Walking the Aryan Spirit, an online series spread over 4 days, was held from 6-9 Sep 2022, organised by NAMAH, the Journal of Integral Health. The series was facilitated by Dr. Monica Gulati in the light of the Mother’s and Sri Aurobindo’s writings.
The aim was to understand the true meaning of the term Aryan and to see what it takes to live it in our day-to-day life.
The first session was focused on understanding the Aryan spirit. Every moment in each interaction of worldly life one has the choice, either to follow the evil within or pure within. If we are not making a conscious choice then too we are choosing not to make a choice. By default darkness and egoistic patterns rule. One’s Aryan role is to make the right choice each moment and stay vigilant to choose right over evil. This needs persistent training. Whenever a thought which is a limiting thought arises, one has to reject it. That is the Aryan spirit.
Some practices were touched upon to make it practical –
Practice -
- Taming the monkey mind - Ma-japa / breath / in-gathering the consciousness
- Training the monkey mind - make the right choice each moment, goodwill over ill-will, rejecting tamas, ill-will, excitement.
- Offer oneself to the service of others.
The second session dealt with true sacrifice. Sacrifice is quite a misunderstood and distorted term, commonly speaking. The session focused on understanding it in the light of the Aryan spirit which is actually the true meaning of the word. True sacrifice is when we make space for the new because the old is not serving well. The Divine says - all that is not beneficial to you, impulses, reactions, resistances, desires that disturb, anger, jealousy, obsessive thinking, scattered mind, all that disturbs is to be sacrificed for the new to come. Conscious sacrifice is a joy. By remembering the Divine always, in each action,in each thought, in each feeling. Put all that is ugly and weak in the Fire. This is conscious and true sacrifice.
The third session talked about awakening the Warrior in us. Stillness of mind and mastery of the mind are the cornerstones which are required on the path. What is necessary is an aspiration which burns in the being like a constant fire, and every time you have a desire, a preference, an attraction it must be thrown into this fire. Aryan means effort, an uprising. Each moment the right choice has to be made. The right choice is that which takes one higher. Heroism is to be one unified being, there are no contradictions at any level of our being. Bring all the contrary impulsions at the feet of the Divine.
The concluding session was on dissolving doubts to clarity and faith. Our aim in this life is to move from dese soul to the true soul. The moment one sees the least disturbance in the being, one should be able to uproot it. Nothing should disturb the sanity of being. The practical tip here is to take a separate stance, just looking at the emotions, not being the emotions. To engage all the energy in nurturing the Svabhava which is the natural inclination of a person. When talking of the habit of mental analysis, Monica shared that in parallel, as we de-addict ourselves of mental analysis, we have to nurture our talents, abilities and give ourselves in alignment with our Svabhava. And finally, the true contentment lies in finding the Godhead within, the Divine within.
This workshop was attended by about 25 participants who interacted and engaged purposefully and actively throughout the four days.
Feedback:
”Thankful and grateful that I could attend these sessions, which are the first of a jkind for me in the spiritual path and freally helpful. Thank you Monica di and everyone.”
What did you enjoy most in the workshop?
“All.”
“Content and skill of the facilitator who made it very interesting and productive.”
“Everything; the points put forward, the examples given, the friendly interactive style, the interest in each participant’s ideas.”
“The clarity and understanding of Monica’s words.”
“We can lead life with ease at times we feel lost.”
“Listening to Monica is a joy. So much to absorb and integrate.”
