance to life, we will ys Forum30become the butterfly we really are.

After enjoying some great food from Chola Indian Restaurant in Round Rock, we all enjoy a wonderful Kirtan led by Sant Dharamananda accompanied by Mark and Gloria Uridel.

Thank y'all for making this a wonderful evening!!!

Rocio Morales

Reassess and Proceed!

Why is spiritually important to understand the impermanence of life?

I have been thinking a lot about the word impermanence lately. Not only because of all the changes I see around me but the experiences that those close to me have gone through.

A dear student recently lost her husband from one minute to the next. An apparently heart problem took a seemingly healthy and active man by surprised, leaving my student and her teenage son trying to make sense of his passing and moving on with their lives.

Although we are aware of Life and Death, we spend little time reflecting on the Impermanence of life. In spite of the fact that we watch the seasons and the moon phases passed it is often hard to realize that Life is change and no matter what we do, frequently we find ourselves adapting to change with some degree of resistance. In itself changes are not bad, they can be uncomfortable, challenging, and a bit distressing but they Can be a great opportunity to grow, adapt and become stronger.

For Buddhists and yogis, impermanence is a cornerstone to understand the plane of existence we live in and how much mindfulness can help to adapt to circumstances.

In her book "Living like dying" Freda Naylor, a doctor who courageously kept a diary as she died of cancer. wrote:
"I have had experiences which I never would have had, for which I have to thank the cancer. Humility, coming to terms with my own mortality, knowledge of my inner strength, which continually surprises me, and more things about myself which I have discovered because I have had to stop in my tracks, reassess and proceed."

When we understand that life is change and no matter how much we resist those changes they will happen. We come to terms with life and its changing nature and we open our spirit to manifest its strength, ability to adapt and regardless of the situation find time to be happy and even grateful for the experiences.

When we listen to the difficult situations someone close to us is going through, besides tending a helping hand, listen to their struggle we can also offer a prayer or meditation to them so they can heal in a harmonious way.
Those experiences give us a great opportunity of putting issues into perspective and gain strength and maturity when the challenging situations know to our door.

In his book "The Tibetan book of Living and Dying" Sogyal Rinpoche comments on impermanence: "So each time the losses and deceptions of life teach us about impermanence, they bring us closer to the truth. When you fall from great height, there is only one possible place to land: on the ground, the ground of truth. And if you have the understanding that comes from spiritual practice, then falling is in no way a disaster but the discovery of an inner refuge. Difficulties and obstacles, if properly understood and used, can often turn out to be an unexpected source of strength."

What is really behind the Ogre in your dream?

What about transforming him into a prince?
By Rocio Morales

It is always exciting to read about scientists and researchers that have been working for many years trying to understand human dreams.
Even more so is to read their recommendations on how to deal with nightmares and its relation to ancient yogic practices.

It seems that we will be talking a lot about dreams because of the release of the new movie "Inception" where a thief is able to steal secrets from the subconscious and even produce a nightmare on the subjects he is stealing from.

In a recent article by Melinda Beck in The Wall Street Journal, she mentions about dreams that "Once thought to represent repressed sexual urges, or simply neurons firing randomly, dreams are now believed to be mash-ups created by the unconscious mind as it processes, sorts and stores emotions from the day"

In many yoga traditions specially in Kriya Yoga we learn to pay attention to our dreams as a way to decipher the symbols that come from the subconscious mind. We do this not only because they will show the emotions we have been dealing with and the unresolved issues in our awake state but also because learning the meaning of those symbols can have an impact in the near future.

Nowadays a small group of psychologist and psychiatrist like Shelby Freedman Harris, director of the Behavioural Sleep Medicine Program at Montefiore Medical Center in N.Y. uses Image Rehearsal Therapy to help people who have frequent nightmares and those with post traumatic stress disorder. The therapy consists in recalling the nightmare in detail and write a new script that they envision several times during the day. This technique gives the patient control over the symbols making them less threatening.

If you are a lucid dreamer, you know that dreams can have different qualities, some of them can definitely relate to our emotions and activities from the day and others have an almost prophetical quality.
How to know the difference? It is recommendable to have a dream journal, it will help to write the memory of the dream and to relate to those symbols 72 h after the dream. This can be a very useful technique to gain control over the symbol and to neutralize the situations that might come around.

Want to have lucidity in your dreams? Do what Yogis and Buddhists have known for centuries:

a) Go to sleep with the intention to remember your dreams
b) Prepare yourself to sleep, turn off the TV, the lights and any other noise around you in other words, slow down.
c) Have a dream journal at hand where you can write the dream symbols as soon as you wake up. On one side (usually the right, write the most important events in your day and on the left the dream symbols)
d) Check some days after the dream and analyze if any of the symbols can relate to that event.
e) If you have a nightmare, as soon as you wake up, go back to the dream (visualize it in your mind) and recreate another ending, make the Ogre a prince and the tarantula a bird.
f) Give your dreams a name
g) Watch for recurrent symbols and its relation to actual events in your life.
h) Most importantly have a sense of wonder and playfulness.

You might be surprised by the frequency and the lucidity of the dreams in a short period of time.

Above all, remember that symbols in your dreams are the language of your subconscious mind. Also it is normal to have periods in your life where you can't remember your dreams.Give yourself time and prepare to fly in your magic carpet!

Fun week of testosterone, soccer and more!

What an interesting week i has been! Besides having my home full of testosterone and soccer as we are hosting three teenagers visiting from Chicago plus my son and husband; I have met wonderful yogis and yoginis.

Having a full house when it is usually very quiet has been a joyful and noisy experience. All the kids are filming a short movie and I like the sound effects and how they direct each other, needless to say the creativity and fun are very high when the budget is very limited!

I went to a luncheon of yoga teachers from Round Rock, Sun City and Georgetown! The ladies work hard to teach yoga. Some of them teach yoga to pregnant ladies, others teach to seniors in closed communities, some teach at dance studios, gyms and park districts. Click on the pictures to meet other lovely yoga teachers in these cities!

I also attended an Astrology meeting from ASA (Astrological Society of Austin). The group meets every month and this week we had a well known yogi, Methab. He gave a presentation on Jotish (Vedic Astrology) and the chakras. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time to go deeper into this interesting subject. Nevertheless Mehtab was great at giving us a reminder of the chakras, the difference among traditions and time and how each chakra is related to planetary forces.
His humor and great knowledge made a very interesting time. He is such a caring, approachable man!

As for today, Ruth Jansa invited me to one of her classes. We are working together to make a proposal for Yoga for MS. Her students are so welcoming and enjoy yoga very much, some of them are recovering from different ailments and it was amazing to see them doing traditional poses using support. The average age in that class was 60 years old but the spirit was remarkable jovial!. I learned so much from them today.


This week I invite you to listen to our latest interview with Sant Dharamananda, the preceptor of the Himalayan Education Center, this center hosts disadvantaged students. In this center residents practice hatha yoga, meditation, eat vegetarian food and attend the University of Stout in Wisconsin. Click here to go to page in our website to listen to the interview.