414 – Showers of Samadhi

Swami Satyananda Saraswati.1960
Freed from its usual patterns of samskaras
Mind is fashioned in the divine pattern,
Then the showers of samadhi descend.
At this juncture true knowledge arises
This is samprajnata samadhi, let me call it darshan,
But it takes time to be perfectly established.

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222 – Become free of your samskaras and join the witness protection program

When I wrote the title, I immediate thought of the witness protection programs, we see on television. If you think about it, our samskaras haunt us, and samskaras are based on our past experiences. We want to be free and it is like running away from a crime. How do we become rid of them? Continue reading

137 – Who is the Guru

The Guru Stotram say:

Gururbrahma gururvishnuh gururdevo maheshvarah.

Guru is Brahma, guru is Vishnu and guru is Shiva.

Guru is Brahman because he creates for his disciple a new and wondrous world; he is Vishnu because he sustains and protects him; he is Shiva because he annihilates the world of individuality. All great saints have stressed the importance of a guru. In the Ramayana it is said that no one can cross the ocean of samskara without the guru’s help even if he is Brahma or Shiva. Continue reading

080 – Work

How do we view work? I remember as a child when I was asked to do work, I felt that I was being treated like a slave. I read a lot and I could never stop reading once I started. So for me when I was told to clean my room, iron my uniform, I felt that I was being exploited like the slaves of Sparta. My father said that it was important for us to learn how to work as one never knew where life would take us. Continue reading