Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Swami Chidananda 12/26/2025

Episode Date: January 2, 2026

The Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art presents a weekly meditation for beginners and skilled meditators alike. Each episode is inspired by a different work of art from the Museum’s collection and is led by a prominent meditation teacher.The episode begins with an opening talk followed by a 20-minute meditation. In this episode, the guided meditation begins at 15:30.Teacher:  Swami Chidananda Theme: WisdomLama (Teacher) Milarepa; Tibet; 18th century; stone; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art; gift of the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation; F1997.52.4Learn more about the Rubin’s work around the world at rubinmuseum.org.

Welcome to the Mindfulness Meditation Podcast, presented by the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, a global museum dedicated to bringing greater awareness and understanding of Himalayan art to people around the world. I'm your host, Tashi Children. Every week, we offer a meditation session that draws inspiration from an artwork from the Rubin's collection and is led by a prominent meditation teacher. can find more information about the related artwork in the episode description. Our mindfulness meditation podcast is presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg and teachers from the New York Insight Meditation Center, the Interdependence Project,

and supported by the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism. And now, please enjoy your practice. Hello everybody, Tashi Dele and welcome to the Ruben Museum of Himalayan Arts. Mindfulness Meditation Program. I am Tashi Children, Himalayan Programs and Communities Ambassador, and I'm delighted to be a host today. The Rubin is a global museum dedicated to presenting Himalayan art and its insights, and we're so glad to have all of you join us for our weekly program where we combine art and meditation. Inspired by our collection, we will first take a deep look at the work of art we have chosen for today. We will then hear a

brief talk from our teacher Swami Chittananda and then we will have a short sit about 15 to 20 minutes for the meditation guided by him. Now let's take a look at today's theme and artwork. The artwork for today's session is this beautiful sculpture of Mela Rapa, origin Tibet dated 18th century and the medium is stone and this is about 4.3.8 into 3.3.8 into 2.3.8 into 2.3.2.2.2.2.2.2. and quarter inches. The theme for the month of December is wisdom. Milarepa 1052 to 1135 is one of the most widely known Tibetan saints. Millerapa is also one of the highest regarded poets and mystical teachers from Tibet.

In a superhuman effort, he endured hardships, such as wearing only a simple cotton cloth and sustaining himself on nettles. In fact, his name Milarepa translates in Tibetan language as cotton-clad yogi. He lived a life of radical transformation. He realized the error of his ways. So with the help of his guru Marpa Lodzawa, the translator, he took to a solitary life of meditation. Meditated with such fierce determination, purified all his negative karma, he gained the supreme accomplishment within that very lifetime never to be reborn in samsara. Out of compassion for humanity, he undertook the most rigid asceticism to reach awakening and to pass his accomplishments onto the rest of humanity, guiding others on the path to wisdom.

On his journey of transformation, Milorapa renounced his attachment to the physical world. He let go of all of his possessions of any value, with the exception of his cooking pot. One day, Milorapa fell and his pot went, Kaskin. gating down the mountainside and broke. Instead of lamenting the loss of his pot, Milarepa composed the song, I once had a pot, now I do not. The song ends.

The clay pot, so important, the whole of my wealth, becomes my llama in the moment it breaks, teaching impermanence how amazing. The story of Milarepa and the cooking pot illustrates how we can relinquish attachment and embrace change. Now let's bring on our teacher for today. Our teacher is Swami Chittananda.

Swami Ji is a spiritual educator and monk initiated in the Vedic Haribakta lineage, holding the distinguished title of Swami. Through the study of scriptures such as the Bhagavat Gita and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Swami has gained a deep understanding of the science of yoga and has devoted his life to helping others on their inner journey. Before entering the spiritual path, he had a successful career as an investment banker and entrepreneur. Now he uses his experiences to convey the ancient yoga systems in a relatable and accessible way for those seeking to reconcile Western and Eastern philosophies. Additional information about Swamiji can be found

by listening to his podcast, The Path of As Swami. Swami, thank you so much for being here. Jiananth Mirandasya, Gyanajana shalakhaya. This particular artwork focuses on the nature of the nature of impermanence. focuses on the nature of impermanence. Understanding that at the end of the day, everything turns to dust.

And in this particular story of this artwork, we see that this great master has given up all attachments to the world. But somehow there was still some moment where he was attached to this pot. And the pot became the teacher. And by breaking, it showed him that even this small thing we should not be attached to. And this is called Vairagya.

Vyragia means internal detachment. Sometimes to attain the goal of Vyragia, we practice external detachment. We become a monk. We give up everything. We give up the pleasures of the world. We give up money. We give up relationships. And we walk around with the pot.

But it's a word of warning. Because the problem with just external renunciation is that even if you give up everything in the world, internally you might still be holding onto it. in the Vedic tradition we have the Bhagavid Gita which is set on the battlefield so there's a warrior about to fight and he turns to his teacher

Krishna and says I don't want to fight I want to become a sannyasi I want to become a renunciant I want to give up everything and go off into a monastery and Krishna tells him no that's not your path

your path is to fight but become a Tiagi somebody who is practicing internal detachment thousands of years after a Bhagavid Gita was given a disciple was speaking with this teacher and he said why was the Gita given on the battlefield why was it not given in a monastery somewhere

and the teacher looks at him and he says look you can go off to a cave and you can meditate for 20 years But in that cave, there's nobody to be mad at, nobody to be angry at, no lust, no pizza, no chai. And so you think that you might have given up all of these attachments. And afterwards, you leave the cave thinking you've become enlightened and you step foot on an Indian bus. Has fair been to India? A bus that holds 10 people, there's 100.

it. So when they start stepping on your foot, pushing you, shoving you, then you know if you're truly an enlightened being or just another normal person. So the Gita was given on the battlefield because the battlefield represents life. And through doing our duty in the world, we start to let go of attachments to things and start to have internal renunciation. And this is very important for us to understand that. Because a lot of times, people think hierarchically, if you're a monk, you're more spiritual. But actually, there's two paths. There's the path of the householder and the path of the monk.

And both will lead you to inner understanding of oneself. Both will give obstacles in different ways. So either way, internal detachment is the goal. So how do we do this internal detachment? Across various traditions, across various practices, there's many ways to reach this internal detachment, this taggi. Some is through meditation, inner reflection, through difficult austerities. Others is through a path of devotion and sweetness and grace.

for others is to serving humanity. So just as many rivers there are leading to an ocean, there's so many paths leading to that ultimate internal renunciation. And we must combine these various practices and a holistic approach is the best way to achieve that goal. Recently, I was invited to go to a Zen monastery in California. And in this place,

they've only been practicing Zen for 40 years. And no outside people are allowed in from any tradition. But they decided to open it up for new people, and they had invited me to come to represent the Vedic path. And so I arrived at this monastery, and as I walked in,

I felt such peace. a peace that I've never felt before, just the stillness of the mind. And the Zen practices are very beautiful. You meditate for hours and hours and hours. Of course, I'm not an expert in Zen, but it's a meditation that there's nothingness. We're like shooting stars in the sky. We come and we're there for a moment in time and we disappear back into the night sky. And it's very structured.

And so we did this for a few days. And then eventually they asked me to come and do the Vedic practice. And so I brought my deity, which is a lingam. And we placed it in the center and we started to do rituals. And we'd start to have a relationship between us and this personal form of the divine. We'd offer flowers. We'd dance. We'd sing.

We'd offer water. And it was a bit chaotic and all of the Zen monks and nuns were thinking, oh my goodness, what are these people doing? But then afterwards, the main lady came to me and she said, Swami, I've been meditating for a long, long time. And I love my practice. But there was something that I felt when you were doing these rituals which I've never felt before. And that is a sweetness. Where is this sweetness coming from? What is the sweetness?

I said, well, that sweetness comes when we develop this relationship with the divine, where we start to understand that the divine is in all things, that love pervades all things. And by seeing this divine will and love all around us, it becomes a very sweet relationship. And then she said, how do I get that sweetness? I said, through grace.

She said, what is grace? And grace, I said, comes from something greater than ourselves. To uplift us and move us through certain samsaras, patterns, and habits, and we're not able to break free ourselves. She's like, wow, that's wonderful. I want to incorporate sweetness and grace in my practice. And so by implementing the beautiful practices of Zen, of meditation, of stillness, and also integrating Vedic practices such as sweetness and grace,

is a much more holistic spiritual journey that we can all walk together. And that's the beauty of spirituality. There's so many ways to practice internal detachment. internal detachment comes when we fall in love with the divine it's not an analytical thing it's not oh i have to give up lust i have to give up greed i have to give up my attachment to this and that and my insecurities no it's not a mind thing when you experience that deep love for the divine it's like the rays of the sun breaking through the clouds. When they break through the clouds and they hit the fog,

the fog disappears immediately. The fog can be equated to the vritis or fluctuations of the mind. The rays of the sun doesn't say, you know, I'm going to go down to earth and I'm going to break up the fog. No, the rays of the sun just shines. And in that shinness, in that heat, the fog automatically dissipates. So when we start to develop this deep love for the divine,

all of our attachments to external things naturally go away. And when that happens, we don't have to renounce everything or anything. Because everything that we do, everything that we eat, everything that we offer, we only see the divine in it. I see a pizza, ah, it's the divine. I see money, ah, it's the divine. I can use it in service of others. And so that's internal detachment.

So we're going to do a very small meditation that helps us to connect to that sweetness and that love. And we do that by utilizing the vibration of Oom. Ome is said to be a divine vibration, the fundamental vibration of everything that exists in this reality. And when we allow ourselves to chant it from the heart chakra, We start to perceive and feel that subtle vibration in everything around us. So we're going to chant Oom a few times.

And then after that, I'll do a guided meditation, and then we'll finish for today. So when you chant, don't start and stop with me. Just go at your own pace. It should be like waves in an ocean where we play off each other. The only thing that's important is that you feel it from your heart, not from your throat or your mind. Because this vibration is inside of you. It is who you are. So it should be very natural to you.

And you can keep your eyes closer open as you wish. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. One. Oh. Oh.

Oh. Oh. Make your hands and place them in front of your chest and imagine you're holding a ball. mother earth feel her breathing in your hands now take all of that light and that love inside of you that divinity inside of you and bring it to your fingertips and to your palms feel this love radiating from your hands now slowly start to share that love with mother Earth. Share it with the wind, with the night sky, with air, with water. Share it with the plants and the animals. Share it with the oceans and the rivers. Share it with the flowers and the trees.

now shared with the people shared with your friends shared with your family shared with your enemies shared with those who want to do harm to this world share this love with everything and everyone in Mother Earth

Oh. Shanty, shanty, shanty, shanty, shanthi, shanthi, shanthi, shanthi, shi, gurbio, nama. are you thank you very much for joining this meditation hope you have a wonderful start to the year if you'd like to stay connected if you'd like to pick up a daily meditation can always reach out to me.

It's a Swami Chedananda on social media. Hope to stay in touch. And thank you to the Rubin Museum for organizing these wonderful events. Much love. Take care. Thank you so much for that, Swamiji. And have a happy holidays, everyone.

That concludes this week's practice. If you enjoyed this podcast or are a weekly listener, we invite you to support this series by donating and becoming a friend of the Rubin at Rubin Museum.org slash friends. The Rubin is a non-profit that relies on the generous support of donors like you to create meaningful experiences with Himalayan art around the world. If you are looking for more inspiring content, check out our other podcast, Awaken, which uses art to explain. the dynamic path to enlightenment and what it means to wake up available wherever you listen to podcasts. And to learn more about the Rubin Museum's work around the world, sign up for our newsletter at Rubinmuseum.org slash newsletter. Thank you for listening. Have a mindful day.