Born to Win

By Swami Guru Devanand Saraswati Ji Maharaj

Born to Win

You cannot buy peace of mind at a pharmacy. Try to always keep a clean conscience so that you can always look into the eyes of others. Make an effort to think positively. Learn to control the quality and quantity of your thoughts. This is very important if you want to be happy. Your mind is not meant to be destroyed with drugs, vices, and negative thoughts. Your mind is meant to be disciplined, developed, and educated. If there is no inner peace, there is no world peace. The Mantra Yoga Meditation technique is an essential discipline you can use to strengthen, purify, and train your mind. Without control of the mind, there is no success.

Choose to succeed!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 15, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886541588

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Born to Win

Swami Guru Devanand Saraswati Ji Maharaj

Copyright © 2023 Swami Guru Devanand Saraswati Ji Maharaj

and USA Devanand Yoga Cultural Center, Inc.

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2023

First Spanish Edition: 1993

Second Spanish Edition (Expanded and Revised): 2010

First English Translation: 2023

Text supervised by Guruji Luis F. Rivera

Translation by Victor Florez

Revisions by Sarah Aponte and Victor Florez

For more information contact USA Devanand Yoga Cultural Center, Inc., PO Box 680090, Corona, New York 11368.

Website: usadevanandyogacenter.org

YouTube and Facebook: USA Devanand Yoga Center

ISBN 979-8-88654-155-7 (pbk)

ISBN 979-8-88654-158-8 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Dedication

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1

Born to Win

A. Modern Education

B. Science

C. Religion

D. Medicine

E. The Yoga Philosophy

Strength in Unity

Topics of Reflection

Chapter 2

Understanding Our Personality

The Physical Body

Diet and Nutrition

The Brain

The Mind

The Intellect

The Ego

The Soul

Integration of the Personality

Chapter 3

Yoga, the Path to Inner Peace

The Path of Yoga

1. Yama (Abstinence)

2. Niyama (Inner Purification)

3. Asana (Hatha Yoga)

4. Pranayama (Control of the Breath)

5. Pratyahara (control of the senses)

6. Dharana (Concentration)

7. Dhyana (Meditation)

8. Samadhi or Enlightenment

Yoga Can Help You

How to Achieve Real Spiritual Development

Hatha Yoga

Benefits of Hatha Yoga

Bhakti Yoga

Karma Yoga

Raja Yoga

Jnana Yoga

Mantra Yoga Meditation

What Is Spiritual Growth?

What Is…the Mantra Yoga Meditation Philosophy?

Mantras: Words of Power

What Is Meditation?

The Initiation

The Spiritual Master

The Yoga Philosophy's Assessment of Sin

The Most Important Thing in Life

Chapter 4

Sparks of Wisdom

Chapter 5

I Need to Know…

Chapter 6

Benefits of Mantra Yoga Meditation

Chapter 7

Sri Shankaracharya and Monism

Facts to Remember About Mantra Yoga Meditation*

Devanand Yoga Cultural Centers

About the Author

Dedication

To my disciples

To our supporters

To humanity

With divine love

May you achieve enlightenment

Through Mantra Yoga Meditation

It will be the highest joy

That you can give me

Swami Guru Devanand Saraswati Ji Maharaj

In life, you have to see to believe…

In philosophy, you have to practice to know.

The human being was born to be happy. How is it possible, then, that there is so that there is so much pain in the human experience?

We need to find a way out of the vicious cycle of anguish and desperation.

When moral and spiritual principles decline and humanity is immersed in ignorance, then the Supreme Being manifests through the spiritual master in order to guide people toward divine realization, which is the source of universal light.

—Swami Guru Devanand Saraswati Ji Maharaj

The wise and immortal master Swami Guru Devanand Saraswati Ji Maharaj left his physical body on Thursday, May 24, 1990, in New York City and entered into Mahasamadhi.

I will always be with you, he would always tell his disciples.

Foreword

Swami Guru Devanand Saraswati Ji Maharaj was born on January 17 and left his physical body, entering Mahasamadhi, on May 24, 1990. The master studied for many years in the Himalayan mountains of India with the famous master Mauna Swami (the monk of silence) and then with the Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math, Swami Shantanand Saraswati Ji Maharaj.

Mauna Swami, known as the Great Saint of India, lived seven thousand meters above sea level. This wise master spent forty years of his life without speaking and in this silence, with his exquisite yogic power, he taught his disciples the profound Vedantic philosophy. In India, being a disciple of this great saint is considered to be a great blessing that few can achieve.

Shri Swami Shantanand was one of the successors of Shri Adi Shankara. The philosophy that Swami Guru Devanand preaches has been regarded by great sages and philosophers as a strict and serious discipline, capable of taking the disciple to the most profound state of spiritual realization. Having studied under these two great philosopher sages gives us an idea of the spiritual depth of Swami Guru Devanand.

Through this disciplic succession, the Mantra Yoga Meditation teaching has been able to maintain its essence as pure as when Shri Shankaracharya had taught it during his time. For this reason, the discipline and life philosophy that Swami Guru Devanand preaches has struck such a deep chord in the heart of both the East and the West. Firstly, because of its well-structured foundation and endorsement of the highest-known philosophy. Secondly, because of the great masters who taught Swami Guru Devanand. Thirdly, because of the great guru's pure, balanced, and realized personality.

Your Holiness Swami Guru Devanand Saraswati Ji Maharaj is the living example of what he preaches: love, peace, harmony, wisdom, and spiritual realization. His example guides the disciple and motivates him or her to break down barriers, overcome obstacles, confront challenges, mature, develop, and discipline themselves in order to achieve spiritual realization and inner knowledge, which is the goal of life.

Throughout more than twenty years, Swami Guru Devanand traveled to hundreds of countries and cities, teaching with his words and example, spreading the subtle seed capable of merging all hearts and peoples of the world in a close spiritual union. The guru preaches that Mantra Yoga Meditation is the alternative solution to the global problem. World peace cannot exist without individual peace. Happiness is within you, not outside of you. Life is what you make of it. Don't waste time: detox, develop, purify, organize and discipline your mind now. Wake up! The world needs you! That is the master's message.

This book, Born to Win, is a projection of those pure and sublime teachings that the master has left us.

It is his voice that spreads in the infinite, giving breath to the human being to start anew, in order to move forward and take one more step toward supreme knowledge. This book reveals, one by one, those subtle secrets that lead us to immortality and wisdom.

Luis F. Rivera, MD, ND

(Guruji Rivera)

Introduction

When all your attempts to be happy and successful have failed…what is left? You…and that is the most important thing of all.

When all your illusions perish and your heart becomes scarred, and you feel tired of wandering…what is left? There is still a great treasure that remains: you.

Let's say that you've lost everything—your family members, all your money, your job, your reputation, your moral principles, your faith in life, your desire to live, and even your clothes. What, then, can you count on? What is left? The only thing that remains is also the only important thing: you. And you can still count on yourself.

And even when loneliness is your only company and your mind runs astray without clear direction, aimlessly and without control, you will always remain. Do you realize the importance of fully understanding this? Nothing has been lost. You are here! You are the only important thing, and if you are here…who cares about material riches?

There is always an opportunity to start again! Do you realize that nothing is lost? Because the foundation of all happiness and all success is only you, and you are always here! Understand this.

As long as you are here, with a little encouragement, initiative, creativity, and willpower, you can build everything that has been destroyed and form a better world. In order to help others, you need to have something to give them. An empty person, unfortunately, does not have much to offer.

Now is the time to start to reorganize yourself. You have a lot of work to do, but the foundation is already built: it's you. You just have to make an effort to harmonize the three aspects of your personality: body, mind, and soul. You must detox yourself, balance yourself, strengthen yourself, and learn to come into contact with the source of superior energy. That's it! Are you ready?

Good, let's begin…

Give yourself a new opportunity. I know you can do this…and you also know you can. Now is the moment… Why wait for tomorrow? One minute wasted is one minute less that we can count on. Are you scared? Don't worry, all new ventures can produce a bit of fear at the beginning. It's natural. This vanishes in a short time. Later on, you will be very sure of yourself. Ready to begin? Good…then follow my instructions!

We will begin the journey into the depths of your own being.

You will have unforgettable experiences!

You will find indescribable treasures that you will never forget.

Your path will be secure. Your goal…will be increasingly closer.

Your knowledge will be increasingly greater, and your light will be more intense.

Happiness is within you.

Wisdom is your essence.

The source of love is within you.

And peace is your greatest manifestation.

So go toward you. You were Born to Win!

Don't forget it. There is no other alternative: you were born to win.

You Have Succeeded Only

When You Have Achieved Divine Realization

Chapter 1

Born to Win

Even if you don't believe it, we were born to win and to be happy. Maybe life has beaten you down so much that you've lost hope of achieving even a little bit of happiness. Then that phrase born to win might seem impossible. Maybe you think that all is lost for you and that it is better to give up and get used to the suffering, but that pessimistic attitude will only harm you further.

In nature's plan, suffering does not exist for the human being. Only happiness exists. Every human was born to be happy. Your life should be full of peace, harmony, self-confidence, vitality, unbreakable vigor, willpower, health, joy, and the eagerness to improve.

The mind of the human being should be clear and positive with good concentration and immense enthusiasm. Let's build a strong mind that is full of energy, has superior control of thoughts, and exquisite creativity.

A mind that is balanced, positive, and pure is the prerequisite of happiness. Nevertheless, nowadays, in the twenty-first century, humanity doubts that happiness exists. The human being lives sad and upset, filled with insecurity, worries, anger, resentment, and pride. Loaded with fear, frustrations, and illnesses. Dissatisfied with their lifestyle and with a nervous system that has been destroyed over time. Modern humans do not believe in themselves nor in anyone else. Moral values have been lost, and profound spiritual traditions are unknown. The human's life unravels in a terrible, vicious circle. They wander through a labyrinth and cannot find the way out.

Nonetheless, civilization continues to take its course. New job opportunities arise. Science creates things that have never been seen before. Innovations appear across all sectors. We have created some of the most sophisticated computers that have proven to be great resources for studying. There are better techniques for diagnosis and treatment of diseases. The individual manages larger sums of money, but on the other hand, there is a surge in stress, depression, and suicide. Diseases come about that are increasingly more difficult to treat. Pharmacies all around the world sell millions of pills daily to control nervous diseases. Rumors of war increase. Millions of dollars are invested in the creation of weapons to destroy humanity. The struggle for power increases…and so do diseases. The educational, scientific, religious, medical, civic, and cultural institutions try their best to solve humanity's problems but with no apparent success. Unfortunately, humanity's progress does not depend on the construction of modern buildings, nor is it measured by the invention of sophisticated instruments, nor is it determined by great discoveries in the scientific field.

The parameters that most accurately measure the various methods that are available to help humanity break free from the current state of chaos are: fluctuations in the rate of violence, theft, drug use, disease, etc.

If the rate of crime is on the rise, thefts are increasingly more frequent, drugs are mutilating the minds of our young people, and diseases are increasingly more destructive, then there is a flaw in the methods used to overcome present-day problems of humanity. We must search and identify this flaw in order to correct it. The increase in the number of negative people in our society is an indication that the methods we are using to make this planet a better place are failing. We can claim we have made effective progress only when crime begins to drop across all countries in the world, rumors of war cease forever, people stop using drugs, hospitals close because there are no more sick people, people do not steal, peace manifests in people's hearts, and when pure love—without attachment or desires—predominates in humanity. These are all signs that we are raising our level of consciousness.

Let us now analyze, through the lens of the yoga philosophy, what each communal institution is doing to help humanity break free from its current state of chaos.

A. Modern Education

The purpose of higher education offered by our schools and universities should not be limited to the intellectual arena alone. Its goal is not to churn out professionals as if it were a car factory producing motor vehicles. The training should be much more profound to include the physical, mental, intellectual, and spiritual aspects, with the end goal being to help integrate the student's personality. The student should enter an educational institution that exalts moral, social, cultural, and spiritual values through a practical training. And this training should be independent of the religious faith that each individual professes.

The main goal of education is to promote the integration of all aspects of the personality so that the student can develop and purify their discernment, learning to confidently make choices about what is best for his or her life. This should be a special and very subtle training for the student to enhance their creative intelligence, improve memory, and concentration, and as a result also improve self-confidence. Education has the responsibility of shaping individuals to have a positive mind, inner control, discipline, sincerity, and organization, i.e., people who can be trusted and whose minds are superior.

Higher education seeks to form individuals that are balanced, strong, and healthy—both physically and mentally. Nevertheless, we see that in the great majority of cases, this is not the case. The individual graduates and begins a career, but his or her spiritual, ethical, moral, humanitarian, and sociocultural values may not have varied much, perhaps being the same or even lower than when they began their studies. In many cases, the individual graduates from a university with less control, more nervous tensions, more doubts, and sometimes with dreadful vices that were acquired during their years of study. Sometimes, he leaves with an inner emptiness that is more severe than when he entered the classroom for the first time, back when he still had the illusion of finding happiness in that educational institution.

We know that for education to be complete, it should include a profound mental discipline, capable of strengthening the mind, increasing internal energy, naturally dissolving tensions, and creating a strong aura, impenetrable to all negative vibrations. All of these factors help to form a person with an integrated personality and a powerful individual magnetism.

Universities across the world should teach students how to conserve inner energy, how to strengthen the mind, how to increase creativity, and how to develop the most subtle levels of the individual conscience. It is very important to acquire a higher education and university-level education and we have nothing against that. In these pages, we are simply evaluating the superficial and profound effects that university teaching has on the individual personality. And indeed, the fundamental purpose of education is the integration of the personality, with the purpose of creating a more perfect and capable human race. The effect of education on the student should be measured by this individual's behavior in the future—their way of thinking and acting, the way they confront difficult situations, and their ability to thoroughly discern in situations in which their moral condition, health or the future of humanity are in danger.

Better Education = More Self-Control

The experiences acquired during the years of intensive educational training should be put into practice in daily life. This is the best verification of the depth and effectiveness of a country's educational system.

The more individuals that graduate from university, the more positive the effects on society should supposedly be: less drugs, less theft, less murder, less war, more understanding, fewer diseases, more individual and collective peace, more spirituality, more love, less selfishness, fewer class struggles, more harmony; in other words: More Education.

Better Education = Less Negative Behavior

Evidently, this is not the reality of the current human condition. For this reason, present-day education, although very good, lacks a profound and very necessary element: teaching us how to manage our inner world, strengthen the mind, and purify the intellect. It should teach us how to achieve an integration of the personality, in such a way that the discernment and ego are purified enough to attain internal strength, which has the capacity to lead us to success on all levels: individually, morally, as well as universally.

More Education = Less Violence

Analyze This:

Every year, there are millions upon millions of people who graduate from different university institutions across the world and yet theft, crime, and disease are all on the rise. What's the matter with global education then? The problem is that it is lacking techniques to purify, discipline, control, and develop the mind so that the student can learn to manage their thoughts, achieve emotional stability, and have a clear concept of the purpose of life.

The serious problem is that institutions of higher education lack techniques to physically, mentally, and spiritually balance the student's personality. The yoga philosophy has ancient techniques available to those who are interested. When people start at a young age to combine modern education together with techniques such as Mantra Yoga Meditation, they establish a foundation on which they can achieve a balanced, physical-mental-intellectual growth.

Better Education = More Individual Peace = World Peace

Objectively Observe the Following Data:

The largest robberies in the history of humanity have not been committed by illiterate people. They have been committed by professionals, politicians, educators, rulers and others who, although very intelligent, have not known how to properly channel that intelligence.

The most difficult crimes to resolve have been perpetrated by very intelligent people who, on many occasions, have been able to commit horrible acts without leaving a trace of evidence.