(July 26,2014) Weekly Svadhyaya - Knowledge is Meant to be Lived by Swami Chidananda

(July 26,2014) Weekly Svadhyaya - Knowledge is Meant to be Lived 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 July 26, 2014

Knowledge is Meant to be Lived

Radiant Immortal Atman! Beloved seekers! What is the purpose of knowing philosophy? This has to be well thought out and the correct attitude towards all philosophy has to be cultivated, and it should be constantly, actively applied in daily life. Gurudev has done a very special act of grace. Even while he gave knowledge, he immediately said, “Do it, Do this, Do that. Think in this way, Act in this way, Live in this way, Carry on Sadhana in this way.” He emphasised action and actual abhyasa.

More than acquiring knowledge, a student of philosophy and spirituality must also try to acquire the practical wisdom of how to fit this knowledge into his daily life – in thoughts, words and actions. If knowledge of Yoga and Dharma is merely known, it is better not to have known it. If you stop short of living it, then you have committed a great blunder. Philosophy and Vedanta are for both knowing and living. If they are only known, you become a scholar, a professor. You will be highly regarded. Whether or not you can be regarded as a spiritual person is determined by whether the philosophy, which has made you a learned person, is seen to manifest in your everyday life and actions. Spiritual persons have studied philosophy in order to bring about a transformation in their lives. He studies philosophy to know: “How it can transform my life, bring me from the darkness of ignorance to the light of this wisdom? How it can bring me out of Maya, take me beyond Maya? How can I live philosophy and attain Liberation?”

This world is made of three gunas – sattva, rajas, tamas. If your life becomes a conscious process of living in such a way as to be constantly engaged in encouraging sattva, rejecting tamas, and being wise and cautious in dealing with your rajas, then you are a sadhaka, you are a jnani. If this knowledge is only knowledge in you, and if in your daily life there is not the careful selection of sattva, the rejection of tamas, and the careful handling and directing rajas, then you are only shuksha (barren, unfruitful) Vedantin. Your Vedanta will not flower, and will soon become a burden; it will cease to benefit you even though you may get admiration from the world. Now it is up to us to ask: “Does the Sadhana of enquiry, discrimination, selection and rejection characterise my life here?” This is a very essential study for all sadhakas.

God Bless You All!

Swami Chidananda 

Additional Reading:

The Most Important Sadhana

By Swami Sivananda

The Best Part of Knowledge

By Swami Chidananda

Knowledge is Existence

By Swami Krishnananda

The Struggle for Perfection – Personal and Social Implications

By Swami Krishnananda

The Bliss of Knowledge

By Swami Krishnananda

Theory and Practice in Spiritual Life

By Sri N.Ananthanarayanan

(June 28,2014) Weekly Svadhyaya - Surrender 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 June 28, 2014

Surrender

The Gurudvaras (temples) of our Sikh Brethren do not enshrine a Murti, a statue, but a great book, “Granth Sahib.” The Granth enshrines the teachings and compositions of all ten Sikh Gurus. Every morning, the Sikh devotees go to pay reverence and bow before it, as though they were bowing before a great being.

Similarly, when you are before Srimad Bhagavad Gita, you are not before a book; you are in the presence of the great World Teacher, Lord Krishna, the Supreme Being. And we should be like Arjuna saying; “I am at Your feet; I take shelter, I surrender. Take me as Your disciple; teach me, I shall follow Your teachings.” Then alone the wisdom teachings of Lord Krishna are evoked. When we put ourselves before his Presence and say, “I surrender myself, guide me” it means we must follow these ideals, these great principles, this supreme way of life that He taught.

However, after having surrendered and invoked the blessings, Arjuna begins to argue, to contradict. It is the normal behaviour of the mind. It always wants the highest truth, but when it is confronted with the truth, it does not want to accept it; it wants to argue. You should not yield to the promptings of the lower mind; the higher factor must be your guide. Your mind will argue, but at every step you must say as Arjuna ultimately did: “I put myself under Your guidance. I will do what you say – Karishye Vachanam Tava” [Gita 18.73]. This should be the established state of our mind and heart within. If we are still not established in that state. If we are still doubting, vacillating or questioning, we are the losers. We must say: “I hand over the reins of my chariot to You. You carry on.” „My‟ gives place to „Your‟. That is the essence of dynamism based on Surrender.

We should have that type of surrender. Surrender is not incompatible with activity. It is our ego sense that we surrender, we surrender the idea “I am doing.” We surrender our self-will, the desire nature, the activities of the senses, and put ourselves into His hands, so that we act as He dictates, as He teaches. When you put yourself under the will of God and His wisdom teachings, then you are a self-controlled person. You will not allow the senses or the mind to do whatever they wish. You will do that which is in accordance with the will of God, the teachings of God and the saints. May God grant you the success in your life of dynamic surrender and surrender-guided dynamism! This is divine life.

Additional Reading:

Secret of Surrender By Swami Sivananda

Doctrine of Prapatti By Swami Sivananda

Surrender By Swami Chidananda

The Yoga of the Liberation of the Spirit By Swami Krishnananda

Surrender to God By Swami Krishnananda

Forms of Sacrifices and Concentration By Swami Krishnananda

Commentary on the Bhagavadgita (chap 18) By Swami Krishnananda

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(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