Yoga/Yoga Tales

The Frog
Once there was a frog who lived with many other frogs in a small well. Once at midday the sun shone briefly in the well. Apart from that it was in the lives of the frogs rather dark and sad. Our frog wanted to live always in the light. He wanted always to feel love and happiness within. One day at lunch time, the frog jumped out of the well and followed the sun. He followed the light in his heart. After some time he came to a great sea. He jumped in and was transformed. The frog had realized his spiritual self. He had jumped in the great nothingness of egolessness. He had let go of all attachment to all external things. He had given up his search for his dream girl. He had gone through the feeling of loneliness and boredom. Through his spiritual practices, his mental tension structure had disintegrated, and the light within was awakened. From his chakras bubbled the life force energy. The frog had found the sun in himself. He lived now permanently in happiness. It did not matter if it was raining outside or not. The frog was so happy with his new state of bliss, that he told it to all the other frogs. Most frogs did not believe him. They believed more in the great luck in the little frog pond. They believed that they would be happier if they would catch more flies. But some frogs trusted him and followed him on the way of light.

The Frog Family
There was once a frog family. The frog mother showed her children the world: "This is the water. The Lord has made it​, so that we can swim beautiful." The frog children jumped into the water, swam around and cheered: "Wonderful. This has the Lord done well." Then the frog mother pointed to the many insects that flew across the pond: "The Lord has made the insects, so we have something to eat every day. Otherwise, we would starve." The frog children jumped for joy into the air: "God did well. Praise the Lord. He is our great father and breadwinner." The frog mother took her children to the colorful flowers on the shore: "God has made the flowers so that there is beauty in our lives." The frog children admired every single flower, smelling its delicious scent and sang a song in honor of the great father. The frog mother sat down with her children in the green grass. They let the sun shine on their stomach. The frog mother said: "God has made the sun, so there is light in the world, otherwise we would live forever in the dark." The frog children thanked the good Lord for the great light. Suddenly a serpent came and ate one of the frog children. The frog children were horrified: "What is about the snake?" The frog mother said, "God has made also the serpent.Through the snake we have to recognize that the center of life is the inner happiness and not the outer enjoyment."

Three Wishes
There was once a poor woman. She had a tough time in her life. She tried to be happy in a relationship. But all her relationships had failed. She tried to be happy at work. But in her profession she learned only stress, struggle and selfishness. Over the years, she more and more exhausted her internal energy. She now lived alone, without a man, without a job, without a deeper meaning to life and frustrated. Every day watching TV and eating candy was in the long run not the way to great happiness. Somehow the woman was looking for a fulfilling life. One night her appeared the Yoga God Shiva in a dream. He said to her: "It's your lucky day. You have three wishes." The wife wished for love, strength, and happiness. The next day she went out leaded by an unseen hand to a bookstore. She bought a yoga book and worked through it thoroughly. She made every day in the morning, afternoon and evening her spiritual practices. She read in a spiritual book, walked, practiced her favorite Yoga series and meditated before bedtime. She did not practice much, but regularly. And above all, effective and with an inner sense. She felt every day what she exactly needed. With her yoga exercises, she managed to awaken her Kundalini energy. Suddenly, she had a lot of strength and happiness within. She gave her knowledge in her own way to her fellow human beings and thereby opened her heart chakra. She got into the energy of the all-encompassing love. She lived from now on focus on the goal of a happy world, found her personal mission and became a bringer of light. Yoga had made her life to a path of grace.

Happy Housewife
There was once a woman who had two children. Her husband went to work during the day, and she cleaned the house, cooked the food and cared of the children. She had a good life. But it does not filled her out. Her lacked a deeper meaning of life. Ultimately lacked the deep happiness in her life. To do something for herself, she took part in a yoga class. She read a yoga book and learned that by yoga one can awaken his inner happiness. One who practices a lot of yoga may thus come into a life of light and to lasting happiness. The woman decided to live as a yogini. From now on, she took all the freedom in her housewife life, to do spiritual exercises. While cleaning, she thought mantras. When shopping, she did a walking meditation. Playing with her children she practiced karma yoga. Before falling asleep, she meditated. Thus she sparked further tensions during sleep. It's called Sleep Yoga. Every morning, she prayed to her enlightened Master. She made an hour yoga every day. She blocked her talkativeness and kept her spiritual energy. This is Mauni Yoga. She practised every day consistently her spiritual path. After twelve years she was enlightened.

The Anxious Yogi
There was once a man who was very frightened. He wanted to overcome his fear. So he went to an enlightened Master and asked his advice. The Master advised the man to become a yogi and to disband his neurotic anxiety with his spiritual exercises. The man pulled into a lonely hut in a large forest. In the forest, there were tigers, snakes and jackals. The yogi feared all. Therefore he read in his clever yogi book what a yogi has to do in such a case. First advice: Look closely at every fear. Who closely looks at frightening situations can optimally protect himself. Fear is caused by negative thoughts. Fear thoughts can be overcome with the eight major techniques: reflecting (alone or talking with another person), mantra (thinking a positive word), thought-stopping, acting wisely, doing something good, walking, yoga or meditating (resting in inner happiness and let all thoughts come and go). Who exactly looks at his fear, finds his negative thought and can dissolve it with a appropriate positive thought. Second advice: Sacrifice the ego. Unchangeable things we have to accept as they are. We have to let go of our false wishes. All fears are only mental constructs based on an exaggerated rejection. Who sacrifices himself into the center of his fear, triggers the fear by this. It is the best to hand over yourself to the will of life (God). Who can let go of his ego, can flow positive through all suffering. Third advice: Ask the great Masters (God) for help. Then think about the problem and go with endurance the path of your personal wisdom. The yogi looked closely at his problems. Jackals just howl and don't bite. Snakes only bite when they feel attacked. When a yogi is careful and moves slowly the snakes will do him nothing. Only tigers eat people, but it is rare. It is the best to go such a tiger out of the way. And if that is not possible, a yogi sacrifices his ego, takes the situation, and continues practicing Yoga in the next life. The Yogi went his way with courage and perseverance. And one day he was enlightened, and all the fear was gone.

The Sick Farmer
There once was a farmer in India who had a large goiter on his neck. The goiter looked very ugly and was very painful. The farmer was desperate. He asked many doctors. But no one could help him. In his distress he went on pilgrimage to a holy place where an enlightened master lived. The farmer was called Kukcipa. The name of the enlightened master was Nagarjuna. Nagarjuna is one of the founders of Mahayana Buddhism, the connection of the path of enlightenment with the way of all-embracing love.

Nagarjuna instructed the farmer to meditate every day on his crop. He should dissolve the tensions in his throat chakra with yoga exercises. He should envelop it with light and send healing energy to all people over the world. He should think the mantra "light" until his mind is completely at rest. Then he should spend some time in the rest. Kucipa practiced for many years as a yogi. First, the pain in his throat grew bigger and bigger. Prior to healing often comes a phase of energizing. Then the pain became less, the goiter disappeared and Kucipa was healed. He was outwardly and inwardly healed. Outwardly he got a healthy body and inwardly peace and happiness.

The Yogini with the Dog
There once was a woman who wanted to realize her inner happiness. She wanted enlightenment immediately and in this life. She longed to live permanently in the light and in the love. There was only one problem. The woman did not like to be alone. To come to enlightenment usually one has to live many years in seclusion. Those who want to quickly reach enlightenment need a lot of rest, a spiritual daily schedule and a way of all-embracing love. These three things cause a fast growth in the light. The woman solved her problem. She bought a dog and moved together with the dog in a remote cabin in the woods. Twice a day, she walked an hour with him. If she did yoga and meditation, the dog was lying peacefully beside her. So she was never lonely. The dog gave her every day love, inspiration and joy. The dog guarded her house and protected her from pushy men. She practiced for many years with the dog her path of yoga. The dog was a positive center in her life. After twelve years she realized enlightenment on an easy way.

Yogi Bhagiratha
Bhagiratha was an Indian king. All his brothers and sisters lived in the hell. They lived in the world of suffering. They were inwardly unhappy. They were tormented by the seven demons anger, pride, envy, greed, fear, addiction and unwisdom. Bhagiratha knew that his brothers and sisters could not recover by themselves from their spiritual unwisdom. The path of inner happiness is hard to understand. The consistent spiritual practice is difficult to learn. And still more difficult it is the way of effective practicing to be found. Most people lose themselves in the formal practice and do not come forward. Without an enlightened master is not easy for a normal man to come into the light successfully.

Bhagiratha decided to save his brothers and sisters from the hell. He became a yogi and brought first himself into the light. After having practiced twelve years intense yoga and meditation, one night Shiva appeared in his dream and asked him what he wants. Bhagiratha replied: “I want to free my brothers and sisters from hell. I want to bring all people of the world into the light. I wish a happy world full of happy people. “

Shiva then opened the sky and let water (enlightenment energy) flowing down on the earth. The impact on the earth was so great that Shiva had to soften it. He let the water run through his matted hair, and it was spread on the ground in many small streams. The streams splashing from the Himalaya mountains into the Indian plains and irrigated the land. All India began to flourish, the people were happy and the animals too. The result was the river Ganges, which supplies northern India with water. Bhagiratha transformed into Shiva. The enlightenment energy flowed inside and outside over his head and his hairs down on his body. After some time Bhagiratha was quite full of happiness and surrounded by a cloud of light. Where he stepped his feet, the earth started to bloom. Red roses and white lilies lined his path. Near him the wild animals were tame, and the birds began to sing. When he looked like a God, beaming with happiness, he went back into the world of suffering and told his people from the way of inner happiness. As he himself had achieved this, they believed him and followed him. Thus, the paradise was brought to earth.

The Secret of Tantra
On the way of Tantric Yoga we live in the conflict of outer pleasure and inner happiness. Both paths are exactly opposite. The path of the outer pleasure leads to the growth of attachment to the world and reinforces inner tensions. The more we live in the outer pleasures, the more our attachment grows. The internal tensions become more and more and shrink the inner happiness. We are losing our inner peace, our strength and our inner harmony. On the way of inner happiness we solve systematically all inner tensions. We free us from all attachments to external things. Enlightenment is the ultimately freedom from the outer world. And thus we can keep our inner happiness in all outer circumstances. The less inner tensions we have, the greater is the inner happiness. Until we live permanently in the light, in the enlightenment and in the unity (God, Nirvana).

One can say that there is ego-realization and self-realization. The long-term the ego-realization basically leads to inner unhappiness and the self-realization to inner happiness. The ego-realization is easy at the beginning and suffering at the end. The self-realization is difficult at the beginning and an incredible grace at the end. The ego-realization consists of good food, lots of sex, nice travel, extreme consumption, and external praise. It follows the sloth (tamas), or the exaggerated activity (rajas). The self-realization consists of daily work on yourself and constant mental effort. We don't set the ego (our external desires), but the self (the freed psyche) in the center of our life.

In Tantric Yoga, we solve the conflict between the outer and the inner path by flowing with wisdom with the things of life. We live the outer pleasures so that they bring us forward into the light. We live them sensitively, in due measure and with the right mental attitude. We put the spiritual goal in the focus of our lives. We use the positive potential of the external pleasures, without getting lost in them. We solve all attachments again and again with our spiritual techniques (meditation and mind work) and always get back into the light (to inner harmony). We live primarily in rest, in our spiritual practice and in the all-embracing love.

If we do not see the problem of attachment, we go into the big trap of Tantra. We are strengthening our attachment and block our enlightenment. We come into the dynamics of self-indulgence. Our needs are constantly increasing, we see more and more the negative sites of our partner, and the satisfaction with our relationship is decreasing more and more. We want love from others and not to give love. We do not live primarily out of the spirituality. Then the development of attachment and negativity can not be controlled. A happy relationship arises when we live our relationship with wisdom and love. We should practise our relationship so that both partners grow in their inner happiness. We should put the happiness of all beings in the center of our lives. Then we will succeed in our relationships and our lives. Live positive relationships with your fellow man. Success! Send a friend light. Send him a positive sentence. "I send light to (name). May all people be happy. May the world be happy."

Kankaripa
There once was a man who had a beautiful woman. The two loved each other dearly. They thought positively and therefore could lead a happy relationship for many years. The man was Kankaripa. Kankaripa had a successful career in his job and a happy relationship. He was very happy with his life.

But nothing lasts forever in the outer life. One day his woman died. Kankaripa was inconsolable. He depended entirely on his deceased wife. He could not rid himself of the attachment. So he went to a spiritual Master and asked him for advice The Master said, that at a great love the emotional connection is very strong. It can be resolved only through spiritual exercises over a long period of time. The Master recommended Kankaripa to make three hours every day spiritual exercises. He should take a walk, do yoga, mental work, meditation and read in a spiritual book. He should practice his profession in focus as a Karma Yogi for the goal of a happy world. He should concentrate more on the happiness of his fellow man than his own happiness.

In addition, he should practice every day mentally Tantra Yoga. He should visualize himself in a sexual union with his wife, enjoy the happiness, think the mantra "light", envelop both in light and then resolve both persons in the unity of the cosmos. He should visualize the universe full of stars around him, thinking the mantra "stars". Then he should stop three minutes his thoughts and after that he should linger in a relaxed meditation and let his thoughts and feelings flow.

This Kankaripa did a few years and then he was cured of his relationship addiction. He could now live a new relationship and also good to be alone, just like life it brought with it. His firm roots in spirituality allowed him to flow positive with all the changes in his life and always to preserve his inner happiness.

The Old Weaver
In India, there lived an old man, whose name was Tantipa. By profession he was a weaver. He made many beautiful woven rugs and blankets in his life. But now in the age his hands were stiff. He could no longer practice his profession. Now he was missing a task. Tantipa sat alone in his hut. His wife had died several years ago. His profession and his wife had been his purpose in life. He had children, but the children went their own ways, and wanted to have nothing to do with him. The only thing they did for their old father, was to give him something to eat every day. Externally Tantipa had enough to live on, but inside he was bored. Tantipa lived many years sadly to himself. Loudly he complained his cruel fate.

Then one day a yogi came and heard Tantipa lament. He said to him, "You're a fool. You don´t see the great treasure in your life. You could live as a yogi and develop your inner happiness. Through your daily yoga practice you could get a meaningful age. Instead of using the big opportunity, you spend your days complaining about your fate and increase your pain." Tantipa knew that the way of inner happiness exists. The ideal of life of Hinduism is to learn in the youth, to work as an adult, to have a family, and to attain enlightenment at the end of the life. Tantipa realized that the yogi was right. He asked the yogi for the right exercises for him, and immediately began an intense spiritual practice.

In his career as a weaver Tantipa had been very busy. He had worked hard and with endurance. These qualities brought him fast forward on his path of yoga. Tantipa practiced diligently every day reading, going, yoga, meditation and positive thinking. After twelve years he reached enlightenment. All internal tensions broke up, and his Kundalini energy began to flow. His body was full of energy and his mind full of happiness. He radiated love and light. All people came to see him, to hear his wisdom and to get some of his good energy. Tantipa became never bored again. He was very happy about his well-used life on earth.

A Prostitute
Ambapali was a prostitute. All the men were lying to her feet. She was beautiful, rich and intelligent. Ambapali was very proud of herself and her body. When she heard a sermon of Buddha one day, she realized that all outer wealth and also her beautiful body were transient. Only her soul would always exist. To have a happy soul, one has to cultivate his inner happiness. Ambapali changed her life radically. She became a yogini. She practiced intensively. She resolved systematic the proud of her beautiful body. She meditated constantly on the transience of all things on earth. She visualized herself as an old woman, a suffering woman, the death of her body and her transformation into a buddha and a life in nirvana. After a few years she realized enlightenment. All of her negative qualities disappeared. A prostitute became a saint. In spirituality it is not important what job a person has, but what inner spirit he or she has.

The King and the Five Sacrifices
There was once a king who wanted to realize his inner happiness. A priest told him that a five-fold renunciation is necessary. The king had a lot of wisdom and a strong will. He was willing to perform a sacrifice, if it was necessary to achieve his goal. First, the king renounced his kingdom. He moved to a secluded forest and lived as a yogi. Second, the king renounced on sexuality. He lived without a relationship to better focus his energy on his spiritual exercises. That was for him the greatest sacrifice. Third, the king renounced on his thoughts. He meditated a lot and lived in great peace. Fourth, he renounced his ego. He let go of his ego, went through the vast emptiness (becoming internal nothing, no feeling of an independent self) and came into the light. It feels uncomfortable when the ego dissolves. But behind this is waiting the inner happiness. Who knows this, can easily sacrifice his ego. The king enjoyed some time in the happiness of enlightenment. Then he thought of the suffering of his people. They needed an enlightened Master who guided them along their way. The king renounced so fifthly on the happiness of seclusion and went back to his kingdom. He lived as a Hatha Yogi (physical exercises, meditation), as a Karma Yogi (love to all) and as a Bhogi Yogi (much external pleasure) permanently in the light (in unity consciousness, Nirvana). The five sacrifice were found to be the greatest grace in his life.

The Four Stages of Life
Jada Bharata was the first great king in India. He united the whole country under his rule and gave him a common religion. Jada Bharata called his religion the Sanatana Dharma (eternal truth). Sanatana Dharma can be called the science of happiness. In the west the Sanatana Dharma is called Hinduism. Neo-Hinduism is the predominant form of Hinduism of today. Neo-Hinduism emphasizes the all-embracing love, the unity of all religions and the spiritual practice. Important representatives of Neo-Hinduism are Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Ramana Maharshi, Anandamayi Ma, Mahatma Gandhi, Yogananda, Swami Sivananda, Sai Baba, Mata Amritanandamayi and Mother Meera.

Jada Bharata taught the way of the four stages of life. In youth, one acquires spiritual and professional knowledge. Then do you set up a family. If the kids are grown up, you concentrate on the spiritual practice. The age is then spent in inner happiness and after death you move up into the world of light. Simplified one can say that a wise man should divide his life into two parts. The first half of life on earth we explore the world outside and enjoy it's pleasures. In the second half we realize our inner happiness. One lives first mainly as Bhogi (hedonist) and then as a Yogi (happy man). This is from the perspective of yoga a fulfilled life. Buddha also followed this dichotomy. Until about the age of 30 years he lived with his wife and son. And then he transformed from a secular to a spiritual person and lived the second part of his life as a Buddha (enlightened).

Jada Bharata himself became a yogi and realized the inner happiness. Shortly before his death, he thought about if he now should stay permanently in the world of light, or return to earth again. Each enlightened yogi has in the moment of his death the choice. With his last thought (mantra), he decides his fate. Jada Bharata saw the many suffering in the world and opted for a rebirth as a spiritual Master. In his next life as a human he became a yogi, and quickly reached the enlightenment. He lived as Jivanmukta (liberated soul, Buddha) in the big nothing (nirvana, happiness). One day, "by chance" the new Indian king visited him. Jade Bharata initiated him into the path of universal love. The Indian religion was temporarily paralyzed in a formal way of practicing and preserving the power of the ruling class. The king gave the Sanatana Dharma the real spirituality back and transformed India into a happy country.

The 24 Places of Power
A young man in India was keen to achieve the goal of enlightenment. He longed to develop his inner happiness and lasting inner peace and to live in the all-encompassing love. Unfortunately, he had a lot of tension in his body and his mind. He was inwardly very nervous. He constantly changed his residence, his relationships and his jobs. He could not meditate long time in sitting. His master so gave him the exercise to make a pilgrimage to the 24 places of power.

For twelve years the young man wandered from one place to another. He always felt his right line between too much rest and too much action. While walking, he said a mantra or thought about the meaning of life. While sitting he meditated in silence. He honored all the holy statues of all religions along his way. He visualized himself as Shiva, Buddha, Jesus and father of all beings (bodhisattva). Thus he activated his Kundalini energy. Shiva filled him with power, Buddha gave him inner peace, Jesus helped him so sacrifice his ego, and the bodhisattva way made him living in the energy of love. The many suffering people in the world touched him. He did not look away, but helped them, as far as he could. He shared his money with them and his wisdom. He strengthened them materially and spiritually. He became one with the joy and the pain of others. So he grew more and more into a cosmic consciousness. He practiced constantly positive thinking and reflecting the life. After twelve years of persevering pilgrim awoke in him the light. The pilgrimage to the 24 holy places opened his 24 inner gates of energy (chakras).

Pilgrimage for many people is a useful exercise. In India there are 24 official places of power. Many are located on the holy river Ganges, such as Benares, Allahabad and Rishikesh. There is the holy Mount Kailash and the birthplace of Buddha. Also inside a man there are after the teaching of yoga 24 places of power. The further one is spiritually evolved, the better you can feel it. Trying to find them in your body, concentrate on the point and feel how the energy flows out of it. If you regularly visit them, they supply you every day with energy and happiness. The most famous places of power are the seven chakras (vertex, forehead, throat, heart, solar plexus / navel, lower abdomen, pelvis ground). But there are chakras at the back, along the spine, in the mid-channel, in the hands and the soles of the feet. There are even outside the body chakras above the head in the sky, below the feet, two feet under the seat and deep in the earth. The greatest chakra is God. Whoever meditates on the cosmos, all living things, and the enlightened, awakens his inner power the fastest. Find your way of daily inner or outer pilgrimage and grow by this into the light.

The Princess Lakshmi
A thousand years ago in India lived a beautiful princess. She was known as Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, prosperity and fortune. Lakshmi was a gentle and loving young woman. According to the tradition in India at that time she was married by her parents to the son of a friend of the King. The princess then traveled with a large entourage to her future spouse. When she reached the gates of the town, the king's son came back from the hunt. He was a rough fellow. He was surrounded by fierce warriors. On the saddle of his horse hung many killed animals. When the princess saw her groom, she was horrified. So did not want to marry a rough and unspiritual man. She waited for the night, fled out of the palace and hid in a cave in the woods. Friendly people gave her something to eat. The Princess Lakshmi spent her time with yoga and meditation. After seven years awoke her kundalini energy. She broke through to enlightenment. She lived in the light and radiated light. She had now become a real goddess of bliss. Many people came and visited her. Lakshmi spent her life happily in God and in the giving of love and bliss. The prince married another woman. She was just like him and believe in the happiness of a worldly life. He therefore made no attempt to find Lakshmi. Bur one day the father of the prince, the old king, discovered Lakshmi in her cave. He immediately realized that she had reached enlightenment. He bent down in front of her and asked for a lesson. Lakshmi said, "Life in the world is mainly suffering. Constantly happy is only the enlightened one." The king took the words to heart, abdicated and became also a yogi.

God of Happiness Ganesha
Ganesha is a thick Yogi (Buddha) with an elephant head (wisdom and power). He has a big belly. He concentrates his energy in his belly. This happens because he is living at rest (doing nothing, pure existence in nirvana), in the all-embracing love and with the pleasure principle. He works for the happiness of all beings, but he does it out of the pleasure principle. He feels every day exactly what is good for him and for his fellow people. He does not work too much und not too less. He gives himself every day the outer pleasure that he needs for his inner balance. Some years ago the little Yogi Nils felt bad. In order to gain his balance again, he ate lots of sweets. His spirit brightened more and more. Unfortunately, after some time his abdomen was completely full. And yet his mind was not totally happy. Our little Yogi visualized the sweets in his belly and through this his kundalini energy awakened. Within him arose a strong happiness energy, which quickly brought him into the light. Our Yogi learned from it, to connect external pleasure and spiritual exercises. Then you don´t need to eat so many sweets. Some external pleasure is enough for the path of inner happiness.

The Evil Magician
Once upon a time there lived in northern India an evil magician. He possessed great spiritual power and dominated his fellow people. All were afraid of him. No one could break his power. The magician was a friend of the Maharaja (ruler) of his district. The secular and the spiritual leader of the district lived in an unholy alliance to oppress the local population. But one day the Maharaja visited the enlightened master Mahaprabhuji. He was so impressed of Mahaprabhujis sacred aura that he became his devotee. At home, he immediately gave up his excessive worldly life and practiced all-embracing love. Mahaprabhuji protected him with his spiritual power against the influence of the evil magician. But the magician was furious and wanted to destroy Mahaprabhuji. He walked to Mahaprabhuji. On the way he was injured severely on the leg. He had two dreams. In one dream, he saw himself in hell and suffered great anxiety and great pain. In the second dream, he saw himself in heaven. His soul was filled with peace, love and happiness. When he came to Mahaprabhuji, he beamed all his negative energy on him. But Mahaprabhuji remained calm and unperturbed. The negative energies could not harm him. He said to the magician: "The light is stronger than the darkness. It wins by inner peace and all-embracing love." The magician recognized the spiritual greatness of Mahaprabhuji. He understood what his two dreams meant. If he would continue on his path of black magic, he would come after his death in hell. If, however, he repented of his wrong doings and does only good things in the future, he would be saved. His eyes were opened to the true path. Mahaprabhuji healed the leg of the magician and took him as his disciple.

Children of the Light
We are beings of the light. We are children of the light. The cosmos is our great mother and our great father. We play games of happiness in God and thus grows the eternal happiness of all beings. The problem with most of our fellow creatures is that they can not distinguish between good and bad games. Bad games often make happy the short term and unhappy the long term. Bad games are all games who focus of worldly desires.

If we anchor ourselves in external things, we always long for more. We become tensed inside, our inner happiness decreases and it takes everyone down. We are allowed to live the external things. We can have relationships. We can play relationship games. We are permitted to make us the outside world beautiful. But we must bring the spirituality at the center of our lives. We need to play our life games out of the focus of spirituality. We have to play on the basis of wisdom, love and peace. Only those games benefits us.

This is difficult to understand. There are many little devils in the world playing negative games. Little devils are always poor devils. They lack wisdom and they end up harming themselves primarily. We need many angels in the world who can teach the little devils to play in the right way. If the angels are centered in wisdom, in their spiritual practices and in all-embracing love, then they win and that will be good games for everyone.

Master of Compassion
Atisha was a Tibetan Master of Love. He was born in 980 in India. He worked as a professor at a cloister university. Atisha wanted to find the fastest way to self-realization. He travelled from Master to Master, and tried out their techniques. The Master Rahula brought him to the big break, "Any form of self-relatedness prevents you from being fully enlightened. Even if you meditate for decades in a secluded cave, you might win great spiritual powers, but probably pride will arise in you ... and this pride blocks your enlightenment. Pride blocks your complete oneness with the cosmos. You have to recognize your ego-self as a mental mistake. You need to overcome your ego, your self-relatedness. Then you will freed. Then you live in the light. Then you come into a unity consciousness. And thereby you receive peace, happiness, love, power and enlightenment."

This convinced Atisha. But how could he do this? He lacked an effective technique to overcome his ego. This technique he learned from the Master Serlingpa. It is called Tonglen in Tibetan Buddhism. Tonglen means replacement. You practice it, to identify with your fellow man. You connect yourself with their suffering and wish all beings happiness. Atisha practiced this consistent for twelve years and then got enlightenment. After that he went to Tibet and showed the people there the way of all-embracing love.

Tonglen can be practiced in various ways. The Tibetan way is very radical. You assume mentally all suffering of your fellow men and send them all your happiness. And you practice it so seriously, that you expect that a transfer of real suffering energy (bad karma) takes place. Nils has mitigated Tonglen for himself. After his experience, it is sufficient to concentrate on the suffering in the world, and to live as a helper. The fastest way to enlightenment is to live in enough rest, to make enough spiritual exercises (yoga, reading, going, meditating) and to focus in working for the happiness of all beings. How are you able to identify with your fellow beings: 1st Humanity is one family. All men are brothers and sisters. In a family, all help each other. 2nd If I feel bad, I also want me to be helped. Whom it goes well, should help those who it goes bad. 3rd I am a mother / father of all beings. I see all beings as my children. I want everybody to be happy.

Sai Baba and Nils
In a bookstore, Nils saw in 1995 the book of Samuel Sandy Weis "Sai Baba the Holy Man and the Psychiatrist." Nils bought the book, read it and loved it. In 1997 showed Sai Baba him in a dream, how he helps him on the spiritual purification path. He took away some of Nils bad karma (destiny). In another dream Sai Baba appeared to him and constantly changed his faces. He pointed to the fact that a Karma Yogi should be flexible. In 2000 appeared the yoga gods Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma in a dream. Nils saw the three gods as beautiful statues side by side made of dark green jade. They gave him the path of Trimurti Yoga, the combination of praying (Bhakti Yoga), love (Karma Yoga) and spiritual practice (Hatha Yoga). In 2001 Nils received the paradise dream. He saw himself walking with many people through the mountains (Himalayas) to a beautiful village in the paradise. Everyone got there his own house (way of living in paradise). Later, also the yoga god Ganesha appeared to him. Ganesha embodies the middle spiritual path with some enjoyment. In 2003 Nils knelt before a king in a red robe (love). The king sat on a golden throne and had a suit of armor (strength). The king pushed his sword into the crown chakra of Nils. Sai Baba activated his Kundalini energy and gave him all the power he needed to be successful on his spiritual path. Two weeks later, Nils saw himself on a congress for the unity of all religions. Nils got the task to work as a Yogi for the cooperation of all spiritual people.

Mountain of Religions
There were five people who sought God. One was an atheist, an other a Christian, the third a Yogi, the fourth a Muslim, and the fifth a Buddhist. One day the five seekers came to a large mountain. Up on the mountain shone a bright light. The atheist said: "This is the sun." The Christian said: "This is God." The Muslims gave it the name of Allah. The Buddhist thought it was the Nirvana (emptiness / unity / bliss). The Yogi called it Brahman (the higher reality). The five-seekers debated long about the light, the happiness and God. The atheist insisted that there is no God. The Buddhists did not believe in a personal God. Which the Muslim and the Christian contradicted violently. The Yogi surprised his friends by stating: "This question cannot be clarified by an unenlightened man. God is a mystery. We all must get enlightenment, then we will understand what God is."

The five seekers had a long talk about God. They learned about their respective viewpoints. The talk was a great enrichment for all. But they could not come to a final result. They therefore decided to climb the mountain and to investigate the light exactly. There were many paths leading up the mountain. Everyone rose up on his own path. When everyone had arrived at the summit, they decided to enter into the great mystery. They took each other by the hand and went into the great light. They passed through a great darkness (the ego resolution) and found themselves in God (transcendence). They stayed some time in God and then went back into the world of matter (the duality of things). In God all had been speechless. But now her mind began to work. Excited, they told each other about their experiences.

The Yogi felt God as unity consciousness, the Christian as universal love, the Buddhist as inner peace (no attachments), the Muslim as a great power and the atheist experience God as a higher truth. The Muslims got the word "Allah", the Christian the word "God", the Buddhist the word "Enlightenment", the Yogi "Sat-Cit-Ananda" (unattached being-unity-bliss) and the atheist "Cosmos". If they thought their particular word, they could immediately go back into the light. The word was their personal key to entry into the great mystery. Anyone who has met God, can come with the power of the memory and his personal mantra again into the state of enlightenment. Each of the seekers kept his word as the greatest. They were arguing about their prayers and could not agree on a verbal level. So they decided to end their conflict and prefer to concentrate on the spiritual practice. They lived many years together on the mountaintop. They read in their scriptures, meditated a lot, pilgrimaged every day to the mountain summit and met once a week to a joint celebration. Some day all arrived the permanent light. And the great light transformed them. They saw the light in all beings and all things of the world. They realized that they are all brothers and sisters. May we stop all religious wars in the world. May we be build a golden age of love, peace and happiness on earth.

Thankfulness
Daria (internet-girl): Hi everyone, I would like to discuss with you the mysterious concept of "happiness". What is happiness for you? What can make you happy? Do you believe that "all obstacles" may be a chance? But before I share my thoughts about happiness with you, I would like to introduce myself. I am a 23-year-old Ukrainian girl. I am a happy person (with some exceptions of course). I'm studying for five years diploma translator. Soon I will make my degree. I love to laugh, to dream, and when people smile. The people around me think I'm a bright, cheery girl, even though many have no idea how I can be happy in my situation. I was born severely disabled physically. I can not go and not stand alone. When I'm home, I can make 99% of everything. I feel like a queen. But when I'm outside my apartment, I'm as helpless as a baby. I can move a little, but it is not enough to go anywhere without being accompanied. My mother is my legs. She is my everything. Without her help I would not be able to study.

Thank God my mental capacity is not affected. I am a normal person, with my own dignity, with dreams and desires. I only wish that I could go anywhere, go where I want. Sometimes I am sad because I will never be a person of normal life and enjoy its pleasures. I can never go to parties or discos, visiting friends or simply stroll along the white beach under palm trees in the South Seas hand in hand with a loved one. I console myself with the thought that my world is not really the worst. :) Nothing happens for nothing. That's what I have learned in my life. I think I've come with the job on the world to make a difference.

To find happiness in life is a real complicated art. I try to be happy about all the little pleasures. My greatest treasure is to see all the small moments of happiness and enjoyment. You must not have the body of a model. Happiness is when you can see the beauty of life with a non-standard body. I will not hide it. Sometimes it frustrates me to be obstructed. But I stand to me and my different kind of body. I just wish people could see me, as I really am - behind my body. I am glad, that some of my friends that actually can. Life is beautiful. No matter how it is external. It is the greatest gift we could receive from God. Thankfulness is my main way to inner happiness.

Citta, the Doubter
Citta was a disciple of Buddha, who doubted a lot. He often wavered between his worldly desires and his spiritual goals back and forth. First he was a very worldly-oriented person. Then he met the Buddha and was thrilled by the idea of ​​inner happiness. Citta became a monk and practiced his spiritual exercises intensively for several years. Then he got a great displeasure. He left the monastic community, learned a profession and married a beautiful woman. But the woman was not always pretty, his profession became boring and doubts about the worldly life appeared.

Citta gave up his job, separated from his wife and became a monk again. This time he stayed many years with Buddha. One day he broke through to enlightenment. But the enlightenment disappeared, his doubts came back and Citta returned to his secular life. His wife took him back. He worked in his old job and enjoyed a time the worldly pleasures. Then his wife irritated him again, the stress on the job was too much and he longed for the quiet life in the monastery. After initial resistance from the monks Citta was still taken a second time and then he reached permanent enlightenment.

The Happy Buddha
Budai was a very lazy Zen Master. He lived during the Tang Dynasty in China. He is also called the Laughing Buddha, or the Happy Chinese. Budai lived consistently in rest (doing nothing). He just enjoyed the happiness of his enlightenment. He lived in existence-unity consciousness-happiness (Sat-Chid-Ananda). He liked to laugh, to eat sweet things and to play with the children. Budai had a big bag, in which many beautiful things were hidden. He gave away it to the children. He was a bit like a Chinese Santa Claus. He was very popular by all children. And the adults loved to linger in his good energy and to relax in his presence a bit from the stress of life.

Chinese are usually very busy. They have a collective neurosis of much working. They think that working and not enlightenment is the purpose of life. Sometimes they are then very exhausted. They need a counter-example to get mental balanced. Budai is a counterpart role-model for them and their secretly dream of life. Budai once was asked, what enlightenment means. He stretched his arms in the air, smiled happily and then immediately disappeared into the crowd. He lived in inner happiness and in outer nothingness. He refused even to be a Zen Master and to teach the people. He was just a happy Buddha. It is enough to be happy, but it is also good to work for a better world and to make all people happy. Budai´s way was it to live enlightened, to see life as a game and to give away enlightened energy (symbolically sweets).

Love of Enemies
Samavati was as a child of poor parents. Because she was very beautiful, the king of Kosambi fall in love with her and married her. One day Buddha came with his monks in her country. She heard his teachings and was thrilled. Every day from now on she practiced meditation and universal love. She practiced the four brahmaviharas: 1) loving-kindness, 2) compassion, 3) empathetic joy, and 4) equanimity. She sent all beings each day light and lived for the goal of a happy world. Thus after some time she was enlightened.

Although she did nothing but good things to all people, there was a woman in the palace who was jealous of her. She wanted to become the queen instead of Samavati. One night, this woman set fire to the palace of Samavati. Samavati put herself into a deep meditation, forgave her enemy, and blessed all beings with light. She went through death with equanimity. Due to her meditation of all-embracing love her soul rose on to paradise after death (in a dimension of light in the afterworld).

The big test on the way of universal love is the love of enemies. We can only be permanent enlightened if we can integrate all of our problems into our enlightened psyche. Ultimately, all difficulties and all people with opposed interests are emotionally our enemies. We can integrate them into our psyche, if we found a positive word. What thought can help us, if a person harms us? We just think that our inner happiness and the paradise after death are more important as our current problem. We see all the external problems as ultimately meaningless, and only our happiness as really important. A second technique is to see us as a mother of all beings and all beings as our children. As a mother (or father), we wish a happy family and help even our evil children to go the path of wisdom and love.

For Nils the loneliness is his emotional enemy. He does not like it. His positive thought is, that it as an opportunity to practise intensive spiritually and to get enlightenment. For Samavati the situation was even more difficult. She was killed by her enemy. If she had hated the woman, internal tensions were created. These tensions would have blocked her rise into the paradise (preserve an enlightenment consciousness). In such a case, you can also try to clean your mind after your death. Anyone who goes through life constantly with spiritual exercises, will be able to do them even after his death. If we get touched by difficult situations, we always can build up our happiness again (in life and in the afterlife). Constant spiritual practise is a great grace for everyone.

Anuruddha
Anuruddha was the disciple of the Buddha with the ability to single-minded practice. Anuruddha means translated to practice to (anu) a point (the target, Ruddha/Rudra = Shiva as role model, the enlightened Master of Yoga). Anuruddha grew up as a prince in external wealth. When he heard about the goal of spiritual self-realization, in him arose the desire to achieve it. But he was small, weak and loved the pleasures of the world. How should a small man like him can go the long and hard path to enlightenment? He remembered his cleverness. He thought that enlightenment is the greatest pleasure in the world. He practised with regard to his goal. He focused on his goal every day, visualized himself as a Buddha (Ruddha). He did every day the step forward who was possible for him. With special exercises (Deity Yoga) he activated every day his Kundalini energy (the energy of Shiva, the Kundalini snake). And he gave himself enough outer pleasure on his way. Thus he got the power to succeed.

Seven Tips
Mahamoggallana (Moggallana the Great) was a chief disciple of Buddha. As a youth he was strong and wild. He made many bad jokes and annoyed his fellow man. One day he heard of the spiritual self-realization. This goal was far greater than all his youthful pranks. That attracted him very much. Moggallana left his hometown and went in search of self-realization. Twenty years, he moved back and forth across India. He studied with many spiritual masters. He practiced many spiritual techniques. But the way of his personal effective practicing, he did not find. Despite all the search and try he did not get enlightenment.

Disappointed, he returned. Near his home town he met Buddha. Buddha gave him the knowledge of his effective spiritual practice. Then Moggallana became a yogi and moved to a secluded hut. He practiced extensively the alternating sitting and walking meditation. Shortly before his spiritual breakthrough him captured a large inertia and apathy. Buddha gave him seven tips: 1st Always consistently follow your daily schedule, even if you're tired. After some time the fatigue goes away. 2nd If the tiredness does not go away, think about your goals and your spiritual path. What is your way to win today? 3rd Rub your face and body with cold water. That activates you. 4th Read a page in a spiritual book. 5th Do some exercise (yoga, walking, breathing, Kundalini awakening). 6th Maybe you're really tired. Then take a break. Give you enough rest. 7th Connect yourself with your spiritual master and ask him for guidance and help. Hear the voice of your inner wisdom. Find your way of rightness.

With these seven techniques Moggallana got his breakthrough into the light. He had won thanks to his wisdom and perseverance. Yogi Nils completed the seven tips with three more tips: 8th Live for the goal of a happy world. Send every day all beings light and think, "I send light to (name). May all people be happy. May the world be happy." In this way you get the energy of universal love and awaken your unity consciousness. 9th Hear beautiful or powerful music. 10th Bring as many elements of joy in your life so that you can walk your spiritual path positive. "My deed of joy today is ..." So you can go eternally your spiritual path until you reach your goal.

Tenzin Palmo
Tenzin Palmo is a Western woman who has decided to become a female Buddha. She was born in 1943 in London as Diane Perry. After graduation, she worked in a library. She liked to read. One day she discovered a Buddhist book and was impressed by the teachings contained therein. She traveled to northern India and met her Master, the 8th Khamtrul Rinpoche. She became a Buddhist nun in the tradition of Kagyupa (Kundalini Yoga and Meditation).

She noticed that there are very few female Tibetan Buddhist Masters. She therefore put off the vow to attain Buddhahood as a woman - no matter how many lifetimes it would take. She saw this as her contribution to the emancipation of women. The 16th Karmapa blessed her and said. "You are the first Western woman I ordain. You have to be strong and vigilant. It is very important that the beginning of a new movement is purely. In the coming years there will be many western women who go the Buddha-way.

On the night she had a vision of the Goddess Tara, who smiled happily and gave her a flower. That was a good omen. Buddha gave his successor also a flower. Tenzin Palmo spent several years in a monastery. She learned that there is in Tibetan Buddhism a nearly extinct line of female yogis, the Togdenmas. Tenzin Palmo wanted to restore the tradition of the Togdenmas. She moved into a cave in the Himalayas and meditated intensively there for twelve years.

At the age of about fifty years she came back to the West. She radiated happiness, peace and light. She founded a convent and traveled throughout the West, to raise money for her monastery. Wherever she went, people were enthusiastic. Her teaching was authentic, non-dogmatic and suitable to the needs of western women.

---> Video: Tenzin Palmo

Chang Khong Saves Herself
Thich Nhat Hanh and Chan Khong are two well-known Zen masters. Thich Nhat Hanh came from Vietnam and had been engaged there very much for peace. In 1982 he founded together with the nun Chan Khong in southern France the spiritual center "Plum Village". There, people from all over the world can learn the Buddhist mindfulness meditation.

Chan Khong was born in 1938 in Vietnam. She met Thich Nhat Hanh at the age of 21 years and became his close companion. She studied biology and was also involved in political action, becoming the student leader at the University, spending much of her time helping the poor and sick in the slums of the city. She directed a nursery school for orphans. 1968 during the American Vietnam war a bombing killed almost all her children. Chan Khong was desperate. She could eat a long time nothing but a little rice. How could she win back her inner peace?

She sought refuge in spirituality. By meditation and positive thinking she got back her happiness. She realized enlightenment. Today she shines a lot of power and love. She manages the ashram of Thich Nhat Hanh and organizes his many travels. With her inner strength she helps many Western women to get inner peace and happiness.

Alice Christensen
Alice Cnristensen is the founder of the American Yoga Association. In her book "Yoga of the Heart" (1999), she describes the exciting path as she took to yoga. Swami Sivananda in India saw Alice in the U.S. from his higher cosmic perspective. He saw her good heart. A good heart is the main on the spiritual path. Through yoga exercises one gets a lot of inner power. This power can be steered in the wrong direction, if it is used without wisdom and love. Alice was a homemaker and mother. One night in the summer of 1952, she woke up and saw a large pillar of light standing at the foot of her bed. The whole room was filled with light. The pillar of light came toward her, enveloped her and melted into her. She lost consciousness and woke up the next morning as a new woman. Suddenly she was a clairvoyant and could feel the energy of others. In her mind popped the word 'yoga' on. She read all the books about yoga, she could get. Some time later Swami Sivananda appeared her in a vision and introduced himself by name. He pointed her to a particular book, in which his address was. She bought the book and then communicated mainly writing with him. Alice had several experiences of enlightenment. In 1960 she was spiritually so developed that she could teach yoga. In her book she recommends a daily yoga practice from twenty to thirty minutes. She also writes, that daily reading a spiritual book is very important: "If you do yoga every day and also practice the positive qualities love, peace and truth, you will bring your inner power source to bubbling. You will get health, inner strength, self-confidence and contentment."

Anita
Anita Blanke is a student of Sai Baba, who realized enlightenment through the path of a spiritual relationship (My way to the source, 2003). She was born in Austria and had in school a special talent for music, dance and theater. After high school she went to Berlin and became an actress. From the age of fifteen on she danced from relationship to relationship. Her subject of life was searching for the right man. At a theater in Berlin she met Norbert. He was a technician. Anita was thrilled by his calm and strong male type. They moved together. But after a while Anita noted that Norbert was not perfect. There were sides in him that she did not like. She expected the great enduring happiness from her partner and thus necessarily had to fail. The great happiness can only be found within oneself. It was a long road for Anita to recognize this. She started nagging. She focused on the negative aspects of her partner. Her relationship cooled more and more. Anita began to search her luck in other men. She had several love affairs.

In 1986 she heard of Sai Baba and went to India. When she saw Sai Baba, she knew at once that he was her Master. She had arrived at the end of her search. Her Master was her great love. Unfortunately, she had to realize after some time that a purely spiritual relationship with an enlightened Master was not enough for her. She needed also a real man. She asked Sai Baba for guidance and help. In a dream, Sai Baba said to her that she would find a husband and have two children. But where was the right man? Anita had to think by herself. In a book she read that the mental and spiritual harmony in a relationship is more important than the physical level. The sexual desires in a relationship usually disappear after a few years. What remains is the mental and spiritual level. Anita wondered with what man she mentally best corresponded. With whom she could imagine a happy relationship in the long term. The only suitable partner she remembered was Norbert. But her heart refused. Norbert promised her, to give her more love. That opened her heart. They married and had two children, a son and a daughter. In the beginning they were very happy. But then the children began to niggle, Norbert sought his task of life, and Anita went from theater to theater. Since she was never really happy, she made a training as a psychotherapeutic healing practitioner. She moved with her husband and children to Kassel. There they rented a big house and pulled together with lots of friends. Anita became the head of the Sai Baba group of Kassel.

The main path to enlightenment for Anita was to accept life as it comes. She constantly tried to live inwardly unattached. Sometimes she broke through into deep states of happiness. But mostly it was a tough inner rings. She remained on her way about twelve years. She prayed every day to her Master and got helpful dreams. She also meditated and practiced regularly yoga. In a dream she received the message from Sai Baba: "The outer guru-worship has to be given up. Visualize yourself as Master. Live for the happiness of your fellow people. Serve all beings and everything serves you spiritually. If you take all things in the right way, everything becomes a helper to enlightenment." The Community in Kassel collapsed. Inwardly, she felt heavy, tired and dreary. Until suddenly disappeared her I consciousness. She transformed into a unity consciousness. The Kundalini energy in her began to flow and she lived from now on permanently in the light. The outer things always changed, but the inner happiness remained.

Goddess Yamuna
The Yamuna is one of the sources of the Ganges. It brings the water from the glaciers of the Himalayas to the Indian plains and unites there with the second major source of the river Ganga. At the point of uniting meet regularly pilgrims from all over India and ask for light, happiness and abundance in their lives. They visualize the Ganga and the Yamuna river as Goddesses. Ganga is a girlfriend of Shiva. She gives us the power to succeed on our spiritual path. Yamuna is the sister of the God of death, Yama. She is the Goddess of piety. She reminds us that we all have to die one day (meet Yama). We should use the time of our lives to grow spiritually and to rise after death into the light.

In February 2008, the Goddess Yamuna appeared Yogi Nils in a vision while meditating. Nils found himself in a group of people who knelt in front of a small white statue of a standing Goddess. It was a Goddess of fertility, a Goddess of wealth. Nils spontaneously heard from inside the name Yamuna. As if under a force he put his forehead on the ground at the feet of the Goddess. His mind kept thinking the words, "pray, pray, pray ..." The blessing of the Goddess was transferred to him. Nils felt how her energy connected with him. Nils did not knew anything from a Goddess Yamuna. A few days later Nils read in a book that Yamuna is the Goddess of devotion and teaches the daily praying. Nils got by his vision informations that he had not had before. This is in Yoga seen as a typical sign of a genuine vision.

Who every day connects himself spiritually with God (the Goddess, the enlightened Masters), can be seen permanently from the higher dimension. Thereby him can be helped permanently. Who prays every day, gets blessing every day. The Goddess Yamuna gave Nils no specific prayer, but simply the words "pray, pray, pray". Every spiritual person may pray in his own way. He or she may speak mantras, read a spiritual book or perform other rituals (yoga, meditation, chanting, pujas, oracle).

Mantra for dying
In the year of 2001, Nils saw himself as a jellyfish in a dream. This jellyfish was about to be eaten by a sea spider. The little jellyfish could not escape the spider. In the jellyfish’s state of desperation, it called to God. God gave the jellyfish the mantra “yes” (in German, “Ja”). The little fish thought of the mantra over and over, and went through death in a state of affirmation, constantly repeating the word “yes”. The black spider killed the jellyfish and the fish continued to think „yes, yes, yes, yes…“ while Nils noticed how his consciousness lapsed. His life disappeared. That was a very unpleasant experience, but through the mantra „yes“, he was able to keep his spirit stable and positive. He did not get tense in the course of the death experience, and did not lose positive energy. After his consciousness was extinguished, he moved ahead spiritually. Suddenly, Nils was there again, and everything was light, peaceful and beautiful. The spider was no where to be seen. Nils was in a light dimension of the other side, and he felt good.

After a time, Nils woke up from the dream. He lay in bed again and found himself at home, as a person. He still felt happy though, and that day he took a long walk through trees and fields where flowers grew, as the sun shone on this beautiful day. Nils still had this paradise feeling from his dream. He felt a large sense of peace, joy, and all-encompassing love for all beings and plants around him. He stayed in this state for three days after the dream. Nils saw this dream as a gift. In the dream, Nils learned that one can go through death more easily with a mantra. Those who die repeating a positive mantra can land in paradise after death. The knowledge of the death mantra was a saving grace for him. The concept of such is hardly known in the western world. That Nils is able to share this dream, imparted to him by his enlightened Masters, is a great gift. Everyone must die one day. It is good to have a mantra at hand for this experience. Everyone can choose whichever mantra serves him or her. Christians might have a prayer at hand. Nils can confirm that the mantra "Yes" has a very strong force and brings a soul good through death. He recommends this mantra to all people. In yoga is usually the mantra "Om" related. A very powerful mantra is also the name of the personal enlightened Master.

Reincarnation
Reincarnation is the religious or philosophical concept that the soul or spirit, after biological death, begins a new life in a new body that may be human, animal or spiritual depending on the moral quality of the previous life's actions. This doctrine is a central tenet of the Indian religions and is a belief that was held by such historic figures as Pythagoras, Plato and Socrates. One of the most well-known cases of reincarnation in India is Shanti Devi. She was born in 1926 in New Delhi and could remember her previous life as a house wife in Mathura. Although she was never in that location, she was able to describe her previous husband, her previous house, and the city itself. She could even remember where she had always hidden her money in her former life.

Yogi Nils: ''My beliefs are based mainly on my own experiences. I have seen about thousand previous lives in the course of my spiritual cleansing processes. After seven years as a Yogi, I was suddenly overcome by the wish to know my earlier life. I went back in my meditation to a previous time and felt resonance with a particular time. I looked in that direction and could spiritually “see” four earlier lives. If you dissolve systematically all tensions in the body and in the spirit with spiritual exercises, one day you reach the stress situations of your earlier lives. This is what happened at St. Anthony, the founder of the Christian desert fathers. He saw how he was eaten in his past lives by bigger animals. Visions of demonic beasts appeared in his mind's eye. All the major stress is stored in the soul. If the tensions dissolve, dip in dreams or visions short scenes (short films) of the stress situations. The solution process is often associated with intense physical reactions such as restlessness, tremors, heat or cold. First I resolved the tensions of my present life. In short movie scenes I saw stressful exam situations, relationship conflicts and repressed accidents. Since I still had the stressful events in the memory, the connection between spiritual practice, the resolution of inner tensions and the appearance of solution dreams became clear. I learned to distinguish solution dreams from normal dreams. After eleven years as a Yogi, many former lives came in dreams to the surface of my consciousness. Differing from the conscious perceptions while meditating, very clear films like short videos appeared. I could see the details of the situations and the environment I was in at the time of the previous life. From the single pictures I could see geographical details.''

Bhadda and Kassapa
Bhadda and Kassapa were two disciples of Buddha. They were married. They had a harmonious and happy marriage. As they grew older, in both developed the desire for spiritual self-realization. They gave up their worldly lives and became pilgrims. Together they visited many holy places and gained a great spiritual knowledge. One day they realized that each of them needs his own path to enlightenment. Bhadda became a nun in a convent. For her the right spiritual path was a life in a community together with other women. In this way she reached her spiritual goal in a few years. After that she worked as an enlightened Master for her fellow sisters. She thought of her husband always full of love and of gratitude for the good years together.

Kassapa had chosen for himself the path of a secluded and hard-practicing yogi. In the solitude of the mountains he built a small hut. Every day he followed strictly his spiritual program. He had no desire for human contact. He wanted nothing more from his fellow man. And perhaps for this reasons he was chosen after Buddha's death to his successor. Kassapa is regarded as the first Zen Master. He practiced the way of mindfulness. He constantly watched his mind and hold his body calm. His path is similar to today's Zen Buddhism. Zen is a Japanese form of Buddhism which has its focus in the strict meditation (sitting and going) and in a meditative life.

Forgiveness
Rita of Cascia lived from 1380 to 1457 in the town of Cascia, Italy. She had to endure much in her life. She had to forgive others, God and her life a lot. She mastered difficult situations with equanimity, perseverance and optimism. Rita was married at a young age by her parents with a violent man. She endured her marriage eighteen years. Then her husband became a victim of the Italian vendetta. Rita had to forgive her husband his brutality, and also his killers, that she from now on had to live alone. Rita had two children. Shortly after the death of her husband, her children died of the plague. That was a hard fate, in which a mother can break easily. Rita was 33 years old. What should she do now? Should she get married once again? Or should she stay alone?

Rita chose the spiritual path and became a nun. She did every day full of self-discipline her exercises. At the age of sixty years she got enlightenment (holiness). Her rigorous spiritual practice had brought her freedom from all the suffering of life. An important element for her breakthrough to enlightenment was to forgive. Her forgiveness led her to the complete acceptance of life. Saint Rita was able to accept everything the way it was. Even the suffering in her life and in the world. May we all have an enlightened life. May we all be able to forgive, to heal and to become a happy holy in the difficult western life.

The Way of Action Without Action
Laozi lived in the sixth century BC in China. His biggest fear was to act too much. Who is doing too much, loses his inner happiness. He loses his inner energy in outward actions. Over the years, he shrinks into his life energy. This is the path from the inner happiness to the inner unhappiness. Almost all people in the western world live like this. They work too much, think too much and talk too much. They live too little in rest. In ancient China, people were just as unwise. Also Laozi. He was the head of the imperial library. He lived only for his career. He got exhausted in doing senseless external things. Unlike most other people he realized what was happening. As head of the imperial library, he had read the writings of the old Chinese sage. All sages advise to live a life of peace and happiness. They warn of a life of over-activity.

Laozi realized that he was doing exactly what he should not do as a person of wisdom. He was so shocked by his own unwisdom, that he radically changed his life. He got the motto: "The wise man lives in inner fullness and not in outward illusion." He gave up his career and became a hermit. He wrote a book called "Tao Te Ching" in which he taught the great philosophy of wu wei. What does "wu wei" mean? Simply put, it's the principle of the relaxed way of life. Man lives in the balance of activity and relaxation. He lives in his internal equilibrium. On a deeper level, wu wei is the most important way to enlightenment. One acts outwardly so little that the energy turns inwardly and dissolves the tensions. By a lot of rest people heal by themselves. Rest is the main road of healing for inner tensions.

Too much rest leads to inertia. Then the internal energy dries up and healing does not occur. The big mystery is the exactly right amount of rest and activity. The exact boundary between too much doing and doing too little is a fine line you can only find individually with a lot of wisdom and intuition. To live on this thin line is the optimal path of spiritual growth. Then you do only a few hours your spiritual exercises and most of the time your body resolves his tensions by his own. Enlightenment happens mainly by itself. This path is difficult to walk. People want to follow their favorite neurotic tendencies. Most people tend to be either too slow or too active. They are either lazybones or workaholics. The wise man must fight against both tendencies. The optimal way of spiritual growth is a constant hard work against ones own neurotic tendencies. To resolve tensions often means to resolve internal resistant. The best way to enlightenment is a personal daily schedule with an optimal balance of rest and activity. And one has to keep closely to it. And sometimes a little pleasure principle is allowed.

The old Kang
At the end of 8th century lived in China the old mendicant monk Kang. Kang owned the great knowledge of the Pure Land Buddhism. He knew the easy way to paradise, which every human being can go. One has to visualize every day a golden Buddha in a meditation posture in the sky above the crown chakra (where one feels personally his paradise). It is helpful to speak or think the mantra: "Om golden Buddha in the Paradise. Om all the enlightened Masters. Om inner wisdom. Please guide and help me on my way. I send light to .... May all beings be happy. May the world be happy."

One day a bright beam of energy came from an inscription in a temple. A short time later the old monk Kang had a vision of Shan-tao, an enlightened Master of the Amitabha Buddhism, who spoke out of the empty space to him: "Kang, go to Yanzhou. The people there need your wisdom." Shan Tao lived about 200 years before the old Kang in China. Shan Tao got the complete enlightenment, and then came into the Paradise of Amitabha. He now possessed great spiritual power and could see the world under him. He could send light, energy and positive words to all the people who were connected with Amitābha Buddha. He could send in particular helpful thoughts and energy through his books and the pictures of Amitabha. He could therefore connect himself in reality with the old Kang. This is probably a true historical fact. Nils has experienced a similar incident in 2005 with the Tibetan Master Patrul Rinpoche.

The old Kang went to the city Yanzhou. The people there were not interested in spirituality. They sought only external wealth and sexual relationships. What they did not truly make happy in the long run. Kang thought about how to teach best the Paradise Yoga. He begged for some money and gave it to children under the condition, that they spoke the mantra "Amitābha Buddha". The kids had much fun. Soon all the children called "Amitābha Buddha" when they saw the old Kang. Some time later, the adults began also to speak the mantra. Kang built an Amitabha temple on a mountain. As he grew older, Kang himself shone more and more in light. Many people came to see him. At his death he went into the great light. He called, "Everyone who can visualize me enlightened, will come into the paradise after his death, too!"

The Zen Master Hakuin
Hakuin is one of the most famous Japanese Zen Masters. Zen Buddhism is a line of Mahayana Buddhism, which developed in China and there was called Chan. Chan is the Chinese name from the Sanskrit word dhyana, which means meditation. Chan is much influenced by Taoism, the Chinese philosophical way of naturalness and spontaneity. Zen is the Japanese form of Chan. One can describe Zen as the path of strict form and hard practicing. Hakuin lived from 1685 to 1768 in Japan. His father was a samurai (a Japanese knight) and his mother was a follower of the Buddhist doctrine of Paradise (Amitabha). At the age of 15 he entered a Buddhist monastery. Hakuin remained four years in the monastery. He was disappointed because he made no progress. Therefore, he went on a spiritual tour. He visited various spiritual teachers. An enlightened Master advised him to think about the word "nothing". This led Hakuin to release all attachments to external things. Hakuin broke through to enlightenment. He lived in inner happiness. Now, however, pride appeared in him. Pride is a neurotic state of mind, an inner tension. It blocks the progression to greater enlightenment. Hakuin met an old hermit, who called him "poor devil in a dark cave." This convinced Hakuin and he stayed with the hermit. The old hermit trained Hakuin with great severity, and destroyed completely his ego-mania. Hakuin realized enlightenment on a high level. But he recognized, that there was still much to do. Over the years he became a kindly and modest spiritual master.

Kundalini Experiences
Nils studied law and founded in autumn 1984 together with some friends a law firm. He was happy being a lawyer. His job was varied and interesting. In particular, he devoted himself to the disadvantaged people in his town. Once a poor woman came to him, she should lose all her money at an unfair contract. Nils caused the lawyers of the opposite side to renounce of the entire debt. The woman was very grateful. She brought him again and again flowers into his law office. Most of his processes he won. He worked thoroughly and was prepared well for his processes. And he advised his clients not to processes that were hopeless from the outset. In addition to his professional activities, Nils took about three hours daily spiritual exercises. He read in spiritual books, meditated and attended spiritual events. His energy was slowly increasing. Once his Sacral Chakra opened wide. Nils was enveloped by an aura of light. He felt a great strength in himself. It also noted the presiding judge, who suddenly had a great respect for Nils.

As a lawyer Nils watched as many of his colleagues got ill by the constant stress in their job. Nils therefore practiced systematically a spiritual stress management. He made lots of little breaks during the day. He trained positive thinking and serenity. In the afternoon he took a long walk. And he lived with a good time plan, so that he had no constantly time pressure. He preferred to work longer and easier than fast and stressful. It was particularly important that he saw his deeper purpose in life not in making money and in a professional career. He retained as a lawyer his spiritual orientation. This enabled him to avoid a lot of stress because his work was not too important.

In 1985 Nils suddenly felt a violent breathing while meditating. After about fifteen minutes the breathing became normal again. Then the body began to twitch intensive about an hour long. Nils had such experiences often from now on. This were inner processes in which tensions were dissolved. Through the intensive breathing the muscles were supplied with energy. Then they could dissolve the stored stress from the past. Nils experienced muscle twitching, restlessness, feelings of cold and heat. The solution processes often lasted a day or two. In November 1986, Nils had his first major enlightenment experience. At a meditation suddenly a warm energy pillar rose slowly upward from the lower abdomen in the middle of his body. Nils watched the energy with interest. The higher the energy rose, the quieter he was. It felt like a thick warm stream of water. On reaching the middle of his head, Nils suddenly was one with the cosmos. He felt supreme bliss.

Very important for Nils was the feeling of a comprehensive correctness. His mother had never been content with him. She had produced in him a strong sense of inferiority through excessive demands. Up to that enlightenment experience he always felt, that he was not okay the way he was. He felt always somehow inadequate, inferior. Now he experienced that everything was right as it is. Also he was just right as he is. In him dissolved a deep inferiority complex. The state of bliss lasted about half an hour. Some hours after this experience, Nils was very restless. But after a while things calmed down. In yoga, this experience is referred as the ascent of kundalini energy. It is the highest level of hatha yoga. Nils was blessed at the very beginning of his spiritual journey with a high experience of enlightenment.

In March 1987 Nils got the unity consciousness. He had been invited by his step-sister Gesa to a birthday party. It was a big party with many people who were talking cheerfully. Nils did not know the most people. He was a little off and bored. He had not found a person with whom he could converse well. To overcome his boredom, Nils began to meditate. Suddenly his consciousness expanded. It filled the entire room. Nils became one with all. He outgrew of his body consciousness and felt like the room. He saw also his body only as a part of the room. He identified himself with the totality of space and all the people in it. He was filled with peace and happiness. And he was one with all people in the room. He felt the thoughts and feelings of all people. He needed no longer to entertain himself. It was talking in him. Nils just sat there and looked at all the people friendly. Some people looked back friendly. They probably thought that Nils was happy enough in himself. And so it was. It was a great party with much conversation.

In August 1987, Nils had one more energy experience. Again, the Kundalini energy rose in the middle of his body upward. But this time it did not stop in the head. It gathered at the apex (crown chakra) and then shot up suddenly with great force into the sky. After a while it came back and flowed on the outside of his body down to earth. Thus, the circuit was closed. Nils had been connected with the energy of heaven and earth. All this happened while standing in a yoga position. He was then bathed for an hour with happiness showers. Mother Meera teaches: "Reaches the Kundalini energy the crown chakra, you get the darshan of God. When the Kundalini rises over the head, one attains a constant connection with the light." Nils grew from now on constantly further into the light.

The Holy Spirit
The culmination of his experiences was the entrance of the Holy Spirit. In December 1987, Nils was at a satsang by Keith Sherwood. Keith Sherwood was a non-dogmatic spiritual Master from the United States. He had come for a short visit to Hamburg (Germany). Keith Sherwood was an hour late for the event. He had moved through Hamburg by his intuition to find the event location. Perhaps he should have bought a better road map, rather than trusting in the guidance of God. During the event happened to Nils nothing special. But on the way home he felt a strong energy within and around him. He went home as in a trance. The next morning he woke up early. Suddenly a thick beam of energy flowed down from the sky and entered through the crown chakra into his body. The spiritual energy flooded his body and filled it out completely. The energy beam on the diameter was as large as the head of Nils. It just could pass through the totally opened crown chakra. On his head appeared a flame of energy. Comparable to the experience at Pentecost, in which appeared energy flames on the heads of the early Christians. Nils spontaneously thought that he had now been blessed by the Holy Spirit. He felt the energy beam as a descent of the Holy Spirit. He had the feeling that he had now got a complete baptism directly from God.

A short time later Nils had another amazing experience. When he made his daily walk one evening, he suddenly had the feeling that he was seen from above. As if there was a large eye in the sky that saw him. The eye in the sky is in Christianity a symbol of God. Nils interpreted it as a common manifestation of his enlightened Masters. They wanted to say him that he is seen by God. He is guided and protected. The spiritual path is not always easy. It often leads through rocky terrain and difficult routes, where people need urgently help from a higher dimension. The message of the Eye of God was: "You can trustful go your spiritual way. You are seen and guided."

The Öko Woman
The Öko woman was a typical New Age woman who likes trying out a lot. She sought the appropriate therapy method, the suitable spiritual path and the right man. She was dressed organic and ate vegetarian. The Öko woman had studied economics and then made a training in psycho therapy. As a therapist, she was very good. She was highly intelligent and able to empathize well with others. In fall 1989, Nils was already living as a yogi in his little house in the wood. He made a therapy training, worked as a lawyer and gave in the evening after work in his law firm meditation and positive thinking courses. The Öko woman was interested to learn something new in positive thinking and came to the group. After the group they talked together a little bit. They noted that they had the same way home.

Spiritually the Öko woman was a follower of Thich Nhat Hanh. Thich Nhat Hanh is next to the Dalai Lama the most famous Buddhist Master in the West. He is from Vietnam, lives today in southern France, and leads with the nun Chan Khong the spiritual center "Plum Village". Thich Nhat Hanh teaches the Buddhist mindfulness meditation. With him, everything is extremely peaceful. Going slowly. Eating slowly. Pay attention to your breath. Consider your thoughts and your feelings. Think positive. Live in peace and in existence. At his events can take part people of all spiritual religions. He explains that the truth lies ultimately over all spiritual systems. If you want to come to enlightenment, you must rise above all conceptual systems. Thich Nhat Hanh often occurs at Christian events. In Hamburg he was invited by an evangelical church. Nils took the opportunity and went to the weekend seminar. The extreme slowness was difficult to endure for him. He preferred a mix of dynamic exercises and meditation. Nils had learned to take good care of himself and to feel his spiritual needs. During the lunch break, he made ​​a dynamic walk and was therefore in his personal balance between rest and activity. Many other participants experienced the extremely calmness as very stressful. For them the weekend seminar was hard inner work. The Öko woman loved the peace and calmness at Thich Nhat Hanh. It gave her a hold in her restless life. It helped her to find peace within herself. The Öko woman took part in a retreat at his center in southern France. For three months she practiced it not to think, to observe her breath and to move slowly. Then she came back rested and in a good mood.

Nils and the Öko woman had for a time a good relationship. They had the same interests and the same basic spiritual views. They were interested in yoga, psychology and positive thinking. Both were a great addition for each other. The Öko woman visited Nils over the weekend in his hut and once a week Nils went to her apartment. Then she cooked a wonderful vegetarian meal. She wanted to live together with him. But Nils had become cautious because of his many difficult relationships. He wanted a harmonious partnership. If he would live together with a woman, then only in a harmonious relationship. And, unfortunately, the Öko woman loved to dispute. She had learned in her therapy training that arguing belongs to a good relationship. Every weekend they were arguing about two hours. Then she was satisfied. Then they loved themselves again. Nils gave the Öko woman Buddhas sentence, "Be harmonious, monks!" The Öko woman was not particularly impressed. She was a liberated woman, who went her own way. And she found a nice a man, married and got a nice child. And Nils became a nice hermit.

Yoga Teacher
For Nils the Yoga path began with an amazing story. His late father appeared to him in early 1987 in a dream and asked him: "Do you need something?" Nils replied, that he still lacked a path of practice with which he could quickly get inner strength. As Nils woke up, he went intuitively into a bookstore, looked at the shelves and suddenly saw a book on Rune Yoga. He knew immediately that this book contained the promise of the dream. Rune Yoga is the Yoga practice of the Germanic tribes, the ancestors of many people in Europe. The runes were carved in stone. So they could take over the millennia. Nils practiced two years every day for half an hour Rune Yoga. He turned on a beautiful music and began with a shaking in the knees, to loosen the body. He took a rune position, visualized the rune and thought a word as a mantra. By the Rune Yoga Nils received a sense of energy. His internal energy perception awoke. After six months of Rune Yoga, he could feel energies within himself and in other people. That was very helpful on his path of yoga. It was helpful for him personally and also for the teaching of yoga. Nils was able to feel inside, what the people in his groups needed, which physical and mental exercises were good for them. After two years of Rune Yoga Nils had the idea to try out the Indian Yoga. He bought a Yoga book and tested the described postures. He noted, that the Indian postures gave a person also a strong energy. Over the years, he moved more and more to the Indian Hatha Yoga. Only his Shake Meditation reminds at his beginning as a Rune Yogi.

Mid-1988 Nils moved into his small house in the woods and became a Yogi. He made a training as a psychotherapist and gave positive thinking courses in a health center. Sometimes individual clients visited him in his Yogi-hut. In early 1991 he sat in prior to his first yoga group. Twelve strangers looked at him curiously. This was their yoga teacher. What would he do now? Nils also did not know. But he was full of optimism. Basically one should make a yoga teacher training before passing a yoga group. But here was a special situation that required an exception to the rule. Nils felt the inner calling to be a yoga teacher immediately. After all, Nils had a daily yoga practice since four years. He had read many yoga books. And he had a good feeling for spiritual energy. He could feel which yoga exercises are helpful in a situation. First, Nils made a round of introductions. Each participant told what he personally expected from the yoga class. Thus Nils could give them what they wanted. Most group members wanted some relaxation, some gymnastics, and some health training. They wanted to reduce their stress and maintain good energy. Some participants were without any expectations. They simply wanted to know what yoga is. After the introductions Nils turned on some music. All the people danced for ten minutes on their way freely out their stress. Later on Nils developed the Shake Meditation for the beginning of each yoga class.

After the free dance they all lay on their yoga mats and relaxed. Nils then showed them simple yoga exercises in the supine position, the prone and the sitting. Basically, in a yoga class always all body parts are trained so that one gets an all around good feeling. After the dynamic yoga exercises they meditated ten minutes in sitting and fifteen minutes in lying down. After the yoga class, he asked the participants what was good and bad. He changed some yoga exercises and adapted them to the needs of the people. Over time he developed his special style of yoga. He called it intuitive Hatha Yoga. The focus of practice was on the inner feeling. Each participant was allowed to try out what was helpful for him. Later, Nils found the word Happiness Yoga for his style of yoga. He taught a yoga that makes happy. After a yoga session all participants were peaceful and happy. A real rush began on his group. Gradually he got more and more yoga classes, until he had almost every day in the week two groups. And on weekends, he regularly hosted a yoga weekend.

In the fall of 1991, Nils visited for a few days his sister Inge in Berlin. A Sivananda Yoga course was offered in the neighborhood. Nils went there to learn perhaps something new. He asked the yoga teacher if he could join a trial lesson. Suddenly he was hit by a strong spiritual energy. That energy came neither from the group nor of the yoga teacher. Nils thinks, that Swami Shivananda has sent him this energy. He later on appeared Nils several times in dreams and gave him spiritual advices. Nils felt very connected with the Sivananda Yoga organization. He called at the headquarter in Munich and received a brochure about a yoga teacher-training. The training should take place in the summer of 1992 in Canada. The price and the time was good for Nils. He signed up immediately.

In July 1992 Nils flew by plane to Montreal. With a car he was picked up from the airport and taken to the ashram in Val Morin in the Canadian mountains. Nils looked for a campsite, pitched his tent and was able to start. At 5:30 in the morning a large bell rang. A strict daily routine began, that lasted up to 23 clock at night. They sung mantras, heard lectures, practiced yoga and meditated a lot. Approximately 150 participants from around the world struggled four weeks through a comprehensive yoga program. Most participants were from the United States and Canada. The German group consisted of 20 men and women of all ages. The main trainer of the German group was Swami Durgananda. She was a true superwoman. With iron discipline she trained the budding yoga teachers. Every day there were four hours Hatha Yoga with Durgananda. Each student was accurately controlled. Each yoga position had to be 100% right. Durgananda later became one of the successors of Swami Vishnu-devananda, who died in 1993. As a young woman she traveled in search of a spiritual teacher for one year through India. She learned yoga in different ashrams under different Masters. In 1973 she met Swami Vishnu-devananda. She was excited about his spiritual charisma and became a member of his yoga organization. Her was given the name Swami Durgananda. Durga is the Goddess of Power in yoga. Ananda means happiness. Nils would like to have some of the great power of Swami Durgananda. She survives her spiritual crises with her self-discipline. Her motto is: "Yoga is a great challenge. Self-discipline must be activated again and again. A child who learns to walk, falls often. Who gets up again and again, succeeds on the spiritual path."

Very good on the yoga teacher training was the food. It was prepared by the participants themselves. Every day there were two large buffet, where everyone could put together his own personal menu. At morning they got fruit, bread or cereal. At 18 o'clock in the evening was the great common main meal. The meal was purely vegetarian. This pleased Nils. He had given up eating meat since he became a yogi. Instead meat, there was delicious Indian rice dishes, lots of salad and sweets for dessert. Nils was a fan of sweets since childhood. Once the dessert tasted him very well. He stood so often in the queue at the dinner table, that he finally got the whole bowl for scraping.

Karma Yoga is the path of all-embracing love. We reach enlightenment, if we take the happiness of our fellow man more important than our own happiness. We identify ourselves with all. We see us in all. We feel at last one with all. In this way we overcome our ego and get a unity consciousness. Ego sacrifice combined with a cosmic consciousness is the basis of enlightenment. If we train these qualities, we relax deep in our soul, because we take ourselves not so important. We visualize ourselves in all person and thus awake our Kundalini energy. Karma Yoga practised on the real way awakes our inner peace, love and happiness.

In the Yoga teacher training Karma Yoga has been understood as service to the community. All tasks in the ashram were distributed by lot to the participants. Nils was assigned to manual work. He was pleased. Not so pleased was a woman who had to clean the toilets for four weeks. She protested loudly against this task. But it did not help her. Someone had to clean the toilets. And she was the someone. Karma Yoga must not always be easy and pleasant. Especially on difficult tasks we can resolve well our ego. A man just grows on his internal resistance. God loves sacrifice. He who sacrifices his ego every day, one day lives in the light. But sacrifice is a great art. Who sacrifices too much, is tensioned internally. And who sacrifices too little, does not resolve his ego. The sacrifice must be dosed sensitive. In particular, we need wisely to manage our thoughts. The great problem in the teacher training was, that no specific instructions were given for positive thinking. So the poor toilet woman tensed herself with her negativity. If she had practiced positive thinking, then the toilet cleansing could have been a real breakthrough into the light.

At the end of the training each had to give a yoga class. Everyone was very excited. They prepared themselves thoroughly for their teaching practice. Nils learned how much the personality of a yoga teacher influences the yoga class. One can say that about 50% of the effect of a yoga class makes the yoga teachers and 50% the yoga exercises. A powerful yoga teacher strengthens the group members in their power. A loving yoga teacher gives us the energy of love. A yoga teacher must consider exactly what he wants to bring in his group. Most important is that he teaches yoga authentically. He has to bring the energy of truth, love, peace, joy and strength on his personal way to the group.

After the yoga classes, the prospective yoga teachers were tested in a written examination on their knowledge of yoga. They had to answer questions about yoga philosophy and yoga exercises. Most of the students passed the exam. After the tests, there was a big celebration. All yoga teachers gathered and received from their trainers the yoga teacher certification. Every yoga teacher was called up individually. Nils also had passed the examination. He walked to the podium and received his certificate from Swami Durgananda signed by Swami Vishnu-devananda. In 1999 he appeared Nils in a dream and embraced Nils. He accepted that Nils teaches his own style of yoga. The great doctrine of Swami Vishnu-devananda was "Unity in Diversity." There are many yoga paths. But all yogis should work together for the goal of a happy world. They should see themselves as a great spiritual family. Great were the words of Swami Vishnu-devananda: "I'm not a super guru. I am a searching soul like you. I can fall on the spiritual path like you. The daily prayer to the enlightened Masters or to God is very important. I will never go my way without praying. I pray morning and evening. It is of no importance, at what stage of spiritual development we are. Hold the prayer in your heart. Ask God to give you the strength to stay always on your spiritual path."

The Yoga Woman
Somewhere in the autumn of 1991 a small group of yoga students sat closely amassed to a small insignificant yoga teacher. Outside, the cold wind was blowing. The yoga room was sparsely furnished. But at least it was nice warm: The heater worked. The room was dark. In the middle burned a solitary candle. With quiet words the yoga teacher spoke to his people. He gave them a brief introduction to yoga. After that, all participants introduced themselves. Then the yoga class started. They practiced some basic exercises and finally made a long meditation while lying down. The yoga instructor looked at the participants of his yoga class. Most of the people he did not know. There were predominantly women who had signed up for his course. Only a few men had the courage to do yoga. For most students yoga was a new experience. They were excited about what would happen. Mostly they wanted to relieve stress and get some good energy. Most participants were employed and by their profession strongly stressed. She urgently needed a relaxation program. What did they think about the yoga teacher? For most participants, he was just a man whose labor they had booked for a certain time for little money. They hoped that he would do his job fairly well. They hoped that he was nice. That was as all they demanded. Enlightenment for most of them was a foreign word. From inner happiness they had never heard. Some women saw the yoga teachers with special eyes. For them he was an alpha male, a kind of leader, a chief of the primal horde. Secretly, they projected onto him their longings for love and tenderness. They developed unrealistic fantasies and beamed their sexual energies on the poor yoga teacher. They thought he did not notice that. He noticed it. He knew their thoughts and feelings. He could feel their energy. But on the other hand he was on top of things. He looked at sexual desires as a normal part of life. After some time, things would calm down. With the yoga exercises he would focus them on themselves. They would then mainly deal with their bodies, their minds and their yoga processes. Moreover, he saw all people generally positive. He practiced the universal love. He was basically a helper and friend to all his students. Their weaknesses, he barely noticed. He focused on the positive in them. He concentrated on how he could help them best. He wanted them to relax well, become positive and also a little bit to understand the deeper meaning of yoga.

But then there was this woman who radiated absolutely too much energy on him. Energy of love and sexuality. He felt that she wanted him. The poor little yoga teacher sent a silent prayer to heaven: "I can't resist this woman!" God did not answer. So it was probably his karma that he did not resist. After the yoga class, he asked whether they could meet once. A few days later a letter came to his yogi hut. It contained her phone number. Nils visited her, rang the doorbell and she opened the door. They looked at each other. They embraced. And a tremendous energy of love captured them. The Yoga Woman said that they actually do not need to have sex. The energy was already completely strong enough. Nils saw things differently. And so they made love. The energy grew more and more. They became one in love and happiness. Every weekend began a new dance of love. The woman said that she had never experienced such a thing. She had no experience with Tantra Yoga. Nils believes that he had been guided by his enlightened Masters. They took him to an intuitive form of Tantra Yoga. He did not practice rituals and difficult body positions. He felt his path from inside. The Yoga Woman and Nils had a harmonious relationship. Nils gave her at the beginning of the relationship his book of positive thinking. She read it and loved it. She explained that she would like to know this earlier in her life. The Yoga Woman and Nils practiced intensely positive thinking. Therefore, the time of their great love lasted a long time. She was his Lakshmi (Goddess of happiness), his Parvati (Goddess of love), his Saraswati (Goddess of spiritual instruction) and sometimes his Kali (Goddess of suffering). They danced the eternal dance of man and woman. With joy, love, happiness and a little with pain. There were also difficulties and disagreements between them. But with positive thinking, the will to a good relationship and the grace of God, they overcame all the problems and always found back to love. They stayed together for ten years. But all things change. A yogi lingers in the light and the enlightenment. He flows with times of relationship and times of seclusion. And is always happy. Anyway mostly. Some sadness is part of the life on earth.

Yogi Nils
The first four years as a yogi, there was good progress. After Nils had about half a year adjusted to his new situation, defined his goals and found the right spiritual exercises for him, he resolved much old stress and often came in blissful states of consciousness. In his dreams he saw past exam situations, difficult relationships and negative experiences from his childhood. All the stress from his former life disintegrated. His mind became calm, peaceful and happy. One night in 1991 Nils dreamed even of his birth. In the dream, he flowed through a long dark tunnel. He made a birth cry and woke up by it. He breathed like a newborn. Nils had a difficult birth. Thus many tensions arose. These tensions went away now. Later on Nils felt a deep longing to be a baby again. He wanted to be in his mother's womb. That was impossible. But possible was it to be enlightened and to live in a cosmic consciousness, in the womb of God.

In 1990 Nils wrote a book about positive thinking. In writing this book, he came across the question of the best path to inner happiness. Is it more important to exercise consistent or to live in a relaxed way? Enlightenment appears, if we resolve our inner tensions. Tensions heal, if we live relaxed. But they also dissolve, if we do consistent spiritual exercises. There are two different schools of thought in yoga. One school emphasizes the life of unattached being (Ramana Maharshi, Lao Tzu, Buddha) and the other school focuses on the spiritual practice (Swami Sivananda, Sai Baba, Mata Amritanandamayi, Mother Meera, Dalai Lama). Who is right? Nils had to clarify this question for himself. He thought a day so intense about the problem of being or exercising, that after falling asleep in the night the thinking goes on. When he awoke in the morning, he was in a deep state of enlightenment. His mind had solved the problem in the night. The answer was conclusive. Enlightenment, inner happiness and the state of unattached being are closely linked. If you let go of all attachments to external things, you relax so deeply into your soul, that the inner happiness can unfold. Being can be described as a precursor to enlightenment. A yogi must come into a state of unattached existence. Then eventually enlightenment develops by itself. On the other hand normally nothing happens without consistent practice. According to Nils both doctrines are right. Practicing and being are both important on the spiritual path. Every person has to find his personal way. Who is prone to laziness, should emphasize the exercises. Whoever is uneasy inside, should come to calmness and live without attachment to worldly things. Nils path is it primary to live in rest, to work a little bit for a better world and to do steady some spiritual exercises. On his way Nils feels each day very sensitive, if he has to focus on exercising, doing good or relaxing.

One day Nils visualized himself before bedtime as a Buddha. When he awoke in the morning, his spirit had turned him into a Buddha. He was turned overnight into a small Buddha. He woke up as a Buddha. The identification with Buddha as a role model had awakened his enlightenment energy. Inner peace and the image of a Buddha are closely related. They aimed precisely at the point, that prevented mostly his enlightenment. Nils as a restless person needed primary techniques of rest to unfold his Kundalini energy.

In early 1991 Nils visualized on a walk the whole universe full of happy beings. He wished that all beings all over the world might be happy. He identified himself with all beings and their desire for happiness. He thought the mantra: "May all beings in the world be happy." He opened his heart for all beings. Suddenly he got into a dimension of universal love. The entire landscape around him changed completely. It was bathed in bright light. In Nils appeared the thought: "I am love." He never had had such a strong experience of love. The whole universe consisted of happiness and love.

In 1992, Nils had reached a stage where very often breakthroughs took place in enlightenment dimensions. It was an exciting but also very stressful time. Nils often got great inner happiness and a cosmic consciousness. This usually lasted for several hours. Then by the strong energy dissolved many internal tensions and Nils came in difficult cleaning processes. In his body it was raging and his mind became negative. Nils then immediately made spiritual exercises. He walked for an hour. He read in spiritual books. He meditated a few hours. So the inner rage calmed down. If this did not help, Nils rescued himself through sweets or watching television. The first half of 1992 was a very stressful time. Nils lived in constant alternation of joy and pain. This constant change was very stressful. Although the many experiences also inspired him. But he was happy when the high energy processes calmed down after a while. There were, in the opinion of Nils two reasons. First, Nils was something gentle with himself. He practiced his exercises sensitive and not so radical. Second, he was now living on a good daily plan. He combined wisely cleaning and recovery phases. Thereby he could largely avoid negative states of mind.

In December 1995, after seven years as a yogi, started again a difficult time. Intense energy processes passed through his body. At night he could not sleep and during the day he was limp and exhausted. It was particularly bad in the thirteenth year. He had one after another an illness, an accident and his girlfriend parted from him. The last major cleaning phase was then in March 2003. In a short time dissolved a lot of internal tension. Nils had for four weeks the feeling as if he had stuck his hands into a socket. He was glowing so much, that he needed sometimes no blanket at night. Although it was winter. After four weeks the cosmos turned the power off. Nils had to recover for one week. He ate one day very much cake. And then he felt good again.

For Nils, the spiritual daily schedule is the central technique on the path into the light. It is based on letting go of tensions in the body and soul. Nils meditates for six hours and goes for an hour walk twice a day. He practices Yoga for an hour and reads a spiritual book for one hour. He also works towards the happiness of others three to four hours per day. He exercises constantly. He divides his spiritual exercises in a way that enables him to constantly undergo the inner purification process. Eating, sleeping, working, and even watching TV are Yoga exercises for Nils. If we meditate before going to sleep, meditation continues while sleeping. When we work in a state of relaxation, work becomes a type of meditation. Nils spiritual techniques are simple. They consist of walking, reading, helping others, and lying in bed. Everyone can do that. The secret here is the right application of the right technique at the right moment. You can lie in bed, read, and take walks in a way that only causes you to feel dull and lazy. Yogis know when they need which technique. When the body is dull and lacking energy, the Yogi goes for a walk. When he or she feels restless, he or she practices Yoga or meditates. When the spirit seems to rebel against the spiritual way, a book on spiritual topics helps to bring back the conviction towards enlightenment. A Yogi senses his inner conflicts and uses the proper techniques to dissolve the tensions. That is usually what the body and soul wants the least at that moment. Wherever the neurotic defense is, is usually the way into the light. On the other hand, we need to sometimes give the body and soul what they would like, otherwise tension is built. The way to happiness requires a lot of wisdom and inner sensitivity.

Yoga Helps Against Stress
A woman wrote to Nils, she was very happy that she had learned yoga. In recent years there had been professionally and personally a lot of stress in her life. She had therefore largely lost her positivity and her life satisfaction. Through yoga she had managed to reduce her internal stress. She was now happy again in her life. She felt not stressed anymore. For this she was very grateful. Yoga has given her the ability to clearly differentiate between important and unimportant things. Thus she could focus more on the essentials in life. She did not stress herself so much with unnecessary things, and therefore save much energy. She would practice every day the positive thinking and living permanently in a state of happiness. But a few days, if she does not practice yoga and positive thinking, then her good energy quickly disappears. So she had decided to go her path of yoga every day more and more consistently.

Over time, her positive feelings had become more intense. But she was also more sensitive to negative energy. But she could handle it. She had found a way to cope with difficulties of every kind. She simply asks herself, "How would the Dalai Lama act now?" And then she would quickly come up with the proper handling of each of those things. The woman described in her letters a typical problem on the spiritual path. The positive energy is increasing. But a person is also more sensitive to negative energies.

Negative energies can be handled in several ways. One can try to avoid negative situations as much as possible. You can give up contact to negative people or severely reduce it. You can hold your internal balance during the contact by positive thinking and mantras. And you can after the contact rebuild your positive energy through spiritual exercises (yoga, reading, meditation). Very good is it to go with a clever strategy through the day and often make short breaks. At work, it is important to avoid stress and work in his personal speed. Who works relaxed, saves a lot of energy and can easier be positive. Sometimes it will also be necessary to reduce the working hours. The woman did this after a few years and felt very well with it. Who lives wisely, can avoid a lot of suffering. Anyone who lives consistently healthy prevents 3 / 4 of diseases. Who eats little (few calories and lots of vitamins) and makes exercises regularly, lives on average 14 to 20 years longer than his fellow men. Who puts the spirituality to the center of his life, gets a happy life.

The Blessing of the Karmapa
The Tibetan Buddhism is based on the teachings of Buddha, but were extended by the mahayana path of love and by a lot of techniques from Indian Yoga. In principle the Tibetan Buddhism is very simple. It consists of Kundalini Yoga, meditation and the path of all-embracing love. With Kundalini Yoga the Kundalini energy (enlightenment energy) is awakened through yoga postures, breathing exercises, mantras and visualizations. The center of Tibetan meditation is the Deity Yoga. Through the visualization of various deities the energy channels are cleaned, the chakras are activated and the enlightenment consciousness is created. The Karmapa is the representative of the Dalai Lama. In 2003 Nils son Florian traveled to Dharamsala in northern India, seat of the Tibetan government in exile. He was initiated by the Dalai Lama in the way of love (Avalokitesvara) and got the darshan of the Karmapa. Florian had bought for his father an embroidered meditation painting (Thanka) with Avalokiteshvara (the Karma Yogi) and Amitabha (the Buddha of Light, on the top over the head of Avalokiteshvara) against a background of mountains. He asked the Karmapa to bless the meditation painting. The Karmapa threw a few grains of rice on the painting. As Nils later meditated on the Thanka, much energy came out of it. Nils became one with the gods and thus activated his Kundalini energy. The blessings of Avalokitesvara and Amitabha had come to him. The mural now hangs in the yoga hall of Nils. Let the blessing also come to you. Visualize yourself first as a Bodhisattva (Avalokiteshvara, Karma Yogi, God/Goddess of Love), then the overall picture (in the unity of the cosmos) and then meditate on the figure in the painting, that you want to be.

Satsang
Satsang is the company with an enlightened Master or with other truth-seekers. Sat means truth, true essence, being (enlightened existence) and to live in the light (God). Sangha is a word in Pali and Sanskrit meaning "association", "assembly," "company" or "community". Swami Sivananda taught: "Brothers and sisters. Meet, speak and meditate together. Built up centers of peace, brotherhood and unity. Invite good and holy man, and let inspire you. Satsang is the biggest helper and illuminator of people. Where Satsang is, is the presence of God (the enlightened Masters). Satsang is very helpful to obtain spiritual deliverance. One minute satsang with an enlightened man is better than the rule over a kingdom." In the West exists a Satsang movement. Enlightened people offer around the country everyone the possibility of contact with the enlightened energy. The Satsang donors are very different. An important starting point in the Western Satsang movement was the Indian saint Poonja. He is one of the main disciples of Ramana Maharshi. Poonja advised many of his enlightened Western students to give satsang. He explained: "The request to give Satsang does not mean, that all teachers of Satsang are already fully realized Masters."

Nils gave his first Satsang in 2002. In the summer, he invited every Friday evening his yoga people in his little yogi hut. The first Satsang was terrible. All participants told their problems. And people in the West have many problems. One problem was worse than the previous one. During the evening the group became more and more depressed. Nils was shocked. The next Satsang, he changed the program completely. He focused on the positive. There was meditation music. He served tea and biscuits. Each person got a positive oracle card and could read fifteen minutes in a spiritual book. They meditated together and asked the enlightened Masters for guidance and help. Then they made a small round table. Everybody could tell five minutes something positive about himself, his life or other people. Nils developed positive subjects, of which the group chose one at the beginning of a discussion. "What I'm grateful for? What is beautiful in my life? What makes me optimistic?" Then they talked a little personally with each other. Finally they meditated five minutes with a beautiful music. It was a successful evening.

Temple Meditation
In front of your mind's eye appears a beautiful island. It is surrounded by a large ocean. The water laps gently on the beach. In the center of the island stands a great mountain. Its slopes are covered with spicy-smelling bushes. Up on the hill is a temple (or a church). It is the temple of your inner wisdom. You walk the path from the beach up to the temple. You enter through the door. The temple is half dark and very quiet. In the middle sits a wise woman or a wise man on a throne. It is the embodiment of your own inner wisdom. Who do you see in your temple? A master, a goddess, a wise woman, yourself? The highest wisdom is superior to all forms. It can express itself through all forms. You can now ask your wisdom being a question. Think about your life. What experiences have you had in your life? What are your goals? What is your current situation? How do you imagine your future? What is your life plan? What is your way to develop your inner happiness? What is your way of a wise life? What is your way to victory? Meditate on the question, until you can see your way clear. Listen inwardly to the answer. Find your way of victory. What says your inner wisdom to you? Think the answer is several times as a mantra. Stop a minute every thought. Linger after a few minutes in the meditation. Think about life. Does enlightenment exist? Is there a path of love, peace and happiness? Be a master of life. What is your way? Look closely at your situation, think thoroughly and meet a clear decision. "My way of a successful life is ..." Go your way consistently. See you strong, wise and successful. Forward. Optimism. Success.