Spiritual-teaching.org
Dhyana is a sanskrit word that is usually translated as ‘meditation’. Ramana Maharshi is clear referring to the proper meaning: dhyana, or meditation, is the way.
Turning Sorrow into Joy - Part 1
Devotee: Why does God permit suffering in the world? Should He not
with His omnipotence do away with it at one stroke and ordain the
universal realisation of God?
Maharshi: Suffering is the way for the Realisation of God.
D.: Should He not have ordain differently? M: It is the way!
From the Philosophy of Gorakhnath on Om and the Breath
Click on any website section below to enter it's contents
Om Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram
"Constant repetition of Ram-mantram
and practice of meditation
will give you the needed
strength and courage to overcome
all weaknesses of the mind and the heart."
"Repetition of the Ram-mantram,
meditation on the attributes of God,
and surrender of all your actions to the Lord,
is the way."
"When the Lord’s Name is on our lips,
we need not be afraid in this world
or in any other world.
Do not forget that you are the immortal Truth."
Papa Ramdas
In these most important and rare satsangs, Swami Jyotirmayananda ( yrf.org )
reveals in Satsang #1 the true meaning and purpose of Japa,
the repetition of the Divine Names of God, in which Tulsidas declares
how the Divine Name is more powerful than Brahman!
In Satsang #2 Tulsidas proclaims "What makes the Name of Ram more powerful than Rama Himself!"
In Satsang #3 Swamiji relates how "Rama Nam is the Ultimate Spiritual Practice!"
Om Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram
Papa Ramdas on Prayer and Japa
"Be anchored in fearlessness. What is worldly life but fear!
When you live in the grip of fear, must you not be afraid? It is futile to expect fearlessness there.
That you may be delivered from all sorrow you should endeavor to let God be your one and only support."
Sri Anandamayi Ma in Matri Vani
"Devotee: If one realized the Self and acted up to it in the West, one would be locked up in a lunatic asylum.
Maharshi: You will be locking yourself in. Because the world is mad, it considers you mad.
Where is the lunatic asylum if it is not within. You will not be in it, but it will be in you.
Uncertainties, doubts and fears are natural to everyone until the Self is realized.
They are inseparable from the ego, rather they are the ego."
Sri Ramana Maharshi in Talks #612
"Look, in order to pluck a rose one has to put one’s hand into the midst of thorns.
But if the rose is a person’s aim and he has a keen desire to pluck it, he will not refrain from doing so for fear of being pricked.
Moreover, the Great Mother arranges whatever is necessary for each one.
She certainly knows the real need of every individual.
If one has at least this much faith, there is no reason at all to feel fear and distress...
Sustain the flow of God’s Name and no fear of any kind can exist is His Presence."
Sri Anandamayi Ma
As long as a man is negligent, he fears the hour of death; when, however, he comes near to God, he proceeds firmly and both kinds of fear are taken away. How does this happen? While his knowledge and his behavior are of a bodily nature, he is frightened by death. But when his knowledge is of a psychic nature, and his behavior is steadfast, his mind is moved by the thoughts of Judgement every moment. In the first state he belongs wholly to nature; in the psychic state he is moved and guided by his knowledge and by his discipline. And he is happy in the neighborhood of God. But when he reaches true knowledge by the motion of the apperception of God's mysteries and he becomes confirmed in future hope, he is consumed by love.
Love of God Annihilates Fear
From the Mystic Treatises of Saint Isaac of Nineveh
It is as if grief wants to let us be individual and react in our own personal way.
Grief’s love and loss together, can show us our natural wild powerful feelings
and give us the opportunity to express this in our own way.
At the same time, society wants us to conform, to be just like everybody else
in silence, and behave as expected, so we don’t cause any bother, awkwardness or
embarrassment.
Although they may seem completely at odds with each other,
our personal expression of the natural wild feelings of grief and society’s detached attitude actually share the same aim, which is to show us we are not separate.
Grief shows us something, it gives us something, because grief is not nothing.
It shows us that our way is the same way as everybody else’s way, only different.
Grief makes us aware we are each like a wave in the ocean, slightly different from each other but not separate from the ocean, not separate from each other, part of a whole,
In grief’s love and loss together, we experience in our own way what everyone else
experiences in their own way.
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This love and loss together can show us an awareness which is common to all.
This awareness is irrespective of our culture, our tribe or any group we belong to. This awareness of being part of a whole, is awareness of what we are to each other.
Free Expression and Expectations - Different not Separate
An Adaptation of an Introduction of a poem by Rumi
"Look at Love"
Look at Love - a Poem by Rumi
look at love how it tangles
with the one fallen in love
look at spirit how it fuses with earth
giving it new life
why are you so busy with this or that or good or bad
pay attention to how things blend
why talk about all the known and the unknown
see how the unknown merges into the known
why think separately of this life and the next
when one is born from the last
look at your heart and tongue one feels but deaf and dumb
the other speaks in words and signs
look at water and fire earth and wind
enemies and friends all at once
the wolf and the lamb the lion and the deer
far away yet together
look at the unity of this spring and winter
manifested in the equinox
you too must mingle my friends since the earth and the sky
are mingled just for you and me
be like sugarcane sweet yet silent
don’t get mixed up with bitter words
my beloved grows right out of my own heart
how much more union can there be
***************
“A motto of the human race:
Let me do as I like, and give me approval as well.”
"Perform good deeds and observe spiritual discipline. Fool, listen with gratitude.
Lovers fasten your sandals. The fool's youth slipped away unnoticed."
When my Beloved appears
With what eye do I see him?
With his eye, not mine,
For none see Him but Himself.
Traditional Guided Meditation
for Healing and "Right Awareness"
Using the traditional method of watching the breath, also includes the practice of linking the movement of the breath with the sacred mantra OM,
(or chant Soham, or as you wish, any Name of God)
Paramahansa Yogananda on the
Importance of Meditation
(A rare audio recording
from the Master)
"Ever-new Joy is God.
He is inexhaustible;
as you continue your meditations during the years,
He will beguile you with an infinite ingenuity.
Devotees like yourself who have found the way to God
never dream of exchanging Him for any other happiness;
He is seductive beyond thought of competition..."
"Sri Ramakrishna said: "So long as God seems to be outside,
in different places, so long there is ignorance.
But when God is realized within, that is true knowledge.
A man woke up at midnight and desired to smoke.
He wanted a light, so he went to a neighbors house and knocked at the door.
Someone opened the door and asked him what he wanted.
The man said: "I wish to smoke. Can you give me a light?"
The neighbor replied: "What is the matter with you?
You have taken so much trouble and awakened us at this hour,
when in your hand you have a lighted lantern."
What a man wants is already with him;
but he still wanders here and there in search of it."
Sri Ramakrishna said to Ishan: "Live in the world like an ant.
The world contains a mixture of truth and untruth, sugar and sand.
Be an ant and take the sugar.
Again, the world is a mixture of milk and water,
the bliss of God-Consciousness and the pleasure of sense-enjoyment.
Be a swan and drink the milk, leaving the water aside.
Live in the world like a waterfowl.
The water clings to the bird, but the bird shakes it off.
Live in the world like a mudfish.
The fish lives in the mud, but its skin is always bright and shiny.
The world is indeed a mixture of truth and make-believe.
Discard the make-believe, and take the truth."
Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Ch. 25, p. 472
Enter below for a most enlightening talk on an Avatara of our modern age.
Excerpts from Practical Sadhana -
From the Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
Patanjali affirms in his Yoga Sutras:
“The concentration of the true spiritual aspirant is attained through faith, energy, recollectedness, absorption and illumination.” Sutra #20
Earlier Patanjali stated that success in yoga comes gradually through a step-by-step progression from the beginning stages towards the final highest attainment. His wisdom directs us to possess faith, energy and devotion as the foundation upon which the illumination of Life is achieved:
“Success in yoga comes quickly to those who are intensely energetic.”
“Concentration may also be attained through surrender to Ishwara
(God within Prakriti, manifested).”
“In Him (God) knowledge is infinite; in others it is only a germ.”
“The word which expresses Him is Om.”
“This word must be repeated with meditation upon its meaning.”
“Hence comes knowledge of the Atman
and destruction of the obstacles to that knowledge.”*
* (Patanjali Yoga Sutras, Swami Prabhavananda,
Sri Ramakrishna Math, Section I selected sutras between # 21-29.)
What Patanjali describes, is in Truth confirmed by Sri Ramana Maharshi in His declaration of Arunachala as the living embodiment of Divinity. Thus with the deepest devotion Bhagavan declared:
“Significance of Om, unrivaled, unsurpassed! Who can comprehend Thee, O Arunachala?” 1
“You are beyond the knowledge of all tattvas, all philosophies.
You are only this, the Truth at once transcendent and immanent, you are my Arunachala.” 2
1. Marital Garland of Letters (Sri Arunachala Akshara Mana Malai), Sri Ramanashramam, verse 13.
2. Verse 42
3 Minutes of Divine Wisdom from Sri Ramakrishna
The touch of Love Divine
transmutes thee into purest light
A very mold of Truth in which the Spirit Immortal
Sings to ageless tune;
The sweet strain fills limitless space
Love be thy God - only Love -
The liberating Mother Supreme
Swami Ramdas
"He who thinks always
of the Lord,
which way can
evil come to him?"
Sri Sarada Devi
From: Practical Sadhana -- The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
(an excerpt from Chapter 9 -- "Prayerfully Seek -- Whence Am I"
Question: What exactly is the way to conquer the desires that obscure my vision of the Truth and the Light?
The way to Realization is a step-by-step methodical and gradual progression which begins long before the samadhi, and ends far beyond the levels of samadhi normally reached by most spiritual aspirants. In the beginning we work to develop the skill called pratyahara, which is the reining in of the movement of the senses and turning it inward. This is greatly aided by prayer. In fact, experience shows that without prayer to God for assistance, we are fooling ourselves into thinking that we are successful when an honest account would reveal, as the Lord said to Arjuna, that our turbulent senses truly:
“Forcibly carry away the mind of even a wise man who is striving to control them.” 1
So we watch and pray, as Jesus exhorted us to do. As we watch with constant effort our attainment brings us to the next step, a focused mind. By repeated effort this inward focus deepens and remains steady for a prolonged period of time. The wind of uncontrolled thought is still blowing, but we have found a shelter from its brutal treatment. This shelter is known as the steadiness of concentration. Sri Krishna refers to this when He says:
“The wise one is of steady mind, an enlightened person is one whose mind is established, unmoving and always steady. His mind never wavers from either sorrow or joy; he is free from attachment, fear and anger.” 2
In Chapter 2 of the Gita, the verses from 54th onwards are called the qualities of sthita prajna, steady unwavering Enlightenment. This is also exactly what Bhagavan meant when he would refer to God in Tamil as “kadavul”, meaning the transcendental Divine Self abiding within in Stillness and Silence. Words of spiritual content in the Tamil Language, much like Sanskrit, convey definitions that describe deep meanings as well as secrets to attainment. In this instance, 'kada' means to transcend, the root 'ul' means within; the implication is that which is transcendental is also immanent.
______________________
1. Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2, verse 60.
2. Ibid, verse 56
The Shortcut to Self Awareness
Kabir says: "I don't have to say God's
Name. God says His own Name,
I sit and listen!"
From the Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali:
27. The word which expresses Him is OM. --- 28. This word must be repeated with meditation upon its meaning.
29. Hence comes knowledge of the Atman and destruction of the obstacles to that knowledge.
From the text "How to Know God", The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali *
"Words and ideas are inseparable. You cannot have the idea of God without the word which expresses God. But why, necessarily, use the word OM? The Hindus reply that, because God is the basic fact of the universe, he must be represented by the most basic, the most natural, the most comprehensive of all sounds. And they claim that this sound is OM (or AUM, as it should be properly pronounced). To quote Swami Vivekananda: "The first letter, A, is the root sound, the key, pronounced without touching any part of the tongue or palate; M represents the last sound in the series, being produced by the closed lips, and the U rolls from the very root to the end of the soundingboard of the mouth.
Thus, OM represents the whole phenomena of sound-producing." If any of us feel that a mere argument from phonetics is insufficient to establish this claim, we should remember, also, that OM is almost certainly the most ancient word for God that has come down to us through the ages. It has been used by countless millions of worshipers—always in the most universal sense; implying no special attribute, referring to no one particular deity. If such use can confer sanctity, then OM is the most sacred word of all."
____________
* Translated by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood
_____________________________________
"I am the fluidity in water, the light of the sun, the reflection of the moon,
I am the mystic sound of AUM and the emptiness of space.
I am the virility of men and the fertility of woman." (Bhagavad Gita 7:8)
"One who leaves his body while meditating on God and intoning the sacred AUM -
whether in sound or thought - will instantly attain the Supreme." (Bhagavad Gita 8:13
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"One day, when we are able to see the full midday Light,
we will know what value and what treasures our earthly sufferings be
that have made us gain an everlasting homeland."
"Never fall back on yourself alone, but place all your trust in God.
And don't be too eager to be set free from your present state."
Saint Padre Pio
The Remedy for our predicament!
It isn't only meditation that I emphasize.
Meditation plus keeping your mind on God during activity is what is necessary.
Half the battle will be won by meditation, for the soul power that you bring out during meditation will influence your thoughts and behavior during activity.
When you meditate deeply, that gives substantiation to your spiritual thoughts. The longer and deeper you meditate on a regular basis, the more you will find that there is no difference between work and meditation. That is to say, whether you are working or meditating, you remain immersed in the Divine consciousness of the blissful Spirit.
You no longer identify yourself with the activities and aches and pains of a mortal body; you realize you are pure Spirit.
Paramhansa Yogananda, Journey to Self-Realization
The Reason for our Predicament
Question asked of Sri Anandamayi Ma in 1974: "Ma, why do we forget God?" Answer Mother gave with a blissful smile:
"Because you are in the kingdom of forgetfulness!
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At a later moment Mother was then asked: "Then Ma, what shall we be doing?" Mother directly responded:
"Remember God's Name, Nothing Else Matters!"
"To lose all is to gain all. He is merciful and compassionate. Whatever He does at any moment is all-beneficent, though certainly painful at times.When He manifests Himself as all loss, there is the hope He may also manifest Himself as all-gain."
Sri Anandamayi Ma
Grace of God Alone - Love for It's Own Sake
A devotee can know everything when God's grace descends on him. If you but realize Him, you will be able to know all about Him. You should somehow meet the master of the house and become acquainted with him; then he himself will tell you how many houses he owns and all about his gardens and government securities."
Paramhansa Yogananda on the Importance of Meditation
A rare audio recording from the Master
"Ever-new Joy is God. He is inexhaustible; as you continue your meditations during the years, He will beguile you with an infinite ingenuity. Devotees like yourself who have found the way to God never dream of exchanging Him for any other happiness; He is seductive beyond thought of competition..."
Major Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
“The Self manifests externally as Guru when occasion arises; otherwise He is always within,
doing the needful.” Sri Ramana Maharshi in Talks
Freely View or Download all of the Major Writings on Sri Ramana Maharshi
Devotee: “How long is the practice to continue?”
The Maharshi replied: “Till success is achieved and until yoga - liberation becomes permanent. Success begets success.
If one distraction is conquered the next is conquered and so on, until all are finally conquered.
The process is like reducing an enemy’s fort by slaying its manpower - one by one, as each issues out.” (Talks #28)
Major Teachings of Sri Anandamayi Ma
"To tell the truth, while some people undoubtedly do approach this body in quest of Reality, very many come only to get their desires and longings fulfilled. By sorrow does the Lord dispel sorrow and by adversity does He destroy adversity. When this is done He sends no more suffering — this must be borne in mind at all times" Sri Anandamayi Ma
Major teachings from the Saints on Spiritual Life and Practice
"As the lotus dies without water, as the night is blind without the moon, So is my heart without you, Beloved.
I wander alone at night, driven by my longing for you. I hunger for you all the day..". Mirabai
The Rugged Path - A Personal Letter from Swami Sivananda
“Realization of the Absolute is not a talk, is not a play. It is the most difficult and the hardest of all tasks. It demands the price of one's very self. Will you really and willingly pay it? It demands your ego. It demands your very being as the cost for Self-realization.”
Dhamma Talks by Thanissaro Bhikkhu from Metta Forest Monastery
Love Me, Love my Defilements
"The concept that a lot of modern people find very hard to accept is that their minds have defilements. They think that their minds are perfectly fine, that there is nothing dirty or defiling in their minds. Although there are types of Buddhism that teach that we all have a Buddha Nature, the Buddha Himself never taught that!"
From the Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ - Meeting of the World Sages -
Presentation of the seven universal postulates
“Man was evolved a seed of everlasting life; but in the ethers of the Triune God the light was far too great for seeds to grow. And so man sought the soil of carnal life, and in the darksomeness of earth he found a place where he could germinate and grow...The quality of soul that makes it possible for man to rise to spirit life is purity.”
Gentle Hatha Yoga
This one hour session of Gentle Hatha Yoga will guide you through positions (asanas) that are uniquely suited to achieve an easy but profound union between the body and the higher mind, being taught by one of the most famous instructors of the Hawaiian Islands. Those attending ranged in age from 15 to 75 (or older if the truth be told).
A Meditator’s Guide for Reducing Stress
Choose any Name of God you wish; such as Om, Rama, Krishna, Jesus, Buddha.
Sit upright as comfortably as you can, gently close your eyes.
Make the mind cool and still. Do not allow your meditation to become your opponent.
Approach meditation as a real friend, allowing adequate time to become best friends.
Dealing with the habits and tendencies which interfere with the practice of Yoga.
The student who tries to practice Yama-Niyama brings with him the momentum of all kinds of tendencies from previous lives, and in spite of his resolve, the undesirable habits and tendencies in which he has indulged assert themselves strongly and force him to act, feel and think in ways which go against his ideals. What is he to do under these circumstances?
The Lord, Who is in all things, is NOT in all thoughts
In our "modern" times, the fast-food approach to spirituality and religion is a most sought for commodity. This mind-set, technically referred to as Neo-Advaita, is in traditional scripture referred to as pramada - spiritual death. Although the Gita's fundamental philosophy declares that the Atman does not ever die, the human capacity to reveal and awaken the consciousness of the Atman can be crippled unto death.
The Spiritual Enemy Within - Pramada
The Sage Sanat Sujata is indicating that the presence of pramada brings about a spiritual death. Thus the spiritual madness that at first manifests as indifference, inattention and negligence becomes deadly because it is directed towards God. This is not to be defined as forgetfulness of the Self, unless one admits to a willful and belligerent forgetfulness.
The Final Words of Saint Francis to this World
When the hour of his death approached, St. Francis caused all the Brethren, who were then at Our Lady of Angels, to be summoned; and consoling them for his death with sweet words, he, with paternal affection, exhorted them to Divine love, to patience, to poverty, and to constancy in the faith. Then he added: "Farewell, my children, in the fear of the Lord, and abide always in it. And since the time of tribulation and temptation is approaching, blessed shall they be who shall persevere in what they have begun. I, indeed, have done what I had to do; may Christ teach you what you ought to do!"
The Mystical Meaning of the Sermon on the Mount - Lectures 1, 2 and 3 and more...
The Mystical Meaning of the Sermon on the Mount, given by Jesus to all mankind. These rare lectures, the first 3 of 11 parts, were given by Swami Jyotirmayananda of the Yoga Research Foundation.
Rumi says: "Always prefer Cash over Credit
There are three types of secrets… Those hidden from people...Those hidden from angels...Those hidden from self.
What's hidden from people can be explored in seclusion. What's hidden from angels is the discovery of the truth.
What's hidden from self is achieved in union with the absolute Truth.
I Lalla - Poems of Lal Ded
The road I came by wasn't the road I took to go...As I stood on my mind's embankment, the day faded...
I looked in my purse and couldn't find ...Shiva's name to give the ferryman.
Remembering the Beloved
Heart is a fish: don't leave it dry...Irrigate it with the remembrance of God:..It will flourish then.
This self is a jewel: don't lose it...Lord is the Beloved...He will thus be pleased.
Wisdom of Mahatma Gandhi on Prayer and Faith in God
“If we had attained the full vision of Truth, we would no longer be mere seekers,
but have become one with God, for truth is God...
Prayer has saved my life. Without it I should have been a lunatic long ago.”
Performing the highest form of worship
Your daily worship should remain dynamic in the sense that it will change as your spiritual progress proceeds. Thus, your prayers will change to conform to the aspirations of your mind and heart.
The important thing is to stay focused on the prayerful supplications, and that the physical offerings are only vehicles that carry the prayer to God. The finer and more beautiful the offerings are, the greater they should reflect the virtues you are seeking.
Traditional Meditation and Spiritual Life
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This lecture on the traditional methods of meditation and spiritual practice in the East was given at a University in the United States. It covers not only meditation practices but all aspects of successful spiritual practices.
A Smile, the Highest Operation of Grace
There is so much that can be said about a smile; indeed the exaltation it brings is indispensable even for saints. Saint Francis de Sales once said: “A saint who is sad, is a sad saint!” Indeed, smiling opens the heart and lets your light shine. Scientists claim that it encourages good health; it reduces stress, increases the endorphin flow (the inner happy chemicals in the blood) and it is contagious.
Metanoia, part 2 - Changing our mind to Higher Life from "The Mark" by Maurice Nicoll
It is not sorrow or repenting in any ordinary sense that brings about a change of mind. Man may sorrow, but not to the point of metanoia. Yet there is a special kind of suffering that leads to metanoia and it is of this suffering that Paul speaks when he contrasts it with the ordinary suffering of life: 'For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation . . . ; but the sorrow of the world worketh death' (II Corinthians vii.10).
From "The Bhagavad Gita - God Talks With Arjuna" by Paramhansa Yogananda
Every man has the power to resist the influence of sense-identified, habit-bound existence. This power of renunciation does not involve any loss to the devotee, but gives him the opportunity to remove and forsake all those things that retard his spiritual progress.
From the Philosophy of Gorakhnath
Mahayogis thus point out how the Ultimate Reality and the Ultimate Ideal of our life presents Himself every moment in the constitution of our body and is within our easy reach.
From the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
Master: “This second view is held in the Devi Purana. According to it, Kali Herself has become Krishna; but what difference does it make? God is infinite, and infinite are the ways to find Him.”
Meditations on the Holy Mother - Victory over Death
Enter here and finally hear for yourself the Truth the Lord declared to mankind at the moment of death:
"What you are today, you will be tomorrow!" Read More
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Bhagavan Sri Krishna declares to Arjuna in The Bhagavad Gita
'Through Bhakti one comes to know Me perfectly: who I am and what My atributes are,' The Bhakta fully realizes Sri Bhagavan in his own Self. And what is He, the Great Lord?
An enlightening commentary on the Bhagavad Gita is found within the Great work:
A Peep into the Gita by Swami Purushottamananda Ji of Vasishtha Guna.
Freely View or Download the entire work:
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Enter below on any of the websites most viewed
sections on Spiritual Life and Practice
The true meaning and nature of “Surrender”
In Part 2 of this series Bhagavan replies to a devotees (and our)
question: “What is self-surrender?” His answer was “purna”
(perfection) in that the definition is couched in terms of the method of
attainment.
“It is the same as mind-control. The ego submits when it
recognizes the higher authority of the Atman. This is the
beginning of surrender… 11 “Complete surrender to God means
giving up all thoughts and concentrating the mind on Him. If we
can concentrate on Him, other thoughts disappear. If mano-vak-
kaya karmas, i.e., the actions of the mind, speech and body, are
merged with God, all the burdens of our life will be on Him.” 12
Bhagavan went on to quote, as he often did as a means of
guidance, from the Bhagavad Gita. Let us now return to this very
“Song of God”, seeking further clarification regarding the means by
which we can cultivate “surrender”.
In Paramahansa Yogananda’s wonderful commentary The
Bhagavad Gita - God talks with Arjuna, we find a deep and mystical
revelation that points us towards the direction by which a beginning
foundation of “saranagati / saranam” can be laid. In further
discussion of Gita 18:66 we are shown:
“Mam ekam saranam vraja” to literally mean, "Become (vraja)
sheltered (saranam, 'protected' - from delusion) in oneness
(ekam) with Me (mam).
"Always keep your consciousness in My sheltering Presence";
i.e., "Remember Me alone… Indicating the practice of yoga; the
Sanskrit may also be rendered "Withdraw (vraja) into the
Shelter of oneness with Me."
What needs to be understood and absorbed is the essential "how
to", which Sri Krishna, as such a compassionate Lord, never fails to
uncover for us. There is another secret "for those who have ears and
eyes to hear and see" which tells just “how to”, found in the beginning
of verse 66.
Sarvadharman parityajya - which common translation renders
for us something that even the most advanced find "too obscure, and
thus far beyond normal comprehension." It is mistakenly shown to
mean: "Abandon all Dharmas!" Actually, correct comprehension of
the verb (the action, "how to" word) tyaj is paramount for finding the
actual key to the proper 'door to right understanding'. Tyaj - means
"relinquish all but one!"
So the Lord is actually telling us how to "surrender" to the
Sheltering safe harbor of rest in Him:
Sarvadharman parityajya, Mam ekam saranam vraja - means
"Forsaking by relinquishment all other dharmas (lesser duties),
remember Me alone!"
Devotee: “ We surrender; but still there is no help.“
Maharshi: “Yes. If you have surrendered, you must be able to abide
by the will of God and not make a grievance of what may not please you.
Things may turn out differently from what they look apparently.
Distress often leads men to faith in God.”
Devotee: “But we are worldly. There is the wife, there are the children,
friends and relatives. We cannot ignore their existence and resign
ourselves to Divine Will, without retaining some little of the personality in us.”
Maharshi: “That means you have not surrendered as professed by you.
You must only trust God.” 13
___________
11 Guru Ramana, S.S. Cohen, Sri Ramanashramam 2006, p. 56.
12 Letters from Sri Ramanashramam, Suri Nagamma, p. 225-227.
13 Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi,
recorded by Sri Munagala Venkataramiah,
Sri Ramanashramam 2006, Talk 43.
"FAITH"
“Faith, which is the cause of Self-realization, is the outcome of firm conviction of the truth of Vedantic scriptures
and of the words of the Guru.”
[Excerpt from the writing on Faith:]
The Rishis of Sanatana Dharma, the Eternal Religion, proclaimed the Upanishads to be the Eternal science. In doing so, they scientifically outlined for us the systematic methods of abhyasa, the means of repeated spiritual practice, which would produce the fullness of existence within the ‘experiment of life’.
This ‘fullness of existence’ is direct and undeniable Knowledge of God. It is the Knowledge that liberates us from the shackles of the sorrows and joys of transitory existence. Thus when a devotee once asked the Maharshi:
“What is Moksha (liberation)?”
Bhagavan replied:
“Moksha is to know that you were not born. ‘ Be still and know that I am God.’ To be still is not to think. Know, and not think, is the word.” (Talks #130)
In quoting the Bible, Bhagavan was echoing the Upanishad’s mystical formula for liberation. When one stills the thinking faculty of the mind, an inner flame is kindled by which a deep experience, though still obscure and inarticulate, issues forth illuminating the abode of God, the Cave of the Heart. Although undoubtedly for us this Divine illumination is thrilling, even ecstatic, we are at once faced with the inevitable dimming of this vision, for the mind is still very dedicated to its life-long goal of distracting us outwards, which preserves it’s power and very existence.
Quite literally, the moment we experience a glimpse of the Presence of God in the Heart, we inevitably arrive at the possibility of losing It. Though in the absolute sense this Divine state of consciousness has never been lost, our perception of it, our sensitivity to It’s Presence has been dimmed. It is for this reason that we wander from birth to birth, that we, as the Maharshi states, know birth!
By the Grace of God, and the benevolent compassion of Sri Ramana Maharshi, we are given in Talks 27 direct counsel how to secure our newfound attainment of Higher Life:
“Devotee: How long can the mind stay or be kept in the Heart?
Maharshi: The period extends by practice.
D.: What happens at the end of the period?
M.: The mind returns to the present normal state. Unity in the
Heart is replaced by variety of phenomena perceived. This is called the
outgoing mind. The heart-‐going mind is called the resting mind.
D.: Is all this process merely intellectual or does it exhibit feeling
predominantly?
M.: The latter.
D.: How do all thoughts cease when the mind is in the Heart?
M.: By force of will, with strong faith in the truth of the Master’s
teaching to that effect.
D.: What is the good of this process?
M.: (a) Conquest of the will -‐ development of concentration.
(b) Conquest of passions -‐ development of dispassion.
(c) Increased practice of virtue -‐ (samatva) equality to all.
The Rishis, like us, were human; therefore subject to the outward waywardness of the lower mind (the ego). Their persevering dedication to overcome (literally to get over, or above) the mind, through the practice that our Bhagavan intimates as being empowered through faith, produced very methodical and effective methods that have been delivered to us as the words of Scripture and the teachings of the Masters.
Are you Letting God into Your Life?
(A brief questioning of the ways and means of spiritual life in our times)
An excerpt from this article:
"There is a universal acceptance that the highest gift of grace bestowed upon mankind
is a “One way ticket to heaven”. Some call it “salvation”, some say “realization”, some
“awakening”. In our modern era this ticket is on sale – being reduced to just a curt thought of
“oneness” while ferociously consuming whatever is in reach with the righteous indignation
permitted within “the present moment”.
" If you are asked to rely absolutely on Him,
is it possible for you to do it all at once?
You have to train your mind and body by constant practice
and to purify yourself by spiritual exercises.
Read the Bhagavad Gita everyday. You will find God revealing Himself through His words recorded there ."
Sri Anandamayi Ma
Devotee: If one realised the Self and acted up to it in the West, one would be locked up in a lunatic asylum.
Maharshi: You will be locking yourself in. Because the world is mad, it considers you mad.
Where is the lunatic asylum if it is not within. You will not be in it, but it will be in you.
Uncertainties, doubts and fears are natural to everyone until the Self is realised.
They are inseparable from the ego, rather they are the ego.
Sri Ramana Maharshi in Talks #612
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Be Still, and Know that I Am God!
An excerpt from
"Practical Sadhana - The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi"
by Swami Sadasivananda
A Balanced Breath for a Balanced Meditation for a Balanced Life
Devotee: “How is breath-control the means for mind-control?”
Bhagavan replied: “There is no doubt that breath-control is the means for mind-control, because the mind, like breath, is a part of air, because the nature of mobility is common to both, because the place of origin is common to both,
and because when one of them is controlled the other gets controlled.”
Bhagavan’s teaching regarding breath-control is clearly given in
Chapter Six of the Sri Ramana Gita:
“One should control the fickle mind
by controlling the breath and then it,
like a tethered animal, ceases to stray.”
Enter here to read more on the Practice of
Watching the Breath during Meditation
Excerpt from: Are You Letting God Into Your Life?
There is one mystical understanding of life that runs through the very core of all major religions. This is the belief, and to many the cherished experience, that our sojourn on earth is not true life. These most ancient scriptures and Masters teach that everything appearing to us here is a mere appearance, behind which we should penetrate, or that it is only a forecourt of the true world, a forecourt which we should cross without paying much attention to.
Hidden within these very scriptures, though obscured through misinterpretation, is a profound truth that utterly refutes this belief. The Vedas, and their essential distillation given in the Bhagavad Gita, the Holy Bible, the Torah, and the Koran definitively proclaim that what a man does here and now with holy intent is no less important, no less true – being a terrestrial indeed, but non the less a factual, link with divine being – than the life in the world to come.
There is a universal acceptance that the highest gift of grace bestowed upon mankind is a “One way ticket to heaven”. Some call it “salvation”, some say “realization”, some “awakening”. In our modern era this ticket is on sale – being reduced to just a thought of “oneness” while ferociously consuming whatever is in reach with the righteous indignation permitted within “the present moment”.
How is it then true that when we suffer in our attempts to live a holy life we are told that such is a gift of grace? Sri Ramana Maharshi declared, with seeming sternness, to Paramahansa Yogananda (in Talks #107), that: “Suffering is the way to Self- Realization.” The Masters of all religions, upon seeing the great misery among the needy, raise their heads and cry out to us and say: “Let us draw God into the world, and all need will be quenched!”
But is this possible, to draw God into this world? Is this not an arrogant, presumptuous idea?
The Masters and their scriptures entice us with the perplexing question: “Where then is the dwelling of God?” The human mind really does not waiver with the passing of centuries. Therefore, the answer to this question from ancient to modern man is: “What a thing to ask! Is not the whole world full of the glory of God? We are then perplexed when these very saints reply:
“God dwells wherever man lets Him in!”
Sri Ramakrishna said to Ishan: "Live in the world like an ant.
The world contains a mixture of truth and untruth, sugar and sand.
Be an ant and take the sugar.
Again, the world is a mixture of milk and water,
the bliss of God-Consciousness and the pleasure of sense-enjoyment.
Be a swan and drink the milk, leaving the water aside.
Live in the world like a waterfowl.
The water clings to the bird, but the bird shakes it off.
Live in the world like a mudfish.
The fish lives in the mud, but its skin is always bright and shiny.
The world is indeed a mixture of truth and make-believe.
Discard the make-believe, and take the truth."
Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Ch. 25, p. 472
Paramahansa Yogananda on the
Importance of Meditation
(A rare audio recording
from the Master)
"Ever-new Joy is God.
He is inexhaustible;
as you continue your meditations during the years,
He will beguile you with an infinite ingenuity.
Devotees like yourself who have found the way to God
never dream of exchanging Him for any other happiness;
He is seductive beyond thought of competition..."
“Sri Bhagavan spoke and wrote most about the vichara or Self-enquiry, and therefore the opinion arose that He prescribed only jnana-marga, the Path of Knowledge, which most people find too sheer in this age. But in fact He was universal and provided
guidance for every temperament, by the path of Devotion no less than of Knowledge. Love and devotion to Him are a bridge across the abyss to salvation. He had many devotees for whom he prescribed no other path.”
(Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self-Knowledge, Arthur Osborne, page 174.)
"Love and devotion to Him are a bridge across the abyss to salvation."
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"How to Conquer Desire - The Enemy Within" - Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3:31
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Swami Muktananda of Ananda Ashram speaking on the
"Significance of Sivoham"
Sivoham Part 1 of 4
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"We are asked to resign ourselves to the will of God.
There is nothing but the power of God active in nature,
active in ourselves.
By surrendering ourselves to the Divine power and Will
we will release within us that
Supreme Bliss and Peace that is
locked up."
Papa Ramdas
“The purport of prescribing meditation on the Pranava (Om) is this.
The Pranava is Omkara...
the advaita-mantra which is the essence of all mantras....
In order to get at this true significance,
one should meditate on the Pranava. ...
The fruition of this process is samadhi which yields release [moksha],
which is the state of unsurpassable bliss.” Sri Ramana Maharshi
from Practical Sadhana: From the Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi, p. 103
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Practical Sadhana: From the Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
3 Minutes of Divine Wisdom
from Sri Ramakrishna
A rare interview with the personal attendant of Saint Pio who was with him, day and night, for the last years of his earthy life.
During the recording, Fr. Alessio recounts many miracles and wonderful stories about this glorious Saint of God never before heard.
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"Faith Burns Away all Impurities"
The Kalpataru Experience
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Papa Ramdas on Prayer and Japa
Gentle Hatha Yoga
This one hour session of Gentle Hatha Yoga will guide you through positions (asanas) that are uniquely suited to achieve an easy but profound union between the body and the higher mind, being taught by one of the most famous instructors of the Hawaiian Islands.Those attending ranged in age from 15 to 75
(or older if the truth be told).
God Speaking to us all in the Srimad Bhagavad Gita
"A man must lift himself up by himself.
In no way weaken or degrade the mind
that must do the lifting.
Though that mind is your enemy,
it is also your only friend.
Chapter 6:5
"The mind becomes your servant
when it is conquered. When allowed to run wild,
it leads you astray.
Chapter 6:6
"To one who has conquered the mind,
opposites like heat and cold, joy and sorrow,
honor and dishonor, are not different.
He lives in tranquility.
Chapter 6:7
Translations from: 'Srimad Bhagavad Gita The Definitive Translation' by Bart Marshall
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Wisdom Quotes from the Bhagavad Gita:
"I am the fluidity in water, the light of the sun, the reflection of the moon,
I am the mystic sound of AUM and the emptiness of space.
I am the virility of men and the fertility of woman." (7:8)
“Among words I am the Ekakshara [Om];
among sacrifices I am the sacrifice of japa” (10:25).
“I am the Pranava” (7:8). “I am Omkara” (9:17).
"One who leaves his body while meditating on God and intoning the sacred AUM -
whether in sound or thought - will instantly attain the Supreme." (8:13).
O Lord of the Universe,
O Creator, Protector and Destroyer of the worlds,
I come in all humility to Thy holy feet,
And surrender myself entirely to Thee.
Deign to bless me ever with Thy remembrance.
Om Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram!
~ Swami Ramdas
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Excerpts from Practical Sadhana -
From the Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
Patanjali affirms in his Yoga Sutras:
“The concentration of the true spiritual aspirant is attained through faith, energy, recollectedness, absorption and illumination.” Sutra #20
Earlier Patanjali stated that success in yoga comes gradually through a step-by-step progression from the beginning stages towards the final highest attainment. His wisdom directs us to possess faith, energy and devotion as the foundation upon which the illumination of Life is achieved:
“Success in yoga comes quickly to those who are intensely energetic.”
“Concentration may also be attained through surrender to Ishwara
(God within Prakriti, manifested).”
“In Him (God) knowledge is infinite; in others it is only a germ.”
“The word which expresses Him is Om.”
“This word must be repeated with meditation upon its meaning.”
“Hence comes knowledge of the Atman
and destruction of the obstacles to that knowledge.”*
* (Patanjali Yoga Sutras, Swami Prabhavananda,
Sri Ramakrishna Math, Section I selected sutras between # 21-29.)
What Patanjali describes, is in Truth confirmed by Sri Ramana Maharshi in His declaration of Arunachala as the living embodiment of Divinity. Thus with the deepest devotion Bhagavan declared:
“Significance of Om, unrivaled, unsurpassed! Who can comprehend Thee, O Arunachala?” 1
“You are beyond the knowledge of all tattvas, all philosophies.
You are only this, the Truth at once transcendent and immanent, you are my Arunachala.” 2
1. Marital Garland of Letters (Sri Arunachala Akshara Mana Malai), Sri Ramanashramam, verse 13.
2. Verse 42
“Sri Ramana Maharshi spoke and wrote most about the vichara or Self-enquiry, and therefore the opinion arose that He prescribed only jnana-marga, the Path of Knowledge, which most people find too sheer in this age.
But in fact He was universal and provided guidance for every temperament,
by the path of Devotion no less than of Knowledge.
Love and devotion to Him are a bridge across the abyss to salvation.
He had many devotees for whom he prescribed no other path.”
(Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self-Knowledge, Arthur Osborne, Sri Ramanashramam 2002, p. 174.)
”Prayer is an essential part of the practice of religion; its power is irresistible; prayer reveals the life of human beings.
All the thoughts that arise in your heart should be offered to God.
Pray for His Grace with all earnestness and in a spirit of self-surrender.”
Just at that time I was reading in the news paper that before Lord Irwin came out to India as Viceroy and Governor-General, he asked his father’s opinion. The latter replied,—”Don’t worry about the outcome of events; we have no control over them. Pray to God and you may get some glimpse of the future.” Both father and son went to a church to pray. While returning from there, the father said, “You will have to go to India.” The son confirmed, “I also feel the same.”
When Mother heard it, She said,—”This is a good instance of the efficacy of prayer. But one must have deep faith like a child.
By constant practice the foundation of faith becomes strong; when pure faith takes root in the mind, sincere prayer issues forth from the soul. Through devotion the real spirit of prayer awakens in one’s soul, when the Divine Grace manifests itself in the desired results.”
On another occasion Mother said,—”When you talk of Divine Grace it implies that something descends on man without any intelligible cause. At its own time it comes of its own volition. You find a child forgetting his mother when deeply absorbed in his play; but the mother, out of her own motherly love, bends down over him and takes him on her lap.
The Divine Grace blesses a man just like that.
A mother’s affection reveals itself before the child has time to think of her. You will certainly say that blessings in the shape of Divine Grace are the result of one’s good in previous births. From one standpoint this may be true, but from a different view-point one may say, that as God is absolutely free from all chains of cause and effect, one must not enquire about His motives; though such search for reasons often disturbs us, His mercy descends on all beings evenly. But when one develops a higher vision, one begins to feel the Divine Touch. Have something to rely on. Try to be in vital contact with it and you will find the free flow of His blessings upon your soul, just as a bucketful of water comes out of a well only when the rope to which the bucket is tied is being pulled.”
- Sri Anandamayi Ma - Mother As Revealed to Me - by Bhaiji
Towards the middle of 1931, while walking in the Ramna fields, Mother Anandamayi said:
"The moment that has passed does not come back.
Time must be used well. Only when spent in the effort to know
"Who am I"? has it been used well."
Sri Anandamayi Ma in Matri Vani
Chapters on Prayer
Evagrius Ponticus
Prayer is the offshoot of meekness and the absence of anger.
Prayer is the fruit of joy and gratitude.
Prayer is the defense against sadness and discouragement.
Those who accumulate pains and grudges in their heart
and then imagine that they pray,
are like people who pour water into a cracked vase.
If you think you can heal someone else,
be careful not to become incurable yourself
and so give a death blow to your prayer.
If you refrain from anger, you will find mercy.
So, be careful not to become presumptuous,
and you will be among those who pray.
What is good but God alone (cf. Mark 10:18)?
Therefore let us entrust ourselves to Him
in all that concerns us, and all will be well for us.
The One who is good is always and the giver of good things (cf. Jas 1:17).
When you find more joy in fulfilling your service of prayer
than anything else,
then you will truly have found prayer.
Prayer without distraction is the mind's supreme state.
Prayer is the ascent of the mind to God.*
__________________
*(Evagrius Ponticus, Chapters on Prayer, 2012, Sr. Dominique Pascale-Nau, Rome)
The quote above and the following are excerpts from the book How to Seek God, by Swami Yatiswarananda, a devotee and lover of God within the lineage of the Ramakrishna Order.
In worldly life, misery comes to everyone. How are you going to face it? Sermonizing is not enough. We must turn to the real source of peace and joy who is the Parama-preme-rupa, Paramananda – svarupa. We have cut ourselves off form that, but the soul is longing for it. We see a little of it in the individual and turn to it. Along with that drop of joy we get a mass of misery. And then death stares us in the face. It may come now, it may come after a hundred years, but it has got to come. This does not mean that we should always dream of death. We have to fulfill our duties to our relations, but we have also the duty to the Supreme Being. Do your duties and at the same time come to that Reality which is Parama-preme-rupa, Paramananda – svarupa.
We have forgotten our real nature; we have to regain its awareness. Arjuna was Nara incarnate, but being embodied, he forgot his real nature. He was in great grief. A war had to be fought so that the power of right might destroy the evil. When there is trouble, we want to renounce the world. Face the realities of the world with dispassion, without identifying yourself with them.
See everything in its proper light in the light of the Self, and everything will be different. Not that there won't be problems, but a new vision will come. Make the Self more real than your problems. The more you go within, the less will be the outside dependence. There is everything within you; you have only to see. Infinite Bliss is our birthright. Fragrance is within, but we search for it outside. Running away is not the solution. Face problems and rise above them. Thinking of the Supreme Spirit who is ever free, assert yourself.
Mind's course should be upward, like the lotus bud arising from mud and water and keeping its head high up. Unless you are well established in the higher plane you are not safe. See the baby kangaroo. When it is frightened, it jumps into its mother's pouch and from there peeps out, quite safe and serene. So too, we should be firmly established in the Divine within. The source of joy and love is within you. Turn to Him for light, love, guidance, joy, and share them with everybody. Instead of always begging, learn to give. We cannot change the environment, but we can certainly develop a new attitude. Connect all your problems with the Lord. Develop your will awhile. Repeat the Lord's Name. Life, as it is, is misery, but if we have this attitude full of devotion, we accept everything, good and bad, as happening through His will. Great ones always have this view. You know Kunti's prayer – she prayed only for sorrow, so that she might remember the Lord always. Let us get over our fear complex, then you will have strength to rise above troubles. Kabir sings: “It is not a cloudy day when the heavens are cloudy. The cloudy day is that, O mind, when you do not repeat the Lord's Name.”
In the beginning, the environment may disturb us to a considerable extent and we complain about it. But if we attempt to change it drastically we may end in failure. There may be a tendency to go to a solitary place. Very often this is due to escapism. There is no such ideal place in the world which would be entirely free from all disturbances. Every place has its disadvantages and advantages. The environment may be calm and quiet, but if we go there with a troubled mind it may spoil our efforts. We should think: “The Lord has placed me here, in these surroundings, let me adjust myself to this environment.” In the case of disciples, they must adjust themselves to 'where they stand' and find interest in remembrance of the Lord (japa) and meditation. That is a good sign!
"We have forgotten our real nature; we have to regain its awareness. Arjuna was Nara incarnate,
but being embodied, he forgot his real nature. He was in great grief. A war had to be fought
so that the power of right might destroy the evil. When there is trouble, we want to renounce the world.
Face the realities of the world with dispassion, without identifying yourself with them."
Swami Yatiswarananda
Swami Brahmananda
Sri Ramakrishna
In the field of His play even getting means losing. This is but the nature of its movement. Think of Him Who cannot be lost. Meditate on Him alone, on Him, the Fountain of Goodness. Pray to Him; depend on Him. Try to give more time to japa and meditation. Surrender your mind at His Feet. Endeavour to sustain japa and meditation without a break.
Human-birth — does it not ordinarily mean experiencing desire, passion, grief, suffering, old age, disease, happiness, pain and so on? Yet it is man’s duty to bear in mind that he exists for God alone— for His service and for the realization of Him.
To say, “I do not know, I do not understand” is only ignorance. It is this veil of ignorance that causes agony and misfortune.
One who serves God can never be helpless. The more ardently one seeks communion by engaging in japa, His service and contemplation, the fuller will be His revelation.
Day and night should be spent in the quest for God (sadhana bhajana). The desire to find Him has to be specially fostered. To be a human being means to place first and foremost the desire to know One’s Self. Except for the little time necessary for the service of the family, all the rest must be devoted to japa, meditation, the reading of scriptures, worship, prayer, self-dedication. Yearn and cry for Him for His own sake. If opportunity arises, seek satsang. Whenever this is not possible strive to keep the constant awareness of God’s presence enshrined in your heart. ----- Sri Anandamayi Ma
“Whenever you possibly can, sustain the flow of a Sacred Name (Japa).
To repeat His Name is to be in His presence. Just as a friend opens his heart to you
and tells you all about himself when you come to him,
if you associate with the Supreme Friend,
He will reveal His true Being to you.
Do you refrain from bathing when faced with the waves of the sea?
Surely, you plunge right into the midst of them and take your bath.
Similarly, in the very thick of tempests and difficulties of worldly life,
maintain the remembrance of Him—take to the repetition of His Name.”
—Sri Anandamayi Ma
Making God your Supreme Friend
How to Face Life
Beloved Dheerender!
"Fear not.
The mind is no doubt extremely turbulent.
Through repeated attempts you can perfectly subdue it.
You are the master of the mind.
By Abhyasa and Vairagya assert your mastery.
Feel the power, bliss and splendour
that result from perfect self-conquest.
Curb the mind ruthlessly. Annihilate desire.
When desire dies mind is your slave.
Become desireless and be victorious.
May you rest in your pristine freedom!"
Sri Swami Sivananda
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Excerpt from the preface to Volume 1:
"The Bible, like all books, is a product of the Tower of Babel—the confusion caused by language and words. Words get in the way of direct experience, which is the only way to truly see and understand. But when it comes to overt communication between people, words are pretty much all we’ve got to work with, so it’s important to be as accurate, precise and truthful as possible with our words. This I have tried mightily to do with the KJRV.
The words in the Bible must stand on their own, without any enforced reverence, or dogmatic assertions that the Bible is “inspired, inerrant and infallible.” Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. We need to read it with an open mind, and inquire into what is written, not blindly believe everything without question because we’ve been told it’s the verbatim word of God.
Just what is this Biblical God, anyway? And why does it seem there’s more than one God being described? In Genesis 1, God is the singular all- powerful Creator who fashions All That Is out of Nothing. Then, as Yahweh in the rest of the Old Testament, he’s a petty, bloodthirsty tyrant, intensely jealous of other gods, who seeks to become top god by using the Israelites to wipe out populations that worship competing gods. Then, when the Israelites do not obey his mercurial, hot-headed dictates, he wipes them out, too.
His only acts of so-called mercy are when he takes a break from causing brutal genocidal wars and lets populations recover for a generation so he can destroy them again. No nation is safe from his wrath, and he’s always furious at somebody for something. He's a god of fear and punishment, whose believers and supplicants are directed to perform complicated acts of ritual and sacrifice to placate him, in the faint hope he might relent and stop terrorizing them.
Truly, these are times that try men’s souls. And for that reason, they provide a rare opportunity for accelerated spiritual evolution and ascension. For those who are ready and willing to take advantage, the window is wide open to know Truth—to know God as Self. But time is short, and there is no longer a middle ground, no longer time to be lukewarm and continue seeking the good opinions of lukewarm others. If you do not consciously align yourself firmly with the Divine in these times, you are serving the Demonic. The only thing required for evil to succeed, is for good men to do nothing.
Free yourself from that which holds you back, and walk alone when necessary. Conduct your inner and outer life in such a way that you may be among the remnant referred to in the Old Testament, the elect Jesus promises will be saved at Judgment, the 144,000 survivors spoken of in Revelation. Seek to be among the sheaves of harvested grain, not the tares thrown into the fire. Seek ye first your own salvation. That is why you are here.
Godspeed and God bless."
The Creation of Eve (Genesis 2)
Adam and Eve Driven Out of Eden (Genesis 3)
I prayed to the Divine Mother
with flowers in my hand.
"Mother! Here is your sin
and here is your virtue.
I do not want anything.
Please give me pure devotion."
Sri Ramakrishna
"Significance of Om, unrivaled,
who can comprehend Thee, O Arunachala."
Bhagavan Ramana, Marital Garland of Letters #71
While Sri Ramana Maharshi was in the Old Hall before all, He was asked:
Devotee: "What shall I do to obtain Moksha?"
Maharshi replied: "Read Ellam Ondre!"
This small but extraordinary book was written in the 19th century and has been translated from Tamil into English. The author is unknown. It was popularized by the sage, Ramana Maharshi, who often named it along with a few others to disciples who were in pursuit of wisdom. This book, highly saturated in wisdom teachings, names the single most effective method of attaining to realization (i.e. enlightenment, moksha or liberation).
Maharshi especially emphasized the book to those who had difficulty reconciling the concept of multiple gods (as in the Hindu religion) with the Advaita concept of a single Universal Creator. This book explains how there is no basic conflict between these points of view, as long as things are viewed from the perspective that all the diverse beings and objects in this expansive universe are essentially parts of a greater whole.
Or, as the book sums it up: All is One.
From the Preface by the Author
Men court happiness and shun misery. It is the same with other beings also. This holds true for the common run of mankind. But the higher order is bent upon right conduct, enduring patiently the good or evil that it may bring. Fellowship with these will be lasting, whereas fellowship with ordinary people will not be. Good will result to the world through fellowship with the higher order only .
The question then arises: "What is right?'' The point is important, but the answer has not been found. Why? Because what is right is determined by circumstances.
However comprehensive a work may be written on the subject, there will always be circumstances not envisaged by the author. Therefore it becomes necessary to realize that state which will enable us to assess the various conditions and determine what is right.
That state is one only. There are no states like it. Although it is single, it is extraordinary that the worldly wise consider it exceedingly rare. Nothing can be more extraordinary than this. That unique state is very clearly taught in the Upanishads.
In this book I have put down the same truth according to my understanding. I have considered it my duty. I do not claim originality. The six chapters of this book are so closely interrelated that some point which may be expected in one chapter may be found in another.
Again a few points which may not be clear on a superficial reading will become clear upon closer study. More may be gathered from major works or Sages.
Universal Mother, Master true, save us!
A Special Preview of the Sacred Book "Ellam Ondre - All is One"
Though it is true that the path of bhakti (devotion) does not suit the temperament of all spiritual aspirants, it is undeniable that thinking of God, thinking of the “feet of the Lord”, does attract His grace. Whether devotion is achieved through bhakti or jnana, when the grace of God dawns upon us, our devotion deepens into love of Him. The love of God is the key that opens for us all knowledge, peace and purity.
This key is the keen and lively awareness and our patient endurance, while waiting on the Lord, which we have developed by persistently weathering out the storms of thought that mercilessly attempted to turn our attention outwards.*
____________
* Practical Sadhana, from the Teaching of Sri Ramana Maharshi. Page 83.
“Sri Bhagavan spoke and wrote most about the vichara or Self-enquiry,
and therefore the opinion arose that He prescribed only jnana-marga, the Path of Knowledge, which most people find too sheer in this age.
But in fact He was universal and provided guidance for every temperament,
by the path of Devotion no less than of Knowledge.
Love and devotion to Him are a bridge across the abyss to salvation.
He had many devotees for whom he prescribed no other path.”
(Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self-Knowledge, Arthur Osborne, page 174.)
"Love and devotion to Him are a bridge across the abyss to salvation."
Twenty-Two
Surrender and become whole.
Bend low and be straightened.
Become empty and be filled.
Burn out and be renewed.
Having nothing, beauty is revealed.
Having much, the way is hidden.
The sage abides in One
and thus is master of heaven and earth.
Not being self-absorbed, his vision is clear.
Not asserting himself, his light shines forth.
Not showing off, his merit is obvious.
Not praising himself, praise is showered upon him. Not contending, nothing under heaven
stands in his way.
This ancient saying, “Surrender and become whole,” is it empty words?
Being whole means all things have returned to you.
Twenty-Three
To speak a short time is the way of nature.
High winds blow out before morning.
Hard rain subsides in a day.
What issues these?
The realm of heaven and earth.
If the realm of heaven and earth
cannot maintain duration, what chance has man?
This is why one aligns with Tao.
One who aligns with Tao is embraced by Tao.
He who lives a virtuous life attains Virtue.
One who loses his way feels lost.
He who is embraced by Tao
becomes one with Tao. One who attains Virtue enters heaven.
He who feels lost is ready for the Way.
Faith comes to the faithful.
Twenty
Between yes and no, is there really much difference?
Good and bad, are they so far apart?
Must I think as others think?
Alas, there would be no end to fear.
The multitudes are busy with feasts and celebrations.
In spring they climb towers and enjoy the view.
I alone am unmoved,
like an infant too young to smile.
Others have more than enough.
I alone have nothing.
My mind is that of a fool—empty.
Others are clear and bright.
I alone am nebulous and dim.
Others are alert and clever.
I alone am withdrawn, adrift in the ocean,
directionless as swirling wind.
Everyone else has purpose.
I alone am stubborn and untamed.
I am different.
I am nourished by the Dark Mother.
Twenty-One
Supreme virtue is to abide in Tao alone.
Tao is elusive and empty—
Oh yes, utterly empty and elusive—
yet within it dreamlike images arise.
Oh yes, it is indistinct and nebulous,
but within it shadows take form.
Oh yes, it is mysterious and dark,
but within it appearances originate.
The origin of Creation is the Real.
Its manifestations are unceasing.
This can be witnessed.
How do I witness the origin of Creation? By looking!
The Sayings of Lao Tsu
Tao Te Ching
"Dwell, O mind, within yourself;
Enter no other's home. If you but seek there,
you will find All you are searching for.
God, the true Philosopher's Stone,
Who answers every prayer,
lies deep within your heart.
the richest gem of all.
How many pearls and precious stones
are scattered all about the outer court
that lies before the chamber of your heart!"
Sri Ramakrishna
"Don’t be afraid. Human birth is full of suffering and one has to endure everything patiently,
taking the Name of God. None, not even God in human form, can escape the sufferings of the body and mind.
Even Avatars, saints, and sages have to undergo the ordeal of suffering,
for they take upon themselves the burden of sins of omission and commission of ordinary human beings
and thereby sacrifice themselves for the good of humanity".
Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi
"But those who have received some portion of God's gift, O Tat,
if we judge by their deeds, have won their release from death.
For they embrace in their mind all things on the earth,
and in the heavens, and above the heavens - if there be such.
And having raised themselves to that height they see The Good,
they look upon their sojourn here as a misfortune,
and disdaining all things of the body and the bodiless,
they speed their way unto the One and Only One."
from The Hermetic Core, #4 The Mixing Bowl
Enter below on each heading for this websites wisdom teachings from Saints and Teachers:
v
"Abandoning the outer world, with mind and breath controlled,
To meditate on Thee within,
the yogi sees Thy light,
O Arunachala, and finds his delight in Thee.
Five Stanzas on Arunachala
composed by Sri Ramana Maharshi
"He who thinks always of the Lord
which way can evil come to him!"
"There is no virtue
higher than forbearance."
Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi
"Listen! Do not let your time pass idly. Either keep a mala with you and do japa; or if this does not suit you,
at least go on repeating the Name of the Lord regularly and without interruption like the ticking of a clock.
There are no rules or restrictions in this. Invoke God by the Name that appeals to you most,
for as much time as you can, the longer the better. Even if you get tired or lose interest,
administer the Name to yourself like a medicine that has to be taken.
In this way you will at some time discover the rosary of the mind, and then you will continually hear within yourself
the praises of the great Master, the Lord of Creation, like the never ceasing music of the boundless ocean.
You will hear the land and the sea, the air and the heavens reverberate with the song of His glory.
This is called the all-pervading Presence of His Name."
Sri Anandamayi Ma
"Let us live in such a way
as to not be afraid to die.
The important thing
is not to think much,
but to love much."
St. Theresa of Avila
Devotee: Men of the world that we are, we have some kind of grief or another and do not know how to get over it.
We pray to God and still are not satisfied. What can we do?
Sri Ramana Maharshi: Trust God.
6.33 Arjuna said, “O Lord, I do not understand how this yoga you teach could work for me.
I find no firm ground in myself and my mind is constantly restless.
6.34 My mind is fickle, obstinate, chaotic— as difficult to control as high wind.”
6.35 Lord Krishna said: The restless mind is indeed difficult to control,
but with meditation and sincere practice it can be done.
6.36 An undisciplined mind is incapable of the determination and focus necessary for yoga,
but for one who succeeds in taming the mind, success is assured.
6.37 Arjuna said, “Lord Krishna, what is the fate of the unrealized soul
who has not been able to control his mind and fails to achieve success in yoga?
6.38 Does he perish like a riven cloud,
bereft of both earthly and spiritual reward?
6.39 Please dispel these doubts of mine,
O Lord. None but you can do this.”
6.40 Lord Krishna said: Dear friend, no one who has strived for goodness in himself ever comes to harm,
in this world or the next. There is no punishment after death for failure,
nor in this life will he fall back into grief and sinful ways.
6.41 After death, the yogi who falls short of the goal lives for an age in the realm of pure souls.
Then he is born again on earth into a pure and prosperous family.
6.42 In rare instances, he may be born into a family endowed with divine wisdom,
but such a birth is difficult to come by.
6.43 The experience of his former life will silently inform his new life, and without knowing why,
he will be compelled to pursue a spiritual path, picking up more or less where he left off.
No effort in the direction of righteousness is ever wasted.
6.44 The momentum of his previous life will inevitably draw him to the principles of yoga,
even though he may not be seeking them, for his transcendental nature leapfrogs scriptural patterns.
6.45 Once he steps foot on the path, the earnest yogi is assured of realizing Self,
though it take one or many lifetimes.
6.46 A yogi is superior to an ascetic,
superior to a Vedic scholar,
superior to performers of religious rituals.
Therefore, Arjuna, become a yogi!
From The Srimad Bhagavad Gita - The Song of God
The Hindu tradition does not have a central holy book like the Bible or Koran, but the text that comes closest is the Bhagavad Gita—which is translated in English as the Song of God.
As part of a spiritual tradition known for its massive epics and metaphysical expositions, the Gita expounds and encapsulates the essential aspects of Hindu philosophy and spiritual teachings in a mere 700+ verses. It has, however, been extracted from the longest Hindu epic, the Mahabarata, but except for the first chapter, the Gita does not develop the story line of the Mahabarata, nor does it share its general style and focus. For this reason, scholars speculate it was originally an independent text inserted into the Mahabarata at a later date. In any case, it exists on its own now.
The backdrop for the Gita is a battlefield during the Mahabarata War, which is dated around 1000 BC, against which is presented an intense conversation between a famous warrior, Arjuna, and Lord Krishna, in the form of his charioteer. It is speculated the Bhagavad Gita was written around 600 BC, with authorship being attributed to the sage Vyasa.
Enter on the Image of Sri Ramana Maharshi
For the Bhagavad Gita Sara - Sri Maharshi Gita
The Essence of the Gita
with commentary by Swami Shantananda Puri
OM SAMARPAN
May all of the effort and any merit that may accrue from this work
be dedicated to those who seek to find and love
the Lord Who dwells within the Heart - that very Bhagavan Ramana whose compassion for all is the embodiment of Pure Unselfish Love
Enter on the Image of Swami Sivananda
for The Rugged Path
“Realization of the Absolute is not a talk, is not a play.
It is the most difficult and the hardest of all tasks.
It demands the price of one's very self.
Will you really and willingly pay it? It demands your ego.
It demands your very being as the cost for Self-realization.”
"Nothing that is worthwhile is to be achieved without undergoing
a corresponding amount of pain and suffering.
No enduring ideal can be attained without tire and sweat.
The seed splits and perishes to put forth the plant.
The flower lays its life to give place to the sweet fruit.
It is in the furnace that gold emerges from the ore. Even so,
the price of sainthood is to be paid in the interim period of utter loneliness, privation, and struggle which the really aspiring soul passes through.
Every soul on the path of God-realization harbours no illusions about the true nature of the spiritual path.
There is absolutely no royal road in spirituality."
Swami Sivananda Saraswati
Enter below to receive the gift from Anandashram
to transform your life and work by remembrance of the Lord!
"Through the sound of the Divine Name
we enter within the Soundless Presence of God!
Spirituality that cannot be applied
in actual life is no spirituality.
God is in the world and is acting through every one of us.
As Spirit we are all one, as matter we are all different!"
This Divine Satsang was given to us all in 4 parts...
Papa Ramdas
Mother Krishnabai
An Enlightened understanding of the purpose for a human incarnation from "Nirvana Shatakam"
Sivoham, Sivoham
Om Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram
Featured Spiritual Teaching
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these Divinely
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A Smile, the Highest Operation of Grace
There is so much that can be said about a smile; indeed the exaltation it brings is indispensable even for saints. Saint Francis de Sales once said: “A saint who is sad, is a sad saint!” Indeed, smiling opens the heart and lets your light shine. Scientists claim that it encourages good health; it reduces stress, increases the endorphin flow (the inner happy chemicals in the blood) and it is contagious. When people smile others are attracted, for unconsciously they think: “Gosh, that person is happy, maybe I can become happy too by association.” We learn from those who have unlocked the secret, and have found therein ‘stillness, peace, happiness and purifying energy’, and we know that this is God shining through them; because it is all derived from a “heart in union with the Divine.”
A friend once told me that in a lecture given at Alexandra Palace in London about 15 years ago the Dalai Lama was the key speaker. After the talk he was walking along the park with all his bodyguards to get into his car and she just happened to be there by the car and he turned and gave her this huge smile — at once she received an amazing flow of grace and of uplifting loving kindness from him. She still remembers that his smile was absolutely full of grace, genuine and a huge gift. It was as though he was carrying all the power and joy of his lineage.
Mother Teresa said: “Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” (Mother Teresa’s smile towards mankind was conveyed through the compassionate labor of her life!)
Everyone understands in a totally intuitive way what a smile means. It transcends language and cultural barriers. It is the clearest, simplest manifestation of the joy that lies within us. It is the quickest and most direct way to connect with another human being. A smile is shorthand for ‘I recognize and acknowledge the God within you’.
These truths are undeniable. With a clear understanding of the ability of every human to communicate with a smile ‘stillness, peace, happiness, positive energy and uplifting compassion’, let us attempt to consider what actually happens to humans when God smiles.
There is a beautiful saying from the scriptures of India:
Devi priya prahasant. Devi prahasant priya.
The love of the Devi manifests as a smile,
Therefore She loves to smile!
It is said in the Holy Bible: “God is glorious in His saints.” God is even more glorious in His smile! The most learned scholars who have sought to plumb the depths of the Bhagavad Gita universally agree that the actual teaching of Lord Krishna begins in the eleventh verse of Chapter Two: The Blessed Lord spoke:
“You have mourned those that should not be mourned;
The wise do not mourn for the dead or for the living.”
Many of the very wisest of these scholars, those who strive to comprehend the Gita in it's highest mystical sense, profoundly declare that the Lord’s teaching to mankind actually begins with the tenth verse of Chapter Two. They boldly go further and declare that the Gita’s entire message is actually conveyed by the very first action Sri Krishna makes before Arjuna — and us!
As if assuming the manifestation of Dakshinamurti, Sri Krishna being named as the ‘Lord of the Senses’ (Hrishikesha), responds to the despondency of Arjuna in silence. From the uncompromising position between the two opposing armies drawn up for battle, the Lord smiles...
“There is a secret language of silence and smiles understood by mutual lovers,
but not noticed by onlookers; in the same way the operation of grace is secret and not spectacular.”
Ramana Maharshi Five Hymns, Marital Garland of Letters
Certainly!
4th October, 1938 - Talk #527
A group of respectable Coorg ladies were in the hall. One of them asked: I have received a mantra.
People frighten me saying that it may have unforeseen results if repeated. It is only Pranava.
So I seek advice. May I repeat it? I have considerable faith in it.
Maharshi: Certainly, it should be repeated with faith.
Devotee: Will it do by itself? Or can you kindly give me any further instructions?
M.: The object of mantra japa is to realize that the same japa is already going on in oneself even without effort.
The oral japa becomes mental and the mental japa finally reveals itself as being eternal.
That mantra is the person’s real nature. That is also the state of realization.
D.: Can the bliss of samadhi be gained thus?
M.: The japa becomes mental and finally reveals itself as the Self. That is samadhi.
In the above quote Sri Ramana Maharshi exemplifies the eternal truths echoed by the ancient Seers of India.
Further discussion of the meaning and intent of the Maharshi might only “muddy the waters”
of what remains to this day as crystal clear His words might be distilled down to the essential,
for those who still find his words confounding.
Devotee: What should one do spiritual practice for?
Maharshi: Thought of God, certainly.
Devotee: Should I have faith in such practice?
Maharshi: Certainly!
Devotee: Is not destiny due to past karma? Maharshi: If one is surrendered to God, God will look to it.
D.: This being God’s dispensation, how does God undo it? M.: All are in Him only.
Talk #244
Devotee: How should dhyana (meditation) be practiced?
Maharshi: Dhyana serves to concentrate the mind The predominant idea keeps off all others.
Dhyana varies according to the individual. It may be on an aspect of God, on a mantra, or on the Self, etc.
Talk #52
From the Gospel of The Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi
Section 15: Recorded by Swami Visweswarananda
Another day at Jayrambati I asked the Mother, "How can one realize God?—through worship, Japa or meditation?
Mother: By none of these.
Disciple: Then how?
Mother: God is realized only through His grace.
Nonetheless, one must perform Japa and meditation, for they remove the impurities of one's mind.
One must practise spiritual disciplines such as worship, Japa, and meditation.
As one gets the fragrance of a flower by handling it or the scent of the sandalwood by rubbing it against a stone,
similarly one becomes spiritually awakened by continuously contemplating on the Divine.
But you can become illumined right now, if you become desireless.
"Beloved Dheerender! Fear not. The mind is no doubt extremely turbulent.
Through repeated attempts you can perfectly subdue it. You are the master of the mind.
By Abhyasa and Vairagya assert your mastery.
Feel the power, bliss and splendour that result from perfect self-conquest.
Curb the mind ruthlessly. Annihilate desire. When desire dies mind is your slave.
Become desireless and be victorious. May you rest in your pristine freedom! OM"
Swami Sivananda in Mind - Its Mysteries and Control
This Divine Prayerful Embrace and Yearning of Our Lord is by GuruDev Swami Sivananda.
It is the invocation from his foundational book, which can be freely viewed and downloaded here:
"Mouna (Stillness) of the mind is far superior to Mouna of Vak (speech).
Mouna should come of itself. It must be natural. Forced Mouna is only wrestling with the mind.
It is an effort. If you live in Truth, Mouna will come of itself.
Then only will there be absolute peace."
Swami Sivananda in Mind - Its Mystery & Control
This Divine Gift by Swami Sivananda on
Concentration and Meditation
OM
Dedicated to Yogins and Bhaktas Who Strive to Attain
The Summum Bonum of Life
Through Concentration and Meditation
OM
Freely view or Download here:
The Spiritual Maxims of Brother Lawrence systematically guides us through the means for
attaining unto the Presence of God:
1. The first is a great purity of life; in guarding ourselves with care lest we should do or say or think on anything,
which might be displeasing to God.
2. Second is a great faithfulness in the practice of His Presence, and in keeping the soul’s gaze fixed on God in faith, calmly, humbly, lovingly, without allowing an entrance to anxious cares and disquietude.
3. Make it your study, before taking up any task to look to God, be it only for a moment, as also when you are engaged thereon, and lastly when you have performed the same. And forasmuch as without time and patience this practice cannot be attained, be not disheartened at your many falls; truly this habit can only be formed with difficulty, yet when it is so formed, how great will be your joy therein.
4. Let us mark well, however, that this intercourse with God is held in the depth of our being; there it is that the soul speaks to God, heart to heart, and over the soul thus holding converse there steals a great and profound peace. All that passes without concerns the soul no more than a fire of straw, which the more it flares, the sooner burns itself out; and rarely indeed do the cares of the world ever intrude to trouble the peace that is within.
5. It is here therefore, in the heart, that we ought to strive to make a habit of this gaze on God; but that which is needful to bring the heart to this obedience we must do, as has been said, quite simply, without strain or study.
6. When the mind, for lack of discipline when first engaged in this practice, has contracted bad habits of wandering and dissipation, such habits are difficult to overcome, and commonly draw us, even against our will, to things of earth. One remedy for this is to humbly offer prayer to God. A multiplicity of words in prayer is not advised; discursive forms of prayer are often an occasion for wandering.
7. One way to recall easily the mind in time of prayer, and to preserve it more in rest, is not to let it wander too far at other times.
8. This practice of the Presence of God is somewhat hard at the outset, yet, pursued faithfully, it works imperceptibly within the soul most marvelous effects; it draws down God’s grace abundantly, and leads the soul insensibly to the ever-present vision of God, loving and beloved, which is the most spiritual and most real, the most free and most life-giving manner of prayer.
9. Remember that to attain this state, we must control the senses, inasmuch as no soul, which takes delight in earthly things above those in their Creator, can find full joy in the Presence of God; to be with Him we must leave behind the creature.
Thus, Brother Lawrence compassionately entreats us to ‘seek and find’,
to ‘knock and the door will be opened unto us’, for his final guidance
“All things are possible to him who believes, they are less difficult to him who hopes,
they are easier to him who loves,
and still more easy to him who practices and perseveres in these three virtues...
Believe me, count as lost each day you have not used in loving God.”
Just prior to the final moment when this lover of the Beloved passed away in the embrace of His Lord,
a brother asked him if he was at ease and what his mind was busied with? He said:
“I am doing what I shall do, through all eternity – blessing God, praising God, adoring God,
giving him the love of my whole heart. It is our one business, my brethren, to worship Him and love Him,
without thought of anything else.”
The brethren then begged him to entreat of God for them to possess the true spirit of prayer.
Brother Lawrence, without pain or struggle, without losing in the slightest the use of any of his faculties,
in perfect peace and calm replied:
“There was need of labor on my part also to make myself worthy of such a gift.”
These were his last words.
“Good when he gives, supremely good; Nor less when He denies. Afflictions, from His sovereign hand, Are blessings in disguise.”
When we enter upon spiritual life,
we ought to consider thoroughly what we are,
probing to the very depth.
Though creatures made for God,
we are prone to all manner of maladies
and subject to countless infirmities,
which distress us and impair the soul’s health,
rendering us wavering and unstable
in our humors and dispositions.
We must believe steadfastly, never once doubting,
that all such is from God and for our good;
that it is God’s will to visit us therein.
Gentle Hatha Yoga
This one hour session of Gentle Hatha Yoga will guide you through positions (asanas)
that are uniquely suited to achieve an easy but profound union between the body and the higher mind,
being taught by one of the most famous instructors of the Hawaiian Islands.
Those attending ranged in age from 15 to 75 (or older if the truth be told).
A Gift for Essencial Health from
Swami Sivananda - Hatha Yoga
An excerpt from Chapter 1 - Asanas
Group 1 - Topsy-turvy Poses
Sirshasana is the king of all asanas. By practice of this Asana, you can get the maximum physical and spiritual benefits. In Sanscrit "Sirsha" means "head". Sirshasana invigorates, energizes, and vivifies. This is a panacea (a cure-all}, sovereign specific for all human ailments.
Freely view or download here:
“Sri Ramana Maharshi spoke and wrote most about the vichara or Self-enquiry,
and therefore the opinion arose that He prescribed only jnana-marga, the Path of Knowledge,
which most people find too sheer in this age.
But in fact He was universal and provided guidance for every temperament,
by the path of Devotion no less than of Knowledge.
Love and devotion to Him are a bridge across the abyss to salvation.
He had many devotees for whom he prescribed no other path.”
(Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self-Knowledge, Arthur Osborne, Sri Ramanashramam 2002, p. 174.)
____________
The "Letters from Arunachala" are a personal account of one with Western heritage
possessing an Eastern yearning heart, who came to Arunachala-Ramana decades ago
along with a steadily increasing trickle of other Westerners who felt the call of Sri Ramana and the sacred hill.
The journey is also our journey, for we all travel along a well-defined path in our efforts
to understand who we are and, in this instance, be absorbed in that embodiment of Grace and Love,
Arunachala-Ramana.
Enter here for Letters from Arunachala
'By practice does Bhagavan Ramana mean meditation?'
22nd March, 1937. Talk #377. p.356
No matter how many times Sri Ramana Maharshi stressed the need for meditation, there will always be those who declare that he never told people to meditate. But these same people are not to be condemned; for they suffer from the same contagious dilemma we all suffer from - human nature. May I site two scriptural sources for this seemingly outrageous statement? First is from the Bhagavatam, in the Udhaav Parva, where one of the mind-born sons of Brahma declares that death is pramada, literally defined as “the willful indifference to the consequences of ignoring God.” Thus, Bhagavan urges for the Divine to be realized within, and the means he stressed in the above quote was meditation (universally said to be the best way not only to avoid ignoring God, but to be acutely aware of His Presence). The second, and possibly more to the point, is Terry Pratchett's fourth Discworld Novel Mort.
Here Mort inquires of Death why people don't see Him. Death, with a definably wistful air of sadness responds,
“Though they all know that I am part of the arrangement, they refuse to accept what they don't want to see.”
By Divine Grace, Sri Ramana Maharshi and so many Saints and Sages, are also parts of the arrangement. But they are not afflicted by the contagion of humanity's wants and dislikes. Bhagavan especially did not preach, nor did he seem to express sadness over the “human condition”. Nonetheless, he wept for his Lord Arunachala, he wept over personal human tragedy, he wept to the point of exhaustion while reading about the dedicated practice and sacrifice of the Saints. And having assumed our ct.' human form, he definitely did urge 'those who had ears to hear' to find and merge with the source of peace and love and the Divine “small still voice within”. He taught the 'way that makes us perfect' within the tradition to which he took birth. Those who have 'ears to hear' understand his guidance when he says:
"Practice makes us perfect!"
This section of wisdom teaching from Sri Ramana Maharshi is from 'Bytes of Wisdom',
the entire work can be freely viewed or downloaded here.
A middle-aged Andhra visitor:
"A man is said to be divine. Why then does he have regrets?"
Maharshi: Divinity refers to the essential nature.
The regrets are of Prakriti.
Devotee: How is one to overcome regrets?
M.: By realizing the Divinity in him.
D.: How?
M.: By practice.
D.: What kind of practice?
M.: Meditation.
D.: Mind is not steady while meditating.
M.: It will be all right by practice.
D.: How is the mind to be steadied?
M.: By strengthening it.
D.: How to strengthen it?
M.: It grows strong by satsanga (the company of the wise).
D.: Shall we add prayers, etc.?
M.: Yes.
The Srimad Bhagavad Gita - The Song of God
Chapter 6 - The Practice of Meditation
Enter below on either of the two groups of podcasts to listen to all lectures on the
Srimad Bhagavad Gita by Swami Sarvapriyananda
Lord Krishna said:
The true renunciant in the world is he who
performs his given duties without self-interest
or desire for the fruits.
He is one deserving to be called a mystic,
not one who does nothing and has no fire.
True renunciation is the same as yoga.
One cannot be called a yogi who has not
renounced self-interest and desire.
When one begins the eightfold path of yoga,
work and effort is the way. When one becomes
firmly established in yoga, not-doing is the way.
A practitioner becomes established in yoga
when his actions are no longer performed
for self-interest or sense gratification,
and he stakes no claim to the fruits of his actions.
A man must lift himself up by himself.
In no way weaken or degrade the mind
that must do the lifting. Though that mind
is your enemy, it is also your only friend.
The mind becomes your servant
when it is conquered. When allowed to run wild,
it leads you astray.
To one who has conquered the mind, opposites like
heat and cold, joy and sorrow, honor and dishonor,
are not different. He lives in tranquility.
The true mystic is master of his senses and
lord of his mind. His heart brims with wisdom.
He has realized Self. To him, dirt, pebbles and gold are equally precious.
He looks upon friends, enemies, relatives,
strangers, sinners, saints, kings and outcasts
with equal impartiality.
A yogi should live alone in seclusion.
He should have few possessions and desire
nothing more. He should spend his days
in meditation and communion with Self.
To practice meditation, go to a quiet, peaceful place.
Arrange a bed of long grass on the ground
and cover it with deerskin and a soft blanket.
The seat should neither be too high nor too low.
Sit straight and solid on that seat.
Observe the workings of the mind
and bring it gently into one-pointed focus
on the breath, or a simple thought-sound.
Thus disengaged, the mind will purify itself.
Hold your body, head and neck erect and still.
Let your gaze come to rest in front of your nose.
Do not look around.
With a serene and fearless heart,
rejecting sexual reverie and ignoring
useless thoughts, allow the mind to relax
into communion with Self, with God.
With practice, the mind becomes absorbed in Self,
and you will live in the Peace of God that leads to Liberation.
Do not eat too much or too little. Do not indulge in
excessive sleep or deprive yourself of needed rest.
Extremes are not conducive to meditation.
One who lives with moderation, who is balanced
in the activities of eating, sleeping, working
and playing, will find meditation to be
the destroyer of all discontent.
When a practitioner, through meditation,
transcends cravings and mental distractions,
he is said to be established in yoga.
The mind of a yogi in meditation, like a flame
sheltered from wind, does not move or flicker.
Thus stilled, the mind is positioned to see Self
as Itself, and rejoice beyond all imagining.
When Self is realized, the yogi experiences
the highest bliss accessible to consciousness.
Truth becomes his only reality
.He cannot conceive of anything greater than This,
and he becomes unshakable,
even in the face of the heaviest sorrows.
To be thus rescued from the delusions
and sufferings of life is the aim of yoga.
It must be practiced with perseverance
and unwavering conviction.
Through meditation, relinquish all desires
and bring thoughts and senses under control.
With patient determination, let the mind gradually
become more and more fixed upon God,
until at last it can think of nothing else.
When the mind flits and wanders, as is its nature,
gently bring it back to one-pointed stillness,
where God resides.
The lot of the sage is contentment.
Mind stilled, passions calmed, he abides in Self
and acts without error.
Abiding in Self, he is untouched by good and evil,
and walks in the light of the Absolute.
He sees Self in all beings, and all beings in Self.
Everywhere he looks he sees Me.
He is never lost or separated from Me,
nor am I ever separate from Him.
He lives in Me, and I live in Him. We are One.
He is a perfect saint.
He has discovered his divinity as Self,
and simultaneously seen all else to be Self.
He regards the joys and sorrows of all beings
as his own.
Arjuna said, “O Lord, I do not understand how this
yoga you teach could work for me. I find no firm ground
in myself and my mind is constantly restless.
My mind is fickle, obstinate, chaotic—
as difficult to control as high wind.”
Lord Krishna said:
The restless mind is indeed difficult to control,
but with meditation and sincere practice
it can be done.
An undisciplined mind is incapable of the
determination and focus necessary for yoga,
but for one who succeeds in taming the mind,
success is assured.
Arjuna said, “Lord Krishna, what is the fate of the
unrealized soul who has not been able to control his
mind and fails to achieve success in yoga?
Does he perish like a riven cloud,
bereft of both earthly and spiritual reward?
Please dispel these doubts of mine, O Lord.
None but you can do this.”
Lord Krishna said:
Dear friend, no one who has strived for goodness
in himself ever comes to harm, in this world
or the next. There is no punishment after death
for failure, nor in this life will he fall back
into grief and sinful ways.
After death, the yogi who falls short of the goal
lives for an age in the realm of pure souls.
Then he is born again on earth
into a pure and prosperous family.
In rare instances, he may be born into a family
endowed with divine wisdom,
but such a birth is difficult to come by.
The experience of his former life will silently
inform his new life, and without knowing why,
he will be compelled to pursue a spiritual path,
picking up more or less where he left off.
No effort in the direction of righteousness
is ever wasted.
The momentum of his previous life will inevitably
draw him to the principles of yoga, even though
he may not be seeking them, for his transcendental
nature leapfrogs scriptural patterns.
Once he steps foot on the path, the earnest yogi
is assured of realizing Self,
though it take one or many lifetimes.
A yogi is superior to an ascetic,
superior to a Vedic scholar,
superior to performers of religious rituals.
Therefore, Arjuna, become a yogi!
There are many types of yogis, but one whose
thoughts are of Me, who renders loving service
to Me, who is intimately united with Me—
he is the most likely to succeed.
That is my opinion.
Dhammapada - The Sayings of Gotama Buddha
Chapter 25 The Practitioner
Restraining the eye is good.
It is good to restrain the ear.
Restraining the nose is good.
It is good to restrain the tongue.
Restraint of the body is good.
It is good to restrain one's speech.
Restraint of the mind is good.
It is good to be restrained in all things.
Being restrained in all things,
the practitioner is released from suffering.
One with hands restrained,
feet restrained, speech restrained,
one who exercises the utmost restraint,
one who delights in introspection,
who is composed, solitary, and content—
such a one is known as a practitioner.
The practitioner who controls his speech,
who talks in moderation
without arrogance or conceit,
who illuminates the goal and spirit of Dhamma—
sweet indeed are his words.
Abiding in Dhamma, delighting in Dhamma,
reflecting on Dhamma, remembering Dhamma,
the practitioner will not fall away from Dhamma.
Do not be discontent with what you are given,
nor envy the lot of others.
The practitioner who harbors envy
will never come to Awareness.
The practitioner who is given little yet is content,
who lives a pure and vigorous life,
is praised even by the gods.
One who observes mind and form
with no sense of "mine,"
and who does not yearn for what is not,
is a true practitioner.
The practitioner who lives in love and kindness,
who walks the Way of Buddha,
will find stillness, subdue the phantoms of Creation,
and attain bliss.
Practitioner, empty your boat!
Lightened, it will sail more quickly.
Cast off hatred and desire,
and you will realize Nirvana.
Cut the five bindings.
Release the five attachments.
Cultivate the five qualities.
Transcend the five evils.
You will be called "one who has crossed the torrent."
"Become absorbed in meditation, practitioner!
Do not be negligent!
Do not surrender your mind
to the swirl of sense pleasures.
Do not carelessly swallow a molten ball of iron
then cry out in torment when it burns.
One cannot become absorbed
in meditation without clarity.
One cannot realize clarity without meditation.
One who meditates in clarity realizes Nirvana.
When in stillness the practitioner
discovers his house is empty,
the Truth of Dhamma is clear.
The joy of this is indescribable.
Witnessing the arising and passing
of the manifest world,
one delights in the joy of Awareness
and realizes the deathless.
The wise practitioner in this world
begins by guarding the senses,
learning contentment, practicing spiritual disciplines,
and associating with worthy friends
who live pure and vigorous lives.
Form the habit of friendship.
Conduct yourself with skill.
In fulfillment find the joy without sorrow.
As the jasmine sheds withered flowers,
so should the practitioner shed desire and aversion.
The practitioner whose body is tranquil,
whose speech is calm, whose mind is stilled,
who refuses the bait of worldliness,
is said to be "at peace."
You alone can motivate yourself.
You alone can examine yourself.
The practitioner who is self-observed and aware,
abides in contentment.
You are your own master.
You are your own refuge.
Train yourself as a horseman trains a fine horse.
The practitioner who is filled with delight
as he walks the Way of Buddha,
will find stillness, subdue the phantoms of Creation,
and attain bliss.
Truly, even a novice practitioner who walks
the Way of Buddha lights up the world
like the moon coming free of a cloud.
Paramahansa Yogananda on the
Importance of Meditation
(A rare audio recording from the Master)
"Ever-new Joy is God. He is inexhaustible;
as you continue your meditations
during the years,
He will beguile you with
an infinite ingenuity.
Devotees like yourself who have
found the way to God
never dream of exchanging
Him for any other happiness;
He is seductive beyond
thought of competition..."
“Cut down the entire forest, not just a single tree. From the forest springs fear. Cutting down both forest and brushwood,
be passionless, O stream seekers. For as long as the slightest passion of man towards desire is not cut down,
so long is his mind in bondage, like the calf to its mother.”
Meditate Constantly
The Wood-cutter’s Son
Two boys in Rājagaha were friends. One was the son of a believer, while the other was the son of non-believer. Whenever they played ball, the believer’s son recited “Homage to the Buddha” and won the game every time. The other boy noticed this, and also learnt to recite “Namo Buddhassa.” One day, his father, who was a wood-cutter, set off to the forest with his ox-cart, taking his son with him. At the end of the day the man released his oxen in a pleasant grove where there was water and grass, and took a rest. The oxen followed a herd of cows back into the city, so the man left his son and set off in pursuit of his oxen. By the time he had found his oxen, the city gate was locked, and he was unable to fetch his ox- cart where his son was still waiting. As night fell, the boy fell asleep. That place was near a burning ground haunted by goblins. Two of them spotted the youth — one was a believer and one was a non-believer. The goblin who was a non- believer decided to eat the boy in spite of the warnings of the other. When the goblin pulled the boy’s feet, he awoke and recited “Namo Buddhassa.” The goblin leapt back, and afraid of what might happen, the goblin who was a believer stood guard over the boy, while the other stole a golden bowl from the king’s palace, inscribed some words on it, and placed it in the cart. In the morning, the theft was discovered and the boy was arrested and questioned. He replied that his parents had brought him food during the night, and he had gone back to sleep. That was all he knew. The boy’s parents told the king their story, and the king took all three to the Buddha who told the king all that had happened.
The king asked if meditation on the Buddha alone was a protection, and the Buddha replied with the above verses, explaining that all of these six kinds of meditation were beneficial.
On the conclusion of the discourse the boy and his parents all attained Stream-winning.
Later they went forth and attained Arahantship.
From the Buddha,
The Dhammapada ( 20.8 - 20.11 )
One who is indolent when it is time for effort—
who, though young and strong,
is lazy, weak-willed, and lacking in determination—
will never find the Way.
Guard your speech. Observe your mind.
Do no harm with your body.
Practice these three and you walk the path of the masters.
Clarity increases through spiritual practice.
Clarity weakens with lack of practice.
Knowing this two-way path of gain and loss,
walk in the direction of clarity.
Cut down the jungle of desire, not just a tree. From the jungle of desire comes fear.
Cut down the jungle of desire, you practitioners, and cut out the underbrush of lust.
Be free of the jungle.
s
Dhamma Talks by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
from Metta Forest Monastery
This lecture on the traditional methods of meditation and spiritual practice in the East
was given at a University in the United States.
It covers not only meditation practices
but all aspects of successful spiritual life.
