Jai Guru Dev(a)

One of my favorite details left in tact on this wall at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram in Rishikesh. 

What does "Jai Guru Dev" mean?

Jai Guru Deva (the 'a' is part of the correct spelling, but is not pronounced) = "Jai Guru Dev"

Jai means “joy, hail, glory to”
Guru means “remover of darkness”
Deva means “a shining one”, source of English word “divine”.

The phrase, “Jai Guru Deva”, has become a universal salutation, blessing, opening/closing phrase used by Vedic meditators as a way to recognize that the knowledge is from a grander source.

"It is a beautiful-sounding phrase, feels good to intone, is good for surrendering small self to Big Self, and I commend its use by every meditator." -Thom Knoles

Thom explains, "when saying 'Jai Guru Deva', Initiators (teachers) of my tradition are, almost invariably, referring to Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, the man who throughout his elder years in Jyothir Math, in the Indian Himalaya, held the title of 'Shankaracharya'. It was this 'Guru Deva', sometimes called 'Shri Guru Deva', from whom we received this knowledge of Vedic Meditation, and to whom we pay homage when new meditators are initiated."

Summer 2018: Vedic Meditation Intro Talks & Course Offerings

What a wonderful year it has been so far! I have just returned from 4 months in India, completing the Vedic Mediation Initiator Training. I'm very exited to teach this technique to anyone who is ready to learn!

I will be offering introductory talks and the Vedic Meditation Course monthly.

If you can't make a date that is offered, please contact me and we can set up a private Intro talk. You must attend an introductory talk before signing up for the course. Private courses can also be arranged. Please inquire if you have any questions or just register for one of the Intro Talks!

With love and gratitude,

Su-Jung

LONDON (July 4 - 16)
NTRODUCTION TO VEDIC MEDITATION (free)
July 7 Free Introductory Talk (Shoreditch)
RSVP

NEW YORK
INTRODUCTION TO VEDIC MEDITATION (free)

The Spring Meditation
145 6th Avenue, Studio 6E
New York NY 10013
July 25 (6:30pm - 7:30pm)
RSVP

FOUNDATIONS VEDIC MEDITATION COURSE (4 Days: 90 mins/day)
REGISTER
July 27, 2018 *Individual Instruction & Ceremony
July 28, 2018 10:30am
July 29, 2018 10:30am
July 30, 2018 6:30pm

GROUP MEDITATION
July 31 (6:30pm - 8:00pm)
RSVP

Law of Reciprocity & Personal Commitment

Each student makes a personal investment through a course fee, a practice that dates back thousands of years in India. It is an equitable exchange that sparks the law of reciprocity. Something of great value is offered in exchange for receiving something of greater value or equal value.

In return the student learns to become a self-sufficient meditator, but also is given a lifetime of follow up through weekly group meditations, personal access via email, and may sit in on a "refresher" course anytime there is space available with any Vedic Meditation teacher world-wide. This essentially means you have access to a growing community of Vedic Meditators and teachers to help nurture your development and growth.

In order to make this course available to everyone regardless of financial status, equivalent hours of community service performed are welcome in lieu of financial contribution.

2017 The Year of Personal Transformation

I began the year with my first trip to India to study with a group of International meditators guided by Thom Knoles, Maharishi Vyasananda. It was truly the best thing I could have done for myself at this moment in time. I learned so much through purely observation and experience, as well as through lectures and discussions on the meditation retreat.

India is a magnificent teacher. She shows you lessons learned from her history of wars, her so-called rulers, her people/animals and her land/waters. She allows Nature to rule in ways the West has forgotten how to do and fears. Observing with an open heart taught me that suffering is another thing the West seems to capitalize on and that it doesn't exist in the obvious ways we have been taught to see. I learned the visceral difference between pain and suffering. I understand with more nuance what it is when Buddhists refer to life as suffering. In India, the poor and the stray did not necessarily suffer, as we might have been conditioned to believe. What may been interpreted as lawless is in fact more observant to natural laws that our laws in the America to be specific. There were lessons to be learned, so I dropped my expectations and just observed and interacted in this world as I would anywhere I might live. It changed everything.

Meditation and the teachings of the Veda also reframed how my eyes see, how all my senses perceive. I learned that the goal of a meditator is not to simply transcend, as it turns out to be the easy part, but to go beyond transcendence to greater understanding of the self, the world, the universe and all its manifestations and to live in the physical body interacting and meditating for the collective consciousness.

My heart is open and I am here in the service of what needs to be done. I feel that life has a clear and greater purpose and I am here to live my Dharma. Letting charm guide the way, I am open and grateful for all that came before and what lies ahead and the current moment , as they exist on a continuum that is alive as much as we are. 

I am full of gratitude and excited for growth and evolution. 

With love and gratitude,
Su-Jung

Bathed by the light in Rishikesh, India on site of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Ashram, now a historic ruin in a national park where tigers and elephants roam free. January 2017

Why We Meditate

I have been meditating since February and have found that I look forward to my two daily anchors to my day. In the Vedic Meditation method, a meditator takes 2 twenty minutes periods to meditate daily. In my experience so far, I have found that when you commit to taking the time for your meditation, you are investing in your wellbeing, awareness and overall productivity. You will find that you will be less reactive and more emotionally stable over time. And as you being to become more aware of your true self, you will bring out your best self and this will be reflected back towards you. I meditate because I can see that its good for me and that it changes how I live in the world and that changes the world around me.

Please ask me about meditation and how it may help you!

From Jeff Kober's Vedic Meditation Thought of the Day:

Why do we meditate?

• To feel better. 
• To release stresses.
• To have a vacation from our thoughts.
• To know ourselves as something other than our thoughts, feelings, opinions and our projections of the judgments of others, i.e. our place in the world. 
• To receive total consciousness.

A free introductory talk to find out more about meditation:

THU, SEP 22, 2016 AT 6:30 PM RSVP by following the link below.

"We are individual expressions of the whole of nature, and when we allow ourselves this experience of de-excitation, we begin to know ourselves again as this deeper, greater truth."

-Jeff Kober, Vedic Mediation Teacher & Blogger