In the latest of Yogamaya New York’s Sat-Sanga series, Srila Dhanurdhara Swami gives a talk entitled “The Skill of Happiness.” In this talk Maharaja describes the importance of happiness in one’s life, what real happiness is, and how the path of bhakti facilitates true happiness.

The Skill of Happiness (Sunday, May 12, 2013 – Yogamaya New York)

Dhanurdhara Swami at Yogamaya (Photo by Lisa Bermudez)

You can find the recorded seminar here:

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Seminar at Yogamaya April 2013 Part 1

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Seminar at Yogamaya April 2013 Part 2

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Seminar at Yogamaya April 2013 Part 3

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Seminar at Yogamaya April 2013 Part 4

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Seminar at Yogamaya April 2013 Part 5

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Seminar at Yogamaya April 2013 Part 6

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Seminar at Yogamaya April 2013 Part 7

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Seminar at Yogamaya April 2013 Part 8

The following is a class Srila Dhanurdhara Swami recently gave on April 2, 2013, at Down Dog Yoga in Reading, Pennsylvania, entitled “Yoga Psychology,” based on the question “Is there therapy in the Vedas?” which Maharaja addressed in his essay of the same name.

Yoga Psychology at Down Dog Yoga

Dhanurdhara Swami and Graham on his farm.

A Talk in Middle America (Sunday, April 7, 2013)

A must listen to, in this latest of Yogamaya New York’s Sat-Sanga series, Srila Dhanurdhara Swami gives a lively and enlightening talk on the Yoga of Forgiveness – how forgiveness is an integral part of one’s spiritual life. Maharaja relates forgiveness to the concepts of ahimsa, dharma, and karma as well as giving practical methods to explore forgiveness in our own lives.

The Yoga of Forgiveness (Sunday, March 24, 2013 – Yogamaya New York)

The following is a class Srila Dhanurdhara Swami recently gave in Christchurch, New Zealand, entitled “Compassion and the Symptom of the Soul,” based on a passage from the seventh canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam, where Prahlada pacifies Lord Nrsimhadeva with his prayers.

Download the class.

Sutra 5

yat prāpya na kiñcid vāñchati na śocati na dveṣṭi na ramate notsāhī bhavati

Achieving it, desire and regret, repulsion and attraction, such fervors are no more.

After describing in the previous verse that upon attaining Divine Love one is fully satisfied, Sri Narada now describes the result: “All fervors are no more.”

All passions are naturally caused by a sense of lacking within. And although we seek to fill that void with the passions of wealth, romance, and adoration, we remain unfulfilled because we have failed to realize what is our actual deficiency. Our real need is selfless love. Without it no one, even those at the height of power and opulence, can claim that their deepest yearnings have been fulfilled. On the other hand, if one is filled with selfless love, what more can anyone desire? That is the crux of Sri Narada’s message here in text five.

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On Saturday, September 22, 2012, the appearance day of Srimati Radharani, Dhanurdhara Swami shared his realizations about Srimati Radharani at the Bhakti Center in New York.

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In The Bhakti Story, Dhanurdhara Swami narrates the first story from the classic 16th century work Brhad Bhagavatamrta, where the great saint Narada, at the famous Kumbha Mela gathering in India, begins his world search for the greatest bhakti-yogi.

Download the class.

Sutra 4

yal labdhvā pumān siddho bhavaty amṛto bhavati tṛpto bhavati

Having attained divine love, a person becomes perfect, immortal and satisfied.

The first three verses introduced the subject of bhakti. In the next three verses, beginning here with text four, Sri Narada describes the effect of such divine love on the soul.

First he says that by it one becomes perfect. To understand why this is so, one must understand what dharma is. Dharma means duty. It also means essential nature, for unless we understand what we are made for (our essential, intrinsic nature), how can we understand what we are meant to do (our dharma or duty)? According to the bhakti tradition, the soul is part of the supreme consciousness. As all parts are meant to serve the whole, the dharma of the soul is bhakti — to selflessly serve God.

But what does this have to do with perfection?

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