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ATMAN IS UNAFFECTED

Posted by Teachings of Swami Sivananda on September 25, 2012 at 7:00pm

If the body is the cause of pleasure or pain, the Atman has nothing to do with it, because pleasure and pain pertain to the gross and subtle bodies which are the products of nature. The Atman is the silent witness or spectator of the activities of nature. If you bite your tongue, with whom will you get angry for causing the pain?

From "Daily Sayings" by Swami Sivananda (1987-1963). More Informations on Swami Sivananda: on the Website of Divine Life Society, Photographs of Swami Sivananda, German

THE SUPREME WITNESS

Posted by Teachings of Swami Sivananda on September 23, 2012 at 7:00pm

The silent witness, the Supreme Self, looks from above at the activities of the mind of the individual soul. It looks like a spectator, free and unattached. It is quite indifferent and unconcerned. It is perfectly unaffected, like water on a lotus leaf. The individual soul identifies itself with the body and mind. It works and enjoys sensual objects with avidity, cupidity and stupidity and is bound thereby.

From "Daily Sayings" by Swami Sivananda (1987-1963). More Informations on Swami Sivananda:

MIND – THE CAUSE OF PAIN AND JOY

Posted by Teachings of Swami Sivananda on September 22, 2012 at 7:00pm

Neither this body nor the Atman nor the gods nor the planets nor work nor time cause pain or pleasure. It is this wretched mind that causes pleasure and pain and creates this worldliness.
This terrible mind generates thoughts, cravings, egoism, desires and likes and dislikes. Man then does various actions with egoism and expectation of fruit. Therefore, he has to take birth again and again in accordance with the nature of actions.

From "Daily Sayings" by Swami Sivananda (1987-1963). More Informati

IS THIS HAPPINESS?

Posted by Teachings of Swami Sivananda on September 21, 2012 at 7:00pm

Do you not see clearly that this world is a mere play of the nerves? Do you not understand that this world of opposites is illusory? You have to depend upon the nerves and senses for your happiness. If they go out of order, you become miserable even though you possess enormous wealth and palatial buildings. Can you call this little illusion pleasure, which depends upon the play of the nerves, real, lasting happiness.? It is merely the itching of the nerves, which only tickles those deluded souls

WORRY NOT

Posted by Teachings of Swami Sivananda on September 19, 2012 at 7:00pm

Worry kills a man. It destroys his joys of life. It is a canker that slowly eats away a man. It wears him out. Do not worry over what is gone. Forget it. No one has yet been able to claim any good by worrying. Do not worry about things which are likely to happen; so very often they do not happen. "Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof". The best and surest antidote or penicillin injection for worry is to keep oneself fully occupied.
Always be doing something useful. Do your best and leave th

YET YOU ARE PROUD

Posted by Teachings of Swami Sivananda on September 18, 2012 at 7:00pm

You are helpless when you are a little baby. You are helpless when you are seriously ailing. You are helpless when you become aged. Why then do you boast of your ability, capacity, independence and freedom? Why are you arrogant, proud and egoistic? Transcend your body and mind and realize the immortal Self.
Only when you realize the Self can you be really strong, independent and flee. Rise above delusion and illusion through discrimination or self-analysis and enquiry of "who am I?"

From "Daily Sa

Hindi Pronunciation

Posted by Ruchir on September 18, 2012 at 6:47pm

Pronunciation in Hindi is relatively easy since, unlike English, letters are always pronounced exactly the same way. Once you've learned the letters, reading is straight forward and simple

WORLD – A JUGGLER'S TRICK

Posted by Teachings of Swami Sivananda on September 17, 2012 at 7:00pm

This world is a play of colors and sounds. This sense-universe is a play of the nerves. It is a false show kept up by the jugglery of Maya, mind and senses. You enjoy sensual pleasures for a period of twenty years when the senses are still strong and vigorous. What is this short evanescent period of twenty years in eternity? What is this despicable, jarring, monotonous sensual life when compared to the eternal and peaceful life in the Self within?

From "Daily Sayings" by Swami Sivananda (1987-196

THE PROCESS OF MEDITATION

Posted by Teachings of Swami Sivananda on September 16, 2012 at 7:00pm

Sit in a quiet place in an easy posture. Renounce mentally all attachments and objects of the senses. Gradually draw your senses within. Reflect upon thyself as distinct from nature. All this mobile or immobile world, the body, intellect and the rest, all that is seen or heard, is called Prakriti. It is also called Maya. It is the cause of the creation, preservation and destruction of the world. It always creates Rajasic, Sattwic and Tamasic tendencies m beings.

From "Daily Sayings" by Swami Siva

Hindi shares with English and most other European languages the same ancestral roots.

Posted by Ruchir on September 16, 2012 at 4:00am

Hindi shares with English and most other European languages the same ancestral roots. They evolved from a language thought to have been spoken in Central Asia around 5,000 BC, called by linguists the Indo-European parent language. For this reason (and because of the 200-year influence of the British in India), many basic words in Hindi are the same as or similar to their equivalent in English.

The primary source of Hindi is Sanskrit, one of the most ancient spoken and written languages in the wor

THOU ART IMMORTAL

Posted by Teachings of Swami Sivananda on September 15, 2012 at 7:00pm

You have attained this physical body through actions done in past lives. You will attain another body through actions done in this body in this life. Just as one leaves an old house and goes to live in a new one, even so, you never die but discard an old body and enter into a new one. The all-pervading Atman never dies nor is It born. It is not subject to increase or decrease, decay or modification. It is ever pure, homogeneous and limitless, an embodiment of bliss and knowledge. It is immobile,

GRIEVE NOT AT DEATH

Posted by Teachings of Swami Sivananda on September 15, 2012 at 7:00pm

Do not grieve for the departed soul. The Atman is eternal, changeless, birthless, deathless and pure. The body is non-intelligent, liable to death, impure and destructible. Thinking thus, there is no occasion at all for any sorrow. That which is born is sure to perish.
If a father or son comes under the sway of death it is the foolish who grieve. In this world, which is devoid of substance, separation from an object of desire is a source of non-attachment and bestower of peace and happiness for t

Chakra articles

Posted by Swami Saradananda on September 15, 2012 at 5:13pm

OM

I've added some articles on chakras to the Yoga Vidya English website: www.yoga-vidya.org/english/yoga-articles/chakra.html

I hope you will read and be inspired by them!

Introduction to Hindi Language

Posted by Ruchir on September 14, 2012 at 2:00am

Hindi is a rich and melodic language, spoken, written and studied widely throughout the world. Learning it will open the door to a fascinating and diverse culture that spans thousands of years of uninterrupted history. There is a well known philosophy that puts forth that when one meditates on the specific sounds of the Dev Naagari alphabet, the written forms appear spontaneously in the mind.

Pronunciation in Hindi is relatively easy since, unlike English, letters are always pronounced exactly th

BE BALANCED IN PLEASURE AND PAIN

Posted by Teachings of Swami Sivananda on September 13, 2012 at 7:00pm

Sorrow follows happiness and happiness follows sorrow. Like day and night both are unavoidable by embodied creatures. There is pleasure in the midst of pain and pain in the midst of pleasure. Both are said to be attached to each other like mud and water.
Therefore, the wise do not show joy on occasions of joy, nor sorrow on occasions of sorrow. They are indifferent to both pleasure and pain, happiness and joy, sorrow and misery. Knowing all to be Maya, they are not deluded. Pleasure and pain are

KARMA – CAUSE OF JOY AND GRIEF

Posted by Teachings of Swami Sivananda on September 12, 2012 at 7:00pm

Friends, who is the cause of whose sorrow or whose happiness? One's own Karma done in past lives and in tile present is the cause of happiness or grief There is no other giver of happiness or pain. "He gives me pain" – this is the attitude of a fool. "I am the doer" – this is the erroneous and fruitless notion of an ignorant man.
Each individual is bound by the cord of his past Karma. Happiness and sorrow come to you as a result of your Karma. Therefore, bear in a spirit of resig¬nation what come

WORLDLINESS OR SAMSARA

Posted by Teachings of Swami Sivananda on September 11, 2012 at 7:00pm

Vasana is a subtle form of desire. It is hidden desire and assumes a gross form later on. Trishna is intense craving or hankering after sensual objects. Vasana is intermingled with mental impressions.
Vasarias produce mental impressions and these in turn generate Vasanas. The rotation of this never-ending wheel of Vasanas and mental impressions constitutes the wheel of worldliness which causes births and deaths.

From "Daily Sayings" by Swami Sivananda (1987-1963). More Informations on Swami Sivana

CULTIVATE ADAPTABILITY

Posted by Teachings of Swami Sivananda on September 10, 2012 at 7:00pm

Never grumble when you do service to others. Take delight in service. Watch for opportunities to serve. Work is worship of the Lord.
Have an amiable, loving, sociable nature, have sympathy, adaptability, self-restraint, tolerance, love and mercy. Adjust yourself to the ways and habits of others. Be balanced even when you are insulted, when others use harsh words against you. Have a balanced mind in pleasure and pain, in heat and cold.
Karma Yoga prepares the mind the reception of light and knowled

BE PRACTICAL AND REALIZE

Posted by Teachings of Swami Sivananda on September 9, 2012 at 7:00pm

An ounce of spiritual experience is better than tons of theory and study of spiritual books. A single glimpse of Brahman will bestow on you illumination and remove the worldly intoxication of delusion, pride, pain and grief.
Spiritual vision will then stand out like a beacon light to you. Learn the principles of divine life and apply them in your daily activity. Become a practical man on the spiritual path.

From "Daily Sayings" by Swami Sivananda (1987-1963). More Informations on Swami Sivananda:

BORN SIDDHAS

Posted by Teachings of Swami Sivananda on September 8, 2012 at 7:00pm

To a liberated sage who beholds the immortal, all-pervading, self-luminous Atman everywhere, there remains nothing more to be attained or known. He has attained perfection, highest bliss and highest knowledge. He is master of all worlds.
Some are born with all the requisites for attaining God on account of the discipline of their past lives. Such people are born Siddhas.

From "Daily Sayings" by Swami Sivananda (1987-1963). More Informations on Swami Sivananda: on the Website of Divine Life Society

Blog Posts

All Posts (2320)

ATMAN IS UNAFFECTED

THE SUPREME WITNESS

MIND – THE CAUSE OF PAIN AND JOY

IS THIS HAPPINESS?

WORRY NOT

YET YOU ARE PROUD

Hindi Pronunciation

WORLD – A JUGGLER'S TRICK

THE PROCESS OF MEDITATION

Hindi shares with English and most other European languages the same ancestral roots.

THOU ART IMMORTAL

GRIEVE NOT AT DEATH

Chakra articles

Introduction to Hindi Language

BE BALANCED IN PLEASURE AND PAIN

KARMA – CAUSE OF JOY AND GRIEF

WORLDLINESS OR SAMSARA

CULTIVATE ADAPTABILITY

BE PRACTICAL AND REALIZE

BORN SIDDHAS

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