Rise Up! O Man!

Hari Om,

Fear is illusory; it cannot live. Courage is eternal, it will not die. Perils, calamities, dangers are the certain lot of every man who is a denizen of this world. Therefore, O Man! Fortify your mind with courage and patience. Fortitude, courage, presence of mind will sustain you through all dangers. Just as a rock on the sea-shore stands firm and the dashing of the waves does not affect it even a bit, even so a man who is endowed with courage is not affected by the dark perilous waves of this Samsara. He stands adamant in all trying conditions and circumstances and comes out victorious.

A man of courage does not tremble in the hour of danger. He is not embarrassed and bewildered. He does not sink down. He is not overwhelmed by despair.. He smiles away all dangers and difficulties, blows the trumpet of triumph and attains victory in the end.

The threatenings of fear are a terror to the heart. Lead a virtuous life. Live in God. Be good. Serve. Love. Give. Meditate. Nothing can frighten you. The Lord of Death will be afraid of you. The terrors, even of death, will be no terror to you.

Terrify not your soul with vain imaginary fears. From fear proceeds misfortune and failure. The fears of a coward expose him to danger. A coward dies many times before his actual death. Be bold. Be cheerful. Allow not your heart to sink down from the phantasy of imaginary fears. Have self-confidence and faith. Thy birthright is courage. You are Nectar’s son. You are a child of light. You are an offspring of Immortal Brahman. Claim thy Birthright now. Rise Up! O Man! Roar OM OM OM. You are the lion of Vedanta.

Excerpts from Swami Sivananda's book Conquest of Fear

Om Namoh Bhagavathe Sivanandaya !

Om Namoh Bhagavathe Chidanandaya !

Opportunities for Selfless Service

Hari Om,

The world is yourself. Therefore love all, serve all, be kind to all, embrace all. Behold the Lord in the poor, the down-trodden; the oppressed and lowly ones.Become a servant of humanity. This is the secret of attaining God-realisation. Seek out the lowly and the miserable; cheer up and bring a ray of comfort to them by serving them unstintingly. Console the disconsolate. Comfort the distressed. You will be blessed.Serve your parents, elders, teachers, and guests with divine Bhava. Wash the clothes of your parents, elders, the sick, and the Mahatmas.Feed the hungry, nurse the sick, comfort the afflicted, and lighten the sorrow of the sorrowful. God will bless you. Clothe the naked. Educate the illiterate. Feed the poor. Raise the down-trodden. The world is burning with misery and suffering. Wake up, O man! Serve! Serve with love. Serve untiringly. Attain the peace of the Eternal.

Have a knowledge of homoeopathy or Dr. Schussler's Twelve Tissue Remedies. Now serve the sick and the needy. And with first-aid knowledge, always give first help in all cases of emergency. Get medicine from the hospital or the dispensary for the helpless and deserving neighbours. Visit a hospital daily, if you can, or weekly, and give your best attention to the non-paying wards. Distribute oranges, if you can. Sit by the side of the patient and speak a few encouraging words. Smile awhile. Repeat, if you can, the Sahasranama of the Lord or the like. Tell him that you will meet him 'tomorrow'; and meet him.

Collect some old clothes and distribute them to the needy.Distribute a few pies to the lame, the blind, and to the hungry mouths as you walk along the street.Serve any social institution for one hour daily without any remuneration.Meet your friends and the members of your society in a common place once a week or a fortnight for Satsanga and Kirtana. Develop an understanding heart. Help your younger brothers in the spiritual path. Lift them up. Throw light on their path; Do not expect perfection from them. Be kind to them. They are doing their best, as you are yourself doing yours. You will grow by helping them.

Finally, think for yourself, how best you can utilise your energy, your intellect, your education, your wealth, your strength, or anything you possess, for the betterment of others who are low-placed in life, and for society in general.

Source : Swami Sivananda on Selfless Service - from Divyajivan website

Om Namoh Bhagavathe Sivanandaya !

Om Namoh Bhagavathe Chidanandaya !

Selfless Service Purifies

Hari Om,

What is the object in Seva or service? Why do you serve poor people and the suffering humanity at large? Why do you serve the society and the country? By doing service, you purify your heart. Egoism, hatred, jealousy, idea of superiority vanish. Humility, pure love, sympathy, tolerance, and mercy are developed. Sense of separateness is annihilated. Selfishness is eradicated. You get a broad outlook of life. You begin to feel oneness or unity of life. You develop a broad heart with broad, generous views. Eventually, you get Knowledge of the Self. You realise the 'One-in-all' and 'all-in-One'. You feel unbounded joy.

The first step in the spiritual path is selfless service of humanity. Selfless service is the watchword along the road to salvation. Selfless service of humanity prepares the aspirant for the attainment of cosmic consciousness, or the life of oneness or unity with God. Aspirants should direct their whole attention in the beginning towards removal of selfishness by protracted selfless service. Through selfless service and charity, develop the heart and cleanse the lower mind. Purify your heart by selfless and humble service of the poor and the afflicted, and make it a fit abode for God to dwell. Selfless service alone can purify your heart and fill it with divine virtues. Only the pure in heart will have the vision of God.

Grow in love, purity, and self-sacrifice. Live for others. You will attain the state of blessedness. Selfless service and cosmic love are the Ganga and the Yamuna that irrigate the field of the human heart and enable the rich harvest of peace, joy, prosperity, immortality, and Atma-jnana to be reaped.

 Source : Swami Sivananda on Selfless Service - from Divyajivan website

Om Namoh Bhagavathe Sivanandaya !

Om Namoh Bhagavathe Chidanandaya !

Wings of Fire

Hari Om,

Dr. Abdul Kalam, the former President of India, as a young man, had always wanted to be a pilot: hence, he applied to join the Indian Air Force. The selection board, however, did not shortlist the future president of India. Dejected young Kalam wended his way to Rishikesh, where he met Swami Sivananda of Divine Life Society. Kalam recounts this momentous rendezvous with the renowned saint, who has changed and is changing many lives in this universe, in his celebrated autobiography, "Wings of Fire":

I bathed in the Ganga and revelled in the purity of its water. Then I walked to the Sivananda Ashram situated a little way up the hill. I could feel intense vibrations when I entered. I saw a large number of sadhus seated all around in a state of trance. I had read that sadhus were psychic people–people who know things intuitively and, in my dejected mood, I sought answers to the doubts that troubled me.

I met Swami Sivananda–a man who looked like a Buddha, wearing a snow white dhoti and wooden slippers. He had an olive complexion and black, piercing eyes. I was struck by his irresistible, almost child-like smile and gracious manner. I introduced myself to Swamiji. My Muslim name aroused no reaction in him. Before I could speak any further, he inquired about the source of my sorrow. He offered no explanation of how he knew that I was sad and I did not ask. 

I told him about my unsuccessful attempt to join the Indian Air Force and my long cherished desire to fly. He smiled, washing away all my anxiety almost instantly. Then he said in a feeble, but very deep voice:

“Desire, when it stems from the heart and spirit, when it is pure and intense, possesses awesome electromagnetic energy. This energy is released into the ether each night, as the mind falls into the sleep state. Each morning it returns to the conscious state reinforced with the cosmic currents. That which has been imaged will surely and certainly be manifested. You can rely, young man, upon this ageless promise as surely as you can rely upon the eternally unbroken promise of sunrise… and of spring.”

“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear”–How true! Here was the teacher to show the way to a student who had nearly gone astray! “Accept your destiny and go ahead with your life. You are not destined to become an Air Force pilot. What you are destined to become is not revealed now but it is predetermined. Forget this failure, as it was essential to lead you to your destined path. Search, instead, for the true purpose of your existence. Become one with yourself, my son! Surrender yourself to the wish of God,” Swamiji said.

Source : This post originally appeared on the blog "Sundaysatsang"  and the reference is duly acknowledged here. 

Om Namoh Bhagavathe Sivanandaya !

Om Namoh Bhagavathe Chidanandaya !

The Importance of Sadhana

Hari Om,

A person in poverty sitting in a miserable hut is told by a spiritual personality endowed with intuition: “All your poverty can vanish, for there is a buried treasure twelve feet beneath the place where you are sitting, right here in the centre of this hut.” Now, the treasure is right there. It has not been created, it has not been brought into being. But will it make any difference to this man’s poverty, will it buy him a morsel of food notwithstanding the fact that the treasure is already there, it is inside the boundaries of his hut, he is sitting over it? 

No. He will have to start digging, straining every limb, wiping perspiration. He has to exert, dig and dig and dig. The treasure may be there, but he is the same poor man until he digs and digs and penetrates the twelve feet of earth. Even if he has dug eleven feet, eleven inches, he is still the same poor man. It is only when he has gone the full twelve feet that he is able to put his hand on the treasure and lift it up. Then alone his poverty vanishes and he is wealthy beyond his dreams. Exertion alone allowed him to attain the treasure. Exertion alone could bring him into living contact with what already existed in all its fullness. 

This is the way you can understand the necessity of exertion to attain that which is already there in close proximity. Tulsidas says: “You can create a blaze of fire from a block of ice, you can squeeze dry sand and make oil drip out of it, but this is sure, without sadhana, without worship, without adoration, you can never cross this ocean of samsara.” This rule will never vary—therefore, exertion, exertion, exertion, sadhana, sadhana, sadhana. 

“Do real sadhana my dear children,” sang Gurudev. Upon the spiritual path a happy-go-lucky temperament is no good. Laziness is no good. Vain excuses for not doing sadhana are no good. And fanciful notions that without sadhana you can get realisation are no good. Sadhana is the one thing necessary; effort is indispensable. Through effort you attain that which needs no effort to actually be experienced. But effort is needed to remove all that is intervening without and within. 

Excerpts from Swami Chidananda's book Ponder These Truths

Om Namoh Bhagavathe Sivanandaya !

Om Namoh Bhagavathe Chidanandaya !

The Analogy Of The Two Birds

Hari Om,

There are two birds on the same tree. One is perched at the top and the other below. The bird which is sitting on the top is perfectly serene, silent and majestic at all times. It is ever blissful. The other bird, which is perching on the lower branches, eats the sweet and bitter fruits by turns. It dances in joy sometimes. It is miserable at other times. It rejoices now and weeps after some time. Sometimes it tastes an extremely bitter fruit and gets disgusted. It looks up and beholds the other wonderful bird with golden plumage which is ever blissful. It also wishes to become like the bird with golden plumage, but soon forgets everything. Again it begins to eat the sweet and bitter fruits. It eats another fruit that is exceedingly bitter and feels very miserable. It again tries to become like the upper bird. Gradually, it abandons eating the fruits, and becomes serene and blissful like the upper bird. The upper bird is God or Brahman. The lower bird is Jiva or the individual soul who reaps the fruits of his Karmas, viz., pleasure and pain. He gets knocks and blows in the battle of life. He rises up and again falls down as the senses drag him down. Gradually he develops Vairagya (dispassion) and discrimination, turns his mind towards God, practises meditation, attains Self-realisation and enjoys the eternal bliss of Brahman. 

Excerpts from Swami Sivananda's book ' All About Hinduism  '

Om Namoh Bhagavathe Sivanandaya !

Om Namoh Bhagavathe Chidanandaya !

Do It Anyway

Hari Om,

 People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten.Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.

P.S :The verses above reportedly were written on the wall of Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta, India, and are widely attributed to her.

Om Namoh Bhagavathe Sivanandaya !

Om Namoh Bhagavathe Chidanandaya !

Prayer of Peace

Hari Om,

May peace be unto all the quarters,
May peace be to the skies,
May peace be to the earth,
May peace be to the waters of the earth,
May peace be to the medicinal herbs,
And may peace be to all plants that grow on earth.

May peace be to all living beings,
May peace be to the celestials,
May peace be to Brahma, the Creator,
May peace be upon peace itself.

Om Namoh Bhagavathe Sivanandaya!

Om Namoh Bhagavathe Chidanandaya !

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Hari Om,

Oh Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is injury, let me bring pardon.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is discord, let me bring harmony.
Where there is conflict, let me bring unity.
Where there is darkness, let me bring light.
Where there is sorrow, let me bring joy.

Divine Master, I do not seek so much to be consoled, but rather to console.
I do not seek so much to be understood, but rather to understand.
I do not seek so much to be loved, but to love.

For it is in giving that one receives;
for it is in consoling that one is consoled;
for it is in pardoning that one is pardoned,
and it is in dying to this little self that one attains everlasting light.

Om Namoh Bhagavathe Sivanandaya !


Om Namoh Bhagavathe Chidanandaya !