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

Namaste!

The Real Purpose of Your Life
by Sri Swami Sivananda

Time is most precious. You do not realise the value of time. When one is on the deathbed you will ask the doctor who is standing by the side of the patient, "O doctor! Just do something for the patient. Give a powerful injection. Let the breath continue for some hours at least. My brother is coming from Bombay to see the patient." The doctor can only reply, "My dear friend, I cannot do anything. The case is perfectly hopeless. He will pass away within five minutes." Now you will realise the value of time. You will repent for the days, months and years you have wasted in idle gossiping and sensual pleasures.

You may waste two hours in tying your turban. You may waste much time in self-shaving, combing the hair but if a devotee calls you to attend a Satsang, Sankirtan or Bhajan, you will say, "Babaji! I have no time at all. I have to go to the doctor to get medicine. I must go to the market for shopping," and you will give thousand and one excuses.

You keep vigil for cinemas and dramas. You keep vigil all the night if a scorpion stings you. But you can not keep vigil if there is Akhanda Kirtan during Vaikunta Ekadasi or Sivaratri. What a pity!

Every body wants to see God, but nobody wants to do any Sadhana. If the Guru says, "Practise meditation, Pranayama and study scriptures," the disciple replies, "I have no time for that." The teacher says, "Repeat the Name of Lord Hari." The disciple replies, "I know that already. It is a long, cumbersome and ineffective way. I do not have much faith in Name."

If the Master says, "Then practise Raja Yoga and control the Vrittis gradually. Sit on one Asan for one or two hours," you will say, "I cannot sit for more than 15 minutes. My limbs ache if I sit for a long time." If you are asked to do Upasana, you will say, "There is nothing in Upasana. Idol worship is useless. I cannot concentrate on a picture. A picture is only the imagination of a painter or artist. I wish to meditate on the all-pervading, formless Brahman. Meditation on a picture is a child’s play. This does not suit me well." If the teacher says, "Then do Kirtan and Japa for two hours daily," you will say, "There is nothing in Japa or Kirtan. This is suitable only for dull-headed persons. I know science well. I cannot stoop to do these things. I am above Japa and Kirtan. I am quite modern." If the priest performs the Havan in the proper prescribed manner you say, "Well, Purohit! What is all this? Hurry up. I am feeling hungry. I want to go to the office at 10." If the priest hurries up, you say "What is this? The priest said something for a couple of hours and says it is all over now. It is all waste of time, money and energy. I have no faith in Havan. There is no good in it."

Read complete article

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

• Facets of Spirituality - October 1979: Part 2

Yours in the service of Gurudev,

Pannirselvam

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BOOK SYNOPSIS

Gems of Prayers
By Swami Sivananda

Prayer is the effort of man to commune with the Lord. Prayer is a mighty spiritual force. Prayer elevates the mind. It fills the mind with purity. It is associated with the praise of God.

When we pray, we are in tune with the Infinite, we link ourselves with the inexhaustible cosmic powerhouse of energy and thus draw power, energy, light and strength from him.

Even when the medical board has pronounced a case to be hopeless, Prayer comes to the rescue and the patient is miraculously cured.

He who prays regularly has already started the spiritual journey towards the domain of everlasting peace and perennial joy.

Do not pray for the attainment of any selfish ends or mundane gifts. Pray for His mercy. Pray for divine light, purity and spiritual guidance, and thus prayer will generate good spiritual currents and will produce tranquility of the mind.

For more information, please see: Gems of Prayers

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Please visit our online bookstore for further details.

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ON GOD-EXPERIENCE: There was a young aspirant in the Ashram who was writing a biography of the Master. He began asking the Master for details.

“Swami Venkatesananda has all the particulars,” the Master said to him.

Swami Venkatesananda gave him all the biographical notes that he had gathered. The writing progressed fairly quickly, until it came to the Swarg Ashram days and the Master’s austerities. The young man was of a peculiar type and asked all kinds of questions.

“I am not satisfied with all these vague answers. I want definite facts. What kind of meditation did he practise? What were his experiences? Did he have visions?”

“I don’t know,” Swami Venkatesananda answered.

A few minutes later the Master himself happened to appear in their midst and enquired, “How is the work progressing?”

The young man said, “Swamiji, I don’t want any vague descriptions. I want to know what Self-realisation really is.

“H’m! What it is? It is supreme peace, delight, constant cheerfulness, joy; one is always at peace.”

Luckily for the man, he made a beautiful remark, “But Swami Venkatesananda is also happy and peaceful. Shall we call him Self-realised?”

From then on the Master went on talking, for four hours non-stop!

“Self-realisation is not merely being peaceful and cheerful.” He used the words “Cosmic Consciousness” once or twice, but then dropped even these words.

“It is something indescribable. When this whole game is being played by the ego-sense, your knowledge itself is based on the ego. What you do is done by the ego; what you know is known by the ego; what you see is seen by the ego; what you experience is experienced by the ego. If you experience peace, it is the ego’s experience of peace; if you experience joy, it is the ego’s experience of joy.”

None could adequately describe all that the Master said in those four most memorable hours! The two disciples listened—spellbound! He eventually stopped and said, “I shall go back to my room.”

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“People who are nasty, irritating or annoying, or who seemingly work against you, may have been sent in order to show you that you are intolerant, impatient, capable of ill will, spite, retaliation or a spirit of vengefulness. Unless you are provoked, how can you know what is within you? So, we must constantly try to see how to unfold our higher nature. Then life becomes very interesting. It will have something to tell us every moment. Rather than being something to be avoided, annoyances may be a challenge, a warning or a helping hand.” – Swami Chidananda

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