In various ways great Masters have tried to bring home this truth to seekers and an incident comes to my mind—a very familiar story and not too ancient. It was in the life of Sri Ramakrishna, the spiritual preceptor of the famous Swami Vivekananda. In his early life, Sri Ramakrishna was a priest in a Hindu temple in Calcutta, then the Capital City of India. This temple was founded by a lady who was something of a small queen. The wife of a native ruler and a lady of immense riches, she had the temple built with a fabulous sum of money and endowed it with rich lands. She was a very devout lady in spite of her great wealth and affluence. Apart from her concern of looking after her property, her life was spiritual. Occasionally, she would drop in at the temple at the time of worship and sit in the sanctum. Sri Ramakrishna was a young priest at that time, perhaps twenty-four or twenty-five years of age, and on this occasion, this great lady having purified herself with a bath in the Ganges, was sitting just inside the sanctum, meditating. The worship came to a certain stage where the Deity had to be hymned with praises and glorification and, just before Sri Ramakrishna was about to burst into song, this lady said, “Would you please sing this particular song?”; and he said “Yes” and started hymning the Divine Mother. As he was singing, suddenly, he was seen to stop, turn to this great lady and give her a resounding slap on the back. And he just said, “What! Here too!” That was all and he recommenced singing. There were armed guards nearby who had followed this lady to the temple, and some of the highest officials of the temple, and all were simply stunned. Some started to tremble and one or two were thinking, “Now this man’s life has come to a close. Perhaps she will order him to be bound up immediately”; but much to their surprise, just as though she were a daughter being chastised by her father, she suddenly became docile and kept quiet and began intently to attend to the song. When the song was over, the service proceeded and, at the end of the service, she came out as if nothing had happened. The officials and the guards were just waiting and wondering, “What is going to happen now?” And the superintendent asked her, “Have you any orders? I observed what happened, but I could not step inside the sanctum, and so I could not do anything”. The queen simply said, “No. There are no orders”. Later on, her son-in-law, who was managing the temple on her behalf, came to hear of this incident and asked her about it. She said: “He (Ramakrishna) was perfectly right. I had asked him to hymn the Divine Mother, because it was the Mother who was enshrined there, and while he was singing, I was thinking of a law-suit coming off tomorrow at the City High Court about the estate and was worrying about it. I was not thinking of anything else—the Divine Mother or the song he was singing in Her praise. It was the law-suit which was occupying my mind, and so I had to be pulled up and he did it...It was not really he who did it, but it was the Divine Mother who did it”. So this lady, even when she was in the temple, was not really in the temple, but was in the Law Court. It is what you are within yourself that determines whether you are leading a spiritual life or a worldly life, and not the place you are in. That gives the secret of living a Yogic life in and through the world.
Everything can become Yogic if you spiritualize your life, and the method of spiritualizing life has been expounded in the most glorious way in the most sacred scripture, the Bhagavad Gita. Yoga is union with the Divine and if you live your life in constant inner union with the Divine through a link of great devotion to Him, through a link of genuine love for the Supreme, then whatever you may do, wherever you may be, and in whatever manner you may be living, you are living a life of Yoga: for, you are living with God and you are at one with God in your inner life.
Such a life of at-oneness with God, such a life of conscious effort to be for ever united with Him in love
and devotion, and an awareness that the whole of this life is meant for totally consummating or perfecting such union—that is Divine Life. It is a life of Yoga. If you are consciously trying all the time to reach out towards Him in spirit, to draw nearer and nearer to Him day by day, then you are living a life of Yoga, no matter what shape your external life might take.
This spirit, then, is the most important factor in living a Yogic life. This spirit is the most essential factor which makes a life spiritual. In the light of this, we have to consider what those factors are which we can include in our daily family life which will enable us to be united with God in the interior of our being.
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Next: Chapter 9: Yoga In The Home, 2.The Four Main Aspects of an Individual’s Life
Energy Enhancement Enlightened Texts Sri Swami Sivananda The Path Beyond Sorrow
Chapter 9
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 9: Yoga In The Home
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 9: Yoga In The Home, We take up now the vital subject of how, being in the midst of worldly activities one may yet fulfil the supreme purpose, the spiritual purpose of life on earth. While both the secular life and the spiritual life are a part of you, it is true that the spheres of the two are different, in the sense that the secular life has its sphere outside of yourself and the spiritual life has its sphere within yourself. But then, your spiritual life does have some expression outwardly also, and wherever you are, there your spiritual life has to be. If you are in a family set-up and living the work-a-day life in the busy field of worldly activity, then your spiritual life must be there. This interior life cannot be created by bringing about visible external changes in yourself or in your circumstances at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 9: Yoga In The Home, 1.A Story From the Life of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 9: Yoga In The Home, 1.A Story From the Life of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, In various ways great Masters have tried to bring home this truth to seekers and an incident comes to my minda very familiar story and not too ancient. It was in the life of Sri Ramakrishna, the spiritual preceptor of the famous Swami Vivekananda. In his early life, Sri Ramakrishna was a priest in a Hindu temple in Calcutta, then the Capital City of India. This temple was founded by a lady who was something of a small queen. The wife of a native ruler and a lady of immense riches, she had the temple built with a fabulous sum of money and endowed it with rich lands. She was a very devout lady in spite of her great wealth and affluence at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 9: Yoga In The Home, 2.The Four Main Aspects of an Individuals Life
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 9: Yoga In The Home, 2.The Four Main Aspects of an Individuals Life, Of course, we take it for granted that the first thing is to be conscious of ones purpose in life. Ever be conscious of why you are living. Ever be conscious of what purpose you are to fulfil in life. That is the most important thing. Know that the whole meaning of life is the utilizing of its every moment to attain the supreme purpose at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 9: Yoga In The Home, 3.The Sanctity of Marriage
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 9: Yoga In The Home, 3.The Sanctity of Marriage, In various ways great Masters have tried to bring home this truth to seekers and an incident comes to my minda very familiar story and not too ancient. It was in the life of Sri Ramakrishna, the spiritual preceptor of the famous Swami Vivekananda. In his early life, Sri Ramakrishna was a priest in a Hindu temple in Calcutta, then the Capital City of India. This temple was founded by a lady who was something of a small queen. The wife of a native ruler and a lady of immense riches, she had the temple built with a fabulous sum of money and endowed it with rich lands. She was a very devout lady in spite of her great wealth and affluence at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 9: Yoga In The Home, 4.The HomeA Sacred Place
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 9: Yoga In The Home, 4.The HomeA Sacred Place, The home should be known to be a sacred place. The home is to be a sort of counterbalancing factor for all the bustle, for all the restless activity, of your daily professional life. The moment you leave home and go into your professional activity, your whole mind, your entire personality, is brought out. You are to be active. You are to give your attention to things of this world and, therefore, your recollectedness is lost. You are brought away from your centre so that your inner spiritual closeness to God is completely lost when you go into your professional activityyour day-to-day life. Now, when you come back home, the home life is meant to be an effective counterbalancing factor. In the home you are Self-centred, you are recollected, you are in God at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 9: Yoga In The Home, 5.Spiritual Guidance to Children
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 9: Yoga In The Home, 5.Spiritual Guidance to Children, The training of the children comes next. It is a great and onerous responsibility of the parents. You are only the trustees of these souls and have no permanent connection with themthe children whom God has given to youand you should try to do what you can in the little time they pass through your hands to touch them and make their lives more radiant for their having come to you. Therefore, the proper training of children is one of the most onerous duties, and if this is done in the attitude of being privileged to be the parent of His own children, then everything you do towards your children becomes part of your Karma Yoga, becomes part of your own spiritual unfoldment. For, by giving to them the spiritual impulse, the spiritual life, by your own ideal lives, you become the partaker of Gods life, because you fulfil the great gospel of Karma Yoga, viz., selfless activity without attachment, with only love in your heart, in order to do some good to others. If you train them along the path which will take them to their eternal welfare, to true blessedness, then that is the highest bestowal that one person can confer upon another in this earth-plane at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 9: Yoga In The Home, 6.A Spiritual Daily Routine for the Householder
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 9: Yoga In The Home, 6.A Spiritual Daily Routine for the Householder, Each householder should have an ideal daily routine. The home life should not be left to itself, but taken care of. In addition to those unexpected things that come up every daya visit of someone, a telephone call, an invitation to go out with someoneevery one of you should have an accepted basic programme, a basic schedule for your daily life, which should include an hour of prayer in the morning and an hour Of prayer in the evening. The prayer hour might include the reading of scriptural texts, the reading of sacred and inspiring spiritual books, a few minutes of quiet, indrawn meditation, a few minutes of actually articulated prayer, inspiring prayer. The prayer can be spontaneous; it does not necessarily have to come out of some book. Or it can be both, as there are some very inspiring short prayers in the Gospel and also in some other books. The children should also be trained in this way at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 9: Yoga In The Home, 7.Dynamic SpiritualityRemembering God
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 9: Yoga In The Home, 7.Dynamic SpiritualityRemembering God, Throughout the house you may have any number of external symbols which bring to you the thought of God. Perhaps tastefully framed mottoes: ALL LIFE IS SACRED, GOD IS HERE NOW, BE GOOD, DO GOOD, BE KIND, BE PURE, SPEAK THE TRUTH, NEVER HURT THE FEELINGS OF OTHERS, SEE GOD IN ALL FACES, TRUTH IS GOD, GOD IS LOVE, etc. And pictures. Every day, when the householder starts from home for his work, he should have five minutes of prayer, when he should say: Now, Oh Lord, from this Blessed Abode of Thine, where I am privileged to pass my days, I go out to worship Thee through my bodily activities, through my work. May all that I do today with body and mind be accepted by Thee as my worship, as my Karma Yoga, as my dynamic prayer. Only after uttering this little prayer should the householder leave his home at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 9: Yoga In The Home, 8.The Curse of Fashion
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 9: Yoga In The Home, 8.The Curse of Fashion, Along with all this, live a simple life. It is in the simple life that mind moves upon a straight path without wavering. Whereas, it is dispersed and scattered if life is made too complex and too much filled with an accumulation of objects. Have a simple life and do not be too concerned about your physical existence, about care of your body, about your beauty, your dress at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 9: Yoga In The Home, 9.The Value of Time
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 9: Yoga In The Home, 9.The Value of Time, Realize the value of time. Utilize every minute, and with great niggardliness, try to salvage every minute and add it to your spiritual life. Do not have the habit of gossipgenteel gossip. It is one of the social qualificationswhen two persons are together, they must have some gentle back-chat about a third person. If that is done, you are destroying your own life, you are wasting time. Life is time, and time is verily life. If you just fritter away precious minutes and hours in loose chatter and gossip and a little genteel scandal-mongering, it means you are robbing yourself of the most precious thing in lifethe rare opportunity to attain God at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 9: Yoga In The Home, 10.Some Concluding Remarks
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 9: Yoga In The Home, 10.Some Concluding Remarks, Develop virtue as a rule in your life. Let virtue be the criterion with which you judge all your thoughts, all your actions, all your speech. Is it virtuous or not? That should be the yardstick to guide you in your life. And the principle should be to move towards Godever and ever at energyenhancement.org
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