Yoga Philosophy and Wisdom with Ram Vakkalanka

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As I travel around the world teaching, I meet many people who say to me that they feel lost in life. They don’t know where their life is going, where it should be going and why. Life begins to feel like a rudderless boat. No idea which direction the coast is. So, is there a purpose to life? What is worth pursuing in life? Is life about only pursuit of happiness? What does the Veda have to say about this?

Lets explore these questions in this session of YPRV.

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I frequently teach that what we call as life is nothing but a series of Karmic experiences. As much as we like to think that we have full control over our lives, the harsh truth is we don’t. Prakruti or the intelligence in Nature is constantly influencing our experience of life. So, the question is, how does Prakruti or Nature influence our lives, what is the medium through which Prakruti influences our lives - our karmic experiences? Let us explore the answer to this question in this session of YPRV.

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In modern Yoga communities, we often hear the word ‘Om Shanti Shanti Shanti’ being chanted either at the beginning or end of Asana sessions, Kirtans, and so on. You may be curious about the meaning of the word Shanti and why it is repeated thrice. So, let us examine the important concept as well as the valuable life lesson behind the word ‘Shanti’ in this episode of ‘Yoga Philosophy and Wisdom with Ram Vakkalanka’.

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Before we read sacred scriptures such as BhagavadGita, traditionally we chant some verses to meditate on the scripture and offer our gratitude to the Rishi who shared his experiential wisdom through the scripture. It is a sacred ritual. Chanting these meditative verses helps us tune ourselves to the sacred text we are about to study. In a previous podcast entitled ‘The Secret to understanding the yogic scriptures’, I spoke about how we should approach scriptures such as BhagavadGita with openness and humility to help the teachings of the text flow into us. I also mentioned that I will share the meditations on BhagavadGita in a future episode. Well, in this episode, I will share the Meditation on the BhagavadGita and explain it.

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I remember having read somewhere - perhaps in Yoga Journal - that around 70% or so people who pick up BhagavadGita cannot go past the first chapter! And BhagavadGita has 18 chapters! In fact, as I teach Sanskrit and Yoga Philosophy to audiences across the world, I hear - more often than not - from my students and audiences that Yogic texts such as BhagavadGita and Yoga Sutras can be very confusing…especially to western Yoga practitioners. I thought...hmmmm…that sounds interesting! Let me address this. So, in this episode, let us talk about why yogic scriptures can be confusing and what is the secret to understanding them.

New episodes drop Wednesdays. Please remember to rate, review and subscribe to the show.

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‘The Yoga Sutras’ is a Sanskrit text about Yoga that is quite popular in modern Yoga communities across the world. The great Rishi Patanjali is the author of this seminal work about Yoga - Raja Yoga to be more specific. I am going to talk about Patanjali’s invaluable contribution to humankind regarding Yoga and its sister sciences in this episode of ‘Yoga Philosophy and Wisdom with Ram Vakkalanka’.

New episodes drop Wednesdays. Please remember to rate, review and subscribe to the show.

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As you are aware, I begin and end my podcasts with Sanskrit chants. Some of you were curious about what those chants mean. So, in this episode of ‘Yoga Philosophy and Wisdom with Ram Vakkalanka’, let us explore the meaning of these chants.

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Many people focus on acquiring spiritual knowledge. There are so many teachers, teachings, books, and other materials that explain spiritual knowledge from many different viewpoints. Even though not many teachers or books talk about spiritual ignorance, I think it is important to understand spiritual ignorance also.

So, in this episode of ‘Yoga Philosophy and Wisdom with Ram Vakkalanka’, let us explore and understand spiritual ignorance.

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Mantras have to be chanted accurately for them to be optimally effective. However, these days we hear different versions of pronunciations in the Mantras, creating uncertainty in the minds of the newbies as to which is the correct pronunciation. Let us understand the fundamental principles behind mantra chanting in this episode of ‘Yoga Philosophy and Wisdom with Ram Vakkalanka’. If you follow these principles, I can assure you that your Mantra pronunciation will be excellent.

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In the Yogic tradition, before we begin any spiritual activity, including practice of Yoga postures, we always chant Om. We also end the spiritual activity with ‘Om’. Why should we chant Om? What is the point of this?…Let us explore these questions in this episode of ‘Yoga Philosophy and Wisdom with Ram Vakkalanka’.

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In modern Yoga communities, we often hear the word ‘Namaste’ being used on various occasions…such as at the beginning or end of a Yoga Asana session. In India, Namaste is used as a popular form of greeting each other. Let us explore this word ‘Namaste’ - its definition, meaning, most importantly its spirit in this episode of ‘Yoga Philosophy and Wisdom with Ram Vakkalanka’.

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