, Param Pujya Sant Shri Asaram Bapu Ji, Asharamji Bapu, Satsang, Spiritual Discourse, 16-July Morning Watch LIVE Satsang at www.ashram.org Facebook: on.fb.me Twitter: twitter.com Group: www.HariOMGroup.org News: www.AshramNews.org Radio: www.HariOmLive.org Sant Shri Asaram Ji Ashram’s…
Ahmedabad Sabarmati Motera Guru Poornima, Param Pujya Sant Shri Asaram Bapu Ji, Asharamji Bapu, Satsang, Spiritual Discourse, 15-July Morning Watch LIVE Satsang at www.ashram.org Facebook: on.fb.me Twitter: twitter.com Group: www.HariOMGroup.org News: www.AshramNews.org Radio: www.HariO…
www.shantimandir.com Preparing the food for a bhandara (feast) in Mahamandleshwar Swami Nityananda’s ashram in Magod, Gujurat India.
Trying to grapple with the sacred and secular thought in the Vedas is as formidable as navigating one’s way through a thickly wooded forest. Maybe that is why people tend to give up hopes of accessing the inner import of these scriptures. But Azhwars and devout poets such as Jayadeva and Leelasuka claim that the essence of these scriptures is easily available to those who empathise with the lives of the Gopis and meditate on the greatness of the Krishna Avatar. Here was the Supreme Lord who made Himself accessible to people and even allowed Himself to be tied to a grinding stone. Granting salvation is His sole privilege, and it is up to us to seek this highest goal from Him through love and devotion to Him, said Sri L. Sampathkumar in a lecture. The Vedas are compared to a Kalpaka tree because the knowledge contained in them is comprehensive — from the mundane to the sublime, from the material to the spiritual. The essence of Vedic knowledge is contained in the Bhagavata Purana and hence it is the ripened fruit of the tree of the Vedas. This text deals exhaustively with the life of Krishna. The Supreme Being promised Brahma and other celestials that He would eventually be born to reduce the burden that Bhu Devi was finding difficult to bear. When the newly married Devaki and Vasudeva were driven in a chariot by Kamsa, a celestial voice predicted Kamsa’s fall at the hands of the eighth child of Devaki. The Lord sought Yogamaya’s help to plan the birth of Balarama (an incarnation of Adisesha) in the womb of Rohini (wife of Vasudeva); and ensured His own safety after birth by requesting her to be born as Yasodha’s daughter at the same time when He would be born. The Lord was born as the most attractive child and immediately gave orders to Vasudeva to exchange the newborns. Kamsa was surprised to see a girl baby, but he tried to kill her too. She escaped his clutches and warned him once again that his killer was safe and would seek him at the appropriate time. The childhood of Krishna is full of dangers to His life; and the child had to protect Himself from Kamsa’s emissaries.
Vedantic cricket Lets all have some Vedantic Cricket Now Kapila enunciates the 25 tattvas of the Sankhya Yoga. These 25 tattvas can be understood in terms of the game of cricket, said Srivatsa Jayarama Sarma. Cricket has been defined as a game of glorious uncertainty. Life too is a game of glorious uncertainty. Life therefore can be analysed using cricketing terminology. The prapancham, that is the world, is the ground in the game of Vedantic cricket. The running between two sets of stumps is akin to the constant preoccupation of a samsarin, with the day-to-day aspects of life. The three stumps signify the qualities of sattva, rajo, tamas. The 10 fielders just waiting to get the batsman out, may be compared to the five gnanendriyas and the five karmendriyas. The bowler is the Kala Purushan — Time. He keeps track of our karmas in previous births. But in cricket there are two batsmen. While one bats, the other is idle at the other end. How can there be an equivalent to this in real life, when we are talking of a samsarin? The answer is that, when a person is born and lives in this world, he constantly has an impact or an influence on another person’s life. This is inevitable. When a child is born, for example, it gives a woman the status of mother. Just as the bowler tries in various ways to get us out, so do the many factors that tempt us and cause us to stray from the right path in life too. But the batsman, however careful he is, does get out one way or the other. He may be clean bowled — die a natural death. He may be run out — have an accident. He may get out if he himself accidentally knocks down the stumps — suicide. He may be declared lbw — he puts his bodily concerns above his spiritual concerns. He may be caught out — trapped by one of his indriyams. The scorer is like Chitragupta, keeping a tally of our score. There are three umpires in life too. Lord Krishna Himself says, “We are three. I, together with the Vedas and those who know the Vedas, hand out retribution or reward.” If the batsman scores four runs in one shot, he is applauded. If a man lives in accordance with the four Purusharthas of dharma, artha, kama and moksha, he deserves to be applauded too.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) Philosopher “I owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavad-Gita. It was the first of books; it was as if an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence which in another age and climate had pondered and thus disposed of the same questions which exercise us.“ “The Indian teaching, through its clouds of legends, has yet a simple and grand religion, like a queenly countenance seen through a rich veil. It teaches to speak truth, love others, and to dispose trifles. The East is grand – and makes Europe appear the land of trifles. … all is soul and the soul is Vishnu …cheerful and noble is the genius of this cosmogony” “When India was explored, and the wonderful riches of Indian theological literature found, that dispelled once and for all, the dream about Christianity being the sole revelation. Nature makes a Brahmin of me presently.” ” Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) German Philosopher “In the whole world there is no study so beneficial and so elevating as that of the Upanishads. It has been the solace of my life – it will be the solace of my death.” “It is the most rewarding and the most elevating book which can be possible in the world. “ “I believe that the influence of the Sanskrit literature will penetrate not less deeply than did the revival of Greek literature in the fifteenth century.” Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American Philosopher In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmological philosophy of the Bhagavad-Gita in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial.” “…Whenever I have read any part of the Vedas, I have felt that some unearthly and unknown light illuminated me. In the great teaching of the Vedas, there is no touch of the sectarianism. It is of ages, climes, and nationalities and is the royal road for the attainment of the Great Knowledge. When I am at it, I feel that I am under the spangled heavens of a summer night.“ Mark Twain(1835-1920) American Author “This is India! The land of dreams and romance, of fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty, of splendor and rags, of palaces and hovels, of famine and pestilence, of genii and giants and Aladdin lamps, of tigers and elephants, the cobra and the jungle, the country of a hundred nations and a hundred tongues, of a thousand religions and two million gods, cradle of the human race, birthplace of human speech, mother of history, grandmother of legend, great-grandmother of tradition, whose yesterdays bear date with the mouldering antiquities of the rest of the nations the one sole country under the sun that is endowed with an imperishable interest for alien persons, for lettered and ignorant, wise and fool, rich and poor, bond and free, the one land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for all the shows of all the rest of the globe combined. Even now, after a lapse of a year, the delirium of those days in Bombay has not left me and I hope it never will.” Ken Wilber(b-1949) American Philosopher and Author Larry [Warchowski] is just about as philosophically /spiritually well read as anyone you’re likely to find, and The Matrix films are a stunning tribute to that fact. Larry said that when he found Ken’s work, “It was like Schopenhauer discovering the Upanishads. ” Professor Max Muller(1823-1900) “India, what can it teach us?, “If I were to look over the whole world to find out the country most richly endowed with all the wealth, power and beauty that nature can bestow, in some parts a very paradise on earth, I should point to India. If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most developed some of it choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life and has found solutions of some of them which will deserve the attention even of those who have studied Plato and Kant, I should point to India. . And if I were to ask myself from what literature we, here in Europe, who have been nurtured most exclusively on the thoughts of the Greeks and Romans and of the Semitic race and the Jewish may draw that corrective which is most wanted in order to make our inner life more comprehensive, more universal, in fact a more truly human life, again, I should point to India. George Harrison(1943-2001) Beatles For every human there is a quest to find the answer to why I am here, who am I, where did I come from, where am I going. For me that became the most important thing in my life. Everything else is secondary Here everybody is vibrating on a material level, which is nowhere. Over there [India], they have this great feeling of something else that’s just spiritual going on Lin Yutang(1895-1976) Chinese writer India was China’s teacher in religion and imaginative literature, and world’s teacher in Trigonometry, quadratic equations, grammar, phonetics, Arabian Nights, animal fables, chess as well as in philosophy, and she inspired Boccasccio, Goethe, Schopenhauer and Emerson.”
Redefining Bhakti By Swami Omkara Nanda The greatness of the Vedas lies in the fact that they provide guidance for living for the entire range of human needs — from the most materialistic to the most detached and spiritual. Cutting across time, people and places, the authenticity, versatility and relevance of the Vedas have been acknowledged. The Bhagavad Gita redefines the Bhakti Bhava and establishes its crucial role in the Jivatma’s salvation by providing a direct link with the divine. Bhakti Bhava is a unique emotional experience and its flowering in an individual is directly proportional to the spiritual maturity that one attains gradually. This implies that the individual has faith in the message of the scriptures and in the teachings of the Lord, preceptors and the devout saints who have directly experienced God and remain devoted to Him. Lord Krishna reiterates that faith in scriptures is what differentiates a believer from a non-believer and that lack of knowledge of the Supreme Lord is the cause of all misery in this world. While it is easy to deny God, one needs faith to know Him. While the world, environment and people remain the same, there is an inner transformation bringing about an attitudinal change in us as love and devotion to Him begin to take root in our consciousness. Our outlook on things changes and our ability to deal with the problems of life is strengthened. Arjuna, who always thought of Lord Krishna to be a friend, is made to realise that He is none other than the Supreme Brahman incarnate. There is nothing further to be known than the ultimate knowledge of the Supreme Brahman. Unless one is able to cross the barriers of desire, greed and delusion, it will not be possible to know God. Among thousands of men, one maybe, struggles for perfection. Among those who thus struggle, perhaps one attains perfection. Amongst those who are perfect maybe only one may know the Lord. The Lord explains that He is manifest as the universe comprising earth, water, fire, ether, mind, intellect and egoism. He is also the sustaining force of the entire universe.
Nara-Narayana- Swamy Narayan Mandir Tools to know Truth By Sri,K.B.Devarajan Courtesy: The Hindu Lord Narayana’s foremost devotee is Adisesha, the serpent. Adisesha came along with the Lord, as He took avatars to save mankind. In the Rama avatar, Adisesha came as the Lord’s younger brother Lakshmana. In the Krishna avatar, he was the Lord’s elder brother Balarama. In the Kali Yuga, Adisesha appeared as the great Vaishnavite Acharya Ramanuja, who was born in Sriperumbudur. Why did Ramanuja take birth in this world? It was to show us that we can know happiness only if we know the Truth and that we can attain moksha only if we know the Truth. Now how does one know this Truth or Ultimate Reality? Only through ‘tattva gnana’ can we know the ultimate reality, We should know the ultimate reality to be saved from further births. All the Acharyas are agreed on this, whether it is Sankara, Ramanuja or Madhva. How does one reach this Truth? One must understand the Truth in the context of the Vedas. The religions that accept the primacy of the Vedas are known as the Vaidika mathas. Why do we need the Vedas to understand the Truth? Just as we need the microscope and telescope for scientific study, so also we need tools to understand the ultimate reality, and the tools that help here are the Vedas. We use our senses to make sense of the world. But when something is beyond our senses, how does one comprehend it? We need the help of the Vedas to understand that which is ‘ateendriyam’ – not comprehensible through our senses. So to understand God, we need someone to tell us about Him. Those who have seen Him do not talk to us about Him. Those who talk about Him are the ones who have not seen Him, says Thirumazhisai Azhvar in a verse. So the only way to know the ultimate reality is to see what the Vedas say in this regard, because the Vedas speak only the truth. Suppose you have not seen the Niagara Falls yourself, but you have a honest friend who has seen it. If he were to describe the Falls to you, you would believe him because he is trustworthy. Likewise, the Vedas that show us the Truth are to be trusted, and will help us know the ultimate reality.
Hi! Welcome to Ashram Yoga, the Blog. I'm Jessica Loftman, and this is an online space mostly for learning, exploring, and discovering, or at least these are my aspiring hopes. Perhaps as a vision, I hope that this website can be a place of exchange, so that together we may unmask the beauties of India, the ashram tradition, and, most importantly, the eloquent practice and history of yoga. I am both a student and teacher of yoga, and a blossoming dreamer who hopes to make life a journey through the passing waves of spirituality. While in relative perspective I am but a grain of sand within the ocean of spiritual living, I do hope that this site may inspire others to more deeply uncover their perception of yoga and its practices. Thanks for visiting!