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This website is devoted to Philosophy, Religion, Spirituality and Science. We bring in articles on teachings by Great Saints like Sri Shirdi Sai Baba, Adi Shankara, Swami Sivananda, Swami Krishnananda, Aurobindo, Mother of Auroville and others.
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Call Unto Divine Life
Spiritual Message for the Day – Call Unto Divine Life by Sri Swami Chidananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 25 January 2015 13.45 EST | New York Edition** |
Call Unto Divine Life
Divine Life Society Publication: Swami Sivananda, Our Loving Awakener by Sri Swami Chidananda
Om! Om! Om!
Blessed Children of the Lord and devotees of Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj!
On this holy occasion I wish to remind you of a few spiritual teachings of Sri Gurudev. These teachings will greatly help you in treading the spiritual path.
O Man! Follow your own religion, but stick to its fundamental spiritual ideals. Draw up a programme for your life, and that shall constitute the preparation for the journey towards Divine Life. You do not live on earth for the sake of talking about the Why, What and How of God and religion, but to lead a virtuous spiritual life with a broad feeling, careful understanding, devotion to Truth and tolerance towards all beings.
Religion must educate and develop the whole man, his heart, head (intellect) and hand. Only then will he have perfection (Siddhi). There must be integral development. One-sided development is not commendable. You must have the head of Sankara, the heart of Buddha and the hands of Janaka. Vedanta without devotion is quite dry. Bhakti without Jnana is feeble. How can one who has realised his oneness with the Atman remain without serving the world, which is only the Atman. Devotion is not divorced from Jnana, but rather Jnana is exceedingly helpful to its perfect attainment.
There is no hope of Immortality by means of riches. Such indeed is the emphatic declaration of the Srutis, ‘Na karmana na prajaya dhanena tyagenaike amritatvamanashuh’ (Neither by rituals, nor by progeny, nor by riches, but by renunciation alone does one attain Immortality). Mere giving up of objects will not constitute real renunciation. True Tyaga consists in renouncing egoism, mine-ness, selfishness, Moha, Deha-Abhimana, desires and cravings.
In youth you are enveloped in complete ignorance, in adult age you are entangled in the meshes of physical urges, in old age you groan under the burden of Samsara and debility. You eventually die and pass off from the scene. Being thus always occupied, when will you, my dear friends, find time to devote yourselves to the performance of virtuous deeds, Nishkama Karma, Bhajan, Satsanga, Vichara, Kirtan and meditation?
Why should you try to realise the Atman? Because Self-Realisation gives you freedom from the Samsaric wheel of births and deaths, with its concomitant evils. One who has sought after this Self and understood it, obtains all worlds and all desires’, said Prajapati to Indra.
Hear the forcible utterances of the Chhandogya Upanishad: ‘Yo vai bhuma tat sukham, na alpe sukham asti, Bhumaiva sukham, Bhumat eva vijijnasitavyah’ (The Infinite (the Great) is Bliss. There is no bliss in what is small (finite). The Infinite alone is Bliss. One should therefore wish to understand the Infinite). ‘Kalau Kesava-Kirtanat’–in days of yore, people had Self-Realisation by Tapas, Jnana, Yajna, etc. But in Kali-Yuga, when people lack in bold understanding, when people have not got strong, irresistible will and pure intellect, and when the vast majority of persons do not possess a strong physique to practise various Hatha Yogic Kriyas to awaken the Kundalini, Hari-Kirtan alone will help them in getting salvation easily.
Sankirtan purifies and elevates the mind. Sankirtan destroys Vasanas, old vicious Samskaras, cravings, three kinds of Tapa,–the Adhyatmika, Adhidaivika and Adhibhautika,–three kinds of diseases, and brings the devotee face to face with God. Tukaram had communion with Lord Krishna through Bhava Samadhi induced by Sankirtan. His inner eye of intuition, Divya Chakshuh, was opened. He tapped the fountain of Knowledge. He penetrated deep into the very source of Knowledge.
Where is God? God is in your heart. He is in you. You are in Him. If you do not find Him there, you will not find Him anywhere else. God is Truth. God is Love. Speak the Truth–Satyam Vada. Love everyone. See God everywhere, in every face, in everything. You will realise Him quickly.
Dear brothers! Plod on. Push on. Live in Truth. Live in the Spirit. Fix the mind on God and give the hands to worldly activities without expectation of fruits and without the idea ‘I am the doer’. Forget not the Source. Forget not the centre. Forget the body. Forget the world. Forget friends, relatives and property. Forget the past. Do not look backwards. March straight to the Goal. A glorious future is awaiting you all. March courageously with Sraddha, Vairagya and taking the sacred Name of the Lord. Merge in Him. Dive deep into the self-shining Lord, in the chambers of your heart. He is quite close to you.
Lead a life of self-restraint, service, devotion, spirituality and meditation. Speak the truth. Do not injure any living being. Help your neighbour. This is Divine Life. Live this Divine Life! Realise the indwelling Divine Being. God grant you Peace, Bliss and Immortality.
May the Light of lights guide you in the path to the Eternal every moment of your life. May success be yours. May you attain God-realisation in this very birth and put an end to all misery and suffering!
May the choicest blessings of God and Guru be upon you all!
Excerpts from:
Call Unto Divine Life - Swami Sivananda, Our Loving Awakener by Sri Swami Chidananda
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Change Your Habits
Spiritual Message for the Day – Change Your Habits by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 24 January 2015 18.39 EST | New York Edition** |
Change Your Habits
Divine Life Society Publication: Divine Life – Value System by Sri Swami Sivananda
Om! Om! Om!
Mind is a bundle of habits. Bad habits and prejudices, hidden in one’s nature, will be brought to the surface of the mind when the opportunity comes. If you change the habits you can also change your character. You sow a habit and reap a character. You sow a character and reap a destiny.
Habits originate in the conscious mind but when they become established, by constant repetition, they sink into the unconscious mind and become our ‘second nature’. Habit can however be changed by a new, healthy, agreeable habit, of a stronger nature. At present you are thinking, “I am the body”. Think, “I am Brahman”. In the course of time you will be established in Brahmic consciousness.
Do not be a slave to one idea. Whenever you get new, healthy ideas, the old ones must be given up. In the mind there is an internal fight ever going on between ‘nature’ and ‘will’, between the old, worldly habits and the new, spiritual habits.
In the case of aspirants, the fight is between the old samskaras of the sensual world and new, spiritual samskaras. It is a fight between the good impressions of the past and bad impressions of the past. It is a fight between viveka (wisdom) and instinctive mind and indriyas (senses).
Eventually will, which is pure, strong and irresistible, is bound to succeed. There is no doubt about this. As your reason grows and you become wiser and wiser - by study, by contact with the wise and by meditation - your mind must be well prepared to take up new, healthy, rational ideas and eschew the old, morbid ones.
Mind is your tool. When emotions arise, separate them, study them, analyse them - but do not identify yourself with them. Master your impulses, emotions and moods. Rise from the position of slave to that of a spiritual king.
Just as the repetition of a thought or action leads to perfection, so also does the recurrence of the same process, or the same idea, lead to the perfection of abstraction, concentration and meditation.
Give your full mind to God. Only then will you have realisation. Even if one ray of the mind runs outside, it is impossible to attain God-consciousness. You cannot enjoy peace of mind, you cannot practise meditation, if there is tossing of the mind. Destroy mundane desires through dispassion and surrender to the Lord.
Change Your Habits - Divine Life – Value System by Sri Swami Sivananda
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Discipline of the Mind
Spiritual Message for the Day – Discipline of the Mind by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 22 January 2015 16.45 EST | New York Edition** |
Discipline of the Mind
Divine Life Society Publication: Divine Life – Value System by Sri Swami Sivananda
Om! Om! Om!
You must have a pure mind if you want to realise the self. Unless the mind is free and it casts away all desires, cravings, worries, delusion, pride, lust, attachment, likes and dislikes, it cannot enter into the domain of supreme peace and unalloyed felicity, the immortal abode.
A glutton or a sensualist, a dullard or a lazy man, cannot practise meditation. He who has controlled the tongue and other organs, who has an acute acumen, who eats, drinks and sleeps in moderation, who has destroyed selfishness, lust, greed and anger, can practise meditation and attain success in samadhi (superconsciousness).
You cannot enjoy peace of mind, you cannot practise meditation if there is viksepa in your mind. Viksepa is tossing of mind. Viksepa is rajas (passion); viksepa and desires co-exist in the mind. If you really want to destroy viksepa, you must destroy all mundane cravings through dispassion and self-surrender to the Lord.
If you apply fire to green wood, it will not burn; if you apply fire to a piece of dried wood, it will at once catch fire and burn. Even so, those who have not purified their minds will not be able to start the fire of meditation. They will be sleeping or dreaming building castles in the air - when they sit for meditation.
But those who have removed the impurities of the mind by japa (repetition of God’s name), service, charity, pranayama (yoga breathing) etc., will enter into deep meditation as soon as they sit for meditation. The pure ripe mind will at once burn with the fire of meditation.
Clarify your idea again and again. Think clearly. Have deep concentration and right thinking. Introspect in solitude. Purify your thoughts. Still the thoughts. Silence the bubbling mind. Allow one thought-wave only to rise from the mind and settle down calmly. Then allow another thought to enter. Drive off all extraneous thoughts that have nothing to do with the subject matter on hand. An efficient control over thoughts, through long practice, is a great help in meditation.
Watch every thought very carefully. Shut out all useless thoughts from the mind. Your life must tally with your meditation. You keep up your meditation during work also. Do not give new strength to evil thoughts by constantly thinking. Restrain them. Substitute sublime thoughts.
Discipline of the Mind - Divine Life – Value System by Sri Swami Sivananda
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Perfection
Spiritual Message for the Day – Perfection by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 21 January 2015 17.09 EST | New York Edition** |
Perfection
Divine Life Society Publication: Divine Life – Value System by Sri Swami Sivananda
Om! Om! Om!
The essential qualification for a sadhu (man of renunciation) is that he should adapt himself to all conditions and circumstances, causing no inconvenience to others. His is the duty to serve not to worry others. Very few sadhus know what they are and what they should be.
This morning an old sadhu from Swarg Ashram came here. He was there when I was there, too. He is aged 80 now. Today they did not prepare roti here. There was only rice and curry. But, the sadhu would not take. He wanted only roti (bread). It seems rice will produce wind. If you allow him, he will lecture to you for half an hour on the evil effects of rice eating. But he will refuse to be reminded that a very large population in India and the world lives on rice alone.
This is all that he has understood of sadhana (spiritual practice) during all these thirty years of sadhu life: “Rice should not be taken: roti alone is good for health and meditation.” All their life these people will waste on this one thought of the right food and the wrong food. What is there if one day you do not get your food to your own liking.
It is the special duty of a sadhu not to cause any inconvenience to householders. We are not to be a burden on householders, but to be of some service to them. When will the sadhu understand this. Some sadhakas (seekers), here also have that impression that they are living in an asrama and that one consideration ought to be sufficient to open out the gates of Kaivalya (liberation) to them. I assure you: even if they live many hundreds of their lives near the greatest saint in the world, they will not improve even a bit. They must themselves exert. Each one must think for himself, act for himself. There have been some sadhakas here whom I myself trust and put in charge of the affairs of the asrama then I myself used to dread to approach them. If, for instance, I go to them and ask them to prepare a little more of what they give me for my food in order that I may give the extra quantity to some one else, I would be refused. What I do on those occasions is to reduce my own consumption and distribute this to the others.
If a sadhaka gets real samadhi (superconsciousness) in a hundred births, that is a very great achievement. God is perfect; and unless and until all the evil qualities are eradicated and divine qualities acquired to the degree of perfection, there will be no samadhi.
Perfection - Divine Life – Value System by Sri Swami Sivananda
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How to Cultivate Right Thinking
Spiritual Message for the Day – How to Cultivate Right Thinking by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 20 January 2015 14.16 EST | New York Edition** |
How to Cultivate Right Thinking
Divine Life Society Publication: Divine Life – Value System by Sri Swami Sivananda
Om! Om! Om!
Every thought has an image, form, dimension, weight, shape, colour, etc. Thought is as much matter as a piece of stone. A table is a mental image plus some external something. Whatever you see outside has a counterpart in the mind. The pupil is a small round thing in the eye and the retina is another small structure in the eye. How is it that the image of a big mountain, seen through that small aperture, is cast onto the mind? How does the big form of the mountain enter a tiny hole in the eye? This is a marvel of marvels. The image of the mountain already exists in the mind. The mind is like a big, vast sheet of canvas cloth that contains all the pictures of the objects seen outside.
Thought moves and passes from one man to another. Thought readily influences people. A man with strong thoughts can readily influence people with weak thought. Telepathy is a branch of occult science wherein the yogi can transmit messages to any man in any part of the world.
A thought of anger or hatred sends arrows from the mental factory towards the person aimed at. It harms the individual, sets up discord and disharmony in the thought world and comes back again to the sender and harms him also. If one can understand the effect and power of thought, he will be more careful in the manufacture of his thoughts in his mental laboratory.
Develop the faculty of producing only satvic (pure) thoughts by protracted mental discipline, dietetic adjustments, repetition of good hymns with meaning, good company, the study of divine books, japa (repetition of God’s name), meditation, pranayama (yoga breathing), prayer, etc. A good man can help his friend, even though he lives a long way away, by good thoughts alone. Do not allow evil thoughts to enter your mental factory. Always watch your thoughts. Avoid useless thinking. Conserve your mental energy.
To cultivate sublime thoughts alBy this practice you will develop organised thinking. The mental images will gain intense strength and force; they will become clear-cut and well defined. In ordinary persons the mental images are undefined.
How to Cultivate Right Thinking - Divine Life – Value System by Sri Swami Sivananda
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Self-Realisation
Spiritual Message for the Day – Self-Realisation by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 19 January 2015 16.43 EST | New York Edition** |
Self-Realisation
Divine Life Society Publication: Divine Life – Value System by Sri Swami Sivananda
Om! Om! Om!
There is no other duty for man except meditation on the self. Dismissing all else, one should establish oneself in the self. There remains nothing to be done or attained when the self is experienced. For that Brahman the immortal is before, behind, to the right and to the left and stretched forth above and below.
Brahman is all this. The real alone is an enduring being and this real is experienced through meditation coupled with knowledge. Whatever a man of purified mind makes clear in his mind, and whatever desires he desires, that he gets and that he fulfills. One should therefore have pure and perfect resolves.
The supreme self is experienced in the fourth state of consciousness. It is neither this nor that. It has no quality in particular and yet it is everything. It is peaceful, blessed and non-dual. It is the cessation of all phenomena. It is the atman that should be known and realised. That is the purpose of life. The liberated sage experiences that he is everything - the tree, the mountain, the sun. He is the food and the eater of the food. He is the knower, the knowledge and the known, in one. He is the whole universe in himself.
Bliss is the ultimate nature of reality; from bliss all this comes forth. All the bliss of the world is only a shadow of self-bliss. The self is the source of all bliss, it is everything - all knowledge and all bliss. All this is based on consciousness and is guided by consciousness. Consciousness is Brahman. I am Brahman. That thou art. This self is Brahman. Only the infinite is bliss. There one sees nothing else, hears nothing else, understands nothing else. That is the infinite fullness.
The self is an ocean without a shore and a surface. It is merely existence, consciousness and bliss. When there is duality one can speak to the other, but when everything is but one’s own self then who can speak to whom? Who can see whom?
Atman is pure consciousness it is the unchanging witness. It is realized within your heart as existence, knowledge, bliss absolute. Realise this atman within the temple of your own heart and enjoy immortal bliss.
Self-Realisation - Divine Life – Value System by Sri Swami Sivananda
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Satyam
Spiritual Message for the Day – Satyam by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 18 January 2015 17.31 EST | New York Edition** |
What is Satyam?
Divine Life Society Publication: Divine Life – Value System by Sri Swami Sivananda
Om! Om! Om!
God is truth. He can be realised only by speaking truth and observing truth in thought, word and deed. Truthfulness, equal vision, self-control, absence of envious emulation, forgiveness, modesty, endurance, absence of jealousy, charity, thoughtfulness, disinterested philanthropy, self-possession and unceasing and compassionate harmlessness are the thirteen forms of truth. Your thoughts should agree with your words and your words should agree with your actions. To think of one thing, say another and do a third is horrible - it is nothing but crookedness. By telling lies you pollute your conscience and infect your sub-conscious mind. The habit of telling lies will be carried on to your next birth and you will suffer in birth after birth. If you are established in truth, all other virtues will cling to you. Penetrate more deeply into the kingdom of truth.
Sacrifice your all for the truth. Die for the truth. Speak the truth. Truth is life and power. Truth is existence. Truth is knowledge. Truth is bliss. Truth is silence. Truth is peace. Truth is light. Truth is love. Live to realise the truth.Truth is the law of life. Truth means the strength of will to abide by positive principles - a sense of justice, an unbiased mind and recognition of its subtle essence in all life. Truth is like a ladder leading to heaven, or a boat enabling one to cross the ocean of misery. Speak the truth, but let it not be unpleasant and speak not of any pleasing falsehood - this is eternal religion.Fire burns everything; it is true to its nature. Water flows from a higher level; the seed sprouts and becomes a tree; the scorpion stings; these are all true to their nature. This is satyam. But man violates truth; he is ungrateful. He is not true to his essential nature.
To manifest one’s essential divine nature, to manifest divine virtues is satyam or truth. To be true to one’s own self is satyam.A truthful man is free from worry and anxiety, he has a calm mind. He is respected by society. If you speak the truth for twelve years you will get vak-siddhi - then whatever you speak will come to pass. There will be great power in your speech - you will be able to influence thousands.
AHIMSA IS SUPREME VIRTUE. That work which gives elevation, joy and peace to the mind, is right. That which brings depression, pain and restlessness to the mind is wrong. This is an easy way to find out what is right and what is wrong. Selfishness clouds understanding. Therefore if a man has got even a tinge of selfishness, he cannot detect what is right and what is wrong. A very pure, subtle, sharp intellect is needed for this purpose.
The Gita describes the nature of satva (purity), rajas (dynamism) and tamas (inertia in relation to reason) in chapter eighteen. It says: “That which knoweth energy and abstinence, what ought to be done and what ought not to be done, fear and fearlessness, bondage and liberation - that reason is pure, O Partha. That by which one understandeth right from wrong and also what ought to be done, and what ought not to be done - that reason, O Partha, is passionate. That which, enwrapped in darkness, thinketh wrong to be right, and which seeth all things subverted - that reason, O Partha, is of darkness.
In the Bible it is said “Do unto others as you would be done by.” This is a very good maxim. The whole gist of right conduct is here. If one practises this very carefully, he will not commit any wrong action.”Ahimsa paramo dharmah”. Ahimsa is non-injuring in thought and word and deed. “This is the highest of all virtues.” If one is well established in ahimsa of thought and word and deed, one can never do any wrong action. Ahimsa comes first in the practice of yama or self-restraint. To give pleasure to others is right. To spread misery and pain, is wrong. One can follow this in one’s daily conduct towards others and can evolve in one’s spiritual path.
What is Satyam? - Divine Life – Value System by Sri Swami Sivananda
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Samadhi
Spiritual Message for the Day – Samadhi by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 17 January 2015 13.12 EST | New York Edition** |
Samadhi
Divine Life Society Publication: Yoga In Daily Life by Sri Swami Sivananda
Om! Om! Om!
Samadhi is deep sleep with the full knowledge of the Self. You get this sleepless sleep when you have burnt the five Jnana Indriyas in the fire of Wisdom, when you have extricated yourself from the clutches of Avidya, Maya or ignorance and when you have controlled all desires.
Tadevartha matranirbhasam
Svarupa Soonyameva Samadhi
—Patanjali Yoga Sutra.
Samadhi Samathovastha Jeevatma Paramatmano
—Dattatreya Samhita.
This is not a state of nothingness but a state of “everythingness.” You enter into a state of Absolute Awareness, in which time and place disappear; every place is here; every period of time is ‘now’; and everything is “I”. In this state you have obtained Bliss and Eternal Life.
During cosmic consciousness, you are in touch with universal knowledge and life. The Divine principle flows through you. Your little, individual personality is lost. Your individual will has become merged in the cosmic will or Ishvara’s will. You are aware of the oneness of life. You have the one consciousness—CHINMAYA—that the universe is filled with one life, that the universe is full of life.
You have Tattva Jnana and you see the real universe, which is the essence or background of the universe of Matter, Energy and Mind. You are in a state of Bliss and Ecstasy beyond understanding and description. This is a cognitive trace or Turiya Avastha where Triputi (knowledge, knowable and knower) exists.
Excerpts from: Samadhi - Yoga In Daily Life by Sri Swami Sivananda
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How to Start a Branch of The Divine Life Society
Spiritual Message for the Day – How to Start a Branch of The Divine Life Society by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 16 January 2015 14.33 EST | New York Edition** |
How to Start a Branch of The Divine Life Society
Divine Life Society Publication: My Religion, Its Techniques and Dissemination by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
Om! Om! Om!
‘Well begun is half-done.’ I am not interested in gigantic plans and programmes. If there is a good beginning and if the workers have sincerity, faith and devotion, success is assured. I wrote to sincere students:-
“You have made a wonderful start and a good beginning. It will strike root and bear blossoms soon. You can have the Yoga Class in a house, in a room. Make a signboard also. Hold meetings once a week. Collect some books from your friends and develop a library. I shall send you all my publications. To meet the ordinary expenses you can collect a small subscription from members. Have the following aims and objects:-
(a) To have Self-realisation through Yoga.
(b) To regenerate youths through Yoga Asanas, Pranayama and ethical training.
(c) To disseminate the Knowledge of Rishis and Yogins far and near.
(d) To develop universal brotherhood, cosmic divine love.
“Never be disheartened or diffident. There are many who have started a Branch of the Divine Life Society in their own homes. The members of the family join together in the morning and evening for common prayers and conduct Bhajans and Kirtans. The spiritual vibrations thus created bring peace and prosperity to the entire family. Do something among your own selected friends, even with two members.”
I am ever ready to give detailed instructions to enthusiastic aspirants who are desirous of spreading the divine knowledge:-
“Collect a few members. Read some pages of my books. Clear the doubts of the aspirants. Make them do some Japa, Kirtan, meditation, study of the Gita. Ask them to maintain a spiritual diary and Likhita Japa notebook. You have got rare things and knowledge and capacities in which you have not sufficient confidence or of which you are not even aware. Express your hidden faculties. Give whatever you possess. The world will be benefited. Form a Group in your own place and start similar activities in different parts of the city. Do not waver. Be hopeful. You can do wonders. Radiate joy and peace. Have a definite line of work. Work a little. This will suffice. You can spend the time nicely, usefully. Let the flower blossom. The bees will come by themselves. Much effort is not needed. No effort is necessary. Simply press the switch; it will flow. I wish you success, freedom and perfection.
“Have meditation in the open air with select friends. Arrange group demonstration of Yoga Asanas. Have Trataka practice on OM or any of the Lord’s pictures for 5 minutes. Introduce fasting or Phalahara on Ekadasi days. Give lessons on the various Chakras.
“Prepare the lessons daily at night, the previous day. Concentrate and collect ideas. Register and record them on a piece of paper or in a notebook. Read a paper if you cannot deliver a lecture. Speak slowly. Recharge yourself with mild Kumbhakas and Japa. Take good nutritious food and fruits.
“If you cannot give a fine speech, write an essay and read the paper with emphasis and great force from the bottom of your heart. Slowly you will gain the power of oration. When you meet good thirsty souls, give them good ideas and ask them to form such groups in their own places. That will facilitate your future work. Ask every man with whom you come in contact to read a few Slokas daily from the Gita and repeat the Gayatri Mantra. Initiate many. Eulogise the usefulness of Mantra and Japa. Introduce Malas for Japa.”
Excerpts from: How to Start a Branch of the Divine Life Society - My Religion, Its Techniques and Dissemination 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
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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The Fourfold Path
Spiritual Message for the Day – The Fourfold Path by Sri Swami Chidananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 15 January 2015 16.54 EST | New York Edition** |
The Fourfold Path
Divine Life Society Publication: Lectures on Raja Yoga by Sri Swami Chidananda
Om! Om! Om!
The process of turning away from the finite, from the imperfect, the temporary, the passing and entering into a conscious connection with the Eternal, with the Divine, sums up the process of Yoga. How this can be done? Is there only one way or are there many ways? The answer to this is both. There is only one way, and there are many ways. And why this dual answer? There is only one way in the sense that all Yoga is movement towards the Divine, movement towards the Infinite, movement of the personal towards the Impersonal, of the individual towards the Universal, movement of man towards God. So, there is only one Yoga. But then, this movement can be accomplished through several levels of the human personality. This Godward movement, movement towards the Divine may be initiated and carried out through one of other, or, one or more of the powers, of the capacities, of the faculties that you possess. And depending upon which one of the faculty you make use of as a medium for bringing about Godward movement, movement towards the Reality, depending upon that faculty Yoga assumes a particular pattern and derives a particular name.
If you do this movement through philosophical speculation, you make use of your intellect and your power of reasoning as the medium of attaining the knowledge and experience of that Reality by diverting your consciousness as expressed through intelligence. Then you are a philosopher and the Yoga becomes what is known as Jnana Yoga, Jnana Yoga of the Vedanta Philosophy. And, instead of the intellect, if you make use of your feeling, your love potential, your ability to love, to exercise affection, devotion, sentimental and emotional aspect—this potential as your medium, then it becomes what is known as the Yoga of devotion or the path of love or Bhakti Yoga. And if you make use of the power of your thought, power of the mind, will to urge your entire inner being to resolutely move towards God or the Universal Consciousness, determined that you will not allow your mind to be divested or distracted in any way, then you become a Raja Yogin or the mystic who treads the path of contemplation, concentration and meditation. But in all these methods, though they make use of one or the other faculties that you are endowed with, they seek to work out the self-same process, the one identical movement. Therefore, Yoga is one in spite of being different according to the medium of your movement.
Why this movement? The single reason that God did not create man from the assembly line. God did not create him as a stereo-type. There are diverse temperaments. There is diverse nature, and also, some time diverse inclinations. One is inclined towards a particular path; even one’s nature has a balance of all these three ingredients in equal proportion, mind and will, intellect and rationality, devotion and love. Yet, by one’s inclination one may have a tendency towards one particular path. To suit all temperaments, all capacities and different tastes, diverse forms of a single, identical approach have been evolved in the ancient land of Yoga, without doing violence or altering the central fact of the spiritual essence, meeting needs arriving out of the diversity of human nature and taste. And among various paths, three main paths are just now mentioned. Approach through the intellect and rationality is Jnana Yoga, approach through devotion and love is Bhakti Yoga, and approach through mind and will is Raja Yoga.
In India, these different paths are based upon certain original source scriptures, certain definite authority, scriptures that were brought into being by those who had experienced the Reality. They were people who had not only experienced the Reality, but had become established in that Reality Consciousness permanently. So, they were adepts, they were perfect beings, the Masters of Wisdom. And they have left for the benefit of posterity, their Wisdom and hints about the methods in brief aphorisms. They are just hints and pointers. These aphoristic teachings have a certain logical unity. So, they formed one successive logical field of utterances making up one whole system. Therefore, they are called Sutras. Sutra is a thread that tied together, linked together. So they are not haphazard. These great Sutras are the Brahma Sutras, the most authoritative of all sources of aphorisms for the Vedantin or Jnana Yogin, the one who follows the path of knowledge; and the Bhakti Sutras of two great sages, Narada and Sandilya, the basic authority source for the expounding of the path of devotional philosophy.
Excerpts from: The Four-fold Path - Lectures on Raja Yoga 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
SEND FEED BACK ON THIS ARTICLE \** **Email to BT Digest Editor** **( dlsusa.org@gmail.com)