Our Souls

When your soul and mine have left our bodies and we are buried along side each other, a Potter may one day mould the dust of us into the same clay. – Omar Khayyam

With nothing on the body,
And with nothing on my hands,
Let me roam on the banks of the Ganga,
With the name of Shiva on my lips
And the thought of Devi and Durga in my mind.
Let me not even know that I exist,
And when I die, I will not know that I am dying. – Swami Satyananda Saraswati

Soulmates

An excerpt from Swami Yoganand’s lectures.

In the beginning of creation, a soul was split into two parts and that before liberation, we have to in some way re-unite with the other half. It is something that is arranged by God and not something that we can really seek on our own. – Swami Sivananda

There is no such thing as sin. Sin is only a mistake: it is a mental creation. The baby soul must commit some mistakes during the process of evolution. Mistakes are your best teachers. Think, ‘I am pure atman,‘ and the idea of sin will be blown in the air.

Aim Hrim Klim

 

To understand Love

The bard William Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets describe love in an immortal way. We do not have to go deeper.

Love is not love, which alters when its alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken. – Sonnet 116

On love being blind

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore, is winged cupid painted blind. – A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, scene 1, Lines 240—241

On love being the calm in our chaos

Love comforteth like sunshine after rain. – Venus and Adonis, line 799

On facing problems in relationships

The course of true love never did run smooth. – A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, scene 1, line 136

On love and longing

When you depart from me, sorrow abides and happiness takes his leave. – Much Ado About Nothing, Act 1, scene 1, lines 99—100

Aim Hrim Klim

 

See, hear and speak no evil

The three wise monkeys said, see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil. This saying of the wise monkeys originated in Japan, during the Muromachi period (a time of turbulence). It is believed that they were influenced by the teachings of the Buddha. Their names were Mizaru who covered his eyes and saw no evil; Kikazaru, who covered his ears and heard no evil; Iwazaru, who covered his mouth and spoke no evil. Then there is the San Saru symbol, which says, “See the good, hear the good and speak the good.” The wise monkeys are also known as the three mystical monkeys. Continue reading

Conflict free

Ramanna Maharishi said to Robert Adams. “The only spiritual life you need is not to react.”

Robert Adams was an American Vedanta Teacher. His explanation of what Ramanna Maharishi said was to be calm is the greatest asset in the world. When you are perfectly calm, time stops. There is no time; karma and samskaras stop. Continue reading

Be in the moment and laugh

Examine yourself if you are serious and unsmiling. Why are you like that? Observe a child playing a game and shouting, or just laughing. You can do the same. Stop trying to understand everything around you. Look at the magic, a spider’s web with dew drops in it. Sunlight going through them, and you can see a rainbow. Continue reading

Adi Shesh, Vasuki and Kaliya

Who are they?

Adi Shesh is the thousand headed being, and Vishnu rests under his hoods.

Vasuki swallowed part of the toxic poison, which emerged when he was used for churning of the ocean. Shiva wears him round his neck. He is associated with eternal life.

Kaliya represents our five vices and Krishna killed him. Continue reading

Compassion

Two hands from different people. Holding each other.

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness we can be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity. – Pema Chodron (Buddhist Nun).

How can we learn compassion? We cannot. Why, because unless we suffer together, we cannot understand the meaning. Compassion is defined as the feeling that arises when one is confronted with another’s suffering and feel motivated to relieve that suffering. Continue reading

1k – Animal and wilderness protection

Soon we will have no animals left and the idioms and proverbs will be difficult to understand.

Wild goose chase.
Can of worms.
The lion’s share.
Take the bull by the horn.
If there were no elephants in the jungle, the buffalo would be a great animal.
Hunger will lead a fox out of the forest.

How many of our children and their children will have seen these animals to understand the idiom or proverb. Continue reading

999 – Guru Bhakti Stotram

What is a Guru Stuti?
A prayer or Stotram which praises a teacher or Guru as a God and salutes their virtues. “Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu Guru Devo Maheshwara,” is an example.

What is a Guru Paduka Stotram?
A devotional chant which describes the Guru’s sandals as a boat which takes disciples across the ocean of worldly existence to the shores of spiritual wisdom.

What is Akhanda Mandalakaram?
A Guru Stotram which says, “I salute the preceptor who is Himself the Divine Trinity—Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara—and who is the supreme Godhead.”

What is a Guru Stotram?
A Stotram which says, “The Guru is the beginning of the Universe, yet he himself is without a beginning, the Guru is the highest deity, and there is none higher than the Guru.” Continue reading

998 – Our quest for mysticism

Mysticism is the belief that one can experience a direct connection with God, or a unifying principle in life. It can also refer to any altered state of consciousness or ecstasy that has a spiritual or religious meaning. In Hinduism one seeks the union with a higher being and this can be described as a mystical dimension. Continue reading

997 – Blade of Grass

Grass is an essential part of our life, and do we take it for granted? Dear ones are you aware that in the process of creation a blade of grass and a Neem tree take the same time.

Every blade of grass has its spot on earth whence it draws its life, its strength; and so is man rooted to the land from which he draws his faith together with his life. – Joseph Conrad

Grass is what saves and holds the water that keeps life good and going… It keeps the falling rain from flushing away. Blades of grass take water from the air and transpired it into the ground. That works the other way around too. Because grass blades help put water back into the air so that rain can fall again. – Theodore Roosevelt

Continue reading

996 – Yoga Sadhana will bring happiness

To people in Kali Yuga.

What is the meaning of Kali Yuga? In one word it is deterioration. It is the ultimate decline at all levels. It is said that Kali Yuga started 5,123 years ago, on the day Krishna left his physical body. In these years one has seen the development and destruction of human society. There have been major wars genocides, and adjustments. Struggle has existed throughout. Continue reading