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

Namaste!

Meditation, Work and Rest
by Sri Swami Sivananda

A microscopic minority only are fit for whole-time meditation. People like Sadasiva Brahmendra and Sri Sankara only can spend the whole time in meditation. Many Sadhus who take to Nirvritti Marga become completely Tamasic. Tamas is mistaken for Sattva. This is a great blunder. One can evolve beautifully by doing Karma Yoga in the world if he knows how to spend his time profitably. A householder should seek the advice of Sannyasins and Mahatmas from time to time, draw a daily routine and adhere to it strictly amidst worldly activities. Rajas can be converted into Sattva. Intense Rajas takes a Sattvic turn. It is impossible to convert Tamas all of a sudden into Sattva. Tamas should be turned into Rajas first.

Young Sadhus who take to Nivritti Marga do not stick to a routine. They do not hear the words of elders. They do not obey the orders of the Guru. They want absolute independence from the very beginning. They lead a happy-go-lucky life. There is no one to check. They have their own ways. They do not know how to regulate the energy and how to chalk out a daily programme. They aimlessly wander about from place to place. They become Tamasic within six months. They sit for half an hour in some Asana and imagine that they are realised souls.

If an aspirant who has taken to the Nivritti Marga finds that he is not evolving, that he is not improving in meditation, and is going into a Tamasic state, he should at once take up some kind of service for some years and work vigorously. He should combine work along with meditation. This is wisdom. This is prudence. This is sagacity. Then he should go in for seclusion. One should use his common sense throughout his Sadhana. It is very difficult to come out of the Tamasic state. A Sadhaka should be very cautious. When Tamas tries to overtake him, he should immediately do some sort of brisk work. He can run in the open air, draw water from wells. He should drive off the Tamas by some intelligent means or the other.

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

• The Brahma Sutra on the Final Salvation of the Soul – Chapter 4: The Cosmic Introversion of Consciousness

Yours in the service of Gurudev,

Pannirselvam

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BOOK SYNOPSIS

Kingly Science Kingly Secret
by Sri Swami Sivananda

This work, a compilation from the published writings of Swami Sivananda, is in the nature of a detailed commentary on select verses of the Bhagavad Gita. While many readers may be familiar with the stanza-by-stanza commentary of the holy Master on the full Gita text, in this volume they will find a considerably more detailed exposition of the implications of Sri Krishna’s instructions to Arjuna which are as valid today as they were at the time of the Mahabharata war.

The book begins with an Introduction which deals with the goal of human life and the vital role of religion and Yoga in the achievement thereof. Life without religion is a dreary waste and Yoga is but an aid in the practice of one’s own religion. Yoga is universal and the Yoga Shastra of Lord Krishna, namely, the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, is equally universal. Yoga and the Gita are open to all. The Master’s most lucid, free-flowing commentary on a wide spectrum of the Gita verses brings the secrets of Sri Krishna’s teachings to the doorstep of every English speaking household.

The stanzas chosen cover a wide range of topics that are of immediate consequence to every spiritual seeker. The compilation starts with subjects pertaining to spiritual Sadhana in general and then proceeds to cover the more important topics under Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga and Jnana Yoga in that order. The living voice of Sivananda echoes and re-echoes on every page and in every line, casting a magic spell on the reader, rousing him at the same time to heightened efforts in the direction of God and Truth.

A glossary is appended mainly for the benefit of the Western Yoga enthusiasts.

It gives us genuine pleasure to invite the reader to derive inspiration and profit from the pages that follow.

For more information, please see: Kingly Science Kingly Secret

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SERVING NARAYANA: Dr Gulati, a veterinary surgeon of Saharanpur, had come to the Ashram. He evidently had some trouble with his leg, so Sri Parameswaran of the Ashram’s charitable dispensary, came with some liniment to apply to the ailing part of the leg. The doctor stretched his hand to receive the liniment, which Sri Parameswaran himself wanted to apply to the leg and shampoo it.

When the doctor was observed trying to dissuade Sri Parameswaran from shampooing his leg, the Master asked him not to object. While the shampooing was going on, the Master said to Parameswaran, “As you shampoo the leg, feel that you are serving Lord Narayana. Do the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra also while you do it.”

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“This Great Being, the Supreme Absolute, is capable of attainment through utter self-transcendence alone, a sacrifice of the self in the All-Self. It appears that this experience is impossible of attainment unless the soul raises itself to the status of this Supreme Omnipresence. But this requirement on the part of the soul seems to be a practically impossible affair, and the only thing that appears to be available to the soul is humble devotion and surrender of itself to the Great Lord. Which of the two methods is to be preferred—a humble and simple surrendering of oneself to the Glory of the Absolute in utter childlike behaviour of dependence, or a strenuous effort to rouse oneself to the Being of the Absolute itself, by communion of self with Self, in an impersonal merger of the individual in the All?” – Swami Krishnananda

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