Hi! My name is Sylvain Brunet (Mahat).
My spiritual journey started when I was 5, but I had to wait until 16 for it to go into hyperdrive after seeing the first Star Wars in 1977.
OUR FARM
For 23 years, my wife and I ran a large organic farm. We fed around 800 families weekly through a year-round Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. During those years, I spent a lot of time in the fields, and I was able to meditate a lot, and some days more than 16 hours. Spending that much time outside, connected to nature, allowed me to gain some insights into our relationship with the world we live in and how we interact with it, for better or worse.
But my love affair with meditation didn’t start on the farm. We must go back to when I was 5 years old. One early morning, at the family cottage, I was watching a tv show, and the lady explained how to meditate by looking at the flame of a candle. I was mesmerized! As soon as she finished the demonstration, I stood up, went to the kitchen, got a candle and matches, went back to my bedroom, and started meditating.
I was an average student throughout my studies because my interests were in other things. I was and still am curious beyond words. I ingest information about anything and everything. Then, I make connections where there seems to be none. I am a generalist.
At fourteen, I followed my first yoga class. Viewing Star Wars in 1977 at sixteen changed my life profoundly. My spiritual channels opened, and my life hasn’t been the same since. I started to study many other forms of yoga besides hatha (postures). I became a certified hatha yoga and meditation teacher in my early twenties. I thought for 25 years until work on the farm became too demanding. Throughout my journey, the main focus of my yoga studies has always centred around Jnana yoga, the yoga of knowledge. Or should I say of self-knowledge? To this day, it is my leading practice, and it has had a profound impact on my life.
I went to College and University, studying sciences, accounting, business and computers. I worked in computer sales at Xerox in the mid-’80s and in various executive positions in the computer industry until the early 90s. I got married and had a daughter. During that period, I also studied Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). All this is happening in parallel with my spiritual yoga journey.
In July 91, I was initiated into the oral tradition of yoga. I received the name Swami Mahatananda Sarasvati, Mahat for short, hence the name of these newsletters. Starting in 1988, and for the next 16 years, I travelled to India, the US and Europe to deepen my studies with yoga masters. Most notably, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Swami Brahmadanda Sarasvati (my spiritual Father), Mahavatar Babaji (my spiritual Grand Father) and Nura (my spiritual Mother). I’ve experienced incredible things in the field of consciousness. That is what I will share with you in these newsletters.
Then, I met my second wife in 1992. For the next four years, I taught yoga and meditation in a private co-ed boarding school where she was the headmistress. Also, in 92, we moved into the farmhouse we would eventually buy, with the rest of the farm to start feeding families. From 96 to 2019, we farmed and provided thousands of families more than 500 varieties of 72 species of fruits and veggies. That was a good school for logistics and a deep appreciation for nature and people.
Working on the farm also allowed me to reconnect with nature in a very deep way and provided ample time to meditate some more. Some days up to 16 hours.
On our last trip to India 2004
In 2005, we adopted the daughter of one of my wife’s nephews to get her out of a traumatic and abusive setting. My wife, who was 61 at the time, joked that our new daughter was her retirement project. She turned out to be much, much more than that in our lives. Such joy and blessings.
From July 2020 until January 2023, I took care of my wife full time. She passed in early January 2023 from natural causes after surviving liver cancer and many other complications. It’s been challenging with the pandemic and all, yet it came with a great benefit. Every new day we woke up together, our love for one another was greater than the previous day. We shared the road for 31 years. Such a gift.
My hope, with this site and the posts, is that you will have as much fun and gain as much as I did through my journey.
Namaste, Mahat
© Copyright 2023 The Adhara Foundation inc. & Sylvain Brunet