*  Yoga Day

 Our Yoga Days are held on the Fourth Saturday of Each Month - Feb to Nov

Programme:

9.00am –   Karma Yoga ~ helpers welcome for lunch preparation

10.00am –  12.00 pm      Morning yoga (asana) session

12.15pm – Delicious vegetarian served in upstairs dining room.

1:30 pm – 2.30pm   Afternoon yoga session, meditation /dvd   or other interesting session

Followed by cuppa and close by 3pm   

About Satsang  -   TBA

Satsang is the coming together of people to share truth and wisdom. 

Our satsang includes bhajans, prayers and readings of yogic scriptures and inspirational writings.

    *   KIRTIN

About Kirtan  -  Held every 4th Saturday 5.30pm

                                  Satsang Room

Kirtan is a form of bhajan or devotional song - singing with feeling, love and faith - where a lead-singer 'calls'  and others 'respond'.  Kirtan is not limited to Hinduism or those who practice yoga, it is simply joining in with the voice or an instrument, in the name of happiness!  When we open our hearts to music, something special happens....we become lighter, happier, less stressed and united. 

“If one does sankirtan from the bottom of his heart with feeling and divine love, even the trees, birds and animals will be deeply influenced. They will respond. Such is the powerful influence of sankirtan. Melodious music soothes the nerves.” (Swami Sivananda)

Our kirtan sessions are lively and fun!  We join together and sing with the random accompaniment of musical instruments such as harmonium, cymbals, drums and guitars.  Feel free to bring your own instrument.   Children are welcome too.

Held as a joint function with the Swaha community, in the Satsang Room, followed by supper.

Please stay for Bowl of soup and share the company with like minded people.

                Gold coin donation appreciated. 

* DISCUSSION GROUP

 8.00am    Sundays  (approx 1 hr) 

An informal discussion group / satsang meets twice per week to explore the philosophy and meaning underlying the spiritual search. Readings are from selected texts, followed by a short meditation. No charge.  All are welcome.

Held in the Stsang room, in the main Ashram building.

*  Visiting Yoga Teachers & Masters

We regularly have visiting yoga teachers or masters either staying at our Ashram offering programs and retreats, or teachers from outside coming to give workshops in the Yoga Hall.

About Navaratri or Durga Puja

Durga Puja is a festival, which is observed in September/October throughout India. It consists of up to nine days worship, honouring the female Cosmic Power which has various names - Devi, Durga, the Divine Mother, Divine Power or Shakti.

Programme (to be confirmed):

7.00am:

• Chanting a sacred mantra 108 times.
• Listening to the Sanskrit chanting of a part of the Devi Mahatmyam
• Reading the English translation.
• Chanting the hymn to the Devi.

7.30pm:

• Chanting a sacred mantra 108 times.
• Reading from one of Swami Venkatesananda’s lectures.
• Chanting Devi chants from our booklet.
• Chanting the hymn to the Devi.

* Guru Purnima

To Be Confirmed

About Guru Purnima

The Guru may be external or internal, human or non-human; it may even be a happening, an event - whatever awakens this wisdom within us and tears the veil of ignorance is the Guru.  During Guru Purnima, on the night of the full moon, we take time to rededicate ourselves to that awakening influence in our lives and remember our teachers or Gurus.


Programme:

7.00pm: Havan (fire ceremony)

8-9.45pm: Akanda Kirtan (devotional singing) - Maha Mantra: Hare Rama, Hare Krishna

10.00pm: Supper (with a plate to share, we provided halva and chai)

We are very grateful to the members of the Swaha (Satyananda WA)community who joined with us in making this celebration such a glorious event.

Symbolism of Fire Worship (Havan Yajna)

In the Havan (Yajna) a fire is raised and various articles are offered into the fire literally and symbolically, to the accompaniment of Vedic hyms or chanting. Here God is identified not only as the sacred fire and the artnicles used but also as the doer of the action; he who offers the sacrifice.

The symbol of the ritual can be extended to include all actions. The performer of the action, the instruments used, the act itself and the one to whom it is directed—all are God only. For he is infinite. When this truth is realised, charity, gifts and service are all transmuted into (Karma) yoga and free the aspirant from vanity, attachment and expectation.

There are some yogis who ‘sacrifice’ to the gods. They engage themselves in ritualistic worship. In time their vision expands to include in their concept of God their parents, teachers and guests. The ritual widens into charity and the heart is gradually purified.

There are others who do not worship the gods but perform these vedic ceremonies for their own sake. Though these vedic ceremonies offer heaven to the performer he is encouraged to cut this desire out in order that his action may lead to the supreme. Hence even the oblations are followed by ‘na-mama’ (not mine or not for me).

To the vast majority these external rituals are necessary as props for an internal process of meditation. There are, however, a few spiritual heroes who can dispense with them and enter the inner realm, with the aid of these ‘inner rituals.’

1. First kindle the fire of self-restraint within. Into that burning desire for achieving perfect restraint, offer the cravings and longings of the senses as and when they arise. The symbolism of the fire-worship will greatly help.
2. In the case of such activity and even such righteous enjoyment’s as are inevitable to the living of life, visualise the senses themselves as the sacrificial fire. Offer the objects of enjoyment into this fire; this is a very effective way of getting rid of ‘likes and dislikes’ which are the result of over-rating the objects of the world. The objects are like inert firewood, fuel for the senses which are the fire to be sustained so long as it is necessary for the enlightenment of the soul.
3. In a higher kind of meditation, the fire is Samyama (combined practice of concentration, meditation and Samadhi) and the oblation is the actions (present and past) of all the senses and even the vital force.

Once the oblation is offered into the fire it becomes one with the fire which alone shines. Thus, when the sense and the vital force are offered into the fire of Atma-Samyama, the Self alone shines, after absorbing the oblations (senses and vital force) into Itself.

*    Krishna Janmashtami

About Krishna Janmashtami

Krishna Janmashtami is the annual Hindu festival celebration of Lord Krishna's birthday.  Special prayers and rituals are taken to commemmorate the birth and life of Krishna and his love for Radha.

Programme    (to be confirmed): 

7.30am: Sri Krishna's Havan (fire ceremony). 

7.00pm: Satsang.

*    Puja

About Puja

Puja is the act of showing reverence or worship towards a God, spirit or another aspect of the divine through rituals, prayers, chanting and offerings. 

The Beacon Yoga Centre is founded by Swami Venkatesananda, a devotee of Lord Venkatesa, the Hindu God who appeared for the salvation and upliftment of humanity.   Lord Venkatesa has a special message to enrich our lives and keep us from 'sleep-walking'.  His mission is two-fold:

1. To provide easy accessibility of the divine to even the not-so-saintly devotee.
2. To remind us of the nature of divine grace.

It is seen in the ‘image’ that Lord Venkatesa’s eyes are covered in front, leaving only the corners free.  The Lord assures us that: “Whatever you may be, when you come to me, I do not frown on you; I can only look through the corners of my eyes and therefore only with love.” Again, please note the positions of the ‘lower’ arms. The right hand points to the feet indicating, “Take refuge at my feet” and the left held at thigh-level indicates that when you do so “The ocean of misery which worldly life is here will come up only to thigh-level and you will not drown in it.”

We honour the Lord Venkatesa statue on our alter with flowers, water, fruits, incense and sandal wood paste, accompanied with mantras, for approximately half an hour.

About the Worship

Worship is to be offered with love, with your heart and not with the head or the rational intellect. However, the following gives some ideas and might help to create the ‘inner feeling’.

1. Bathing the image is bathing the divine with the love of one’s whole being;
2. Offering flowers - offering all our actions as flowers at the feet of the omnipresent Lord;
3. Sandal-paste - the Lord is pleased with the forbearing person who gives of his fragrance to one who injures and ‘grinds’;
4. Incense - the unseen fragrance pervades the atmosphere and is experienced by you. Even so is the divine;
5. Light - May I be enlightened;
6. Offering of fruit - May I offer all the fruits of my actions to the higher good and be free;
7. Camphor - burns without leaving a residue. Even so may we adore the divine and be totally absorbed in the divine.

*  Sivananda      Satsang

Sivananda's Birthday Celebration - 8th of September 

Programme:   To Be Confirmed

Morning