Swami Veda Bharati to speak at La Jolla Yoga Center

By Leigh Ann Dewey

Contributor

Promoting a message of positive thinking and action in what often seems like a negative world, renowned spiritual guide, and yoga and meditation teacher Swami Veda Bharati will speak from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday at the La Jolla Yoga Center, 7741 Fay Ave.

His topic will be “What is Right with the Mind and the World?” Admission is $49 at the door. Mats, cushions and chairs will be available.

The center’s mission is “to bring to San Diego those who have a way of empowering us, aspiring us to be the gift to the world … that we ourselves were meant to be,” said its director Jeanie Carlstead. “Swami Veda is a presence of love with a message of what is right in the world and with ourselves.”

Negative feelings and thoughts are common in the world today, said Mehrad Nazari, who with wife Michele Hebert teaches at the center and organized Bharati’s visit. “The media, especially, can be negative,” Nazari said, “and people can unknowingly become addicted to it.”

He said he believes that people attending the event will be open to the Bharati’s message of finding the positive aspects of their lives and the world around them. Nazari and Hebert met Bharati in 1996 while traveling in India and became his students.

“He seeks to transcend the realms of religion and reach out to people of all faiths,” said Nazari. “We’ve studied with many masters, but his teachings really resonated with us.” The couple is responsible for inviting Bharati to La Jolla. Bharati is in California attending the annual Global Peace Initiative of Women conference in Monterey.

Born in 1933 to a Sanskrit-speaking family and raised in Rishikesh, India, Bharati has taught and provided spiritual guidance to people of all ages for most of his life. He began at age 9, teaching the Yoga Sutras of Pantajali (a Hindu scripture and the foundation of Yoga and the Vedas – Hinduism’s most ancient teachings) to groups of people of all ages.

He attended universities in London and Holland, earning Bachelors, Masters and Doctor of Letters degrees. He met his spiritual master, Swami Rama, in 1969, and was initiated into one of the highest paths of Dhyana-yoga.

In 2005, he received the title of Mahamandaleshwar, the second highest level of the Swami order, placing him among the top 200 or so of the half-million members of that order in India. He is the spiritual director of two ashrams: the Sadhana Mandir, founded by Rama; and Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama. Both are located in Rishikesh, near the Himalayan Mountains and his birth place. He is also founder and spiritual guide of the Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

A poet and scholar, Bharati has written books on meditation, yoga, the Yoga Sutras of Pantajali and other subjects; appears in lectures on CD, DVD and YouTube; and travels throughout the world to speak on a variety if topics.

He understands 17 languages; has studied the scriptures of all major religions; and teaches meditation and yoga to people of a variety of different faiths, including Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, and Sikhs, following their cultural and meditative traditions.

Founded in November 2009, the La Jolla Yoga Center features special events and speakers, and classes focused on a variety of yoga techniques.

If you go

What:

“What is Right with the Mind and the World?” lecture by Swami Veda Bharati

When:

4-6 p.m. Oct. 9

Where:

La Jolla Yoga Center, 7741 Fay Ave.

Tickets:

$49 at the door

Contact:

www.lajollayogacenter.com

, (858) 456-2412

Web:

www.swamiveda.org