Spiritual Practices from ancient wisdom traditions.

Vipassana Meditation

Vipassana Meditation is an ancient practice that help us move beyound the five senses and become still to hear the voice of the Spirit inside ourselves. This article offer both a thoeretical and practical introduction to this ancient spiritual practice from the Indian/Tibetan tradition.
Vipassana Meditation: The Sound Current and Vipassana Meditation (2003-11-15)

The ancient spiritual practice and philosophy of Yoga

The roots of Yoga can be traced back roughly 5,000 years to the Indus Valley civilization, where seals depicting people performing asanas (yoga postures) were used in trade along the river. The word Yoga comes from the Sanskrit word "Yuj" meaning to yoke, join or unite. It is the union of all aspects of an individual: body, mind and soul. Hence, Yoga reunites all opposites - mind and body, stillness and movement, masculine and feminine, sun and moon - in order to bring reconciliation between them. Yoga is one of the six branches in Indian philosophy and is referred to throughout the Vedas – the ancient scriptures of India. There is a legend that says that the knowledge of Yoga was first offered by Lord Shiva to his wife Parvati and then passed on to the world.
Read this article about the Yoga Philosophy explained thru the Patanjali Yoga Sutras:
Yoga Philosophy and the Patanjali Yoga Sutras (2003-05-22)

Homa - The Ancient fire ritual

Homas are powerful ancient fire rituals that have been performed in India by the Vedic sages for over 5000 years. Sri Krishna in Bhagavad Gita quotes, "This creation is a yagna". Yagna also means sacrifice and by this he meant that creation is an eternal flow of birth and death; it is a sacrifice where one’s death gives way for the birth of another, continuously, something gets sacrificed for something to arise. This is how the Vedas interpret the creation and in the purview of the Vedas, the homa is but a miniature model of this Universal Sacrifice.

A homa can help you to get well, have good relationships, find a partner, have children and it may even remove bad karma or negative aspects in a horoscope or with Vastu. Read more About different Homas and their purpose.

Fire constitutes the basis of the homa, but apart from that the procedure and ingredients are quite different, all depending on the purpose. During a homa, various rituals are performed successively in order to activate various energies and to also develop the right emotion to perform the homa. Some of these rituals are common and must be observed before every homa. Read more about The different steps in a Homa and their significance.

At The Oneness Festival you are invited to participate in several different homas during the festival which is included in the festival fee.

Introduction and links to related topics

Below are some short introductions. Click on the blue hyperlinked word to get more related articles.


Tapas - Sacred heat generated by certain physical or spiritual practices; ritual self-purification.

Yajna - 1) A sacrificial fire ritual in which Vedic mantras are recited while wood, fruit, grain, oil, yogurt, and ghee are poured into the fire as an offering to the Lord.

2) Any work or spiritual practice that is offered as worship to God.

Sadhana - Intense, disciplined, and regular practice or learning for spiritualism, religion, art and craft, e.g. music. Mostly it refers to intense spiritual practice to get enlightment -derived from Sanskrit sadhana ''dedication to an aim'', from sadh ''bring about''. [The word is accepted in Britannica]. A person who performs sadhana is a Sadhak.€€€

Seva - (lit., service) Selfless service; work offered to God, performed without attachment and with the attitude that one is not the doer. In Siddha Yoga ashrams, Guruseva is a spiritual practice, and students seek to perform all of their tasks in this spirit of selfless offering.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa - (1836-86) A Hindu mystic. He was born of a poor Brahman family in Bengal, and his given name was Gadadhar Chatterlee. In about 1855 he became a devotee of the goddess Kali and lived for the rest of his life at her temple in Dakshineswar outside Calcutta.

During a 15-year period of intense spiritual practice he mastered all the types of Hindu Yoga and also had mystical experience through Christian and Islamic worship. He concluded that all religions are valid means of approaching God. Ramakrishna had little formal learning, but his saintliness and wisdom attracted a large following.

After his death his teachings were spread by his disciples and by his wife Sarada Devi. Ramakrishna''s message of universal religion was carried to the West by Swami Vivekananda. The Ramakrishna Mission, founded by Vivekananda, is represented by a large monastic order in India, devoted to both contemplation and social action, and by centers in major cities of Europe and the US. Ramakrishna''s sayings are contained in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Bhasma - Ash from a sacred fire ritual (yajna), charged with the power of mantra. Bhasma is used to draw three horizontal stripes on the forehead and other parts of the body, representing the three qualities of nature reduced to ash by spiritual practices and the power of grace

Tantra - Tantra (noun) refers to a Hindu or Buddhist spiritual Sadhana, that is performed using Yantra, Mantra, and specific rituals. One of the ways in which Tantra is explained is : Tanu trayate itii Tantra (which liberates from the limitations of the body). From point-of-view of spiritual practice, Tantra means :

Yantra ku Mantrare Bhediba hiin Tantra (Oriya), i.e. To pierce through an Yantra by applying a Mantra is Tantra.

One who practises Tantra is a Tantrik (also Tantric).

Tantra is infact the best way of Spiritual practice to attain Siddhis. In the times of Guru Matsyendranath, Guru Gorakhnath, Guru Viswamitra etc., tantra was a much respected and evolved science. However, with time, tantra became a Taboo, partly because of misuse-of-capabilites by certain Greedy individuals, and partly because the real knowledge was made very confined due to the fear of misuse and slowly got extinct. In recent times, the word has been associated with a variety of strange things, by people with orientation-less or poor imagination, which has nothing really to do with Tantra.

Tantra is a vast Science, with many different ways, Siddhis, rituals and know-hows of six-abilites: Shanti, (peace), Vashikaran (hypnotism and control), Stambhan (paralyze someone), Vidveshana (create conflict between persons), Uchhatan (driving away), and Maarana (destroy or kill someone). It is the misuse of such capabilities that led to extinction of the divine knowledge, however, these are never the main aims of tantra. The fear of tantra-practising is unfounded.

The construction of the Jagannath temple at Puri is based on the principle of Tantra. The temple is constructed in the form of Shri-Yantra and the deities are placed on Maha-Vairabh Yantra which was designed using 100000 special black stones (saalagrama).

The word dates back from the 7th century (at least) or earlier and the origin is from Sanskrit (from tan ''stretch''). [The word is accepted in New English Oxford Dictionary].€€€

Ashram - The dwelling place of a Guru or saint; a monastic retreat site where seekers engage in spiritual practices and study the sacred teachings of yoga.

Tapas - Tapas means devoting oneself single mindedly to spiritual practice and it is often translated as spiritual austerity or penance. When Shri Swamiji uses the term tapas, he usually refers to meditation in samadhi for at least twelve hours every day. He explains that such tapas is necessary if one wishes to attain God realization.

Vision Quest - Native American spiritual practice for opening up to the universe and perceiving a clairvoyant vision of your personal guide for the purpose of prophesy, protection and discovering your life''s purpose. Traditionally a time of fasting and praying.

Spiritual Practices - Activities that purify and strengthen the mind and body for the spiritual path. Siddha Yoga practices include chanting, meditation, mantra repetition, hatha yoga, seva (selfless service), and contemplation.

Abhyasa - Spiritual practice.

Sadhana - Spiritual practice, discipline and effort. Part of the daily way of life for serious spiritual aspirants. Will often involve daily devotion, meditation and sacred mantras.

Yoga - (lit., union) The spiritual practices and disciplines that lead a seeker to evenness of mind, to the severing of the union with pain, and through detachment, to skill in action. Ultimately, the path of yoga leads to the constant experience of the Self.