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John the Baptist, son of the priest Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth, had, in accordance with angel Gabriel’s prophecy begun to baptize people and to prepare them to receive the Light of the Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus was now about thirty years of age, and sought John to be baptized by him on the banks of the river Jordan. John recognised Jesus’s Divinity and asked: “Dost Thou come to me, when I have need to be baptized by Thee?” But the Lord had determined to set an example to mankind: spiritual il
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Holiday~Winter Solstice~Reflection

Blessings to you all, my wonderful souls, wherever you are at this very moment reading this, I urge you to look around you. Find something that pleases the eye and flood what ever or whomever it is, with love and appreciation. We never know where we will be tomorrow. Life has many surprises, appreciate when you can, wherever you can. Love, is the word, Love is what this time on this earth requires and hungers for more than anything else. Compassion, understanding... Use your gifts, your talents
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El cazador de loros y el ermitaño

Un dia, un cazador de loros tendió su red en las proximidades de una ermita. El ermitaño que vivía allí vió cómo el cazador atrapaba más de veinte loros. En tono de reproche le dijo: "¿No escuchas cómo los pobres animales torturados gritan? Ellos están acostumbrados a vivir en libertad! Cómo puedes ser capaz de producirles semejante angustia?” El cazador respondió: "Yo los cazo para venderlos, así gano mi sustento y el de mi familia.” “No puedes ganar tu dinero de otra forma?” “No he aprendido n
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The law of Karma is inexorable. Every one reaps the fruits of his previous births. Agood man only will suffer a lot, because he is hurrying up in the spiritual march. Many of hisevil Karmas have to be worked out and purged out quickly to hasten his salvation in this verybirth. But, God gives him extraordinary power of endurance through His grace. An aspirant or agood man gets many difficulties and sufferings. But he rejoices even in sufferings anddestitution on account of the descent of the Lord
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When the Lord was twelve years old, Joseph and Mary took Him to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. Jesus was very much interested in the Temple and the discourses of the priests there. In fact, He was so much engrossed in the thoughts of God and His Divine Law, that when His parents had left the temple and were returning to Nazareth, He returned to the temple and joined a group of religious teachers who were discussing religious questions. Even to these masters of philosophy, His words wer
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Blogs of My Yoga Vidya on different Networks

I set up some tools and widgets so that the blog and forum posts here at http://my.yoga-vidya.org are visible on other social networks as well - in that way many can participate at the wonderful forum discussions and blog posts here. If you read this in different networks: Please be aware that you see valuable input from different authors. If you post blogs and forum notes here on my.yoga-vidya : Be aware that many can read this. Many thanks to everybody who contributes to spreading Yoga Wisd
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Snow, snow, snow...

We are having lots of snow in Germany, and I just read all over Europe... All the better that by practicing Yoga and Meditation we can warm our hearts.... Her at Yoga Vidya Bad Meinberg it is gorgeous - walking in the snow, enjoying the beauty of nature, feeling the Divine Presence. May Peace Prevail on Earth. I wish everybody a wonderful Holiday Season! Om Shanti, Love Sukadev
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A verse on Shiva

"Samsara roga haram aushadham adwiteeyam pratar bhajami shivamekam anantham aadyam" - a verse on Shiva.I now worship that endless principle of consciousness, that by its undivided nature, is the medicine that destroys the disease of birth and death.
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A wonderful song of Paramahamsa Yogananda Take my life, and let it be Consecrated, Lord! to Thee; Take my hands, and let them move At the impulse of Thy love. Take my moments and my days, Let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my feet, and let them be Swift and beautiful for Thee. Take my voice, and let me sing Always, only for my King. Take my lips, and let them be Filled with messages from Thee. Take my silver and my gold; Not a mite would I withhold. Take my intellect, and use Every power as
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Kali: The Dark Mother

In Hinduism, Kali is one of the three principle gods alongside Brahma and Shiva. The representations of Kali are generally quite gruesome, usually including a necklace of human heads and holding a sword dripping with blood. She is one of the few deities to whom animal sacrifice is still offered.But to many Hindus, she is revered as a "mother" goddess and the personification of the feminine force in nature.

Kali is the fearful and ferocious form of the mother goddess. She assumed the form of a pow
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The Fundamental Waves of the Mind

A unique interpretation of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras is on the Atma Jyoti Blog, in a commentary by Swami Nirmalananda Giri. This article delineates the fundamental vrittis, or waves, of the mind. Here is an excerpt below:

"However, there is a whole other way of looking at these modifications, and that is held by both Vyasa and Shankara. It interprets klishta and aklishta as “tainted by the kleshas” and “untainted by the kleshas.” The kleshas are: ignorance, egotism, attractions and repulsions tow

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A commentary on the following verse from Patanjali's Yoga Sutras at the Atma Jyoti Blog:
Yoga Sutra 1:3. Then the Seer [Drashta] is established in his own essential and fundamental nature [Swarupa].

From Swami Nirmalananda's commentary: "Self-forgetfulness is the root of all our problems, the essence of samsara itself. Consciousness (chaitanya) is our essential nature. When asked what the Self is, Sri Ramakrishna simply answered: “The witness of the mind.” We are the seer of our individual life

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Paramahansa Yogananda

I have been practicing kundalini yoga (kriya) for forty years now. I have been guided by an everliving guru, Paramahansa Yogananda. Personally, I feel that one cannot safely practice without the guidance of a true guru such as Paramahansa Yogananda. Namaste, Sharon Kattke
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Spiritual Community

How wonderful to find a facebook-like interface for the yoga community. The power of the Internet to bring people together is quite miraculous. I have a large local spiritual community in Seattle, but I'm prone to wandering the globe, in and around India mainly, and this site feels like a good way to connect with people on similar spiritual journeys. That is one of my favourite things about traveling in the East. We may not be on the same path, but we are on similar journeys. We've given up our
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The beginning, middle, and end of yoga texts is the Yoga Darshan (Yoga Sutras) of Patanjali. It stands alone as the sole authority on yoga outside the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita.

At the Atma Jyoti Blog, Swami Nirmalananda Giri has begun a commentary on Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. This commentary is based not only on his own experience and studies, but on the writings of Vyasa and Shankara, perhaps the most qualified writers on this subject. I. K. Taimni, author of the Science of Yoga, is also a

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The Mother

The Mother was born in Paris on 21 February 1878. Mirra, as the child was named, was the daughter of the banker Maurice Alfassa (born in Adrianople, Turkey, in 1843), and Mathilde Ismaloun (born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1857). Maurice, his wife, and their son Matteo (born in Alexandria in 1876) emigrated from Egypt to France a year before Mirra's birth. Her early education was given at home. In 1893 she joined an art studio in Paris where she studied for several years. Besides being an accomplis
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Sri Aurobindo

Sri Aurobindo was born in Calcutta on 15 August 1872. In 1879, at the age of seven, he was taken with his two elder brothers to England for education and lived there for fourteen years. Brought up at first in an English family at Manchester, he joined St. Paul's School in London in 1884 and in 1890 went from it with a senior classical scholarship to King's College, Cambridge, where he studied for two years. In 1890 he passed also the open competition for the Indian Civil Service, but at the end
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Article by Swami Karthikeyananda:Om Namo Narayanaya Dasohnm TavakeshavaOm Dum Durgayai NamahaOm Hrim l\{ahalakshmyai NamahaOm Aim Saraswatyai SwahaOm Namo Bhagavathe SivanandayaOm Namo Bhagavathe Vishnu devanandayaSri Raama Raama Raameti Rame Raame l!(anorameSahasranaama TatfuIyam Raama Naema YaraananeAs th-e summer programs started to wind down,Swamiii started to prepare to go to India; often h6would say that he wanted to spend his h3t days inIldia, in Uttar Kashi, and leave his body iri theGan
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Jump

All our mental conquests seem nothing compared with That.One can penetrate the secrets of nature; one can understand what science tells us about the first moments of the physical creation. But that is nothing, or almost nothing. One is left speechless when the first glimmerings beyond of mind are present, beyond any doubt. Then, the walker seems to fall into a kind of paralysis that prevents him living the normal life.All the old certainties crumble and the abyss opens before you.You can not go
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