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

Namaste!

Effacement of Ego
by Sri Swami Chidananda

I have been trying to explain to you why Gurudev has said, Bear Insult, Bear Injury. — Highest Sadhana. Why he has said so? It is extremely difficult to bear insult and accusations. Everyone has self-respect, a subtle form of ego, that would not allow you to bear insult, and that ego is our greatest enemy separating us from God. It is the wall between us and Him. So long as this wall is not completely shattered, annihilated, we would be on one side of the wall and God would remain on the other side; and we would not be able to attain Him, we will not have His glimpse. Whether it is Advaita Vedanta or Bhakti Marga or any other thinking, all emphasise this point. Whether it is Christianity, Islam, Buddhism or any other religion or any saint who has plunged himself deeply into spiritualism and mysticism, all recognise this basic truth that Sadhana cannot be complete without complete annihilation, complete dissolution of ego.

There are three abodes of ego:

1) The gross or the Tamasic ego: It is completely demoniacal and makes the person always thinking and doing in negative way. It always keeps the person far from the Lord and from the divine qualities of peace and joy. He himself becomes the cause of all his miseries and sorrows as he plunges into the sensual pleasures only. He is always restless, always complaining. His life is full of unhappiness.

2) The Rajasic ego: It is due to delusion and attachment with the material world. The person becomes blind to reason, discrimination and the Goal of the life on account of his involvement in the worldly things, his bondages and ‘my and mine’ attitude. He is not as unhappy as the gross ego person. But he too loses the right path due to delusion. The result is he creates more and more Karma-bandhana and plunges deeper and deeper into the bog of Samsara and into the wilderness of the cycle of birth and death. So the ultimate outcome is the same as of Tamasic ego. Both are equally bad in the sense that both keep us away from our divine Destiny. In this sense, there is not much to choose between the two.

3) The subtle or Sattvic ego: This is desirable and helpful in the early advent on the spiritual path, for the simple reason that it keeps us out of the Tamasic and Rajasic egos and their consequences, and puts us onto the right, the spiritual path. It is a good ground to start spiritual Sadhana. But howsoever Sattvic or subtle it becomes, it is the ego principle and it remains so. So, so long as even the most subtle ego exists, one cannot have God-realisation, the Divine Experience. Selflessness, compassion and sympathy for others are the foundations of the subtle ego. It may be in the form of, ‘God is my father and All-in-all. Everything belongs to Him only. Nothing is mine. I should serve Him in all His Forms. The entire world is His creation, His form. So I should do service to others, I should do Paropakara.’

Read complete article

---

August 5th is the Punyatithi Aradhana of Gurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj (anniversary of the physical passing of a saint).

---

We are beginning to make available our ebooks in the epub and mobi file formats. This will enable you to read the books comfortably on your mobile device. For this week, we have posted Sri Swami Sivanandaji's Essence of Yoga. You may click on the .epub or .mobi links to download the same.

---

The following article has been posted at Sri Swami Krishnanandaji's site:

• Commentary on the Kathopanishad - Discourse 8: Realising the Atman and the Unity Behind All Things

 

Yours in the service of Gurudev,

Pannirselvam

---

BOOK SYNOPSIS

The Glory of God (A Summary of the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana)
by Sri Swami Krishnananda

We are immensely delighted to offer our new book The Glory of God—A Summary of the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana by Worshipful Sri Swami Krishnanandaji Maharaj to the devotees of the Lord. Highlighting the supreme glory of the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana, the great sage Suta says in the Twelfth Skanda of this divine scripture:

श्रीमद्भगवतं पुरणममलं यद्वैष्पावानां प्रियं
यस्मिन् पारमहंस्यमेकममलं ज्ञानं परं गीयते ।
तत्र ज्ञानविरागभक्तिसहितं नैष्कर्म्यमाविष्कृतं
तच्छृण्वन् विपठन् विचारणपरो भक्त्या विमुच्येत्ररः ॥

śrīmadbhagavataṁ puraṇamamalaṁ yadvaiṣpāvānāṁ priyaṁ
yasmin pāramahaṁsyamekamamalaṁ jñānaṁ paraṁ gīyate |
tatra jñānavirāgabhaktisahitaṁ naiṣkarmyamāviṣkṛtaṁ
tacchṛṇvan vipaṭhan vicāraṇaparo bhaktyā vimucyetraraḥ ||

The glorious Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana is a sacred Purana which is loved and adored by the Vaishnavas; it speaks of the one Supreme Reality which is all consciousness and absolutely pure, and which is the goal of Paramhamsas. In this Purana, renunciation, coupled with spiritual enlightenment, dispassion and devotion has been expounded. Anyone devoutly listening to it, carefully reading it and pondering it attains final beatitude.

Pujya Sri Swami Krishnanandaji Maharaj’s divine personality bears witness to this great truth that Supreme Knowledge and Supreme Devotion go hand in hand. This unique book presents the devotional outpourings of the loving heart of a great Vedantin. The discourses which comprise this book were given by Worshipful Sri Swamiji Maharaj during Sadhana Week in July 1995. In these daily talks, Swamiji presented the essence of the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana in his own characteristic style, interspersing in-depth and illuminating interpretation with stories and narrations. This book is a treasure of knowledge presented in a form which is enjoyable and easy to understand for all.

For more information, please see: The Glory of God (A Summary of the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana)

---

The following books were recently reprinted and released during Guru Purnima on July 27th:

ES5 All About Hinduism by Swami Sivananda

ES192 Voice of The Himalayas by Swami Sivananda

ES35 Divine Nectar by Swami Sivananda

ES110 Narada Bhakti Sutras by Swami Sivananda

ES21 Music as Yoga by Swami Sivananda

ES66 Inspiring Songs and Kirtans by Swami Sivananda

EC10 A Guide to Noble Living by Swami Chidananda

EK34 The Glory of God by Swami Krishnananda

EV59 Sivananda's Integral Yoga by Swami Venkatesananda

HS203 Yoga Asana (in Hindi) by Swami Sivananda

HS97 Mana Rahasya Aur Nigrah (in Hindi) by Swami Sivananda

HS12 Sou Barsh Kai Se Jiyen (in Hindi) by Swami Sivananda

HS289 Satsang Aur Swadhyay (in Hindi) by Swami Sivananda

---

SPECIAL ARADHANA CONCESSION

We are currently having a Special Aradhana Concession on all our publications from 1st July 2018 to 30th September 2018. The discount on publications is as follows:

20% on Orders Upto Rs. 300/-
30% on Orders Upto Rs. 1,000/-
35% on Orders Above Rs. 1,000/-
40% on Orders Above Rs. 25,000/-

40% Special Discount on the following Pictorial Volumes of Worshipful Gurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji and Worshipful Sri Swami Chidanandaji:

1. ES8 Glorious Vision                Rs. 650
2. ES4 Gurudev Sivananda        Rs. 250 
3. EC70 Ultimate Journey           Rs. 500
4. EC71 Divine Vision                 Rs. 300

Please visit our online bookstore for further details:
http://www.dlsbooks.org/

---

THE MASTER’S EXPERIENCE: Rev. Stanley Jones, a well-known Christian evangelist from America, visited the Ashram in 1956. At a small round-table discussion on the morning of March 14, the Master, Rev. Jones and some others narrated their “experiences”.

When it came to the Master’s turn, he simply said, “Seek, find, enter and rest. I sing this formula. I live in this formula. I try to be good. I try to live in God. I cultivate virtues. This is my experience.”

---

“It is well to remember that Sattva, Rajas and Tamas have their own hooks that keep the Sadhaka back and prevent him from soaring into the realms transcendental. The Sattvic hook is the most subtle of all and therefore most difficult to discern and detect. With Sannyasa floats the Sannyasa Abhiman (pride), with Tyaga (sacrifice) creeps in Tyaga Abhiman—most subtle and most dangerous almost impossible to get over.” – Swami Sivananda

---

Sivananda Day-to-day is sent out weekly.
To subscribe to this mailing list please go to:
http://www.dlshq.org/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi

Other Sivananda related lists:
1) Sivananda Daily Readings

2) Sivananda's Thought for the Day

3) Various Selections from Sivananda's Works