Date: April 25th 2011

Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya!
Om Namo Bhagavate Krishnanandaya!

Namaste!

"Celebration of Krishnanandaji's birthday is worship of Brahman. Many people's faculties are developed. Every man's eyes are opened. Everyone begins to think such celebrations are very necessary." - Swami Sivananda

"Krishnanandaji is a wonder to me! He has excelled me. He has excelled Sankara. He has excelled Dakshinamoorthy." - Swami Sivananda

"He is very quick in his work. He has vast and deep knowledge of Vedanta. It is all God's Grace. It is not merely due to study in this birth. It is all due to Purva Samskaras. His knowledge is a treasure for those aspirants, who care to learn, study and imbibe the knowledge from him." - Swami Sivananda

Today (April 25) is the holy occasion of worshipful Sri Swami Krishnanandaji Maharaj's 89th birthday anniversary.

In honour of this occasion, we uploaded an article by Sri Swami Chidananda titled "Swami Krishnananda--The Ideal Saint" at:
http://www.dlshq.org/saints/krishna_ideal.htm

In addition, several new lectures (text, audio and video) have been uploaded to Swamiji's site. They are:

1. Video: The Samvarga Vidya of Sage Raikva: The AllAbsorbent Meditation http://swami-krishnananda.org/disc/disc_188.html
2. E-book: The Philosophy and Psychology of Yoga Practice Chapter 1: The Beginning of Philosophical Enquiry http://swami-krishnananda.org/phil-psy/phil-psy_01.html
3. Discourse: Spiritual Meditation http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/disc/disc_190.html

Yours in the service of Gurudev,

Pannirselvam

Book Synopsis

A Short History of Religious and Philosophic Thought in India
By Swami Krishnananda

This rapid yet comprehensive survey, by the saint and sage, ranges from the Vedas and the Upanishads to the Smritis, and includes the Itihasas and Puranas, the Bhagavadgita, Yoga Vasishtha, etc. Good thumbnail sketches of subjects to which whole libraries and cultures are devoted.

There are two ways of studying a subject: to approach it as a process and to appreciate it as an essence. In the former procedure of study, the subject is viewed as history; while, in the latter, it is taken in its capacity as that permanent element which moves unaffected through history, as the thread which connects its parts. This dual role of any feature is seen to be mutually related in all things,-in the individual, the society and the universe. Just as, for instance, the human being is a changing and growing process of personality and experience and is at the same time something unique in itself, incapable of comparison and timeless in essence, all manifestations, qualities and relations, forms and actions, embody this peculiarity of nature. The history of philosophy busies itself with the process of the unfoldment of reality through the vehicle of human thought; the philosophy of history unravels the pearl that is hidden beneath the waves of historical movement.

The themes presented in this book reveal the manner in which different sources of knowledge in India have attempted to portray the truths of life in their ultimate references. From the richly grown valley of the Vedas, there is a rise to the towering peaks of the Upanishads. Further on, it is not another ascent, but an artistic display of the beauty of human emotion in a blend of love and dignity which is lavishly raised as a fitting superstructure on the esoteric grandeur of these sky-scraping cliffs,-a work marvellously executed in the Epics and the Bhagavadgita and proclaimed untiringly in the Puranas. The other outer reaches of this superb achievement of human genius are the laws of society, the rules of living and the cry of the soul for the Infinite, which longs for the God of the cosmos on one hand and the subliminal consciousness on the other, between which there has never been a choice. Man speaks to himself in his innermost secrecy.

There is more information at:
http://www.dlshq.org/books/ek1.htm