(Apr 3,2014) Spiritual Message for the Day – The Key to Effort by Swami Atmaswarupananda

The Key to Effort

Divine Life Society Publication: - The Key to Effort by Sri Swami Atmaswarupananda

Gurudev never tired of reminding his disciples both in writing and by word that the goal of life is God-realization. Indeed, it is only when those words become real to us that we become a seeker. Whether they become real through the words of a guru or through a spiritual experience doesn’t matter. Suddenly we know that there is something more important in life than what we have been previously seeking.

Normally, we have worked hard to achieve what we have been previously seeking. And so it is natural that we want to put effort into achieving the highest goal of all, God realization. As a result sometimes we can tackle our sadhana in a fairly aggressive manner, being determined that we are going to achieve the goal, being determined to pay whatever sacrifices that are required.

However, the normal experience of most seekers is to discover that God-realization is not a goal like most goals. Somehow it doesn’t yield to our normal way of making effort. Ultimately, we begin to understand that it is because we’re going in the wrong direction. We’re trying to achieve something for me, the ego, on our terms, whereas to realize God requires a reversal in our approach. We’re told to let go and let God, because He is everything. Surrender, and trust in Him.

Thus we can become somewhat confused. What about me? What am I to do? Maybe I can just do what I want and leave it to God. Sometimes we find that in spite of the fact that the gurus tell us to make effort, we find we just can’t make effort any more.

This is the time when we need to imbibe another of Gurudev’s admonitions. He also constantly reminded his disciples, "Use your common sense." Yes, everything is God. One alone is. The plants are God, the animals are God and you too are God. Without God’s sunshine and the nutrition in the ground, how can a plant grow? It is helpless. But still, unless the plant has within itself that which makes it put down its roots and lift its leaves to the sun, it will not grow. No doubt, God guides the birds in their migration, but unless they do what they can do—flap their wings and fly—there will be no migration.

As human beings we too have certain faculties, including an intellect, including the power of devotion. And so if we want to realize God we have to use our intellect and our devotion to the very best of our ability—at all times acknowledging that the power to think and the ability to be devoted comes from God, just as the nourishment in the soil and the sunshine does.

Our effort is to realize that God alone is, to acknowledge Him in all things. Without that effort nothing is going to happen. With this properly directed effort, with this selfless effort, our gurus promise us that success is assured.

Excerpts from:

The Key to Effort by Sri Swami Atmaswarupananda

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(Mar 8,2014) Spiritual Message for the Day – The Yoga of renunciation of Action by Sri Swami Sivananda

The Yoga of Renunciation of Action

Divine Life Society Publication: - Bhagavadgita – Summary of Fifth Discourse by Sri Swami Sivananda

In spite of Sri Krishna’s clear instructions, Arjuna still seems to be bewildered. He wants to know conclusively which is superior, the path of action or the path of renunciation of action.

The Lord says that both the paths lead to the highest goal of God-realization. In both cases the final realization of the Atman is the aim, but the path of Karma Yoga is superior. Actually there is no real difference between the two.

Krishna further asserts that perfection can be attained and one can be established in the Atman only after the mind has been purified through the performance of selfless action. The Karma Yogi who is aware of the Atman and who is constantly engaged in action knows that although the intellect, mind and senses are active, he does not do anything. He is a spectator of everything. He dedicates all his actions to the Lord and thus abandons attachment, ever remaining pure and unaffected. He surrenders himself completely to the Divine Shakti. Having completely rooted out all desires, attachments and the ego, he is not born again.

The sage who has realized Brahman and is always absorbed in It does not have any rebirth. Such a sage sees Brahman within and without—within as the static and transcendent Brahman, and without as the entire universe. He sees the one Self in all beings and creatures—in a cow, an elephant, and even in a dog and an outcaste. He is ever free from joy and grief and enjoys eternal peace and happiness. He does not depend upon the senses for his satisfaction. On the other hand the enjoyments of the senses are generators of pain. They are impermanent. Sri Krishna reminds Arjuna that desire is the main cause of pain and suffering. It is the cause of anger. Therefore, the aspirant should try to eradicate desire and anger if he is to reach the Supreme.

The Lord concludes by describing how to control the senses, mind and intellect by concentrating between the eyebrows and practicing Pranayama. One who has achieved perfect control of the outgoing senses and is freed from desire, anger and fear attains liberation and enjoys perfect peace.

Excerpts from:

The Yoga of Renunciation of Action - Bhagavadgita – Summary of Fifth Discourse by Sri Swami Sivananda

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(Jan 3,2014 ) Spiritual Message for the Day –The Yoga Of The Center by Swami Chidananda

The Yoga Of The Center

Divine Life Society Publication: The Eye Of The Hurricane by Swami Chidananda

Master Swami Sivananda always used to have this clarion call, “O man, the goal of life is God-realization.

Things do not make you important. You are important. You are the real value. The law of Karma says that you can reap any harvest that you wish, provided you sow the desired seeds. Do not sow the seeds of darkness and bondage. You are the master of your destiny. The key to your future lies in your hands and in no one else’s hands.

The essential reality of one’s being is totally forgotten. I am always thinking of myself as being so and so, as being such and such, never for a moment as I AM. This condition is termed MAYA and it is the root cause of all the sufferings in this Universe. Reality is crystal consciousness. Realize Reality.

You must be Truth-centered; you must be Reality-conscious. If the mind takes you away from the centre and makes you conscious of things other than the Divine, then you are creating Karma for yourself. You are weaving the web of bondage.

Your Reality is a mass of Divine Light. The Reality within is the eternal part of the Universal Essence.

Fourfold nature of the Psyche are – Outgoing nature, objectifying, state of vacillation and being prone to reaction. If you want to bring about a state of inward spiritual health leading to illumination, bliss and peace, there is no option but to bring about a total transformation of your psyche.

In that state of total absorption, absolute, one-pointed concentration of the mind, the supreme mystical state comes. We are now moving towards a state of spiritual health. Yoga is the inner therapy where a total transformation of the inner psychical nature, the mind nature, is brought about in a systematic and a scientific way. The mind loses its nature and thus becomes no mind.

Mind absorbed in the Reality is itself liberation. Mind turned towards the Eternal and absorbed in It is liberation.

Reflect on these ideas. Pursue this line of thought and investigation further so that in this very body, in this very life, you begin working upon yourself and affirming your Reality and refusing to let the mind take you away from the Centre. Affirming the Reality, keep your interior in a state of wakefulness and consciousness, fullness and intense awareness. Let the darkness of the interior give place to the luminous state of awareness. Live in that consciousness and attain the goal of life. May the Grace of God give you fullest success in this great inward journey towards perfection which ever abides in all its fullness in the innermost center of your being.

Practise the Yoga of the Centre. There is the Yoga of the Circumference—Hatha Yoga; and there is the Yoga of the entire area of the circle—that is, the various techniques of the science filling the world everywhere today. But there is the Yoga of the Centre which is the Universal Yoga the simple and direct path of holding on to God within, holding on to this awareness. No matter what the body is doing, what the state of the mind is, what you are required to do according to your Karmic pattern unfolding in your life, be ever God-centered, Truth-centered. That is the Yoga of today. All other practices may be helpful—the Yoga of the body, the Yoga of the circumference, the various techniques of meditation and inner Yogic disciplines, and so many other methods and schools of thought. They are the Yoga of the area of the circle, but apart from the circumference and the area, there is the Centre and the Yoga of the Centre is the Yoga of continued abidance, the Yoga of Awareness, the Yoga of Luminous Consciousness. That requires no special place, preparation, incense, altar, or seat. At all times, in all conditions, everywhere, this can and must be practiced—the Godward, divine movement. May this Yoga now enter your being—the Yoga of the Centre—the spiritual Yoga of continued and unbroken Self-Awareness, the Yoga of the Inner Spiritual Consciousness. Through that may you attain liberation.

That is my prayer at the feet of the Lord, the Divine who abides equally within you and me. This is His mysterious play, beyond description, beyond understanding. Mind cannot understand it, intellect cannot grasp it, but here it is. It is THE EYE OF THE HURRICANE, where we are all one. May we practice the Yoga of the innermost abiding in that Centre of peace and bliss. That is the Yoga of the New Age. It is a sure antidote to the universal spiritual disease of non-awareness. When we come into our own, all problems will vanish, all doorways will open...harmony will prevail, unity will become an established fact.

Excerpts from:

The Yoga Of The Center:  The Eye Of The Hurricane by Swami Chidananda

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(Dec 26,2013 ) Spiritual Message for the Day – The Supreme Reality by Swami Sivananda

The Supreme Reality

Divine Life Society Publication: God-Realization by Swami Sivananda

Life is not a misery. One should live for hundred years by performing action without attachment. Life is not a bondage when it is looked with the proper light. Such a man of proper knowledge looks on all beings as his own Self and his Self as all beings. To him everything is his own Self, and he is not affected by grief, delusion or sorrow of any kind.

The Supreme Reality is indescribable. It is beyond the reach of the mind and the senses. It is beyond even the intellect. It is the light of all else and nothing is a light to it. Speech cannot express it. Mind cannot think it. Intellect cannot understand it. Senses cannot perceive it. Such a wonderful Being is the Truth. Brahma-Jnana is not a knowledge of something but becoming Absolute Knowledge Itself. It is the Infinite Subject, if speech can be permitted to express like that. It is an experience and not a perception. It is absoluteness and is, therefore, beyond the conception of duality and pairs of opposites. The greatest blessedness is to know That, and he is an unfortunate man who dies without the knowledge of it.

Mortal things are ephemeral and so are not worth pursuing. Even a whole life of many years is only very slight. It is nothing. There is no use of enjoying objects. Man is not satisfied with wealth. He craves to become Immortal even against his own conscience. Unfortunately he pursues after the pleasant as against the really good. The good is one thing and the pleasant another. The one liberates and the other binds. One should not catch the pleasant though it is tempting for a moment.

The Atman is not born, nor does it die. It has not come from anywhere and it has not become anything. Unborn, constant, eternal, primeval, this one is not slain when the body is slain. This Atman is hidden in the deep core of the heart of beings. It cannot be attained by any amount of reasoning, study or instruction. It comes only through the Supreme Grace. A man of bad conduct, who has not ceased from crookedness, cannot hope to attain the Atman.

The road to the Supreme is clothed with pricking thorns. It is sharp like the edge of a razor, hard to tread, a very difficult path. It can be trodden only with the help of knowledge obtained from men of wisdom. Knowing That, one is liberated from the terrible mouth of death.

The mind and the senses always run outwards. Only the men of self-discipline and perseverance can gaze inward and experience the state of the Atman as it really is. The children who have no knowledge of the Truth, run after external pleasures and they fall into the net of widespread Death. Only the wise, knowing the state of Immortality, seek not the Stable Brahman among things which are impermanent here.

One need not be anxious to possess things of the world. Whatever is there, that is here. He obtains death after death who perceive diversity in the world. There is nothing many here actually. The one Supreme Substance appears as many things, clothed in different names, forms and actions.

The Atma or the Brahman has no connection with the world of change. As the sun is not sullied by the faults of the eye, the Antaratman is not sullied by the defects of the world. As one fire has entered the world and becomes corresponding in form to every form, so the one Antaratman of the things is corresponding in form to every form, and yet is outside all these.

The goodness, the light, the pleasure and the beauty of the world is not to be found there even in name. Even the splendor of the Sun and the grandeur of the creator is superseded by the Absolute. That state is experienced when the senses cease to work together with the mind and when the intellect does not move, and when there is mere consciousness. When all desires that are lodged in the heart, are liberated, then the mortal becomes Immortal. Herein he attains Brahman.

Excerpts from:

The Supreme Reality - God-Realization by Swami Sivananda
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(Nov 26,2013 ) Spiritual Message for the Day – Life and Its Purpose by Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj

Life and Its Purpose

Divine Life Society Publication: God-Realization by Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj

Have you understood the significance and the glory of human life? Have you realized what a precious gift and veritable divine power this human birth is? Do you not feel that life is meant for the fulfilment of a most sublime purpose? Truly it is meant for the attainment of a lofty goal, namely divine perfection and perennial peace and bliss. You all know quite well that life is not merely the act of breathing, digesting, eliminating, thinking, feeling, knowing, willing, etc. Life is not meant for eating, seeing, sleeping and dying miserably in the end.

You truly live your life when you strive manfully for working out and driving the mind to spiritual realization and service of humanity. A little toast, butter and jam, a little stylish clothing, a bungalow and a motor car and a round of cinemas, attendance at parties—these do not really constitute life. This is not the end of the real man who has been ‘made in the image of God.’ Mere sensual life is after all only the life of an animal. Every day you must polish it and make it look divine and be divine. Egoism, desire and sensuality—all this is ignorance; it is deep delusion. Can material comforts elevate the souls of the people? Can gross physical prosperity alone confer upon you solace, courage, peace, joy, immortality and eternal perfection in the spirit? Certainly not.

O blessed children of immortality! Reflect yourself over what I say. Think deeply. Discriminate. You will realize the truth about this most transitory pain-filled life on earth. In the dizzy whirlpool of fleeting sensual pleasures and ceaseless seething desires, do not forget the true purpose of life and its real goal. No greater blunder than to think, to feel, to mistake the unreal for the real, the transitory for the permanent and to forget the most important duty in life. What greater folly, what greater tragedy is there than when a man neglects to reach the goal of life?

You are helpless when you are a baby, you are helpless when disease overtakes you and when you are seriously ill and you are helpless when powerful calamities like fire, flood, earthquake, cyclone, etc., strike down mankind, you are helpless and you are miserable when you become old and senile. Why then are you so proud and eccentric? Rise above this delusion and attain your goal through discrimination and dispassion, analysis and enquiry of your real spiritual nature. Enquire ‘Who am I’ and try to realize your essential natural self. Then alone you will transcend your body and mind and realize the Self. Then alone you will be really free and ever blissful.

Virtue is the way to peace and Light. Righteousness is the real secret of Self-realization. Purity is the path to perfection. Goodness leads you to godliness. Strive for ethical perfection. Live a strictly ethical life. Adhere to truth and righteousness, even at the cost of your life. Base your life upon absolute righteousness. Cultivate noble qualities with diligence and care. Be sincere, friend! Actively practice all virtues in right earnest and with real zeal. Become an embodiment of goodness. Think no evil. Speak no evil. See no evil. Do no evil. Be good in thought, speech and action.

Remember the Lord daily and every moment of your lifetime. Pray to him fervently with humility and devotion for purifying your nature and helping to attain the glorious goal of life. Live for God. Boldly face all the difficulties and tribulations of this petty earthly life. Be a man. With courage, struggle for the great attainment. Climbing a mountain, crossing a channel, bombing a city or blasting a fort, these are not the true acts of heroism and real courage. Controlling your mind and senses and overcoming anger, passion and egoism, by attaining self-mastery; these constitute the real heroism in man. How long will you be a slave of passion and the senses? Assert your real divine nature and your mastery over your lower nature and lower self. This is your most important duty.

Do not identify yourself with this perishable body. Do not run after fashion and passion. Do not cultivate the habit of clinging to the glittering names and forms. Do not be ignorant, O man; and think of no delusion. Do not feel: ‘I am an Indian,’ ‘I am an American,’ ‘I am an Italian’, etc., "I am black, I am white, I am yellow"; ‘I am superior, I am inferior’; ‘I know everything, he knows nothing: I have done this, I have done that—I am a Hindu, I am a Christian, I am a Mohammedan and I am so and so, I am a Parsi, I am a Jain’, etc.

All this is the worst type of ignorance. Hear the great truths declared boldly by the prophets and godmen, saints and men of real deep wisdom. Thou art neither this perishable body nor this impure mind. Thou art in truth eternal, ever free and ever perfect and ever blissful spirit Immortal. Thou art in essence Sat-Chit-Ananda Atman. Thou art imperishable. This is thy real glorious nature.

Feel this, meditate over this and assert this. Realize this and attain the Wisdom of the Self. Be forever in bliss. Life is meant for the practice of Yoga. Strive ever to attain this great goal. Practice the Yoga of saintliness. Do selfless service in a spirit of pure worship. Cultivate devotion to the Lord and worship Him daily. Purify the heart through charity and generosity. Meditate daily upon the Lord.

Through ceaseless discrimination, reflection and enquiry attain the Wisdom of the Self. Love, give, purify, meditate, Realize. Be good. Do good. Be kind. Be compassionate. Enquire ‘Who am I?’ Know the self and be free. The one Lord indwells all beings. Feel his presence everywhere. See Him alone in all men and things. Give up all distinctions and differences. Feel oneness with all beings. Embrace all. Love all. Feel the bliss with all in a spirit of brotherhood and live to kindle the light of life in your heart. Be all-inclusive. Radiate pure love throughout your life. Start the good life right from today and fight from now.

Cast aside all doubts, fears and misgivings. Do not hesitate, be bold; life is short. Time is fleeting. You have to be practical O man! Do not be weak in thy faith. You must have faith that can move mountains. Never forget your Immortal nature. Never forget your true purpose in life. Wake up from your long sleep of ignorance. Realize thy hidden real nature. Stop not till the goal is reached. Stop not till you attain the wisdom of the Self. O Wanderer in this quagmire of Samsara! Overcome all evil. Annihilate all lust, greed and egoism and come back to your sweet original home, the abode of eternal peace, eternal bliss and eternal sunshine. Through sincere struggle with the lower nature and the lower self and through a life of practical goodness and Yoga, attain perfection in thought, word and deed in this very life. To whatever nation you belong, to whatever race you belong, to whatever society you belong, your real duty and the most important work is this, the attainment of the highest spiritual perfection and bliss.

May the Lord, the one God who is known variously bestow upon you all the highest bliss and perfection in this very life. May love alone prevail everywhere. May peace and prosperity be unto all living beings.

Excerpts from:

Life and Its Purpose - God-Realization by Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj
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(July 18,2013) The Tenth Obstacle

The Tenth Obstacle

Divine Life Society Publication: Your Questions Answered by Swami Krishnananda

How will you manage to control the natural impulses and live in the world? You have to steer the course in the middle, like fire-walking. People walk on fire, without getting burnt. The world is like that, like a fireplace, and you have to live in it without getting burnt. You must live like a water drop on a lotus. The water drop is always on the lotus leaf, but it won't stick; it is like an oily thing, not getting stuck. Like that, you have to live in this world without sticking.

How is it possible? The mind has to stick to something. You think some object, and it will stick there. If you allow the mind to stick to some better thing, it will not stick to some worse thing. Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj used to say, "attach, detach, attach, detach": detach from this world, and attach to God. If you want to withdraw from one thing, you have to connect yourself with something else. Suppose you want to move away from the West; you have to move towards the East. If you move towards the East, you are automatically away from the West. So, if you move towards the Universal, you are away from the particular, automatically. If you move towards God, then you are away from the world of appearance.

But finally, you will have the greatest of doubts: Even if I see God, what is He going to give me? What has He given to anybody? In addition to Patanjali's nine obstacles, you will have the greatest of doubts as a tenth obstacle: Even if I see Him, what is He going to give? This doubt will be harassing the mind. "Even if I go there, how long will I be sitting with Him?" "He may push me back, and again I will be in the world. Already He has pushed me once, so what is the guarantee that He will not push me a second time? If once He has done it, a second time He can do it also."

This is a very serious matter. "So much suffering and hardship I have undergone to see God; I go there, and He will push me back." Suppose He does that. What will happen? You will run to all the gurus. All the meditation is stopped, because the highest doubt has come – doubt in God Himself, that He will create trouble when you go there. This doubt may occur to the greatest of learned people. It is a heart-rending question.

Then a second problem comes. Someone says that this question is foolishness, because you will not be there to raise any question. If I will not be there, then why should I go there? What is the purpose of doing anything? I will not get anything because I myself will not be there! So why should I suffer, unnecessarily doing things for a purpose which has no meaning?

Who is there if I am not there? God alone is there. Let Him be alone there, but what is my fate? Your fate is that you will not be there. Or, if you are there, then you will be sitting and looking at God for the whole day. Either way you are caught. Now the brain will start agitating, pendulum-like.

The greatest tapas is the ability to understand this point. Starving and sitting in cold water and sleeplessness are not tapas. The ability to understand this problem is the tapas. Some great problem has come to the mind; if you are able to understand what it actually means, and why this problem has arisen, there cannot be a greater tapas than that solution.

How has this problem arisen? If I am there or not, both ways I am in trouble. If I am abolished completely, it looks very horrible; and if I am there, what shall I do there after going? If you can answer this question to yourself, you have done the greatest sadhana, and nothing further is necessary. Let anybody answer this question: What will happen to you? The heart will jump in fear. This is a question as to what God-realisation means. The question is final. Let each person answer this question for oneself.

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Your Questions Answered by Swami Krishnananda

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(July 9,2013) Spiritual Message for the Day – Why Should We Believe In God?

Why Should We Believe In God?

Divine Life Society Publication: God Exists by Swami Sivananda

If we have no faith in God, we will be born again and again in this world and will undergo considerable miseries. The ignorant, faithless, doubting self goes to destruction. He cannot enjoy the least happiness. Neither this world, nor that beyond is there for the doubting self. Those who have no faith in God do not know what is right and what is wrong. They have lost the power of discrimination. They are untruthful, proud and egoistic. They are given to excessive greed, wrath and lust. They hoard up money by unlawful means. They become men of demoniacal nature. They commit various sorts of atrocious crimes. They have no ideals for their lives. They are thrown into the lowest depths, deluded, birth after birth.

Belief in God is an indispensable requisite for every human being. It is a sine qua non. Owing to the force of Avidya or ignorance pain appears as pleasure. The world is full of is full of miseries, troubles, difficulties and tribulations. The world is a ball of fire. The mind charged with attachment, hatred, anger, jealousy, is a blazing furnace. We have to free ourselves from birth, death, old age, disease and grief. This can only be done by faith in God. There is no other way. Money and power cannot give us real happiness. Even if we exercise suzerainty over whole world, we cannot be free from care, worry, anxiety, fear, disappointment, etc. It is only the faith in God and the consequent God-realisation through meditation that can give us real, eternal happiness and free us from all kinds of fear and worries which torment us at every moment. Faith in God will force us to think of Him constantly and to meditate on Him and will eventually lead us on to God-realisation.

Belief in God and God-realisation will give us Param Shanti (Supreme Peace). In that peace comes the extinction of all pains. We will be no longer bewildered. We will be released from the bondage of actions. We will become immortal. We will obtain eternal Divine Wisdom. We will reach a place whence there is no return to this world of miseries, our sins being dispelled by Divine Wisdom. Our minds will ever remain balanced. We will never rejoice on obtaining what is pleasant nor feel sorry on obtaining what is unpleasant. We will have a cool mind. We will be ever established in the Divine Consciousness. We will get 'Akshaya Sukha,' 'happiness exempt from decay.' We will become one with God and get eternal (Nitya), infinite (Ananta), supreme bliss. When we are established in the Divine Consciousness, we will not be shaken even by heavy sorrow. We will get 'Atindriya Sukha,' 'happiness beyond the reach of the senses.'

God will give us full security if we worship Him with unswerving devotion and undivided attention. He gives us the Yoga of discrimination to enable us to reach Him easily. Out of pure compassion for us He destroys the ignorance born darkness by the shining lamp of Wisdom. He speedily lifts us from the ocean of Samsara (birth and death), if we fix our minds on Him steadily with devotion and faith. We will cross over the three qualities and liberated from birth, death, old age and sorrow, and drink the nectar of immortality. By devotion and faith we will know Him in essence and will enter into His very Being. Through His Grace we will overcome all obstacles.

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Raja Yoga- God Exists by Swami Sivananda

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Essence of Divine Life by Swami Sivananda

Essence of Divine Life

• To speak the truth at all events, to speak sweetly with love, to practice non-violence and celibacy, to behold the Lord in all beings, is Divine Life.
• Love, truth and purity form the foundation of the edifice of Divine Life.
• Character and devotion are the bricks and mortar with which you have to construct the walls of the Temple of Divine Life.
• The Temple of Divine Life has four pillars, viz., meditation, purity, love and righteousness.
• Through the means of service, love and meditation, Divine Life is lived.
• The secret of Divine Life lies in the spirit of service and sacrifice.
• No philosophy or religion in the world can teach anything better than: ‘Serve, love, give, purify, be good, do good, meditate and realize.’
• Purify your heart. Purity is the very essence of religion.
• Mortifying the body is not Divine Life.
• Physical nudity and matted locks have nothing to do with Divine Life.
• Divine Life is not a rejection of life and its activities, but a transformation of it into the Divine.
• The path of duty is the way to glory and eternal happiness.
• The path of duty is the path of righteousness, and the path of righteousness is the only path of everlasting peace and happiness.
• Aspire ceaselessly to live in the Divine. Strive ceaselessly to realize the Truth.
• Work untiringly for the good of others.
• To have faith and devotion, to serve the preceptor and the saints, to practice meditation and to attain Self-knowledge, is indeed a supreme blessing.
• Without self-restraint there is no Divine Life.
• Do not mix much with people, but be friendly to all.
• Children of Immortality! Arise, awake, and lead the Divine Life of truth, purity, love and goodness.
• Be merciful to all. Be kind to all. Love all. Renounce sensual pleasures. Meditate on the Divine. This is Divine Life.
• The world is a composite whole. Do not entertain the spirit of separateness. In your heart and mind, be one with all.
• The individual soul has to merge in the Cosmic Soul. The human life has to transform itself into Divine Life. This is the goal of life.
• Find out your Centre. Dwell always in this Centre. This Centre is the Atman or your innermost Self.
• Realize your real nature. Realize your Atma-svarupa (the essential nature of the Self). A lion should not bleat like a lamb.
• Do not be pessimistic. Do not be negative in your approach. Be always optimistic and positive.
• Your only duty is God-realization. All other duties should only serve as a means to this final goal.
• Awake from the slumber of ignorance. Be dispassionate. Learn to discriminate. Meditate. Sleep no more. Behold the dawn of wisdom in your heart.
• Lift the veil of human imperfections. Behold your real nature. 

(Apr 11, 2013) Spiritual Message of the Day: The Phenomenon and the Noumenon

The Phenomenon and the Noumenon

From Divine Life Society Publication “Your Questions Answered” by Swami Krishnananda

You must be affectionate, kind and compassionate, serviceful, and charitable, they say. All this is very, very important indeed, but there is something more important than all these things, which is the destiny of the soul of the human individual – what happens, finally.

This world shall vanish one day, with all its humanity. If it had a beginning, it shall have an end, also. In this mysterious universe even when something appears to be enduring for some time, we do not know for how long it will endure.

What is the aim behind all this drama? Why and what are we busy about?

There must be something towards which the whole universe seems to be gravitating, without the acceptance of which, all that we do in this world would look meaningless. If there is meaning in life, it cannot be on the basis of what we see with our eyes, because it is passing.

We think in total opposition to the facts. On the one hand, something tells us that everything is insecure, and no one can say what will happen the next moment. At the same time, we feel that nothing will happen – everything is OK. How is it possible for us to entertain a false assumption, which is entertained by everybody in the world?

There is eternity masquerading in this mortal frame of the human individual. We belong to two worlds at the same time, as it were – the mortal and the immortal. Our involvement in the body, in the space-time complex, in human society, in anything that is external, is the mortal aspect of our personality. Everything shall perish,  that which is spatio-temporal (causally bound), yet, there is something in us which is not so bound.

We are not mortals basically and the immortal in us summons us every moment of time. That is why, if the whole earth and all of the sky is to be presented to us or is under our possession, we shall not feel secure. Endless is our longing. Infinity is our asking, eternity is our desire. Even if one is an emperor of the whole world, taking for granted that such a thing is practicable, would that person like to live for only three minutes more? No, if it is only for a few minutes that is of no use. It has to also be eternal. Space and time should blend together in fullness. You may call this the Absolute, if you like.

The realisation of this in actual life, the attainment of cosmic universality, which is identical with spiritual Selfhood, is the ultimate aim of life, for which purpose we are finally busy in this world. All these services that we are rendering, all the work that we do, in any capacity whatsoever, is a preparatory process for the realisation of this universal Selfhood – you may call it God-realisation. This is, in brief, the aim and object of this ashram of Swami Sivananda.

Continue to read:

“The Phenomenon and the Noumenon” From: Your Questions Answered by Swami Krishnananda

“The Purpose of Life” by Swami Sivananda