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ENERGY
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GAIN ENERGY
APPRENTICE
LEVEL1
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THE
ENERGY BLOCKAGE REMOVAL
PROCESS
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THE
KARMA CLEARING
PROCESS
APPRENTICE
LEVEL3
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MASTERY
OF RELATIONSHIPS
TANTRA
APPRENTICE
LEVEL4
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2005 AND 2006
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SivanandaESSENCE OF YOGAChapter 9: Messages4.Deepavali Message
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Deepavali is the festival of lamps. It is observed almost throughout India with great pomp and show. It is a time of great rejoicing and worshipping among the Hindus and lasts for two days. This is held at the beginning of the Hindu commercial year in honour of the Goddess Lakshmi. It commemorates that blessed day when Sri Rama returned to Ayodhya after killing Ravana. On this day Sri Krishna killed the demon Narakasura. In South India all take oil-bath in the morning and wear new clothes. At this festival, Hindu merchants in North India begin their new account books and pray for success and prosperity during the coming year. The houses of the Hindus are cleaned and decorated by day and illuminated by night with earthen lamps. The best and finest illuminations are to be seen in Bombay and Amritsar. The famous Golden Temple at Amritsar is lit in the evening with thousands of lamps which are placed all over the steps on the sides of the big tank. Vaishnavites celebrate Govardhana Puja and feed the people on a large scale Annakoot or Samashti Bhandara). O Ram! The Light of lights, the self-luminous inner light of Atman is ever burning steadily in the chambers of your heart. Sit quietly. Close your eyes. Withdraw the senses. Fix the mind on this supreme light (Param Jyoti) and enjoy the real Deepavali, by attaining illumination of the soul. Egoism or Ahamkara is the real Narakasura. Kill this egoism through the sword of Atma-Jnana or knowledge of the Self, merge in Sri Krishna, the supreme light of the world, and enjoy the spiritual Deepavali of inner illumination. He who Himself sees all, whom no one beholds, who illumines the intellect, the sun, moon and stars and the whole universe, but whom they cannot illumine-That is Brahman. That is Atma. Celebrate the real Deepavali by living in Brahman and enjoy the eternal bliss of the soul. The sun does not shine there, nor do the moon and the stars, nor do these lightnings shine and much less this fire. All the lights of the world cannot be compared even to a ray of the inner light of the soul. Merge yourself in this Light of lights and enjoy the supreme Deepavali. Many Deepavali festivals have come and gone. Yet the hearts of the vast majority of persons are as dark as the new-moon night. The house is lit with the lamps but the heart is full of darkness of ignorance. O man! Wake up from the slumber of ignorance. Realise the constant and eternal light of the soul which has neither rising nor setting through meditation and Vichara or enquiry and dispel the darkness of ignorance. May you all attain full inner illumination! May the Supreme Light of lights enlighten your understanding! May you all get the inexhaustible spiritual wealth of Atma! May you all prosper gloriously in the material and spiritual planes? |
Next: Chapter 9: Messages, 5.Advice to Students
Energy Enhancement Enlightened Texts Sri Swami Sivananda Essence of Yoga
Chapter 9
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