February 2015 Blog Posts (17)

Can anybody explain why drinking water, even in small sips, would be contraindicated during an ashtanga asana practice?

Om Shanti - Ravidas

Even a little good thinking and a little doing good are highly beneficial.

It will lead to Eternal Bliss.

Then why not try a little good thinking and good doing even from now.

Goodness makes life a blessing. Goodness will bring sure success and prosperity.

To be good is human.

To be good is divine.

BE GOOD DO GOOD

Swami Sivananda

Good is the conquest over evil.
It is not the absence of evil.
Little self-denial, honest service, little words of cheer, encouragement, sympathy and kindness, little acts of kindness, little virtuous deeds, little silent victorious over temptations,– these will have a long way to the attainment of Eternal Bliss, perennial joy, everlasting peace and immortality.

BE GOOD DO GOOD

The whole ethics and conduct is contained in this.
Goodness implies kindness benevolence and morality.
Virtue follows goodness.
It is an act of benevolence, compassion or mercy.
A good man is ever happy.
He always lives with God.
He has divinity with him.
Do all the good that you can in all ways you can, to all people you can, at all times, with all zeal, strength, love and heart.

LIVE IN LOVE
Swami Sivananda
Without love life becomes narrow, limited and is replete with misfortune.

Without love, life is a prey to countless evils.

Without love, life is a victim to sins and propensities to hatred.

Verily, with love, life is the extensive life of joy.

With love nothing is impossible; everything shall be thine and all shall be well and good with thee.

Live in this love in daily life.

Swami Sivananda

Charity is a sister-virtue of generosity. It is a fulfillment of magnanimity and nobility.

Gift should be given with faith; it should never be given without faith.

It should be given in plenty, with modesty, with sympathy.

Charity is universal love.

The deeds of charity you have done will stay forever with you.

Give cheerfully, quickly and without hesitation. Contd…

SHARE WITH ALL

Swami Sivananda

Share with others what you have – physically, mental, moral and spiritual. Do not hoard wealth. Do not covet the wealth of others. In sharing there is joy and peace. Sharing generates cosmic love and destroys greed. Sharing removes selfishness and creates selflessness. Sharing purifies the heart. Sharing develops oneness. Share everything with all.

During his first trip to India in 1962 Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri) was blessed to spend time with the great Swami Sivananda at his ashram in Rishikesh. In this three-part podcast Abbot George shares his memories of this saint…

Swami Sivananda
Preserve the vital force (veerya) very, very carefully. Veerya is God in motion or manifestation-Vibhuti. Veerya is all power. Veerya is all money. Veerya is the essence of life, thought and intelligence. Observe celibacy according to your age and circumstances. Restrict the indulgence to once a month. Decrease it gradually to once in a year. Finally take a vow of abstinence for whole life.

Swami Sivananda
Study systematically the Gita, Ramayana, Bhagavata, Vishnu-Sahasranama, Lalita-Sahasranama, Aditya Hridaya, Upanishads or Yoga Vasishtha, the Bible, Zend Avesta, the Koran, the Tripitakas, the Granth Sahib, etc., from half an hour to one hour daily and have Suddha Vichara (Pure Thought).

Sunday 15 February 2015

COMPLETE SURRENDER

Swami Sivananda

“I have come my Lord, to be yours and yours own. Take me and do whatever you like with me.

To do is my business not to wish for fruits thereof, that is yours.

I shall contented to be wafted like a dry leaf in the gale of Thy will.

I am Thine, all is Thine, my Lord, Thy will be done.”

Swami Sivananda
It is Cat-Yoga. The kitten cries aloud and the mother cat runs at once to catch it by the mouth.

So also Lord Krishna runs immediately as He did in the case of Draupadi and Gajendra to rescue the devotees and sends His Grace down (descent of Divine Grace).

Even so, you only must remove the two poisonous fangs of the mind - 'I-ness' and 'mine-ness'. Then you can allow the mind to go wherever it likes. Then you will always have the feeling of the presence of God. You must also renounce the attachment to renunciation, which is very deep rooted. You must renounce the idea 'I have renounced everything; I am a great renunciate'. This attachment of aspirants is a greater evil than that of the householders: 'I am a landlord; I am a Brahmana, etc'…

Vedanta does not want you to renounce the world. It wants you to change your mental attitude, and give up this false, illusory 'I-ness' and 'mine-ness'. The snake charmer removes only the two poisonous fangs of the cobra. The snake remains the same. It hisses, raises its hood, and shows its fangs. In fact, it does everything as before. The snake charmer has changed his mental attitude towards the snake. He has a feeling now that it has no…

Swami Sivananda
He who has merely withdrawn himself from worldly possessions, cannot be regarded as having renounced the world altogether. But he who is living in actual contact with the world, finds out its faults. He who is freed from every passion, and whose soul depends on nothing, may be said to have truly renounced the world. Read the story of raja Sikhidhwaja and queen Chudala in the Yoga Vasishta. Contd…

Swami Sivananda
What is to be renounced is the bheda buddhi (divisive intellect), which says, 'I am superior to that man, I am the body.' and the kartrtva abhimana, which thinks, 'I am the doer'. There is no use in your renouncing your home, wife, and children. You must destroy moha(attachment) for the body, children, money, house, property. Then you will get that state of immortality from which you will never return. Contd…