They say that one should fast at least three or four times in a month. Moreover, they point out that fasting helps self-control. How is it that you do not allow frequent fasting?
Fasting does help in self-control. But, too much fasting weakens the body and the mind and retards spiritual Sadhana. I am also a strong votary of fasting. Fasting is a great Prayaschitta. It expiates any kind of sin quickly. It has got a tremendous purifying influence on the heart. Read Manu Smriti. As the vast majority are
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Some Jivanmuktas whose hearts are filled with mercy and Vyavahar Apeksha for Lokasangraha like the Buddhistic Arhats may, out of their own free will, take a birth¾like Sri Sankara, Sri Dattatreya or Jnana Dev. They need not do any Sadhana as they are born Siddhas. At once they appear as spiritual luminaries, do some spiritual preaching, write out some precious philosophical books, set aright some catastrophe, pass off quickly and merge in Brahman (Videha Kaivalvam). They are all Amsa-Avataras with sp
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Sit at home and breed children, I presume! But, is it a fact that only men need the Yoga practice? Can women not become great Yoginis in the same way as men become great Yogis? Or, does it depend on the sex also? Why has sex stood between women and spiritual greatness?
Queen Chudalai was a great Yogini. She had many higher Siddhis. She even converted her husband Sikhidhvaja and helped him in his salvation. Read the story of Chudalai in Yoga Vasishtha. Ladies lack in Vairagya and in the power of endura
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But our Shastras teach us that we should not accept eatable things from a great sinner. Mohammedans eat beef. Why should we accept any eatable thing from their hands? If you think that a man is full of vicious deeds, do not take food from his hands.
If you think that Lord Siva or Hari dwells even in an evil-minded man, if you entertain this strong idea, you can eat from anybody’s hands. Your Drishti or angle of vision is very limited now. You are a beginner in the spiritual line. Your heart is not ex
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The deer falls a prey to the sense of sound, the elephant to that of touch, the moth to that of sight, the fish to that of taste, and the bee to that of smell. But man falls a prey to all these live senses. How difficult it is for man to free himself from the clutches of these five senses and obtain liberation! When wells and ponds are full during the rainy season, the water is muddy and not fit for drinking. But when the water gets decreased it is clean and sweet. So also, when the mind is fille
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As this is a relative world, there must be rogues and honest men. A rogue is not an eternal rogue. A rogue is the saint of the future. Roguery is a negative virtue. It is not a separate entity. Honesty will have no existence in the absence of roguery. The raison d’etre of roguery is to glorify honesty. Roguery and honesty are the obverse and the reverse of the same coin. They are mental creations only. Even a rogue has some virtues. There is neither absolute roguery nor absolute honesty. God Himself
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If I give you a good slap on your face, who knows that slap? That knower (Vetta), that knowing subject, is God. When a strong desire is satisfied or gratified, that blissful state wherein the mind finds rest is God. That which sparkles or glitters in your eyes is God. That which prompts you to think is God, the Lord of the mind. The source (Yoni) or support (Adhishthan) for your mind, Prana, senses and body is God. The tree exists. It shines. It gives delight. These three aspects, existence, shining,
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Contact with worldly-minded people at once affects the mind. Vikshepa comes in. The mind imitates. Bad, luxurious habits are developed. Bad environments and bad associations play a tremendous part and produce a bad influence on the mind of Sadhaks. Old Samskaras are revived. I will ask you to run at once to Uttarkashi, back again. Don’t delay even a single minute. As the mind is formed out of the subtlest part of the food, i.e., gets attached to that man from whom it receives its food. Don’t be under
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Divide your property between your three sons. Keep something for yourself to keep the life going. Distribute a portion in charity. Build a Kutir in Rishikesh and live there. Don’t write letters to your sons. Don’t enter into the plains. Then start meditation. Your mind will rest in peace now. Do this at once. You must hurry up.
Man becomes free only when his individual will becomes merged in the Divine Will. Licentiousness and autocracy must not be mistaken for spiritual freedom. By becoming a tool (Nimitta) in the hands of God, the Bhakta destroys the egoism or the little false ‘I’, but gains all the Divine Aisvarya or the Siddhis of the Lord. He becomes perfectly free. He has become one with God now.
Develop Viveka or the power of discrimination. Brahman is real. The world is unreal. There is no Vasana or desire in Brahman. The desire is in the mind. Make Vichara. All desires will dwindle into nothing. Mark the Doshas in the objects. The objects are Asat, Jada, Duhkha, impure. Develop burning Mumukshutva. This strong desire for Self-realization will destroy all other worldly desires. Control the Indriyas also. Develop Vairagya. Give up objects. This is Tyaga. All desires will melt away.
This is a question which still remains unanswered by sages, Rishis, Acharyas and Philosophers. Do not put this question now. You cannot understand it now in your present stage of evolution. It is inexplicable, inscrutable, Anirvachanee Maya. Brahman or God only knows. You will understand it only when you get rid of Maya, when you attain the knowledge of Brahman. This question is put in another way also. Why has God created this universe? Nobody knows the why and how of this universe. Don’t rack your
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If you want to enter Samadhi quickly, cut off all connections with friends, relatives, etc. Do not write letters to anybody. Observe Akhanda Mouna or the vow of continued silence for one month. Live alone. Walk alone. Take very little but nutritious food; live on milk alone if you can afford. Plunge in deep meditation. Dive deep. Have constant practice. You will be immersed in Samadhi. Be cautious. Use your common sense. Do not make violent struggle with the mind. Relax. Allow the divine thoughts to f
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You will have to earn money for purchasing sugar. Then you will have to go to the bazaar to purchase sugar. Here also, you will have to get rid of lust, anger, greed, delusion, pride, jealousy and egoism and then repeat ‘Ram, Ram’ with Bhav (feeling) and single-minded devotion. Then you will have Darshan of Lord Rama. But, Rama is within. Sugar is outside. You will have to give your whole heart to Rama.
Besides saying “I am a king”, you will have to prepare yourself. You will have to gather a large number of men. You will have to learn many things. You will have to fight. Even so, you will have to prepare and purify the mind. You will have to acquire the four means of salvation¾Viveka (discrimination between the real and the unreal), Vairagya (dispassion), Shad Sampat (sixfold virtues) and Mumukshutva (eagerness for liberation). Then you will have to do Sravana (hearing of the Srutis), Manana (refle
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God is pure consciousness. He is omniscient, all-knowing. He is Nirakara, formless or incorporeal. This physical body has limited our universal consciousness. Consciousness is of various kinds, viz., physical consciousness, mental consciousness and absolute consciousness. You will experience the highest consciousness when you transcend the three bodies through constant and intense meditation. With this physical body and limited senses you can have the physical consciousness only.
I have nothing to do with politics, much less with any Godless creed. I do not believe that religion or religious teachings should have anything to do with politics. I advocate equal vision in the sense that the One Reality dwells equally in all beings. Names and forms are changing phenomena. Spirit alone is. In a relative sense, the whole humanity is the family of God; there is no high or low in His eyes. As such, a spiritual man’s attitude should not be narrowed down by any kind of distinction, be
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The Gita, of course. That is the simple, basic scripture for all Hindus. It contains the essence of the Upanishads, gives an optimistic and ideally adequate philosophy of life and shows the main paths of Yoga in an integrated perspective.
Why not? They are also planes of existence just like ours. They are as real as the earthly plane. All the worlds (Lokas) and all the Tirthas (sacred rivers) are existent in the human being himself, if he has belief in the scriptures. One can enjoy heaven or hell in this birth if he so wishes. The greater the grossness, the more intense will be the torture and suffering till such time as the individual is refined and fit for the descent of the Lord’s grace by repeated calcinations or purificatory proc
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No doubt it helps a person if he takes to Sadhuhood or Sannyasahood with the permission of his parents and other closely related ones; or else, it is likely to affect the interests of the individual. But there is absolutely no harm if he takes to the Nivritti Marga or the path of renunciation when there is a very high degree of Vairagya. No man in the world is related to any other from the absolute metaphysical standpoint and whatever relationship exists between one and the other is, after all, by di
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