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Showing posts from August, 2018

Bhagavath Geetha - INDIAN INSTITUTE OF SCIENTIFIC HERITAGE. 1.

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22/08/2018 1. Bhagavath Geetha three lines from the first chapter 1. Dhrtarastra said: Sanjaya, gathered on the sacred soil of Kurukshetra, eager to fight, what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do? 2. Sanjaya said: At that time, seeing the army of the Pandavas drawn up for battle and approaching Dronacarya King Duryodhana spoke these words? 3. Behold, master, the mighty army of the sons of Pandu arrayed by your talented pupil, Dhrstadyumna, son of Drupada. The first three lines of Bhagavath Geetha. The location is Kurkshetra. It can be in Haryana as mentioned in the present India, it can be in our body, it can be in the society, it can be in your mind…….. this kurukshetra can be the temple where you do your dharma (karmakshetra). thus it is said in the first line that dharma kshetre kuru kshetre… if these four words are rearranged it will become kshetre kshetre kuru dharmam… do your dharma in your karma mandala. This is the abstract in one line of Geetha. This messa...

THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS JNANAM - 19. Swami Vivekananda

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22/08/2018 19. Take a [brute], cut him [as it were] to pieces, and in five days he is all right. But if I scratch you, it is ten to one you will suffer for weeks or months. That energy of life which he displays — you have it too. But with you, it is used in making up your brain, in the manufacture of thought. So with all enjoyments and all pleasures. Either enjoy the pleasure of the senses — live like the brute and become a brute — or renounce these things and become free. The great civilizations — what have they died of? They went for pleasure. And they went further down and down until, under the mercy of God, savages came to exterminate them, lest we would see human brutes growling about. Savages killed off those nations that became brutalized through sense enjoyment, lest Darwin's missing link would be found. True civilization does not mean congregating in cities and living a foolish life, but going Godward, controlling the senses, and thus becoming the ruler in this ...

Yoga for Health, Happiness and World Peace-14. - Swami Chidanananda

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21/08/2018 14. The psychological aspect of Yoga is both connected with happiness as well as world peace. All the great religions have got a concept of a supreme state. What is this concept? It is always, invariably, no matter by whatever term they call it—Paradise; Heaven, their concept of that supreme state is happiness, where there is no disease, no pain, no suffering, no sorrow, no weeping, no grief, and it is all happiness, delight and joy. The very fact that all religions in their own terminology, in their own manner, have this ultimate concept of a state where there is no sorrow and there is only happiness and joy, and that this is pointed out as the desirable ultimate state to attain, shows clearly that joy, happiness, delight, and bliss is not here. It is not here in this world. So man finds that this life on earth is accompanied by a lot of sorrow, a lot of grief. Why is there pain? This suffering? Work is sorrow and pain; death is sorrow; old age is sorrow; disease...

Humanity as Yajna or Sacrifice for Perfection - 11. Swami Krishnananda

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21/08/2018 11. Moksha is the Infinite Value. It is not the last value, or one of the four ends of life. It is the Infinite itself. You cannot say that the Infinite is the last end in the long chain of development. It is Infinitude and, therefore, it subsumes within itself all other values. The temporal values, the objects of the world, the desires of life, the various vocations which we pursue, are all subsidiary to our allegiance to this ultimate call of life in its totality which we designate as Moksha, or liberation of the Spirit. The activities in life, in the various fields, and the various aspirations of mankind, whatever be its movements, whatever be the directions they take, all these are the gradual growth of the human personality towards this attainment. This is the message of Yoga. It is, thus, impossible for a person not to be a Yogi. Tasmat Yogi Bhava, (therefore, become a Yogi), says the Bhagavad Gita. This is the message of the Eternal to the temporal. It ...

Lord Krishna, His Lilas and Teachings - 4.1 - Sri Swami Sivananda

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20/08/2018 4.1- A Great Statesman : Sri Krishna was a great statesman. The world has not witnessed a greater statesman than Sri Krishna. He was a companion of liberty and a peacemaker. He had wonderful foresight and held extremely liberal views. Even when he was a boy, he taught people the essentials and the true significance of religion, when he rose against the popular worship of Indra for getting rains. Krishna was the greatest of the political heroes. He was the greatest statesman of all time. He was a king-maker. He was the founder of the city of Dwaraka. He was a great historical person. He was the spiritual leader and saviour of mankind. He was the greatest of spiritual heroes. He was appointed as the peacemaker to stop the civil war that was to be fought between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Yudhishthira sent Krishna to negotiate with Kauravas. He made a long and wise exhortation to Duryodhana. The thrilling and soul-stirring speech delivered by Sri Krishna before ...

All the *objective sciences in the world can be mastered by merely studying them - Swami Chinmayananda

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20/08/2018 *VivekaChudamani *Vedanta-2 The man who studies the *law of the *country with all its implications can become a lawyer; he who studies the symptoms of diseases and their cures can become a *doctor. An advocate of criminal law need not be a criminal himself, a doctor need not himself be a patient to know the *science of *medicine. But *Atma-vidya is gained only when it has brought about a complete regeneration of the individual who studies it. After gaining the objective *knowledge there must also be a subjective *achievement. You may learn to play an *instrument and be able to do so faultlessly, but it is *inspiration alone which makes an artist. ***

Bhagavad Gita for the modern life-8. Swami Udit Chaithanya

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19/08/2018 Today we will look at MADA(pride), a very subtle but powerful vice. It is not wrong to say we all live in some amount of pride…..at it is necessary in a transactional world. MADA is only an identification with “what you have”, instead of “what you are”. If someone asks you who you are, you define yourself using your family name, degree, job, titles,spouses, children, property or a skill you have. Because you are proud to have it all. And it is fine to a limited extend. The problem happens when you think of these possessions as your absolute existence. We all know the story of Sankaracharya’s pride smashed by Shiva who came as Chandala and asked “am I the body or soul to move out of your way” or Bhattathiri’s pride smashed by Guruvayoorappan to defend Poothanam. Today’s lesson:  There is nothing wrong in acquiring wealth, fame and skills or being happy about your achievements. But it is important to live with the realization that “I have all these things……. but ...

The Vital and Physical Underpinnings of Societal Development - Sri Aurobindo

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19/08/2018 The developed mental intelligence tries to look at situations and opportunities, facts and forces at work on those facts, and then work out a plan and expect to be able to implement that plan.  This intelligence, when it looks at the needs of a societal organisation, would recognise certain priorities and fundamental needs and would expect those to be developed first and foremost in any structure that develops.  However, the vast majority of life, including human life, has developed based on the physical and vital levels, not the planning intelligence of the most highly advanced, and thus, one can see societal evolution as occurring almost in an opposite manner to what the planner would consider optimal. Sri Aurobindo observes:  “Logically, one would suppose that the conscious and organised determination of its own rules of life should be the first business of a society from which all others should derive and on which they should be dependent and theref...