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Desire
Spiritual Message for the Day – Desire by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 5 July 2015 18.46 EST | New York Edition** |
Desire
Divine Life Society Publication: Bhakti Sutras of Narada by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
Why does desire manifest? On account of Avidya or ignorance or imperfection or lack of bliss. When one gets Darshan of God, all desires are burnt up. When the boy Dhruva had Darshan of Lord Hari, the desire to obtain kingdom that prompted him to worship, disappeared. Devotion is a fire like Jnanagni (fire of wisdom) that burns up all mundane desires.
How can a trace of earthly desire remain when the devotee attains God, the embodiment of bliss? Darshan of God comes in various ways viz. , in dreams, in physical form with four hands, with conch, mace, discus and lotus-flower in the hands, in the form of cosmic consciousness (Visvarupa Darshan) which Arjuna had, in the form of Hiranyagarbha consciousness or full knowledge of Brahma- loka, etc. Note how Arjuna expresses his experiences of cosmic consciousness: “Nor source, nor midst, nor end; infinite force, unnumbered arms, the sun and moon Thine eyes; I see Thy face, as sacrificial fire, blazing, its splendour burneth up the worlds. “
God sometimes gives Darshan to encourage His devotees by coming down in Vimana (or celestial car). Akasa Vani, dazzling lights in space or sky are some other encouragements which God gives to push His devotees on the path vigorously and rapidly. The devotee should not stop his Sadhana on account of false Tushti (satisfaction) when he gets His Darshan. He should ever rest in God. He should have perfect Nishtha in God always (Svaroopa-sthiti). He should not leave off his practices till he merges himself in the Lord-_Maha-Bhava_ or Tanmaya State (Parama Prem).
The devotee who realises God is freed from grief also. Can darkness remain in the presence of light? How can sorrow manifest when one is immersed in the Ocean of Bliss and Prem? Grief is a mental creation. It manifests when the mind is attached to body and illusory connections. When the mind is obliterated, when there is Self-absorption and self-effacement by merging in the bosom of God, how can grief approach the devotee? Absolutely impossible. The devotee does not hate anything. Hatred is due to ignorance. How can the devotee hate anybody when he sees Lord Hari in everything? He feels that the world is manifestation of the Lord and all movements and actions are His Lilas. He has no Ghrina or dislike for faecal matter, dirt, Chandala, scavenger, cobbler, beggar, prostitute, thief, etc. He says: “I see everywhere my sweet Lord. It is Hari who is playing the part of prostitute, thief, dacoit, scavenger”. He has an all-embracing, all-inclusive, exalted mental state. This cannot be adequately described in words. It has to be felt. Mira, Gouranga, Hafiz, Tulasi Das, Kabir, Ram Das all enjoyed this state. Tulasi Das says: “Shiyaram maya sab jaga jane, karahu pranam jory juge pani-Know everything as Siyaram, Sita and Rama, and with folded hands do prostrations to all, to everything. “
In Purusha Sukta you will find a description of the Purusha: “The Purusha has one thousand heads, one thousand eyes, one thousand feet. “ There is an echo of these ideas in the Gita (XIII-13): “With hands and feet everywhere, with eyes, heads and mouths everywhere, with ears everywhere, He exists in the worlds enveloping all”. Lord Krishna gives advice to Uddhava and prescribes an easy way for reaching Him. “Know, Uddhava, that Brahmin, Chandala, ass, dog, king, beggar are all My forms. When you meet any object, do prostration and feel My presence”. Nama Dev said to the dog: “O Vittala, my dear in the form of dog, do not run away with the dry bread. It will affect your soft throat. Pray, let me apply ghee to the bread”. He ran with ghee in a cup to the dog. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa prostrated before an outcaste girl: “O Mother Kaali! I see Thee in this girl. “ Pavhari Baba prostrated before a thief with a bag of utensils: “O thief Narayan! Pray, accept these things, I never knew that thief Narayan was in my cottage”. Ekanath, a Maharashtra Bhakta gave his ring voluntarily to a thief when he entered the house: “O thief! Take this ring also. Your kartavya (duty) is to steal the things. Thou art Vittala (Krishna). Keep up this Lila. “ Have you understood the sublime state of these exalted Bhaktas who have a new angle of vision? A day will come to you also. Exert. Struggle. Pray. Worship. Meditate. Plunge yourself in Bhajan with zeal, earnestness and fervour.
Give up this unquenchable thirst for sensual pleasure, woman, money and worldly prosperity which is the greatest obstacle in the path of devotion and turn your mind towards God. Here is an inexhaustible and imperishable spiritual wealth which no dacoit can rob and a Divine Bliss which is not mixed with fear or pain.
Excerpts from: Desire - Bhakti Sutras of Narada by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
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Saranagati (Surrender)
Spiritual Message for the Day – Saranagati (Surrender) by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 4 July 2015 14.06 EST | New York Edition** |
Saranagati (Surrender)
Divine Life Society Publication: Self-Knowledge by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
Self-sacrifice and renunciation will lead you to nobler and higher spiritual pursuits and take to the pinnacle of spiritual glory and fame.
The doctrine of Prapatti or absolute-surrender to God is also spoken as Saranagati. God is the devotee’s sole refuge and only saviour. Six items are recognised in Prapatti: (1) Acquisition of virtues which would make one a fit offering to God; (2) Avoidance of conduct not acceptable to God; (3) Faith that the Lord will protect him; (4) Appeal to the Lord for protection and mercy; (5) A feeling of one’s own littleness; (6) Total surrender. The first five items are means to the attainment of absolute self-surrender.
Sadhana when done in the right spirit and with right Bhava cannot entertain the ego subtly. It is meant for the annihilation of Ahankara. Even in the path of devotion the aspirant has to do the self-surrender himself. God will not do this for you. The flute-bearer says: “Come unto Me for shelter with all thy being. Surrender yourself to Me. Then alone you will obtain My Grace. Then alone I will liberate thee.”
Every individual can work out his own salvation by dedicating himself to the Lord. The surrender must be sincere, complete and unreserved. This is the secret of success in the path of devotion. Personal contact with a developed saint till the aspirant is established in devotion is necessary. Then alone worldly nature can be changed and old vicious Samskaras can be overhauled thoroughly.
A mob of 10,000 persons came out to stone Mary Magdalene, the Roman prostitute. Lord Jesus addressed the mob with these words: “He that is not without a sin amongst you, let him cast a stone at her.” The mob was silenced at the utterance of Lord Jesus. Mary Magdalene became next moment a saint through the grace of Lord Jesus. It is extremely difficult to say when, on whom and how the Grace of God will descend. Lord Krishna says in the Gita: “They who take refuge with Me, O Partha, though of the womb of sin, women, Vaishyas, even Sudras, they also tread the highest path.” Dear friends, what reason, then, is there for despair? Nil desperandum. Be up and doing. Struggle. Exert. Practise. Plod on. March courageously. Do sincere Sadhana. The all-merciful Lord will surely crown your efforts with success. Even the vilest of us can attain salvation. Lord Krishna has given us the word of assurance.
The Lord knows what is good for you infinitely better than you do. To resign absolutely to His will is even a higher form of worship than visiting his temples and shaking the bell, etc., and doing all sorts of ritualistic ceremonies.
He is standing with out-stretched hands in your heart to embrace you with His sweet love and mercy. Lift up your face. Approach Him with child-like simplicity, innocence and frankness (Arjava.) Speak out your heart to Him. Do unconditional total self-surrender (Atma Samarpana) or Saranagati.
If you do willing, unconditioned, unreserved absolute surrender, then all your duties and responsibilities are over. God will take care of you in all respect. You need not make any effort in Sadhana. God will do everything for you.
Unconditional surrender to His Grace in every act of your life seems to be the only hope. But when it comes to action (Anubhava), your egoism predominates. Self-assertion comes in. Try to overcome this.
Here are some Mantras or formulae for effecting ungrudging and total surrender. Repeat them mentally several times daily With Bhava: “O Lord, I am Thine. All is Thine. Thy will be done. Thou art everything. Thou doest everything.” This practice will remove egoism and mineness and the idea of agency also.
The devotee says unto the Lord: “O Lord, I am Thine. Thou art everything. Thou doest everything. Thou art just. I am an instrument in Thy hands. I am nothing. I can do nothing. I have nothing”, and thus he destroys his egoism and does self-surrender unto the Lord.
The ten senses, the mind, the intellect and the Pranas have no independent existence. They have no power of their own. They derive their power and energy and light from the Lord. Therefore give up your vanity and egoism. Do not think: “I have done this great work. My intellect is very powerful. I am very intelligent. The Lord does everything. These are all His instruments. If you remember these points, you can free yourself from egoism and bonds of Karma. You can do perfect self-surrender.
Egoism develops through Karmas (I have done good works), Varna-Ashrama (I am a Brahmin. I am superior to everybody. I am Sannyasi, I am a pure man), possession of physical strength, wealth, intelligence, beauty, moral virtues, etc. If this egoism is destroyed through spiritual Sadhana, true self-surrender to the Lord can be done.
Excerpts from: Saranagati (Surrender) - Self-Knowledge by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
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Enshrine Thy Guru In Thy Heart
Spiritual Message for the Day – Enshrine Thy Guru In Thy Heart by Sri Swami Chidananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 3 July 2015 15.32 EST | New York Edition** |
Enshrine Thy Guru In Thy Heart!
Divine Life Society Publication: Advices on Spiritual Living by Sri Swami Chidananda
Your blessedness and unique good fortune in this present life is something for which you have to constantly lift up your heart in gratitude and thankfulness to God. Rare indeed is it to obtain a human birth; rarer still is to have aspiration for Moksha; and rarest of all, is the blessedness of the contact of association with an illumined saint and sage.
O, Beloved Seeker: Can you realise now your blessedness? Endowed with the first two, you have had the greatest boon in the form of your contact and association with the Holy Master, the illumined Sadguru, Pujya Swami Sivananda. Awaken to this holy privilege. Count this blessedness rightly. Understand your wonderful good fortune. Be fully worthy of it. Ceaselessly seek the immortal. Aspire for liberation. Adore the Divine. Worship Him in gratitude. Pray to Him in thankfulness. Realise the grace. He has showered upon you. Utilise this wonderful life. Rise to sublime heights. Shine radiantly as an ideal person and a noble seeker and sadhaka.
Prepare to worship the Holy Sadguru. The sacred Guru Purnima now draws high. It is the great day of all days to every sincere seeker and disciple. See how you hast lived these 12 months. Has your life been a divine life? Have you radiated the Master’s Gospel through daily activities? Have you served thy neighbours selflessly? Have you engaged in humble Seva? Have you increased in thy love and devotion to God and Guru? Have you shared and given what He has granted you? Have you diligently sought to purify yourself and cultivate noble virtues in thy nature? Have you remembered God constantly and meditated upon him? Have you aspired after Divine Realisation with sincerity and earnestness and intensity of purpose?
Gurudev insists that from the very commencement of our sadhana, we should hold before the mind the ideal of an integral and harmonious development of all the aspects of the personality. Therefore the Sadhaka’s daily routine must contain element of all the four Yoga Margas. The mainstay of the daily routine should be the spiritualisation of the entire life of the Sadhaka. The goal of life should be ever remembered. This goal is the attainment of God-realisation. Whatever the external form the Sadhaka’s life be, the aim of his life should be God-realisation. Keep up the Nishkamya Bhavana in all your daily activities. This is the ‘easy sadhana’ of Gurudev. Never miss an opportunity to serve humanity.
Are you striving to be a true Sadhaka? Are you engaging in earnest sadhana? For, primarily Gurudev came to teach us the essence of Sadhana. He came to train and guide us in practical spiritual life. He wanted that our life should be ‘sadhanamaya’. Plunge into Sadhana; that is Sivananda; that is true discipleship, Sadguru Swami Sivananda stands for spiritual Sadhana in life. Be intent on Sadhana. Make your life an integral Sadhana. Stick to your path of Sadhana. Combine all your paths as harmonious helps.
Without Sadhana, Self-realisation cannot be had, Sadhana is indispensable. Regularity in Sadhana is indispensable. Sincerity and earnestness are the essential conditions for the fruition of all Sadhana. Make the coming 10-day period from Guru Purnima to Aradhana the commencement of new life of earnest and sincere spiritual Sadhana. Be sincere. This is the key-note of spiritual Sadhana. Let these 10 days be a period of intense spiritual Sadhana, for you, no matter where you are; at home, or at the Ashram. Let this period inaugurate a future of life-long dedication to ceaseless spiritual sadhana, in and through your ordinary daily life in this world.
To be a disciple is to be a Sadhaka; always remember this. Gurudev asks you; He looks and sees and tries to perceive what you—His disciple—have been. Look at thyself. Try to be transformed. Aspire nobly. Prepare to worship the Sadguru upon the holiest of Holy days—auspicious Guru Purnima. As the sacred Guru Purnima approaches, with its period of Sadhana, leading upto the solemn Maha Aradhana next month. I send out to you all, my prayerful good thoughts for your all-round welfare, spiritual progress and divine illumination. Even as the moon receives on the full moon day the glorious radiance of the sun in the fullest measure and shines brilliantly; even so, upon this sacred Guru Purnima Day, may you all receive the radiant spiritual light of Gurudev Sivananda in the fullest measure and shine brilliantly with Wisdom, Bliss and Divine Life. May joy and Blessedness be yours. God bless you.
My regards, Prem and OM to each one of you.
Jai Gurudev Sivananda:
At His Feet,
Swami Chidananda
Sivanandashram,
23.6.64.
Spiritual Calendar (Sivananda Ashram):
July 31 – Guru Poornima
Aug 8 - 52nd Anniversary of the Punya Tithi Aradhana of His Holiness Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj
Excerpts from: Enshrine Thy Guru In Thy Heart - Advices on Spiritual Living by Sri Swami Chidananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
SEND FEED BACK ON THIS ARTICLE \\ Email to BT Digest Editor( dlsusa.org@gmail.com)
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
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Not A Rosy Path
Spiritual Message for the Day – Not A Rosy Path by Sri Swami Chidananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 2 July 2015 16.22 EST | New York Edition** |
Not A Rosy Path
Divine Life Society Publication: A Guide to Noble Living by Sri Swami Chidananda
Nothing that is worthwhile is to be achieved without undergoing a corresponding amount of pain and suffering. No enduring ideal can be attained without toil and sweat. The seed splits and perishes to put forth the plant. The flower lays its life to give place to the sweet fruit. It is in the furnace that gold emerges from the ore. Even so, the price of sainthood is to be paid in the interim period of utter loneliness, privation and struggle which the aspiring soul passes through.
The spiritual path demands a rigorous Tapas and heroic endurance at one time or other. This has been the common experience of all such earnest souls who, fired by the ideal of Self-realisation turn their back upon the world of vanity and folly. Because the truth remains that the link between man and God is forged in the furnace of trial and adversity.
Gurudev says, “There is no royal road in spirituality. Adversity develops the power of endurance and will-force. Adversity develops fortitude and forbearance. All the prophets, saints, Bhaktas and Yogins of yore had to struggle hard against adverse circumstances. God puts His devotees under severe tests and rigorous trials ………”
You will also be tested by God for your sincerity and patience. He will make you utterly helpless and watch and see whether you have devotion for them or not in such straitened circumstances. We cannot say exactly what form these trials will take. But the sincere devotee is never afraid of these tests.
A grim endurance of all vicissitudes and a dogged resolution to persevere to the end are essential if one has to realise the Ideal. For indeed, rough and rugged is the march on the steep and narrow way!
Gurudev once cautioned a group of aspirants to be alive to the stealthy power of unconscious habits. “For,” he said, “Man is sybarite by nature. You may be very zealous in your austerity and vows in the beginning. But if you are not on the guard, slowly will the vigour be relaxed; comforts will creep in and you will be caught hopelessly. If the body is allowed to relapse into softness and luxury, you will find it well nigh impossible to discipline it again.”
Instances are not lacking where recluses in solitude, after years of asceticism, have slowly slipped into an easy-going life by coming in contact with admiring devotees. When they come to be well-known, devotees gather round volunteering to do personal service. Not wishing to disappoint the eager disciples, the ascetic allows a little latitude at first, but it grows upon him until he is a slave to every sort of luxury.
Mind immediately takes advantage of even the least sign of weakness in the aspirant. It is like a tiger crouching on its haunches about to spring. Swamiji exmplifies in his life the ceaseless and ever-alert vigilance against the sudden onslaught of Samskaras. He is a model to all, even to highly advanced aspirants—in his avoidance of the proximity of women. Devotees, many a time, seek to touch his feet while prostrating; never does he allow this to happen. No touch of a feminine hand is allowed, be it that of a real devotee even.
You might have read about a class-mate of Swami Vivekananda, a remarkable young man, a monk of great renunciation and determination, who after years of admirable self-control, Nishkama Seva, finally became hopelessly entangled in a woman’s wiles. Swami Turiyananda has cited this example in one of his intimate talks with Sadhakas.
It is not the question of being pure or impure. The very proximity of persons of opposite sex is dangerous, however pure and well-meaning the persons be. Moving with women unleashes a primitive force quite beyond the easy control of the human being. The woman herself may be spotless, but the Lord’s mighty power of Maya may work through her unawares. The hidden power of lust in the heart of men begins to manifest in feminine presence and proximity.
Spiritual life is for eternity and realisation is infinite. It is not like a period of work, giving place later to a nice vacation.
The same high pitch of purity and discipline has to be maintained if life is to mean anything at all. No relaxation of vigour and caution can be afforded. For the mighty power of cosmic illusion is not a trifle to be toyed with. A fit of passion is enough to blow away the result attained by years of slow and painstaking effort. Remembering this, let the aspirant be ever ‘watchful unto prayer’ as the mystics have said.
It is well to keep before our minds the example of a certain saint of Madurai of whom it is narrated that, while he was passing aimlessly through the streets of that city, he was accosted by an irreverant and arrogant merchant who jocosely asked the saint which was the superior of the two; namely the beard of the saint’s chin or the tuft of hair on the tail of a donkey! The saint looked up silently at the questioner for a few moments and quietly resumed his wanderings.
Several years had passed away when the merchant was one day summoned urgently to the saint’s presence. The waggish merchant, having long forgotten all about his sacrilegious humour of bygone years, went wondering what the matter might be. He found the venerable saint on his death-bed and at his approach, the dying one raised himself slowly, and whispered to the merchant thus, “My good man! you asked me a question several years ago. Well, my beard is superior to the donkey’s tuft; so you have your answer and forgive me for my delay.”
The merchant asked why, after years of silence, the saint chose to give an answer to the impertinent query now, during his last moments. The saint, with great humility, replied, “Precisely because these are my last moments. Doubtless I might have even then answered you as I do now, but I dared not; for my dear brother, so very mysterious, so incomprehensible, is the Lord’s illusive power that I knew not what I would do or be the next moment. Man’s achievements are of no avail before Maya’s charms. She reigns supreme on the stage of the divine play. None can dogmatically say that he is beyond all temptation. It is the Lord’s grace alone that not only makes a man pure but also keeps him pure to the end. Man on his part is but to exercise a constant humility and an active vigilance. All these several years I have striven to keep myself spotless and devout, putting faith on His love and mercy to maintain my purity. I have now but a few moments more to live and there is no chance of a slip; therefore with my last breath I answered you confidently.” And the saint sank back and gave up his body.
The great lessons of genuine humility and an unremitting caution have to be firmly grasped and borne in mind by everyone who would make any headway on the slippery path that leads from “darkness to Light,” from “the unreal to the Real,” and from “mortality to Immortality.”
Excerpts from:** Not A Rosy Path -**A Guide to Noble Living**by**Sri Swami Chidananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
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Negative Reactions and Whispers
Spiritual Message for the Day – Negative Reactions and Whispers by Sri Swami Krishnananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 1 July 2015 16.32 EST | New York Edition** |
Negative Reactions and Whispers
Divine Life Society Publication: Chapter 6 - Difficulties on the Path to Perfection by Sri Swami Krishnananda
Then a third technique can be employed by the mind. Mind may say, “The method that you are adopting for meditation is wrong. Do you know that it is an erroneous exercise that you are practising? Who initiated you?” “I took initiation from that Guru but he has not told me everything. I have some difficulties.” Varieties of doubts can arise: “After all, is it possible for me to realise God in this birth? Who has seen God? Can you see one person in the world who can say that he has seen God or realised God? If that is the case, what is my fate? I am losing everything that I have in the world to pursue some will-o’-the-wisp, a phantasmagoria. I may have it or I may not have it; from the conditions prevailing in my mind, it looks like ‘it is not for me’. It does not look that it is possible.
“All the joys of life I have cut off, and now nobody wants to talk to me; family members are annoyed with me. They do not like me and nothing comes from them. I have lost my job. One scripture says one thing and another scripture says another thing. ‘Read the Bible,’ some may say. ‘Read the Gita, Upanishads,’ say others. Which scripture am I going to follow? Even in the Gita one sloka says something and another sloka says another thing. ‘Love me, do hard work, fight the battle of life,’ it says. What is it actually that I am supposed to do? There is confusion everywhere. One verse of the Gita is contradicting another verse. You do not know what the Gita is saying finally. Let anyone say, after having read seven hundred verses of the Gita, what is the quintessence? You cannot understand! It is too much, and everything is a big jumble of instructions.”
With doubt in the mind, how will there be concentration? You oscillate here and there, go to different teachers and ask a hundred questions and finally no answer is satisfying. Then the previous difficulties will start once again. Physical illness may again creep in and dullness of spirit also will show its head. They will take possession of you because this is the proper moment to catch you – when you are unguarded and you are in a dubious situation.
What do you do at this time? Never make the mistake of changing your instructor or Guru. Do not have doubts. There are a hundred guides in this country and you need not go to each one separately to ask different questions because the concentration gets diluted by diverting it in different directions and listening to hundred types of advice. This must be avoided. Be clear in your mind.
“Everything is clear to me – inwardly, outwardly, socially, everywhere. Everything is perspicacious, like a mirror. All things are shining before me. I have no problems.” Until this clarity arises, it is no use taking further steps ahead. Else, you may retrace the steps already taken.
Excerpts from: Meditation – Practical Techniques - Yoga and Meditation by Sri Swami Krishnananda
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A King and the Court Pundit
Spiritual (Story) Message for the Day – A King and the Court Pundit by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 29 June 2015 16.38 EST | New York Edition** |
A King and the Court Pundit
Divine Life Society Publication: Wisdom through Stories - Adhyatma Yoga by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
A king said to his Court Pundit
“Bring a man who is blissful here and there also.
Bring another man who is miserable here and there also.
Bring a third man who is happy here and miserable there
Bring a fourth man who is miserable here and happy there.”
The Pundit was in a great dilemma,
His intelligent daughter helped him
“Take this sage before the king
He is happy here and there also.
Take this beggar before him
He is miserable here and miserable after his death also.
Take this wicked rich man before him
He is happy here but miserable in hell after his death.
Take this ascetic before him
Who has emaciated his body.
He is miserable here but happy there in heaven”
The Pundit gained strength now
He took the four people before the king
The king was quite satisfied now.
Excerpts from: A King and The Court Pundit - Wisdom through Stories - Adhyatma Yoga by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
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The Great Search for Happiness
Spiritual Message for the Day – The Great Search for Happiness by Sri Swami Chidananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 28 June 2015 20.21 EST | New York Edition** |
The Great Search for Happiness
Divine Life Society Publication: The Path Beyond Sorrow by Sri Swami Chidananda
Let us make an observation of life. What significant point emerges out of our observation? It is that wherever man exists, activity is also evident. People are running about, everyone bursting with activity! There never seems to be a moment just to pause and reflect. And what is this activity? Let us try to analyse it. Most of this activity is a furious search for happiness, for enjoyment, for pleasure, of different degrees and shades of experience. Simultaneously, man is ceaselessly trying to rid himself of sorrow, pain and suffering. He is trying to avoid all that is unpleasant, painful, sorrowful and grievous, and to attain all that is joyous, pleasant, happy and enjoyable. It may be argued that man willingly endures much hardship and discomfort, and even makes a great deal of effort to work hard during all the five days of the business week. He accomplishes many difficult tasks, so how could it be right to say that he was trying to avoid unpleasant and painful experience? But then, go deeper and discover the motive of his voluntary struggle! Through all this effort and exertion, man aims to take it easy later on, to cushion himself with comforts and to pension his life with pleasures. All these efforts are directed at the earning of money, for money enables one to obtain greater pleasures.
This should give us an inkling that the true nature of the human soul is bliss. In the state of embodied existence, this true nature of bliss is hampered. There are limitations of the body, limitations of the senses. There are defects imposed upon us, such as heat and cold, hunger and thirst, discomfort and disease. There are mental afflictions such as sorrow, bereavement and dejection, separation from those whom we love, contact of those whom we dislike or fear, anxiety, disillusionment, jealousy, frustration, etc. All these factors in this embodied state veil our true nature—we are ourselves all-bliss. But, despite all this, we ever seek unconsciously to assert our true hidden higher nature. Thus, the individual exercises his faculties in order to obtain things which are calculated to promote the experience of happiness. Unfortunately he does not get happiness. Why? For a very simple reason. He is searching for something where it is not. He is looking for happiness amidst objects of this universe which are imperfect, changeful and impermanent. Since imperfection and changeability are the very nature of external objects, they cause in the mind mixed experiences to ensue from their contact. This is the reason why man’s efforts invariably end in disillusionment, disappointment and total dissatisfaction. Whenever one object fails to satisfy, man will try another and then another and yet another. Thus, during an entire life, man ceaselessly searches to find happiness in objects, changing from one to another in quick succession in order to find the experience of happiness which will put an end to all sorrow. His life is wasted away. All too soon, he finds that his temporary existence has come to an end. The true purpose of his life has been missed.
The Great Ones who have pondered over life and who have delved right into the very depths of outer as well as inner nature have realized through their intense inner effort the nature of the Ultimate Reality—God, that Essence out of which all life has come forth. They have stated in clear and unmistakable terms, “Oh mortals, you cannot find unalloyed perfect happiness and bliss in this imperfect and limited phenomenal universe. By its very nature it cannot contain that ultimate, transcendental experience. The ultimate state of joy and bliss can be had only within your own self which has as its source the permanent and eternal Self. All the bliss and joy lies within you”. Even this statement could be corrected. Let us say, “This is your very nature”. This does not lie “within you”; but, you are yourself that bliss. Your innermost being, your true self, is essentially ineffable bliss and peace. The rediscovery of that living awareness of bliss is life’s great task. It is the great purpose of your life. This is the goal of life for which we have taken birth on this earth-plane.
Excerpts from: The Great Search for Happiness - The Path Beyond Sorrow by Sri Swami Chidananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
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Meditation Know-How
Spiritual Message for the Day – Meditation Know-How by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 27 June 2015 17.37 EST | New York Edition** |
Meditation Know-How
Divine Life Society Publication: Meditation Know-How by Sri Swami Sivananda
O my dear aspirants! I send you the thought-currents of peace from the peaceful atmosphere of the sacred Himalayas, the abode of Rishis.
The goal of life is the attainment of final beatitude or Moksha. Moksha can be attained by constant meditation.
Reality or Brahman can be realised by man. Many have attained Self-realisation. Many have enjoyed the Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Sankara, Dattatreya, Mansoor, Shams Tabriez, Jesus, Buddha were all realised souls who had direct perception of the Truth.
The Ultimate Truth or Brahman or the Absolute can be experienced by all persons by regular practice of meditation with a pure heart. Mere abstract reasoning and study of books will not do. What is wanted is direct experience. The direct experience is the source for higher intuitional knowledge or divine wisdom. This experience is superconscious or transcendental. There is neither the play of the senses nor the intellect here. This is not an emotional experience. The senses, mind and intellect are at perfect rest. They do not function a bit. This experience is not an imaginary experience of a visionary dreamer. It is not a reverie. It is not a hypnotic trance. It is solid living Truth like the Amalaka fruit on the palm of your hand. The third eye or the eye of wisdom is opened in the experiencer. The extraordinary experience comes from cognition through the spiritual eye or the eye of intuition. This eye of wisdom can be opened when the senses, mind and intellect cease functioning.
Samadhi or blissful divine experience arises when the ego and the mind are dissolved. It is a state to be attained by one’s own effort. It is limitless, divisionless and infinite, an experience of being and of pure consciousness. When this experience is realised, the mind, desires, actions, and feelings of joy and sorrow vanish into a void.
He who has controlled his mind is really happy and free. Physical freedom is no freedom at all. If you are easily carried away by surging emotions and impulses, if you are under the grip of moods, cravings and passions, how can you be really happy, O sweet beloved child! You are like a rudderless boat. You are tossed about hither and thither like a piece of straw in the vast expanse on the ocean. You laugh for five minutes and weep for five hours. What can wife, son, friends, money, fame and power do for you when you are under the sway of the impulses of your own mind? There is an adage: “He who has controlled his mind has controlled the world.” True victory is over the mind. That is real freedom. Thorough rigorous discipline and self-imposed restrictions will eventually eradicate all desires, thoughts, impulses, cravings and passions. Only then, and not until then, can you expect to be free from the thralldom of the mind. You should not give any leniency to the mind. The mind is mischievous imp. Curb it by drastic measures. Become a perfect Yogi. Money cannot give you freedom. It is a rare, hidden treasure guarded by a five-hooded serpent. Unless you kill or tame this serpent, you cannot have access to that treasure. That treasure is Spiritual Wealth, that is Freedom, that is Bliss. The serpent is your mind. The five hoods are the five senses through which the mind-serpent hisses.
People are immersed in worldliness. They madly run after money and women. They have no time to think of God and higher spiritual things. The sun dawns and the mind runs again in its old, usual, sensual grooves of eating, drinking, amusing and sleeping. The day has passed. In this way the whole life passes away. There is neither moral development nor spiritual progress.
Really, there is no pleasure in objects. Atma gives a push to the mind and sets it in motion. A Vritti or thought-wave arises in the mind on account of the force of a Vasana or latent subtle desire. The mind is agitated and runs towards the particular object. The agitation will not subside till the mind gets the desired object. It will constantly think of the object. It will scheme and plan various methods to achieve the desired object. It will be ever restless. It will be ever assuming the shape of the object. As soon as the object is obtained and enjoyed, the particular Vritti that was causing agitation in the mind gets dissolved. Vritti-laya takes place. When Vritti-laya takes place, you get peace and Ananda from the Svarupa or Atma within only and not from the object outside. Ignorant persons attribute their pleasures to external objects. That is a serious blunder indeed.
There is no happiness at all in any of the objects of the world. It is sheer ignorance to think that we derive any pleasure from the sense-objects or from the mind. Whenever we feel our desires are satisfied, we observe that the mind moves towards the heart, towards Atma. In pleasure also, there is exercise of the mind. It expands. It turns inward and moves to its original home, the place of its origin, Atma and enjoys Atma-sukh, the bliss of the Self.
Why do you search in vain, for your happiness, outside, in objects, money, women, titles, honours, name and fame, which are false, worthless and like cowdung? You cannot get your happiness there. Search within the heart, subjectively in the Atma, the source and fountain of all happiness.
Real happiness is within you. It is in the Atma. It is subjective. It is in the Sattva Guna and beyond Sattva. It manifests when the mind is concentrated. When the Indriyas are withdrawn from the objects outside, when the mind is one-pointed, when there is Vasana-kshaya or annihilation of the Vasanas, when there is Manonasa or annihilation of the mind, when you become desireless and thoughtless, Atmic bliss begins to dawn; spiritual Ananda begins to thrill.
Be silent. Enter silence. Silence is Atma. Silence is Brahman. Silence is Centre. Silence is the Hridaya Guha, the heart-cave. When the mind runs from one object to another, that state in the interval wherein you become mindless for a very short time is Svarupasthiti. That is Brahman. When the mind is controlled fully, Vrittis cease. When all the modifications subside, you enter into the silence then and then alone. Realise this, this very moment. Feel the divine glory and Brahmic splendour now by closing the eyes, by drawing the Indriyas, by stilling the mind, by silencing the thoughts, by sharpening the intellect, by purifying the Chitta, by meditating on OM, by chanting OM with Bhava, with feeling. Keep up the continuity of Brahmic consciousness throughout the 24 hours. Have an unceasing flow of Atmic consciousness. This is very, very important. This is a sine qua non. This is a great desideratum.
O Prem! There is a place where you will neither hear any sound nor see any colour. That place is Param Dhama or Padam Anaamaya, painless seat. It is the realm of peace and bliss. There is no body-consciousness here. Here mind finds rest. All desires and cravings melt away. The Indriyas remain quiet here. The intellect ceases functioning. There is neither fight nor quarrel here. Will you not seek this silent abode through silent meditation? Solemn stillness reigns supreme here. Rishis of yore attained this place only by melting the mind in the silence. Brahman shines here in native effulgence.
Forget the body. Forget the surroundings. Forgetting is the highest Sadhana. It helps meditation a great deal. It makes the approach to God easier. By remembering God, you can forget all these things.
Sit at ease. Close your eyes. Look within. Withdraw the rays of the mind. Silence the thoughts. Meditate on Atma or the Absolute. Chant OM. Sing OM. Feel OM. Mentally repeat OM. The mind will move now to its Centre or Source slowly. You will forget the body and the world. The breathing will become very slow. The breath will move within the nostrils. Your heart will be flooded with joy and bliss. Divine nectar will trickle down. Drink it to your heart’s content and attain immortality. Divine peace, eternal tranquillity will roll over your head, wave after wave. Plunge deep in the ocean of peace. Swim freely and rejoice. What a magnanimous, happy state! What blissful freedom!! What wonderful perfection and independence!!!
Dear brothers! Children of Immortality! Plod on. Push on. Do not look backward. Forget the past. Forget the body and the world. But forget not the Centre. Forget not the Source. A glorious brilliant future is awaiting you. Purify. Serve. Love. Give. Live in OM. Feel always and everywhere the indwelling, all-pervading Presence. Realise the Self. Rest in the magnanimous Ocean of Peace, in the stupendous Sea of Stillness. Drink the nectar of immortality. May the Indwelling Presence be your centre, ideal and goal. May joy, bliss, immortality, peace, glory and splendour abide with you for ever.
Excerpts from: Meditation Know-How - Meditation Know-How by Sri Swami Sivananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
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The Music of the Soul
Spiritual Message for the Day – The Music of the Soul by Sri Swami Chidananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 26 June 2015 16.47 EST | New York Edition** |
The Music of the Soul
Divine Life Society Publication: The Path Beyond Sorrow by Sri Swami Chidananda
It is peace of mind which is the condition prerequisite for the experience of true happiness. Is that not more important than the removal of a little restlessness and craving, a little agitation caused by desire? Which is the more important? You may say: “If desires come, we have to satisfy them. That is the way to remove them and that is the way to get pleasures”. So saying, you remove the ‘fly’ of desire rather than protect the ‘grandmother’ of true peace of mind by which alone you can find happiness. Real happiness comes out of peace. When the mind is tranquil and serene, peace, bliss wells up from within you. You do not have to manufacture happiness, for it does not lie outside of you. Happiness is not in changeful, perishable objects which are merely material. True happiness is right here where you are sitting. You are yourself happiness. Happiness is your essential nature. That aspect of your being which completely transcends your sense nature and your mental desire-nature—that third aspect of your true being, your real nature, is, in one word, bliss—pure bliss. If you want me to define what you are, I say you are pure, unalloyed, absolute bliss. That is the stuff of the soul. The soul is bliss; it is ecstasy, peerless joy. Even as this table is made of wood, even as your very clothes are made of wool or cotton, even as the very stuff of candy is sugar—the very stuff and fabric of your true nature, the true “I” deep within you, in the very centre of your consciousness, that is bliss. You are your Self, the Atma. You are Spirit, a never-ending, perennial fountain of spontaneous, self-existent joy and happiness. You are not this body and mind and intellect.
The East views the individual being in a totally different light from the West. The West says, “Man is an animal endowed with a superior faculty called intelligence”. The East says, “Man is a glorious, ever-perfect spiritual entity, full of light, full of bliss, and possessing an inferior faculty called intelligence or mind which is his servant, which is his instrument”. Mind is but the medium that God has given you so that the joy, the beauty and perfection of your Self may be expressed, unfolded, made manifest upon this earth-plane, but you have made a travesty of your life. The normal human being lives a life of prostitution, by which I mean, he totally forgets and neglects his glorious spiritual nature and prostitutes all his energies in satisfying the animal within him. The pattern of his whole life is just a constant effort to satisfy the sensual urges of the animal within him. Nice things to collect, nice things to wear, nice things to see, nice things to enjoy—pleasure, pleasure, pleasure—and happiness is destroyed, as it were, in a constant round of pleasures. There is so much noise through the tumult of the senses that the music of the soul, though it is always there, just gets killed completely.
The great joy of my message to you is: nothing can destroy this happiness, because it is imperishable. In your true nature you are indestructible, you are imperishable. So, the joy that you are is also imperishable, indestructible; nothing can touch it. No sorrow can penetrate that exalted realm where you dwell as pure bliss, right within the very centre of your being, the innermost core of your consciousness where dwells the true “I”.
Excerpts from: The Music of the Soul - The Path Beyond Sorrow by Sri Swami Chidananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
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How to Become Rich
Spiritual Message for the Day – How to Become Rich by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 25 June 2015 19.47 EST | New York Edition** |
How to Become Rich
Divine Life Society Publication: How to Become Rich by Sri Swami Sivananda
Among the four Purusharthas, viz., Dharma (righteousness), Artha (wealth), Kama (desire) and Moksha (liberation), the first three relate to the world, Dharma being the determining and controlling factor of Artha and Kama. Both these are inter-dependent and one cannot have the fulfilment of one without the aid of the other. Kama is not passion nor is Artha its fulfilling agency. “I am desire which is unopposed to Dharma,” says Lord Krishna in the Gita. Hence Artha and Kama are certainly not an all-inclusive factor of one’s life. Artha and Kama should not have their fulfilment to the neglect of one’s spiritual prosperity. Since all are not born with the one-pointed urge for Moksha or liberation, and the state of evolution in the vast majority of mankind is not suited for immediate renunciation, Artha and Kama are meant to be a preparatory agency for higher attainments.
The title of the Book “How to Become Rich” does not exclusively relate to material prosperity. For, if it does so, there can be no permanent value to it—not at all worthy of aspiration to a really intelligent person. Nor is the title ascribed to one’s spiritual bounty as opposed to earth-earthy. For, again, if it means so, then this work will be useful and have its effect upon hardly one in a thousand. But the title suggests both. It is a compromise of the two, not in a sense of inter-mingling of both, but in the sense of the first one being an educative and preceding factor of the second. That is what “How to Become Rich” means to the majority of the readers. The book is as well a very thought-provoking spiritual treasure-house to those rare gifted Adhyatmic Dheeras, who will but centre the entire significance of riches to the latter half of the work. Hence it is not devoid of a message to them.
In the first part of the work, I have stressed upon the development of certain virtues which will enable one to increase his earning capacity and to become a self-made man. Some qualities of one’s character that will help him to win friends, to develop his power of observation, some suggestions to start business, the role of agriculture and industry in the business-life and the ways of making best use of money are also explained.
Becoming an “adopted son” or making lot of money should not mislead one to think that riches are meant for one’s fulfilment of base desires or for a fabulously wealthy living. Desire can never be really fulfilled. It is like the dragon-fire that leaps up to devour its victim, the appeaser who aggravates it more and more by his appeasements. It clings to him even after the body of its victim is perished. Nor, indeed, is wealthy living in any way conducive to one’s lasting happiness. It is not the means to a continuous peaceful life. Then why should one acquire wealth or where is the necessity for becoming an “adopted son”? Yes, there is a definite purpose. Wealth is the means for glorious acts of philanthropy, whereby thousands are helped and allowed to progress in life. It is a means to ameliorate the lot of the needy, to alleviate the suffering of the diseased. Its purpose is to establish and finance philanthropic institutes where destitutes are sheltered, orphans are reared up, hungry stomachs fed, poor people educated, suffering ones medically cared for and where spiritual instructions are imparted to aspirants.
In the same manner, “marrying a rich girl” does not mean that one’s choice should be blinded by wealth, but it should be viewed as a means to build up a prosperous life dedicated to the service of humanity. I have cautioned the young bachelor not to enter into partnership with a “fashionable girl.” For, the consequences are always detestable and end in domestic unhappiness and ravaged married life, particularly when the young man is not monetarily gifted. I must mention here, however, that marriage cannot be taken as an indispensable factor in every one’s life; rather, a true aspirant should definitely keep himself far, far away from the fetters of a married life. For him, marriage constitutes a curse; while, at the same time, for a man of a lustful disposition for whom it is extremely difficult to get over carnal passions, it is a sort of a fence and a protecting vault to his moral recklessness. Marriage is, therefore, prescribed for those—and it applies to the majority of mankind—who are not yet ready for a life of absolute self-restraint and thus is to be regarded by them as a sacrament, and certainly not as a license to self-indulgence.
Then I have dwelt upon the ways and means to a successful career which is given a lasting value by one’s internal preparation such as the acquiring of a sterling character, being true to one’s own conscience, being upright and optimistic under despairing circumstances and possessing an iron determination. Herein I have warned the reader of the dangerous consequences of gambling, drinking and the habit of borrowing; and stressed upon the development of his memory and will-power and concentration, observance of celibacy, cultivation of dispassion and on acquiring the art of planning, method and orderliness. All these cardinal tenets are not only conducive to a successful, prosperous career, but they constitute an inner preparation for one’s evolution and higher achievements that are more worthy of aspiration than material bounty. Practice of these tenets simultaneously guards him from lower temptations and prepares him for a life of absolute self-restraint and complete renunciation or a life entirely devoted to the attainment of the supreme goal, Self-realisation.
Finally, the aspiring reader finds perfection within his reach. He is reminded of the defects of riches, impermanence of worldly happiness and the supreme felicity of desirelessness. The enquiry of “who is the richest man” is set aflame in him. He is gradually made aware of the money-less and wife-less state of an ever-contented life in the spirit.
Ultimately, he is prepared to choose the boon that the great Jijnasu of the Katha Upanishad, Nachiketas, asked Lord Yama. For now he realises the immortal nature of Truth or the “good”; and the fleeting and delusive quality of worldly pleasures or the “pleasant” that wail to those not endowed with true discrimination to hurl themselves against their devouring flames. He now understands that the “good” is one thing and the “pleasant” another. These two have different aims……he who discriminates and seeks the “good” achieves success; he who seeks the “pleasant” falls off his aim. (Kasha Upanishad).
Become desireless. You will become the richest man in the whole world.
May you all be endowed with true discrimination. May God bless you all with peace, plenty and prosperity, ultimate happiness and Kaivalya.
Excerpts from: How to Become Rich by Sri Swami Sivananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
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