Om Sri Ganeshaya Namah!
Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya!
Om Namo Bhagavate Chidanandaya!
Om Namo Bhagavate Krishnanandaya!

Namaste!

The Heart of the Spiritual Problem
by Sri Swami Chidananda

It is not at all flattering, but unless there is honesty about oneself we cannot step into spiritual life even if we know all about Vedanta. For the spiritual life has two dimensions. One is the Vedanta siddhanta (doctrine) of the ultimate experience, but the other is vyavahara (worldly activity). Unless Vedanta is brought over into vyavahara, it is only a burden to us.

Siddhanta is useless unless it is brought down to the level of abhyasa (practice), and takes the form of sadhana in day-to-day living—in your everyday activity, thinking and feeling, reaction to things around you, and your relationship with others with whom you have to live. These have been provided by God Himself for the jivatma as a field of sadhana so that siddhanta can be applied, so that one may begin to move towards Truth-experience, Reality-consciousness.

Unless we understand our position in samsara to be thus, unless we see it as a gymnasium in which to exercise and strengthen our inner spiritual sinews and muscles, we are the losers. We shall ever be in a wonderful field, yet we will not be able to take advantage of it, because we will be thinking that sadhana is somewhere in a forest or inside a cave. It is inside a cave, but the cave is inside us.

We must see very clearly that it is here, it is now, it is in this way that I have to evolve. There is not going to be another opportunity given. If we fail to recognise and bypass the opportunity that God has given, then we are losers. Every moment, every day that dawns is a great, golden chance and opportunity given. The field is immediately reopened afresh for you to exercise practical Vedanta, for you to put siddhanta into abhyasa. This constitutes practical spiritual life. It is the practical aspect of Yoga and Vedanta.

Read complete article

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The following articles by Sri Swami Krishnanandaji have been posted at Sri Swamiji's site:

1. Isavasya Upanishad for Beginners - Verses 4 & 5
2. India's Ancient Culture - Chapter 4: The Fourfold Aim of Existence and How to Achieve It

Yours in the service of Gurudev,

Pannirselvam

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Book Synopsis

A Call To Liberation
By Swami Chidananda

In each successive generation for innumerable centuries the saints and sages of India have issued forth the call: "uttishthata jagrata prapya varan nibodhata (Arise, awake, having reached the wise become enlightened)." In the twentieth century this timeless call was also echoed by His Holiness Sri Swami Sivananda, the saintly founder of the Divine Life Society, and has been continued by the revered Swami Chidananda who succeeded him in 1963 as president of the Society.

This powerful book, like its predecessor Ponder These Truths, has been compiled from Swamiji’s inspiring early morning meditation talks given in the Samadhi Hall of Holy Master Swami Sivanandaji’s sacred Samadhi Shrine in Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh. Seekers throughout the world will find within a universal message and a compelling call.

Sanskrit language words have been put in italics. Normally, their meaning can be understood by the context or their English equivalent which follows within commas or parenthesis. Otherwise, the meaning can be understood by referring to the Glossary.

For more information, please see: A Call To Liberation

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ON SPIRITUAL PROGRESS: On May 11, 1951, General Cariappa visited the Ashram. Among other things, he evinced keen interest in the spiritual diary, a file of which was shown to him.

“Swamiji,” asked the general, “have you had proof that your disciples and followers have been substantially benefited by your teachings, and that they have, as a consequence of following your teachings, become better men and better citizens of the land?”

“Yes,” replied the Master, “and especially in the case of those aspirants who maintain the spiritual diary regularly, the progress towards the eradication of vicious qualities and the acquisition of divine virtues has been perceptibly rapid.”

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"We are immortal Spirit, but we think we are people subject to birth and death, a beginning and an end, a birth day and an epitaph. So, Vedanta precisely pinpoints our situation as this state of forgetfulness of our real nature and being totally caught up, entangled and overcome by a wrong awareness, an identification with a personality consciousness which is not our real consciousness." - Swami Chidananda

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