DECEMBER 2010 THE GLORY OF SPIRITUAL LIFE 1
THE GLORY OF SPIRITUAL LIFE
(H.H. Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj)
GLORIOUS ASPIRANTS! in all the resplen dent basis of Brahman upon which the drama of the universe is staged. less edness be yours! You are B Service breaks the ego, opens the adhyatmika, dhiras, spir i tual heroes. Live heart, exp ands the con scious ness and deep - ever in the Spirit. Spiri tual life is nei ther life merely inside the world nor life simply out side ens the spirit. Love softens the hard person - it. It is life in the transcen dent al Being, the al ity, melts the mind and takes you to God. Spirit which is imma nent in all be ings, the Self Dhy ana burnishes you, exalt s you to the which is the Supreme Lord of ev erything, in- amanava sthiti, the su per hu man na ture, and side and out side. Spiri tual life can be lived reveals to you the treasure of wisdom within, "in" the world, but it is "beyond" the world, for the wisdom that is not given to the worldly, the it is not of the world. Live this eternal life! O wisdom that transcends the in tellect, the wis- mumukshus, live this glo rious life! dom that man can not hope to att ain un til he casts off the shell of his in di vidual ego by sur- The At man is the Light of the universe. render ing himself to the in finite light, the won- Live in it. It is, and therefore, all are. It shines, drous light which the spir i tually blind do not and therefore, every thing shines. It is free, and therefore, all strive for freedom. Know be hold. this source of freedom, the root of bliss, and Therefore, put forth ef fort. Sadhana is be free. spir i tual move ment con sciously sys tem- Towards this end, strive; dedi cate your atized. To restrain the senses, to withdraw life to this one su preme goal, the only mean- the mind, to be aware of the divine presence ing ful purpose. The world is chaff to this ma- is the es sence of sadhana. To speak the truth jes tic es sence which is the great goal of at all cost, to love all as one's own self, to be yours; it is darkness be fore the splendour of thoroughly disp as sion ate, to be pure in the Divine Being; it is ig norance in rela tion to thought, word and deed, to be contented and the knowledge of God. It is death in the light cheer ful, and above all, to be undeluded, to of that real life in the Truth of all truths. March be ever vig i lant and to remem ber God, the At - on with the help of this light and be free. man cease lessly, is the gist of spir i tual prac - The expe ri ence of the glory of spiri tual tice. Fol low these methods and real ise the life is pre ceded by the nega tion of the narrow high est per fec tion. life in the body and the mind. Therefore, Spiri tual life is the only glori ous life! For- trans form your selves com pletely, trans fig ure get not this great message, O man of the your entire being through service, through earth! Nations are formed. Sections are de vo tion, through med i ta tion, through knowl- raised. Wars are waged. Human ity is eager edge. Pierce the veil of delu sion, go be yond for any compet i tive race. Parties ri val each the dark pic ture of Maya, through recog ni s ing other. But this is not in con formity with Truth. DECEMBER 2010 MARCH TOWARDS FREEDOM 2
O unify ing bonds of love! Remem ber the es- the vastu, the real ity, that endures forever , is sen tial unity of the spirit, the oneness of life in God or Brahman —you may call him by any all. Your real glory is in the life of unity and name—for He is the sole Exis tence. Resort to peace. Break down sep ara tions. Build up Him; take refuge in Him; realise Him and be unity. This is glory! There is no glory in this free. mundane region, in this joyless world which is in fected by change, decay and death. De- May you all be trium phant in your struc tion and sorrow leave not a single be ing sadhana and att ain kaivalya moksha or abso - untouched. Every thing shall pass away. lute in de pend ence! Nothing shall re main. The only subst ance, OM TAT SAT k k MARCH TOWARDS FREEDOM
(H.H. Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj)
Chil dren of Im mor tal ity, equipped myself with the four means, I have puri fied my heart through selfless ser vice, The Lord is within you. He is seated in the Kirtan and Japa, I have served my Guru with heart of all beings. What ever you see, hear, faith and devo tion and have obt ained his touch or feel is God. Therefore hate not any- grace and bless ings? That man can save the body, cheat not anybody , harm not any body. world. He will soon become a cosmic Bea- Love all and be one with all. You will soon at - con-Light, a unique torch-bearer of wisdom tain eternal bliss and pe rennial joy. and a dynamic Yogi. Be self-dis ci plined. Be simple and har- O Man! Get yourself ready now. It is a moni ous in thoughts, feel ings, diet and dress. shameful thing that you have lived in vain till Love all. Fear none. Shake off lethargy , lazi - now and spent the life in eating, drink ing, idle ness and fear. Lead the Divine Life. Be a gos sip ing and worthless pur suits. The hour seeker af ter Truth or Real ity. Under st and the draws nearer. You have not done any meri to- Law and Dharma. Be alert and vigi lant. Over - rious act. It is not too late even now. Start come sorrow and conflict through enquiry nama smaran or reci tation of the Lord's and reflec tion. Move towards freedom, per- Name from this sec ond. Be sincere and ear- fec tion and eternal bliss ev ery second. nest. Serve all. You can make yourself worthy Is there anyone among you who can say of His grace. You can cross the for mida ble with empha sis and force now: "I am a deserv - ocean of birth and death and att ain eternal ing as pi rant, I am yearning for Moksha, I have bliss and im mor tal ity!
Edu ca tion must aim at implant ing in the pupils the ideal of simplic ity , ser vice and devotion in daily life, so that they may become simple and strong, and spend the knowledge they acquire in the service of the poor and the depressed, in the ser vice of the coun try. —Swami Sivananda DECEMBER 2010 SPIRITUAL AWAKENING—THE PURPOSE OF HUMAN LIFE 3
Swami Chidananda’s Letter of 1st Decem ber 1967 SPIRITUAL AWAKENING—THE PURPOSE OF HUMAN LIFE Be loved Im mor tal At man! the es sence of Yoga and Vedanta and Gurudev's gos pel of reli gion in daily life and Blessed Seeker af ter Truth! worship through ser vice. If by doing this I am Om Namo Narayanaya! Great indeed is my enabled to rep ay even the tini est frac tion of good fortune to commu ni cate with you the immea sur able debt of grati tude, which I through this letter , month by month, during owe to the sacred feet of Gurudev, I would this pres ent year that is now draw ing to its deem my self most blessed. Thus this close. Through my monthly letter to you I monthly Sivanandashram letter is to the have endeavoured to talk to you and share writer the means, whereby the great Guru is my thoughts on matters pert ain ing to your served and by which you too, who are life, to our culture, to Sanatana Dharma and Gurudev's spir i tual heirs, receive my ser vice. to Sri Gurudev's great spiri tual message and I also render service to sacred precious spir i tual teach ings. This to me is sa - Bharatavarsha and Bharatiya Samskriti (our cred ser vice to Sri Gurudev and also a means mother culture) by const antly remind ing her of keep ing personal con tact and thus coming chil dren about their noble heri tage and the closer to you as a mem ber of the Divine Life sub lime ideal which they must ful fil in their frater nity . It is a joy to me to keep in touch with lives. With this letter I come into your home. I you, through this Sivanandashram Letter . sit by your side and I speak to you of tasks to Blessed Atman! Through these lines I be done, of things to be remem bered and of seek to arouse within you a const ant aware- the great bless edness of hu man birth. I ness of the spir i tual purpose of your life. I speak of the path to peace and the way to seek to re mind you of the great impor t ance of bliss and above all of the pervad ing pres ence uphold ing Dharma in your daily life. I strive of God. Beloved Self, in God and God alone earnestly to hold up before you the lofty goal can you ulti mately find true happi ness and of God-realisa tion and to place be fore you fulfil ment. God is the great est value, the our worship ful Sri Gurudev's cen tral teach- grand glori ous REAL. The Sivanandashram ings of self less ser vice, devo tion to God, Letter brings you my words, as prompted by daily spir i tual med i ta tion and su preme di vine Sri Gurudev, whose servant I am. It is an ex- il lu mina tion. To bring the light of spiri tual and pres sion of my love, a symbol of my Seva and moral ideals in every walk of life and into ev - a means of of fering homage to God. ery activ ity of yours is the aim of this monthly Look back and briefly review the eleven letter , that comes to you from this most holy months that have gone by. How has the year and beauti ful Ashram of Sri Gurudev, where it been with you? Or rather shall I ask, how is my sacred privi lege to serve as his earnest have you been dur ing this year? Have you ser vant and slave. It brings to you the voice of made it a year of progres sive self-culture and the Hima la yas and the message of mother self-con quest? How much have you gained Ganges. The Sivanandashram Let ter carries phys i cally, eth i cally and spir i tu ally? Have you 4 THE DIVINE LIFE DECEMBER 2010 earnestly striven to make life a Di vine Life? less wit ness of the chang ing scenes. All Have these past eleven months seen a sub- things are pos si ble if you will manfully exert stan tial ad vance in truth ful ness, pu rity and and perse vere in your ef forts. Thus de clares self-con trol, kindness and good ness and the Gita. overcom ing of anger? These are the ques- Absorb into your very self the wondrous tions which you must answer at this moment. message of the Gita. Live, breathe and act in It is in the light of true and honest an swers the spirit of its sub lime gospel. Fol low its that you can move towards the coming India. prac tical teach ings; you will obt ain strength, Right under st anding, right resolve and right joy and peace. It will grant you complete free- ac tion verily consti tute the essence of real dom from tension, worry and fear. It will re- life. veal to you the se cret of ment al equi poise in The most valuable and the most impor - all cir cumst ances. Herewith I give you a gist tant thing in a coun try and its peo ple is the of the Gita teach ings. Lis ten carefully! cul ture that they have evolved. Their cul ture Thou art immor t al Soul. Thou art neither con tains their dis tinc tive sense of value, their body nor mind. Thou art inde struc tible, im- view of life and their ideals of con duct and perish able Atman. Nothing can harm you. what they consider to be the ulti mate goal to The physi cal body has birth and death. But it be att ained. Life in India has ever been based is only a cover ing or a mere cage in which upon the great culture derived from the you reside while on earth. You are deathless. Vedas, be ing the repos i tories of deep wis- In your real nature you are im mort al. Remem - dom. The highest wis dom of this richest trea- ber this. Realise this. Now become free from sure is to be found in the later parts that are all weak ness, fear and su persti tion. known as the Upanishads. The very essence of this Upanishadic wis dom is cont ained in Live with this radi ant awareness and the sub lime little scrip ture, the Bhagavad perform all actions in a spirit of in ner det ach - Gita, the Univer sal Gospel of all mankind. It is ment and desirelessness. Have neither love the direct teaching of God Himself in His in - nor hatred. Be balanced in plea sure or pain, car nation as Lord Krishna. The supremely loss or gain and suc cess or fail ure. Be alike to aus pi cious day, upon which this Divine Wis- good and evil persons. Nei ther be unduly dom was given to man, is marked as Gita elated nor depressed by any events or oc cur - Jayanti. On the 17th of this month this auspi - rences. Such equa nimity brings peace. This cious An ni versary will be observed every - peace grants hap pi ness. where in India. The Shrimad Bhagavad Gita Control the senses. Control the mind. is an immor t al treasure. Peace, joy and free- Subdue desires. Perse vere in this practice. dom from fear will be yours if you receive the Have self-re li ance; be con fi dent. Up lift your- teach ings of the Gita and imbibe its wis dom. self through deter mined ef fort. Slay all crav - To live in the spirit of the Gita is to be master ings. Sit alone in si lence every day. Sit in a of all sit ua tions and to pos sess the se cret of steady posture. Be relaxed. Breathe evenly. suc cess ful living. Will you be a victim of life or Withdraw the mind and the senses. Turn the go victo ri ously through life? You can choose gaze and fix it within. Now gently concen trate and decide. The wonder ful Bhagavad Gita and medi tate. Gradu ally the mind will be - will enable you to do this and will help you to come steady like the flame of a lamp in a go through life as a master and as a change - wind less place. Med i tate. Med i tate. Med i tate. DECEMBER 2010 SPIRITUAL AWAKENING—THE PURPOSE OF HUMAN LIFE 5
You will come face to face with the inner Re- duct the di vine quali ties. Give up lust, anger al ity and att ain wis dom. and greed. Surren der yourself at the feet of Do not indulge in mere talk and philo - the Lord. Follow the sacred teach ings of the soph i cal gos sip. Be a practi cal man. Do Gita. Fulfil the Divine Will. You will never something noble in this life. Develop virtue. come to grief. Health, pros perity and victory Live to serve others. Regard life as a sub lime will be yours. Cling firmly to the Lord and go Yajna or self-of fering, working for the happi - your way doing all your duties in a spirit of de - ness of oth ers. Such work verily becomes worship of the Supreme. Inwardly be ever tach ment and joy. Blessed self, this is in deed united with the Divine through const ant re- the call of the Gita. Respond to it! Crown your membrance of Him. This Universe is the life with success. man i fes ta tion of the Lord. I bow in homage to Bhagavan Sri Behold Him in the glories of nature. See Dattatreya and to Lord Vishwanath whom we Him in all names and forms. Feel His Pres- re mem ber and spe cially wor ship dur ing this ence at all times. This enables you to enter month. May God shower His di vine grace into commu nion with Him. You will have the upon you all and grant you health, long life, descent of His Grace. pros per ity and di vine bless ed ness. Prep are yourself for this Divine descent through right conduct, right faith and purity of life. Overcome Rajas and Tamas. Fill your life Yours in Sri Gurudev, with Sattva Guna. Make your life pure and Sattvic in all its de tails. Have knowledge of the three Gunas. Learn to discrim i nate be- tween the divine and the undivine, between the spir i tual and un spir i tual, be tween the holy and the unholy . Mani fest in your life and con- 1967 1st Dec emb er
Ever repeat the sacred Name of the Lord. The Divine Name is a power ful spir i tual force which can coun ter and ulti mately destroy all obst acles, all forces that oppose the as pi rant in his in ward path of medi tation and prayer. The power of the Name can not be eas ily realised un less one keeps deep faith in the Name of God and goes on prac tis ing it, and the method of awaken ing the power of the Name is through proper Bhava. Be rooted in firm faith. Make God the very centre of your life. Draw strength from prayer. His Divine Name is your support. Chant the Name of the Lord loudly in the morning and night. Let the Divine Name fill the home. May peace, pros perity and blessed ness be yours. —Swami Chidananda 6 THE DIVINE LIFE DECEMBER 2010
NAVARATRI—THE WORSHIP OF MAHADEVI
(Sri Swami Krishnananda)
[Contin ued from the previ ous issue] Why does this hap pen? The sci en tist has are told that one part was cut off from the his own an swer. There was an orig i nal ac tion other part. This is also the con cept of of the uni verse, and that orig i nal ac tion is the Ardhanarishvara, in our re li gious par lance. moti va tion for every other subse quent action. Lord Siva is half man and half woman, but not This orig i nal ac tion is called by many types of half in the sense of two dif fer en ti ated ir rec on - de scrip tive epi thets. Some call it the Big cil able parts. It is an an drog ynous to tal ity. Bang; a large sound was pro duced. What Lord Siva is not a half-man, and the other part would be that sound which be came the cos - is not seg re gated from him. It is his en ergy, mos? We can not imagine what it is. They which can not be dis so ci ated from him self. posit some such thing as the orig i nal cause, Descrip tions of this are at tempted in which broke the uni verse into two parts—half scrip tures like the Yoga Vasishtha, the this way, half that way. This is cor rob o rated Vishnu Purana, etc. where we are told that by the Upanishads, the Manu Smriti and the the re la tion ship be tween one part and the Mahabharata. So what they are saying is not other part—Siva and Shakti, and Ishvara and a fairytale. There seems to be some truth be - Nari in this Ardhanarishvara con cept—is hind it be cause we have it said even be fore something like the re la tionship of ses ame to sci en tists were born. The Manu Smriti says a the oil which is imma nent in it. Water which big anda was there, a cos mic egg which split, has li quid ity imbed ded in it, fire which has as it were, into two parts. We may call one heat insep ara ble from it, sugar which has part gold and the other part sil ver. Who broke sweetness that can not be sep arated from it, it? Sci en tists can not an swer this ques tion. and so on, are exam ples given in such scrip - Who split the uni verse into two parts? “He be - tures as the Yoga Vasishtha. In the Vishnu came the All. He was the All, is the All, and Purana, the re la tion ship be tween Narayana shall be the All in the fu ture. He, being All, and Lakshmi is de scribed in this fash ion. cre ated Himself through Him self,” says the Sesame is Narayana, oil is Lakshmi; water is Purusha Sukta. Tasmadvirad ajayata virajo Narayana, liquid ity is Lakshmi; fire is adhipurushah sa jato atyarichyata Narayana, heat is Lakshmi; and so on. paschadbhumimatho purah : From Him All these are intrigu ing de scrip tions of arose the cos mos; from that arose the pre sid - cer tain myster ies which seem to be the cause ing prin ci ple of the cos mos; from that also of every thing, and the cause of even our own arose that which de cides what is to hap pen in selves. The person who speaks and the peo - this uni verse af ter this split took place. ple who are listen ing and this very building, The be gin ning of the con cept of power, this very Earth—all these are included in the or shakti, seems to be hid den here when we ac tiv ity of this com pre hen sive oc cur rence DECEMBER 2010 NAVARATRI—THE WORSHIP OF MAHADEVI 7 that took place orig i nally as, in the language can not be anything called immor t al un less of the Purusha Sukta, a yajna or a sac rifice. there is something called death. They are God sacri ficed Himself, as it were, in becom - cor rela tive factors, and there is no such thing ing the uni verse. Why is it called a sacri fice? as in de pend ent im mor tal ity mi nus its re la tion- He became other than what He is. The alien - ship with the con cept of dying. Hence, even ation of Himself in the form of another than im mor tal ity is con sid ered as a sec ond ary fac - what He Him self is, is the act of His sac rifice. tor. God transcends death and immor t al ity, When I cease to be what I am and give away life and an ni hi la tion, be cause He Him self is part of me to somebody else—a share of me this pro cess. goes to an other—I am supposed to be do ing “One who contem plates this mystery ,” a sac rifice. If nothing goes from me, it is not a says the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, “he sac rifice. If you give charity but lose nothing himself be comes death.” Death cannot kill by giving that charity , it is not char ity. You that person, be cause death be comes his have not shared a joy of your person al ity. A very exis tence. Death it self, which is so fright - million aire’s do nation of one dollar is not to be ening, seeming to be tot ally out side us, con - regarded as a great sac rifice on his part, be- trolling us in every way, is the very self of that cause he has not shared his joy. He has a joy person who knows this truth. So if the self it - in pos sess ing the dol lars, and he has not lost self is death, and death is your own self, who that joy even in a modi cum by parting with will kill it? That is not possi ble. one dol lar. But if half of it has gone and he has given it volun t arily, he has shared a large Thus, in the act of sac rifice of the Al- part of his joy also, and he has done a sac ri- mighty in the form of this creation, He has be- fice. come Himself in an other form, as it were. The abundance of the joy of God’s uni - Siva has become Shakti, Narayana has be - versal exis tence is sup posed to be overflow - come Lakshmi, Brahma has be come ing in the form of this creation. This is how Saraswati, meaning thereby the power of mys tics some times ex u ber antly de scribe the trans for ma tion, the power of sus te nance and act of creation: He becomes His own power. the power of illu mina tion are three phases of “I am death and im mort al ity,” says the Lord in one great activ ity interconnectedly tak ing the Bhagavadgita. The Nasadiya Sukta says, place in this sea of en ergy I men- “Death and immor t al ity are shadows cast by tioned—which, accord ing to modern sci en - this Ab so lute Be ing.” Im mor tal ity also is a tists, is the be gin ning of all cre ation. shadow; so, what is the origi nal of it? There (To be contin ued)
If you know the mean ing of what the Self is, then you will au to mati cally know how to go there. * * * The Virat ex ists as an eter nally active Cos mic Art of dynamic Dance of height ened bliss-infi nite , which goes by the name of cre ation of a universe of panoramic expres sions of gor geous beauty and a vari ety of ex pe ri ence in the in divis i ble de light of Self-rec ogni - tion and Self-un ion in ev erything;—ev erything is ever ywhere , ev ery time, in ev ery form. —Swami Krishnananda 8 THE DIVINE LIFE DECEMBER 2010
NO IDENTITY IS OUR TRUE IDENTITY
(Sri Swami Atmaswarupananda) In the begin ning of the spiri tual life, God can want to lose the feeling of se cu rity that hav ing seem to be very real and very close. It is as if a defi nite iden tity gives us. But if our goal is we can almost grasp Him. But the longer that Brahman alone without a sec ond, it means we are in the life, the goal of ten seems to be that there is nowhere that we are not. The more and more remote. It’s not that we are moment we define ourselves, we lose our- not mak ing prog ress. Our eth i cal be hav iour selves. As they say, to define God is to de- may have improved. Our devo tion may be stroy God. Our true identity is no identity . deeper, and, no doubt, our under st anding Therefore our mind has to under st and has exp anded greatly. But still, the goal it self that cling ing to the feeling of se cu rity from an does n’t seem to be as close as it was orig i - iden tity is what is blocking us from the goal. nally. True se cu rity is in having no iden tity. But we What is the dif ficulty? As the scriptures have to be prep ared to take the gamble. say, our funda men t al error is wrong identi fi - Pujya Swami Chidanandaji used to like the ca tion. Our identi fi ca tion now is not only with anal ogy of climbing a lad der to the terrace of the body and mind, but with our family , our a build ing. He said that you must climb the oc cu pa tion, our com mu nity, our na tion, per- lad der. There is no other way to reach the ter- haps even as being a cit i zen of the world. race. But when you reach the level of the ter- Whatever it is, it is an objec tive identi fi ca tion. race there is no way get onto the terrace We have a clear object in our mind of who we except to jump off the ladder . are, and we imagine that God, who we are Therefore, we use the process of neti, seek ing to att ain, will simply be a much neti. Each not this, not this, is a rung on the grander object—per hap s having no di men- lad der. We keep elim i nat ing iden ti ties that we sions, but still an ob ject to us. are hanging on to, but finally we have to take Having our identity as an object gives us the leap into no iden tity. That is our true Self, a feeling of comfort, of secu rity. Therefore, the goal, which will give us every thing that we our funda men t al problem is that we don’t are seeking.
There is no eye like that of knowledge. There is no penance like the prac tice of truth. There is no sorrow like att ach ment. There is no happi ness like re nunci a - tion. There is no friend like Guru. There is no safe boat to cross the formi da ble Samsara like Satsanga. * * * Mercy is the highest virtue. Forgive ness is the high est power. The knowledge of Atman is the highest knowl edge. —Swami Chidananda DECEMBER 2010 BRAHMACHARYA SADHANA 9
BRAHMACHARYA SADHANA
(H.H. Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj)
[Con tin ued from the pre vi ous is sue] RULES FOR BRAHMACHARINS Thirsty aspi rants, who are treading the path of Self-realisa tion, who are household - ven advanced aspi rants who have made E ers above forty years of age, should give up great progress in Yoga should be very care- con tact with their partners in life, even very ful. They should not freely mix with women. oc ca sion ally. They should ob serve per fect They should not foolishly imagine that they physi cal Brahmacharya if they want realisa - have become great adepts in Yoga. A great tion in this very birth. There is no half mea- saint of repute had a downfall. He freely sure in the spir i tual path. mixed with women and made women-disci - ples, whom he allowed to massage his legs. TO THE CELIBATES As the sex energy was not com pletely subli - You must un der stand the psy cho log i cal mated and turned into Ojas, as lust was lurk - working of the sex-impulse. When there are ing in a sub tle form in his mind, he became a itches on the body, mere scratching of them victim to pas sion. He lost his rep ut ation. The is a plea sure. The sex-impulse is only a ner- sexual de sire was only suppressed in him, vous itching. The satis fac tion of this impulse and when a suit able op portu nity came, it beget s a de lu sive pleasure, but it has a di sas - again as sumed a grave form. He had no trous ef fect on the spiri tual well-being of the strength or will-power to resist the tempt a- per son. tion. Passion is the in stinc tive urge for Another great soul, who was regarded externalisation through self-pres er va tion and by his disci ples as an Avatara, became a self-mul ti pli ca tion. It is the di ver sifying power Yoga-Bhrashta. He also freely mixed with la- which is di rectly opposed to the force that dies and commit ted a se rious lapse. He be- moves towards the inte gra tion of being. came a prey to lust. What a sad misfor tune! Con trol over pas sions con sti tutes the Aspi rants climb with great dif ficulty by the lad- es sence of truth. Self-denial or refrain ing der of Yoga and they are irre cov er ably lost from greed and indul gence is truth. Truth is forever on account of their careless ness and eternal life and exis tence. Untruth is change, spir i tual pride. decay and death. That Yogi or Jnani who has att ained the Self-control is the hold ing in check of the high est Nirvikalpa Samadhi, in whom the in stinc tive urges that try to drag the indi vidual seeds of Samskaras (impres sions) are fried away from Truth. Self-control is a uni versal in toto, can claim himself to be a perfect rule which applies to all men and all women, Urdhvareta Yogi or one who has complete at all places and at all times. It is the very key sex-sub li ma tion. to be at i tude. 10 THE DIVINE LIFE DECEMBER 2010
Indul gence in ob jects is the ef fect of the THE DUTIES OF A BRAHMACHARI fail ure of the in di vid ual to dis crim i nate the The Brahmachari should direct his en - truth from untruth. Desire to have cont act with and enjoy exter nal things is the out come of tire atten tion solely to study and acquir ing of the igno rance of the Truth which is God. such knowl edge as would enable him to be- Self-control is the restraint of the outgo ing come a worthy mem ber of soci ety. During his tenden cies of the mind with the senses and period of study let him live ei ther with his par- the cen tering of the Truth which is the Univer - ents or at the place of his study under the su- sal One. This is Dharma which support s the pervi sion of teach ers. He should not live by life of the universe. Adharma is self ish ness himself, with friends and acquain tances nor and egoism of nature which leads to self-im- with rel a tives. pris onment, suf fering and fail ure in life. Abso - A Brahmachari should not lose his seed. lute righteous ness means the sac rifice of the In case ac ci dent ally it is lost, he should imme - Self for univer sal well-being, the well-being di ately take a cold wa ter bath and repeat pert ain ing not merely to the earth but to the Gayatri or Omkara one thousand and eight high est spir i tual re al ity. It is the op po site of times. “I”-ness and “mine”-ness which belong to the The Brahmachari should respect his el - nature of the world of bondage. The ders with devo tion. Samskaras of worldly attrac tions breed ob- struct ing forces and hin der the healthy prog- He should daily perform his ress of life, both physi cal and ment al. Sandhyavandana, of fering prayers to the You must segre gate yourself for some- Sun, and perform Agnikarya. time and live in a place full of ener vat ing air of The Brahmachari should have Japa as health, peace and joy. Live with spiri tually ad- his high est pos ses sion. He should never vanced men and stop reading all books ex - leave Japa. cept those that are directly spiri tual. Put an Guru is the embodi ment of all Vedas end to going to excit ing cin emas and films if and all Devas. Therefore, God and Guru you have got that habit. Do not read those should be taken as one and he should wor - journals which excite your lower instinct s. Do ship his Guru daily. He should serve his Guru not con verse with those who are ea ger to and Guru’s wife with faith and devo tion for a con vey irri t ating news and dis turb your men - complete twelve years. tal poise. He should never look at girls and should Lack of spir i tual Sadhana is the main not talk with them. Looking cre ates a de sire cause for all sexual attrac tions. Mere theo ret - to go near them. Going near creates a de sire i cal ab sten tion from sen su al ity will not bring to talk with them. Talk ing cre ates a de sire to you good result s. You must merci lessly cut off touch them. Touch ing de stroys Brahmachari all formal i ties in so cial life and lead a pi ous tot ally. Therefore, the Brahmachari should be life freed from the business of bodily exis - tence. Leniency to inter nal lower tenden cies very strict in his movement s and wander ings. will land you in the region of suf fering. Excuse He should never look at an object or anything will be of no use in this re spect. You must be that rouses lust in him. He should tot ally sin cere in your quest for the sublime life of avoid cont act, proxim ity or even thought of spir i tual ity. Half-heartedness will leave you in such things that give rise to impure feelings. your old state of misery . (To be continued) DECEMBER 2010 LEARNING MEANS THIS 11
Chil dren's Page LEARNING MEANS THIS
(Sri Swami Ramarajyam)
Once a teacher taught a les son to that I have memo rised the les son on an - the stu dents. The theme of the les son ger.” was: how to shun an ger. The teacher The teacher was very happy to hear said, “Memo rise this les son and re peat it his state ment. to mor row in the class.” Dear chil dren, your books con tain The next day all the stu dents re - lessons on so many good manners. You peated that lesson except the one who might also be read ing them and learn ing said, “I have not been able to memo rise them by heart. You might be read ing those les sons aloud to oth ers. This is not the les son.” enough. You must also trans late those And, for many days that stu dent re - man ners into prac tice in your daily life. peated the same re ply. One day the Your learn ing is not com plete un less good teacher got angry at his reply and began man ners are reflected in your con ver sa - to beat him. He kept on beat ing him but tion, your ac tions and your be hav iour. the stu dent suf fered the beat ing silently . Mere repe ti tion of the mugged up things Next day the stu dent said hap pily, is not in dica tive of com plete learn ing. “Sir, I have mem orized the les son. Yes ter - Learn ing means putt ing into prac tice day you beat me and I bore the beat ing the les sons you have learnt—and not with out get ting an gry. I am now convinced merely reading or memo ris ing them.
The practice of virtue, the worship of God and Paropakara to others—these three form the very essence of a truly noble life. Never neglect them. Ever practise them. This is real earning (kamaayi). He who has this earning, he ac cu mulates the greatest wealth even though his earthly income may be modest. —Swami Chidananda DECEMBER 2010 LIVE DIVINELY 12
Sivananda’s Gos pel of Di vine Life LIVE DIVINELY VALUE OF DISCIPLINE It was heard of the Master himself that t takes all sorts of peo ple to make an during the days of his Sadhana life at I Swargashram he would fol low the disci pline Ashram. And Sivananda Ashram is noted for of that Ashram. While the author i ties were its cath olic ity of faith, so that any one profess - eager to serve him in all pos si ble ways, the ing any reli gion, creed or Yoga can be come Master would insist on be ing one among the its in mate. There are some ortho dox Vairagis crowd of Sadhus, and decline to make use of who would prefer to take alms from the the privi leges granted him. He would stand in kitchen and eat it on the Ganges bank. the long queue in the hot sun, waiting for his Vishnu Swamiji was one of them. The kitchen turn to take alms. manager found it rather incon venient to serve him with alms and serve at the dining hall at NAMASKAR SADHANA the same time. Swami Satchidananda Mataji had men- The Master called Vishnu Swamiji and tioned in a speech which she de livered, how said, “In all that you do you should try not to she formerly used to feel unwill ing to pros- cause the least trou ble to others. Well, if you trate to others. wish to take your alms and eat it on the Gan- On his way back to his room from the of - ges bank, do so by all means. It is good. And fice, the Master turned to her and asked, it would not be very dif ficult for the kitchen “Where is the need to prostrate to G.? She people to arrange it. But you should have pa - belongs to a dif ferent order and is not a tience and dis ci pline. You should wait for your Sannyasin. Why should a Sannyasin pros - turn. Never ask for extra consid erations. Obey the rules. It will help you in your evolu - trate to a householder?” tion. Satchidananda Mataji re plied. “I saw “Even God follows cert ain self-imposed other Sannyasins prostrat ing to her.” rules. Think of the uni versal laws, how beau- The Master then said, “There is no harm tifully they oper ate. Think of the corre la tion of in pros trating to all, for all are mani fes tations plan ets, and with what preci sion and rhythm of the Lord. I do prostra tion even to the they move. Cannot God also leave the world cow-dung, for, every thing is Brahman. Doing and prac tise aus terity in Uttarkasi? He has pros tration is by it self a Sadhana. It is his eye on every atom of creation and attends Namaskar Sadhana. You should not think: to every one’ s needs. He has to keep ac count ‘He is a thief, he is a very wicked man.’ The of every one’ s Karmas and mete out the re - Lord Himself has said in the Gita: ‘I am the wards and punish ments in strict ac cor dance gambling of the cheat’. By doing pros tration, with eternal laws. You should ac quire that good health is ac quired and life is pro longed. much of self-disci pline if you wish to evolve There was a great saint of Maharashtra who into Godhead.” used to do pros tration to asses and horses. DECEMBER 2010 LEARNING MEANS THIS 13
Once he prostrated to a dead ass and it was vision, peace, bliss, per fect se renity , bal- at once restored to life. Such is the great anced mind under all con di tions, cos mic love power of Namaskar! and steady wisdom.” “You may not actu ally prostrate, but are “How can he himself know that he has you ready to do prostra tion to pigs, bulls and att ained the state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi?” asses? All are mani fes tations of God. So you was the next question. should be ready to prostrate to all. There “If his expe ri ence tal lies with the expe ri - should be no in ner con flict. Your prostra tion ences of the seers of the Upanishads, if he should be whole-hearted and sincere.” enjoys abso lute bliss and peace, if he main - tains un perturbed seren ity of mind under the A SYMPATHETIC ANSWER worst situ a tion, if his doubts have been rent A man referred to the Master a cert ain asun der, if he beholds unity in diver sity , if he ail ment from which he was suf fering. The feels that he is the Self in all be ings and that Master told him to take an en ema. the whole world is his body, if he is perfectly He enquired, “Is enema a food?” free from desire for sen sual ob jects, if he is not swayed by attrac tion and repul sion, and “Enema is not a food,” replied the Mas- is free from lust, anger , egoism, pride and at- ter. “It is the injec tion of liq uid into the rectum tach ment, he can be sure that he has at- so that the bowels may be cleared.” tained Self-reali sa tion.” Af ter re ceiv ing the Mas ter’s in struc tions Another devo tee asked, “Swamiji, God the ail ing man dep arted. is all-merci ful. Why should He not, out of His The Master always had a sym pathetic in finite mercy, save people from misery? Why un der stand ing of the dif fi cul ties of oth ers. An should peo ple suf fer at all?” ordi nary man might have at once laughed at The Master replied, “God has given man the ail ing man’s ques tion. free will to act as he likes. Man enjoys or suf - NIRVIKALPA SAMADHI fers ac cord ing to the nature of the actions that he does, whether they are good or vi- A learned visi tor had Darshan of the cious. God does not force His Will upon man. Master in the of fice. He expressed cer tain It is up to man to embrace His Will. Only when doubts which the Master readily cleared. man surren ders his will to the Divine Will, will He first said, “Swamiji, I want to know the latter oper ate in him. There is no coer cion something about Nirvikalpa Samadhi. The on the part of God. He sim ply waits till man of scrip tures say that a person who has att ained his own ac cord prefers Divine Will to his indi - this state would not publicly say that he has vid ual will.” att ained it. Then how are we to know that Swami Venkatesanandaji then said, such and such a man has at tained the high - “Swamiji, God being omnip otent, He can so est wis dom or not?” will that man may will in confor mity with the The Master replied, “We can know it by Divine Will, and thus avoid sins and suf fer- ob serv ing his ac tions, be hav iour, talk, equal ings spring ing therefrom.” 14 THE DIVINE LIFE DECEMBER 2010
Yoga in Daily Life RAJA YOGA
(H.H. Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj)
[Con tin ued from the pre vi ous is sue] Just as there are doors in a bunga low be- When you show symptoms of losing tween the outer and inner rooms, so also your memory , as you grow old, the first symp- there are doors between the lower and higher tom is that you find it dif ficult to remem ber the mind. When the mind is puri fied by the prac- names of persons. The rea son is not far to tice of Karma Yoga, Tapas, right con duct or seek. All the names are arbi trary. They are the practice of Yama, Niyama, Japa, medi ta - like la bels. There are no asso ci ations along tion, etc., the doors between the lower and with the names. The mind gen erally remem - the higher mind are opened. Discrim i nation bers through asso ci ations, as the impres - between the real and the unreal dawns. The sions be come deep thereby. You can eye of intu ition is opened. The prac titio ner remem ber in old age some pas sages that gets in spi ra tion, rev e la tion and higher Di vine you have read in schools and col leges. But knowl edge. you find it dif ficult to remem ber in the evening It is extremely dif ficult to have a calm a pas sage you have read in the morning. The and pure mind. But you must have such a reason is that the mind has lost its Dharana mind, if you want to have progress in medi ta - Sakti (power of grasping ideas). The cells tion, if you desire to do Nishkamya Karma have degen er ated. Those who overwork, ment ally, who do not observe the rules of Yoga. Then only you will have a perfect in - Brahmacharya and who are af flicted with strument, a well controlled mind at your dis - much cares, worries and anxi eties, lose their posal. This is one of the most impor t ant power of mem ory soon. Even in old age you qual i fica tions for the aspi rant. You will have to can re member old events as there are as so - struggle hard for a long time with patience ci a tions with events. and per se ver ance. Noth ing is im pos si ble for The ment al processes are lim ited to the a Sadhaka who has iron will and strong deter - field of con scious ness alone. The field of mi na tion. sub con scious mentation is of a much greater Just as soap cleanses the phys i cal body extent than that of conscious mentation. so also Japa of a Mantra, Dhyana, Kirtan and Messages when ready, come out like a flash prac tice of Yama cleanses the mind of its im- from the subcon scious mind or Chitta of the pu ri ties. Vedantins. Only ten per cent of ment al ac tivi - ties come into the field of conscious ness. At CHITTA least ninety per cent of our ment al life is sub - con scious ness. We sit and try to solve a The sub con scious mind is termed problem, and fail. We look around, try again “Chitta” in Vedanta. Much of your sub con - and again but fail. Suddenly an idea dawns scious con sists of sub merged ex pe ri ences; and leads to the so lu tion of the problem. The memo ries thrown into the background but re- sub con scious pro cess was at work. cov er able. (To be contin ued) DECEMBER 2010 RAJA YOGA 15
CULTURAL TOUR OF H. H. SRI SWAMI VIMALANANDAJI MAHARAJ In response to the kind in vit ation from his commit ment to est ablish eight Sivananda the devo tees of South Africa, H. H. Sri Swami Pillars all over South Africa. Now, he has es - Vimalanandaji Maharaj, Pres i dent, DLS tablished three Pil lars suc cess fully. We of fer Head quar ters un der took an ex ten sive tour of our prayers to Sadgurudev to bless Sri Eswar South Africa from the last week of August to Ramlutchmanji with radi ant health, long life the first week of Novem ber 2010. and happi ness so that he can con tinue to do Sri Swamiji ar rived at Johan nes burg on Gurudev’s seva. 23rd August and was cordially received at the Sri Swamiji also vis ited La Mercy, airport by Dr. Sandeep Bhana, Mrs. Priya Pietermaritzburg, Stanger and Chatsworth Bhana and other devo tees. Sri Swamiji Ashrams of South Africa. Every where Sri stayed at Dr. Bhana’s res i dence in Jo hannes - Swamiji was welcomed with great rev erence burg and enjoyed the warm hos pi tal ity of the and devo tion and the satsangs were also well Bhana family up to 30th Septem ber 2010. attended. On 7th Oc to ber, Sri Swamiji left for During his en tire stay at Johan nes burg, Sri Swamiji conducted Satsanga every af ter- the Coast and stayed for two weeks at the noon at Dr. Bhana’s home and shared with beau ti ful res i dence of Sri Sivananda the devo tees his words of wisdom and per- Munsamyji at Merebank. A spe cial satsanga sonal expe ri ences with Sadgurudev Sri was organ ised by Sri Sivananda Munsamyji Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. Sri Swamiji also at the Ukhozi Confer ence Centre on 10th Oc- blessed the Sadhaks and devo tees of the tober 2010 wherein more than two hundred Sivananda School of Yoga, a DLS Branch, dev o tees par tic i pated. with his in spir ing talks every Satur day . At the kind request of the devo tees of Sri Swamiji left for Durban, Kwazulu Na- Pietermaritzburg, Sri Swamiji visited tal on 30th Sep tem ber and stayed at the DLS Pietermaritzburg on 18th Oc tober and Sri South Africa sit uated at Reser voir Hills for Prem Kanthilalji and Renuka Mataji had the one week. On 1st Oc to ber, Sri Swamiji un- privi lege to of fer their loving ser vices to Sri veiled the Sivananda Peace Pillar in a glo ri- Swamiji. Dur ing his weeklong stay at their ous func tion held at Sri Ganesh Temple in res i dence, Sri Swamiji blessed the devo tees Phoenix, a suburb of Durban. Apart from the every evening with his satsang. devo tees of Sadgurudev, King Goodwill On 25th Octo ber , Sri Swamiji came Zwelethini, Queen Mafa Zwelethini, Mangosuthu Buthelezi and many other digni - again to Jo hannes burg and stayed at Dr. tar ies at tended this aus pi cious func tion. Sri Bhana’s home and conducted satsangs ev- Eswar Ramlutchmanji of Richards Bay, a ery evening. Sri Swamiji left for India on 10th great devo tee of Holy Mas ter Sri Swami Novem ber and on his way back to the Head- Sivanandaji Maharaj, was instru men t al in es - quarters Ashram stayed at Delhi for two days tab lish ing this Pil lar. and blessed the devo tees. Sri Ramlutchmanji has vis ited the Head- Sri Swamiji’s visit to South Africa en - quarters Ashram many times and on one oc- abled the devo tees of Worship ful Gurudev to ca sion, he met Revered and Worship ful Sri come together and also con tributed im- Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj in Dehradun. mensely in spreading the glo rious message During this meeting, he told Sri Swamiji about of Divine Life. DECEMBER 2010 DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA . . . . 16
DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA HOLDS ONLINE INTERACTIVE SATSANG WITH HQ ASHRAM
The Divine Life Soci ety Branch, Syd- programme, and encour aged its further de- ney, Austra lia held its first online in terac tiv e vel op ment. Satsang with the Headquar ters Ashram at On their return to Austra lia, Sri the home of Sri Karo Reddy and Smt. Sankarji discussed with Sri Gunvant Shameel Reddy at Croydon, Sydney on 7th Vaghela as to the type of Satsang/dis- No vem ber 2010. course they would wish to have and Sri The Satsang was attended by 51 dev - Gunvantji suggested that the inter ac tiv e otees from Sydney , Austra lia who en joyed Satsang may be conducted imme di ately in new and in nova tiv e techniques used at this the next Monthly Satsang, i.e. on Sunday, Satsang, in the form of live in terac tion with the 7th Novem ber 2010. Sri Swami Padmanabhanandaji Maharaj, Once Swamiji’s availabil ity was con- General Secre t ary, DLS Hq, with the use of firmed (on Wednesday) it was ‘all systems PowerPoint slides for ref erence during the go’ to have the first DLS Online Inter ac tiv e programme and words of Invo ca tions and Satsang with Swamiji in Sivananda Bhajans. Ashram, India and devo tees in Sydney , Aus tra lia. The idea of an inter ac tiv e Satsang was born some months ago when members of The lo gis tics of or ga niz ing a suit able DLS Aus tra lia started guided med i ta tion programme and equipment were put to- sessions using Skype software and the gether by some of the commit tee members Internet. This was further devel oped when and techni cal Sadhaks of DLS Austra lia. Sri Sankar Ramiah and Smt. Jesseii Sher This had to ensure that the satsang could visited the DLS HQ in Rishikesh and pre- flow easily without distrac tions and inter - sented the idea to Sri Swami rup tions. Padmanabhanandaji Maharaj. Swamiji, The programme was drawn up with with the techni cal assis t ance of Sri Swami the help of Sri Vijay Gokarn while the tech- Yatidharmanandaji and Sri Sankarji, then ni cal sadhaks looked af ter the sound sys- par tic i pated in a live dem on stra tion con fer- tem, projec tor and comput ers for Internet ence call with some of the Austra lian devo - con nec tions. tees. Find ing the ef fectiv eness of the The programme was projected on a Skype me dium, Swamiji im me di ately gave wall, avoiding the need for song books, by blessings for the concept and the using PowerPoint slides. DECEMBER 2010 RAJA YOGA 17
At 3 p.m. on the day, Sri Sankarji be - new op portu ni ties that awaited us with the gan testing connec tiv ity to Rishikesh with use of this technol ogy to reach other mem- Br. Sri Suddha Chaitanyaji and Sri Swami bers of the DLS family and spread Nischalanandaji of HQrs Ashram. Af ter Gurudev’s message. some anx ious moment s, provided by wire- Swamiji then addressed the Satsang less technol ogy, the main com puter was on the first verse of the Isavasaya connected and a success ful test was car- Upanishad and how to practise it in our ried out. daily life. Swamiji led the Satsang with a As dev otees started arriv ing, the ex - few rounds of Sri Ram Jai Ram, blessed citement in the room grew as few people the satsang and all the DLS members and were aware of the test to be conducted, i.e. then concluded his talk. having Swami Padmanabhanandaji’s The Satsang contin ued with the chant - Darshan via Skype. ing of the Hanu man Chalisa and conclud - When the Satsang started the room ing prayers. This was followed by was filled with a spiri tual energy that every - dis tri bu tion of prasad. one felt. We approached the appointed All devo tees were very happy to have time of 4.30 pm (IST 11.00 am) for connect - Swamiji’s Darshan albeit for the first time ing to Swamiji. The devo tees were eagerly through the medium of the Internet and waiting to have Swamiji’s darshan. Vijay Skype. All be lieved that the use of Internet Gokarnji was leading the singing of Sri Ram technol ogy was very posi tive and would Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram when Swamiji’s figure gen er ate an in ter est in youn ger gen er a tion blessed the gather ing by appear ing on the to wards Gurudev’s mis sion and spir i tu al ity. large screen. Swamiji also joined the sing- ing and his presence amidst them infused The Satsang concluded with discus - much inten sity and fer vour in the singing of sions on when the next Skype Satsang will the Bhajan. be held. Swamiji greeted the as sembled devo - The Di vine Life So ci ety, Aus tra lia tees and requested Sri Sankarji to show Branch in Sydney conduct s weekly Yoga him the Satsang Hall by rot ating the cam- Classes by Sri Udit Ram and Sri Asai era so that he could have a complete view. Perumal, Hindi classes for children by Smt. He spoke to some dev otees in the Hall and Dr. Asha Gupta Mataji and Skype Guided spoke on the signif i cance of this momen - Medi tation sessions by Sri Sushil Kumar tous occa sion. Swamiji also spoke of the and Sri Karo Reddy. * * * 18 THE DIVINE LIFE DECEMBER 2010
NEWS AND REPORTS NEWS FROM THE HEADQUARTERS
SEVA THROUGH SIVANANDA HOME
By the profound Blessings of Sri “I am going to Triveni Ghat! Who is go- Gurudev, the Divine Life Soci ety Headquar - ing with me?” (An elderly , ment ally chal- ters con tin ues ren der ing its hum ble ser vice lenged woman with asthma who is gasping through Sivananda Home, situ ated in for a little air between the words). Tapovan near Laxman Jhula. It provides “I will be coming with you”, says a med i cal fa cil i ties for home less peo ple who younger girl, whose both legs are para - have become ill and are in need of in-pa- lyzed. “Pooh! You cannot walk at all! You tient treatment and care. cannot put one single step on the floor, how It is of ten fas ci nat ing how dif fer ent will you be coming with me?”, is the sneer- people deal in dif ferent ways with disease, ing and harsh reply . “What do you know with loss, with handi caps and pain. It is about me?”, is the youngster ’s unshaken even more fasci nat ing how we our selves deal with physi cal pain, with incon ve - answer , as she contin ues: at night when nience, with hurt or with advers e factors. you are snoring, then I climb out of my bed Then suddenly the thought: “I am not this and I walk around ev erywhere, and when body, not this mind, Immor t al Self I am”, the sun rises, then I am on the bed again seems to fade away. The fol low ing conver - and my legs refuse to move. So, let’s go at sation was overheard in one of the female night, both of us to Triveni Ghat! And let’s wards of the Home . . . see who reaches first!”
“Feed the hungry , Clothe the naked. Serve the sick. This is Divine Life. (Swami Sivananda)
Moksha or emanci pation is not new ac qui si tion. It is the realisa tion of what eternally is. Release is the eter nal na ture of Atman or the Self. Hearing the Vedanta texts can give only medi ate knowledge of Atma. Medi tation on Atma only can give im me di ate ex pe ri ence of Self-reali sa tion. —Swami Sivananda DECEMBER 2010 NEWS AND REPORTS 19
DEEPAVALI CELEBRATION, GO-PUJA AND GOVERDHAN-PUJA AT THE HEADQUARTERS ASHRAM ‘Cele brate the rea Deepavali by liv ing in was also read by Sri Swamiji. It was followed Brahman and enjoy the eternal bliss of the by floral archana of the mother with soul.’ (Sadgurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj) Ashtottarshatnamavali. The blessed day of Deepavali was cele - The next day, on 6th Novem ber , there brated with great rejoic ing and spir i tual fervor were Go-Puja and Goverdhana-Puja at the th at the Headquar ters Ashram on 5 Novem - Vishwanath Goshala of the Ashram. The ber, 2010. On this glori ous oc ca sion of the cows, vis i ble man i fes ta tions of God dess of fes tival of lights, the entire Ashram was illu mi- pros perity––Sri Mahalakshmi, were wor- nated with multi-hued lights and thou sands of shipped and fed. The sannyasins and earthen lamps. Mother Lakshmi, the God- brahmacharins of the Ashram partic i pated in dess of pros per ity and aus pi cious ness, was the cel ebra tion. H.H. Sri Swami of fered a special worship dur ing the night Padmanabhanandaji Maharaj attended the satsang in the beau tifully deco rated Samadhi puja and spoke on the sig nifi cance of the sa - Hall. In addi tion to regu lar chants, there were cred day. The cel ebra tion con clude with arati de vo tional Kirtans glo ri fy ing the Di vine Mother and rec i ta tion of Kanakadhara Stotra. to the Go-Mata and Lord Krishna and a cere - H.H. Sri Swami Padmanabhanandaji mo nial feast. Maharaj, General Secre t ary, DLS Headquar - May the Light of lights, the Supreme ters gave blessing message on this au gust Lord and Sadgurudev bless us with the fulfill - oc ca sion. The Deepavali message of ment of our prayer––‘tamaso ma jyotir Sadgurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj gamaya.’
SRI SKANDA SHASHTHI CELEBRATIONS AT THE HEADQUARTERS ASHRAM The sig nif i cance and spir i tual mes sage archana to the chanting of Vedic Mantras and embod ied in Skanda Avatara is the message bhajans-kirtans. The worship con cluded with of su preme im por tance of self-sur ren der, the grand arati and dis tribu tion of spe cial prasad. su preme ef ficacy of sincere prayer and the Ev ery eve ning, the bhajans and kirtans glo ri - un fail ing com pas sion of the Lord. fying Lord Skanda were also sung. (Sadgurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj) On the Sri Skanda Shashthi Day i.e. The aus pi cious oc ca sion of Sri Skanda 12th Novem ber 2010, a Kavadi proces sion Shashthi was cel ebrated with due sacred - with kirtans started from the Ganesh Temple ness and spir i tual éclat at the Headquar ters on the holy banks of Mother Ganga and was Ashram from 7th to 12th Novem ber 2010. received at the Bhajan-Hall. Follow ing this, The shrine ded i cated to Lord Skanda in the the grand abhisheka was of fered to the Lord Bhajan Hall was the venue of the worship. wherein all the sannyasins, brahmacharins, During the first five days, the Lord was wor- sadhaks and vis i tors of the ashram partic i - shipped with abhisheka (bathing of the deity), pated in di vid u ally. The beau ti ful idol of the alankaram (or na men ta tion) and flo ral Lord Sri Skanda was then anointed with san- 20 THE DIVINE LIFE DECEMBER 2010 dal paste and splen didly embel lished with prayers and chants, H. H. Sri varie gated flowers. It was followed by the flo- Padmanabhanandaji Maharaj, General Sec- ral archana with Sahasra-namavali and arati. ret ary DLS Headquar ters, spoke on the di - Six kumars repre sent ing the Six-Faced vine advent of Lord Skanda, His Lilas and the Lord Skanda were worshipped, fed and given sig nif i cance of His wor ship. gifts and dakshina. The worship con cluded May Lord Skanda and Sadgurudev with distri bu tion of the sacred prasad. During bless us with glo rious tri umph in our battle the night Satsang, in ad di tion to the regu lar against the de moni cal forces of ig norance.
VALEDICTORY FUNCTION OF THE 66TH BASIC YOGA-VEDANTA COURSE
The vale dic tory function of the 66th Ba- the song has two parts. First portion “Eat a lit- sic Yoga-Vedanta Course was held on Satur - tle, sleep a lit tle” refers to that part which is to day, 30th Octo ber , 2010 in the Yoga Vedanta be done a lit tle only as it is an indis pens able Forest Acad emy’s Lec ture Hall. Af ter the in- part without which one can not live, and the vocatory prayers, Sri Swami Yogavedanta- sec ond part is “Do Asana a little, Japa a lit - nandaji Maharaj, Regis trar of the Academy , tle……….”, is that part which is to be done ‘a welcomed all those present on the occa sion. lit tle’ only in the begin ning and should be pro - There af ter, Pro fes sor Rajinder Kumar gres sively in creased. Bhardwaj ji read the report of the course and Sri Swamiji Maharaj told that a life of re- some of the student s expressed their impres - straint in which the higher mind overpow ers sions about the course which they had under - the lower mind is a must for being suc cess ful gone in the Academy . This was followed by in one’s Sadhana. Therefore, daily intro spec - dis tri bu tion of Cer tif i cate and Jnana Prasad tion is es sen tial. Gurudev Sri Swami to the student s and hon ouring of the profes - Sivanandaji Maharaj has said that all gross sors. things that merely per tain to the body should In his bless ing message, Sri Swami be kept to the mini mum and all higher as- Yogavedantananda ji Maharaj, advised the pects of sadhana should be given proper stu dents to put into practice in their day to day place in our daily programme. This is the lives whatever they have learnt during this course. Swamiji Maharaj ad vised them not to broad outline of di vine life. Further Swamiji get duped by the lower mind, which al ways said, do not jus tify whatever unde sir able we wishes to in dulge in sen sual plea sures, but to dis cover in the mind and give a reason for it, al ways follow the dict ates of the higher mind but rather try to devise suit able methods for which al ways renders the right advice. The over com ing it. voice of inner con science al ways forewarns Swamiji concluded by invok ing the whenever some igno ble thoughts come to bless ings of God and Gurudev upon all those the mind. That voice is to be lis tened to. who were present on the occa sion. The func - Swamiji mentioned about a song “Doc- tion came to a close af ter Saraswati Puja and trine of a little” of Gurudev and explained that Prasad dis tri bu tion. DECEMBER 2010 NEWS AND REPORTS 21
CULTURAL TOUR OF H.H. SRI SWAMI NIRLIPTANANDAJI MAHARAJ H.H. Sri Swami Nirliptanandaji Maharaj, gave the Early Morning message to the Vice-Pres i dent, DLS Head quar ters, vis ited Dele gates on the 2nd and 3rd days. At the the State of Gujarat on 29th Oc tober , 2010, Val edic tory session also Swamiji gave a con- as a part of his cul tural tour. The oc ca sion clud ing bless ing mes sage. The Con fer ence was cel e bra tion of the Di a mond Ju bi lee of was a grand suc cess and brought about the Founda tion of The Divine Life Soci ety great in spi ra tion among the dev o tees, par tic - Baroda Branch which completed its 60 years. ularly of Gujarat The Branch was inau gu rated by Worship ful On 19th Novem ber Swamiji Maharaj vis- Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj in the ited Patiala in Punjab in order to attend the year 1950 during his All In dia and Ceylon two-day Northern India Zonal Spiri tual Con- tour. As part of the Dia mond Jubi lee Cele bra - ference to be held on 20th & 21st. The Con- tions, the DLS Vadodara Branch and Gurjar ference was orga nized by DLS Patiala Divya Jivan Sangh Samiti had jointly orga - Branch. Dele gates from the Branches of nized the 10th All Gujarat Divine Life Confer - Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar ence at Vadodara, with the objec tives of Pradesh, Chandigarh, Rajasthan and Dis sem i na tion of spir i tual knowl edge, Maharashtra partic i pated in it. The Confer - self-awaken ing and world peace, for 3 days, ence was in tended to spread the teachings of from 30th Oc tober to 1st Novem ber , 2010. Worship ful Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji The Confer ence had the theme: ‘Live in the Maharaj and for Youth Awaken ing. Swamiji con stant awareness of your divine nature’. at tended the Con fer ence. The In au gu ral ses - Dele gates from all Branches of Gujarat State, sion on the 20th was for the student s and and some other States had partic i pated in it. youth of schools and col leges and Swamiji Many saints and emi nent schol ars had also addressed them with his discourse. He also graced the Confer ence as speak ers, etc. answered the questions put by the partic i pat- Sri Swamiji Maharaj attended the Con- ing stu dents. Swamiji Maharaj also gave a ference on all the days. At first Swamiji took talk on “Youth Awaken ing” to the dele gates of part in the inau gu ral ses sion. Swamiji also the Confer ence. The Confer ence was very par tic i pated in the sym po sium or gan ised un - well orga nized, was a grand suc cess and der the auspices of Swami Sivananda Study brought great hap pi ness, joy, sat is fac tion and Centre in Spiri tual and Cultural Heri tage of In- ben e fit to all par tic i pants. dia jointly with the Faculty of Arts, M.S. Uni- Swamiji vis ited Gujarat State again on versity of Baroda, Vadodara, and spoke on 22nd Novem ber . On 23rd at Bhavnagar, af ter the theme, ‘Har mo niz ing Sci ence and Spir i tu- Puja, Swamiji Maharaj laid the founda tion al ity’. He was also the Chairper son in the ses - stone (Shilanyas) for the proposed sion on ‘Yoga of Synthe sis (In tegral Yoga)’ Sivananda Bhavan (Branch Building) of and gave a discourse. Swamiji Maharaj also Sivananda Ashram of the DLS Bhavnagar 22 THE DIVINE LIFE DECEMBER 2010
Branch. The Branch has shifted to the land Maharaj gave a discourse. There was newly acquired and is pro pos ing to con struct great enthu si asm and feeling among the dev- its build ing for carry ing on its ac tivi ties con ve- otees and there was deter mi na tion to see niently and more ef fec tively. Pujya Sri Swami that the Branch building is completed quickly. Tyagvairagyanandaji Maharaj, who is Presi - Swamiji also attended some personal func - dent of the Branch, all other of fice bearers tions and cer emo nies of some devo tees at and devo tees were present. In the evening Bhavnagar. there was a public Satsanga in which Swamiji * * *
PLATINUM JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS OF THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY By the Grace of the Lord Almighty , the Di vine Life So ciety will com plete sev enty five years of glo ri ous spir itual ser vice to the hu man ity on 13th Jan uary , 2011. It is a great priv ilege and divine bless ing for all of us to cele brate this aus pi- cious event of Plat inum Ju bilee of Sadgurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj’s Divine Mis sion by or ganis ing appro pri ate programmes such as the Divine Life So ciety Con fer ences, Sadhana Weeks, Camps for youth and Chil- dren, Yoga train ing Camps, Spir i tual Sem i nars, com pe ti tion for stu dents such as Es say Writ ing, Elo cu tion, Bhajan Sing ing, Gita Chant ing; Special Lectures, Akhanda Kirtan, Kathas, and print ing and distri bution of free spir itual lit er ature (books & book lets) etc. The Divine Life So ciety Head quar ters has in structed the var ious Divine Life So ci ety Branches to cel e brate this aus pi cious oc ca sion by or gan is ing ap - pro pri ate programmes and some of the Branches have or ganised programmes befit ting the oc ca sion and some are in the pro cess of or ganis ing such programmes. The Divine Life So ciety Head quar ters has de cided to hold a Branch Rep - re sen ta tives’ Meet ing on 12th Jan uary , 2011 and nec es sary cir cu lar let ter has been sent to all the Branches in In dia. Each Branch may depute two rep re sen - tatives to partic ip ate in the programme. The year-long programme will conclude on 13th Jan uary , 2011 with a Grand Wor ship at the Holy Sam adhi Mandir and pledge to lead Di vine Life as envi sioned by the Mas ter. We ear nestly re quest all the mem bers of the Divine Life So ciety to come for ward to be a part of the Di vine Programme and be blessed. —The Divine Life Soci ety DECEMBER 2010 NEWS AND REPORTS 23
THE 37th ALL ANDHRA DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY SPIRITUAL CONFERENCE
By the grace of Most Worship ful Gurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, the 37th All Andhra Divine Life Soci ety Confer ence will be held from 23rd to 25th Janu ary 2011 at ANNAPURNA GARDENS, HUNTER ROAD, WARANGAL, ANDHRA PRADESH. The Confer ence will be blessed by se nior monks from Headquar ters and saints and schol ars from other insti tutions. Devo tees from all the Branches of the Soci ety are cordially in- vited to partic i pate in the programme aimed at dissem i nation of spiri tual knowledge. Dele gate Fee for partic i pation in the Confer ence is Rs. 116/- (Inclu sive of food and ac- commo da tion) which may please be sent by DD or MO to The Chairman; DLS Confer ence, # 6-2-120, GR Complex, Kakaji Colony , Hanamkonda, Warangal 506 001, E-mail: [email protected] Con tact Per sons: 1) Sri K. Rameshwar Mobile No. 9966302948 (Secre t ary) 2) Sri S. Markandeya Mobile No. 9346927161 (Treasurer) 3) Sri A.V. Sameer Kumar Mobile No. 9246890999 (Coor di nator) All Devo tees are cordially invited to partic i pate in the Confer ence and make it a grand suc cess. —The Divine Life Soci ety ______ANNOUNCEMENT
DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY, WEST BENGAL—SADHANA SHIBIR
The annual Sadhana Shibir of The Divine Life Soci ety, West Bengal, will be held from 22nd to 26th Janu ary 2011 at Manav Seva Trust Complex, Hamiragachhi Rail way Sta - tion-Malia, West Bengal. Partic i pant Fee Rs. 300/- per person. The last date of enroll ment is 31st Decem ber 2010. The enroll ment form has to be sent to Sri Bijoy Swain, 4C Meher Ali Mondal Street, Mominpur, KOLKATA—700 027, West Bengal. For En roll ment and in for ma tion please con tact: Dr. P.K. Samantaray: 09002080514; Sri C.B. Sehgal: 09830144147; Sri Nitul Parekh: 09830040730 and Sri Bijoy Swain: 09339392845. All Dev o tees are re quested to par tic i pate. —The Divine Life Soci ety 24 THE DIVINE LIFE DECEMBER 2010
THE 33rd ALL ODISHA DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY SPIRITUAL CONFERENCE AND YOUTH CAMP
By the grace of Most Worship ful Gurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, the 33rd All Odisha Divine Life Soci ety Confer ence and Youth Camp will be held from 28th to 30th Decem - ber 2010 at Panchayat High School ground, Bijigol (Near NTPC) District: Angul, Odisha. As part of the programme a Youth Camp will be held from 27th to 30th Decem ber 2010. The Confer ence will be blessed by se nior monks from Headquar ters and saints and schol ars from other insti tutions. Devo tees from all the Branches of the Soci ety are cordially in- vited to partic i pate in the programme aimed at the dissem i nation of spiri tual knowledge and world peace. 1. Dele gate Fee Rs. 350/- per head. 2. Youth Camp Regis tration Fee Rs. 11/- per head. 3. Age limit for Youth Camp—15 years to 25 years (with identity proof). 4. Last date of receiv ing del egate Fee—15th Decem ber 2010. All remit t ance may be made by Bank Draft or Cheque in favour of “The Di vine Life Soci - ety, Bhimkand Branch” payable at State Bank of India, Telesingha Branch (NTPC Cam pus, Code 06257) Com mu ni ca tion Ad dress—The Di vine Life So ci ety-Bhimkand Branch, P.O. Bijigol—759 117, Dt. Angul, Odisha. Cont act: Akshaya Kumar Dash, Mob. No. 09437043225 Niranjan Pradhan: Mob. No. 09437081223 ______STRESS MANAGEMENT COURSE AT THE CHANDIGARH BRANCH
At the request of the Chandigarh Branch of the Di vine Life Soci ety Sri Swami Ramarajyamji conducted a 3-day Stress Manage ment Course on behalf of the Headquar ters from Novem ber 23 to 25, 2010. The Course was targeted at the youth in partic ular and adults in gen eral. More than 25 persons at tended the Course. Daily for three hours the partic i pants were exposed to the practi cal tech niques of Yoga Nidra, and Ajapa-japa Medi tation. This expo sure was preceded by a discourse on the theo ret - i cal as pects of stress and medi tation. Empha sis was laid on Spiri tual ity as an anti dote to Stress. The Whys and hows of the above-mentioned tech niques were also explained so that they are accept able to the ratio nal mind of the present age. The Chandigarh Branch has produced a DVD of the programme to practise the techniques. DECEMBER 2010 NEWS AND REPORTS 25
BHARATIYA VIDYA BHAVAN’S ESSAY COMPETITIONS—2010
It is for the infor ma tion of the Readers that Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan is con duct ing an annual Essay Compe ti tion in sa cred memory of Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, as fol lows:— BHAVAN’S SWAMI SIVANANDA MEMORIAL ESSAY COMPETITION—2010 SUB: dV©_mZ {ejm _| n[adV©Z H$s Amdí`H$Vm FOR AGE-GROUP: 20-30 years; Prizes : Rs. 1000/-, Rs. 700/-, Rs. 300/- MEDIUM: Hindi LAST DATE OF SUBMISSION OF ESSAY—31st January 2011 Re quire ments 1. Limit: 2000 words. Type-written Essay in dupli cate 2. Full name and Res i den tial Ad dress of the par tic i pant, Age cer tif i cate, small photo graph, Phone No. / Fax / e-mail, etc. 3. Prize Winners can not con test for the same compe ti tion for the next three years. 4. The deci sion of Judges will be fi nal. 5. The Ad dress for cor re spon dence:— Prof. S.A. Upadhyaya, Project Of ficer , Bhavan’s Essay Compe ti tions, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Kulapati Munshi Marg, Chowpatty, Mumbai—400 007 E-mail: [email protected] web-site: http://www.bhavans.info —THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
REPORTS FROM THE D.L.S. BRANCHES
INLAND BRANCHES Satsanga of the Branch was on Sundays. Sri Hanu man hymns were recited on Tues day. It Ahiwara (Chhattisgarh): During the held a spe cial 3½ hour Satsanga on 14th Oc- month of Octo ber 2010, the Branch had daily to ber. Social ser vice through two Homeo - Satsanga and group chant ing of pathic clin ics and Jalaseva was con tinued. Mahamrityunjaya Mantra on Ekadashi. It ar- Badakuanl (Odisha): In addi tion to the ranged Bhagavad Gita Svadhyaya during daily activ ity of 2-time Puja followed by reci ta - Pitri Paksha. It held 6-hour Akhanda Japa on tion in the morning and Sri Vishnu- Sri Krishna Jayanti, Paduka Puja on sahasranama Stotra Parayana and Srimad Sivananda Jayanti, and col lec tive Japa on Bhagavatam Svadhyaya in the evening, the Chidananda Jayanti and Punyatithi of H.H. Branch held Paduka Puja and weekly Sri Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj. Satsanga on Thurs days. The programme on Ambala (Haryana): The weekly Sivananda Jayanti and Chidananda Jayanti 26 THE DIVINE LIFE DECEMBER 2010 was morning prayer, Paduka Puja, Srimad (5) Gita Jnana Satra: discourses on Bhagavad Gita Parayana in the forenoon and Bhagavad Gita from Septem ber 18 to 24. eve ning Satsanga. Baripada (Odisha): The monthly Bangalore (Karnataka): The weekly Sadhana Day of the Branch was on 3rd Octo - Satsanga of the Branch on Thursdays in- ber. The Branch dis trib uted med i cines and cluded Paduka Puja–holy Ganga Jal food to 77 inhab it ants of a Lep rosy Colony Abhishekam was done by all the dev otees and bis cuits to the chil dren of an orphan age pres ent–Swadhyaya of Gurudev’s writings, on 31st Octo ber . etc. In the Matri-satsanga on Fri days rec i ta - Baudh (Odisha): The Branch holds the tion of Sri Vishnu-sahasranama Stotram and weekly Satsanga on Thurs days, and Paduka Sri Lalita-sahasranama Stotram was done. Puja and evening Satsanga on the last Ev ery month, grand Abhishekam is done, fol - Sunday ev ery month. It also arranged spe cial lowed by Svadhyaya of Gurudev’s writings in Satsanga on Sri Krishna Jayanti and Sri Guru the Satsanga held in a temple. 3-hour Purnima, and Paduka Puja in the morning Akhanda Kirtan is on the third Sunday and di- and spe cial Satsanga in the evening on vine music is on the fourth Sunday. The 4-day Sivananda Jayanti and Chidananda Jayanti, programme of Aradhana Day in cluded with Narayana Seva and Prasad Sevan also Bhajans on 1st August , a ballet on the 2nd, a on Chidananda Jayanti. spir i tual talk on the 3rd, and Paduka Puja, Bellary (Karnataka): In addi tion to daily spe cial dec ora tion of the Satsanga Hall, a Puja and Satsanga, the Branch conducted spir i tual talk, re leas ing of a book, present ing Paduka Puja on Sundays and Vijaya Dasami. Rs 20,000/- to 23 poor girl student s, Sadhu It cel ebrated Pratishtha Mahotsva on 28th Bhiksha, Narayana Seva, Bhoga Prasad, Oc to ber. Bhajan Sandhya etc. on 4th August . Other Bhongir (A.P.): The Branch organ ised spe cial ac tiv i ties were: (1) Chidananda spe cial programmes to cele brate Sri Punyatithi: Bhajans, Video show, speeches Ganesha Chaturthi, Sivananda Jayanti and by devo tees. (2) Sivananda Jayanti: Bhajans, Chidananda Jayanti. video show of Gurudev, speeches, etc. (3) Bikaner (Rajasthan): The Branch con- Chidananda Jayanti: special Satsanga, re- ducted 2-time Puja, daily Satsanga with leas ing of a book. Srimad Bhagavata Svadhyaya, Barbil (Odisha): Reg u lar Ac tiv i ties: Matri-satsanga with Sri Sundarakanda Satsanga on Thurs day, mobile satsanga on Parayana on 12th and 30th Oc tober , Paduka Mon days, Sivananda Ho me op a thy Dis pen- Puja and Bhajan-kirtan on Sivananda Day, sary––450 ben e fi cia ries dur ing Sep tem ber. and Yajna and Bhajan-Kirtan on Chidananda Special Ac tivi ties: (1) Sri Krishna Jayanti: Day. It contin ued Yogasana class, Sivananda daylong programme and special Puja. (2) Li brary and finan cial help to poor stu dents. Chidananda Punyatithi: Prayer-med i ta tion, Spe cial ac tiv i ties: (1) Navaratri Puja: Paduka Puja, food to poor, Brahman Bhojan, Akhanda deep, special Puja, Durga and evening Satsanga. (3) Sivananda Saptashati, Path, Kanya Puja and feeding. Jayanti: Prayer-med i ta tion, Paduka Puja, (2) Srimad Bhagavata Saptaha: from the first and evening Satsanga. (4) Chidananda day of Navaratri, and on Maha-ashtami con- Jayanti: Prabhat Pheri, prayer-medi tation, clud ing Yajna, Brahmana Bhojan, Bhandara. Paduka Puja, distri bu tion of food and clothes (3) Vijaya Dasami: Bhajan-kirtan, Prasad. (4) to the poor, Prasad Sevan (lunch to all the Prayer meeting for the dep arted soul of Smt. par tic i pants), eve ning Satsanga with talks. Khaturia, rich tributes were paid to her. DECEMBER 2010 NEWS AND REPORTS 27
Chandigarh: Besides the daily ac tivi - and Yogasana ses sion; daily evening ½ an ties of Satsanga with Mahamrityunjaya Man - hour Sankirtan followed by Satsanga; tra Japa and Yogasana class, the Branch had Paduka Puja on Thursdays , rec i ta tion of Sri on Sun days weekly Satsanga with Sundarakanda on Satur days and Sri Svadhyaya, Bhandara (free food) to more Vishnu-sahasranama Stotram on Sundays. than 300 per sons, and free med i cal con sul ta - Special Ac tivi ties: (1) Sri Krishna Jayanti: tion and med i cines to about 50 pa tients. Spe - 3-hour Sankirtan, Srimad Bhagavad Gita and cial ac tivi ties: (1) Sri Krishna Jayanti: Sri Vishnu-sahasranama Stotra Parayana, Svadhyaya, Bhajan-kirtan. (2) Sivananda Puja, etc. (2) Sivananda Jayanti: 3-hour Jayanti: PadukaPuja, Mahamrityunjaya Man- Akhanda Kirtan, Paduka Puja, etc. (3) Sri tra-japa. (3) Chidananda Jayanti: Paduka Ganesha-Utsava: Special Puja, etc, for 12 Puja, 24-hour Akhanda Japa. (4) Spir i tual talk days. (4) Chidananda Jayanti: one hour on Vedanta on 19th Sep tember . Sankirtan, Paduka Puja, etc. (5) Navaratri Chikiti (Odisha): The Branch organ - Puja: Akhanda Deepa, daily 3-hour ised on Octo ber 2, 3, 4 a 3-day Shibir on the Sankirtan, Puja, Sri Durga Saptashati Path, oc ca sion of the Founda tion Day of Kanya Pujan, Havan, etc. Vanaprastha Ashram, Nuapada. The daily It has started Swami Sivananda programme for the inhab it ants in cluded early Residential School from July 1, in this morn ing prayer-med i ta tion, Yogasana- extremely backward tribal region tot ally Pranayama, Gita chant ing, Svadhyaya of free—en rolment 64. Bhagavad Gita, ‘Bliss Di vine’, Gandhian Gudari (Odisha): The Branch con- thought, Srimad Bhagavatam and Sri ducted daily Puja, weekly Satsanga at the Ramayana, Mantra-writ ing, Karma Yoga, Ashram on Thursdays and mobile Satsanga Bhajan-kirtan and Self-analy sis. at the resi dence of the devo tees on Tues - Digapahandi (Odisha): The Branch days, and Paduka Puja and Narayana Seva con ducted bi weekly Satsanga on Thurs days on Purnima. It or ganised a 2-day Sadhana and Sundays, special Satsanga on Sankranti Shibir on Octo ber 11-12 as a part of its Silver Day and Paduka Puja on Sivananda Day and Ju bi lee Cel e bra tion, with Srimad Bhagavad Chidananda Day. It organ ised talks and dem- Gita Parayana, Sankirtana, Paduka Puja, onstra tion of Yogasana-Pranayama by Re- Narayana Seva, etc. vered Swami Ramakripanandaji in two local Gumergunda (Chhattisgarh): Reg u lar schools and one school of a nearby village. Ac tiv i ties: 3-time Puja, daily prayer-med i ta - Faridpur (U.P.): The Branch held tion; Yogasana; daily 2-hour evening weekly Satsanga with Svadhyaya of Sri Satsanga; Paduka Puja on Thursday; Sri Rama-charita-manas on the first Wednes - Sundarakanda Parayana on Satur days: reci - day, of Bhagavad Gita on the sec ond, of tation of hymns on other days. ‘Sadhana’ on the fourth, and Bhajan-kirtan Spe cial Ac tiv i ties; (1) Navaratri Puja: and med i ta tion on the third Wednes day Sri Akhanda Deep Puja, Sri Durga Saptashati Ram Charita Manas month long Parayana Path, 12-hour Akhanda Kirtan on the ninth with conclud ing Puja and Havan on ev ery day, Havan, Kanya Pujan, etc. (2) Youth Purnima. Special Puja and Arati were done Camp: 10-day camp for school stu dents from dur ing Navaratri. Octo ber 19 to 28 with 55 par tic i pants. (3) Sri Ghatpadamur, Jagadalpur (Chhattis- Ganesha-Utsava: 12-day special Puja, etc. garh): Reg u lar Ac tiv i ties: Daily early morn ing (4) Sivananda Jayanti: 12-hour Akhanda prayer-med i ta tion: morn ing rec i ta tion, Puja Kirtan, Paduka Puja, etc. (5) Chidananda 28 THE DIVINE LIFE DECEMBER 2010
Jayanti: simi lar programme. (6) Chidananda Stotra and Srimad Bhagavad Gita Parayana Punyatithi: simi lar programme plus Havan during two Ekadasis. 6-hour Mahamantra and Bhandara (7) Sri Guru Purnima: as on Akhanda Kirtan on 3rd of every month is con - Chidananda Punyatithi. tinued. Navaratri programme in cluded 20 Kakinada, Madhavapatnam (A.P.): Akhanda Deep, special Puja, Havan on The Branch conducted its weekly Satsanga Ashtami, Kanya (23) Puja, Prasad Sevan by on Sundays, and weekly Satsanga on Tues - 60 devo tees, and Havan on Vijaya Dasami. days and Fridays at two other centres. It also New Delhi, Vasant Vihar: The Sunday con tin ued fort nightly Ho me op a thy camps. Satsanga of the Branch included Sri Kantabanji (Odisha): The Branch had Sundarakanda Parayana on the first Sunday, its Sunday Satsanga with Bhagavad Gita medi tation on the sec ond, Svadhyaya of Svadhyaya. Gurudev’s writings on the third and a spir i tual Keonjhargarh (Odisha): The Branch talk on the fourth Sunday. orga nized spe cial programmes on the occa - sion of Aradhana Day–Paduka Puja, a talk, Phulbani (Odisha): The Branch con- eve ning Satsanga; Sri Krishna Jayanti–Spe- ducted twice-a-day Puja and weekly cial Puja, a talk, evening Satsanga, Satsanga on Sundays. The special Chidananda Punyatithi–early morning ses - programme on Chidananda Punyatithi, sion, Paduka Puja, a talk, evening Satsanga, Sivananda Jayanti and Chidananda Jayanti Sivananda Jayanti and Chidananda was Paduka Puja with one lakh Archana, Jayanti–early morning ses sion, Paduka Puja, poor feeding, evening Satsanga, etc. and dis - talks by Revered Swami Jnananandaji. tribu tion of clothes also on Chidanand Jayanti. On all these three days, 150 devo - Khatiguda (Odisha): The Branch con- tees took part in the cele bra tion. ducted 2-time Puja, Satsanga on Thurs days, Ekadashi Satsanga with Sri Raipur, Shankar Nagar (Chhattis- Vishnu-sahasranama Stotra Parayana, a garh): The Branch conducted Satsanga on mobile Satsanga with Puja, Havan and Mondays, and Paduka Puja on Sivananda Bhandara, and monthly Sadhana Day with Jayanti and Chidananda Jayanti. 12-hour Akhanda Mahamantra Kirtan and Salipur (Odisha): Reg u lar Ac tiv i ties: Narayana Seva on 3rd Octo ber . Special Ac - 2-time Puja, morn ing prayer-rec i ta tion, daily tivi ties: (1) Navaratri Puja: Puja, daily special eve ning Satsanga with Svadhyaya. Srimad Satsanga with reci tation of Devi hymns and Bhagavad Gita Parayana on the first Sunday, Svadhyaya of ‘God As Mother’, and (2) Stu- Yogasana and medi tation on the sec ond, dents Camp on 19th Octo ber—50 partic i - monthly Sadhana day on the third, and spe- pants. cial Satsanga on the fourth Sunday; Sri Khurda Road, Jatni (Odisha): The Sundarakanda Parayana on 11th Septem - Branch holds daily Satsanga and monthly ber; Swami Sivananda Chari table Hospi - Sadhana Day. tal–86 ben e fi cia ries. Nandani Nagar (Chhattisgarh): In ad- Spe cial Ac tiv i ties: (1) Sivananda di tion to the daily early morning 2-hour ses - Jayanti: Paduka Puja. (2) Sri Krishna Jayanti sion of med i ta tion, prayer, rec i ta tions, and Puja: Akhanda Japa. (3) Chidananda evening Satsanga, the Branch held weekly Punyatithi: Satsanga with Paduka Puja. (4) mobile Satsanga on Thurs days. Matri- Srimad Bhagavat Jayanti: special Satsanga Satsanga with Sri Sundarakanda Parayana and Puja. (5) Chidananda Jayanti: Satsanga on Satur days, and Sri Vishnu-sahasranama with Paduka Puja. DECEMBER 2010 NEWS AND REPORTS 29
South Balanda (Odisha): Regu lar Ac - Chaturthi: Puja. (5) Chidananda Jayanti: tivi ties: 2-time Puja; weekly Satsanga on Fri - early morn ing med i ta tion, Prabhat Pheri, days. Chidananda Bal-Vikas Satsanga on Paduka Puja, Mantra Japa, evening Sundays; Sivananda Day and Chidananda Satsanga with talks, 95 can dle-light dec ora - Day–Paduka Puja in the morn ing, Satsanga tion, dis tribu tion of sweets and pens to 93 in the evening; 3-hour Akhanda Japa of stu dents. (6) A spir i tual dis course in a school. Mahamrityunjaya Mantra on the Sankranti (7) Satsanga with 300 prison ers. day. Special Activitiy: 3-hour Mahamantra Sankirtan and Prasad Sevan by 140 devo - OVERSEAS BRANCHES tees on 3rd Oc to ber. Hong King (China): During the quar ter Sunabeda (Odisha): The Branch had June-July-August the Branch con ducted bi weekly Satsanga on Thurs days and Sun- monthly Satsanga on the sec ond Sat urday days, and spe cial ac tivi ties as fol lows: (1) Sri with 1-hour Mahamrityunjaya Man tra Japa, Krishna Jayanti: Paduka Puja, Havan in the Sri Hanu man Chalisa and a talk on morning, Puja, Abhisheka, Arati in the eve - Gurudev’s writ ings with respec tively 46, 47 ning. (2) Chidananda Punyatithi: special and 48 partic i pants. It held Mahamantra Satsanga (3) Sivananda Jayanti: Paduka Sankirtan on the re maining Sat urdays (To tal Puja, Havan, Kirtan in the morning, Satsanga 20+28+25 partic i p ants). It conducted regu lar in the evening . (4) Sri Ganesha Chaturthi: Yogasana classes with 748 new partic i pants Puja. (5) Srimad Bhagavat Jayanti: Paduka in the three months. It organised Yoga Work - Puja, special Satsanga. (6) Chidananda shop from July 25 to Au gust 8, and Au gust 22 Jayanti: Paduka Puja, Havan, Bhajan-Kirtan to Septem ber 5, with 32 and 14 partic i pants in the forenoon and evening Satsanga. respec tively . (7) Special Satsanga on Septem ber 25,26,27. Spe cial Ac tiv i ties: (1) 10th Anni versary of Yoga Cen tre—Com mem o ra tive is sue Varanasi (U.P.): The Branch held (2000-2010) Published. (2) Providing Yoga Satsanga on Octo ber 3,10,17 and 24 (Sun- Teach ers for Yoga classes for the el derly in days). It orga nized spe cial programme of June and August. (3) Sri Guru Purnima: Paduka Puja, Bhajans, Nama Sankirtan, Paduka Puja with 38 par tic i pants. Japa, Arati, etc. on Sivananda Jayanti. (4) Chidananda Punyatithi: 1-hour Maha- Vikrampur (Odisha):The Branch mrityunjaya Mantra Japa with 38 par tic i pants. Conducted 2-time Puja followed by prayer (5) Var i ous so cial ser vice ac tiv i ties. and medi tation and weekly Satsanga on Wednes days. Spe cial Ac tiv i ties: (1) SPECIAL REPORTS Chidananda Punyatithi: early morning prayer-med i ta tion, Paduka Puja with one H.H. Sri Swami Yogaswarupanandaji thou sand Archana, Poor feeding, evening Maharaj’s Hong Kong visit Satsanga. (2) Sivananda Jayanti: early morn - Re vered Swamiji con ducted a Yoga ing medi tation, Paduka Puja, a discourse, Sem i nar and gave talks on Oc tober 23 and Nagar Sankirtan and evening Satsanga with 24, with 71 par tic i pants. He gave a public lec- talks. (3) Jnana Yajna: Bhagavad Gita dis - ture on “The Joy of practis ing Yoga on Octo - courses in the morning and evening by Re- ber 26, with 74 par tic i pants. He also gave vered Swami Anandaswarupanandaji for lec tures on med i ta tion on Oc to ber 27 and 28, 5-days—Septem ber 8 to 12. (4) Sri Ganesh with 57 par tic i pants. * * *