Living with the Himalayan Masters

From the back of the Book

"I will tell you I grew up and how I was trained, about the great sages with whom I lived and what they taught me, not through lecture and books but through experiences," writes Sri Swami Rama in the opening pages of this timeless saga. These stories record his personal quest for truth and enlightenment. Inspiring, illuminating, entertaining, mystifying, and frequently droll and humorous, they bring you face-to-face with great Himalayan Masters, including:
· Mataji of Assam, a ninety-six-year-old lady sage who never slept.
· Gudari Baba, who taught Swami Rama the value of direct experience.
· Yogi Sri Aurobindo, who teaches that every human being has the potential for healing.
· Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the Nation.

"One of the great spiritual classics of all time. An insider's view of hidden adepts who live outside time and space as we know it, yogis and yoginis who can't possibly exist - but do!"
-Linda Johnsen, author of The Living Goddess: Reclaiming the Tradition of the Mother of the Universe

"Buy this book for yourself. Each page is filled with joy and cheer. What I like best is that Swami Rama's message does not require us to transform ourselves, it teaches that we are already perfect."
-Judith Benn Hurley, author of The Good Herb, Savoring the Day, and Healing Secrets of the Seasons

Sri Swami Rama, the founder of the Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy, was raised in the Himalayan cave monasteries and ordained a monk in early childhood. He studies Western psychology, philosophy, and medicine in Europe and taught in Japan before coming to the United State in 1969. Here he founded the Himalayan Institute to create a bridge between the ancient teachings of the East and the modern scientific approaches of the West.

About the Author

Born in 1925 in northern India, Swami Rama was raised from early childhood by a great yogi and saint of Bengal who lived in the Himalayas. In his youth he practiced the various disciplines of yoga science and philosophy in the traditional monasteries of the Himalayas and studied closely with many spiritual adepts, including Mahatma Gandhi, Sri Aurobindo, and Rabindranath Tagore. He also traveled to Tibet to study with his grandmaster.

He received his higher education at Bangalore, Prayaga, Varanasi, and Oxford University, England. At the age of twenty-four he became Shankaracharya of Karvirpitham in south India, the highest spiritual position in India. During this term he had a tremendous impact on the spiritual customs of that time: he dispensed with useless formalities and rituals, made it possible for all segments of society to worship in the temple, and encouraged the instruction of women in meditation. He renounced the dignity and prestige of his high office in 1952 to return to the Himalayas to intensify his meditation practices.

After completing an intense meditative practice in the cave monasteries, he emerged with the determination to serve humanity, particularly to bring the teachings of the East to West. With the encouragement of his master, Swami Rama began his task by studying Western philosophy and psychology, and teaching Eastern philosophy at Western universities. He worked as a medical consultant in London and assisted in Para psychological research in Moscow. He then returned to India, where he established an ashram in Rishikesh. He completed his degree in homeopathy at the medical collage in Darbhanga in 1960. He came to the United States in 1969, bringing his knowledge and wisdom to the West. His teachings combine Eastern spirituality with modern Western therapies.

Swami Rama was a freethinker, guided by his direct experience and inner wisdom, and he encouraged his student to be guided in the same way. He often told them, "I am a messenger, delivering the wisdom of the Himalayan sages of my tradition. My job is to introduce you to the teacher within."

Swami Rama came to America upon the invitation of Dr. Elmer Green of the Menninger Foundation of Topeka, Kansas, as a consultant in a research project investigating the voluntary control of involuntary sates. He participated in experiments that helped to revolutionize scientific thinking about the relationship between body and mind, amazing scientists by his demonstrating, under laboratory conditions, precise conscious control of autonomic physical responses and mental functioning, feats previously thought to be impossible.

Swami Rama founded the Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy, the Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust in India, and many centers though out the world. He is the author of numerous books on health, meditation, and the yogic scriptures. Swami Rama left his body in November 1996.

Content

	Introduction by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait	xiii
	At The Lotus Feet - Sri Swami Rama	xviii
	Map of Northern India	xx
	Map of Utter Pradesh	xiii
I	Spiritual Education in the Himalayas	1
	The Sacred Himalayas	3
	My Gurudeva and Parents	23
	My Master and the Prince Swami	31
	Footprints of Delusion	34
	How We Live in the Caves	37
II	The Master Teaches	41
	Learning to Give	43
	How a Master Tests His Students	45
	An All-Night Journey Through the Forest	47
	Crossing a Flooded River	49
	My Offering to My Master	51
	Loneliness	53
	Maya, the Cosmic Veil	56
	Bitter Truth with Blessed Effects	59
	You Teach Others but Deprive Me	62
	Discipline Is a Must	65
	Blessing in a Curse	69
III	The Path of Direct Experience	71
	Direct Experience Alone Is the Means	73
	Real Knowledge Removes Suffering	75
	A Mantra for Happiness	79
	A Mantra for Bees	81
	Misuse of Mantra	85
	I Receive a Beating	88
	Unique Practice of Tantra	91
	You Have Committed Many Thefts	94
	A Firethrower Swami	97
	An Astounding Mystic	99
	My Mother Teacher	103
	An Ageless Yogi	107
IV	Learning Humility	111
	Ego and Vanity Are in Vain	113
	My Swollen Ego	115
	Cultivating Inner Qualities	117
	I Thought I Was Perfect	121
	Practice Makes Perfect	126
	The Sage from the Valley of Flowers	128
V	Conquering Fear	133
	The Devil	135
	Mistaken for a Ghost	138
	My Fear of Snakes	141
	In a Tiger's Cave	147
VI	The Path of Renunciation	151
	My Whole Being Is an Eye	153
	My Experience with a Dancing Girl	155
	Transformation of a Murderer	159
	A Lesson in Non-attachment	163
	Taste the World and Then Renounce	166
	Jewels or Fire?	169
	My First Days as a Swami	171
	A Constant Persecution	175
	Living on a Mount of Pebbles	177
	Temptations on the Path	179
	Should I Get Married?	181
	Spiritual Dignity Is Also Vanity	185
	A Miserable Experiment	189
	Charms of the World	191
	Two Naked Renunciates	195
	In the World and Yet above	197
	To lose Is to Gain	199
VII	Experiences on Various Paths	201
	A Renowned Lady Sage	203
	With My Heart on My Palms and Tears in My Eyes	210
	Karma Is the Maker	213
	In the Ashram of Mahatma Gandhi	217
	"Not Sacrifice but Conquest" - Tagore	221
	Setting History Straight	227
	Maharshi Raman	235
	Meeting with Sri Aurobindo	239
	The Wave of Bliss	243
	Three Schools of Tantra	248
	The Seven Systems of Eastern Philosophy	251
	Soma	258
VIII	Beyond the Great Religions	263
	A Christian Sage of the Himalayas	265
	My Meeting with a Jesuit Sadhu	271
	Jesus in the Himalayas	273
	A Vision of Christ	278
	Judaism in Yoga	283
	I Belong to None but God	285
IX	Divine Protection	287
	Protection Arms	289
	Lost in the Land of Devas	295
	The Land of Hamsas	299
	An Atheistic Swami	303
	An Appointment with Death	308
X	Powers of the Mind	313
	Lessons on the Sands	315
	Transmutation of Matter	319
	Where Is My Donkey?	325
	Who Was That Other Gopinath?	329
	An Experience with a Psychic	332
XI	Healing Power	335
	My First Exposure to the Power of Healing	337
	My Master Sends Me to Heal Someone	340
	Unorthodox Ways of Healing	345
	Healing in a Himalayan Shrine	349
	At the Feet of the Masters	357
XII	Grace of the Master	361
	Guru Is a Stream and a Channel of Knowledge	363
	A Weeping Statue	366
	My Master's Photograph	369
	Who Can Kill the Eternal?	371
	Half "Here," Half "There"	373
	How a Young Wisdom Was Rescued	377
	My Master Saves a Drowning Man	379
	Shaktipata - Bestowing Bliss	381
	My Grandmaster in Scared Tibet	385
	Preparing to Tear the Veil	402
XIII	Mastery over Life and Death	405
	Birth and Death Are but Two Commas	407
	Attitudes Toward Dying	141
	The Techniques of Casting Off the Body	419
	Living in a Dead Body	423
	My Master Casts Off his Body	428
XIV	Journey to the west	433
	A doctor's Recurring Vision	435
	Transformation in the Cave	439
	Ways of East and West	443
	Our Tradition	447
	Glossary	453
	About the Author	457

Sample Pages