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The Yoga of the Supreme Spirit
| **Baba Times Digest© | 28 April 2014 17:34 EST | New York Edition** |
| The Yoga of the Supreme Spirit
Divine Life Society Publication: - Bhagavadgita – Summary of Fifteenth Discourse by Sri Swami Sivananda
This discourse is entitled “Purushottama Yoga” or the “Yoga of the Supreme Person”. Here Lord Krishna tells us about the ultimate source of this visible phenomenal universe from which all things have come into being, just like a great tree with all its roots, trunk, branches, twigs, leaves, flowers and fruits which spring forth from the earth, which itself supports the tree and in which it is rooted. Sri Krishna declares that the Supreme Being is the source of all existence, and refers allegorically to this universe as being like an inverted tree whose roots are in Para Brahman, and whose spreading branches and foliage constitute all the things and factors that go to make up this creation of variegated phenomena. This is a very mysterious “Tree” which is very difficult to understand, being a product of His inscrutable power of Maya; and hence a marvelous, apparent appearance without having actual reality. One who fully understands the nature of this Samsara-Tree goes beyond Maya. To be attached to it is to be caught in it. The surest way of transcending this Samsara or worldly life is by wielding the excellent weapon of dispassion and non-attachment.
In verses four and five of this discourse the Lord tells us how one goes beyond this visible Samsara and attains the supreme, imperishable status, attaining which one does not have to return to this mortal world of pain and death.
Lord Krishna also describes for us the wonderful mystery of His Presence in this universe and the supreme place He occupies in sustaining everything here. The Lord declares that it is a part of Himself that manifests here as the individual soul in each body. He Himself is the indwelling Oversoul beyond the self. He is the effulgence inherent in the sun, moon and fire. He is present as the nourishing element in the earth. He is the inner witness of all beings. He is the supreme Knower even beyond Vedic knowledge. He is the resplendent Person who is beyond both this perishable phenomenal creation as well as the imperishable individual soul which is a part of His eternal essence. Thus, because He is beyond perishable matter and superior to the imperishable soul (enveloped in Maya), He is known in this world as well as in the_Vedas___as the Supreme Person.
Excerpts from:
The Yoga of the Supreme Spirit - Bhagavadgita – Summary of Fifteenth Discourse by Sri Swami Sivananda
Additional Reading: The Inverted Tree of Samsara
If you would like to purchase the print edition or audio CD, 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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Spiritual Life should be Vital and Alive
| **Baba Times Digest© | 27 April 2014 19:26 EST | New York Edition** |
| Spiritual Life should be Vital and Alive
Divine Life Society Publication: - Spiritual Life should be Vital and Alive by Swami Chidananda
Beloved sadhakas (aspirants)! What spiritual life should mean to you, what spiritual sadhana (practices) should imply for you, what spiritual life and sadhana can do for you, what the Guru can do for you, how his wisdom teachings can enrich you, how spiritual books and scriptures can benefit and be of use to you depends entirely upon how and in what manner you relate yourself to all these factors.
You have to probe deeply and know for yourself the answer: whether your relationship is merely sentimental, whether it is merely mental or intellectual, or whether your relationship to all these factors-spiritual life and sadhana, spiritual books, the Guru and his teachings-is a vital and living one.
You have to ask, you have to find out: “How am I related to my spiritual life? How am I related to my Guru and his spiritual teachings? How am I related to the lofty ideals that have been placed before us in our scriptures-the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Puranas? How am I relating myself to my Guru mantra?”
For all these factors to mean anything to us-if they are to enrich us, elevate us, transform us-our relationship with these factors must be a vital and living one. It should mean to us our life itself. They should dominate our life. They should be overwhelmingly present in a pervasive manner, in every movement, in every aspect, in every activity of our life.
Our life should reflect these ideals. Our life should reflect the living teachings of the Guru. Our life should reflect the scriptures in a vital way. Ideals are not meant to be worshipped; they are meant to be emulated, followed and lived.
Scriptures are meant not only to be read and known, they are meant to be deeply studied and applied. They are meant to be entered into and practised. They should become our life, the very fabric of our life. The Guru is not meant merely to be revered, but to be obeyed.
All these factors should constitute the very warp and woof of your daily life and thought. Thus and thus alone can you make these factors an enriching, dynamic, life-transforming process in your life. Our relationship with all these factors is not meant to stop in the plane of our human personality- nature only; it is not to stop upon the psycho-physical level. You can practise all the asanas with the body, but if the body does not transform itself into a vehicle of sattva (purity), of selflessness, of servicefulness, of sadhana, of tapasya (austerities), of samyama (meditation, concentration and superconsciousness practised at the same time), it has not become the vehicle for these important spiritual factors that it was meant to be.
Your relationship with these factors should, therefore, be upon the innermost vital plane of your true personality. It should be a dynamic spiritual connection. Then and then alone our spiritual life will become an ever- progressive, dynamic factor of our being. Ideals should be emulated; Guru should be obeyed; scriptures should be absorbed and transformed into life. Sadhana should become the very breath of our day-to-day living.
You should perpetually be a sadhaka and a Yogi, not only when you are sitting upon your asana in your puja (worship) room or meditation cell. After getting up, you become something else. That will not do. Unfortunately, that is the way it is, and that is why we fail to achieve great heights of spiritual experience and awareness, why we fail to progress.
Everything pertaining to God should become a vital, living factor, a vital, living force in your being and through your being in all the movements and activities of your daily life-mental, verbal and spiritual. Everything that constitutes spiritual life and sadhana, everything that is related to God-realisation, should, therefore, become a vital thing. You have to relate yourself. We must be it. Relationship should be one of life itself, a vital, living thing.
This is the secret in spiritual sadhana, in spiritual life. Mantra springs into dynamism and manifests God by abhyasa (practise), by japa. It is so with everything. It is not by knowing that, one attains spiritual perfection and God, it is by being and it is by doing that everything in spiritual life becomes a reality and a living experience. May God bless you to see this clearly, and may you reap rich benefits from this clear perception. God bless you!
Excerpts from:
Spiritual Life should be Vital and Alive by Swami Chidananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition or audio CD, 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)
“Swami Krishnananda” – The Ideal Saint
| **Baba Times Digest© | 26 April 2014 18:48 EST | New York Edition** |
| “Swami Krishnananda” – The Ideal Saint
Divine Life Society Publication: ** **The Ideal Saint** **from the inspiring pen of Swami Chidananda
_(Released on the auspicious occasion of the 82 SO SAID GURUDEV
Celebration of Krishnanandaji’s birthday is worship of Brahman. Many people’s faculties are developed. Every man’s eyes are opened. Everyone begins to think such celebrations are very necessary.
Krishnanandaji is a wonder to me! He has excelled me. He has excelled Sankara. He has excelled Dakshinamoorthy.
He is very quick in his work. He has vast and deep knowledge of Vedanta. It is all God’s Grace. It is not merely due to study in this birth. It is all due to Purva Samskaras. His knowledge is a treasure for those aspirants, who care to learn, study and imbibe the knowledge from him.
***
“Swami Krishnananda” – The Ideal Saint
From the inspiring pen of Swami Chidananda
Great is my happiness to express my homage and high regards to our most revered Swami Krishnananda Saraswati, my beloved spiritual brother and fellow disciple at the feet of our most worshipful Gurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, upon this joyful and auspicious anniversary of his Birthday.
Sri Swami Krishnanandaji is the foremost spiritual personality of our Gurudev’s holy Ashram, who has inspired, guided and enlightened countless spiritual seekers ever since his advent at the Headquarters of The Divine Life Society in 1944.
Today, Swami Krishnanandaji is enshrined in the hearts of countless Sadhakas and students of Yoga and Vedanta all over the world by his loving disposition, his kindness to them and his genuine keen interest in their spiritual progress and welfare. Beloved Swami Krishnanandaji shines as the leading light of our monastic brotherhood at the Sivananda Ashram and as the foremost amongst the spiritual teachers of The Divine Life Society, whom worshipful Gurudev left behind to carry forward his spiritual.
Early Life
It makes a most interesting as well as a rewarding study to look into the early life of this eminent spiritual son of India, shining with highest knowledge, supreme dispassion, unequalled renunciation, simplicity, austerity, desirelessness and dedication. Swami Krishnanandaji is Vedanta and Virakti personified, and as such an embodiment of Dharma, of Gurubhakti and of Samadrishti (equal vision) that the very presence of this truly great-souled Mahatma adds luster to the order of Sanyasins today. He was a Jignyasu right from his earliest days, and this trait later on naturally took the form of spiritual Jignyasa for divine knowledge.
Gradually the spirit of liberation and the spirit of renunciation was being awakened in the youth’s heart. Subbaraya began to feel more and more that the only thing worth striving for was Kaivalya Moksha or a divine state of spiritual liberation. Thus he became convinced that this was the highest ultimate goal of human existence.
Sometime in 1943, Subbaraya took up Government service at Hospet in Bellary district. But this phase lasted only for a short period. The powerful pull of renunciation and monasticism now drew him to itself, and the spiritual world claimed him once for all.
Arriving at Rishikesh in the year 1944, the brilliant young seeker came face to face with his Guru, upon the holy banks of the sacred river Ganga. Filled with the spirit of renunciation, young Subbaraya met His Worshipful Holiness Sadguru, Sri Swami Sivananda, filled with the radiant light of divine realization. Most blessed is that day when the aspiring young Subbaraya obtained the supreme emperor among Gurus, and the saintly Swami Sivananda found a rare gem among seekers and got a precious jewel among his disciples.
II
Yoga – Way of Life
Ashram Life
Young Subbaraya now became a Sadhak resident of the holy Sivananda Ashram. I could see that revered Gurudev perceived in the newcomer certain very rare and unique spiritual qualities that marked him out as being a class by himself. His conduct and his ideal behavior constituted a model for others to copy. There was an innate saintliness in him which none could fail to perceive. Even persons much elder to him in age felt impelled to show reverence to him and behave with respect towards him. It is no wonder then that within a short time he came to be regarded as an Acharya in the Ashram, to whom doubts were taken for their explanation, questions posed for answers, and disputes for settlements on the basis of scriptural injunction. His opinion was sought in religious matters, and Subbaraya was consulted upon questions of philosophy and metaphysics.
Knowledge and Clarity of Thought
Hailing, as we both did, from the same part of India and consequently our mother tongue being the same, we were drawn together in a close friendship and spiritual fellowship which has steadily grown and progressed over the past more than a quarter of a century of our companionship at the feet of the holy Master. Our daily duties were not too many. Hence we had time for long religious talks and frequent philosophical discussions. Even at that time, Swami Krishnanandaji made a deep impression upon me by the exactness of his scriptural knowledge and his thoroughness of grasp on any subject discussed. His thinking was precise and clear, and characterized by a correct-logic. He would never allow prejudice or bias of any sort to cloud his thoughts and opinions, nor permit mere emotions or personal sentiment to blur his vision.
Perfect Sadhak - Dharma, Yoga and Mind Control
This young Sadhak had such a highly developed ethical sense that he would never do anything without first weighing the ethical implications, and until and unless he was convinced that his action was in conformity with Dharma. He was scrupulous in the observance of his daily duties of the Brahmacharya-ashram to which he belonged, and very regular in his Sandhya-vandana, Arghya and Gayatri Japa. All this I observed, and also saw how he was possessed of a settled calmness in his nature, which is rare indeed to come across in present times. Praise and insult were the same to him. He did not get annoyed or irritated on any account. Next to Sri Gurudev, whom I have never seen to manifest anger, Subbaraya was the one person in the Ashram in whom anger seemed to have met its defeat. One could call him a “Jitakrodha” Shanta-murthi without exaggeration. His calmness and absence of anger were the outcome of his “Amaanitvam” and “Adambitvam”, and these were prominent among the numerous Daivi-sampatthi, of which he was a repository, and the indications of wisdom which he personified. His nature and conduct would be found totally with the description found in the five verses (7th to the 11th) of the 13th chapter of the Gita.
Aspiration for the highest realization
Swami Sivanandaji, noticing his love of study, encouraged him to use the books in the Ashram library, and also provided for his study whatever books he wished to have. Austerity went hand in hand with his study. His life at the time was of the utmost simplicity and absolute self-control. He would never open his mouth and ask anything, even if it was badly needed. His practice of “Aparigraha” was perfect. And all the time he was ever-filled with an intense burning aspiration for the highest realization. By temperament he was inclined more towards silence, seclusion and inward living than towards external preoccupation or too much activity.
However, finding that the Ashram life necessarily implied some extent of participation in the general service in one form or other done by all Ashramites, young Subbaraya willingly undertook to work at the Ashram outdoor dispensary. He made a most compassionate medical assistant and nurse combined to the afflicted and the sick.
III
Brahma Nishta and Sidha Mahapurusha
Spiritual Stature and Eminence
Of souls like Swami Krishanandaji, all cannot give estimations and opinions. It is said that one of the rarest of qualities in this world is understanding. No man can understand another man. We cannot understand spiritual people of high spiritual eminence.
We cannot understand a saint of the eminence of Swami Krishnanandaji. We will be able to appreciate some of his human qualities. We may say that he expounds Vedanta wonderfully,—that is not a very great complement to a soul who has dived into the very depth of Vedantic knowledge and also has to his credit inner experience of the Vedantic truths. Even so, we may say he does not waste his time, he leads a very regulated life,—but all this is like trying to say that the sun shines, that it rises punctually every day in the east. You bypass what the splendor is, and say only what you can see.
To understand the secret of Swami Krishnananda’s great spiritual stature and eminence, is a thing which we can try only by a devout and humble emulation or imitation of his life. We must observe, learn and be filled with a spirit of discipleship. Then alone will we be able to understand. Or else, we will admire, but we will not be able to thoroughly understand what they are.
Specially so is the case with persons with whom we are constantly living. By constant association, you lose the real worth of a being. A sort of carelessness develops in you. It is only people who don’t live with him, who visit him once in a while and hear something from him which goes right into their hearts and at once flashes there the light of illumination, of Atma-vichara,—they will treasure the light that he has been able to kindle in their hearts. They will prize this experience of contact with him and enshrine it in their hearts beacon light.
Spiritual man and a Sanyasin
The first is that Swami Krishnanandaji is an unusual being—Manushyanaam Sahasreshu Kaschit Yatati Siddhaye; Yatatamapi Siddaanam Kaschinmam Vetti Tatwatah. He is one of those who belong to the latter category, the rare few who, having striven, attain Him and know Him in essence, and who come in order to lead men towards Self-knowledge. As this only we must view our Vedanta Acharya and Sanyasa Acharya.
Viveka, Vairagya, Sadhana Chatushtaya, Mumukshutva
His life, I have found, is based upon absolute Vairagya. His renunciation and spiritual life is one that is based upon Poorna Vairagya. It is the best foundation for spiritual life. The exceptional feature of the Vairagya of Krishnanandaji is that it is Viveka-Vichara-Janita Vairagya. It is Vairagya that slowly grew and beautifully developed within his consciousness through the ceaseless pondering the facts of life, and bringing to bear upon these phenomena of life a very penetrating and a very highly discriminating mind. It is this discrimination and constant enquiry that has brought out his Vairagya. Upon this Vairagya he has based his spiritual life; thus it stands upon the surest of bases, upon a most permanent and unshakable basis.
Vairagya is not an easy thing. People may suffer again and again; yet they cling to worldly life. By merely coming to know of the harmful and painful nature of sense-objects, by Viveka alone, Swami Krishnanandaji has got himself established in Para-vairagya.
There is nothing that he wants in this universe. He does not care for these names and forms. He has acquired that sense of Paripoornata which springs from the constant consciousness that ‘I am Nitya, Shudha, Buddha, Satchidananda Atma’. His Viveka and Vichara have given him a very correct lead in the spiritual life.
If you want to know about Parabrahman: Tadviddhi Pranipatena Pariprasnena Sevaya. Eradication of egoism, Seva—all these mean a complete change of your entire old, unregenerate, self-arrogating nature. Then alone have you to approach the Guru. Krishnanandaji has made his Vedantic life to be based upon perfect Adikaritwa. As such, you see in him an ideal exemplar or Sadhana Chatushtaya. His Viveka is twenty-four hours’ Viveka. Every moment of his life he is ever discriminating. His mind is never slumbering, never relaxed. This is his criterion,—whatever he does, whatever experience comes to him, ‘will this help my spiritual life or retard my spiritual life?’ This is the measuring rod which he has. He is absolutely firm in his principles and in using this measuring rod. If it is unspiritual, he rejects it without a second thought. It is a discrimination which always chooses the Sreya Marga.
Swami Krishnanandaji is an embodiment of the Nachiketas element. Sadhana Chatushtaya are proud to come and have their dwelling in such a worthy receptacle. Whatever suffering, whatever diseases, and whatever troubles and difficulties come to him, he would never mention it to anybody, and never make any effort to correct it. This is Titiksha. Swami Krishnanandaji has always tried to keep this ideal of Titiksha before him in his daily life. For that, he always goes to the original source of wisdom. Whatever definition Sankara has given for all these Sadhanas, he always takes Sankara’s definitions as his ideal, and tries to keep to them.
His inner life is a shining flame of aspiration. Day and night he is consumed with the aspiration for the realization of the Absolute. All other things don’t exist for him. That is the type of inner life that Swami Krishnanandaji has got.
Yoga of Synthesis – Hand, Head and Heart (Karma Yogi, Jnana Yogi, Bhakti Yogi)
Even though ordinarily Vedantins are supposed to be theoretical and do not take part in Karma Yoga, Swami Krishnanandaji has done wonderful service in our dispensary. Day and night he has served as the sole ‘in-charge’ of the dispensary. Even though his nature was something inward, introspective, yet when the call of duty came, he, in spite of his nature, came out and served wonderfully. He never wastes a single moment. His is a most systematic life in this Ashram.
I have never heard him raise his voice and speak or utter a harsh word. He has made himself an embodiment of tolerance that Gurudev is.
His life is one permeated by one of pure Brahma Abhyasa. He is constantly thinking, dwelling in, and absorbed in the thought of the Highest Reality, in the thought of that One Transcendental, Imperishable, Infinite, Nameless, Formless, Ever-present, All-pervading Reality. That is the sort of spontaneous Sadhana which he does, and he lives as a Jivanmukta would live.
His life is an ideal which everyone should try to emulate. Socially and individually, his conduct and behavior may well be the enviable ideal of a perfect gentleman. His speech, the decorum of his behavior, his conduct, his social interaction,—everything is that of an ideal gentleman.In his daily life, in his routine, in the discipline which he practises, he is an ideal for a Sadhaka.His attitude towards life, and his vision of the world, is an ideal pattern for any saint to adopt.The consciousness which he always holds within himself is the ideal for a Jivanmukta.
He has tried to mould himself upon the highest ideal of perfection in which Indians and Hindus have, viz., the life of Purna-avatara Sri Krishna. Early in life, Krishnanandaji was inspired by the Gita; he has followed and striven earnestly and successfully to grow into the likeness of the Gita ideal and the Krishna ideal. Happily, in his intuitive wisdom, Sri Gurudev has given him the name ‘Swami Krishnananda’, one who partakes of the Bliss of the Krishna-consciousnes. Krishnanandaji knows that the entire world is a shadow play; he is not affected by it. At the same time, he is ever centered in the consciousness of the Highest Reality, Satchidananda.
We should realize this, and reflect seriously on what he stands for, and the ideal he embodies in his life. The highest compliment we can pay to these great people is to emulate them and become blessed.
Excerpts from:
“Swami Krishnananda” - The Ideal Saint from the Inspiring pen of Sri Swami Chidananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition or audio CD, 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)
His Holiness Sri Swami Krishnananda Saraswati Maharaj
| **Baba Times Digest© | 25 April 2014 16:14 EST | New York Edition** |
| His Holiness Sri Swami Krishnananda Saraswati Maharaj
Divine Life Society Publication: - H.H. Sri Swami Krishnananda
(Birth Anniversary on April 25)
Born as the eldest son of a family of six children, on the 25th of April, 1922, he was named as Subbaraya. He was born in a highly religious and orthodox Brahmin family, well-versed in the Sanskrit language, the influence of which was very profound on the young boy. He had his High School education at Puttur (South Kanara Dist., Karnataka State) and stood first in the class in all the subjects. Not being satisfied with what was taught in the classroom, he took to earnest self-study of Sanskrit with the aid of Amara-Kosa and other scriptural texts. He studied and got by heart the entire Bhagavad Gita when he was still a boy, and he had a simple way of doing it, that of not taking his morning breakfast or even lunch unless he memorized a prescribed number of verses, every day. Thus within months he memorized the whole of the Gita and recited it, in full, everyday. Such was his eagerness to study scripture. Reading from the Srimad Bhagavata that Lord Narayana lives in the sacred Badrinath Dham, the young boy literally believed it and entertained a secret pious wish to go to the Himalayas where Badrinath is and see the Lord there.
By the study of Sanskrit works like the Gita, the Upanishads, etc, he was rooted more and more in the Advaita philosophy of Sanakaracharya, though he belonged to the traditional Madhva-sect which follows the dualistic philosophy. His inner longing for Advaitic experience and renunciation was growing strong everyday. In 1943, Subbaraya took up Government service at Hospet in Bellary District, which however did not last long. Before the end of the same year, he left for Varnasi and there he studied the Vedas and other scriptures. But the longing for seclusion and the unknown call from the Master pulled him to Rishikesh, where he arrived in the summer of 1944. When he met Swami Sivananda and fell prostrate before him, the saint said: “Stay here till death; I will make kings and ministers fall at your feet.” The young man who wondered within himself how could this ever happen at all, now realizes the prophecy of the saint’s statement. Swami Sivananda initiated this young Subbaraya into the holy order of Sannyasa on the sacred day of Makara-Sankranti, the 14th of January, 1946, and he was named as Swami Krishnananda.
Sri Gurudev found that he was suitable in his eyes to do works of correspondence, letter writing, writing messages and even doing some assistance work in compiling books, editing them, etc. Later on he was given the work of putting into type-written form the hand-written manuscripts of Sri Gurudev which he used to bring to him everyday. For instance, the entire two volumes of the Brahma Sutras of Sri Gurudev, which he wrote in his hand-writing was type-written by Swami Krishnananda. He confined himself mostly to the literary side and never used to have any kind of relation with visitors so that people who came from outside never knew he existed in the Ashram. It was in the year 1948 that Gurudev asked him to do more work, along the lines of writing books in Philosophy and religion which he took up with earnestness. It could be safely said that from that year onwards, he was more absorbed in writing and conducting classes, holding lectures, etc., as per instruction of Sri Gurudev. The first book he wrote, ‘The Realisation of the Absolute’ in a matter of mere 14 days, is still the best of his, at once terse, direct and stimulating.
When it became necessary for the Ashram to co-opt assistance from other members in the work of management, Swami Krishnananda was asked to collaborate with the Working Committee which was formed in the year 1957 and at that time it was that he received a position of Secretary, especially concerned with the management of finance which work he continued till about the year 1961, when , due to the absence for a protracted period of Swami Chidananda, Gurudev nominated him as General Secretary of the Divine Life Society which position he is associated with till today. It can very safely be recorded that in the history of the Divine Life Society none ever held, nor is likely to hold, that responsible and taxing position of General Secretary for more than a quarter of a Century.
It may be recorded to his credit, without the fear of the least exaggeration, that it is Swami Krishnananda, the genius and master of scriptures, who alone has expounded practically all the major scriptures of Vedanta in the Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy of the Society, in the early morning sessions, afternoon classes and the regular three-month courses, most of which have been brought out in book-form - authentic commentaries covering the philosophy, psychology and practice of the various disciplines of Yoga. He is thus the author of nearly twenty works, each one a master-piece in itself. This, a genius of his caliber only could do, in the midst of his enormous day-to-day volume of work as the General Secretary of a vast Institution. He is a rare blend of Karma and Jnana Yogas, a living example of the Gita-teaching.
Such was his literary skill and understanding of the entire gamut of the works of Sivananda numbering about three hundred that he was made the President of the Sivananda Literature Research Institute, by Sri Gurudev himself, when the Institute was formed on 8th September, 1958. Again it was Swami Krishnananda who was appointed as the President of the Sivananda Literature Dissemination Committee, which was formed to bring out translations of Sri Gurudev’s works in the major Indian languages, simultaneously. When Swami Shivapremananda was deputed to the States, Swami Krishnananda was made the Editor of the Society’s official monthly organ, ‘The Divine Life’ from September 1961, which he did efficiently for nearly two decades.
He is a master of practically every system of Indian thought and Western philosophy. “Many Sankaras are rolled into one Krishnananda,” said Sri Gurudev, in a cryptic statement, which he himself has amplified in his article ‘I Marvel at Krishnanandaji’.
Excerpts from:
His Holiness Sri Swami Krishnananda Saraswati Maharaj **
If you would like to purchase the print edition or audio CD, 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)
The Soul is the Ultimate Existence
| **Baba Times Digest© | 24 April 2014 18:19 EST | New York Edition** |
| The Soul is the Ultimate Existence
Divine Life Society Publication: - The Soul is the Ultimate Existence by Swami Krishnananda
Spoken on Swamiji’s 56 **The great truth
The more one has the opportunity to think, the less one feels the need to speak. The bestowal of greater and greater thought implies the drawing of oneself towards oneself more and more. That means to say, the more we become ourselves, the less we become the other. The ultimate purpose of all these means of communication, speech included, will amount to, finally, a coming back to one’s own self, if we deeply ponder over it. The human soul has found itself in a predicament where it sees through the senses, the bodily apparatus, and it moves under the impression that it is moving towards something other than itself for the purpose of completing its own need. It searches for values in things, and not merely the existence of things.
The existence of things is the highest value of things
The search of the soul for perfection outside is due to the fact that it makes a distinction between the existence of things and the value of things. Otherwise, where would be the need for anyone to move towards things that exist if existence itself would be a satisfaction? We create a distinction between the value of the object and the existence of the object. We are never satisfied with the existence as such of anything. A flower may exist in the garden, but we are never satisfied unless it becomes ours. It must be plucked from the plant and brought home, and perhaps it should adorn our head, etc.
The bare minimum of existence does not satisfy us. We always want to enhance that existence by adjuncts from an apparent external source, under the impression that the adjunct is something which is other than existence. The values that we are trying to impose upon the existence of things are also existences by themselves, unfortunately. So there is no such thing as a value other than existence because a non-existent value cannot add to the quantity or the quality of the existence of the object which it is supposed to qualify.
Never can we be happy in life until we are satisfied with things as they are. There is a great supreme manufacturer, the Reality of realities, which cannot be regarded as an external source of inspiration. All our scriptures – Ramayana, Mahabharata, Srimad Bhagavata, Bhagavadgita and all religions and scriptures of the world hammer upon the point of the omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence of God, which gets defeated the moment we begin to impose our personality on this superior operation of the Absolute.
It appears many a time that our practical life is a refutation of all that is studied in the scriptures because, on the one hand, there is an acceptance of the omnipresence of perfection everywhere. The omnipresence of perfection means that every point of space is filled with perfection. That is the outcome of what we learn from the great masters, the saints and the sages, the prophets, the avataras and the scriptures.
Theory is nothing but a technique of practice
There is nothing in theory but the methodology that has to be adopted in our day-to-day existence. What is the use of theoretical knowledge in engineering if it has no use in practical existence? The connection between theory and practice is so vital that they are inseparable. They are the obverse and reverse of the same coin. What we know, we act; knowledge and action are identical. Perhaps this is the principle of karma yoga. When action becomes knowledge, it is karma yoga. Otherwise, it becomes binding karma which has a nemesis and a retribution which rebounds upon us like a boomerang.
The great principle of spirituality is the affirmation of the spirit, and nothing but that. The affirmation of the spirit is not merely a chanting of the mantra of the omnipresence of God, but the soul’s acceptance of the perfection of the Supreme Being.
The reality of life is the soul of things
The great pity of human existence is that life and knowledge have become two different things. Religion fails when knowledge is isolated from life. The reality of life is the soul of things. Our reality is the soul, and it is the reality of everything. So when we speak, the soul has to speak; when we think, the soul has to think; when we act, the soul has to act; and when a need is fulfilled, the need of the soul has to be fulfilled. There is no use merely fulfilling the need of our tummy, or our sentiments, or our social circumstances, or our whim and fancy. This is not going to do anything for this world.
The soul is the ultimate existence, and when we are satisfied with the ultimate soul of all things, the existence as such of things, we begin to love all things as we love our own selves. ‘The love of all things as we love our own selves’ is another way of putting the love of soul for itself. The love of one’s own for another is nothing but soul of the individual soul for the Supreme Soul, which manifests itself in various gradations.
Ultimately there is nothing but the Self in the universe
Even what we call the world outside is a self that is empirically manifest in space and time. What we call the family or the society is also our outwardly projected self. The whole cosmic manifestation is nothing but the self which is apparently seen in space-time causal relations. So when the Self is affirmed in its true connotation, in its indivisibility of being as existence and not a value isolated outside, we are spiritual, we are religious, we are God-loving.
To love God is not merely to go to a temple or a church or even to read a scripture. To love God is to love the higher Self of one’s own self. The self that is conquered is the self that is befitting union with the higher Self; otherwise, our own self becomes the source of our fear. We do not fear other people. We fear our own selves, really speaking. It is the devil that is working from within us that frightens us.
Rama and Ravana both are inside. By inside, I do not mean within our physical individuality, but inside the whole creation, out of which we cannot keep our foot apart. There is only inside, ultimately; there is no outside anywhere. The whole cosmos is an inside, if we would like to put it that way, and we are that.
So there is a drama of the Mahabharata, the Ramayana going on always through the centripetal and centrifugal forces, which is the battle of life. The Mahabharata and the Bhagavadgita tell us that the symbol of life is a battle. The Bhagavadgita was given in a battlefield, which means to say, struggle is the law of existence, and the struggle is nothing but the law of the higher self and the lower self – existence and value, perception and reality.
May we imbibe the true wisdom of the soul of all things, and not merely an empirical knowledge, and live a religious life, which is nothing but a spiritual life. May God bless you all!
Excerpts from:
The Soul is the Ultimate Existence by Swami Krishnananda
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Transmigration
| **Baba Times Digest© | 23 April 2014 17:25 EST | New York Edition** |
| Transmigration
Divine Life Society Publication: - Hinduism and Vedanta by Swami Krishnananda
Understanding Transmigration
At the time of death, the individuality does not get dissolved, though the physical constituents may be separated and dissolved. What is it that takes rebirth? It cannot be the body, because it is discarded and it is dissolved into the physical elements of which it is composed. It cannot also be the essential Self, the Atman, because the Atman is a Universal Presence which cannot be said to be subject to transformation of any kind, such as transmigration. What else transmigrates?
The peculiar thing called the individual is neither the body nor the Atman. It is a strange admixture of localized self-affirmation in terms of space and time, and this principle of self-affirmation is impossible to define except as a peculiar pressure-point or force which is generated by the influence of space-time upon consciousness which by itself is indivisible. This point of pressure spatio-temporally occasioned is in fact the center of what is known as the psyche, often called the mind, sometimes known as the Chitta or the Antahkarana in the Sanskrit language.
Desire and Rebirth
This pressure of consciousness causing the individual self-sense has three levels of empirical expression, viz., the conscious, the subconscious and the unconscious. Only the conscious level operates when a person is awake, the sub-conscious operates in dream, and the unconscious in deep sleep. The conscious impulses and activities of the individual are limited expressions of the desires which seek to fulfil themselves by way of contact with sense-objects. When the pressure of desires is too much and they cannot be easily fulfilled under conditions prevailing in the waking state, they operate as reveries in dream. But the desires of an individual are so immense and complicated that their satisfaction cannot be really achieved in a single life. Such unfulfilled longings get wound up in unconscious states, a specimen of which is deep sleep. It is the power of unfulfilled desires that manufactures a new apparatus for their fulfilment, under expected conditions, called the newly formed body. Here is the interesting background of what is known as rebirth.
As a realized soul has no desires, it has no rebirth. They merge into Universal Being. Hence the passing of an ordinary person and the disappearance of a person like Lord Krishna have nothing in common. A mysterious admixture of consciousness and desire, acts as the link between the here and the hereafter, which is the causative factor behind rebirth or reincarnation. It is neither the physical body formed of the five elements, nor the Atman which is all-pervading. It is not true that in death the apparatus through which thinking and feeling act is destroyed; it continues in spite of the body being destroyed. The screen of the television which projects the picture of individuality is the point of consciousness-desire, explained above, and it is not destroyed when the body is destroyed. In a way, our waking life is also a reflection of some anterior existence, which we do not remember now, since we are now in this world in a different space-time continuum, totally different from the space-time complex of the previous life. It has to be reiterated that death does not destroy the link between this life and the other life, because death is only of the physical body, and everyone knows well that a person is not exhausted by the physical frame only. There is something more in man than what appears to the eyes or to any sense-organ.
Evolution and The Principle of Karma
The modern theory of evolution from matter to plant, plant to life, life to mind and from mind to intellect is nothing but a corroboration of there being a continuous link from one state of life to another. Else, there would be no evolution and there would be no meaning in any form of ‘related’ life at all. All this requires deep study, and a mere cursory reading of one or two textbooks may not be adequate.
The principle of karma, or the principle of reaction which conditions the notions of good and bad etc., is not supposed to apply to the sub-human species since they do not have the self-consciousness of personal agency in action and are just guided by the natural forces of evolution. Nemesis cannot be attributed to an individual as long as it is free from personal agency in action. The sub-human species evolve in the same way as there is rise of life from matter to the vegetable kingdom, etc., as mentioned. This is not caused by karma, but by the very pressure of universal evolution.
If there is no transcendent meaning of the human being beyond the present life, no one would lift a finger or do anything in this life, knowing well that the next moment death may overtake anyone and no one can be sure that one can be alive after a few minutes more. Who, on earth, will try to do anything in this world if the next moment is uncertain, unless it is to be accounted for by an unconscious pull of the transcendent ‘Beyond’ which speaks in a language of ‘Eternity’ that there is life further to this medley of uncertainties, anxieties and insecurities here on earth? The point that man is to be restrained from undesirable behavior and action can have meaning only if there is something more than the meaning seen in earthly life. Else, what is the point of being good or exhibiting good behavior? Why should there be morality, why should there be anything at all, since everything is going to be devoured by death the next moment?
Excerpts from:
Transmigration - Hinduism and Vedanta by Swami Krishnananda
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The Yoga of the Division of the Three Gunas
| **Baba Times Digest© | 22 April 2014 18:16 EST | New York Edition** |
| The Yoga of the Division of the Three Gunas
Divine Life Society Publication: - Bhagavadgita – Summary of Fourteenth Discourse by Sri Swami Sivananda
Knowledge of the three cosmic qualities or Gunas, namely, Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas is now given through this discourse. The knowledge of these three Gunas, which hold the entire universe and all creatures under their sway, is of vital importance to each and everyone for their progress and happiness in life. Without this knowledge one will be forever bound by sorrow. In this knowledge we have the secret of success in worldly life as well as in spiritual life. Therefore, one should acquire this precious knowledge.
Lord Krishna reveals that these three qualities compose the Cosmic Nature. This Cosmic Nature is the primal source and origin of the entire creation and all things in it. Hence all things created are subject to their influence and irresistible power. The individual soul also is bound to the body by these three qualities present in Cosmic Nature. The Supreme Being brings about creation through the help of His Prakriti (Nature) endowed with these threefold qualities.
The highest of the three qualities is Sattwa. It is pure. It brings about happiness, wisdom and also illumination. The second quality of Rajas gives rise to passion manifested by intense attachment and greed. It causes sorrow and suffering. The third, termed Tamas, is the worst of all. It arises due to ignorance and results in darkness, lethargy and delusion.
Krishna asks us to diligently endeavor to cast out Tamas from our nature. We should control and master Rajas, and by holding it in check, wisely divert its power towards good kinds of activities. Sattwa should be carefully cultivated, developed and conserved in order to enable us to attain immortality. The realized sage, of course, goes beyond all these qualities, for, although it is Sattwa that enables him to reach God, even this quality will bind him if he is attached to it.
The aspirant should know the symptoms and signs of their presence in his personality and acquire knowledge of their subtle workings. Then only can he maintain an unhampered and smooth progress in all activities of his life, both secular as well as spiritual. Lord Krishna teaches us this important subject in this discourse from the ninth to the eighteenth verse. He declares that one who rises beyond all the three Gunas through spiritual practices, becomes free from birth, death, old age and sorrow, and enjoys immortality.
In reply to a question from Arjuna, the blessed Lord describes the marks of one who has risen above the three Gunas. He states that if one constantly worships Him with exclusive devotion one will attain the highest divine experience and supreme peace and blessedness.
Excerpts from:
The Yoga of the Division of the Three Gunas - Bhagavadgita – Summary of Fourteenth Discourse by Sri Swami Sivananda
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Madhu-Vidya
| **Baba Times Digest© | 21 April 2014 17:37 EST | New York Edition** |
| Madhu-Vidya
Divine Life Society Publication: - Chapter 2 The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad by Swami Krishnananda
Knowledge of the Interconnectedness of things
The Knowledge of the interconnectedness of things, imparted by sage Dadhyaṅṅ Ātharvaṇa is known as Madhu-Vidya. Usually, consciousness and object are regarded as exclusive of each other. The perceiver is conscious, and the object is what is experienced by consciousness. The two are categorized as two distinct characters in the field of experience. The object cannot be the subject and the subject cannot be the object; consciousness cannot be matter and matter cannot be consciousness. This is our usual notice of things and our practical experience, too. But the Madhu-Vidyā gives us a revolutionary idea in respect of what we usually regard as a field of the duality of subject and object.
Insight into the nature of things – subject and the object
The Madhu-Vidyā is an insight into the nature of things, which reveals that there are no such things as subjects or objects. They are only notional conclusions of individual subjects from their own particular points of view, the one regarding the other as the object, so that there is a vast world of objects to a single individual perceiver, and this is the case with every other perceiver, also. The fact of experience itself is a repudiation of the phenomenal notion that subjects are cut off from objects, as if the one has no connection with the other. If there has been a gulf of difference, unbridgeable, between the experiencing consciousness and the object outside, there would be no such thing as experience at all.
Adhyatma, Adhibhuta and Adhidaiva
The great revelation of the sage Dadhyaṅṅ Ātharvaṇa is that the Adhyātma and the Adhibhūta are linked together by the Adhidaiva, and a transcendent Divine Presence connects the phenomenal subject and the phenomenal object, through an invisible force, so that we have a universe of interrelated particulars, one entering the other, one merging into the other, one coalescing with the other like the waves in the ocean, and not the universe we see with our eyes, as a house divided against itself.
Madhu-Vidya
This experience is the revelation of the sage Dadhyaṅṅ a knowledge Madhu-Vidyā, which is supposed to have been imparted to Indra and to the Asvins, and to the other sages through them. The significance of the word ‘Madhu’ in the term, Madhu-Vidyā, is that everything is the ‘essence’ of everything. ‘Madhu’ is honey, which symbolizes the quintessential essence of everything. The basic reality of all things is called Madhu in this Vidyā. The essence of everything is, thus, the essence of everything else, also. Whatever is the basic quality, the reality, the fundamental being of anything, is also the fundamental being of everything else.
Correlativity of everything in the universality of being
There is no superior, qualitative excellence in any object or any subject. It is only a point of view that is called a subject, or an object. So, if the isolated points of view are lifted to a universal point of view, there would be neither subjects nor objects. In a universal expanse of experience, a particular aspect of the total reality is called an individual subject, to which everything else stands in the position of an object. But this is not a correct point of view, because it is an abstraction from the total.
So, the Madhu-Vidyā reveals to us the truth of the immanence of the Reality that is universal in every particular, so that there can neither be an ultimate cause nor an ultimate effect in a world of mutual dependence and correlativity of things. Madhu-Vidyā is the knowledge of the correlativity of the subject and the object in such a way that they merge one into the other, cancelling the subjectness and the objectness of each, embracing each other in a union of their particularities, and revealing their inner essence called the Madhu. This applies to everything that is outside in the world called Adhibhūta, everything that is inside called Adhyātma, and everything that is transcendent called Adhidaiva. So, from three points of view the sage describes the correlativity of everything in the universality of being.
Excerpts from:
Madhu-Vidya - Chapter 2 The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad by Swami Krishnananda
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Everything Is Yoga
| **Baba Times Digest© | 20 April 2014 18:56 EST | New York Edition** |
| Everything Is Yoga
Divine Life Society Publication: - Everything Is Yoga by Swami Chidananda
Worshipful homage to that supreme, eternal, universal Being, Lord Krishna, who revealed Himself in and through the Gita wisdom teachings that He imparted for all mankind, for all times, through His beloved devotee and disciple, Arjuna. He not only revealed His divine nature through His Bhagavad Gita teachings, He also revealed how man can realize Him fully, can experience Him, and, ultimately, how man can merge himself in Him to become one with Him. All this He taught within the compass of 700 brief verses contained in 18 chapters.
Main teaching
Attain through Yoga the supreme human experience of our essential non-differentiation from Him; the experience that liberates us forever from all sorrow, all confusion and delusion; the experience that liberates us once and for all from a return to successive birth, death and rebirth in this mortal world.
The four classical yogas are—channelizing our action potential through karma yoga for God-realization, channelizing our sentiment and emotion potential for realizing God through bhakti yoga, channelizing our mind’s power of concentration for attaining God-realization through raja yoga, through meditation, and channelizing our intellectual potential of analysis, logic, discrimination and reasoning to attain illumination through jnana yoga. Here in the Gita we have 18 yogas. Everything is yoga. He covers the whole of human life in His teaching.
Everything is yoga
The central teaching is that, in fact, all life is yoga. Life is to be lived as the great sadhana, the great yoga. All actions constitute yoga. Everything that you think is yoga. Everything that you speak is yoga. Everything that you do is yoga. Life is the supreme yoga, every part of it.
Each and every one of our actions from morning till evening should have a Godward thrust; they are to be engaged in for attaining illumination. Everything in our life is and ought to be enlightenment oriented. Breathing, sitting, standing, running, resting, working, lying, waking, dreaming, sleeping, all constitute that one single process—yoga. So there are not merely 18 yogas. There are innumerable yogas every moment. This is the great truth about you, about each and every one of us.
May the grace of the Supreme and the benedictions of revered and beloved Holy Master Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji enable us to fully recognize this truth, fully assimilate this truth, fully live in the light of this truth, and thus become the Truth. May God bless us all!
Excerpts from:
Everything Is Yoga by Swami Chidananda
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Meditation – Your Only Duty
| **Baba Times Digest© | 19 April 2014 21:13 EST | New York Edition** |
| Meditation – Your Only Duty
Divine Life Society Publication: - Dhyana Yoga by Sri Swami Sivananda
Introduction
Meditation is your only duty. You must realize the goal of your life: God-Realization. There are several stages in the path to God-Realization. Purification, concentration, reflection, meditation, illumination, identification, absorption and salvation. Through service you should purify yourself and then proceed through concentration, meditation, etc.; finally you reach the goal of Salvation.
Time for Meditation
You must do Brahma Vichara in Brahmamuhurtha. You must enquire “Who am I”. Meditation performed for an hour in Brahmamuhurtha is equal to meditation performed for six hours during other periods of the day. If you get up at 4 a.m. you will have time in the early morning for your prayers and meditation. You will charge yourself with Sattva. You will get strength to face the daily battle of life. Morning time is most suitable for meditation. The mind then is not filled with Raga-Dvesha as at other times. You can fill it with Sattva, through meditation, by recitation of Stotras and hymns.
Method of Meditation
The mind is duping you every moment. Therefore, wake up now at least and cultivate this discrimination through enquiry into the nature of the Self, through Satsanga, study and meditation.
Meditate on OM. OM is Satchidananda. OM is infinity. Om is perfection and freedom. Meditate on these divine attributes of Nirguna Brahman.
Meditate on the nature of the Self. ‘I am Satchidananda—Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute’. If you are not able to practise this abstract meditation, then meditate on the Sun, the light, or the all-pervading ether or air. Meditate on the light that is shining in your heart. Meditate on the form of your Guru or Saints. Do common meditation for a few minutes, you will know that real peace and bliss are within. Repeat your Ishta Mantra; the mind should not move towards the sense-objects, there is no Vritti; Therefore, you enjoy perfect peace and bliss. Regularly practise such meditation.
Nama Rupam Na Te Na Me
You are not the body composed of the five elements. Again and again remember this. Meditate on this. You must find the Atman through reflection and meditation. “Atman knows everything else; and knows itself, too.” That is your real Svaroopa. There is no such object in this world.
Meditate and sing: ‘Sivoham Sivoham Sivoham Soham. Satchidananda Svaroopoham.’
Practise Yoga Asanas and Pranayamas, which will purify the body and mind, remove all diseases and help in concentration and meditation.
Overcome the Obstacles on the path
Meditate intensely, ceaselessly. You will grow in cheerfulness and joy. Increase the period of meditation.
Sleep always disturbs the aspirant. Take light food at night; dash cold water on the face when sleep tries to overpower you. Chant OM 10 to 12 times. You will be fit for good concentration. You can keep a bright light in your meditation room. You can combine several of these methods; then success is assured.
The moment you sit for meditation all sorts of evil ideas crop up in the mind. You need not be alarmed. You gave them a long rope till now; they have come to fight with you now, because you wish to annihilate them in toto. This is itself a sign of spiritual growth. If you are steady in your Sadhana, all these evil Samskaras will die by themselves. You will be established in meditation and Samadhi.
The knots or Granthis – Avidya, Kama, Karma
Original primordial ignorance is Avidya. On account of this ignorance, there arose desire—Kama. In that Pure Absolute, there is no desire. Through desire came action—Karma. Desire is imperfection. You try to seek your happiness in external things. When there is no imperfection, when there is no desire, you will enjoy the bliss of the Atman.
You should meditate regularly at a particular hour of the day. Besides, you should keep up the meditative Bhava throughout the day, by gradual extension. Then you will be tranquil, peaceful, happy and balanced. You will be able to turn more work more efficiently.
Glory of Meditation
You have given a definite promise when you were in the womb that you will meditate and realize yourself. You have forgotten your promise.
Chant Om. Taste the bliss of the inner Atman. Every day side by side, along with your duties, practise a little bit of meditation; a little of Kirtan; study of the Gita or other sacred scriptures; and introspection.
Spiritualize all your daily activities. Meditating for half an hour in the morning and then doing all sorts of evil actions during the rest of the day will not help you; the Samskaras created by the morning meditation will be wiped out during the day. You must keep up the spiritual current throughout the day.
If you are regular in your meditation, all doubts and difficulties will vanish by themselves.
Excerpts from:
Meditation – Your Only Duty - Dhyana Yoga by Sri Swami Sivananda
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