Atmeeyam : ( 22/10/2012. )

Atmeeyam : ( 22/10/2012. ) : The Story of Ganesh : : TO, ALL   MEMBERS, Wish you all A Happy Ganesh Chathurthi!!! After he had successfully practised all kinds of sadhana, Sr...

TO, ALL   MEMBERS, Wish you all A Happy Ganesh Chathurthi!!! After he had successfully practised all kinds of sadhana, Sri Ramakrishna one day worshipped his own wife Sarada Devi as Mother of the Universe. He worshipped her in the same manner as one worships Kali or Saraswati, chanting mantras and offering flowers and bel leaves. Sarada Devi was Kali incarnate. He saw her as such. In this connection Sri Ramakrishna used to tell a story of the Puranas. It was the story of Ganesh. Ganesh is the son of Mother Durga. When he was a small boy he once beat a female cat severely with a stick. The cat was bleeding profusely. Some time later Ganesh came to his mother and saw that there were marks of beating on her whole body. Who had beaten her? Mother Durga said, “My child, it’s you who have beaten me.” Ganesh was speechless with wonder. What was she saying? How could it be possible ? And if he did such a thing he should surely remember it. Mother Durga said: “Think, and

Atmeeyam : ( 22/10/2012. ) : Why Do Sadhana? - 3. : 3. How Many Can Realise? Even those people who believe in God and religion, when they hear a discourse on the need for Sadhana and...

3. How Many Can Realise? Even those people who believe in God and religion, when they hear a discourse on the need for Sadhana and God-realisation, begin to express grave doubts and ask, "After all, how many can realise God? Perhaps one in billions. Who knows if I will be that one?". The same persons who talk in this fashion take on a totally different attitude in respect of worldly pursuits. When a person buys a raffle ticket, he always hopes to win the first prize. Every one of the thousand and odd applicants for a single job applies in the hope that he might be selected. The participants in the annual Wimbledon or the Davis Cup round is encouraged by the thought that some day he might win the crown. When King Janaka announced the Svayamvara of Sita, every king and vassal who came to Janaka’s court was surely hoping to win the hands of the pretty princess. Man is moved by hope. It is hope which sustains life and aids human effort. Ideals are many and differe

Atmeeyam : ( 22/10/2012. ) : Why Do Sadhana? : 2. Sadhana Cannot Be Forced : A group of friends were discussing the utility of Yogasanas when one of them asked, "The hear...

2. Sadhana Cannot Be Forced : A group of friends were discussing the utility of Yogasanas when one of them asked, "The heart is already pumping blood to all parts of the body. It is already sending blood to the head. Why should I stand upside down to increase the supply of blood to the head?". Many people ask questions in similar fashion while discussing Yoga and spiritual practice: "Why should I do Japa? Why should I meditate? Why should I go to a temple?". They do not ask, "Why should I shave my face every day? Why should I cut my nails and hair? Why should I apply skin cream and hair lotion?". Each man has his aims and ambitions in life. The ambitions of most people are earthly, and naturally enough, their activities are earthly. For the average man living a humdrum life, it is certainly not necessary to send extra blood to the head or to do Japa, or to meditate or to visit a temple daily. He can dispense with all these and still live an a

Atmeeyam : ( 22/10/2012. ) : Why Do Sadhana? : Introduction : We want the best food for the body, but we do not care about all the base thoughts and ideas with which we feed ou...

Introduction : We want the best food for the body, but we do not care about all the base thoughts and ideas with which we feed our mind. We want to remove all the corns, pimples and blemishes from our skin, but we are not perturbed in the least over the thorns and weeds of jealousy, anger, lust and other vices in the ground of our heart. We are worried about the whitening hair on our head, but we develop no concern if our finer feelings and sentiments get blurred and blunted as we go through life. We care for the superficial outside and not for the real inside. The real self is the inner Self. True culture is the culture of thoughts, feelings, sentiments, motivations. Culturing of the Bhava is the greatest culture. Bhava is one’s feeling, one’s attitude, one’s inclination towards the world and fellow-beings. The man with the noblest Bhava is the best man in the world. But the, ordinary man who is choosy in so far as material objects are concerned is quite indifferent when

Atmeeyam : ( 22/10/2012. ) : May the Bell Ring : : Recounts a classic Indian tale : There is a story in the Mahabharata about a great rishi [sage], Sukha Maharaj. He was a little boy...

Recounts a classic Indian tale : There is a story in the Mahabharata about a great rishi [sage], Sukha Maharaj. He was a little boy sixteen years old. He was one with all the trees, the mountains and everything. If you spoke to him it was like speaking to a tree or a wall. He just went around naked without any consciousness of the body. Vyasa, his father, called, “Sukha my son, where are you?” The trees everywhere in the forest started vibrating, “I am here, I am here, I am here.” There was a king who was a very virtuous and charitable man. After he was crowned king, he had a desire to feed thousands and thousands of people as a gesture of his greatness as an emperor. And when he did this he wanted to know how many people were eating. He asked the great master Vyasa, “Can you contrive some method so that I may know how many have eaten?” Vyasa hung a bell with a magic spell, a mantra, saying, “When one thousand people eat, the bell will ring once. So you can count the number

Atmeeyam : ( 22/10/2012. ) : See Yourself Impartially : :                                        Sri Swami Adi Sankaracharya. Worshipful homage to the supreme, eternal, primal Being, the uni...

                                       Sri Swami Adi Sankaracharya. Worshipful homage to the supreme, eternal, primal Being, the universal Spirit Divine, who is auspicious, beautiful, good, elevating, illuminating and liberating! To that Being, worshipful homage! Loving adorations to revered and beloved Holy Master Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, whose central mission in his life of the Spirit was to bring sincere seeking souls nearer to this great Divine Reality by various means suited to people of different tastes and temperaments, abilities and capacities. Knowing that there are diversities in human nature and abilities, knowing that not all are ready for the same highest teachings, accordingly the teacher gives. Let the Supreme Being bless us to have the right and proper understanding of the teachings of Guru Bhagavan Swami Sivanandaji. There is a story in the Upanishads of the three da. Da is a letter in the Sanskrit alphabet. A human individual, a celestial and a

Atmeeyam : ( 22/10/2012. ) : Everything Is Yoga : :                                                         Sri Swami Adi Sankaracharya Everything Is Yoga : Worshipful homage to that ...

                                                        Sri Swami Adi Sankaracharya Everything Is Yoga : Worshipful homage to that supreme, eternal, universal Being who revealed Himself in a glorious personal form comprising total Divinity as the world teacher, Lord Krishna, and who revealed Himself in and through the Gita wisdom teachings that He imparted for all mankind, for all times, through His beloved devotee and disciple, the warrior prince Arjuna. He not only revealed His divine nature through His Bhagavad Gita teachings, He also revealed how man can realise Him fully, can experience Him, and, ultimately, how man can merge himself in Him to become one with Him. All this He taught within the compass of 700 brief verses contained in 18 chapters. And what is His main teaching? What is His main method of attaining the supreme human experience of our essential non-differentiation from Him, which experience liberates us forever from all sorrow, all confusion and delusion,

Atmeeyam : ( 22/10/2012. ) : What I value in Hinduism : by Mahatma Gandhiji. : What I value in Hinduism : by Mahatma Gandhiji. Just as in the West they have made wonderful discoveries in things material, sim...

What I value in Hinduism : by Mahatma Gandhiji. Just as in the West they have made wonderful discoveries in things material, similarly Hinduism has made still more marvelous discoveries in things of religion, of the spirit, of the soul. But we have no eye for these great and fine discoveries. We are dazzled by the material progress that Western science has made. I am not enamoured of that progress. In fact, it almost seems as though God in His wisdom had prevented India from progressing along those lines, so that it might fulfill its special mission of resisting the onrush of materialism. After all, there is something in  Hinduism that has kept it alive up till now. It has witnessed the fall of Babylonian, Syrian, Persian and Egyptian civilizations. Cast a look round you. Where are Rome and Greece? Can you find today any­where the Italy of Gibbon, or rather the ancient Rome, for Rome was Italy? Go to Greece. Where is the world-famous Attic civilization? Then come to Ind