SERVING THE BAY AREA SINCE 2002
“Yoga Mandala is a truly wonderful place for yoga...I am very happy with how my practice has developed over the years, and it has everything to do with the great teachers and environment at this studio. ”
by Henry L.
by Henry L.
Bhaktiprasad is one of the friendly faces you’ll meet behind the front desk of Yoga Mandala. We know her name can seem like a real mouthful, so we asked her to explain what it means. Read her beautiful explanation, and learn the meaning of a couple of sanskrit words you’ll hear frequently at the studio:
As a student of Yoga philosophy since 16 I have been graced with many opportunities to understand my inherent nature. Throughout my path such blessings continue to shape my experience and offer an ever-present invitation to align myself with that Essence. One such blessing was when I received the name Bhaktiprasad this past spring from Dharmanidhi Saravati.
Bhakti is generally translated as “devotion” or “love.” In this sense bhakti connotes the emotional quality of the instinct within each of us to return to the expansive freedom of our essential nature. Bhakti is the longing Shakti and Siva feel to reunite in the heart just as two poles of a magnet ‘yearn’ to move toward each other.
Prasad is an offering that has been transformed by a deity. Taken lightly prasad is the mercy and grace of the divine as a gift for all who wish to partake. On another level prasad is a substance that has been ‘digested’ and purified through the act of offering. In this context prasad is both the tasty food available after puja is performed and also the compassion of the deity or guru set forth into the world. Considering these two beautiful words I have taken my name to mean ‘that which has been offered to the divine with love and is a blessing to all.”
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Comments
beautiful, Dr. Prasad! thank you for sharing that wonderful description of your dharma name!
it inspires me to contemplate mine more…
-prem
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