Dada Madhuvidyananda became an Ananda Marga monk and spiritual teacher when he was 20 years old, and has since dedicated his life to serving others. He has taught meditation and yoga to thousands of people around the world and has lectured widely on topics of spirituality, self-development and social transformation throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand and India.

In 1995 Dada introduced the people of Albania to yoga and meditation during their Independence Day celebration, and received a special commendation from the Albanian government. During the war in Bosnia, Dada worked with the international, UN-affiliated relief organization AMURT. His relief team established a home for refugees in Zagreb, Croatia. In 2006 Dada founded an NGO for human rights and animal rights in Berlin, Germany. It is called grenzenlos menschlich (infinitely human).

Until August 2009 Dada worked mostly in the United States. He co-founded the spiritual eco-village Ananda Liina in Urbana, IL, lead dozens of workshops, seminars, retreats and training sessions and published the Seven Secrets of Success. He now works in Europe, with his base in Germany, where he is teaching dharma sadhana (spiritual practices) and establishing a yogic leadership program and an ashram (spiritual center where people can learn, practice and live Tantra-Yoga).

Here are short articles by Dada Madhuvidyananda:

Realize your blissful self through meditation

Every person wants to be happy.  No one wants to be unhappy and miserable.  Whatever we human beings do, we do it out of our desire for happiness.  We don’t want to be happy only sometimes; we want to be happy always, without end. We long for unlimited, lasting happiness – that is our fundamental human nature.

In our search for happiness we are attracted towards physical enjoyments, wealth, power and prestige.  But the mere experience or acquisition of these things doesn’t satisfy our thirst for happiness, rather it increases our desires.  That is because limited and transient objects or experiences can give us only limited and short-lived happiness.  Only an unlimited and permanent source can give us unlimited and lasting happiness.  We can fulfill our fundamental human longing for endless happiness only when we get in touch with or attain that endless source.  What is that source; what is permanent and unending?  Does it exist - or are we born with a fundamental longing that is doomed to remain unfulfilled?

Yogis searched for and found an answer to this question.  Realizing that their sense organs and sense perceptions were limited, they turned their attention inward.  They traced their thoughts and feelings to their source.  At that source the Yogis experienced an unchanging, unconditioned awareness, which was beneath or prior to thought.  It was pure, unlimited consciousness, which they called Atman.  Reflecting the pure consciousness at the source of their minds, they experienced bliss.  They found that their innermost self is the source of  endless happiness, inner peace and freedom.

Yoga-meditation is  a systematic process of turning one’s attention inward and reflecting the unlimited consciousness (Atman) within.  By experiencing the boundless consciousness within, we attain real, lasting happiness - the fulfillment of our deepest human longing. 

 

 

 

Meditation and Yoga for those who love humanity

Billions of people and animals on this planet are afflicted by unnecessary suffering, such as war, poverty, exploitation and cruelty. The main cause of this misery is less-than-selfless leadership. To alleviate the suffering and to bring about peace, the guarantee of minimum necessities of life, justice and welfare requires selfless service and leadership. A selfless leader acts from his/her inner source of benevolence, love, joy and strength, and serves others with sincerity, courage and intelligence. This state of being, and these qualities need to be cultivated through practice. Yoga promotes this kind of self-cultivation, helps in establishing oneself in inner peace and determined action. Yoga is not just a set of physical exercises. It is a scientific method to unfold one’s unlimited human potential – physical, mental and spiritual.

Some people who work for the good of all neglect themselves. They don’t take care of their health and mental composure, which often leads to burn-out. Others give up their struggle, because they cannot handle the pressure, criticism or opposition. Some get lost in confusion or frustration. And history shows that there are some who succeed in their struggle, but when they are on the other end, they succumb to the temptations of power and become corrupt themselves.

Benevolent and spiritually-minded leaders understand and practice thequalities they’re working for –  truthfulness, benevolence, justice, equality – in their daily life. They cultivate integrity, self-knowledge, universal love, selfless action, mental composure and clarity, courage and perseverance. They embody the change that they want to see in the world. We believe that suffering people everywhere need the soothing touch of their selfless service.

"We must work passionately and indefatigably to bridge the gulf between our scientific progress and our moral progress. One of the great problems of humankind is that we suffer from a poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance. The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually."

"Every man lives in two realms, the internal and the external. The internal is that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals and religion. The external is that complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms, and instrumentalities by means of which we live. Our problem today is that we have allowed the internal to become lost in the external. We have allowed the means by which we live to outdistance the ends for which we live."

              Martin Luther King