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

Namaste!

Aspirants—A Distinct Class By Themselves
by Sri Swami Sivananda

The spiritual aspirant class is verily a merest microscopic minority in the sum-totality of world humanity. How very distinctive and special, therefore, should be its conduct and mode of reaction to externals in comparison to that of the generality of the secular world? How very different must his motives be? It is wrong for him to continue to judge either his own or others’ actions with the same old standard as of the worldly life. What is perfectly correct there will be preposterously impossible here in the spiritual line. What is quite natural and right there will be unthinkable here.

Take the case of the soldiers drafted into the Army. Just consider what a lot of severe restrictions they are subject to and have to put up with. Their entire life is ordered upon exceptional lines. Special rules govern their movements at every step. Numerous places are strictly ‘out of bounds’ to the troops. Whether they like it or not the members of the fighting forces must move about in their distinctive uniforms; they must be within ‘barracks’ before ‘lights out’ time. Any breach of these numerous Army Regulations will at once bring the M.Ps. swooping down upon him and he will find himself in the military ‘lock up’. Why all this? Just because he happens to belong to a select class particularly picked out from among millions for achieving a special purpose, i.e., to fight and to win the war.

When such is the case for a group engaged in working for a mere earthly attainment as a military victory, you can imagine how very great then is the need for a thoroughly distinct and exceptional conduct for the spiritual aspirant set upon achieving something infinitely more difficult and more complicated than earthly victory over visible physical forces? Yet, what do we see among spiritual aspirants today? Is there a change of nature? Or mode of conduct, alteration of attitudes, reorientation of ideals and the substitution of a subtler sense of values in place of the gross selfish ones of a pre-novitiate days? Rather, he has hidden in him his own measuring rod and balance to assess and to estimate the quality and works of men and things, events and actions that he used before. He has brought with him as luggage all his old possessions, his old cloak, coloured spectacles, special seat, etc. His mental equipment is the identical one as of the pre-Sadhaka days. What to say it has not even received as much as a polish or a brush-up even.

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BOOK SYNOPSIS

Forest Academy Lectures On Yoga
by Sri Swami Chidananda

Yoga has been defined in various ways and mostly from the traditional or technical point of view. Nevertheless Yoga has been an attraction to the public in general, since it has always been regarded as a way to the realisation of the higher values of life. While there are commentaries on the Yoga scriptures from orthodox points of view, teachers have very rarely attempted to bring the loving message of Yoga to the hearts of people. Yoga is, indeed, a great discipline, but at the same time it is a solace to the feeling of the heart of man.

In the present publication Sri Swamiji has presented to the seeking public the knowledge of Yoga as it actually has to be imparted to the novitiates who wish to receive instruction in a parental fashion.

For more information, please see: Forest Academy Lectures On Yoga

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PHILOSOPHICAL SONG: During the night Satsang the Master sang the following philosophical song in English:

Practise Ahimsa, Satyam, Brahmacharya,
This is the foundation of Yoga-Vedanta;
Practise Sravana, Manana, Nididhyasana,
You will attain Self-realisation;
See what is good, hear what is good,
Think what is good, act what is good;
See no evil, hear no evil,
Think no evil, act no evil;
Nothing exists, nothing belongs to me,
I am neither mind nor body, immortal Self I am;
Find the knower, find the hearer,
Find the seer, find the taster;
Eat a little, drink (water) a little,
Talk a little, sleep a little,
Give a little, help a little,
Study a little, worship a little;
Om Tat Sat Om, Om Shanti Om.

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“There is no superior or inferior service in Karma Yoga. There is no superiority or inferiority among Karma Yogis. In a machine even the smallest bolt or spring is as essential to its smooth running as the mighty wheel. So also, in an organised effort, the man who does even the least work or attends to an insignificant detail contributes as much to the success of the endeavour as the chief organiser himself, for, if there is some defect in even a small detail, perfect success cannot be achieved.” – Swami Sivananda

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