Sri Rama Raksha Stotram
Dear Ones, I am going to share with you ‘Sri Ram Raksha Stotram,’ one of the most powerful, spiritual armors. It was originally composed in Sanskrit and it is in the Ananda Ramayana. It is a powerful Hindu devotional prayer addressed to Lord Sri Rama. Continue reading
Temples have domes so that the resonance of one’s prayers can rebound on one. The dome is just a small, semicircular prototype of the sky. It has the same shape as the sky touching the earth on all four sides. Whatever prayers are conducted under its canopy, the words do not get lost as they would under the vast sky. The dome throws back the chants at the devotee. The rounder the dome, the easier it is for the sound to travel back, and its echo increases in the same proportion. Continue reading
The Rudram Chamakam is a prayer for blessings, where the devotee asks for a series of material and spiritual boons. Continue reading
God is the lotus and the devotee the bee. The devotee sips the honey of the lotus. As a devotee cannot live without God, so also God cannot live without the devotee. Then the devotee becomes the lotus and God the bee. It is the God who becomes these two so as to enjoy its own bliss. – Sri Ramakrishna
Inexplicable is the knowledge born of realization.
Can a dumb person explain the taste of sugar?
Realization seals the lips of a devotee.
As only the dumb understand the gestures of the dumb
So, the bliss of realization can only be understood
By one who achieves the self-same knowledge. Continue reading
No difference exists between the formless God and the God of form. Thus speak the Vedas and Puranas, the Munis and the wise. The same formless, unseen, unborn and attribute less God takes the form impressed by the love of the devotee. Continue reading
In the Vedic and Tantric tradition, Devi, the divine mother is worshipped. She has many forms, and they are all symbols of her energy and power. They depict her qualities of compassion, benevolence, her powerful forces which act as catalysts to propel the devotee to attain awareness of the cosmic force, which sustains, nourishes and governs the entire creation. Continue reading
In any form of prayer, a concept if God is essential. The prayers can be tamasic, rajasic or sattvic. At the tamasic level one is using rituals and asking to be protected from the anger of the deities. However, a tamasic (inert) sadhana becomes rajasic and then the puja is more dynamic. The mind becomes more open and one’s awareness increases. Each one of us wants a healthy life free from harm. Then the rajasic puja becomes sattvic, when prayers are offered for forgiveness, forbearance, love and compassion. Continue reading
Many say that our guru is within us. It is true but we need a switch to activate us, and this switch has to be switched on. According to Swami Niranjanananda, we have a bulb within us, which has wires. What is required is that there has to be a connection. There has to be no short circuits or carbon so that the electricity can flow. Continue reading
Why are statues of the deity important for us in our sadhana? The statue is a symbol, a medium for establishing communion with God. Images are not frivolous visions of the artist, but they are emanating from his heart. When the murtis (deity’s statues) are made for worship, the craftsman follows the design rules of the Shilpa Shastras. Continue reading
Swami Satya Dharma Saraswati was my first teacher at the Ashram. She was an American who came to the Ashram and never went back. She has written about the divine forms of Devi which were the subject of discussion between, the immortal Narada Muni and Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu spoke about the divine attributes of the Cosmic Mother, and the description is given in the Devi Bhagwatam (Book 1X). Continue reading