(May 31,2014) Weekly Svadhyaya - The Path of Devotion by Swami Chidananda

  Weekly Spiritual Satsang

·         Guided meditation, Svadyaya - Scriptural reading and discussions     

·         Every Saturday from 4:00 PM EST (16:00 New York) for about 2 hours

·         Online through Skype, send in add request to ‘DLSAUS’ from your Skype or email us at dlsusa.org@gmail.com

Daily Spiritual E-Mail Messages are archived on DLS New York Blog Page http://dlsusa.blogspot.com/

Share your thoughts and participate in the discussions through email and/or through skype. Hari Om!

Svadhyaya for May 31, 2014 The Path of Devotion

  

This is the meaning of religion, and all practices of Yoga: re-establishment and the development into all its fullness your relationship with that one Reality. The central purpose of all religions, the central message of all saints and sages is to recall it to man once again, and to make the inner spiritual relationships into a dynamic and living fact in one’s own life.

You belong to the Divine eternally, and in the Divine you have your all-in-all. In the Eternal alone you can find true joy. The Eternal alone can satisfy the Spirit, and you are the spirit. All association with non-eternal is ultimately fraught with sorrow. The great need in life, therefore, is to ever keep yourself closely related to that Divine.

How can you do it? The process of entering into a relationship through the emotional level of your being with Divine is called Bhakti Yoga, the Path of Devotion. Bhakti is a word that denotes love, intense attachment, a deep feeling of affection, of adoration. Love of God is a power that even as a little ripple upon the surface of a lake in the beginning, can assume the power of a great wave, and overcome all the lower attachments and bondages. But it should be cultivated. You have to work upon it with great care and devotion. You have to set up a link of pure love with the Divine, and diligently work to develop this love relationship into a state of perfection and completeness. This is the very essence of Bhakti Yoga.

You may feel: “God is a strange Being. He is remote. How can I love Him?” The answer is: “God is not remote. He is not far away. He is nearer to you than the nearest object in the universe. He is nearer to you than your breath. He is your own self. You don’t have to lift a finger to point to Him. You have to look within. He is to be felt as your very own, very close to you.”

God is full of graciousness, full of love and compassion, eager to have you to come to Him. He allows Himself to be approached with any vision. You may take the Divine object as your child or as your companion. So the keynote of Bhakti Yoga contains love, affection, attachment, intimacy, nearness, absolute humility, closeness, and also adoration and an element of worship.

God Bless You All!

Swami Chidananda

Additional Reading: 

Bhakti Yoga By Swami Sivananda

The Philosophy and Significance of Idol Worship By Swami Sivananda

Realization Through Devotion By Swami Chidananda

Longing for Realization By Swami Krishnananda

Our Concept of God By Swami Krishnananda

The Concept of God According to Bhakti Yoga By Swami Krishnananda

(May 24,2014) Weekly Svadhyaya - What Is True Success by Swami Chidananda

Weekly Spiritual Satsang ·         Guided meditation, Svadyaya Scriptural reading and discussions      ·         Every Saturday from 4:00 PM EST (16:00 New York) for about 2 hours ·         Online through Skype, send in add request to ‘DLSAUS’ from your Skype or email us at dlsusa.org@gmail.com Daily Spiritual E-Mail Messages are archived on DLS New York Blog Page http://dlsusa.blogspot.com/ Share your thoughts and participate in the discussions through email and/or through skype. Hari Om!   Svadhyaya for May 24, 2014 What is True Success

Worshipful homage to the Supreme, Universal transcendental Being. It is called transcendental because it is beyond the reach of human thought and reasoning to grasp it or comprehend it. The most amazing fact is the one revealed by Shankaracharya, a great illumined being: “Jivo Brahmaiva Naparah - jiva is no other than Brahman.” It is still more difficult to understand this incredible, ungraspable, incomprehensible truth. But it is said with such vehemence, conviction and assurance that it compels, rivets and demands our attention, because it has behind it the strength and power of personal Realization. Therein comes its compelling force. 

“Tat Tvam Asi - Thou art That.” [Chan. Up. 6.4.7] This declaration of our identity, our oneness with That, is the greatest discovery and declaration that has ever been made by mankind. It is the highest pinnacle of human experience. It at once shows how high the human consciousness has been able to reach and at the same time, that each one also has within us the potential to reach this great height. It calls upon us to put forth this potential and make use of this life to attain success.

What is true success? Is it the Attainment that we may call true success? There is a saying that the true thrill and joy of a journey is the journey itself, and not so much reaching the destination. Once you reach the destination, the daily thrill and joy and the sense of adventure, the daily new vistas before your eyes ends. There is something in this way of viewing things which provides us the scope and the possibility of thrill and joy in the undertaking itself – not so much the accomplishing, but the undertaking. The accomplishment may have its own kind of satisfaction, but it cannot be compared to the daily, continuous experience of joy in the effort made in order to accomplish some end. 

Success is the ability to give oneself totally and to dedicate one’s life for that great attainment. That in itself constitutes success. If you can enter into this path of perfection and liberation and keep on with it with all the powers of your being and thus give the totality of yourself and your life until the very end, you have gloriously succeeded. There is no doubt about it. The celestials rejoice, and God looks upon you with great joy, love (and) with great satisfaction. “Worthy is the child of Mine. Worthy has it used the gift of life given to it. Worthy is it of being regarded as My own.” 

Thus should your life be. May the great Spirit bless us all the way! May the choicest benedictions of beloved Holy Master enable us to make our life such a life! 

God Bless You All!

Swami Chidananda

 

Additional Reading Material:

Secret of Success By Swami Sivananda

Tat Tvam Asi By Swami Sivananda

Success in Life – A Young Person’s Guide By Swami Chidananda

Discrimination of The Mahavakyas By Swami Krishnananda

Mahavakya Viveka - Panchadasi By Swami Krishnananda

Sure Ways of Success in Life By Swami Krishnananda

True Success By Swami Atmaswarupananda

(Apr 25,2014) Special Spiritual Message for the Day – His Holiness Sri Swami Krishnananda Saraswati Maharaj

 His Holiness Sri Swami Krishnananda Saraswati Maharaj

Divine Life Society Publication:  -H.H. Sri Swami Krishnananda

(Birth Anniversary on April 25)

Born as the eldest son of a family of six children, on the 25th of April, 1922, he was named as Subbaraya. He was born in a highly religious and orthodox Brahmin family, well-versed in the Sanskrit language, the influence of which was very profound on the young boy. He had his High School education at Puttur (South Kanara Dist., Karnataka State) and stood first in the class in all the subjects. Not being satisfied with what was taught in the classroom, he took to earnest self-study of Sanskrit with the aid of Amara-Kosa and other scriptural texts. He studied and got by heart the entire Bhagavad Gita when he was still a boy, and he had a simple way of doing it, that of not taking his morning breakfast or even lunch unless he memorized a prescribed number of verses, every day. Thus within months he memorized the whole of the Gita and recited it, in full, everyday. Such was his eagerness to study scripture. Reading from the Srimad Bhagavata that Lord Narayana lives in the sacred Badrinath Dham, the young boy literally believed it and entertained a secret pious wish to go to the Himalayas where Badrinath is and see the Lord there. 

By the study of Sanskrit works like the Gita, the Upanishads, etc, he was rooted more and more in the Advaita philosophy of Sankaracharya, though he belonged to the traditional Madhva-sect which follows the dualistic philosophy. His inner longing for Advaitic experience and renunciation was growing strong everyday. In 1943, Subbaraya took up Government service at Hospet in Bellary District, which however did not last long. Before the end of the same year, he left for Varanasi and there he studied the Vedas and other scriptures. But the longing for seclusion and the unknown call from the Master pulled him to Rishikesh, where he arrived in the summer of 1944. When he met Swami Sivananda and fell prostrate before him, the saint said: "Stay here till death; I will make kings and ministers fall at your feet." The young man who wondered within himself how could this ever happen at all, now realizes the prophecy of the saint's statement. Swami Sivananda initiated this young Subbaraya into the holy order of Sannyasa on the sacred day of Makara-Sankranti, the 14th of January, 1946, and he was named as Swami Krishnananda. 

Sri Gurudev found that he was suitable in his eyes to do works of correspondence, letter writing, writing messages and even doing some assistance work in compiling books, editing them, etc. Later on he was given the work of putting into type-written form the hand-written manuscripts of Sri Gurudev which he used to bring to him everyday. For instance, the entire two volumes of the Brahma Sutras of Sri Gurudev, which he wrote in his hand-writing was type-written by Swami Krishnananda. He confined himself mostly to the literary side and never used to have any kind of relation with visitors so that people who came from outside never knew he existed in the Ashram. It was in the year 1948 that Gurudev asked him to do more work, along the lines of writing books in Philosophy and religion which he took up with earnestness. It could be safely said that from that year onwards, he was more absorbed in writing and conducting classes, holding lectures, etc., as per instruction of Sri Gurudev. The first book he wrote, 'The Realisation of the Absolute' in a matter of mere 14 days, is still the best of his, at once terse, direct and stimulating.

When it became necessary for the Ashram to co-opt assistance from other members in the work of management, Swami Krishnananda was asked to collaborate with the Working Committee which was formed in the year 1957 and at that time it was that he received a position of Secretary, especially concerned with the management of finance which work he continued till about the year 1961, when , due to the absence for a protracted period of Swami Chidananda, Gurudev nominated him as General Secretary of the Divine Life Society which position he is associated with till today. It can very safely be recorded that in the history of the Divine Life Society none ever held, nor is likely to hold, that responsible and taxing position of General Secretary for more than a quarter of a Century. 

It may be recorded to his credit, without the fear of the least exaggeration, that it is Swami Krishnananda, the genius and master of scriptures, who alone has expounded practically all the major scriptures of Vedanta in the Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy of the Society, in the early morning sessions, afternoon classes and the regular three-month courses, most of which have been brought out in book-form - authentic commentaries covering the philosophy, psychology and practice of the various disciplines of Yoga. He is thus the author of nearly twenty works, each one a master-piece in itself. This, a genius of his caliber only could do, in the midst of his enormous day-to-day volume of work as the General Secretary of a vast Institution. He is a rare blend of Karma and Jnana Yogas, a living example of the Gita-teaching. 

Such was his literary skill and understanding of the entire gamut of the works of Sivananda numbering about three hundred that he was made the President of the Sivananda Literature Research Institute, by Sri Gurudev himself, when the Institute was formed on 8th September, 1958. Again it was Swami Krishnananda who was appointed as the President of the Sivananda Literature Dissemination Committee, which was formed to bring out translations of Sri Gurudev's works in the major Indian languages, simultaneously. When Swami Shivapremananda was deputed to the States, Swami Krishnananda was made the Editor of the Society's official monthly organ, 'The Divine Life' from September 1961, which he did efficiently for nearly two decades. 

He is a master of practically every system of Indian thought and Western philosophy. "Many Sankaras are rolled into one Krishnananda," said Sri Gurudev, in a cryptic statement, which he himself has amplified in his article 'I Marvel at Krishnanandaji'.

 Excerpts from:

His Holiness Sri Swami Krishnananda Saraswati Maharaj  

If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit:
http://www.dlshq.org/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?

If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at:

generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org

(Apr 5,2014) Weekly Svadhyaya - Stillness In The Midst of Activity by Swami Chidananda

Weekly Spiritual Satsang       ·         Guided meditation, Svadyaya Scriptural reading and discussions      ·         Every Saturday from 4:00 PM EST (16:00 New York) for about 2 hours ·         Online through Skype, send in add request to ‘DLSAUS’ from your skype or email dlsusa.org@gmail.com Daily Spiritual E-Mail Messages are archived on DLS New York Blog Page http://dlsusa.blogspot.com/ Svadhyaya for April 5, 2014 Stillness In The Midst Of Activity My telling you all this has but one purpose, your highest welfare. With this one single intention and view, this sharing has been done with love and goodwill for you and with a prayerful supplication at the feet of Gurudev that his grace and blessings may make your life all-round success. May you shine as a light unto yourself, a lamp unto other pilgrims upon this great path that leads up from death and morality to Liberation and everlasting Bliss. Be up and doing. I wish to put one little thought seed into your mind in this context. When one attains Brahma-jnana, when one realizes the Supreme Reality, one comes to the vision and experience of “ Sarvam Vishnu Mayam Jagat, Sarvam Khalvidam Brahman The entire universe is pervaded by the Supreme. Verily all this is Brahman”. Whatever exists is that one great Reality. This world is a manifestation of Shakti. In Her vyavaharic satta [relative reality] in this world of activity, you do not see everything as Brahman until you reach that state of Experience. You see an infinite variety of movements and actions; nothing stands still. This universe is in a constant state of movement, constant activity. Everyone is engaged in action, action, action. One that does not enter into the stream would be cast aside on the way. Because, time and tide wait for no man. We have to be up and doing. In the heart of this constant activity, however, there is the supreme Stillness, the great absolute Silence, where there is no motion. In a whirling wheel, all the spokes, the entire circumference is whirling rapidly. If you put anything upon the spokes of the wheel, you find it thrown off. But if you put something right in the center at the hub it will remain there. There, in spite of the entire whirl, there is serenity; there is total stability. What you put in the center never moves. It is there and remains established there. In the eye of a hurricane, there is calm. In the midst of this great whirling wheel of Prakriti, there is great Stillness. But behold movement everywhere. This movement is brought about of a certain Will. Therefore, they say that ichcha-shakti leads to kriya-shakti and if this kriya-shakti is channeled in the proper direction, it ultimately comes to jnana-shakti – the jnana that transcends mere vidya and becomes Para-vidya. God Bless You!  Swami Chidananda Additional Reading:   Devi By Swami Sivananda Lakshmi: The Supreme Sustainer By Swami Chidananda The Chhandogya Upanishad By Swami Krishnananda Commentary on the Mundaka Upanishad By Swami Krishnananda A Guide to Meditation By Swami Krishnananda Life – A Process and Activity  By Swami Krishnananda The Cosmic Mystery By Swami Krishnananda