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Seminars - Courses - Training
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I conduct the following training courses and seminars periodically. These are run according to need, please contact me if you are interested in joining the next course or seminar. If you have a small group of like-minded people (min.5), I would be happy to arrange the relevant course or seminar at a suitable venue. Fee depends on venue and numbers participating.
Ritual, Ceremony and Life's Initiations COURSE
Establish positive family traditions to be passed on to your children and future generations.
Since time began, ceremonies marking rites of passage have been a vital part of validating and honouring our life transitions. Ritual and ceremony affect many levels of the human consciousness as they assist people to move through necessary developmental change. These changes can be likened to initiations into a deeper level of understanding and maturity.
Our civilisation seems to have lost touch with the importance and meaning of the ceremonies that were once vital in honouring individuals and groups throughout their lives. Examples of important rites of passage we still recognise are weddings, funerals, confirmations, bar mitzvahs and anniversaries of all sorts. However, there are many other transitions that can be honoured with appropriate ceremony. For example, births, baby naming, puberty, divorce, retirement and house blessing to name just a few.
We are now into the 21st century. This millennium signifies a new phase in human consciousness. People are looking for ways to bring the sacred into their daily lives. Spirituality is in the forefront and bhakti (spiritual devotion) is no longer a hidden characteristic. Throughout the western world there is a huge re-emergence in the use of ceremony and ritual. People have recognised the cultural, social and increasingly, the psychological gap created through the absence of appropriate ritual. The reasons to celebrate one's life transitions are many. This course uncovers ways to honour the significant experiences of our lives, including the past events (often traumatic) that may have left some unwanted emotional baggage and sometimes a debilitating lack of self-esteem.
Joseph Campbell said: “Any disaster you can survive is an improvement in your character, your stature, and your life. What a privilege! This is when the spontaneity of your own nature will have a chance to flow. Then, when looking back at your life, you will see that the moments, which seemed to be great failures followed by wreckage, were the incidents that shaped the life you have now. You’ll see that this is really true. Nothing can happen to you that is not positive. Even though it looks and feels at the moment like a negative crisis, it is not. The crisis throws you back, and when you are required to exhibit strength, it comes.”
Ritual, Ceremony and Puja
- Seminar
Discover the basics of
Self-Empowering Sacred Ritual
Participate in an Ancient Vedic Fire Ceremony
Learn to perform the simple yet beautiful ritual of Tree Puja (worship)
Agni Yajna
- Seminar
Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati
has thought deeply about the
ecological needs of our planet and the possibilities that yajnas offer.
Considering the constraints of modern daily life, he has designed a new yajna
that we can incorporate into our daily sadhana (spiritual practice). He has
called this 'Agni Yajna'. Agni is the
Lord of Fire; he is considered the primordial energy and the Great Purifier of
solid and abstract matter. Agni is an aspect of God, and common fire, and he is
the preserver of mysteries and rites. Symbolically, the Agni Yajna invokes Agni;
acknowledges and honours him and petitions his help in purifying the
environment. Agni Yajna is a small fire ritual, that may be performed in very
little time if necessary. It is ideal for those with a busy daily schedule. It
is performed in the morning just once daily whenever possible. Of course the
more regularly it is performed, the greater the benefit. http://yogavision.net/yv/inspirers/swan.htm
Yajna, The Ancient Ritual of Fire
Yajna is a fire ceremony where
various natural items are consigned to the fire as oblations or offerings while
specific Mantras are chanted. These
offerings are made to the relevant aspect of God, depending on the purpose of
the Yajna. When yajnas are performed, the
smoke of these natural items gathers particles of harmful radiation and
pollutants in the atmosphere, and on a subtle level neutralises their negative
effect. Subtle energies are also created through the chanting of the mantras,
attracting the benevolent and invisible forces.
Yajna is the Sanskrit word for sacrifice. In India, the big yajnas are always accompanied by being of service to those in greatest need, by sharing, or sacrificing some of our wealth, (Sanskrit-daan –the giving and receiving). For example, clothing, food, money, medical, education and employment opportunities.
The essential idea of sacrifice is the pouring out of life for the benefit of others. Such pouring out is the law by which life evolves.
All of life is a process of Yajna – service and sacrifice, to achieve the ultimate Yoga – union with the Supreme Consciousness. There must be death first, a sacrifice before there can be life. The death of the seed before there is the plant, the death of the plant before we have food to eat. All creation’s beings perform yajna: the Sun, Moon and Stars; the animals, fish, insects and birds; the trees, grasses and flowers; all are in a continual process of service and sacrifice. Even our own bodies are performing yajna. We make our offerings to the fire-pit in our bellies; these offerings are transformed into the nutrients that fuel the organs, enabling them to serve the body so that it may carry on with the activities of life and honour the Soul within.
Paramahamsa Satyananda Saraswati:
"The underlying
factor common to all yajnas is that through this ritual the invisible forces
(Devatas) that are interspersed in the atmosphere consolidate and collect in the
area where it is conducted. It is for this reason that a yajna is considered a
very powerful and potent means for positively influencing the atmosphere that
surrounds us. Yajnas are known to ward off malefic events. A Yajna is an
esoteric act and thus penetrates deep into the area of mysticism. There is
always an element of mystery in them. This is because the effects of a yajna are
felt not just on the physical, mental, psychic or spiritual levels but on the
supramental levels as well."
http://yogavision.net/yv/inspirers/satyananda.htm
http://yogavision.net/sk/about.htm
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Mukta Saraswati
oMKAR tRADITIONS
mukta@omkartraditions.com Telephone: 07 5533 5760 Mob: 0428 318 901
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