WAKE UP EARLY:

 

IF there is on single habit that could make a huge impact on our life, that would be WAKE UP EARLY.

 

START BY DOING WHAT IS NECESSARY; THEN DO WHAT IS POSSIBLE; AND SUDDENLY YOU ARE DOING THE IMPOSSIBLE.

OBLIGATIONS

We know not when we leave, when life returns

So with this body, let us do good turns.

The soul often changes the body according to karma when and how we do not know .

Life is a mystery which comes and leaves the body and where it goes we cannot see.

Life is sure, only as long as it lives in this body

A bomb, a quake, a flood, a war can root out cities in no time.

The phase of the world changes daily.

Our body is doomed to fall one day life the petals of a flower.

So while yet it ensures, let us hasten to perfect ourselves and help our fellow-beings as best as we can.

• KAVI YOGI SHUDDHANANDA BHARATI

Meditation on the Sacred word OM

The Sacred word OM  is the primordial sound from which all other sounds emerge.  It underlies all phonetic creations.  The sounds of different languages and dialects are the various modifications and diversifications of the primordial sound Om.  The utterance of OM consisting of the three letters A, U and M, covers the whole process of articulation.  It is like the sound of a gong that gradually tapers to a point and merges in silence.

The sound Om embraces all levels of existence from the grossest to the finest.  It signifies the correlation between the microcosm and the macrocosm in all aspects.   The three letters A, U, M represent respectively the gross, the subtle and the causal aspects of the Cosmic Being.  The silence in which the sound merges represents the Pure Being underlying the three aspects.  No other word conveys the significance of the Ultimate Reality so profoundly as the word OM.  It is thus the most all-inclusive and most potent name of GOD.  Any other name of God preceded by Om attains these qualities.

— to be continued….

Why Worship is compulsory?
Important and inspiring incident from Swami Vivekananda’s life:
Once Swami Vivekananda visited Rajasthan and was the guest of Kings of Jaipur and Alwar. While at Alwar, Swamiji had an interesting conversation with Raja Mangal Singh who had been influenced by western notions and concepts particularly about worship and religion.
In his Court, the King asked Swamiji; Swamiji Maharaj, I have no faith in idol worship. What is going to be my fate?
He smiled as he spoke. Swamiji seemed slightly annoyed and exclaimed, “surely you are joking”
“No Swamiji not at all. You see, I really cannot worship wood, earth, stone or metal, like other people. Does this mean that I shall fare worse in the life hereafter?”
Swamiji answered, “Well, I suppose every man should follow the religious ideal according to his own faith.”
The devotees of the Swami were perplexed at this reply, for they knew that Swamiji sanctioned image worship. But the Swami had not finished; his eyes lighted on a picture of the Maharaja which was hanging on the wall. At his desire it was passed to him.
Holding it in his hand he asked, “whose picture is this?”

The Dewan answered, “It is the likeness of our Maharaja”
A moment later they trembled with fear when they heard Swamiji commanding the Dewan: “Spit on it”.
He continued; “Any one of you may spit on it. What is it but a piece of paper? What objection can you have against doing so?”
The Dewan was thunderstruck, and all eyes glanced in fear and awe from Prince to monk, from monk to Prince.

But our Swamiji continued to insist, “Spit on it, I say “
The Dewan cried out, “What Swamiji, What are you asking me to do? This is the likeness of our Maharaja. How can I do such a thing?”
Be it so said the Swamiji; but the Maharaja is not bodily present in this photograph. This is only a piece of paper. It does not contain his bones and flesh and blood. It does not speak or behave or move in any way as the Maharaja does; yet all of you refuse to spit on it, because you see in this photo the shadow of the Maharaja. Indeed, in spitting on the photo, you feel that you insult your master, the Prince himself”

Turning to Maharaja, Swamiji Maharaj continued, “see your Highness, though this is not you in one sense, in another sense it is you. That was why your devoted servants were so perplexed when I asked them to spit on it. It is a shadow of you; it brings you into their minds. One glance at it makes them see you in it; therefore they look at it with as much respect as they would have in looking at your own person. Thus it also is with the devotees who worship stone and metal images of gods and goddesses. It is because an image brings to their minds their Ishta or some special form and attributes of the Divinity and helps them to concentrate that the devotes worship God in an image. They do not worship the stone or the metal as such. I have travelled in many places, but nowhere have I found a single Hindu worshipping an image saying, “ O stone, I worship Thee. O metal be merciful to me”. Everyone, Maharaja, is worshipping the same one God who is the Supreme Spirit, the Soul of Pure Knowledge. And God appears to all according to their understanding and their representation of Him. Prince, I speak for myself. Of course, I cannot speak for you”.

Mangal Singh, who had been listening attentively all this time, said, with folded hands, “Swamiji, I must admit that looking at image worship in the light you have thrown on it, I have never yet met anyone who worshipped stone, or wood, or metal. Before this I did not understand its meaning. You have opened my eyes. But what will be my fate? Have mercy on me”.

Swamiji smiled and answered, “O Prince, none but God can be merciful to anyone; and He is ever merciful, Pray to Him. HE will show HIS mercy to you”.

— Life of Swami Vivekananda by His Eastern and Western Disciples,
Advaita Ashrama, Volume one page 268-270

……

Good morning ,

When confronted with difficult situations –

What do you wish for?

That the problem become easy?

or

you become better?……

I know there is a law by which God directly supports that devotee who depends solely on HIM.  If one lives the renuncient life sincerely, he will see how this law works.  The true renunciant knows that everything comes from GOD, and that HE is the sole support of life.

A man may have plenty of food, but if his heart fails, food has no value for him.  The power that supports our heartbeat, certainly knows our lesser needs.  If we live solely for GOD and have faith in HIS power, HE will give us direct help.

• Paramahamsa Yogananda.

Remembering Dr.Balamurali Krishna

Sri Balamurali Krishna gave his first public concert when he was hardly eight.  Before he was 15, he had composed songs in all the 72,  sampoorna melakartha ragas.  This continued uninterruptedly and now to his credit numerous compositions, which include varnams, kritis, Javalis, devotional songs and tillanas.

Veeramanunivar – Birth date: 8th November Born at Castiglione in the Venetian Republic, 8th November 1680 He entered the Society of Jesus in 1698 nearly forty years of apostolic life proving himself a worthy successor of the founder of the Mandura Mission, the celebrated Roberto de’ Nobili. he is better known as one of the classical writers of Tamil literature. No sooner had he arrived in India than he began the study of Sanskrit, Telugu, and especially of Tamil. he mastered the Tamil grammar in five years, and for the next twenty years made so thorough a study of the whole field of Tamil literature. He composed a grammar of High Tamil, and was the first to write a grammar of Low Tamil (the common dialect) which still remains the foundation of scientific Tamil philology. He is also the compiler of several Tamil dictionaries, among them the quadruple lexicon containing words, synonyms, categories of words, and rhymes; a Tamil-Latin and Latin-Tamil-Portuguese dictionary. His greatest poetical work is the “Tembavani” (The Unfading Garland), one of the Tamil classics. In a poem of 1100 stanzas, “Kittêri ammalle saritiram” he sings the praises of the martyr St. Quiteria In 1744, he was rector of the mission of Manapar, where he died (1746). His memory lives to this day in the form of his works especially Tembavani in Southern India.

 

SRI PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA SAYS:

There is a way of detachment you must practice; from the character flaws and habits grated onto your soul through the influence of your environment and ungoverned subconscious mind.

Introspect daily;

Sit down and analyze yourself deeply.

Find out whether you are a slave to the sense, always controlled by a craving for some pleasure.

Each one of you has some particular inclination to conquer.  Perhaps you are too greedy, or too sexually conscious, or you love flattery or are prone to anger.

If you sit quietly and ask yourself, “What is wrong with me?  What am I like, and why am I this way?”.

You will begin to understand yourself clearly.

And once you begin to identify your weaknesses, do not be overcome by discouragement instead, use your sword of wisdom and discrimination and your will power to get rid of those bad habits.