The learned acharyas from Varanasi, started the Satyam Yoga Yajna at Akhara. During the five-day yajna many different homas were conducted such as Sudarshan, Ganapati, Navagraha, Ayushmantra, Purush and Sri Sukta, Avahanti and Mrityuinjaya homas.
We had five additional days of Swamiji's blessings as a pre-symposium, where he clarified for us the wheel of yoga as Sri Swami Satyananda had taught it.
The hub: Satyam-Shivam-Sundaram; the spokes: hatha and karma yoga, raja and bhakti yoga, kriya and jnana yoga; the rim: the yogic lifestyle, which is where we now move towards.
Through the branches of yoga, we are inspired by Swamiji to live a yogic life. In the second chapter there is emphasis on living yoga 'from moment to moment' with awareness, relaxation and simplicity. Swamiji's final message was, 'Go and spread the seeds of love.' May we take this message and keep it pure and return for regular purification to the ashram which is our home. I will remember another advice Swamiji gave us, 'Resistance is futile.' Thank you Swamiji and all the sevaks and sahayogis at Ganga Darshan.
Sannyasi Yogadhara, Ireland
My experience is that I have come home, to the source, the chakra of love, true happiness and endless giving - prasad. Now I have also the right and ability to be part of this giving with no limit. I have lived in a society these days of great transcendental sounds - chanting, children evolved in a true sense, happy and compassionate adults! Love glimpses of Swami Niranjan and all-pervasive energy of Sri Swamiji. A sample of our future society.
Gauriroopananda, Greece
If I was to give a colour to the key impressions from the ten days of the pre-symposium and Symposium, I would say it is the colour of 'care'. Care for our needs, caring for the details of the organization, care for the neatness and beauty of the presentation and surroundings.
I was stunned by the care that I saw coming from Swamiji. When he was talking to us, when he was not talking, I realized how much he wants us to get out of the quagmire of tamas, to disconnect from the negative, to raise our level of awareness, to improve the quality of our lives.
He advises, he cajoles, he convinces us with arguments, he prods, he admonishes, he can be strict, he uses any way to get us to make a move, to take a step out of tamas, to make an effort; and he gave us concrete guidelines. So when we get back, we need to create a yogic environment in our home, we need to live a yogic lifestyle, connect with nature, disconnect from negative destructive people, practise the morning mantras, cook our own food, see our daily activities even at home as karma yoga, uplift those around us by sharing our positive experience and knowledge, practise the practices we learned at the Symposium to gain our own experience and thus begin our journey into yoga vidya and living yoga 'from moment to moment'. Thank you Swamiji
Swami Bhajanananda, Greece
The Munger Yoga Symposium 2018 was a gathering of yoga teachers from around the world. Delegates from approximately 40 countries and 17 states of India participated.
The symposium was the stage for launching the 2nd Chapter of Yoga. After the World Yoga Convention held in Munger in 2013, Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati announced that the first chapter of yoga of the Bihar School of Yoga, the fifty years of yoga propagation, had come to an end. He announced the second chapter with the aim of deepening the understanding and experience of yoga vidya, the science of yoga. Yoga was no longer to be a mere practice but a sadhana and lifestyle. Required are seriousness, sincerity and commitment of every yoga aspirant.
Since then Swamiji has been developing the second chapter through the new trainings or yoga yatras of hatha yoga, raja yoga and kriya yoga, and the capsules for specific conditions and general well being. The Munger Yoga Symposium 2018 was the forum of presenting the purpose and system of the new direction.
The delegates who participated in training programs of the last five years were the 'blue group'; and those who had less contact with the recent teaching and training were the 'red group'. Besides the delegates, a group of sahayogis had come, aspirants offering their cooperation and assistance in all areas of ashram activities.
After the theoretical part of the yoga chakra was covered in the pre-symposium program, the Symposium was dedicated to the practices. Hatha yoga, pratyahara and the lifestyle yamas and niyamas were the focus of the class sessions.
Satyam Yoga Prasad offered hundreds of books, DVDs and CDs produced by Yoga Publications Trust and Sannyasa Peeth. Satyam Darshan was the cinema dedicated to the teaching of Sri Swamiji and Swamiji and aspirants were free to sit and receive inspiration throughout the day.
For those who were more inclined to sing and dance, akhand kirtan took place at the amphitheatre in Satyam Vatika. Delegates from all countries were invited to sing kirtan. Also in Satyam Vatika, the Kundalini Awakening Centre opened its doors to give a 5D glimpse of the Shakti inherent in all of us.
The chanting of the pandits during the Sudarshan Yajna conducted at Akhara blessed the goodwill and positive intentions of the aspirants.