Overcoming Barriers to Spiritual Awakening
How can we overcome the tendency to jeopardize our own spiritual journey? Swamini Svatmavidyananda offers lessons from the ancient, timeless teachings of the Upanishads which offer practical tools to overcome the most common barriers on the spiritual path.
@svatmavidyananda
#upanishads
#self-knowledge
#obstaclestospiritualawakening
#kriyayoga
#beyourself
Dr. Swamini Svatmavidyananda Saraswati is the resident acharya at Arsha Vijnana Gurukulum with several locations throughout the United States including Atlanta, Georgia and Eugene Oregon. Swaminiji has taught at several universities nationally, including UC Berkeley. She is widely recognized as a scholar of Advaita Vedanta and teaches nationally and internationally and is the author of the book we will discuss today; Overcoming Self-Sabotage in Self-Knowledge: Insights from the Upanishads As a founding member of the “Global Women's Peace Initiative,” she has traveled globally addressing the ever-increasing challenges that face humanity in a global ethos. Swaminiji addresses contemporary challenges facing the world, from global warming to religious/social unrest, in her unfolding of the Upanishads, the foundational spiritual texts of the Hindu tradition.
WEBSITE: arshavg.org
YouTube:@svatmavidyananda
THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: Swamini Svatmavidyananda’s way of teaching from the ancient scripture of the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita about overcoming self-sabotage to our spiritual awakening is so relatable to what most of us experience in our everyday lives. This is much like the way that Yogacharya teaches us. When Swamini ji was asked why we identify with the ego and the ever-changing body and mind, rather than the limitless, free Self she said "It is a question of partial knowledge. Like the rope lying in the dark that we mistake for a snake. It is a misapprehension due to a lack of light. Not knowing what it is exactly makes it a cause of fear." This is a compassionate way of looking at our lack of knowledge and that the tools of spiritual practice shine the light taking away the fear. I also loved her closing inspiration to our listeners: "Be yourself. Be Oneself. Let go of any inauthenticity. Don't worry about making mistakes. Make many new mistakes because they are a gateway to knowledge."
DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: I found Swamini ji’s teaching to be very practical and down to earth, which especially showed in her discussion of FOMO, the fear of missing out, that is so common in our world today. She illuminated how the desire for instant gratification drives our attachment to the changing external world, and how we can begin to choose the permanent rather than the temporary. I loved how she said that we can go from “ho hum”, that boredom and repetitiveness that comes when we overly focus on the temporary, to “So Hum”, which means “I am THAT, that Oneness”, referring to our permanent unchanging Self.