Questions of the seeking heart
Frequently asked questions
The same questions have been asked beneath banyan trees, in ashrams and in city apartments for thousands of years. Here are our humble answers on the sacred concepts we teach.
What is a mantra, and how do I begin chanting?
A mantra is not a phrase to be read; it is a vibration to be lived. Begin simply: sit quietly, take a few natural breaths, and let the primordial sound of Om arise softly — aloud at first, then inwardly. Repeated with devotion, it re-tunes the mind, steadies the breath and slowly rewrites the inner landscape.
What exactly is karma?
Karma is the law of cause and effect — the universe’s memory. Every thought, word and deed is a seed, and seeds always sprout, in this life or beyond. Karma is not punishment; it is education. It moves in three strands: sanchita (stored), prarabdha (ripening now) and kriyamana (being created this moment). Your future is not written by fate, but edited by you, choice by choice.
Who are Shiva and Shakti?
In the tantric vision, the whole universe is a marriage: Shiva, the unchanging consciousness, and Shakti, the mother of all energy, form and feeling. Shiva is pure stillness — the silent awareness in which everything arises; Shakti is sacred motion — the creative energy that dances the universe into being. Neither is complete alone; every breath you take happens between them.
What is the Atman — the soul?
Beneath the changing roles you play — name, body, job, history — there is something in you that has never changed. The rishis call it Atman, the Self: a drop of the same infinite ocean that shines as the cosmos. Its threefold nature is Sat–Chit–Ananda: existence, consciousness, bliss. The Atman was never born and never dies; the body is a garment, the soul is the wearer.
What is the aura, and why do people speak of cleansing it?
The aura is the luminous field surrounding the body — the meeting place of thought, emotion and vitality, with seven chakras along the spine distributing this energy from grounding to enlightenment. Fear, anger and cluttered spaces dim it; mantra, gratitude, sunlight, nature and forgiveness cleanse it. A radiant aura is not decoration — it is the outward sign of a steadied mind.
I'm new to meditation. How do I start?
Begin where you are. Sit still with the spine tall, let the breath be natural and the face soft, and rest attention gently on the mantra or the breath — a hundred times over if needed. Dharana (focus) ripens into dhyana (flow), and dhyana flowers into samadhi (absorption). Ten minutes daily outweighs two hours once a month.
Do I need a guru or initiation to practise?
No. The outer teacher is a grace, not a gate. Start with sincerity — a mantra, a quiet sit, an honest life — and as the tradition says, when the student is ready the teacher appears. What matters is daily practice lived with devotion, not certificates or ceremonies.
What is moksha?
Moksha is freedom — the destination of every teaching here. Freedom from fear, from compulsion, from the illusion of separateness. It is not escaping the world but seeing through it: acting with awareness, offering the fruit of action rather than clinging to it, and remaining inwardly free amid it all.
Your question isn’t here? Write to us — no question on the path is too small.
