Pearls of Wise

 ====================================================================== ===================================================================== Wednesday, July 27, 2022. 06:00. Why it is that pride goes before a fall : ======================================================================= Pride is self-admiration, considering ourselves to be superior to others Inherent is the feeling that others are inferior. As human beings we are governed by emotions that are both negative and positive Pride is a negative quality Pride manifests in us as feelings and thoughts that proclaim that we are better than others in terms of wealth, appearance, status, popularity, youthful looks, religion and country. Pride with respect to lower qualities can be beneficial With respect to the Absolute it is.negative. Society accords pride a high position in the hierarchy of qualities Pride can lift one's sense of self and bolster confidence Self-esteem helps us overcome dejection and fear Someone could be i...

 ========================================================================= ========================================================================= Tuesday, July 26, 2022. 06:00. What Makes Trees The Greatest Karma Yogis? ========================================================================= Once, Sri Krishna was roaming in Vrindavan with his friends. It was a hot sunny day, and they took refuge under tall, shady trees.  On seeing them do so, he said:  “See these immensely fortunate trees. Their entire life is for the welfare of others. They face storms, rain, heat and cold, but protect us from all of them. Moreover, their birth as trees is most fortunate as they are the bestowers of life for all living beings” –  Srimad Bhagavatam, 10.22.32. Further, he pointed out that whoever comes to the trees, plants and creepers receives something or the other. The tired man rests his back under the shade of a tree. The tree also offers leaves and flowers for decoration and...

 ========================================================================= *Narayanashrama Tapovanam Front View ======================================================================== Monday, July 25, 2022. 06:00. The Power Within : ========================================================================= *Another view of the Ashram ========================================================================= When we analyze our lives, we find that to live a life of fulfillment there must be two basic abilities. One is involvemental in nature. We have to go ahead with life, getting involved in whatever is necessary from time to time. For this, we must have the necessary attitude, inspiration, compulsion and many other things. The net result of all this is an involvemental phase. We must be ready to take up whatever we are expected to do and get involved in it with full dedication and sincerity.   The other is the ability and readiness to withdraw from any involvement and remain p...

 ========================================================================= #Swami Sivananda Ashram (Headquarters of The Divine Life Society) Rishikesh, Himalayas, India. ======================================================================= Sunday, July 24, 2022. 20L30. LIVING IN THE PRESENT : This article is from the book What The River Has Taught Me. ======================================================================== #DLS(SWAMI SIVANANDA ASHRAM ANOTHER VIEW A very distinguished Indian, now no more, had once gone to London to attend a Royal function. On his return to India, while narrating his experiences to friends, he is said to have remarked: “Ar-rhey! They say, ‘Queen! Queen! Queen!’. What man! The queen is just like any other woman”. Even so, everyone says, “New Year! New Year! New Year!”. What New Year?! It is like every other year. For that matter, why only the new year? Each fresh month is a new month. Each week, each day, each hour, when it is born, is new too. Why,...

 ======================================================================== ======================================================================== Saturday, July 23, 2022. 06:00.  Part 2: Overcoming Difficulties and Obstacles on the Path : ======================================================================== ======================================================================== The primary initial difficulties faced by the sadhak in overcoming the vital nature are related to the Gunas of Rajas and Tamas. Rajas is naturally energetic and somewhat aggressive and thus, it tackles issues with vehemence. When it becomes frustrated or suffers a setback, it tends to recoil into tamas, with its depression and feelings of failure or weakness. While there are also at some point obstacles caused by excess of Sattwa, at least initially, it is the quality of sattwa that can aid the sadhak in overcoming the difficulties associated with the other two gunas, by developing peace and calm,...

 ======================================================================= ======================================================================== Friday, July 22, 2022. 06:00 YOGA AND LIFE : This article is a chapter from the book “Pointers on Vedanta” ====================================================================== .There exists a common belief, certainly an erroneous one, among the majority that Yoga is for those, who live in caves and forests, in monasteries and nunneries, away from the busy world, in seclusion, minding their own business without the least concern about other fellow-beings, renouncing the normal pleasures of life and aiming at some post-mortem happiness, in some far-off unknown worlds not seen by any one so far. While these recluses give up all the happiness of this world, the happiness in the form of enjoyments afforded by rich and affluent family life with all the modern facilities, high status in society, name and fame and the like, in the name of spiri...

========================================================================= ========================================================================= Thursday, July 21, 2022. 06:00. THE NEED FOR BOTH DISPASSION AND PRACTICE : ======================================================================== Early Morning Meditation Talk given in the Sacred Samadhi Hall of Gurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh The normal way of thinking about the spiritual life is that the individual soul has taken birth after birth and needs to be liberated from this round of births and death. But the scriptures tell us that we are already what we are seeking: That thou art… You are the Atman, ever-free, ever-pure. If that is so, then where is the question of any bondage or any liberation in reality? The scriptures explain that it is the mind that is the cause of both bondage and liberation in the human being. In other words, it is an illusion that the mind believes in, and, therefore,...

 ========================================================================= ========================================================================= Wednesday, July 20, 2022. 06:00. BEYOND TIME AND SPACE : ======================================================================== The holy man, wishing to be a king, became a king when the body was discarded. The germ of an idea “I wish I were a king” formed the seed which began to sprout. Then, by repeatedly entertaining the same idea, it assumed the strength and stature of reality. Why shouldn’t we do it now and say, for instance, “I am Buddha”? All right, you have planted the seed; that is one seed. From now on it has got to germinate, so be careful that you don’t disturb it. If you ask any medical scientist or gynaecologist he will tell you that once the first cell splits and starts multiplying the attention–or whatever it is that builds this foetus–is undeflected. All the nine months that which was building the foetus was at it tw...

 ======================================================================== ======================================================================= Tuesday, July 19, 2022. 06:00. LIVING THE DIVINE LIFE : ======================================================================== (From a talk delivered at Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh – 11 Sept. 1984) ======================================================================= You are imperishable Divine Spirit, beyond body and mind. God is the source of your being and you are inseparable from Him in your inner nature. Despite wealth and oppulence there is no peace in the 20th Century mankind. Man is in a state of restlessness and insecurity and there is discord and disharmony in the world. Holy Master Swami Sivananda out of great love and compassion showed modern man the path to blessedness in and through Divine Life right here in this world. We are only passing pilgrims here. Due to the force of karma we have temporarily come into this state ...

======================================================================== =========================================================================  Monday, July 18, 2022. 05:40. Man's Destiny in the Universe : ======================================================================== I Human arrogance can take many forms. One of its manifestations in a pre-eminent way is man's assumption that he is all-wise and his wisdom is incomparable, while its cruder forms take the shape of intolerance of the more respectable attitudes which the few enlightened ones entertain in life. Its subtler expressions go by the name of a scientific approach to things, which, it has to be confessed, is another name for a superior ignorance of anything which ranges beyond normal human understanding. This would make it obvious that a conceit of this kind is nothing short of a curse descended on humanity, and there has not been any other barrier to man's prosperity in the history of evolution. It may ...