What's on at Padma

Autumn Term Classes
The term starts on Monday 20th September.
There will be a new beginners class starting at 6.15 on Thursdays and a new bilingual class class will be starting at Ty Tawe, Swansea. Tuesday's "Afternoon class" will be starting 30 minutes earlier at 1.00pm. Thursdays "Going Deeper" will not be continuing this term.
The other class times remain the same as last term. Full schedule
Individual classes are available, please call for details.

Evolutionary Role of Karma - Swami Satyananda Saraswati

You may practice raja, hatha, kundalini, mantra and bhakti yoga, but if you underestimate karma yoga, then all these yogas can lead you to a dissipated and dispersed state of mind. Every person who is practicing yoga should transform his daily activities through the philosophy of karma yoga.
The purpose of your daily work should become spiritual; or rather you should realize nature’s spiritual purpose behind your karma. If you renounce your karma, your mind will not find a basis for evolution. Before you can realize the role of karma yoga in relation to spiritual evolution, you must first understand that the purpose of karma yoga is to create a stable base for the mind. In meditation the mind has to remain constantly on one object without any interception of another idea. But if you keep on practicing this without having attained the state of sattva, without having purified the mind, you will only fall back into a tamasic state. In order to prevent this, the practice of karma yoga was designed by nature for every man, because we all have ambitions, desires and passions.
If you don’t have any desire, you definitely will not make any karma. If desire were to be eliminated then man’s psycho-spiritual evolution would come to a halt. Therefore, desires must not be curbed. You should either fulfill them completely or else realize their uselessness.
By curbing your desires, you are killing your opportunity to act. Say you have a desire to have a child. To fulfill this you need to have a wife or husband, a home, a job, shop or business, and then so many things follow. These things are what keep this untrained mind busy all the time. This is how karma keeps the devil mind busy. Mind is a great force, a supramental force, and if this force is not properly utilized, it will feed the wrong centers in the mental personality and perhaps become very destructive. Therefore, nature has created karma.
- The above is an extract from a satsang posted on www.rikhiapeeth.net - Read the full article

Autumn Equinox Day of Cleansing
On Saturday 18th September - Using hatha yoga cleansing practices to strenghten your body and mind. read on

Mantra and Mandala
On Saturday 25th September - A day with Poornam which will focus on sound and circular form through chanting and creating a sand mandala. Suitable for experienced practitioners and beginners wishing to go deeper. More Info

Karma Yoga Morning
On Saturday 9th October - This crucial gem of the yogic system will be explored in theory and practice. Emphasis will be given to developing the "witness" and integrating the "attitude" of the karma yogi in to ones daily life. More Info

Vitality and Harmony through Yoga and Sound
Combining sound with classical yoga practices. The day will include asana, Yoga Nidra and meditation, expanding and developing awareness through the use of sound. - Day and time to be anounced -

Full Calendar of Events
View the full Events Calendar 2010

The original document is available at http://www.padma.org.uk/tiki/tiki-index.php?page=What%27s%20on%20at%20Padma