Swami Shankarananda and Shiva Yoga

From Australian Yoga Life, Issue 1, 2002

West meets East in a Unique Australian Setting

The clanging of morning bells, the call of conches and the recitation of Sanskrit is straight out of India. But the rustic setting 40 kilometres from Melbourne is pure Australia. The Shiva Ashram in Mt Eliza is a working spiritual centre of nearly two dozen live-in ashramites and a community of several hundred active participants from many walks of life.

Even more extraordinary than an Indian-style ashram in the suburbs is having a master yogi in residence. A native New Yorker, Swami Shankarananda first came to Australia in 1974 and returned several times as the director of an ashram in Melbourne. Ten years ago, he was invited by a group of Australians to create a permanent ashram specifically to bring yoga into everyday life. Swamiji says, ‘To me, yoga is far more than a series of practices or studies. It is a way of life that centers on awareness, being present and having insight into yourself and the people around you. Everything we teach here is based on that, whether it's body awareness in yoga postures, thought awareness in self-inquiry or feeling awareness in responding to circumstances in life. Shiva Yoga is designed to positively affect what I consider the four basic areas of life: health, career, relationships and spiritual well-being'.

In looking back to his own motivations for pursuing yoga, Swamiji recounts an incident in the late 1960s. He was in New York at a friend's house when he answered a knock on the door. ‘I opened the door to a gun in my face', he says. ‘I instantly became present. I looked down the gun barrel and could clearly see the bullets in the chambers. I felt no fear but two powerful thoughts came into my mind. The first was, this is it. I'm going to die, what a waste of all that education. The second thought was, what's it all about if it can end so abruptly?'

A few years later he was at a small dinner gathering with Ram Dass, the author of Be Here Now, a book that influenced a generation to look into the teachings of the great yogis. Within a few months he was in a VW bus, travelling across Europe and overland to India. There he met and studied with a number of yogis. In Hardwar he stayed with Hari Dass, a hatha yogi who had been silent for 20 years. Swamiji practiced physical postures, breath exercises and yogic esoterica such as swallowing a 24-foot-long cloth and then pulling it up to help digestion.

In his journey he met other prominent yogis including Neemkaroli Baba, Nisargadatta Maharaj and the woman sage, Anandamayi Ma. He was most impressed by his first meeting with and subsequent 12-year discipleship to Swami Muktananda, known as Baba.

‘The intense ashtanga yoga I practiced with Hari Dass was designed to awaken the kundalini, the dormant spiritual potential inside each of us', Swamiji says. ‘Baba's approach was different. First he awakened the kundalini through shaktipat, the instant transmission of shakti, or spiritual energy. Then we practiced hatha yoga and pranayama (breathing) for balance, flexibility and to unblock knots'.

Swamiji has the ability to transform the complex teachings of yoga to today's Western life. One method he developed is a unique self-inquiry called the Shiva Process. He says, ‘The Shiva Process is the hatha yoga of the subtle body. We carry around with us emotional baggage and block the prana, or spiritual life force. These blocks manifest in the physical body and can be accessed both through hatha yoga postures and through the chakras, or energy centers in the body. The inner Self knows the problem and knows the solution. The wisdom we carry within is all-pervasive, limitless and always the truth. It's our job to let go of negative thoughts and use our own inner knowledge to uplift us and tap into our own joy'.

Devi Angell, co-director of the Shiva Meditation Centres, has worked with Swamiji for many years in building the ashram and refining the Shiva Process. She says, ‘Swamiji points over and over to the innate transforming power of our own consciousness. He encourages us to turn the light of awareness, which we share generously with others, within and reflect on the inner Self. This simple yet crucial doing frees us from the fickle and unreliable mind'.

In his book, Happy for No Good Reason, Swami Shankarananda discusses the negative thoughts that tear into self-esteem and confidence. He says, ‘Thought and feeling are connected. Self-talk goes on in our minds all the time. The mind ceaselessly thinks and comments about everything that happens. Self-talk can expand us and make us feel joy or it can contract us and make us feel as though we are living in hell. The essence of yoga, spirituality and Self-inquiry is to become the master of our self-talk. The methods by which we can understand and transform our self-talk are meditation and self-inquiry'.

He places great importance on meditation, and recognizes it's a practice that takes time to develop. Through the years he's created methods designed to help newcomers understand the principles of meditation and establish a practice. He says, ‘Meditation is a method of quieting the mind and experiencing our deepest nature, the Self. The value of experiencing the Self is incalculable. It is an awakening, an upwelling of energy, joy and wisdom'.

According to Swamiji, this awakening can occur several ways. He says, ‘It can take place through meditation techniques that have been passed down in a strong tradition of great souls from teacher to student. The awakening can also happen in the presence of a self-realised being, as it did for me in the presence of my teacher, and as it did for him in the presence of his teacher. In my case I felt energy rushing through me and I had a series of experiences of higher Consciousness'.

To help mediators boost their experience of meditation and to help new participants, Swamiji conducts ‘Intensives', where he gives the shaktipat awakening in the tradition of his lineage. Although many participants have extraordinary spiritual experiences, the focus is on getting deep inside and accepting whatever comes up.

Known for his humour and ability to translate ancient teachings into contemporary language, Swamiji draws on the teachings of the Vedas, Patanjali, Ramana Maharshi and Ramakrishna, among others. He emphasizes Kashmir Shaivism, a philosophy that says everything is Consciousness, represented by one of the names of God, Shiva.

‘Kashmir Shaivism says that everything is linked to everything else by supreme intelligence', he says. ‘Nothing is separate or alone because the same Consciousness underlies everything. There are links and correspondences everywhere. When we evolve spiritually, we move towards oneness'.

By combining the wisdom of the East with the enthusiasm and vitality of the West, Swami Shankarananda has created a dynamic and fluid community based on self-empowerment and connection to the divine Consciousness within. He acknowledges the help he receives from the many associates who offer their services in building and operating the ashram and creating the events and programmes that bring the teachings to the public.

‘Yoga is the practice of natural happiness', he says. ‘You do not need to go to India or Tibet, to a cave or a monastery. Your normal life is a perfect arena of spirituality. Divinize and energize your life. A life lived with attention to the inner world gradually triumphs over suffering'.

From Happy for No Good Reason by Swami Shankarananda

Contemplation: Witness Consciousness

1. If you like, turn on peaceful meditation music to accompany this meditation.

2. Sit for meditation and turn within

3. Notice the movement of your inner world.

4. Slowly pull back and watch with detachment from a distance, as if you are watching a movie.

5. Let the thoughts and feelings come and go. Do not get drawn into the content or meaning of them. Let your awareness expand to hold them.

6. Accept everything. Reject nothing. Say to yourself, ‘This is the play of Consciousness', or ‘This is the play of my own thought and feeling', or ‘My awareness holds everything'.

7. While you adopt this attitude, lightly watch the breath come in and out. Watch the breath and sit as the witness.

8. When your mind gets drawn into the contents or dramas of various thoughts, gently go back to the witness position.