A few days ago a London bound Air India (Flight 1206) plane crashed just leaving the airport. It crashed near a medical facility and some doctors died and some were hurt. All the 290 travelers on the flight died, except for one person. This happened in Ahmedabad in India and the plane was a Dreamliner. I am sharing with you all, because of the irony. Continue reading
Uddaseena Vritti is a mental state where one can observe the world and its happenings with equanimity. It is a step towards achieving a state of nirvana.
The learned or the wise smile through the eyes; the middle-class smile through the teeth and lips; the lowest make a roaring laughter; but the muneeshwara (a form of Shiva) never smiles or laughs. Continue reading
How are we affected by the law of opposites. Prince Ram in the Yog Vasistha said to Sage Vashisht that he did not long to live and he did not long to die. He remained neutral about life as well as about death. Duality exists around us and there is uncharted space which Krishna describes as being free from opposites.
The karma yogis, who neither desire nor hate anything, should be considered always renounced. Free from all dualities, they are easily liberated from the bonds of material energy. – Gita 5.3
A person steady wisdom.
Sthithaprajna means one whose intelligence is fixed on self-realization or one who is fixed in wisdom. It describes a state of inner calmness, equanimity and detachment from external influences. In the context of the Bhagwad Gita it means one is not affected by the ups and downs of life. One is detached from the fruit of action. One performs one’s duties, only focusing on the action itself.
Salutations to the Supreme Lord of the Universe.
Peace is a divine attribute. It is the quality of the soul. It fills the pure heart.
Peace, God, Atma, Freedom, Moksha—are synonymous terms.
Realize
Peace through meditation, devotion, Japa and prayers.
Cultivate peace in the garden of your heart by removing the weeds of
Lust, hatred, greed, selfishness, and jealousy.
Calm the mind. Be still.
Be in tune with the Divine will.
Be good. Do good to others. Make others happy.
See God in all. – ‘Message of Peace’ by Swami Sivananda
I have extracted this message from Swami Sivananda’s words. Continue reading
Who knows if to live is to be dead, and to be dead is to live? And we really, it maybe are dead; in fact, I once heard sages say that we are now dead and the body is our tomb. – Socrates
What is the meaning of this quote? Continue reading
Words like tolerance, compassion and benevolence are used in our daily language. Do we really understand the meaning of these words? How can we inculcate their usage and application in our ongoing life? Continue reading
Swami Satyananda Saraswati, my Guru and founder of the Bihar School of Yoga, spent twelve years in Swami Sivananda’s ashram. In that period, he found that many persons wrote to Swami Sivananda, asking for help and treatment for their health problems. He would suggest that they practice Yoga. Continue reading
Dear ones, the tarsier is an animal, which is halfway between lemurs and monkeys. It measures only about 9-16 centimeters. Its tail is double its length. It is found in the Philippines and various islands of Southeast Asia. Continue reading
Life is not so short, but that there is always time enough for courtesy. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Civility costs nothing and buys everything. – Montagu
A part of kindness consists in loving people more than they deserve. – Joseph Joubert
A tree is known by its fruit, a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship and he who plants kindness gathers love. – Saint Basil
How do I find silence? I live in such a noisy place. There are different sounds all around. The whistling of the pressure cooker from my neighbor’s home. The doorbells ringing. Cars going past. The cry of the ambulance or the police sirens. The birds are squawking and the crows are cawing. Dogs barking, vendors selling their wares. Oh dear, oh dear what shall I do? Continue reading
Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that: Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. – Martin Luther King Jr.
So many of us enable and help others and then we feel that we have not been thanked. We say that person is ungrateful.
Swami Sivananda said that one should help those people, who do not even know that they have benefitted from our help. Continue reading
How do I surrender my ego? The most precious pearls of wisdom were given by my Guru Swami Satyananda Saraswati. He shares his experience of when he met Swami Sivananda. He felt his overwhelming influence. Continue reading
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
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