February 2025 | Failure

Om Namah Sivaya

Blessed Self,

We are glad to see that there is some hope for peace in the middle east.  Swami Vishnudevanandaji strove throughout his life to promote peace and encourage all to live in harmony, respecting every culture, every race, and every human being as our own self. This profound teaching from Swamiji inspires us on a daily basis to practice and share our experience gained with all that we meet in our lifetime.

We are excited that after many years we are able to conduct a rare Maha Rudram Homam for world peace and unity at our ashram in Madurai, thus following the footsteps of our Guru Swami Vishnudevanandaji. Learn how you can participate here:

sivananda.org.in/maha-rudra-homam-2025/

After over 40 years in the organisation, I have understood clearly that root cause of any conflict is the individual ego. Even when our practice gives us clarity and we want to get along and make amends with others, the ego remains deeply engraved. Self-justification will not open the hearts and create tolerance in others. This doesn’t mean that our efforts must stop; even if no one is recognizing it, we should continue anyway. Eventually, time heals and peace is possible. Our intention is most important, without having expectation and leaving the results to God and the Gurus. Therefore, we continue our best efforts and hope that many others can join us for the Homam, both onsite and online to pray for and end to world conflicts and for all to live in peace.

New 2025 calendars with inspiring pictures of Master and Swamiji are available for download here:

drive.google.com/file/d/1ki3skkcuAzmxe5CgJSCks8-JLQs0NPeD/

May Master and Swamiji’s blessings be with you always.

Pranams,

Prahlada
Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Ashrams & Centres, India

Urinary Incontinence After Hysterectomy:
restoreyourcore.com/learn/incontinence/urine-leakage-after-hysterectomy-what-to-expect-strategies-for-relief/

Yoga Can Help Ease Low Back Pain:
www.health.harvard.edu/blog/yoga-can-help-ease-low-back-pain-201110313718

February 8 – Ekadasi
February 12 – Full Moon
February 24 – Ekadasi
February 26 – Maha Sivarathri
February 27 – New Moon

Feb 9 to Mar 8, 2025,
Neyyar Dam, Kerala

Mar 2 to Mar 29, 2025,
Madurai, Tamil Nadu

Mar 16 to Apr 12, 2025,
Neyyar Dam, Kerala

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Feb 10 to Apr 3, 2025
Mon & Thu | 11.30 am – 1.00 pm

Feb 11 to Apr 4, 2025
Tue & Fri | 6.30 pm – 8.00 pm

Feb 20 to Apr 14, 2025
Mon & Thu | 8.00 am – 9.30 am

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Mar 1, 2025 to Mar 7, 2026
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Oct 16 to 29, 2025,
Uttarkashi, Himalayas

For more details, click here

Feb 9 to Feb 23, 2025,
Neyyar Dam, Kerala

For more details, click here

Feb 20 to Mar 7, 2025,
Madurai, Tamil Nadu

For more details, click here

Apr 13 to 17, 2025,
Neyyar Dam In-Person & ONLINE

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Vrikshasana, the Tree, is a favourite asana for many practitioners. There is much variation from person to person in how the asana looks. A lot of this variation is due to pelvic structure. Those with more flexibility tend to push the hip to the side and can benefit from some hip strengthening, leg strengthening, and an increased awareness of their posture in the asana. We’ll explore this in the video.

Thank you to all who submitted their Tree photos. It’s wonderful to see you all in practice, your variations and interpretations of the Tree.

We hope the video is helpful. All best wishes for your inspired practice and teaching.

Scientifically, at a functional level, our foods fall under the categories of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals. A healthy diet, according to a scientific approach is to consume a platter full of all these nutrients in specific proportions to form a balanced diet.

However, the traditional approach to diet looks at a heathy meal from an altogether different perspective and not directly about nutrients, which is a comparatively newer concept in the history of diet. The traditional approach to nutrition looks at the following parameters as the deciding factors when it comes to healthy and balanced diet:

1. State of digestion – Ayurveda has always been at the forefront, emphasizing the importance of digestion for health. The nutritional science may be deep and vast, however, unless great nutrition is supported by great digestion, absorption, and assimilation of nutrients, optimal health cannot be achieved. When we chew and swallow our food, it mixes with saliva, enzymes, and acids, converting nutrients into the essence or juice, which is used to make tissues. It is the state of digestion that decides the fate of consumed foods.
2. Understanding of taste as energy – In Ayurveda, each taste carries a specific energy that powers specific tissues of the body. It is not the nutrients, but the taste that is the deciding factor of a balanced and healthy meal. The sweet taste is very nourishing, and, in moderation imparts longevity, strength and healthy body fluids. Sour taste is known to improve digestion and bring about a clarity of thought. The salty taste is very hydrating, digestive, and cleansing in nature. Pungent taste is hot and sharp and aids digestion when consumed in moderation. It helps improve appetite, cleanses the tissues, and enhances blood circulation. Bitter taste is considered very cooling in nature and highly detoxifying. It helps flush out toxic material from the body and purifies the body. Astringent taste is cooling and drying and helps people with high heat conditions.

3. Cooking methods – According to traditional diets, it is not just the food but how it is prepared, that defines its Cooking techniques including boiling, steaming, sauteing, fermenting etc. impact the qualities of foods to enhance flavour, nutrition, and digestive power. Learning to cook right is an important part of traditional nutrition.
4. Seasonal eating – Seasonal eating is such an important concept in traditional diets. Foods grown in each season carry the energy to balance and maintain optimal health at that time. It is understood traditionally that eating foods which do not belong to a particular season can lead to a compromised immune system, weight concerns, poor skin and hair quality, and even to serious illnesses.

The Khajuraho Group of Monuments is a UNESCO World Heritage site, located about eleven hours by train from Delhi in the Vindhya mountain range in northern Madhya Pradesh. Travelling to Khajuraho is an inland trek for certain, one that many foreigners may not make. Those who do visit Khajuraho are rewarded with an inspiring and well-maintained group of roughly 25 Hindu and Jain temples built between 885 and 1000 CE in the Nagara style. The temple complex was neglected and overgrown by jungle, some of the original 85 temples destroyed under Muslim rule, until 1838 when it was rediscovered by a global audience. These monuments are today world-renowned for their outstanding architecture, diversity of temple forms, architectural symbolism, and for their erotic sculptures on the temple exterior walls.

The largest and most impressive surviving temple in the complex is the Kandariya Mahadeva Temple. You will see images below of this temple and of its ornate exterior carvings. Many may not be aware that the symbolism of these temples is that of the three bodies in yogic philosophy. The ornate exterior carvings, showing erotic scenes as well as everyday worldly scenes such as removing a thorn from a foot, are representative of the physical body and the four Purusharthas, or goals of life in Hinduism: dharma (righteousness), kama (pleasure), artha (prosperity), and moksha (liberation). The sculptures would have also served as a reminder to the ascetics and yogis living onsite as brahmacharis until the 12^th century, of the worldly life.

We enter the temple through a porch or gate, the Ardha Mandapa, as if entering our body, the inner world, and come to the Maha Mandapa, or hall, in essence going deeper into yourself and encountering the astral body, the mind, emotions, and energetic aspects of oneself. Finally, we go deeper into the inner sanctum where we find God, our own Self.

We learn, though it may be tempting, to look beyond the exterior to find our ultimate goal. The inner sanctum of the Kandariya Mahadeva temple is not made easy to reach. It’s a bit of a climb on small steps that must be ascended alone. We may easily fall. The Khajuraho temples remind us that failure is always a possibility, but there is much to be gained by going inside and making an attempt.

You will notice in the photos a mix of Hindu and Jain temples, suggesting a diversity and tradition of religious acceptance in the region. Finally, you will also see the Varaha sculpture in the photos, standing firmly through the ages.

In the Ramayana, a tale that has echoed across generations, we are told of the heroic prince Rama, his battles, and the epic journey to rescue his wife, Sita. At first glance it seems like a story of love and triumph—a prince who fights a war for his wife. Yet, the heart of this ancient epic is far more complex, revealing the silent and often unacknowledged sacrifice of Sita, a woman whose entire life was defined by duty, devotion, and the burdens placed on her as a woman.

Sita, the daughter of the earth, was not only beautiful, but highly intelligent, skilled in the arts, and deeply wise. Raised in a royal household, she had the potential to rule on her own, equipped with the highest education of her time—from the Vedas to martial arts. However, despite her vast abilities, Sita’s life was destined to be shaped by a single, defining role: that of a wife. She was married to Rama, a man revered for his strength and righteousness, but the Ramayana shows us that Sita’s story is not one of simple happiness or victory. It is, in fact, a poignant narrative of sacrifice—of a woman who, despite her strength and dignity, was repeatedly tested and abandoned by the very people who should have protected her.

Sita’s Abduction by Ravana, National Museum, New Delhi

When Rama was exiled to the forest, Sita chose to accompany him. She wasn’t forced, nor was she required to leave the comforts of her palace life. Driven by an unwavering sense of duty, she gave up her luxuries and chose hardship to stay by her husband’s side. It was not a romantic gesture but a reflection of her deep commitment to her marriage. Her family begged her to remain, reminding her of the security and wealth she would forfeit, but Sita’s decision was resolute. This was not just a personal choice—it was her commitment to the ideals of loyalty and duty, values that, in her time, were ascribed almost exclusively to women.

The hardships Sita faced did not stop there. She was kidnapped by Ravana, the demon king of Lanka, and taken to his island kingdom, a land of unimaginable wealth. Ravana, with all his power and riches, attempted to sway Sita, offering her a life of luxury and comfort, but Sita remained unmoved. Her loyalty to Rama was absolute. She endured months of torment in captivity yet never wavered in her devotion. Eventually, Rama, aided by Hanuman and an army of allies, rescued her. However, upon her return, the whispers began.

It was not enough that she had endured the worst of trials; society now turned on her. The people began to question her purity, casting aspersions on her character, even though she had been abducted against her will. Here, the Ramayana lays bare a painful truth: that the loyalty of women is always under scrutiny. Sita’s suffering was ignored, her endurance forgotten, and instead, her integrity was called into question.

To prove her innocence, Sita underwent a trial by fire—an act of unimaginable courage. She walked into the flames, praying that if she was unfaithful, the fire would consume her. When the flames subsided, she emerged unscathed, her purity affirmed by the gods. However, even after this divine intervention, the question remains: why must a woman’s purity, loyalty, and love be always tested? Why must women bear the burden of proving their worth in ways that men never are?

What followed was a bitter twist of fate. Despite the miraculous proof of her innocence, Rama, pressured by public opinion, abandoned Sita. He sent her into exile, asking her to live in solitude in a forest ashram, far from the royal palace. This decision is, perhaps, the most tragic of all. A king like Raja Dashrath could take multiple wives without question, but an innocent wife who was kidnapped against her will must go into exile because of rumours and the societal expectation of purity. His decision reveals an unsettling truth: that in a world built upon patriarchy, women are often discarded the moment they are no longer deemed ‘pure’ by others.

In the forest, Sita raised their twin sons alone, without the support of the man who should have been by her side. She was, once again, forced to endure hardship without the comfort of family or the security of royal life. Yet, she did not fail. She raised two strong sons who would later challenge even the might of kings, of Lord Rama himself, in ashvamedh yagya, a test of Imperial sovereignty, without knowing that he was their father. She had, in the silence of her suffering, nurtured a strength greater than any war.

In the end, Sita calls to the earth, her mother, to take her back. The earth splits open, and she returns to the very soil that had given her life. In the end, the daughter of the earth was taken back to her origin. The trials of her life were over, but the echo of her sacrifice lingers.

Sita’s story is not just an ancient myth—it reflects the struggles women face today. In many ways, the sacrifices she made echo in the lives of women across the world. The Ramayana portrays a woman who gave everything—her security, her identity, and even her happiness—for the sake of others. And even then, her worth was never fully acknowledged. Women still grapple with the same expectations today: whether to sacrifice their careers, their ambitions, and their personal desires for the sake of their families, their partners, and society.

Despite their achievements—whether in the corporate world, academia, or government–women are still measured by outdated standards of ‘purity’ and ‘duty.’ They are expected to be both successful professionals and perfect mothers and wives, often balancing impossible demands without recognition. The modern woman, much like Sita, is frequently asked to give and give, with little in return. She is expected to juggle a demanding career and family responsibilities, often without the support she needs.

The Ramayana does not just ask us to examine the past, it calls us to confront the present. As we reflect on Sita’s sacrifice, we must ask: has anything truly changed? In a society that celebrates the feats of men, why do we still place the heaviest burdens on women? Sita’s life, filled with sacrifice and suffering, challenges us to rethink the roles women are asked to play in both ancient and modern times.

Was the Ramayana a failure? Did it fail to recognise the depth of Sita’s sacrifice? Did it fail women, both then and now? The story of Sita raises difficult questions about society’s expectations of women, expectations that have hardly changed in thousands of years. The true question is not just whether women are still asked to sacrifice, but when society will finally recognise their worth beyond the roles they are expected to play.

“There is something good in all seeming failures. You are not to see it now.
Time will reveal it. Be patient.”

-Swami Sivananda