Separation from the Physical Body
By Swami Sivananda
During the course of meditation, one day you will feel that you have separated yourself from the body. You will have immense joy mixed with fear; joy in the possession of a new light, astral body; and fear owing to the entry in a foreign, unknown plane. At the very outset, the new consciousness is very rudimentary in the new plane, just as in the case of a pup with newly opened eyes on the eighth or tenth day on the physical plane. You will feel that you have a light air body and perceive a rotating, vibratory, limited, astral atmosphere with illumination of golden lights, objects, beings, etc. You may feel that you are rotating or floating in the air and consequently there is fear of a fall.You will never drop down, but the new experience of subtlety generates novel feeling and sensations in the beginning. How you leave the body, remains unknown at the outset. You are suddenly startled, when you have completely separated, and when you enter into the new plane, some times with a blue- colored sphere around, sometimes with partial illumination mixed with darkness, while at other times with extremely brilliant, golden, yellow, defused illumination. The new joy is inexpressible and indescribable in words.
You will have to actually feel and experience it yourself (Anubhava). You are unaware of how you left the body, but you are fully conscious of your returning. You gently feel as if you enter smoothly, gently through a small hole or fine tube with an airy, ethereal feeling. Just as air enters through the crevices of a window, you enter with the new astral body back into the physical body.I think I have expressed the idea lucidly. When you have returned. You can clearly differentiate the life in the gross and subtle planes. There is an intense craving to regain the new consciousness and to remain in the state always. You are not able to stay for a period of longer than five to ten minutes in the new region. Further, you can, in the beginning, hardly leave the body at will, through simple willing. By chance , through efforts, you are able to separate from the body once in a month in the course of Sadhana. If you plod on with patience, perseverance and firmness, you will be able to leave the body at will and stay in the new plane for longer period with the new subtle body. You are quite safe from identification with the body.
You have made conquest of Deha-Adhyasa, only if you can leave the body at will and stay in the new region for a long time, say for two to three hours. Your position will be quite secure only then. The practice of mauna and steady regular meditation is absolutely necessary to achieve this end. After continuous hard practice, you will be able to separate yourself from the body very frequently. As soon as you silence the thoughts and calm the mind, the mental habit of sleeping from the physical body supervenes automatically. There will be no difficulty then.
Source : http://www.indiadivine.org/articles/113/1/Separation-from-the-Physical-Body
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Visions of Lights in Meditation by Swami Sivananda Saraswati
Visions of Lights in Meditation
By Swami Sivananda
Various kinds of lights manifest during meditation owing to concentration. In the beginning, a bright, white light, the size of a pin's point will appear in the forehead in Trikuti which corresponds tentatively to the Ajna Chakra of the astral body. When the eyes are closed, you will notice different colored lights such as white, yellow, red, smoky, blue, green, mixed color, flashes like lightning, like fire, burning charcoal, fire-flies, the moon, the sun and stars. These lights appear in the mental space, Chidakasha. These are all Tanmatric lights. Each Tanmatra has its own specific color. Prithvi (earth) Tanmatra has a yellow light; Apas (water) Tanmatra has a white light; Agni (fire) Tanmatra has a red light; Vayu (air) Tanmatra has a smoky light; and Akasha (ether) Tanmatra has a blue light. Yellow and white lights are very commonly seen. Red and blue lights are rarely noticeable. Frequently there is a combination of white and yellow lights. In the beginning, small balls of white light float about before your eyes. When you first observe this, be assured that the mind is be coming more steady and that you are progressing in concentration. After some months the size of the light will increase and you will see a full blaze of white light, bigger than the sun. In the beginning these lights are not steady. They come and disappear immediately. They flash out from above the forehead and from the sides. They cause peculiar sensations of extreme joy and happiness and there is an intense desire for a vision of these lights. When you have steady and systematic practice for two or three hours of meditation at a stretch, these lights appear more frequently and remain steadily for a long time. The vision of the lights is a great encouragement in Sadhana. It impels you to stick steadily to meditation. It gives you strong faith in superphysical matters. The appearance of the light denotes that you are transcending the physical consciousness. You are in a semiconscious state when the light appears. You are between the two planes. You must not shake the body when these lights manifest. You must be perfectly steady in the Asana. You must breathe very, very slowly.
One whose food is moderate, whose anger has been controlled, who has given up all love for society, who has subdued his passions, who has overcome all pairs of opposites (Dvandvas) and who has given up his egoism, gets a vision of a triangular light during meditation.
Sometimes during meditation you will see a brilliant dazzling light. You will find it difficult to gaze at this light. You will be compelled to withdraw your mental vision of this light. This dazzling light is the light emanating from the Sushumna.
You will see forms in the lights - either the lustrous forms of demigods (Devatas) or physical forms. You will se your Ishta Devata or chosen deity in handsome dress with four hands and weapons. Siddhas, Rishis and other Devatas appear before you to encourage you. You will find a huge collection of Devatas and celestial ladies (Apsaras) with various musical instruments in their hands. You will also see beautiful flower gardens, fine palatial buildings, rivers, mountains, golden temples, sceneries so lovely and picturesque as cannot be adequately described.
The experiences vary with different individuals. What one man experiences, may not be experienced by another man. Many erroneously believe that they have realized the self when they get these experiences, stop their Sadhana and try to move in the society to preach a new cult and religion in the name of Loka-sangraha. This is a serious blunder. This is not realization at all. These are simple encouragements from your Ishta Devata to convince you of a higher spiritual life and push you on in your steady, systematic and incessant practice of meditation with zeal and enthusiasm. You will have to ignore these things and drive them away. You must not care a bit for the vision of lights. You must fix your attention on the Lakshya, the goal, viz., Brahman. These visions appear in some persons within a few days, while in others within six or nine months. It depends upon the state of the mind and degree of concentration.
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By Swami Sivananda
Various kinds of lights manifest during meditation owing to concentration. In the beginning, a bright, white light, the size of a pin's point will appear in the forehead in Trikuti which corresponds tentatively to the Ajna Chakra of the astral body. When the eyes are closed, you will notice different colored lights such as white, yellow, red, smoky, blue, green, mixed color, flashes like lightning, like fire, burning charcoal, fire-flies, the moon, the sun and stars. These lights appear in the mental space, Chidakasha. These are all Tanmatric lights. Each Tanmatra has its own specific color. Prithvi (earth) Tanmatra has a yellow light; Apas (water) Tanmatra has a white light; Agni (fire) Tanmatra has a red light; Vayu (air) Tanmatra has a smoky light; and Akasha (ether) Tanmatra has a blue light. Yellow and white lights are very commonly seen. Red and blue lights are rarely noticeable. Frequently there is a combination of white and yellow lights. In the beginning, small balls of white light float about before your eyes. When you first observe this, be assured that the mind is be coming more steady and that you are progressing in concentration. After some months the size of the light will increase and you will see a full blaze of white light, bigger than the sun. In the beginning these lights are not steady. They come and disappear immediately. They flash out from above the forehead and from the sides. They cause peculiar sensations of extreme joy and happiness and there is an intense desire for a vision of these lights. When you have steady and systematic practice for two or three hours of meditation at a stretch, these lights appear more frequently and remain steadily for a long time. The vision of the lights is a great encouragement in Sadhana. It impels you to stick steadily to meditation. It gives you strong faith in superphysical matters. The appearance of the light denotes that you are transcending the physical consciousness. You are in a semiconscious state when the light appears. You are between the two planes. You must not shake the body when these lights manifest. You must be perfectly steady in the Asana. You must breathe very, very slowly.
One whose food is moderate, whose anger has been controlled, who has given up all love for society, who has subdued his passions, who has overcome all pairs of opposites (Dvandvas) and who has given up his egoism, gets a vision of a triangular light during meditation.
Sometimes during meditation you will see a brilliant dazzling light. You will find it difficult to gaze at this light. You will be compelled to withdraw your mental vision of this light. This dazzling light is the light emanating from the Sushumna.
You will see forms in the lights - either the lustrous forms of demigods (Devatas) or physical forms. You will se your Ishta Devata or chosen deity in handsome dress with four hands and weapons. Siddhas, Rishis and other Devatas appear before you to encourage you. You will find a huge collection of Devatas and celestial ladies (Apsaras) with various musical instruments in their hands. You will also see beautiful flower gardens, fine palatial buildings, rivers, mountains, golden temples, sceneries so lovely and picturesque as cannot be adequately described.
The experiences vary with different individuals. What one man experiences, may not be experienced by another man. Many erroneously believe that they have realized the self when they get these experiences, stop their Sadhana and try to move in the society to preach a new cult and religion in the name of Loka-sangraha. This is a serious blunder. This is not realization at all. These are simple encouragements from your Ishta Devata to convince you of a higher spiritual life and push you on in your steady, systematic and incessant practice of meditation with zeal and enthusiasm. You will have to ignore these things and drive them away. You must not care a bit for the vision of lights. You must fix your attention on the Lakshya, the goal, viz., Brahman. These visions appear in some persons within a few days, while in others within six or nine months. It depends upon the state of the mind and degree of concentration.
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Dazzling Mystical Lights and the Astral Plane by Swami Sivananda Saraswati
Dazzling Mystical Lights and the Astral Plane
By Swami Sivananda
Sometimes, during meditation, you will get very powerful and dazzling lights, bigger than the sun. They are white in color. In the beginning, they come and disappear quickly. Later on, they are steady and they become fixed for ten to fifteen minutes according to the strength and degree of concentration. For those who concentrate at the Trikuti, the light appears in the forehead; while for others who concentrate at the Sahasra Chakra, the light manifests itself at the top of the head. The light is so powerful and dazzling sometimes that you have to withdraw yourself from looking at it and break the meditation. Some people are afraid and do not know what to do and how to proceed further. They come to me for instructions. I tell them that this is a new sensation, which they have not hitherto experienced. By constant practice, the mind engaged in concentration will be used to it and the fear will vanish. I ask them to go on with the practice.
Some people concentrate at the heart, some at Trikuti, and some at Sahasra Chakra. It is a question of personal taste. It is easy to control the mind by concentrating at the Trikuti. If you are used to fix at the Trikuti, stick to it always. Do not make frequent changes. Steadiness is very necessary. The beings and objects with whom you are in touch with during the early period of meditation belong to the astral world. They are similar to human beings minus a physical overcoat. They have desires, cravings, love, hatred, etc., just as human beings have. They have a fine body. They can move about freely. They have powers of materialization, dematerialization, multiplying and clairvoyant vision of an inferior order. The lustrous forms are higher Devatas and encourage you. Various Shaktis manifest themselves in lustrous forms. Do mental puja as soon as they give you darshana. Angels are beings of mental or higher planes. They also appear before your mind’s eye.Sometimes, you will feel an invisible help, possibly from your Ishta Devata when you are actually pushed from the physical body into the new plane. That invisible power assists in your separating from the body and going above body consciousness. You will have to mark carefully all these operations.
Do not waste your time in looking at these visions. This is only a curiosity. These are all encouragements to convince you of the existence of super-physical, metaphysical realities and the solid existence of Brahman. Drive away these pictures. Fix your mind on the Lakshya, the goal. Advance. Proceed seriously and energetically with your meditation.
As soon as you retire for sleep, these lights manifest themselves without any exertion on your part. Just when you are going to transcend the physical consciousness, just when you are getting drowsy, these lights appear without your effort. In the morning, before you get up, in the transitional stage of half sleep, half waking, you will get again these lights by themselves without any attempt.
Sometimes during meditation, you will see an infinite, blue sky, ethereal space. You will see yourself in the blue space as a black dot. Sometimes your form will appear in the center of the light. Sometimes you will notice highly vibratory, rotating particles in the light. You will see physical forms, human beings, children, males, females, Rishis with beards, Siddhas and lustrous Tejomaya forms also. Visions are either subjective or objective, your own mental reactions or of realities on finer planes of matter. Universe consists of planes of matter of various grades of density. Rhythmical vibrations of Tanmatras in various degrees, give rise to the formation of various planes. Each plane has its beings and things. The visions may be of these things or beings, or they may be purely imaginary. They may be crystallization of your own intense thinking. You must discriminate in Yogic practice. Reason and common sense must be used all throughout.
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By Swami Sivananda
Sometimes, during meditation, you will get very powerful and dazzling lights, bigger than the sun. They are white in color. In the beginning, they come and disappear quickly. Later on, they are steady and they become fixed for ten to fifteen minutes according to the strength and degree of concentration. For those who concentrate at the Trikuti, the light appears in the forehead; while for others who concentrate at the Sahasra Chakra, the light manifests itself at the top of the head. The light is so powerful and dazzling sometimes that you have to withdraw yourself from looking at it and break the meditation. Some people are afraid and do not know what to do and how to proceed further. They come to me for instructions. I tell them that this is a new sensation, which they have not hitherto experienced. By constant practice, the mind engaged in concentration will be used to it and the fear will vanish. I ask them to go on with the practice.
Some people concentrate at the heart, some at Trikuti, and some at Sahasra Chakra. It is a question of personal taste. It is easy to control the mind by concentrating at the Trikuti. If you are used to fix at the Trikuti, stick to it always. Do not make frequent changes. Steadiness is very necessary. The beings and objects with whom you are in touch with during the early period of meditation belong to the astral world. They are similar to human beings minus a physical overcoat. They have desires, cravings, love, hatred, etc., just as human beings have. They have a fine body. They can move about freely. They have powers of materialization, dematerialization, multiplying and clairvoyant vision of an inferior order. The lustrous forms are higher Devatas and encourage you. Various Shaktis manifest themselves in lustrous forms. Do mental puja as soon as they give you darshana. Angels are beings of mental or higher planes. They also appear before your mind’s eye.Sometimes, you will feel an invisible help, possibly from your Ishta Devata when you are actually pushed from the physical body into the new plane. That invisible power assists in your separating from the body and going above body consciousness. You will have to mark carefully all these operations.
Do not waste your time in looking at these visions. This is only a curiosity. These are all encouragements to convince you of the existence of super-physical, metaphysical realities and the solid existence of Brahman. Drive away these pictures. Fix your mind on the Lakshya, the goal. Advance. Proceed seriously and energetically with your meditation.
As soon as you retire for sleep, these lights manifest themselves without any exertion on your part. Just when you are going to transcend the physical consciousness, just when you are getting drowsy, these lights appear without your effort. In the morning, before you get up, in the transitional stage of half sleep, half waking, you will get again these lights by themselves without any attempt.
Sometimes during meditation, you will see an infinite, blue sky, ethereal space. You will see yourself in the blue space as a black dot. Sometimes your form will appear in the center of the light. Sometimes you will notice highly vibratory, rotating particles in the light. You will see physical forms, human beings, children, males, females, Rishis with beards, Siddhas and lustrous Tejomaya forms also. Visions are either subjective or objective, your own mental reactions or of realities on finer planes of matter. Universe consists of planes of matter of various grades of density. Rhythmical vibrations of Tanmatras in various degrees, give rise to the formation of various planes. Each plane has its beings and things. The visions may be of these things or beings, or they may be purely imaginary. They may be crystallization of your own intense thinking. You must discriminate in Yogic practice. Reason and common sense must be used all throughout.
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Mystical Experiences in Meditation by Swami Sivananda Saraswati
Mystical Experiences in Meditation
By Swami Sivananda
Astral Journey and the Astral Body
You first separate yourself from the body; then you identify yourself with the mind, and then you function on the mental plane, with this fine body just as you do on this physical plane. Through concentration, you rise above the body-consciousness; through meditation, you rise above mind; and finally through Samadhi, you realize your spiritual nature. These are three important exercises of Antaranga Sadhana in the achievements of Kaivalya, the final beautitude.
You can, by mere willing alone, travel to any place you like with the astral body and there materialize by drawing the necessary elements either from Ahankara or the universal storehouse, the ocean of Tanmatras. The process is very, very simple to occultists and Yogis who know the rationale, the detailed technique of the various operations. Thought reading and thought-transference too can be quite easily performed by those who can function with the astral body. Concentrated mental rays can penetrate opaque walls, just as X-rays pass through the opaque body. This is one of the Siddhis (mystical perfections). Siddhis are not the goal of life. Do not entangle yourself in these Siddhis which mar your further spiritual progress. Shun them entirely. Continue your Sadhana and stop not till you reach the goal.
Movement of the Mind
After a short practice of meditation you will feel that the body gets lighter in a short time, say fifteen or thirty minutes after you have taken your seat on Padma, Siddha or Sukha Asana according to your taste and temperament. You may be semiconscious of the body and surroundings or you may become quite unconscious of the body. There is a great deal of happiness owing to concentration. This is happiness resulting from concentration which is quite distinct from sensual pleasure. You must be able to differentiate these two pleasures through the intellect, rendered subtle by constant meditation. Dharana (concentration) and Dhyana (meditation) have a power to sharpen the intellect. A trained intellect can comprehend subtle, philosophical and abstruse problems beautifully well. A disciplined intellect that can carefully differentiate the happiness derived from concentration and that of sensual objects will naturally run daily to enjoy this kind of new happiness derived from concentration. Such a mind will loathe at sensual pleasures. There will be extreme detesting abhorrence and positive aversion to objects. It is but natural. Because this kind of happiness is more lasting, sustained, self-contained and real as it emanates from the Atma (spirit soul). You can distinctly feel that the mind is moving, that it is leaving its seat in the heart, and that it is trying to go to its Yatha Sthana (original seat). You know that it has left its old groove and is now passing on a new avenue. As a result of meditation, new channels are formed in the brain, new thought-currents are generated, new brain cells are formed. There is a transformed psychology altogether. You have got a new brain, a new heart, new feelings, new sentiments, new emotions and new sensations.
Anahata Sounds: The Mystical Internal Sounds Heard During Meditation
Anahata sounds are the mystic sounds heard by the Yogi at the beginning stage of his meditation. This subject is termed Nada-Anusadhana, an enquiry into the mystic sounds. This is a sign of purification of the Nadis due to the practice of Pranayama. The sounds can also be heard after the uttering of the Ajapa Gayatri Mantra, "Hamsah Soham', one hundred thousand times. The sounds are heard through the right ear with or without closing the ears.The sounds are distinct when heard through closed ears. The ears can be closed by introducing the thumbs in the ear through the process of Yoni-Mudra. Sit in Padma or Siddha Asana. Close the ears with right and left thumb and hear the sounds very attentively. Occasionally you can hear the sounds through the left ear also. Practice to hear through the right ear only. Why you hear through the right ear only or hear distinctly through the right ear is because of the influence of the solar Nadi, Pingla. The anahata sound is also called Omkara Dhvani. It is due to the vibration of prana in the heart.
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By Swami Sivananda
Astral Journey and the Astral Body
You first separate yourself from the body; then you identify yourself with the mind, and then you function on the mental plane, with this fine body just as you do on this physical plane. Through concentration, you rise above the body-consciousness; through meditation, you rise above mind; and finally through Samadhi, you realize your spiritual nature. These are three important exercises of Antaranga Sadhana in the achievements of Kaivalya, the final beautitude.
You can, by mere willing alone, travel to any place you like with the astral body and there materialize by drawing the necessary elements either from Ahankara or the universal storehouse, the ocean of Tanmatras. The process is very, very simple to occultists and Yogis who know the rationale, the detailed technique of the various operations. Thought reading and thought-transference too can be quite easily performed by those who can function with the astral body. Concentrated mental rays can penetrate opaque walls, just as X-rays pass through the opaque body. This is one of the Siddhis (mystical perfections). Siddhis are not the goal of life. Do not entangle yourself in these Siddhis which mar your further spiritual progress. Shun them entirely. Continue your Sadhana and stop not till you reach the goal.
Movement of the Mind
After a short practice of meditation you will feel that the body gets lighter in a short time, say fifteen or thirty minutes after you have taken your seat on Padma, Siddha or Sukha Asana according to your taste and temperament. You may be semiconscious of the body and surroundings or you may become quite unconscious of the body. There is a great deal of happiness owing to concentration. This is happiness resulting from concentration which is quite distinct from sensual pleasure. You must be able to differentiate these two pleasures through the intellect, rendered subtle by constant meditation. Dharana (concentration) and Dhyana (meditation) have a power to sharpen the intellect. A trained intellect can comprehend subtle, philosophical and abstruse problems beautifully well. A disciplined intellect that can carefully differentiate the happiness derived from concentration and that of sensual objects will naturally run daily to enjoy this kind of new happiness derived from concentration. Such a mind will loathe at sensual pleasures. There will be extreme detesting abhorrence and positive aversion to objects. It is but natural. Because this kind of happiness is more lasting, sustained, self-contained and real as it emanates from the Atma (spirit soul). You can distinctly feel that the mind is moving, that it is leaving its seat in the heart, and that it is trying to go to its Yatha Sthana (original seat). You know that it has left its old groove and is now passing on a new avenue. As a result of meditation, new channels are formed in the brain, new thought-currents are generated, new brain cells are formed. There is a transformed psychology altogether. You have got a new brain, a new heart, new feelings, new sentiments, new emotions and new sensations.
Anahata Sounds: The Mystical Internal Sounds Heard During Meditation
Anahata sounds are the mystic sounds heard by the Yogi at the beginning stage of his meditation. This subject is termed Nada-Anusadhana, an enquiry into the mystic sounds. This is a sign of purification of the Nadis due to the practice of Pranayama. The sounds can also be heard after the uttering of the Ajapa Gayatri Mantra, "Hamsah Soham', one hundred thousand times. The sounds are heard through the right ear with or without closing the ears.The sounds are distinct when heard through closed ears. The ears can be closed by introducing the thumbs in the ear through the process of Yoni-Mudra. Sit in Padma or Siddha Asana. Close the ears with right and left thumb and hear the sounds very attentively. Occasionally you can hear the sounds through the left ear also. Practice to hear through the right ear only. Why you hear through the right ear only or hear distinctly through the right ear is because of the influence of the solar Nadi, Pingla. The anahata sound is also called Omkara Dhvani. It is due to the vibration of prana in the heart.
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ORIGINS of HOLI FESTIVAL by SWami Sivananda Saraswati
Origins of Holi Festival
By Swami Sivananda
In days of yore, there were communities of cannibals in India. They caused much havoc. They threatened the lives of many innocent people. One of them was Holika or Putana. She took immense delight in devouring children. Sri Krishna destroyed her and thus saved the little children. Even today, the effigy or figure of Holika is burnt in the fire. In South India, the clay figure of Cupid is burnt. This is the origin of the great festival of Holi.
It begins about ten days before the full moon of the month Phalgun (February-March), but is usually only observed for the last three or four days, terminating with the full moon. This is the spring festival of the Hindus. In the spring season all the trees are filled with sweet-smelling flowers. They all proclaim the glory and everlasting beauty of God. They inspire you with hope, joy and a new life, and stir you on to find out the creator and the Indweller, who is hiding Himself in these forms.
Holi is known by the name of Kamadahana in South India, the day on which Cupid was burnt by Lord Siva.
Another legend has it that once upon a time an old woman’s grandchild was to be sacrificed to a female demon named Holika. A Sadhu advised that abuse and foul language would subdue Holika. The old woman collected many children and made them abuse Holika in foul language.
The demon fell dead on the ground. The children then made a bonfire of her remains.
Connected to this legend of the demon Holika is Bhakta Prahlad’s devotion to Lord Narayana, and his subsequent escape from death at the hands of Holika. Prahlad’s father, Hiranyakashipu, punished him in a variety of ways to change his devotional mind and make him worldly-minded. He failed in his attempts. At last he ordered his sister, Holika, who had a boon to remain unburnt even in fire, to take Prahlad on her lap and enter into the blazing flames. Holika did so. She vanished, but Prahlad remained untouched and laughing. He was not affected by the fire on account of the Grace of Lord Narayana.
This same scene is enacted every year to remind people that those who love God shall be saved, and they that torture the devotee of God shall be reduced to ashes. When Holika was burnt, people abused her and sang the glories of the Lord and of His great devotee, Prahlad. In imitation of that, people even today use abusive language, but unfortunately forget to sing the praises of the Lord and His devotee!
In North India, people play joyfully with coloured water. The uncle sprinkles coloured water on his nephew. The niece applies coloured powder on her aunt’s face. Brothers and sisters and cousins play with one another.
Huge bundles of wood are gathered and burnt at night, and everywhere one hears shouts of “Holi-ho! Holi-ho!” People stand in the streets and sprinkle coloured water on any man who passes by, be he a rich man or an officer. There is no restriction on this day. It is like the April Fool’s Day of the Europeans. People compose and sing special Holi songs.
On the festival day, people clean their homes, remove all dirty articles from around the house and burn them. Disease-breeding bacteria are thereby destroyed. The sanitary condition of the locality is improved. During the festival, boys dance about in the streets. People play practical jokes with passers-by. A bonfire is lit towards the conclusion of the festival. Games representing the frolics of the young Krishna take place joyously around a fire.
On the last day of Holi, people take a little fire from this bonfire to their homes. They believe that their homes will be rendered pure, and their bodies free from disease.
Nowadays, people are found indulging in all sorts of vices in the name of the Holi festival. Some drink intoxicating liquor like toddy and fall unconscious on the roads. They indulge in obscene speech as a result of drinking. They lose respect for their elders and masters. They waste their money in drink and dice-play. These evils should be totally eradicated.
Festivals like Holi have their own spiritual value. Apart from the various amusements, they create faith in God if properly observed. Hindu festivals always have a spiritual significance. They wean man away from sensual pleasures and take him gradually to the spiritual path and divine communion. People perform havan and offer the new grains that are harvested to the gods before using them.
There should be worship of God, religious gatherings and Kirtan of the Lord’s Names on such occasions, not merely the sprinkling of coloured water and lighting of bonfires. These functions are to be considered most sacred and spent in devotional prayers, visiting holy places, bathing in sacred waters, and Satsang with great souls. Abundant charity should be done to the poor. Then only can Holi be said to have been properly celebrated. The devotees of the Lord should remember the delightful pastimes of the Lord on such happy occasions.
All great Hindu festivals have religious, social and hygienic elements in them. Holi is no exception. Every season has a festival of its own. Holi is the great spring festival of India. Being an agricultural country, India’s two big festivals come during the harvest time when the barns and granaries of our farmers are full and they have reason to enjoy the fruits of their hard labour. The harvest season is a festive season all over the world.
Man wants relaxation and change after hard work. He needs to be cheered when he is depressed on account of work and anxieties. Festivals like Holi supply him with the real food and tonic to restore his cheer and peace of mind.
The religious element in the Holi festival consists of worship of Krishna. In some places it is also called the Dol Yatra. The word dol literally means “a swing”. An image of Sri Krishna as a babe is placed in a little swing-cradle and decorated with flowers and painted with coloured powders. The pure, innocent frolics of little Krishna with the merry milkmaids (Gopis) of Brindavan are commemorated. Devotees chant the Name of Krishna and sing Holi-songs relating to the frolics of little Krishna with the Gopis.
The social element during Holi is the uniting or “embracing” of the great and the small, of the rich and the poor. It is also the uniting of equals. The festival teaches us to “let the dead bury the dead”. We should forget the outgoing year’s ill-feelings and begin the new year with feelings of love, sympathy, co-operation and equality with all. We should try to feel this oneness or unity with the Self also.
Holi also means “sacrifice”. Burn all the impurities of the mind, such as egoism, vanity and lust, through the fire of devotion and knowledge. Ignite cosmic love, mercy, generosity, selflessness, truthfulness and purity through the fire of Yogic practice. This is the real spirit of Holi. Rise from the mire of stupidity and absurdity and dive deep into the ocean of divinity.
The call of Holi is to always keep ablaze the light of God-love shining in your heart. Inner illumination is the real Holi. The spring season is the manifestation of the Lord, according to the Bhagavad Gita. Holi is said there to be His heart.
Source :http://www.indiadivine.org/articles/256/1/Origins-of-Holi-Festival
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By Swami Sivananda
In days of yore, there were communities of cannibals in India. They caused much havoc. They threatened the lives of many innocent people. One of them was Holika or Putana. She took immense delight in devouring children. Sri Krishna destroyed her and thus saved the little children. Even today, the effigy or figure of Holika is burnt in the fire. In South India, the clay figure of Cupid is burnt. This is the origin of the great festival of Holi.
It begins about ten days before the full moon of the month Phalgun (February-March), but is usually only observed for the last three or four days, terminating with the full moon. This is the spring festival of the Hindus. In the spring season all the trees are filled with sweet-smelling flowers. They all proclaim the glory and everlasting beauty of God. They inspire you with hope, joy and a new life, and stir you on to find out the creator and the Indweller, who is hiding Himself in these forms.
Holi is known by the name of Kamadahana in South India, the day on which Cupid was burnt by Lord Siva.
Another legend has it that once upon a time an old woman’s grandchild was to be sacrificed to a female demon named Holika. A Sadhu advised that abuse and foul language would subdue Holika. The old woman collected many children and made them abuse Holika in foul language.
The demon fell dead on the ground. The children then made a bonfire of her remains.
Connected to this legend of the demon Holika is Bhakta Prahlad’s devotion to Lord Narayana, and his subsequent escape from death at the hands of Holika. Prahlad’s father, Hiranyakashipu, punished him in a variety of ways to change his devotional mind and make him worldly-minded. He failed in his attempts. At last he ordered his sister, Holika, who had a boon to remain unburnt even in fire, to take Prahlad on her lap and enter into the blazing flames. Holika did so. She vanished, but Prahlad remained untouched and laughing. He was not affected by the fire on account of the Grace of Lord Narayana.
This same scene is enacted every year to remind people that those who love God shall be saved, and they that torture the devotee of God shall be reduced to ashes. When Holika was burnt, people abused her and sang the glories of the Lord and of His great devotee, Prahlad. In imitation of that, people even today use abusive language, but unfortunately forget to sing the praises of the Lord and His devotee!
In North India, people play joyfully with coloured water. The uncle sprinkles coloured water on his nephew. The niece applies coloured powder on her aunt’s face. Brothers and sisters and cousins play with one another.
Huge bundles of wood are gathered and burnt at night, and everywhere one hears shouts of “Holi-ho! Holi-ho!” People stand in the streets and sprinkle coloured water on any man who passes by, be he a rich man or an officer. There is no restriction on this day. It is like the April Fool’s Day of the Europeans. People compose and sing special Holi songs.
On the festival day, people clean their homes, remove all dirty articles from around the house and burn them. Disease-breeding bacteria are thereby destroyed. The sanitary condition of the locality is improved. During the festival, boys dance about in the streets. People play practical jokes with passers-by. A bonfire is lit towards the conclusion of the festival. Games representing the frolics of the young Krishna take place joyously around a fire.
On the last day of Holi, people take a little fire from this bonfire to their homes. They believe that their homes will be rendered pure, and their bodies free from disease.
Nowadays, people are found indulging in all sorts of vices in the name of the Holi festival. Some drink intoxicating liquor like toddy and fall unconscious on the roads. They indulge in obscene speech as a result of drinking. They lose respect for their elders and masters. They waste their money in drink and dice-play. These evils should be totally eradicated.
Festivals like Holi have their own spiritual value. Apart from the various amusements, they create faith in God if properly observed. Hindu festivals always have a spiritual significance. They wean man away from sensual pleasures and take him gradually to the spiritual path and divine communion. People perform havan and offer the new grains that are harvested to the gods before using them.
There should be worship of God, religious gatherings and Kirtan of the Lord’s Names on such occasions, not merely the sprinkling of coloured water and lighting of bonfires. These functions are to be considered most sacred and spent in devotional prayers, visiting holy places, bathing in sacred waters, and Satsang with great souls. Abundant charity should be done to the poor. Then only can Holi be said to have been properly celebrated. The devotees of the Lord should remember the delightful pastimes of the Lord on such happy occasions.
All great Hindu festivals have religious, social and hygienic elements in them. Holi is no exception. Every season has a festival of its own. Holi is the great spring festival of India. Being an agricultural country, India’s two big festivals come during the harvest time when the barns and granaries of our farmers are full and they have reason to enjoy the fruits of their hard labour. The harvest season is a festive season all over the world.
Man wants relaxation and change after hard work. He needs to be cheered when he is depressed on account of work and anxieties. Festivals like Holi supply him with the real food and tonic to restore his cheer and peace of mind.
The religious element in the Holi festival consists of worship of Krishna. In some places it is also called the Dol Yatra. The word dol literally means “a swing”. An image of Sri Krishna as a babe is placed in a little swing-cradle and decorated with flowers and painted with coloured powders. The pure, innocent frolics of little Krishna with the merry milkmaids (Gopis) of Brindavan are commemorated. Devotees chant the Name of Krishna and sing Holi-songs relating to the frolics of little Krishna with the Gopis.
The social element during Holi is the uniting or “embracing” of the great and the small, of the rich and the poor. It is also the uniting of equals. The festival teaches us to “let the dead bury the dead”. We should forget the outgoing year’s ill-feelings and begin the new year with feelings of love, sympathy, co-operation and equality with all. We should try to feel this oneness or unity with the Self also.
Holi also means “sacrifice”. Burn all the impurities of the mind, such as egoism, vanity and lust, through the fire of devotion and knowledge. Ignite cosmic love, mercy, generosity, selflessness, truthfulness and purity through the fire of Yogic practice. This is the real spirit of Holi. Rise from the mire of stupidity and absurdity and dive deep into the ocean of divinity.
The call of Holi is to always keep ablaze the light of God-love shining in your heart. Inner illumination is the real Holi. The spring season is the manifestation of the Lord, according to the Bhagavad Gita. Holi is said there to be His heart.
Source :http://www.indiadivine.org/articles/256/1/Origins-of-Holi-Festival
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Saturday, March 21, 2009
Some Guidelines for Practice by Swami Krishnananda Saraswati
Some Guidelines for Practice
by Swami Krishnananda
On Religious Values
Is religion necessary? It may appear that it is not necessary, because it is concerned with ideals, may be even imaginary ones, and not with the realities of hunger, thirst and insecurity which are the obvious values of the visible world. But, religion is not an 'ideal', much less an imaginary one; for it is a name given to the consciousness of the totality and unifiedness of all values, whether they are external like the political, social and economic, or internal like health, love, cooperative feeling, knowledge and a sense of the universal element in all human aspiration. In this light, no one can be irreligious.
The philosophy underlying the unity of religions is obviously a system of comprehensive thinking, which would go deep into the very origin of the religious consciousness as it has manifested itself in the course of human history. It will, thus, transcend the limitations set by the formal religions of the world, which go by the name of the well-known 'isms'. Behind the forms of the manifest religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, Christianity, Islam, and the like, there is a universally structured and applicable principle which gives rise to the awareness of the presence of some controlling and determining force, ranging beyond the phenomena of earthly history. Essentially, the religious consciousness is an urge which directs human understanding to an all-encompassing Universal Power which is regarded not only as the source of the world of Nature and of all living beings, but also the regulator of the entire course of all evolution and all history.
The fundamental differences among religions are mainly rooted in (a) their concept of Ultimate Reality, (b) their theory of Cosmology, or creation of the world, (c) their notion of the relation of man with the Creator, (d) the traditional forms in which man's relation to the Creator are applied to mutual relationship in human society, which, incidentally, decides their concept of right and wrong in human relations, (e) their relation and attitude to the other faiths and religions than their own, and (f) the extent of sanctity or sacredness which they attach to human life, and to living beings in general. There are also other minor reasons behind religious differences.
Regarding a Code of Conduct for religious teachers, one would bear in mind, before framing such a code, that the Teacher is one (a) who lives what he teaches, without which quality the teachings will not carry conviction, and (b) who, while he may be born into the framework of any particular religion, has the intellectual vigour and the spiritual impersonality adequate enough to enable him to stand above the parochial characteristic of formal religion.
The rituals and the traditional functions and ceremonies associated with particular religions may be all equally permissible, furnishing the follower of one religion with the understanding necessary to appreciate the relative value and basic commonness behind such observances by the followers of other religions also, so that there would be mutual participation and collaboration among the adherents to apparently different religions.
A suggested routine for religious training may include (a) an inaugural commencing prayer, (b) a few minutes of silence and meditation, (c) select chants, prayers or hymns to be recited from respective scriptures, (d) study of instructive and relevant passages from standard texts pertaining to the various religions, (e) a discourse, if possible, by someone competent, high-lighting the fundamental unity of all life, the uniformity behind the concepts of the aim of life, (f) the imperative performance of duty unselfishly in the station in which one is placed, with reference to not only one's own good, but also the larger good of the nation and of humankind as a whole. There is duty to one's own self as a physical, psychological and spiritual embodiment, duty to the family, the community, the nation, and the world at large.
On God and Spiritual Practice
Though God has no shape and no form, the human mind conceives of God only in some shape and form. The efficacy of meditation does not depend upon the question of form or formlessness of God, but on the manner of the inward visualisation of the Presence of God. The specific characteristic of God is Totality, Inclusiveness, and Non-externality. There can be nothing outside God, inasmuch as God is Infinite. Now, the concept of God in the process of meditation should be so framed that the visualisation includes every conceivable thing in the world, inasmuch as nothing outside God should be posited to exist. The distractions of the mind are caused, not by the visualisation of the form so much, as the feeling that something external or outside the visualised idea exists. In fact, for all practical purposes, formlessness should be understood to mean non-exclusiveness and absence of a second to the object of meditation, because there cannot be a concept of form unless there is something to distinguish it from another form. The point is that God has nothing outside Him to be so distinguished.
The process of ‘gathering oneself together’ means the bringing about of a total alignment of the inner layers of one's personality - understanding, willing and feeling blended into an integration of being. In the state of self-control or bringing oneself together to a central focus of attention, one feels as one understands, and wills as one feels, so that these three psychological operations do not stand separated from one another, but act singly as a central operation of the whole of one's being. Or, to put it in more plain language, one maintains a harmony in thought, speech and action, without a dichotomy between one's inner being and outer behaviour. As a matter of fact, a feeling of oneself as present before the All-seeing Infinite, or seated in the presence of the Almighty, would spontaneously put a stop to all sensory or empiric activity, and bring about this togetherness of oneself at a single stroke.
To foster a continuous awareness of the Presence of God, it would be necessary for one to accept that God is the Ultimate Reality, and is the only Reality. If this is accepted and driven into one's conviction, there should be no difficulty in maintaining this consciousness. The difficulty with most people is a lack of faith in the sole existence of God, and a subtle feeling that something also is there outside God, such as the world of activity, of human relations, and the like. Study of elevating passages from the Scripture, regularly, everyday, would also assist in the maintenance of this consciousness. But, above all, the best way is to be in the company of great souls, with which blessing nothing can be compared.
Whatever has been stated above would also throw some light on the meaning of ‘God-realisation’. It is the union of the soul of the individual with the Universal Soul, which is what one means by God or the Supreme Being. These are the final secrets which one receives from a Master, after effecting in oneself adequate purification of mind, both ethically and intellectually. God-realisation is attainment of Universal Perfection. It is to remain as Infinity and Eternity blended into One Being.
Different religions are like different medicines for different diseases of people. Every religion has some point of Truth in it. But there cannot be a universally prescribed religious attitude for the whole of mankind, indiscriminately, in the same way as a common medicine cannot be prescribed for every kind of illness of everyone. The variety in the prescription of medicines does not mean that the medical science itself is diverse in its inner constituents. The science of medicine is an indivisible, single system of treatment of human nature, though it manifests itself as a variety of medical prescriptions, due to the difference in the kinds of illness of people. As the science is one and the medicines can be many, the background of religion is single, and in this sense we may say that there is only one religion, the religion of man in respect of the One God. Yet, we may say that there are many religions, as there are many medical prescriptions, all equally necessary and true in their own way, notwithstanding their internal difference.
On Educational Work
The point that nations are built in the classrooms, is not only the fundamental fact of human development and progress, but also the psychological background of any reconstructive programme in human nature. The pre-supposition of adventures in human life is not limited to the social or the political atmosphere, to which generally an excessive importance is attached, obviously on account of the physical and empirical needs of human individuality. The diverting of human attention to the various empirical forms of life is to be traced to a deeper than the visible cause of such a form of enterprise. Human knowledge being limited to what is available to the senses and to the understanding of the intellect, the necessary instrument of right knowledge, which is basic and really competent in contacting, the realities of life, is lost sight of. This predicament is due to the impetuosity of the longings of the senses, and of the intellect which mostly acts as a medium to justify the reports given by the senses and the ego.
The conditions of life as prevalent today are the natural outcome of employing a defective means of knowledge of the world and of people in general. The evils of life are more properly the results of ignorance, rather than an intrinsic cussedness which man deliberately adopts in his personal and public life. All this is tantamount to saying that any project towards the achievement of the goal of human fraternity and well-being should root itself in a re-oriented form of right education, and there is no other way than the implementation of the educational process which is the primary requisite of mankind in general, though it appears superficially that human needs are other than the educational or even the psychological. The inveterate habit to which one is accustomed, not merely by the way in which one is brought up from childhood, but by the impact of many other antecedent causes, forces human consciousness to preclude any association of practical life with this central means of intuitive knowledge, by which alone the truths of life can be comprehended.
The main difficulty which an honest and interested educationist may face is, apart from the question of necessary finance, the finding of competent teachers or instructors who are well-informed in India's cultural lore and are personally inspiring examples of a truly dedicated and unselfish love and search for knowledge, and love wisdom for wisdom's sake. I do not say that such people are totally absent in India today, but they are rare to find, since many of them may belong to the older generation, whose age may not fit into the fairly arduous task of teaching in a school or academy. Our modern productions from colleges and universities, at least the majority of them, are likely to lack this essential quality required for instilling into the minds of the modern South the values of life as held aloft by the spirit of India's culture. There is also the question of place and accommodation for housing teachers and students for the purpose of instruction and residence. There is then, of course, the necessity to have the requisite financial backing for this ambitious project. The suggestions are not difficult to implement if the requisite facilities come forth. I am sure we shall have occasion to discuss these essentials further, in due course.
On Social Welfare
The tensions caused by parochial feelings, anxieties and insecurities leading to tragic results in the outer and the inner lives of people are the unfortunate aftermath of the total absence of a common denomination or cementing background that has to be there in order to unite into an integrated framework human society, whether it is a family, a community, the nation, or mankind as a whole. This cohesive cement is the common purpose and ideal that has to rule over the welfare and destiny of families, communities, nations, and people in general. Else, individuals would fly at the throats of each other and feel like shreds and dismembered parts, with no sensible relation among themselves. Educationists, cultural leaders and spiritual geniuses kept this goal before themselves in all their motions and enterprises, and the same noble purposiveness has to reign supreme in human life even now, and at all times, if there is to be any such thing as peace on earth.
Anything that is in any way contributory to the satisfaction of the personality of man may be said to be related to welfare. Here, again, a great question arises, as to the nature of what is known as satisfaction. That alone can satisfy which is set in harmony with the human being. It is up to everyone to consider if there is anything in the world, or anywhere, which is somehow not connected with the human being. It would be good to take a homely illustration of the concept of welfare itself. A purely selfish individual, centred round one's own body and its impulses, may regard bodily pleasures as true welfare. But the error in this notion can easily be detected. Even one's existence is ostensibly connected with external factors, like the family, the community and the national setup, to mention the least. How can one expect one's own welfare to get materialised in experience, if these essential factors which tell upon one's real welfare are not to be taken into account? Yet, even this is not enough. For, there is a larger world of mankind, an international sea of human power, which, too, has its impact on national organisations and isolated countries. It looks, thus, that nothing short of world-welfare can assure one's own individual welfare and satisfaction.
There is a more startling aspect of this issue, still. The larger universe contains this whole earth as almost a speck in space. Our little world may look like a drop in the ocean of a wider existence of unintelligent forces. From the point of view of this larger vision and a more broad-based outlook, it should be clear that no one can be happy, or truly be satisfied, until one is set in tune with creation itself. Is this possible? In fact, this question should not arise, because if this were not possible, existence itself would have no meaning or a worth-the-while significance. It should be possible, and it has to be.
Source :http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/disc/disc_144.html
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by Swami Krishnananda
On Religious Values
Is religion necessary? It may appear that it is not necessary, because it is concerned with ideals, may be even imaginary ones, and not with the realities of hunger, thirst and insecurity which are the obvious values of the visible world. But, religion is not an 'ideal', much less an imaginary one; for it is a name given to the consciousness of the totality and unifiedness of all values, whether they are external like the political, social and economic, or internal like health, love, cooperative feeling, knowledge and a sense of the universal element in all human aspiration. In this light, no one can be irreligious.
The philosophy underlying the unity of religions is obviously a system of comprehensive thinking, which would go deep into the very origin of the religious consciousness as it has manifested itself in the course of human history. It will, thus, transcend the limitations set by the formal religions of the world, which go by the name of the well-known 'isms'. Behind the forms of the manifest religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, Christianity, Islam, and the like, there is a universally structured and applicable principle which gives rise to the awareness of the presence of some controlling and determining force, ranging beyond the phenomena of earthly history. Essentially, the religious consciousness is an urge which directs human understanding to an all-encompassing Universal Power which is regarded not only as the source of the world of Nature and of all living beings, but also the regulator of the entire course of all evolution and all history.
The fundamental differences among religions are mainly rooted in (a) their concept of Ultimate Reality, (b) their theory of Cosmology, or creation of the world, (c) their notion of the relation of man with the Creator, (d) the traditional forms in which man's relation to the Creator are applied to mutual relationship in human society, which, incidentally, decides their concept of right and wrong in human relations, (e) their relation and attitude to the other faiths and religions than their own, and (f) the extent of sanctity or sacredness which they attach to human life, and to living beings in general. There are also other minor reasons behind religious differences.
Regarding a Code of Conduct for religious teachers, one would bear in mind, before framing such a code, that the Teacher is one (a) who lives what he teaches, without which quality the teachings will not carry conviction, and (b) who, while he may be born into the framework of any particular religion, has the intellectual vigour and the spiritual impersonality adequate enough to enable him to stand above the parochial characteristic of formal religion.
The rituals and the traditional functions and ceremonies associated with particular religions may be all equally permissible, furnishing the follower of one religion with the understanding necessary to appreciate the relative value and basic commonness behind such observances by the followers of other religions also, so that there would be mutual participation and collaboration among the adherents to apparently different religions.
A suggested routine for religious training may include (a) an inaugural commencing prayer, (b) a few minutes of silence and meditation, (c) select chants, prayers or hymns to be recited from respective scriptures, (d) study of instructive and relevant passages from standard texts pertaining to the various religions, (e) a discourse, if possible, by someone competent, high-lighting the fundamental unity of all life, the uniformity behind the concepts of the aim of life, (f) the imperative performance of duty unselfishly in the station in which one is placed, with reference to not only one's own good, but also the larger good of the nation and of humankind as a whole. There is duty to one's own self as a physical, psychological and spiritual embodiment, duty to the family, the community, the nation, and the world at large.
On God and Spiritual Practice
Though God has no shape and no form, the human mind conceives of God only in some shape and form. The efficacy of meditation does not depend upon the question of form or formlessness of God, but on the manner of the inward visualisation of the Presence of God. The specific characteristic of God is Totality, Inclusiveness, and Non-externality. There can be nothing outside God, inasmuch as God is Infinite. Now, the concept of God in the process of meditation should be so framed that the visualisation includes every conceivable thing in the world, inasmuch as nothing outside God should be posited to exist. The distractions of the mind are caused, not by the visualisation of the form so much, as the feeling that something external or outside the visualised idea exists. In fact, for all practical purposes, formlessness should be understood to mean non-exclusiveness and absence of a second to the object of meditation, because there cannot be a concept of form unless there is something to distinguish it from another form. The point is that God has nothing outside Him to be so distinguished.
The process of ‘gathering oneself together’ means the bringing about of a total alignment of the inner layers of one's personality - understanding, willing and feeling blended into an integration of being. In the state of self-control or bringing oneself together to a central focus of attention, one feels as one understands, and wills as one feels, so that these three psychological operations do not stand separated from one another, but act singly as a central operation of the whole of one's being. Or, to put it in more plain language, one maintains a harmony in thought, speech and action, without a dichotomy between one's inner being and outer behaviour. As a matter of fact, a feeling of oneself as present before the All-seeing Infinite, or seated in the presence of the Almighty, would spontaneously put a stop to all sensory or empiric activity, and bring about this togetherness of oneself at a single stroke.
To foster a continuous awareness of the Presence of God, it would be necessary for one to accept that God is the Ultimate Reality, and is the only Reality. If this is accepted and driven into one's conviction, there should be no difficulty in maintaining this consciousness. The difficulty with most people is a lack of faith in the sole existence of God, and a subtle feeling that something also is there outside God, such as the world of activity, of human relations, and the like. Study of elevating passages from the Scripture, regularly, everyday, would also assist in the maintenance of this consciousness. But, above all, the best way is to be in the company of great souls, with which blessing nothing can be compared.
Whatever has been stated above would also throw some light on the meaning of ‘God-realisation’. It is the union of the soul of the individual with the Universal Soul, which is what one means by God or the Supreme Being. These are the final secrets which one receives from a Master, after effecting in oneself adequate purification of mind, both ethically and intellectually. God-realisation is attainment of Universal Perfection. It is to remain as Infinity and Eternity blended into One Being.
Different religions are like different medicines for different diseases of people. Every religion has some point of Truth in it. But there cannot be a universally prescribed religious attitude for the whole of mankind, indiscriminately, in the same way as a common medicine cannot be prescribed for every kind of illness of everyone. The variety in the prescription of medicines does not mean that the medical science itself is diverse in its inner constituents. The science of medicine is an indivisible, single system of treatment of human nature, though it manifests itself as a variety of medical prescriptions, due to the difference in the kinds of illness of people. As the science is one and the medicines can be many, the background of religion is single, and in this sense we may say that there is only one religion, the religion of man in respect of the One God. Yet, we may say that there are many religions, as there are many medical prescriptions, all equally necessary and true in their own way, notwithstanding their internal difference.
On Educational Work
The point that nations are built in the classrooms, is not only the fundamental fact of human development and progress, but also the psychological background of any reconstructive programme in human nature. The pre-supposition of adventures in human life is not limited to the social or the political atmosphere, to which generally an excessive importance is attached, obviously on account of the physical and empirical needs of human individuality. The diverting of human attention to the various empirical forms of life is to be traced to a deeper than the visible cause of such a form of enterprise. Human knowledge being limited to what is available to the senses and to the understanding of the intellect, the necessary instrument of right knowledge, which is basic and really competent in contacting, the realities of life, is lost sight of. This predicament is due to the impetuosity of the longings of the senses, and of the intellect which mostly acts as a medium to justify the reports given by the senses and the ego.
The conditions of life as prevalent today are the natural outcome of employing a defective means of knowledge of the world and of people in general. The evils of life are more properly the results of ignorance, rather than an intrinsic cussedness which man deliberately adopts in his personal and public life. All this is tantamount to saying that any project towards the achievement of the goal of human fraternity and well-being should root itself in a re-oriented form of right education, and there is no other way than the implementation of the educational process which is the primary requisite of mankind in general, though it appears superficially that human needs are other than the educational or even the psychological. The inveterate habit to which one is accustomed, not merely by the way in which one is brought up from childhood, but by the impact of many other antecedent causes, forces human consciousness to preclude any association of practical life with this central means of intuitive knowledge, by which alone the truths of life can be comprehended.
The main difficulty which an honest and interested educationist may face is, apart from the question of necessary finance, the finding of competent teachers or instructors who are well-informed in India's cultural lore and are personally inspiring examples of a truly dedicated and unselfish love and search for knowledge, and love wisdom for wisdom's sake. I do not say that such people are totally absent in India today, but they are rare to find, since many of them may belong to the older generation, whose age may not fit into the fairly arduous task of teaching in a school or academy. Our modern productions from colleges and universities, at least the majority of them, are likely to lack this essential quality required for instilling into the minds of the modern South the values of life as held aloft by the spirit of India's culture. There is also the question of place and accommodation for housing teachers and students for the purpose of instruction and residence. There is then, of course, the necessity to have the requisite financial backing for this ambitious project. The suggestions are not difficult to implement if the requisite facilities come forth. I am sure we shall have occasion to discuss these essentials further, in due course.
On Social Welfare
The tensions caused by parochial feelings, anxieties and insecurities leading to tragic results in the outer and the inner lives of people are the unfortunate aftermath of the total absence of a common denomination or cementing background that has to be there in order to unite into an integrated framework human society, whether it is a family, a community, the nation, or mankind as a whole. This cohesive cement is the common purpose and ideal that has to rule over the welfare and destiny of families, communities, nations, and people in general. Else, individuals would fly at the throats of each other and feel like shreds and dismembered parts, with no sensible relation among themselves. Educationists, cultural leaders and spiritual geniuses kept this goal before themselves in all their motions and enterprises, and the same noble purposiveness has to reign supreme in human life even now, and at all times, if there is to be any such thing as peace on earth.
Anything that is in any way contributory to the satisfaction of the personality of man may be said to be related to welfare. Here, again, a great question arises, as to the nature of what is known as satisfaction. That alone can satisfy which is set in harmony with the human being. It is up to everyone to consider if there is anything in the world, or anywhere, which is somehow not connected with the human being. It would be good to take a homely illustration of the concept of welfare itself. A purely selfish individual, centred round one's own body and its impulses, may regard bodily pleasures as true welfare. But the error in this notion can easily be detected. Even one's existence is ostensibly connected with external factors, like the family, the community and the national setup, to mention the least. How can one expect one's own welfare to get materialised in experience, if these essential factors which tell upon one's real welfare are not to be taken into account? Yet, even this is not enough. For, there is a larger world of mankind, an international sea of human power, which, too, has its impact on national organisations and isolated countries. It looks, thus, that nothing short of world-welfare can assure one's own individual welfare and satisfaction.
There is a more startling aspect of this issue, still. The larger universe contains this whole earth as almost a speck in space. Our little world may look like a drop in the ocean of a wider existence of unintelligent forces. From the point of view of this larger vision and a more broad-based outlook, it should be clear that no one can be happy, or truly be satisfied, until one is set in tune with creation itself. Is this possible? In fact, this question should not arise, because if this were not possible, existence itself would have no meaning or a worth-the-while significance. It should be possible, and it has to be.
Source :http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/disc/disc_144.html
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Precepts for Practice by Swami Sivananda Saraswati
This article is a chapter from the book : " Yoga And Realisation."
Precepts for Practice
By Sri Swami Sivananda
Worldly life is a bed of roses till a thorn pricks yon in your feet. When the thorn starts pricking you, then realise that the world is a bed of thorns. The man then awakens to the reality. The world is an illusion. Friends are hypocritical cheats. Relatives are selfish bugs. There is none on whom you can depend except God.
Beloved aspirants! Awake! Arise! Realise! Resort to the feet of the Lord. Practise Yoga. Come, start today. Follow my Twenty Instructions. I will serve you nicely and guide you. Waste not a minute.
In spiritual Sadhana nothing is of so much importance as regularity. Whatever you do, even though it is very little, do it regularly. The mind will tempt you in various ways. It will try to keep you away from Sadhana but never yield.
Mind is a crooked mechanism, agitated, wavering and wandering. It is always unsteady. Control the wandering nature of the mind. Sadhana is the means to control the mind. Withdraw yourself from the external world. Control your emotions, sensations, activities. Constantly dwell in the Atman. Give up external show. Do not be attached to the flesh.
Develop the eye of wisdom. Look with your inner third eye. The aspirant realises immense joy when his third eye is opened. Fear, sorrow, doubt and delusion take leave of you. Unfold all the latent faculties and powers. They are lying hidden within you.
Keep the ideal always before you. Do not forget it even for a second. Examine within yourself how far you have progressed at the end of the day. Make fresh resolves the next day for better progress. Repent for the mistakes you have committed.
Diabolical forces are within and never outside you. It is only the mind that is reflected in front of you. Change the angle of vision. Everything will be good. You will see only His hand in everything.
Do not blame God for your having failed in maintaining the Spiritual Diary. Give your mind a good shoe-beating. Resolutely start the practices once again from today.
Do not strain yourself beyond your capacity. Relax completely the moment you feel that there has been something wrong with the normal movement of the Prana. Dash cold water on your face when you feel sleepy.
The breathing gets controlled during meditation. It becomes very thin. Merge the mind in the Atman. Take it away from the body and its associates. The goal of life is Self-realisation. Mere seeing of some lights and hearing of sounds during meditation is not the final state of Self-realisation. They are, no doubt, encouragement to the Sadhaka.
You have had your rebirth in God. By gradual degrees try to forget the past, its successes and failures, its sins and virtues. You are not concerned with any of them now. You are a new man altogether. Bury the past deep and cover it up nicely with the Lord’s Names and Yoga Sadhana. Develop self-surrender to the Lord.
Asanas are as necessary as Pranayamas. One goes with the other. Please practise Asanas at least for fifteen minutes daily. This is the best insurance for good health.
All energy must be conserved and utilised for purposes of spiritual Sadhana. All the time that you have should be spent for spiritual practices and Nishkama Seva. If you use your time nicely in spiritual pursuits, you will be able to achieve the goal of life in this very birth.
I shall be pleased to accept you as my disciple. The ‘fees’ I demand are very costly. They are Vairagya, Viveka and Mumukshutva. If you have these, you can be my disciple.
Go to the temple daily and pray to the Lord to give you more and more devotion to His Lotus Feet. Pray to Him to enable you to remain perfect Brahmchari. Go to a secluded place daily and introspect. Intensify your Sadhana and Vairagya.
Do not take onions. You need not object to tamarind, salt and sugar now. Fast on Ekadasi. Take milk and fruits. Take saltless diet on Sundays.
If you want to know God then know yourself. Find out who is the seeker. Then you have known everything. You are that Eternal Self. For this you have to put up a course of Sadhana but a strenuous one. Then you will be able to clear all the doubts. Nothing will satisfy you by the explanations.
Only when you taste the sweetness of the sugar you are satisfied. So also till you have realised God you cannot have any satisfaction. Doubts after doubts will be mounting over your already heavy shoulders.
The western psychologists start and work from the physical and go to the mental plane and stop there, whereas the Eastern philosophy proceeds from the top and then looks at the bottom with the knowledge of the highest. Knowing the One Imperishable, you know everything else. This is the gist of our philosophy.
You can have your godhead through your physical mechanism provided you acknowledge its perishable nature. Look at the perishable nature of the body and all that we see around us. Just see how within a few years great wars were fought. Thousands perished. What does it show?
You must go in after that Imperishable—that is God. The Lord permeates everything. To realise this Imperishable it is not enough if you simply sit quiet expecting a miracle from Him or the Guru. You should strive for yourself, by incessant practice of Sadhana.
By one strong determination of the will, get rid of all evil qualities like smoking, taking tea and meat-eating. These weaken your nerves. You will be easily irritated. You will not be able to control your emotions. Tea is stimulating no doubt, but does harm ultimately.
When you are harassed by the tea habit, it will be difficult to leave it in the beginning. Use milk as a substitute for some time. You are simply alarmed. You imagine that you will have headache without it. All these are mere hallucinations.
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Precepts for Practice
By Sri Swami Sivananda
Worldly life is a bed of roses till a thorn pricks yon in your feet. When the thorn starts pricking you, then realise that the world is a bed of thorns. The man then awakens to the reality. The world is an illusion. Friends are hypocritical cheats. Relatives are selfish bugs. There is none on whom you can depend except God.
Beloved aspirants! Awake! Arise! Realise! Resort to the feet of the Lord. Practise Yoga. Come, start today. Follow my Twenty Instructions. I will serve you nicely and guide you. Waste not a minute.
In spiritual Sadhana nothing is of so much importance as regularity. Whatever you do, even though it is very little, do it regularly. The mind will tempt you in various ways. It will try to keep you away from Sadhana but never yield.
Mind is a crooked mechanism, agitated, wavering and wandering. It is always unsteady. Control the wandering nature of the mind. Sadhana is the means to control the mind. Withdraw yourself from the external world. Control your emotions, sensations, activities. Constantly dwell in the Atman. Give up external show. Do not be attached to the flesh.
Develop the eye of wisdom. Look with your inner third eye. The aspirant realises immense joy when his third eye is opened. Fear, sorrow, doubt and delusion take leave of you. Unfold all the latent faculties and powers. They are lying hidden within you.
Keep the ideal always before you. Do not forget it even for a second. Examine within yourself how far you have progressed at the end of the day. Make fresh resolves the next day for better progress. Repent for the mistakes you have committed.
Diabolical forces are within and never outside you. It is only the mind that is reflected in front of you. Change the angle of vision. Everything will be good. You will see only His hand in everything.
Do not blame God for your having failed in maintaining the Spiritual Diary. Give your mind a good shoe-beating. Resolutely start the practices once again from today.
Do not strain yourself beyond your capacity. Relax completely the moment you feel that there has been something wrong with the normal movement of the Prana. Dash cold water on your face when you feel sleepy.
The breathing gets controlled during meditation. It becomes very thin. Merge the mind in the Atman. Take it away from the body and its associates. The goal of life is Self-realisation. Mere seeing of some lights and hearing of sounds during meditation is not the final state of Self-realisation. They are, no doubt, encouragement to the Sadhaka.
You have had your rebirth in God. By gradual degrees try to forget the past, its successes and failures, its sins and virtues. You are not concerned with any of them now. You are a new man altogether. Bury the past deep and cover it up nicely with the Lord’s Names and Yoga Sadhana. Develop self-surrender to the Lord.
Asanas are as necessary as Pranayamas. One goes with the other. Please practise Asanas at least for fifteen minutes daily. This is the best insurance for good health.
All energy must be conserved and utilised for purposes of spiritual Sadhana. All the time that you have should be spent for spiritual practices and Nishkama Seva. If you use your time nicely in spiritual pursuits, you will be able to achieve the goal of life in this very birth.
I shall be pleased to accept you as my disciple. The ‘fees’ I demand are very costly. They are Vairagya, Viveka and Mumukshutva. If you have these, you can be my disciple.
Go to the temple daily and pray to the Lord to give you more and more devotion to His Lotus Feet. Pray to Him to enable you to remain perfect Brahmchari. Go to a secluded place daily and introspect. Intensify your Sadhana and Vairagya.
Do not take onions. You need not object to tamarind, salt and sugar now. Fast on Ekadasi. Take milk and fruits. Take saltless diet on Sundays.
If you want to know God then know yourself. Find out who is the seeker. Then you have known everything. You are that Eternal Self. For this you have to put up a course of Sadhana but a strenuous one. Then you will be able to clear all the doubts. Nothing will satisfy you by the explanations.
Only when you taste the sweetness of the sugar you are satisfied. So also till you have realised God you cannot have any satisfaction. Doubts after doubts will be mounting over your already heavy shoulders.
The western psychologists start and work from the physical and go to the mental plane and stop there, whereas the Eastern philosophy proceeds from the top and then looks at the bottom with the knowledge of the highest. Knowing the One Imperishable, you know everything else. This is the gist of our philosophy.
You can have your godhead through your physical mechanism provided you acknowledge its perishable nature. Look at the perishable nature of the body and all that we see around us. Just see how within a few years great wars were fought. Thousands perished. What does it show?
You must go in after that Imperishable—that is God. The Lord permeates everything. To realise this Imperishable it is not enough if you simply sit quiet expecting a miracle from Him or the Guru. You should strive for yourself, by incessant practice of Sadhana.
By one strong determination of the will, get rid of all evil qualities like smoking, taking tea and meat-eating. These weaken your nerves. You will be easily irritated. You will not be able to control your emotions. Tea is stimulating no doubt, but does harm ultimately.
When you are harassed by the tea habit, it will be difficult to leave it in the beginning. Use milk as a substitute for some time. You are simply alarmed. You imagine that you will have headache without it. All these are mere hallucinations.
*******************************************************
Sunday, March 1, 2009
What We Think That We Become By Swami Brahmananda
This article is a chapter from the book "Pointers on Vedanta".
What We Think That We Become
By Sri Swami Brahmananda
The seekers after Truth who want to practise the vidyas (knowledge) should not forget the simple well-known fact that what we think, that we become. So there should be no doubt about the efficacy of meditation given in the Upanishads. The end of concentration of the mind on anything is to become one with that thing. In a high school, the teacher was giving lessons to the students of the 10th class. He noticed that everyday during his period a particular student was not attentive to the lessons taught. The teacher found that the student was thinking deeply of something else. One day, after the class was over, the teacher called that boy and asked him: "What is the matter with you? You are not attending to what I am teaching here. Your mind seems to be elsewhere. I am noticing this for the last so many days." The boy admitted the fault and said: "O teacher, what you have said is true. I am at fault, but I could not help it. Though I wanted very much to attend to the lessons, I find my mind is going to my dear bull in my house which I love so much." The teacher reflected for a few minutes and then told the boy: "My dear boy, I will suggest a remedy to you. From this evening, you go to the nearby hill, sit there and think of the bull as long as you like." The boy, in obedience to his teacher’s advice, started going to the hill every day. He sat there and was thinking of the beloved, beautiful bull. No other thought disturbed his mind, because he had so much love for the bull. This went on for seven days. On the eighth day he felt he had no more to think of the bull and so decided to attend the class. He went and waited outside the class. The teacher who was inside the classroom asked him: "My dear boy, did you do as I instructed?" The boy replied: "Yes, my revered teacher. I did exactly as you advised. I was thinking of my bull alone for seven days. Now I feel that I need not think of it any more." Then the teacher said: "All right, now come in and take your seat and attend to your lessons." The boy replied: "O, revered teacher, I am unable to enter the class room, as my horns are too long and the door here is too small to allow me to enter the room." This is the result of constant concentration on the bull. The boy felt that he was the bull, which was his object of thought earlier. Such is the power of the mind. In the Upanishadic meditation we are asked to meditate on the Self either directly or indirectly with or without the help of symbols.
When our real nature is already divine, we can attain the goal more easily by fixing the mind on the Self with the help of the symbols. The reason for the distraction of the mind and lack of concentration during meditation on God, complained by the neophytes on the spiritual path, is that they have some object or other more dear and lovable than God. The thought of that object which is stronger naturally drives off the weaker thought of God. And they complain of lack of concentration. They must know that God on whom they have to meditate is the dearest and most lovable more dear and more lovable than all the objects that this world and even heavenly worlds can give. Then all distractions will cease and there will be progress in meditation.
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What We Think That We Become
By Sri Swami Brahmananda
The seekers after Truth who want to practise the vidyas (knowledge) should not forget the simple well-known fact that what we think, that we become. So there should be no doubt about the efficacy of meditation given in the Upanishads. The end of concentration of the mind on anything is to become one with that thing. In a high school, the teacher was giving lessons to the students of the 10th class. He noticed that everyday during his period a particular student was not attentive to the lessons taught. The teacher found that the student was thinking deeply of something else. One day, after the class was over, the teacher called that boy and asked him: "What is the matter with you? You are not attending to what I am teaching here. Your mind seems to be elsewhere. I am noticing this for the last so many days." The boy admitted the fault and said: "O teacher, what you have said is true. I am at fault, but I could not help it. Though I wanted very much to attend to the lessons, I find my mind is going to my dear bull in my house which I love so much." The teacher reflected for a few minutes and then told the boy: "My dear boy, I will suggest a remedy to you. From this evening, you go to the nearby hill, sit there and think of the bull as long as you like." The boy, in obedience to his teacher’s advice, started going to the hill every day. He sat there and was thinking of the beloved, beautiful bull. No other thought disturbed his mind, because he had so much love for the bull. This went on for seven days. On the eighth day he felt he had no more to think of the bull and so decided to attend the class. He went and waited outside the class. The teacher who was inside the classroom asked him: "My dear boy, did you do as I instructed?" The boy replied: "Yes, my revered teacher. I did exactly as you advised. I was thinking of my bull alone for seven days. Now I feel that I need not think of it any more." Then the teacher said: "All right, now come in and take your seat and attend to your lessons." The boy replied: "O, revered teacher, I am unable to enter the class room, as my horns are too long and the door here is too small to allow me to enter the room." This is the result of constant concentration on the bull. The boy felt that he was the bull, which was his object of thought earlier. Such is the power of the mind. In the Upanishadic meditation we are asked to meditate on the Self either directly or indirectly with or without the help of symbols.
When our real nature is already divine, we can attain the goal more easily by fixing the mind on the Self with the help of the symbols. The reason for the distraction of the mind and lack of concentration during meditation on God, complained by the neophytes on the spiritual path, is that they have some object or other more dear and lovable than God. The thought of that object which is stronger naturally drives off the weaker thought of God. And they complain of lack of concentration. They must know that God on whom they have to meditate is the dearest and most lovable more dear and more lovable than all the objects that this world and even heavenly worlds can give. Then all distractions will cease and there will be progress in meditation.
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By SWAMI SIVANANDA SARASWATI
EPISTLE OF SWAMI SIVANANDA – 1
THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS
What is divine life? To shed the animal in man and to sublimate the human in him to the divine; to express the sublimation in his daily life, in his hourly life, in thought, word and deed. That is divine life.
To pray, to do japa (repetition of God's name), to sing His glory, to do kirtan (chanting), to meditate on the Lord, is divine life.
Treat all kinds of work, domestic, official, etc., as service of God. Surrender all your actions and their fruits to the Lord. Give up agency. Feel you are an instrument in the hands of the Lord. Actions will not bind you. Your heart will be purified. The grace and light of God will descend on you.
THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS
See God in all beings and things. See the world as a manifestation of God. It is not necessary to abandon the world in order to have a vision of God, because the world itself is a manifestation of God.
Listen! Wake up now. Develop dispassion. Do sadhana (spiritual practice). Beware of the senses. Become desireless.
Understand life. Live divinely. Seek good company. Fear not. Waste not time. Depend on God.
Spiritual discipline is the key to God-realisation. Discipline the body and the senses and the mind.
May you attain God-realisation now and here.
Be regular in keeping your spiritual diary. Spiritual progress will be greatly quickened. Kindly be regular in sending me a copy of your diary at the end of each month for review and further instructions. I am immensely pleased to note your regularity in sadhana.
Go to bed early (10 p.m.) and get up early (4 a.m.). The early morning hours are most favourable for meditation.
Understand life's supreme purpose. Seek the eternal. Realise the underlying essence.
Have intense thirst for liberation. Die to live. Discipline the mind. Have self-control.
Learn to be wise. Make the best use of this human birth. Realise the oneness of existence.
EPISTLE OF SWAMI SIVANANDA – 2
THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
Serve untiringly. Serve selflessly. Pray devotedly. Live truthfully. You will soon enter the kingdom of God.
Remain cheerful. Do japa whole-heartedly. Rejoice heartily. You will attain the state of blessedness.
Reflect ceaselessly. Meditate intensely. Realise perfectly. Rest peacefully.
Think rightly. Act righteously. Meditate regularly. You will attain eternal bliss.
Aspire fervently. Pray sincerely. Introspect seriously. Reflect vigorously. You will enjoy supreme peace.
Speak sweetly. Speak softly. Speak lovingly. Speak truthfully. You will attain unalloyed felicity.
Never leave your sadhana (spiritual practice), your meditation, even for a day. Constant practice and eternal vigilance are indispensable, till God-realisation is attained.
As long as you do not realise the truth, practise self-control and meditation.
Conscious attempts to unite oneself with God, is called spiritual sadhana.
Subjugate the senses. Slay this egoism. Curb the mind and enter the illimitable domain of immortal bliss.Om Krishna.
Faith creates, faith heals, faith works wonders, faith moves mountains.
Faith is the secret light for finding God. Faith makes the weak strong and the timid brave. Faith makes the impossible possible.Therefore, have unflinching, perfect faith in the Lord.
Please remember always that renunciation is the essence of spirituality and the secret of self-realisation. Renunciation is getting rid of egoism, desires and cravings.
Renunciation is the only way to perfection and bliss eternal. Renunciation leads to complete unification with the supreme being.Renounce and be free.
EPISTLE OF SWAMI SIVANANDA – 3
THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
Dharma means duty, righteousness, religion, eternal law.
Where dharma is, there victory is. Dharma supports life. Dharma brings perfection. Dharma is a way of life based on virtues and perfect moral conduct. Dharma bestows immortal bliss.
Control of the mind is the first step to spirituality. Victory over the mind means victory over the world. Conquest of the mind is the greatest victory.
The mind becomes unstable and restless through desires for objects. When the mind is not centred in the atman, man desires objects. Become desireless, control the mind, be happy for ever.
Satsanga is association with saints and sages. Without satsanga the mind cannot be turned towards God.
Satsanga is a formidable and impregnable fortress to protect aspirants from the temptations of maya (illusion). Live in the company of sages, hear their valuable instructions and follow them implicitly.
God is love. Bhakti is the experience of divine love.
Do your duty in a spirit of worship. Perform all actions in an attitude of prayer.
Your heart should overflow with divine love at the sight of any object in this world. Then alone you will become an ideal devotee.
Bhakti is devotion unto the Lord. Prayer, japa (repetition of God's name), kirtan (chanting), remembrance, worship, meditation, self- surrender are all limbs of bhakti yoga. Bhakti yoga is suitable for the vast majority of persons. Para (supreme) bhakti and jnana (self- knowledge) are one.
EPISTLE OF SWAMI SIVANANDA – 4
THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
God is very close to you. He abides in your heart. Closer is He than the breath; nearer than hands and feet! He is your very self or atman.
Strive to know God. Seek the company of sages. Lead a life of selfless service, renunciation, dispassion, prayer and meditation.
Have self-conquest. Control the mind. You will attain perfection and peace.
The divine grace is life's greatest treasure. If there is self- surrender, there is the inflow of grace.
Lord's grace will descend in proportion to the degree of surrender. The more the surrender, the more the grace.
Supreme love comes only by the grace of God. Grace of God will make you stick to the spiritual path.
Japa is the recitation of Lord's name. Japa is an important sadhana (practice) for God realisation.
Japa yoga is the easiest, safest and surest way of attaining the goal in the present age.
Repeat 200 malas (rosary of 108 beads) of japa daily. Do more mental japa. Practice of japa brings the devotee face to face with God.
Japa yoga is the yoga of recitation of a mantra (or name of the Lord). There is a mysterious power in every name of the Lord. A name or mantra is recited in three ways, viz. verbal or loud utterance, semi-verbal or humming, and mental. Mental japa is more powerful.
Let the recitation of japa become habitual. Do purascarana - do one lakh (one hundred thousand) of japa for each letter (of the mantra). Live on milk and fruits. Observe brahmacarya during this period.
Prayer is not asking. It is the yearning of the soul for communion with God. Sincere prayer draws the grace of the Lord.
Prayer is a mighty spiritual force. It should spring from the bottom of your heart.
Pray sincerely, fervently, whole-heartedly. Then alone will God listen to your prayer.
EPISTLE OF SWAMI SIVANANDA – 5
THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
True and sincere surrender unto the Lord is the essence of bhakti (God-love).
"I am Thine. All is Thine".
"Thy will be done, my Lord."
This is the best Saranagati Mantra or prayer (of self-surrender).
Seek His will. Do His will. Surrender to His will. You will become one with the cosmic will.
Hatha yoga is mainly concerned with the physical body and the pranamaya sheath. It prepares the aspirant for raja yoga.
Hatha yoga deals with the practice of asanas, pranayama, bandhas and mudras. It treats of sad kriyas too. It gives splendid health removes various sorts of diseases and awakens the kundalini.
The practice of yoga asanas bestows mental poise. If you practise asanas for even ten minutes daily, you will derive immense benefits. Be regular in the practice of asana. This is important.
Sirsasana bestows brain-power and develops the intellect and the memory. It is useful in maintaining brahmacarya (celibacy). It cures many diseases. Sarvahgasana gives longevity and makes the spine elastic.
Be steady in your asana. Gradually try to sit on one asana for three hours at a stretch. Regulate and restrain the breath, through the practice of pranayama (yoga breathing). Withdraw the senses from the object. Now you will be able to practise concentration and meditation.Regularity in the practice of concentration is of paramount importance.
For success in brahmacarya (celibacy) intensify your japa (repetition of God's name) and meditation. Keep up constant mental repetition of the Lord's name, even during your work.
Have three sittings for meditation - morning, evening and night, just before going to bed.
EPISTLE OF SWAMI SIVANANDA – 6
THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
Vairagya is dispassion, desirelessness or non-attachment.Vairagya liberates man from bondage.
Vairagya is the foremost virtue.Look into the defects of sensual life. Live in the company of saints. You will develop vairagya.
Vairagya is born of discrimination. It will help you and will be permanent. Without vairagya, not even an iota of spiritual progress is possible.
Mind is the atma-sakti (power of self). It is the dividing wall between the individual soul and the supreme soul.
Mind creates this universe. It is the principle of thinking and sensation. It is a bundle of vasanas (habit patterns), thoughts, likes and dislikes. Slay the mind through destruction of the vasanas in Brahma-vicara and attain self-realisation.
Egoism is your arch enemy. It is born of ignorance. The real secret of divine life is only in the renunciation of this dire egoism.The tree of egoism can be destroyed by the fire of wisdom only.
These are the ways to control the senses. Cultivate dispassion or non attachment to objects; practise pratyahara (or withdrawal) and self- restraint.
Give up love or hate for objects. You can control the senses and the mind.
It is better to practise concentration on one form of God and to repeat one mantra (mystic formula). Concentration will thereby be greatly increased.
If the mind wanders bring it back again and again to the form. Practise a little pranayama (yoga breathing). It will steady the mind. Observe mauna (or silence) for two hours. It will conserve energy and produce more concentration.
EPISTLE OF SWAMI SIVANANDA – 7
THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
Behold! You must be diligent and vigilant always. Do not give leniency to the mind.
Be regular in your meditation. Meditation is the very essence and life of all spiritual sadhanas.
Meditate on the form of Lord Krishna with flute in His hand.
Concentrate on Trikuti (the space between the eyebrows). Repeat mentally - Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya.
May Lord Krishna be your centre, ideal and goal.
Meditation is a sound and safe method by which you can unlock your inner power and attain God-realisation.
When you are in meditation you will touch the level of cosmic consciousness in a flash of illumination.
You will know that life is eternal and that you are eternal. God is the only reality. God is the only truth. God alone exists. Know this, realise this.
God is love. He dwells in your heart. Recite His name always. Sing His glories, Do kirtan (chanting).
Conquer the whole world by truth and love.
In silence alone you can hold communion with God. When there is conflict of duty, sit and meditate. Hear the inner voice and act immediately.
During meditation one enters into a half-sleepy state this is called tandra. If one is really meditating, his body will be light and his mind will be cheerful.
If he is sleeping, the body will be heavy, the mind will be dull and the eye-lids will be heavy.
During deep meditation you will forget the external world first and then the body. You will feel that there is no body. You will experience immense joy, indescribable peace.
Natural retention of the breath, without inhalation and exhalation, will come by itself.
Meditate on a concrete form in the beginning. Meditate on any form of the Lord. Think of his attributes omnipotence, purity, perfection, etc. Gradually the mind will be prepared to take up the higher, formless meditation.
Be patient. Be persevering. Cultivate burning dispassion, burning longing for God-realisation.
Gradually you will enter into deep meditation and samadhi.
EPISTLE OF SWAMI SIVANANDA – 8 THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
Meditation is freeing the mind from thoughts of sense objects. Mind dwells on God and God alone during meditation. Have perfect ethical perfection. Then alone you will be established in deep meditation.Meditation follows concentration and samadhi (superconscious state) follows meditation.
Be courageous. You will come across various obstacles in meditation. You will have to conquer sleep, distraction, a taste for sensual pleasure, laziness, etc.
Practise asanas regularly.
Do a little tratak (gazing) and pranayama (yoga breathing). Do vicara (enquiry). Cultivate vairagya (dispassion). You will conquer all obstacles.
Samadhi is that state of pure consciousness, the supreme blissful state where the jivatma (soul) becomes one with paramatma (supreme being).
Light diet, dispassion, discrimination, contact with a teacher, are necessary for the practice of meditation.
Meditation when persisted in and perfected brings about the experience of superconsciousness or samadhi, the ultimate state of self-awareness or realisation.
When there is tension in the mind, when you cannot meditate, do kirtan or singing the Lord's name. You will get relaxation and concentration.
Kirtan is nectar. Kirtan is divine food for the soul Kirtan develops divine love. Kirtan produces bhava samadhi (ecstasy of devotion).
Samadhi leads to direct, intuitive realisation of the infinite. It is an inner divine experience, beyond the reach of speech and mind.
A jnani or sage will always be in samadhi, although engaged in worldly actions.
One without full even-mindedness will never be able to go into samadhi even though he sits in padmasana for several hours. When all cravings cease, when one gets equal-vision, he attains jnana vision and Brahmic bliss.
EPISTLE OF SWAMI SIVANANDA – 8 (CONTINUED) THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
Spiritual experiences differ in sadhakas (seekers) according to the nature of their sadhana (practice) and the yoga they are practising.
Some hear anahat (mystic) sounds in the ear. Some see brilliant lights. Some have vision of rsis (sages), mountains, rivers, etc.Some experience cosmic consciousness. This is a rare experience.
It cannot be expressed in words.
Maya is the illusory power of the Lord. Maya hides the real and makes the unreal appear as real. Maya is suddha (pure) satva.
Do not enquire now into the origin of maya. Strive for its destruction. Maya is indescribable. It can be crossed - through the grace of God acquired by self-surrender. When jnana is attained, then you will know all about maya.
Avidya is ignorance. It is the cause for bondage. Vidya is the cause for liberation.
Destroy the root of avidya through knowledge of atman.
Avidya is the causal body of the individual soul. It is impure satva. It is mixed with rajas (activity) and tamas (inertia).
Avidya is the cause for births and deaths. Mind and body are the effects of avidya.
Samadhi is union with God. It is a state of eternal bliss and eternal wisdom. It cannot be described in words. In savikalpa samadhi there is the triad, knower, knowledge, and knowable.
In samadhi mind, intellect and senses cease functioning. All dualities vanish in toto.
Meditate ceaselessly and enjoy the supreme bliss of nirvikalpa samadhi.
Please note the difference between sleep and samadhi. Sleep is an inert state. But samadhi is a state of pure awareness or pure consciousness.
When a man returns from sleep - he is heavy and dull. He has no experience of wisdom of atman. But when the yogi comes down from samadhi - he is full of wisdom of atman.
EPISTLE OF SWAMI SIVANANDA – 9 THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
Jnana yoga is the yoga of wisdom. It is vedanta. It is the culmination of all the other yogas. It teaches that the individual soul is in essence identical with the supreme Soul. When avidya (ignorance) is destroyed the individual soul merges in the supreme soul.
The aspirant should equip himself with the four means of salvation - study the scriptures (Upanishad) under a guru and meditate. He will attain self-realisation.
The mind alone is the universe. The body with its organs, etc., is no other than mind.
The slayer of atman (self) is the mind only. The actions of the mind alone are, indeed actions, but not so those of the body.
The mind contemplating upon the body becomes the body itself and then, enmeshed in it, is afflicted by it.
Slay the mind and attain eternal bliss.
He who has a guru knows Brahman. A guru alone can remove doubts, pitfalls and snares. Guru is God Himself.
All that a guru can do is to tell his disciple the method of knowing the truth or the path that leads to the disclosure of the intuitional faculty.
He will clear your doubts, remove pitfalls and snares and inspire you. He cannot give you samadhi (superconscious state). You will have to place each step yourself on the rung of the ladder of yoga. Do not expect a miracle from your guru, to put you into samadhi.
Every man wants everlasting happiness. This is his innate feeling.
This indicates that his soul is an embodiment of bliss.
Everybody wants full knowledge of everything. This gives the clue that atman is a mass of knowledge.
Every man wants freedom. It gives the clue that his atman is ever free.
Search within and attain the ever-blissful and ever free atman.
EPISTLE OF SWAMI SIVANANDA – 10 THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
Now I will tell you what vicara is. Vicara means enquiry. It is an enquiry into the nature of Brahman or atman. Enquiry of, "Who am I?", is also vicara.
What is bondage? What is freedom? What is the relation between the jiva and Brahman? How was this Universe born? Who is the Creator? These constitute vicara.
Vicara leads to Brahma jnana (realisation of the Infinite).
You are imprisoned in this cage of flesh for a long time on account of your identification with the body. Cut this illusion with the sword of knowledge. "I am the all-pervading sat-chit-ananda Brahman" -and be ever blissful.
Give up "I-ness, mine-ness", agency or doership. Become a silent witness. This is wisdom.
Brahman or the absolute is the only reality. Mind and the universe are unreal. Mind alone is the universe. Action of the mind alone is karma.
Renunciation of egoism and desires constitutes real renunciation. This leads to atma-jnana (self-knowledge). Practise Brahma vicara and you will soon attain self-realisation.
Identification with the body is bondage. Identification with the atman or soul is liberation.
"I am body", "This is mine", "He is my son", "She is my wife" - this is bondage.
"I am all-pervading immortal soul", "Nothing belongs to me", "All is Brahman" - this is liberation.
If the mind is attached to objects, this is bondage. If it is unattached, this is liberation.
Where there is no duality, there is immortality. When the three knots are cut, one attains immortality.
If your object in life is immortality, shun sense-objects as poison. Where there is nothing to be seen, or heard, or thought of, there is immortality.
Immortality is the very nature of atman. The road to immortality is steep and thorny. The help of a realised sage is necessary - at every step.
EPISTLE OF SWAMI SIVANANDA – 11THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
Walk the Brahman way. Brahmacarya is walking with God or Brahman. Brahmacarya is the Brahman way.
Regard a woman as mother or Devi (goddess). This is brahmacarya of the eye. Hear not lustful talks. This is brahmacarya of the ear. Speak not of woman. This is brahmacarya of the tongue.
Entertain not lustful thoughts. This is brahmacarya of the mind.
Brahman is supreme goodness. Rajas and tamas are the causes for evil, Evil is a mere appearance. It exists to glorify good. Evil is a kind of knowledge which shows the superiority of goodness, by way of comparison.
An evil man is a saint of the future. See good in everything. Destroy the evil-finding quality. Develop the good-finding quality. Rise above good and evil.
Your real nature is essentially satchidananda Brahman. Thou art the infinite, all-pervading, self-luminous, eternal atman, the supreme soul.
Tat Twam Asi. Thou art That.
Roar OM OM OM - Sivoham. Soham. Satchidananda Sivaroopoham. Come out of this cage of flesh.
Know thy essential divine nature. Thou art the whole, the infinite, the absolute, the eternal, the immortal.
Thou art above pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, all pairs of opposites.
Knock within. Search within. Gaze within. Within you is the immortal soul.
Aim at perfection. Fight life's battle bravely. Live wisely. Strengthen your resolution. Become one with the eternal.
Have tenacity of purpose. Climb the peak of perfection. Self- realisation is here and now. Attain life's goal.
If you observe perfect physical brahmacarya (celibacy), you will have control over your temper.
You will not become irritable. Gradually you can attempt to attain mental brahmacarya, through japa (repetition of God's name), meditation, discrimination and enquiry.
Brahmacarya is the first requisite for God-realisation. Brahmacarya is the pathway to the kingdom of God.
May you be established in perfect brahmacarya.
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THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS
What is divine life? To shed the animal in man and to sublimate the human in him to the divine; to express the sublimation in his daily life, in his hourly life, in thought, word and deed. That is divine life.
To pray, to do japa (repetition of God's name), to sing His glory, to do kirtan (chanting), to meditate on the Lord, is divine life.
Treat all kinds of work, domestic, official, etc., as service of God. Surrender all your actions and their fruits to the Lord. Give up agency. Feel you are an instrument in the hands of the Lord. Actions will not bind you. Your heart will be purified. The grace and light of God will descend on you.
THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS
See God in all beings and things. See the world as a manifestation of God. It is not necessary to abandon the world in order to have a vision of God, because the world itself is a manifestation of God.
Listen! Wake up now. Develop dispassion. Do sadhana (spiritual practice). Beware of the senses. Become desireless.
Understand life. Live divinely. Seek good company. Fear not. Waste not time. Depend on God.
Spiritual discipline is the key to God-realisation. Discipline the body and the senses and the mind.
May you attain God-realisation now and here.
Be regular in keeping your spiritual diary. Spiritual progress will be greatly quickened. Kindly be regular in sending me a copy of your diary at the end of each month for review and further instructions. I am immensely pleased to note your regularity in sadhana.
Go to bed early (10 p.m.) and get up early (4 a.m.). The early morning hours are most favourable for meditation.
Understand life's supreme purpose. Seek the eternal. Realise the underlying essence.
Have intense thirst for liberation. Die to live. Discipline the mind. Have self-control.
Learn to be wise. Make the best use of this human birth. Realise the oneness of existence.
EPISTLE OF SWAMI SIVANANDA – 2
THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
Serve untiringly. Serve selflessly. Pray devotedly. Live truthfully. You will soon enter the kingdom of God.
Remain cheerful. Do japa whole-heartedly. Rejoice heartily. You will attain the state of blessedness.
Reflect ceaselessly. Meditate intensely. Realise perfectly. Rest peacefully.
Think rightly. Act righteously. Meditate regularly. You will attain eternal bliss.
Aspire fervently. Pray sincerely. Introspect seriously. Reflect vigorously. You will enjoy supreme peace.
Speak sweetly. Speak softly. Speak lovingly. Speak truthfully. You will attain unalloyed felicity.
Never leave your sadhana (spiritual practice), your meditation, even for a day. Constant practice and eternal vigilance are indispensable, till God-realisation is attained.
As long as you do not realise the truth, practise self-control and meditation.
Conscious attempts to unite oneself with God, is called spiritual sadhana.
Subjugate the senses. Slay this egoism. Curb the mind and enter the illimitable domain of immortal bliss.Om Krishna.
Faith creates, faith heals, faith works wonders, faith moves mountains.
Faith is the secret light for finding God. Faith makes the weak strong and the timid brave. Faith makes the impossible possible.Therefore, have unflinching, perfect faith in the Lord.
Please remember always that renunciation is the essence of spirituality and the secret of self-realisation. Renunciation is getting rid of egoism, desires and cravings.
Renunciation is the only way to perfection and bliss eternal. Renunciation leads to complete unification with the supreme being.Renounce and be free.
EPISTLE OF SWAMI SIVANANDA – 3
THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
Dharma means duty, righteousness, religion, eternal law.
Where dharma is, there victory is. Dharma supports life. Dharma brings perfection. Dharma is a way of life based on virtues and perfect moral conduct. Dharma bestows immortal bliss.
Control of the mind is the first step to spirituality. Victory over the mind means victory over the world. Conquest of the mind is the greatest victory.
The mind becomes unstable and restless through desires for objects. When the mind is not centred in the atman, man desires objects. Become desireless, control the mind, be happy for ever.
Satsanga is association with saints and sages. Without satsanga the mind cannot be turned towards God.
Satsanga is a formidable and impregnable fortress to protect aspirants from the temptations of maya (illusion). Live in the company of sages, hear their valuable instructions and follow them implicitly.
God is love. Bhakti is the experience of divine love.
Do your duty in a spirit of worship. Perform all actions in an attitude of prayer.
Your heart should overflow with divine love at the sight of any object in this world. Then alone you will become an ideal devotee.
Bhakti is devotion unto the Lord. Prayer, japa (repetition of God's name), kirtan (chanting), remembrance, worship, meditation, self- surrender are all limbs of bhakti yoga. Bhakti yoga is suitable for the vast majority of persons. Para (supreme) bhakti and jnana (self- knowledge) are one.
EPISTLE OF SWAMI SIVANANDA – 4
THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
God is very close to you. He abides in your heart. Closer is He than the breath; nearer than hands and feet! He is your very self or atman.
Strive to know God. Seek the company of sages. Lead a life of selfless service, renunciation, dispassion, prayer and meditation.
Have self-conquest. Control the mind. You will attain perfection and peace.
The divine grace is life's greatest treasure. If there is self- surrender, there is the inflow of grace.
Lord's grace will descend in proportion to the degree of surrender. The more the surrender, the more the grace.
Supreme love comes only by the grace of God. Grace of God will make you stick to the spiritual path.
Japa is the recitation of Lord's name. Japa is an important sadhana (practice) for God realisation.
Japa yoga is the easiest, safest and surest way of attaining the goal in the present age.
Repeat 200 malas (rosary of 108 beads) of japa daily. Do more mental japa. Practice of japa brings the devotee face to face with God.
Japa yoga is the yoga of recitation of a mantra (or name of the Lord). There is a mysterious power in every name of the Lord. A name or mantra is recited in three ways, viz. verbal or loud utterance, semi-verbal or humming, and mental. Mental japa is more powerful.
Let the recitation of japa become habitual. Do purascarana - do one lakh (one hundred thousand) of japa for each letter (of the mantra). Live on milk and fruits. Observe brahmacarya during this period.
Prayer is not asking. It is the yearning of the soul for communion with God. Sincere prayer draws the grace of the Lord.
Prayer is a mighty spiritual force. It should spring from the bottom of your heart.
Pray sincerely, fervently, whole-heartedly. Then alone will God listen to your prayer.
EPISTLE OF SWAMI SIVANANDA – 5
THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
True and sincere surrender unto the Lord is the essence of bhakti (God-love).
"I am Thine. All is Thine".
"Thy will be done, my Lord."
This is the best Saranagati Mantra or prayer (of self-surrender).
Seek His will. Do His will. Surrender to His will. You will become one with the cosmic will.
Hatha yoga is mainly concerned with the physical body and the pranamaya sheath. It prepares the aspirant for raja yoga.
Hatha yoga deals with the practice of asanas, pranayama, bandhas and mudras. It treats of sad kriyas too. It gives splendid health removes various sorts of diseases and awakens the kundalini.
The practice of yoga asanas bestows mental poise. If you practise asanas for even ten minutes daily, you will derive immense benefits. Be regular in the practice of asana. This is important.
Sirsasana bestows brain-power and develops the intellect and the memory. It is useful in maintaining brahmacarya (celibacy). It cures many diseases. Sarvahgasana gives longevity and makes the spine elastic.
Be steady in your asana. Gradually try to sit on one asana for three hours at a stretch. Regulate and restrain the breath, through the practice of pranayama (yoga breathing). Withdraw the senses from the object. Now you will be able to practise concentration and meditation.Regularity in the practice of concentration is of paramount importance.
For success in brahmacarya (celibacy) intensify your japa (repetition of God's name) and meditation. Keep up constant mental repetition of the Lord's name, even during your work.
Have three sittings for meditation - morning, evening and night, just before going to bed.
EPISTLE OF SWAMI SIVANANDA – 6
THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
Vairagya is dispassion, desirelessness or non-attachment.Vairagya liberates man from bondage.
Vairagya is the foremost virtue.Look into the defects of sensual life. Live in the company of saints. You will develop vairagya.
Vairagya is born of discrimination. It will help you and will be permanent. Without vairagya, not even an iota of spiritual progress is possible.
Mind is the atma-sakti (power of self). It is the dividing wall between the individual soul and the supreme soul.
Mind creates this universe. It is the principle of thinking and sensation. It is a bundle of vasanas (habit patterns), thoughts, likes and dislikes. Slay the mind through destruction of the vasanas in Brahma-vicara and attain self-realisation.
Egoism is your arch enemy. It is born of ignorance. The real secret of divine life is only in the renunciation of this dire egoism.The tree of egoism can be destroyed by the fire of wisdom only.
These are the ways to control the senses. Cultivate dispassion or non attachment to objects; practise pratyahara (or withdrawal) and self- restraint.
Give up love or hate for objects. You can control the senses and the mind.
It is better to practise concentration on one form of God and to repeat one mantra (mystic formula). Concentration will thereby be greatly increased.
If the mind wanders bring it back again and again to the form. Practise a little pranayama (yoga breathing). It will steady the mind. Observe mauna (or silence) for two hours. It will conserve energy and produce more concentration.
EPISTLE OF SWAMI SIVANANDA – 7
THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
Behold! You must be diligent and vigilant always. Do not give leniency to the mind.
Be regular in your meditation. Meditation is the very essence and life of all spiritual sadhanas.
Meditate on the form of Lord Krishna with flute in His hand.
Concentrate on Trikuti (the space between the eyebrows). Repeat mentally - Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya.
May Lord Krishna be your centre, ideal and goal.
Meditation is a sound and safe method by which you can unlock your inner power and attain God-realisation.
When you are in meditation you will touch the level of cosmic consciousness in a flash of illumination.
You will know that life is eternal and that you are eternal. God is the only reality. God is the only truth. God alone exists. Know this, realise this.
God is love. He dwells in your heart. Recite His name always. Sing His glories, Do kirtan (chanting).
Conquer the whole world by truth and love.
In silence alone you can hold communion with God. When there is conflict of duty, sit and meditate. Hear the inner voice and act immediately.
During meditation one enters into a half-sleepy state this is called tandra. If one is really meditating, his body will be light and his mind will be cheerful.
If he is sleeping, the body will be heavy, the mind will be dull and the eye-lids will be heavy.
During deep meditation you will forget the external world first and then the body. You will feel that there is no body. You will experience immense joy, indescribable peace.
Natural retention of the breath, without inhalation and exhalation, will come by itself.
Meditate on a concrete form in the beginning. Meditate on any form of the Lord. Think of his attributes omnipotence, purity, perfection, etc. Gradually the mind will be prepared to take up the higher, formless meditation.
Be patient. Be persevering. Cultivate burning dispassion, burning longing for God-realisation.
Gradually you will enter into deep meditation and samadhi.
EPISTLE OF SWAMI SIVANANDA – 8 THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
Meditation is freeing the mind from thoughts of sense objects. Mind dwells on God and God alone during meditation. Have perfect ethical perfection. Then alone you will be established in deep meditation.Meditation follows concentration and samadhi (superconscious state) follows meditation.
Be courageous. You will come across various obstacles in meditation. You will have to conquer sleep, distraction, a taste for sensual pleasure, laziness, etc.
Practise asanas regularly.
Do a little tratak (gazing) and pranayama (yoga breathing). Do vicara (enquiry). Cultivate vairagya (dispassion). You will conquer all obstacles.
Samadhi is that state of pure consciousness, the supreme blissful state where the jivatma (soul) becomes one with paramatma (supreme being).
Light diet, dispassion, discrimination, contact with a teacher, are necessary for the practice of meditation.
Meditation when persisted in and perfected brings about the experience of superconsciousness or samadhi, the ultimate state of self-awareness or realisation.
When there is tension in the mind, when you cannot meditate, do kirtan or singing the Lord's name. You will get relaxation and concentration.
Kirtan is nectar. Kirtan is divine food for the soul Kirtan develops divine love. Kirtan produces bhava samadhi (ecstasy of devotion).
Samadhi leads to direct, intuitive realisation of the infinite. It is an inner divine experience, beyond the reach of speech and mind.
A jnani or sage will always be in samadhi, although engaged in worldly actions.
One without full even-mindedness will never be able to go into samadhi even though he sits in padmasana for several hours. When all cravings cease, when one gets equal-vision, he attains jnana vision and Brahmic bliss.
EPISTLE OF SWAMI SIVANANDA – 8 (CONTINUED) THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
Spiritual experiences differ in sadhakas (seekers) according to the nature of their sadhana (practice) and the yoga they are practising.
Some hear anahat (mystic) sounds in the ear. Some see brilliant lights. Some have vision of rsis (sages), mountains, rivers, etc.Some experience cosmic consciousness. This is a rare experience.
It cannot be expressed in words.
Maya is the illusory power of the Lord. Maya hides the real and makes the unreal appear as real. Maya is suddha (pure) satva.
Do not enquire now into the origin of maya. Strive for its destruction. Maya is indescribable. It can be crossed - through the grace of God acquired by self-surrender. When jnana is attained, then you will know all about maya.
Avidya is ignorance. It is the cause for bondage. Vidya is the cause for liberation.
Destroy the root of avidya through knowledge of atman.
Avidya is the causal body of the individual soul. It is impure satva. It is mixed with rajas (activity) and tamas (inertia).
Avidya is the cause for births and deaths. Mind and body are the effects of avidya.
Samadhi is union with God. It is a state of eternal bliss and eternal wisdom. It cannot be described in words. In savikalpa samadhi there is the triad, knower, knowledge, and knowable.
In samadhi mind, intellect and senses cease functioning. All dualities vanish in toto.
Meditate ceaselessly and enjoy the supreme bliss of nirvikalpa samadhi.
Please note the difference between sleep and samadhi. Sleep is an inert state. But samadhi is a state of pure awareness or pure consciousness.
When a man returns from sleep - he is heavy and dull. He has no experience of wisdom of atman. But when the yogi comes down from samadhi - he is full of wisdom of atman.
EPISTLE OF SWAMI SIVANANDA – 9 THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
Jnana yoga is the yoga of wisdom. It is vedanta. It is the culmination of all the other yogas. It teaches that the individual soul is in essence identical with the supreme Soul. When avidya (ignorance) is destroyed the individual soul merges in the supreme soul.
The aspirant should equip himself with the four means of salvation - study the scriptures (Upanishad) under a guru and meditate. He will attain self-realisation.
The mind alone is the universe. The body with its organs, etc., is no other than mind.
The slayer of atman (self) is the mind only. The actions of the mind alone are, indeed actions, but not so those of the body.
The mind contemplating upon the body becomes the body itself and then, enmeshed in it, is afflicted by it.
Slay the mind and attain eternal bliss.
He who has a guru knows Brahman. A guru alone can remove doubts, pitfalls and snares. Guru is God Himself.
All that a guru can do is to tell his disciple the method of knowing the truth or the path that leads to the disclosure of the intuitional faculty.
He will clear your doubts, remove pitfalls and snares and inspire you. He cannot give you samadhi (superconscious state). You will have to place each step yourself on the rung of the ladder of yoga. Do not expect a miracle from your guru, to put you into samadhi.
Every man wants everlasting happiness. This is his innate feeling.
This indicates that his soul is an embodiment of bliss.
Everybody wants full knowledge of everything. This gives the clue that atman is a mass of knowledge.
Every man wants freedom. It gives the clue that his atman is ever free.
Search within and attain the ever-blissful and ever free atman.
EPISTLE OF SWAMI SIVANANDA – 10 THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
Now I will tell you what vicara is. Vicara means enquiry. It is an enquiry into the nature of Brahman or atman. Enquiry of, "Who am I?", is also vicara.
What is bondage? What is freedom? What is the relation between the jiva and Brahman? How was this Universe born? Who is the Creator? These constitute vicara.
Vicara leads to Brahma jnana (realisation of the Infinite).
You are imprisoned in this cage of flesh for a long time on account of your identification with the body. Cut this illusion with the sword of knowledge. "I am the all-pervading sat-chit-ananda Brahman" -and be ever blissful.
Give up "I-ness, mine-ness", agency or doership. Become a silent witness. This is wisdom.
Brahman or the absolute is the only reality. Mind and the universe are unreal. Mind alone is the universe. Action of the mind alone is karma.
Renunciation of egoism and desires constitutes real renunciation. This leads to atma-jnana (self-knowledge). Practise Brahma vicara and you will soon attain self-realisation.
Identification with the body is bondage. Identification with the atman or soul is liberation.
"I am body", "This is mine", "He is my son", "She is my wife" - this is bondage.
"I am all-pervading immortal soul", "Nothing belongs to me", "All is Brahman" - this is liberation.
If the mind is attached to objects, this is bondage. If it is unattached, this is liberation.
Where there is no duality, there is immortality. When the three knots are cut, one attains immortality.
If your object in life is immortality, shun sense-objects as poison. Where there is nothing to be seen, or heard, or thought of, there is immortality.
Immortality is the very nature of atman. The road to immortality is steep and thorny. The help of a realised sage is necessary - at every step.
EPISTLE OF SWAMI SIVANANDA – 11THIS IS THE WAY TO SPIRITUALISE ALL YOUR ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
Walk the Brahman way. Brahmacarya is walking with God or Brahman. Brahmacarya is the Brahman way.
Regard a woman as mother or Devi (goddess). This is brahmacarya of the eye. Hear not lustful talks. This is brahmacarya of the ear. Speak not of woman. This is brahmacarya of the tongue.
Entertain not lustful thoughts. This is brahmacarya of the mind.
Brahman is supreme goodness. Rajas and tamas are the causes for evil, Evil is a mere appearance. It exists to glorify good. Evil is a kind of knowledge which shows the superiority of goodness, by way of comparison.
An evil man is a saint of the future. See good in everything. Destroy the evil-finding quality. Develop the good-finding quality. Rise above good and evil.
Your real nature is essentially satchidananda Brahman. Thou art the infinite, all-pervading, self-luminous, eternal atman, the supreme soul.
Tat Twam Asi. Thou art That.
Roar OM OM OM - Sivoham. Soham. Satchidananda Sivaroopoham. Come out of this cage of flesh.
Know thy essential divine nature. Thou art the whole, the infinite, the absolute, the eternal, the immortal.
Thou art above pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, all pairs of opposites.
Knock within. Search within. Gaze within. Within you is the immortal soul.
Aim at perfection. Fight life's battle bravely. Live wisely. Strengthen your resolution. Become one with the eternal.
Have tenacity of purpose. Climb the peak of perfection. Self- realisation is here and now. Attain life's goal.
If you observe perfect physical brahmacarya (celibacy), you will have control over your temper.
You will not become irritable. Gradually you can attempt to attain mental brahmacarya, through japa (repetition of God's name), meditation, discrimination and enquiry.
Brahmacarya is the first requisite for God-realisation. Brahmacarya is the pathway to the kingdom of God.
May you be established in perfect brahmacarya.
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