The Meditation Center

The class participants opted for a change in the Fall of 1967 when Dr. Usharbudh Arya (Swami Veda Bharati) came to teach Sanskrit at the U of M and he agreed to teach the group drawn by FUM advertising: the first class filled the room, over eighty people. Classes continued and word spread. In later 1969, classes were held in the attic of the home which the Arya's bought in the Seward neighborhood.

The history of humanity is not the history of tool making or of social organization. It is the history of mind's unfoldment. The Himalayan Tradition believes that even if one weaves no clothing nor owns a stone to crush wild nuts, one may be a saint, a sage, a philosopher, a wise (wo)man.

And what use that we land a man on Mars but have conquered not the god of war who dwells within the mind, nor can curb our anger, nor can slow down our breath, nor can lower our blood pressure without the aid of an agency external to us?The Himalayan Tradition advocates complete self-sufficiency of a human being without dependence on any object external to his spirit and mind.

There are seven schools of Indian philosophy, ranging from extreme materialism, where nothing but matter fills the universe, to extreme spiritualism, where matter is a mere shadow of spirit. The Samkhya and Yoga schools are midway between these.

Interestingly, these two are complementary: the Yoga school deals with the practical steps of achieving liberation from all human imperfections and suffering, while the Samkhya school provides the philosophical doctrines within which the existence of these imperfections and suffering are to be understood.The Samkhya school was founded by the sage Kapila around 600 BCE and admits of two realities: Purusha, or Ultimate Consciousness.

The Himalayan Mountains have been the home of sages for millennia. These great sages have lived and passed on knowledge of the yogic teachings to disciples who then became masters passing on the teachings in an unbroken lineage since the Vedic period. Twelve hundred years ago Shankaracharya organized his teaching into five centers of the Himalayan Tradition.

We offer meditation, yoga classes and workshops for all age groups and stages of meditative practice. Students are taught in small groups by experienced instructors and are given personal, one-on-one attention. In the Himalayan Yoga Tradition, meditation is seen as a systematic method, which leads one from the lower, material levels of awareness to the highest and most subtle state of consciousness.