(Mar 22,2014) Weekly Svadhyaya - Challenges Make You Stronger by Swami Chidananda

Special Online Guided Meditation & Svadhyaya Session

Under the guidance of our Beloved Guru

Sri Swamiji Padmanabhanandaji

Date: Saturday March 22,2014

Time: 6:00 – 8:00 AM, New York (EST)

Online Skype – DLSAUS (send email to DLSUSA.ORG@GMAIL.COM)

Svadhyaya Topic: Challenges Make You Stronger by Swami Chidananda

Our beloved Swami Padmanabhanandaji, General Secretary, Divine Life Society, Rishikesh, India has graciously agreed to join us and bless us during this Weekly Meditation and Svadhyaya session on March 22, 2014 Saturday.

His in-depth valuable knowledge on Vedanta and other Vedic Scriptures expressed in simple language is a joy to listen to. He has authored many spiritual books and guides spiritual aspirants from around the world, by way of discourses and lectures.

The Session will start at 6 AM New York Time EST and will end by 8 AM. It is a great opportunity for us to directly talk to Swamiji and have any questions answered! 

We invite all to participate and receive Swamiji’s blessings !

“Serve, Love, Give, Purify, Meditate and Realize”

-Swami Sivananda Maharaj

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Svadhyaya for March 22, 2014 Challenges Make You Stronger

Why is that - a spiritual seeker seems to be plagued with so many vexing problems, obstacles, hurdles and various complicated situations that do not seem to be present in the life of a normal being? The answer is because spiritual life is going against the stream of life. It is like the difference between a person swimming downstream going along the current, and a person swimming upstream against the current. Whereas the person going downstream takes the means of least resistance and flow along , the person swimming upstream has a great deal of counter-force to overcome. All other forms of life change their direction when they come across a formidable obstruction. Man alone asks how he can overcome it. He does not think of changing his direction. If a river comes, build a bridge to cross it! If a mountain obstructs a railroad, bore a tunnel through it! This has something to teach us.

You have set a great goal. And to move towards it with the minimum of difficulty, one method is to walk in the footsteps of the great ones. They went the same way, encountered many difficulties and attained the goal. Follow the steps they took to overcome everything until they reached the goal. So contemplate the lives of saints. Be guided by their wisdom teachings. They have left valuable pointers through their own personal teachings and words of advice.

A second method is to look at it with a different angle of vision. Welcome it! Say: “No, this is not a problem. This situation is necessary for me; otherwise it would not come. God knows my degree of evolution. At this point in my spiritual evolution, this is what I require in order to learn many insights and to put forth my inner resources so that I may progress further. If I go into a higher dimension or plane of evolution, then such things will not come.” Thus, we take the problem not as a problem, but as an opportunity to manifest whatever inner resources we have developed till now through our spiritual life and our dispassion.

Whatever, we have learnt, now we have to test it in the field. The seeming problem is giving us just that opportunity to convince ourselves that we are not standing on a foundation of sand, but of rock. So, take everything in a positive, constructive and creative attitude. This is the way to keep up enthusiasm and thus thrive in your spiritual life. See the inner value of these situations. Know that we can gain from them! Your entire life takes in a new attitude and nature. It reacts in a positive way: “God has sent these things; they are necessary. I must try to understand in what manner I can utilize them.” This is the light in which we should view the world in which we have to live and to carry on our spiritual Sadhana. 

May God bless us all! 

Swami Chidananda

Additional Reading:

Thought Control by Positive Attitude By Sri Swami Sivananda Thought Power Creates Environments By Sri Swami Sivananda Sure Ways of Success in Life By Swami Krishnananda Looking at Problems from a Different Angle of Vision By Swami Chidananda The Psychology of  Yoga By Swami Krishnananda Obstacles in Yoga Practice and How to Overcome Them  By Swami Krishnananda The Real Cause of Suffering By Swami Atmaswarupananda