- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Content 1: PUBLISHERS NOTE
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Content 1: PUBLISHERS NOTE, We have great pleasure in releasing this beautiful volume of sixteen lectures by Sri Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj, our revered President, on the eve of his 75th Birthday, which fails on the 24th September, 1991 at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Content 2: Author's Preface
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Content 2: Author's Preface, Beloved Immortal Self! Rays of the Eternal Light Divine! It gives me great happiness to write this little preface to the series of lectures included in this volume. All these lectures, with the exception of the talk Worship of God as Mother Divine, were delivered by me in the year 1960 in Canada where I went as a personal representative of my holy Master Sri Swami Sivananda to carry Indias message of Yoga and Vedanta to the West at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 1: Bliss Is Within
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 1: Bliss Is Within, Beloved Immortal Atman! I deem it a great pleasure and blessedness that God has given me this unique opportunity of being of some service to you, seeking and aspiring souls upon this earth-plane, and for this privilege I thank Him who is the Indweller of you all, the Source of our very existence, the all-pervading Presence enveloping this very universe, who is amongst us invisibly even at this moment and who blesses us at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 1: Bliss Is Within, 1.Pleasure Is Not Happiness
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 1: Bliss Is Within, 1.Pleasure Is Not Happiness, When we observe life on the human plane, what do we see? Everyone is in constant quest of true happiness. Happiness is the quest of smiles; we have concealed sighs and sorrows, much grief and disappointment. Why? Why is this phenomenon observed everywhere in the world? This question has been pondered over, has been investigated. And we have been answered. With the dawn of discrimination, we come to realise that we have done something very foolish, because we have missed the path which leads to happiness and strayed off into the by-paths of pleasures. Happiness is one thing; mere pleasure is another. Missing the path to happiness and wandering off into the by-paths of pleasures, we are, as it were, lost beings wandering in a jungle where we do not know the correct direction to take, the correct path to pursue, to reach the destination at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 1: Bliss Is Within, 2.Mans Triune Nature
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 1: Bliss Is Within, 2.Mans Triune Nature, Man is a being partaking of a triune nature. As an intelligent human being you have, at the same time, a part which is very base in its expression and full of gross propensitiesdesire, passion, sensuality, greed, anger, blindness at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 1: Bliss Is Within, 3.The Mental Ferment
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 1: Bliss Is Within, 3.The Mental Ferment, That particular element in you which makes you human is the mind. It is a doubtful bestowal by God upon individual soul. It is not a too happy thing to have, for, rationality and intelligence, though no doubt good, are for the most part never utilized, never properly exercised as they ought to be. In most people, intelligence is not exercised at all at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 1: Bliss Is Within, 4.The Mechanics of Sense Satisfaction
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 1: Bliss Is Within, 4.The Mechanics of Sense Satisfaction, What happens is this. There arises a desire, a craving is created, and then you are urged to go after some sense-object in order to satisfy the craving and you feel that it has been enjoyable. You tell yourself: I have felt pleasure. I have enjoyed the sense-object. Actually, this so-called experience which you have undergone is not a positive experience of enjoyment at all. It is just an illusion. The actual experience, in fact, if you examine it, is thisthe experience you get at the end of an activity to obtain a sense-object is but the momentary quiescence that ensues in the mind as a result of the corresponding desire-urge having subsided for the time being at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 1: Bliss Is Within, 5.Instances of Irrational Rationality
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 1: Bliss Is Within, 5.Instances of Irrational Rationality, How many are wise? How many use the intellect rationally? We have to analyse the objects of this universe. We have to see them, not as they appear to be, but as they truly are and analyse the experiences from the objects as they really are and not as we perceive them in a state of non-discrimination. We have to enquire. This intelligence which God has given us we must use; and use rationally, not with bias at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 1: Bliss Is Within, 6.The Tumult of the Senses Vs. The Music Of the Soul
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 1: Bliss Is Within, 6.The Tumult of the Senses Vs. The Music Of the Soul, It is peace of mind which is the condition prerequisite for the experience of true happiness. Is that not more important than the removal of a little restlessness and craving, a little agitation caused by desire? Which is the more important? You may say: If desires come, we have to satisfy them. That is the way to remove them and that is the way to get pleasures. So saying, you remove the fly of desire rather than protect the grandmother of true peace of mind by which alone you can find happiness. Real happiness comes out of peace at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 1: Bliss Is Within, 7.Bliss Is Thy Nature: Bliss Is Thy Heritage
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 1: Bliss Is Within, 7.Bliss Is Thy Nature: Bliss Is Thy Heritage, This name and form, this Mr. So-and-So, this Mrs. So-and-So, this is not the true you. It is just a personality superimposed upon your true being by your parents. They gave you a name. They called you this and they called you that, but this name-form personality is not the true you. Changeless from childhood, into youth, into adulthood, into middle age, into old age is that I which is within you. It was within you when you were an infant; it was within you when you were a child running here and there; it was within you when you began to grow at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 1: Bliss Is Within, 8.Your Unhappiness Is Your Own Creation
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 1: Bliss Is Within, 8.Your Unhappiness Is Your Own This unhappiness is your own creation. It is self-created. It is due to non-discrimination and due to your having become the slave of your own senses. And therefore, what you have yourself caused, you have it within your own power to cast aside. So, even as your sorrow has been self-caused, your happiness too can be self obtained through your own efforts. It does not have to be self-created, because it is there already. It has only to be grasped and this is in your own hands. You are the one who has to move towards that which is awaiting you to experience it at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 1: Bliss Is Within, 9.Develop Virtue: You Develop Happiness
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 1: Bliss Is Within, 9.Develop Virtue: You Develop Happiness, How can you set about doing it? The basic thing is that happiness springs out of a life of virtue. That is what the great science of Yoga tells you. There cannot be happiness without virtue. Here I wish to make it quite plain that I am not sermonizing. Someone told me, In the West, people do not like sermonizing. Dont sermonize. Well, I cannot completely fulfil that wish, for to some extent, this humble servant who stands before you and speaks to you at this moment does sermonize, but then, this sermonizing is of a different variety at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 1: Bliss Is Within, 10.The Higher Happiness of Your True Being
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 1: Bliss Is Within, 10.The Higher Happiness of Your True Being, Thus, developing virtues is the direct way to experience happiness on the lower psychological level. But on a higher level, this is not enough. You should not be satisfied with the happiness that you get on the mental level, though even that experience you will find most exhilarating. That itself is a great gain, but still greater is the happiness that you should aim at. That greater happiness is the happiness of your true being, of your real nature, of the Spirit within, and that comes by constantly being above body, above senses, above mind and intellect. Beyond all these is the eternal, changeless, silent Witness (Consciousness) of all the changeful modes of these lower aspects of your being at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 2: Occult PhenomenaTheir Place In Yoga
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 2: Occult PhenomenaTheir Place In Yoga, The term Yoga, unfortunately, has been connected with notions of strange and extraordinary experiences, mysterious occurrences and mystical powers. The term Yogi is popularly understood to mean not an adept in Yoga, but one capable of doing certain things which ordinary people are not able to do. In a way this is true, as a Yogi is capable of doing certain things which are not possible for many persons, but a Yogi should not be conceived of merely as one who is capable of flying through the air, going without food for months and being buried alive underground for several weeks, or of such other feats as are considered spectacular, extraordinary and unbelievable unless seen at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 2: Occult PhenomenaTheir Place In Yoga, 1.Yoga Is Conscious Hastening of the Process of Evolution
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 2: Occult PhenomenaTheir Place In Yoga, 1.Yoga Is Conscious Hastening of the Process of Evolution, First of all, it is necessary for us to have a clear conception of what the Yogic way of life is. The destiny of the human being is evolution and we are all progressing towards ultimate perfection, since we are all meant to realize once again our innate divinity. However, the normal course of human evolution is very, very slowperhaps spread over countless years and requiring many lives, taking only a few progressive steps in each life at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 2: Occult PhenomenaTheir Place In Yoga, 2.Changes Upon Five Levels of the Yogis Being
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 2: Occult PhenomenaTheir Place In Yoga, 2.Changes Upon Five Levels of the Yogis Being, During the process of this evolution, this unfoldment, various transformations arise in the individual upon five different levels of his being. On the physical level, various changes and experiences are seen. Upon the psycho-mental level (the mind and the Prana), certain changes take place, certain abilities come in the natural course, and certain phenomena are witnessed, subjectively by some, and objectively by others at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 2: Occult PhenomenaTheir Place In Yoga, 3.Some Psychic Powers
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 2: Occult PhenomenaTheir Place In Yoga, 3.Some Psychic Powers, On the psycho-mental level it is the very common experience of those who have done a little sincere seeking (whether they have known it by the name of Yoga or just been seeking and practising certain physical exercises) to find that they have developed certain abilities. The most common of these abilities or inner occult experiences is thought-reading. You may be talking to someone, and before the other person speaks, you know what that person will say at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 2: Occult PhenomenaTheir Place In Yoga, 4.Pure Occultism Which Is Not Yoga
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 2: Occult PhenomenaTheir Place In Yoga, 4.Pure Occultism Which Is Not Yoga, Here I have to tell you a fact of which you had better take serious note. The first three powers upon the mental level, the psycho-mental level, and the astral levelall these powers one can have by sheer effort. If the necessary effort, with determination, is made, one can develop them. In Yoga they come through purification, and in the second case, which I have just mentioned, they come through will-power, practice and unceasing efforts at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 2: Occult PhenomenaTheir Place In Yoga, 5.Playing With Kundalini Is Playing With Fire
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 2: Occult PhenomenaTheir Place In Yoga, 5.Playing With Kundalini Is Playing With Fire, When your spiritual practice takes the form of Kundalini Yoga and you begin the inner occult process of Hatha Yoga, then, with the rise of the power of the Kundalini from the lower mystical centres (Chakras) into the higher mystical centres, which are in the occult body of each being, there arise various extraordinary powers and experiences at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 2: Occult PhenomenaTheir Place In Yoga, 6.Persons Blessed with Mystic Powers
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 2: Occult PhenomenaTheir Place In Yoga, 6.Persons Blessed with Mystic Powers, There is a totally different type of mystic phenomena and powers that come through the Grace of God and a person who has not practised any of the Yogic techniques may just obtain all of these powers spontaneously. This happens only when God wants to make use of a person for some Divine purpose and He has found a person who, through absolute life-long moral perfection, is found fit as a perfect channel, as an instrument which is fit and worthy at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 2: Occult PhenomenaTheir Place In Yoga, 7.Occult Powers and the Spiritual Seeker
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 2: Occult PhenomenaTheir Place In Yoga, 7.Occult Powers and the Spiritual Seeker, What is the place of these various inner powers in Yoga? What are their uses and abuses? What is the attitude of the true seeker to these powers? What are the attitudes of Masters towards these powers? What is the place of these powers and the various experiences in the life of the Yogi? at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 2: Occult PhenomenaTheir Place In Yoga, 8.Uses of Occult Phenomena
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 2: Occult PhenomenaTheir Place In Yoga, 8.Uses of Occult Phenomena, To seekers, to aspirants, to those who want God and are trying to make use of their life to attain God, there is no question of the uses of these powers, for the true seeker just ignores them, and for him they have no content or value, but are things which he passes by on the way. However, if I may speak of these powers independently of the seeker, then there are uses to which these powers can be put, in a limited way. Supposing a person is not in any way a seeker of God, and especially if these powers are in the nature of healing, or magnetism or of prophetic vision (where one is able to know of certain things before they happen, due to clairaudience or clairvoyance), then use may be made of them, but it has been observed that in such situations when these powers are made use of, after some time, they leave the individual at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 2: Occult PhenomenaTheir Place In Yoga, 9.Avoid All Occult Phenomena
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 2: Occult PhenomenaTheir Place In Yoga, 9.Avoid All Occult Phenomena, On the lower level, these occult powers can become the greatest of corrupters, the greatest of obstacles for all true seekers. Ultimately, seekers have to realise God and once one has realised through his own discrimination that everything except God is just transitory, evanescent, just a shadow-play, a momentary thing with which one has no lasting connection, once one knows this, then everything except He, from the little speck of dust to the highest power, all occult phenomena, mystical experiences, become devoid of substance. They all partake of the same nature of this passing, transitory, evanescent world. They are not real. They are not true and they have no ultimate value, no inherent worth at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 3: Meditation
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 3: Meditation, Glorious Immortal Atman! Blessed Children of Light and Immortality! Beloved Seekers on the Pathway to the Divine! How privileged we are to be able to gather here in this holy morning hour to bathe ourselves in the glorious stream of meditation and the Divine Name! Such an hour is a gift from God. It is a bestowal of love from One who is ever eternal, from One who is our source, One in whom we eternally abide, and in whom we are all one. Such a gift should be accepted with love, received reverentially, and with devotion utilised by us all at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 3: Meditation, 1. The Nature of Meditation and Its Place in Yoga
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 3: Meditation, 1. The Nature of Meditation and Its Place in Yoga, Meditation, therefore, is the exercise of the deepest part of your being. It is, in truth, the highest and the noblest exercise of the supreme prerogative, the supreme blessedness of human birth. There is no exercise loftier than worship upon this earth-plane. Let us be thankful, therefore, for this beautiful morning, for this solemn hour and for the privilege of sitting at the altar of the Divine Presence, entering into the silence and bathing ourselves in the glorious radiance of His presence at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 3: Meditation, 2. How to Start the Current of MeditationThe Technique
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 3: Meditation, 2. How to Start the Current of MeditationThe Technique, We being embodied beings and our mind being what it is, our everyday life does have a certain impact upon our soul consciousness, the innermost awareness, and the senses again and again cloud the radiance of the inner consciousness. Therefore, when you sit for meditation, instead of starting the process immediately, you should allow a certain time for the movement or the momentum of the external life to calm down at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 3: Meditation, 3. Saturate the Mind with God-thought
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 3: Meditation, 3. Saturate the Mind with God-thought, In the same way, you should think of God in whatever way your heart conceives of Him, and you should start the day with a prayer: O Lord, I come with love before Thee to the altar. I seek to humbly offer myself to Thee. I come to Thee with love. Raise my consciousness to the realm of Thy great divine nature. May You be pleased to lift me up unto yourself. The clamour of the senses, of the mindmay they be stilled at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, Blessed children of the Lord! Radiant rays of the eternal Light Divine! Salutations to you all. With great joy I once again speak to you to give you a little message from the Master Sivananda and from the cultural treasure-house of the Sacred Land of the Himalayas, the Land of the Holy Ganges, the Land of the Upanishads and the Vedas at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 1. Renunciation Should Be Based upon Right Understanding
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 1. Renunciation Should Be Based upon Right Understanding, Renunciation has been the key-note of the teachings of the Great Masters of India. Renunciation is the very essence of spirituality and the secret of God-realization. Renunciation is not lethargy, escapism or irresponsibility. It is the great strength that the aspirant has in his onward march to the Kingdom of Heaven. It is the strength of renunciation that truly sustains the aspirant in his arduous journey to the Supreme at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 2. Worthlessness of Worldly Life
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 2. Worthlessness of Worldly Life, A life of delusion amidst sensuality, money and sense-objects is the pitiful lot of the normal human being. Life is transitory; death is silently staring at you like a venomous serpent with expanded hood, ever ready to strike. Various dire diseases cause much havoc to the body. Youth abandons the body quickly and old age grips it. He alone is saved who makes haste to utilise this precious life in striving to obtain the summum bonum of life through renunciation, discrimination and inquiry. Maya, the great illusory power of the Supreme, is a very great jeweller. She prepares a skeleton, covers it with flesh and muscles, and hides the various impurities within with a very shining skin. Oh, immediately, a human being is absolutely deluded with this appearancewith this doll prepared by Maya. How long are you going to call this body your self? Develop an undeluded imagination and identify yourself with your real nature, Satchidananda (Existence-Consciousness-Bliss) which is your true Self at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 3. The Riddle of Life
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 3. The Riddle of Life, Try to understand the riddle of life and the riddle of this universe. Acquire discrimination. Take recourse to the company of seekers like yourself, getting together now and then with those of your own nature, those who are spiritually inclined. Even this will quicken your discrimination and give you the spirit of renunciation. Inquire into the nature of the Great Reality. Study books like the Gita and the Upanishads and then you will have a comprehensive understanding of the innumerable problems of life. There is not an iota of happiness in this world. Seek the happiness that is within at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 4. Sensual Pleasures Opposed to Spiritual Bliss
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 4. Sensual Pleasures Opposed to Spiritual Bliss, In the presence of continual sensual pleasures, spiritual bliss cannot exist, just as darkness and light cannot co-exist. If one should come, the other must go. Therefore, show extreme contempt for worldly objects. Destroy all desire from within, Turn the mind away from sensual objects. Give up cravings. Give up deluded attachment and you will develop real renunciation. You yourself have made your life complex and intricate. You have entangled yourself in this quagmire of Samsara by increasing your own desires, your own wants at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 5. The Indispensability of Renunciation
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 5. The Indispensability of Renunciation, At this point, we may try to consider one or two modern trends which have a direct bearing upon the vital subject of renunciation. Is renunciation really necessary? Many people in these modern days fight shy of renunciation. They put forward various ingenious arguments to prove that it is not necessary and that it is even useless. In fact, they go a step further and say that renunciation is harmful at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 6. False Prophets of the Modern Age
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 6. False Prophets of the Modern Age, The modern age is materialistic. The dominant note in the era of today is the materialistic sense of values. Materialism also has many forms. There is a materialism which says that this world alone is everything, that this world alone is worth having. Then there is the other kind of materialisma subtle materialism which says that God alone is not enough, that there must be the universe also besides Him and that you cannot totally ignore or neglect this universe. To know God alone, according to the votaries of this subtle doctrine, is imperfection; and perfection is to know the ultimate Reality of God as well as this world. They say that you must know God and you must know this universe also in the true sense at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 7. Inner Renunciation Is Real Renunciation
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 7. Inner Renunciation Is Real Renunciation, After all, where can you go to get away from the world? Even if you go to the Himalayan caves, you are still in the world. What really is needed is not so much the renunciation of the outward form of this world, is not so much the giving up of all outward desires. Renunciation does not mean renouncing merely a house, a beach, a garden or a piece of ground, or a mode of eating. Renunciation means completely renouncing worldliness. This is the secret of true renunciation at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, If, for a moment, we cast our eyes upon the vibrant and dynamic life upon the surface of the globe today, immediately we see that tremendous advances have been made in the past couple of centuries. Man has progressed, tapped new resources, discovered more about things than ever was known before. By his ingenuity and scientific acumen, he has evolved such instruments that things which could not even be perceived are now laid bare before the gaze of the human eyeinstruments of such magnifying power that nearly invisible phenomena and cosmic phenomena alike are revealed to the penetrating eye of the scientist at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 1. The Basic Neglect of the Study of Man
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 1. The Basic Neglect of the Study of Man, There is a simple reason. Man is, ultimately, the most important unit in this universe. In his hands lies the key to the direction to be taken by human affairs. Over storms, tides, earthquakes, drought, whirlwinds, cyclonesover the universal elementsman has no control; but in so far as the life of the individual is concernedbe it in the family, in the community, in the civic centre, in the capital, in the nation, or in the worldin so far as this life, in all its various and ever-widening aspects is concernedthe control does lie in the hands of man. Man is the director of these affairs at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 2. Who Am I?The Great Enquiry
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 2. Who Am I?The Great Enquiry, The knowledge of oneself is the required knowledge. And the education in this knowledge has to start right from childhood. It is only when the art of right thinking is taught in childhood that true progress ensues in the life of the individual. We have, first of all, to understand what we are, and what are those factors in our personality that will increase its beauty, and what are those factors that will mar that beauty. How many people take time to think about themselves? at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 3. You Are Not the Body
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 3. You Are Not the Body, These have ever been the central questions of Hindu philosophy. Both the ancient sages and the modern Masters have ever tried to bring about an awakening in man so that this earth-life might be properly used to get an essential knowledge of the Self. The ignorant, the idiotic, the stupid or the foolish think that the body is ones own self. Mans idea of himself is: I am five feet, nine inches tall; I weigh so many pounds; I am so many years old, etc. What greater folly, what greater ignorance, what greater blindness or stupidity could there be than to identify oneself with this perishable cage of bones, this gross composition of flesh and muscles and skin! After all, what is this physical sheath if it is not wholly dependent upon perishable food? at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 4.You Are Not the Mind
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 4.You Are Not the Mind, Consciousness cannot be dependent upon the senses. Could the aggregate of the senses be yourselfthe sense of sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing together with the sense-centres in the brain which make them work? If you do not hear, the loss of hearing does not make you lose your individuality; similarly, the loss of sight or smell does not make you lose your personality. And when you go into the deep-sleep state where all the ten senses are totally inoperative, and as it were dead, You are still there. You are able to posit your continuous existence. When you get up, you say, I am the one who went to sleep, and now, I am the awakener. I am able to say that I have enjoyed my sleep at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 5. The Universal Factors: I and I Am
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 5. The Universal Factors: I and I Am, When you go deep within yourself, it becomes apparent that this I, your very Self, is something that links you so very close to all humanity and to all life upon earth, that it is universal. Consider a vast group of people of different nationalities, races, religions, beliefs and casteseveryone totally different from everyone else in name and form, in language, in thought pattern, in colour, in creed, in dress, in manner of eating, drinking and sleeping, in short, in everything at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 6. Wrong Identifications Destroy Universality
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 6. Wrong Identifications Destroy Universality, We have seen that everyone says I and I am, and thus far everyone is perfectly all right, everyone is in accord with all other beings upon earth. But then, from this second word onwards, man voices his ignorance. He proceeds with I am an American, I am a Canadian, I am a Hindu, I am a Republican. Whatever he adds to I am, immediately limits his consciousness. It at once vitiates the consciousness of oneness. Thus when you say I am, you are at one with all mankind; but when you say I am So-and-so, you separate yourself and create a barrier between yourself and every human being contrary to you. You immediately cut yourself off from the rest of the world and regard others as inimical to yourself, opposed to yourself, and what is worse, harmful to yourself. Herein lies colossal ignorance. Herein lies the necessity for the utmost clarity of thought. Here it is that you have to make use of your intelligence at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 7. You Are Existence-Consciousness-Bliss
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 7. You Are Existence-Consciousness-Bliss, TNow, this much becomes clear. When you say I am, you assert your Existence. This Existence is your true nature, and this Existence is for ever. This Existence is indestructible, because it is not a created thing like the body of the five elements and because it is not identical with any of those non-essential factors of your being like the body, etc.; it is independent of them all. It is changeless. Mind constantly changes, takes on new ideas and sheds old ideas. There is constant flux in your mind. This mind, which is ever in a state of change and movement and flux, cannot be the eternal factor in you. The eternal factor is Existence. You are indestructible, imperishable Existence. Everlasting Life is your true and essential being. That is your nature at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 8. You Are God Even Now
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 8. You Are God Even Now, This is the nature of the highest illumined soul who knows this. It is the nature of the intelligent, thinking man who is often puzzled, who sometimes seems to know this and again seems not to know this. It is also the nature of the ignorant man who is unlettered and does not even know how to think. It is the nature of the fool and the idiot. No matter what state of evolution or what state of unfoldment or manifestation of the inner spiritual consciousness you find yourself in, essentially, inwardly, in truth and in fact, you are Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. Even at this moment. Nothing can rob you of that at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 9. Walk with God: Talk with God
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 9. Walk with God: Talk with God, This is the view and the vision that man, both as an individual and as collective humanity, needs today. When Professor Einstein once was asked in a certain interview, What shall we do, Professor, in order to improve the world?, he said, We must have improved people. That means we must live in the consciousness of our true nature. Even if a few people, a handful of people, make it their firm resolution, their greatest aim and aspiration in life, not to live any longer as mere mundane creatures, but to feel themselves divine, to be always at one with the Divine Essence, then real progress will have been made. Live in this way every day at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 6: Your True Purpose In Life
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 6: Your True Purpose In Life, Glorious Immortal Self! There is a permanent Reality behind this entire universe that lies before you. There is a vital living Truth behind the names and forms that constitute the world we have come to know. That great Reality, that living Truth is of the nature of bliss and blessedness. It is a state of untrammelled freedom, limitless peace, boundless wisdom and indescribable bliss. It is a joy which nothing upon the surface of the earth can even remotely equal at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 6: Your True Purpose In Life, 1.The Great Search for Happiness
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 6: Your True Purpose In Life, 1.The Great Search for Happiness, Let us make an observation of life. What significant point emerges out of our observation? It is that wherever man exists, activity is also evident. People are running about, everyone bursting with activity! There never seems to be a moment just to pause and reflect. And what is this activity? Let us try to analyse it. Most of this activity is a furious search for happiness, for enjoyment, for pleasure, of different degrees and shades of experience. Simultaneously, man is ceaselessly trying to rid himself of sorrow, pain and suffering. He is trying to avoid all that is unpleasant, painful, sorrowful and grievous, and to attain all that is joyous, pleasant, happy and enjoyable at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 6: Your True Purpose In Life, 2.Right Education as to the True Meaning of Life
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 6: Your True Purpose In Life, 2.Right Education as to the True Meaning of Life, It is the duty of every parent, educator and elder to give to growing souls (young people) the sense of lifes wondrous purpose. If from the very beginning of ones life this were inculcated in every soul, a great deal of searching and struggling and sorrow would be obviated. Right from the very start, life would be meaningful. Life is not just a haphazard flight from one object to another. Life is a quest full of significance and meaning at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 6: Your True Purpose In Life, 3.Living Is Not Life
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 6: Your True Purpose In Life, 3.Living Is Not Life, Thus you are caught up in this whirl called life, and so closely gripped by it, so deeply entangled in its meshes, that the mere process of living rather than the true life engrosses you entirely. Living takes the place of life. And naturally, with the true purpose missing, there lies an essential emptiness within, and this emptiness you try to fill by ever exerting to obtain external objects. But objects cannot bring the experience of happiness within; they foment anxiety and bring the experience of unrest and turbulence. Happiness is a state of the inner life of the individual. It is a state of the mind and the intellect at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 6: Your True Purpose In Life, 4.The Goal of Life According to Indian Philosophy
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 6: Your True Purpose In Life, 4.The Goal of Life According to Indian Philosophy, You know that changeful, imperfect objects cannot give you the changeless perfect experience. Now try to make your life a quest after That which is changeless, which is all-full and, therefore, perfect and blissful. You are at once confronted with the fact that as embodied beings, you cannot entirely dispense with the performance of your day-to-day duties as members of a family or as citizens of a society. Whether you like it or not, for the time being, we have to fulfil these duties. How should they be co-ordinated with the exercise of our highest duty in lifethe attainment of Bliss? at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 6: Your True Purpose In Life, 5.Spiritual Life and Life in this WorldA Reconciliation
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 6: Your True Purpose In Life, 5.Spiritual Life and Life in this WorldA Reconciliation, Both the ancient and the modern Indian sages are idealists, but their idealism is practical; it is combined with a very sane and sensible realism. In the quest for bliss and peace, the other life has to be reconciled with the striving for perfection. The physical and intellectual aspects of the being which operate upon this relative plane have to be reconciled with the great urge of the truly spiritual being. This reconciliation is one of the tasks of the spiritual life at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 6: Your True Purpose In Life, 6.Practice of Virtues
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 6: Your True Purpose In Life, 6.Practice of Virtues, Of what does righteousness consist? The answer is to be found in the very structure of truth. If one is fulfilling the truth, one is drawing nearer to the realization of God. But if ones life is characterized by falsehood, one cannot have God, one cannot have happiness; for one is cutting himself away from the Source of all blessedness. If one is cut away from Him, then not even the whole of the earth can give him happiness. Peace and happiness cannot, by their very nature, come into the life of the individual who contradicts truth. Righteousness is, therefore, the fulfilment of the principles of truth in life. It consists in being true to your inner real nature which is Divine at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 7: Laws Of Health And Prosperity
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 7: Laws Of Health And Prosperity, Beloved Immortal Self! Glorious Rays of the Eternal Light Divine! Salutations to you and crores of adorations to the Supreme! Today I speak to you a few words from the wisdom of the ancientsthe great seers of Indiaon a subject which, though of that part of your being which is perishable, which is unreal, which is not the Ultimate Truth of your being, is important in its own way in as much as it is a means to the realization of your True Self, and in as much as the body, its well-being and health in this life, and the happiness and prosperity in this life, both become helps and instrumental factors to you in fulfilling the true and only lasting purpose in your life, which is to know who you are at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 7: Laws Of Health And Prosperity, 1.The Human Being as Viewed by the Indian Masters
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 7: Laws Of Health And Prosperity, 1.The Human Being as Viewed by the Indian Masters, Indian thought evolves from within outward so that the first task and the most important thing is to know yourself, for you are the prime factor of all knowledge. There must first be a seer to see things, and there must first be a thinker to ponder over matters, to ponder over all things seen. There must first be a knower if any knowledge is to be at all. Therefore, the knowledge about the knower, the science of your own Self who forms the pivot of this universe, who is the basic factor in all knowledge, was placed first. Know Yourselfand then start knowing all else that is other than yourself at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 7: Laws Of Health And Prosperity, 2.How to Eat to Keep Fit
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 7: Laws Of Health And Prosperity, 2.How to Eat to Keep Fit, The refinement of the body, the purity of the body, is ensured mainly through diet, through food. If the proper food is taken and it is properly taken, and taken at the proper time, then the health of the body is ensured. One of the great sages, Athreya, said: Proper food taken in moderation, at the proper time, in the proper manner, goes to ensure ones good health. What did he mean by proper food? Sattwic food, fine food, in a pure condition. Taken at the proper time? Well, all health authorities will tell you that at certain periods of the day our body powers are on the ascent and food taken during those periods becomes beneficial, and when the body powers begin to ebb, food is not to be taken. Food is not to be taken when one is in a state of agitation or when one is emotionally disturbed at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 7: Laws Of Health And Prosperity, 3.Self-control and Preservation of the Life-Force
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 7: Laws Of Health And Prosperity, 3.Self-control and Preservation of the Life-Force, Indian doctors lay the utmost emphasis upon the preservation of ones life-force. Great moderation in ones sexual life is the one note upon which they perennially harp. A physician, after examining a patient and enquiring and advising about his diet, will then stress the fact that while the patient is under his care, his treatment, he must live as a single being, and it is only when the patient is completely well that the physician will consider advising him that he may live a normal physical life; and a normal physical life, according to Ayurveda, is not indulgence. It is taken for granted that normal physical life is characterized by two factors: restraint and moderation at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 7: Laws Of Health And Prosperity, 4.The Mind and the BodyVyadhi and Adivyadhi
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 7: Laws Of Health And Prosperity, 4.The Mind and the BodyVyadhi and Adivyadhi, You cannot have a diseased and unhealthy mind and have health of the body at the same time. The blood which the food forms in the body will become poisoned. The body will not be able to assimilate the maximum energy from the food taken if the emotions that fill the mind are destructive and impure and gross, if they are not of the soul-nature, not of the spiritual nature, but partake of the body-nature, the gross, flesh-nature at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 7: Laws Of Health And Prosperity, 5.The Ayurvedic Theory of the Tridoshas
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 7: Laws Of Health And Prosperity, 5.The Ayurvedic Theory of the Tridoshas, The ancient seers of India interpreted these body conditions in a very unique way, and not in the Western way. They had the theory of Tridoshas. The Ayurvedic science of diagnosis of the disease conditions (which manifest as a result of malaise in your mind and in your vitality) was based upon the three humours of the body. The Ayurvedic scientists said that such upsetting of the purity of the mind and the fineness of the vital energy brought about a state of disturbance in the balance between the three humours that characterize the normal condition of each human being. The theory of the three humours was not entirely unknown to mediaeval medicine in Europe and in England. In Europe, I do believe, they had something similar to Ayurveda, and perhaps, it had come through Arabia and Greece at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 7: Laws Of Health And Prosperity, 6.How to Attain Prosperity
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 7: Laws Of Health And Prosperity, 6.How to Attain Prosperity, The secret of prosperity, of course, would be to live within your income, to spend less than what you earn. And, do not go into debt! That would be the greatest wisdom in a nutshell! How to be prosperous? If you earn a hundred and fifty dollars, spend a hundred and forty-nine; then you always have one dollar left. If you would have me comment on it, I would say: Never get into the instalment system. If you have cash, then all right, purchase things. If you do not have cash, go without them at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 7: Laws Of Health And Prosperity, 7.The Spiritual Law of Prosperity
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 7: Laws Of Health And Prosperity, 7.The Spiritual Law of Prosperity, There is something a little higher than even this. The Hindu believes that whatever there is in this universe is all the Divine Essence. Everything is God. Every force is God. Every phenomenon is God. Every being is God. Every name and form is God. Everything you experience is only the Divine Essence in various manifestations, and prosperity is one of the direct manifestations of the Divine Power as the sustaining force in this universe. The Divine Power in this cosmic process expresses Itself first as a projecting power, a power that brings into being, and then It acts here upon the threefold time continuum of past, present and future, as the sustaining power. That which has been brought forth It sustains, nourishes, protects, takes care of. You see, it is God again at the other end of the cycle. The same power once again dissolves all that has been brought forth and reabsorbs projected phenomena into their original state of non-manifestation at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 7: Laws Of Health And Prosperity, 8.Some Valuable Clues to Prosperity in the House
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 7: Laws Of Health And Prosperity, 8.Some Valuable Clues to Prosperity in the House, I have four or five things which, as a Hindu, I wish to tell you. Where elders are respectfully honoured, there prosperity prevails; and where eldersfather and mother, grandfather and grandmother, uncles and auntsare treated with contempt, with harshness, with scant respect, there is no prosperity at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 8: Worship Of God As Mother Divine
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 8: Worship Of God As Mother Divine, Radiant Immortal Atman! Glory be to the Divine. May the Grace of the Lord bring peace to the whole world and happiness and welfare unto all mankind. The ancient Vedic way of life, termed the Sanathan Dharma, and known generally to the Western world by the name Hinduism, gives as the supreme objective in life, eternal freedom from the shackles of earthly bondage and death through Divine Experience or God-realisation. This state of spiritual emancipation and eternal blessedness is termed Moksha or Kaivalya. This is a state of absolute felicity and eternal satisfaction, characterized by cessation of all pain and suffering and attainment of supreme bliss. You go beyond birth and death at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 8: Worship Of God As Mother Divine, 1.The Genesis of Mother Worship
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 8: Worship Of God As Mother Divine, 1.The Genesis of Mother Worship, God as the Universal Mother has a special appeal to man due to numerous reasons. Firstly, the mother is the earliest recognizable friend of the infant human being; she is the supreme wish-fulfiller of the individual and, at a certain stage, the all-in-all. Secondly, of all human relationships on earth, the sweetest and the most loving is this relationship of one with ones mother. Thirdly, the father image is always associated with sternness and discipline; whereas, the mother image is that of spontaneous love, compassion, protective tenderness and care, forbearance and forgiveness too. No wonder then that erring man is naturally drawn into this approach to the Supreme Being as the Mother Divine rather than as the Universal Father. Seeking comforts, solace and forgiveness, man turns to the Mother rather than to the Father. Stern justice is more likely to stem from the latter, whereas solicitude, forgiveness and love would be expected from the Mother. Thus, down the ages, man has evolved this approach to the Supreme Deity in Its aspect as the Cosmic Mother through the time-honoured tradition of Mother worship at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 8: Worship Of God As Mother Divine, 2.Distinctive Forms of Mother Worship
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 8: Worship Of God As Mother Divine, 2.Distinctive Forms of Mother Worship, Worship of the Mother, as it presently prevails within the Hindu religious world, is to be found in three or four distinctive forms. Certain sections of the Shaktas devote themselves to the worship of the Mother according to methods laid down in the Shakta Tantras. This is a highly technical mode of worship entailing specific ritual into which one must be initiated as per Shakta tradition at energyenhancement.org
- 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
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation, Glorious Immortal Atman! The subject of Karma and Reincarnation is one that merits the careful consideration and the intelligent perusal of everyone, for herein lies an exposition of a law which governs our existence in this universe. People are often apt to make loose reference to this subject as the Indian theory of Karma or the Hindu theory of reincarnation. This is a misnomer. It is not the evolution of a theory with which we are concerned, but the revelation of a law. It is interesting to note that this law is not the especial possession of the people of the East, but is at the very origin of all religions, and is commonly held by practically every religion of the world. Therefore, it is not a Hindu law in the same way that the law of gravity is not Newtons law at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation , 1.The Law and Its Implications
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation , 1.The Law and Its Implications, The statement of this Law of Karma and Reincarnation is not a startling one, either. It does not require any special effort to be understood or accepted. Even now, this law is being recognized and accepted in deep conviction by great scientists and has been defined in terms which have been made familiar to everyone. According to their interpretation of the law, restricted to the plane of physical matter, every action has a corresponding reaction and every cause has an inevitable effect. Every chemist, every physicist, believes that this law operates in the external universe governing physical matter at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation, 2.The Threefold Karma
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation, 2.The Threefold Karma, The actions that operate in the life of every individual according to this law have been divided into three categories. By applying the scientific law of cause and effect to the first category, it is seen that in a persons life-time some activities have effect immediately, some have effect after a few years, but some perhaps have no effect at all in this life-time. What happens to an action whose effect has not been worked out in this life? The potencies of such actionsthe potencies of reactivity, as it were, of unresolved causesgo on accumulating in each individuals storehouse of Karma. That is one category of seeds of Karma at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation, 3.ManThe Builder of His Destiny
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation, 3.ManThe Builder of His Destiny, Is this great law a curse or a blessing? It is mixed. Ultimately, it is a great blessedness. People have a tendency to look at it from only one particular angle, and that angle is, that as long as a human being is bound to the wheel of this law, there is no happiness for him and he is miserable and he weeps. In this view, Karma will always plague man and the Law of Karma, like the hammer of God, will descend upon his head and inflict perennial suffering upon him. But, is it not clear that this Law of Karma is not actually just a law of retribution or punishment? There is another view, a glorious view, to be taken of it. Just as man cannot escape the results of his activity which are bad (for this, he has to reap tears and suffering), in the same way, he cannot escape his reward. The whole world cannot rob him of his deserved reward. The good actions of a person will follow him anywhere and will overcome for him the greatest difficulty and the greatest sorrow and give him the harvest of joy at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation, 4.Breaking the Bondage of Karma
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation, 4.Breaking the Bondage of Karma, Thus the law ultimately implies that man can free himself from this wheel of birth and death by consciously avoiding all that brings him back into incarnation and by filling his life with ideal activities to refine his nature more highly, until ultimately a lofty stage is reached where the over-all goodness in his life bestows upon him the knowledge of his real Self; and once he attains to this knowledge, the Law of Karma comes to a halt. Bondage is broken. Why? Through their deep insight into the workings of the Law, the Hindus discovered that is was inoperative in the realm of the Soul. It is only in the realm of the mind and the body that this law operates at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation, 5.The Law of Karma and Gods Justice
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation, 5.The Law of Karma and Gods Justice, There are two or three questions about the cosmic form of this law and about the individual operation of it which I will answer now. One is: What is the relation between God and the experiences and actions of individuals upon this earth? We have said that God does not create the experiences of the individual, but that his experiences are determined by the particular nature that he has acquired at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 11: The Mysterious Mind And Its Control
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 11: The Mysterious Mind And Its Control, Glorious Immortal Soul! A great deal has been written in the West lately about psychological theories and investigations. The subject we are going to discuss, therefore, may contain several ideas already familiar to most of you. Nevertheless, so important and invaluable are the things which have to be known and remembered about the mind that frequent repetitions are necessary. These are facts which have to be carefully considered and properly assimilated, not once, but many times. If they ever happen to be forgotten, you should be able to remind yourself by such repetitive thinking. The knowledge about the mysterious mind is ancient. From the dawn of civilization, these truths have been expounded by the Great Ones. From times immemorial, man has been reminded of his true supra-mental nature by the revelation of the wise sages and illumined seers at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 11: The Mysterious Mind And Its Control, 1.The Mind as Seen from a Vantage Point
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 11: The Mysterious Mind And Its Control, 1.The Mind as Seen from a Vantage Point, In the East, the scientists of the spirit rose beyond the mind through processes of Yoga, and totally separated themselves from the mind and all its associated functions, and from that point of vantage, untouched by the mind, and entirely free from the influence of its habitual patterns of thought, patiently studied its essential, inherent nature and its behaviour. They beheld it in the light of a tangible and higher spiritual experience upon which they were established, and from where the mind was seen to be a distinct object apart from the seer, a thing to be observed and studied at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 11: The Mysterious Mind And Its Control, 2.Mind is a Marvel
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 11: The Mysterious Mind And Its Control, 2.Mind is a Marvel, Stones, trees, grass and sand, which might have been existing in a given geographical area for centuries, can know absolutely nothing about their physical environment, but the moment an intelligent man enters into the area, he gathers innumerable facts pertaining to the same. He correlates these facts and in this way acquires useful knowledge. He may, for instance, ascertain the composition of the soil, the elevation of the land, the quarter in which the sun rises, the directions in which the water flows and the wind blows. Stones and boulders are immobile and insentient. Vegetation is entirely unconscious of itself and its environment, knowing nothing about the soil in which it grows, about the winds blowing above it, about the water soaking it. In man alone, there is some miraculous factor which gives him an immediate perception of his surroundings, and simultaneously gives him the ability to develop knowledge out of which new ideas are created for himself. This phenomenon is the mystery of human life. It is the mystery of the mind at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 11: The Mysterious Mind And Its Control, 3.MindThe Barrier Between Man and God
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 11: The Mysterious Mind And Its Control, 3.MindThe Barrier Between Man and God, It is universally acknowledged that the mind is the only link between man and the body, and between personality and the external world. Right from childhood man learns everything about the universe through the mind. Senses just feed in data to the mind. It is the mind which actually correlates the data and produces knowledge. It therefore provides the most important factor in mans life. The importance of this factor is recognized by the East, but in addition to this, the East has something more to say about the mind that has been unsaid by the Western psychologists. The East says that the mind is also the greatest barrier lying between man and the true source of his being. It is the barrier which for ever denies him access to the experience of infinitude. It is the limit within which the human being is confined and cramped into the dimensions of a narrow individualised personality. Struggling to expand and go beyond this limited range of consciousness, man is strongly opposed by his finite mind at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 11: The Mysterious Mind And Its Control, 4.Origin of Western Psychology
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 11: The Mysterious Mind And Its Control, 4.Origin of Western Psychology, Western psychologists have studied the mind in terms of characteristic action and behaviour. This approach is due to the way in which their attention was first drawn towards the mind. Western psychologists were primarily doctors. They started to work in the hospitals where treatment of various ailments and diseases was being studied and improved upon, but they found that certain diseases could not be cured by all the medical and therapeutic measures and, in this way they stumbled across the fact that the causes behind many of the diseases were mental. From this discovery, they proceeded to investigate the mental functions and found that there were certain clear connections between the functions of the mind and those of the body. Right from the start, the investigations of these Western psychologists centred around sick peoplepeople whose illnesses defied medical treatment. We could say, therefore, without exaggeration that the study of the mind in the West originated in a sort of morbid psychology. The diseased mind was the focus of the psychologists attention at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 11: The Mysterious Mind And Its Control, 5.Characteristics of the Mind
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 11: The Mysterious Mind And Its Control, 5.Characteristics of the Mind, The prime characteristic of the mind is externalization. The sages found that the flow of the mind was outward and not centred inward. That is the law of life: everything spreads outward from its centre. But there is a force which is trying to draw everything back towards their source and centre. When the externalizing force is overcome, man is able to release that re-integrating force, and in this way finds his Centre. When this is done, his search is over. Life is mastered. The second characteristic of the mind is constancy of activity. Never for a single moment is the mind still. The third characteristic is wideness in the range of its activity. Not only in one direction is it active, but in many directions. Now it is here, now it is there and now it is everywhere at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 11: The Mysterious Mind And Its Control, 6.The Primal Root Thought
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 11: The Mysterious Mind And Its Control, 6.The Primal Root Thought, Why does the mind not abide in its centre? What causes it to emerge again into external consciousness? The first answer is that by its very nature the mind tends to be externalized. Secondly, it is prevented from abiding in its centre by the irresistible momentum of the primal root thought I. This root thought I forms the very basis of your limited, false separatist individual personality and it is this root thought which mysteriously induces you into the error of identifying yourself with the body, the senses, the mind and its moods, and with names and forms at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 11: The Mysterious Mind And Its Control, 7.Operation of Subtle Impressions
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 11: The Mysterious Mind And Its Control, 7.Operation of Subtle Impressions, Just as a seed is sown in the soil, so the impression of every experience is made on the mind. These impressions of experiences are alive. They have in them the direct power to recreate the entire experiences which caused them in the first instance. (In fact, each impression seeks a repetition of the corresponding original experience.) at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 11: The Mysterious Mind And Its Control, 8.How to Transcend the Mind
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 11: The Mysterious Mind And Its Control, 8.How to Transcend the Mind, Now, the problem has been clearly stated. What is the solution? The solution lies in the complete reversal of this process. First you must try to control the externalization of the mind by overcoming desire. Very easy to saybut, how can desire be overcome? This is not too easy. Right thinking and discriminative reasoning hold a key to this solution. Various methods have been given. The great thing is to know yourself to be distinct and different from the desires. YOU are entirely separate and apart from all desire and thought at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 11: The Mysterious Mind And Its Control, 9.The Raja Yogic Technique of Selective Thinking
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 11: The Mysterious Mind And Its Control, 9.The Raja Yogic Technique of Selective Thinking, Patanjali, the expounder of the most complete science of mind-control, has said that if you want to get rid of any particular thought, then you should instantly raise a counter-thought of the opposite nature. If, for instance, you have a certain negative thought of fear, then introduce a positive thought of courage. If you have a negative thought of hatred and hostility, create immediately in your mind a positive thought of love, friendship and brotherhood. Fill yourself with the feeling of cordiality. If you are overcome by a thought of prejudice and intolerance, raise thoughts and feelings of sympathy, understanding and oneness. This can be done at any specific instant, with reference to any specific negative thought. This practice can also be undertaken as a complete course of psychological self-transformation with the technique systematically practised day by day. It is an invaluable inner discipline for your ethical unfoldment and progress. It can help you even in your spiritual awakening at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 11: The Mysterious Mind And Its Control, 10.Hatha YogaAn Aid to Mind-control
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 11: The Mysterious Mind And Its Control, 10.Hatha YogaAn Aid to Mind-control, In addition to these positive methods of overcoming the mind, you may also know that the mind is played upon by the three inner vibratory states, or movements, called (in Yogic terminology) Gunasmeaning qualities. They are Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. Sattva implies purity and light. Rajas implies passion and activity. Tamas implies inertia, darkness and grossness. Purity tends to steady the mind and make it go inward, whereas passion and impurity throw the mind into a state of unsteadiness and turmoil and take it outward, away from its centre. The mind which is rendered Sattvic is beautifully balanced. Purity of life, in all its departments, is thus a great requisite for the refinement of the nature and the heightening of the being at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 12: The Only Source Of True Happiness
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 12: The Only Source Of True Happiness, Happiness seems to have been the quest of man on earth ever since creation began, but this quest does not yet seem to have ended. Happiness is the quest of the whole world, but at the same time the despair of all of us. There does not seem to be any finding of it. Happiness seems to lie far in the future, on the distant horizon as it were, where, like the horizon, it recedes out of sight the very moment you think it attainable. After several thousand years of known history, modern man seems to be as far away from the actual experience of happiness as his remote ancestors. Yet, there is no doubt that during this time tremendous efforts have been made to attain it. Throughout the centuries man has striven, often tirelessly, to create countless devices to fill his external life with pleasures. But all these devices have failed to serve the exact purpose. For, if man is asked the question, Are you really happy?, hardly anyone will give a forthright and direct answer, Yes, I am!. Almost everyone will begin, instead, with Er,...Oh, I think so... or Perhaps... or May be not quite... or I cant exactly say.... Anything but a definite affirmative! at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 12: The Only Source Of True Happiness, 1.Happiness Is an Experience
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 12: The Only Source Of True Happiness, 1.Happiness Is an Experience, This much is certain. Man knows what he wants. But he does not know the true nature of what he wants and why his happiness eludes him. That there is a surpassing supreme happiness which can be obtained in this human life is the great declaration of the Upanishads, the Vedas, and the Bhagavad Gita. Know thou that the Reality is indescribable bliss and the highest conceivable happiness. There is that happiness which is so intense that the intellect cannot even comprehend it and the senses (which ordinarily experience happiness) cannot even grasp it or convey itit is so intense and so transcendental!: that is the happiness which is the goal of man. Fullness and perfection pertain to the highest happiness. It has nothing to do with the imperfect, for imperfection implies a mixture, and in a mixture of factors, there is no uniformity of experience at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 12: The Only Source Of True Happiness, 2.Possession of Objects Means No Happiness
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 12: The Only Source Of True Happiness, 2.Possession of Objects Means No Happiness, Now the question may arise in your mind: What about all those beautiful things, those pleasant things, those tasty things, those colourful things, those melodious things filling the world? Do they not give happiness? Certainly these things do give definite experiences. But, can these experiences be called happiness? That is the point we have to decide now at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 12: The Only Source Of True Happiness, 3.HappinessA Lost Treasure
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 12: The Only Source Of True Happiness, 3.HappinessA Lost Treasure, How do people, who have all the things that are ordinarily envied, act when they get a few days free from their work? They go on a trip to the mountains or to the national parks or perhaps to Hawaii. Though they own everything usually conceived of as sources of happiness, yet when they are given a little freedom, they in fact try to get away from what they already have. Who ponders over the significance of these things? Who sees their implication? To the thoughtful person, it is clearly revealed that objects of the universe do not have the subtle power to give man the experience of happiness. The thoughtful person sees that happiness is not the getting of anything. What then is the special significance of the expression The quest for happiness or The search for happiness? Why do we use the words quest and search? Seeking or searching implies that something has been lost. If a thing was, and then is not, we may immediately go in search of it. When the lost thing is found, we have simply recovered it. Life, therefore, is not so much a struggle to discover the source of happiness as an effort to recover lost happiness. In its aspect as a quest, life is an attempt to recover that which has been lost at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 12: The Only Source Of True Happiness, 4.The Limited Utility of Sense Objects
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 12: The Only Source Of True Happiness, 4.The Limited Utility of Sense Objects, Try to evaluate objects as they really are. To lead a proper existence here on earth, one has to assign a limited value to objects. Certain objects are indispensable for the maintenance of life. To that end they should be utilised. But, let them not assume an undue prominence in your life. For, instead of serving as sustenance, they may become the veritable tyrant sapping life of all true contentment and satisfaction. Your happiness may then become mortgaged to these objects. These objects may then come to have a stranglehold upon you and tend to dominate you and enslave you. A proper understanding and a right evaluation of objects as they are, and for what they are worth, is of prime concern to the human individual. Thus far, and no further! you must say, when objects try to invade the interior kingdom of your life at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 12: The Only Source Of True Happiness, 5.Time-tested Aids to Happiness
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 12: The Only Source Of True Happiness, 5.Time-tested Aids to Happiness, As far as possible, you must always try to simplify your life. Simplicity of life is the true secret of happiness. Unhampered experience of the joy which lies within comes out of simplicity. Therefore, your life should never be complicated with too many things. Due to too many things, due to too many desires, modern man unfortunately has missed this joy. You have seen the bright posters printed by Pan-American Air Lines, TWA, etc. The paradise which they feature, for a holiday, is not in metropolitan, highly urbanized America, but in the South Sea Islands. Why? Not because they have drive-in theatres, barbecue hamburger stands or race tracksnone of these things are there. Such places rarely offer the ordinary conveniences, yet one readily admits the idea that there is a paradise there, because one knows of the natural simplicity of those places. The Hawaiian native always sings and dances. He is comparatively carefree and filled with the happiness of simplicity and contentment. We envy him and even try to imitate him, at least for the time being, by leaving all distractions and going away to his place. In simplicity, man has the key to happiness at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 13: The Truth About Yoga
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 13: The Truth About Yoga, This is a world of passing names and forms. In it all things change and soon reach their dissolution. One Thing, however, abides changelessly amidst all change. It is the Great Reality, the imperishable, the indestructible, changeless Being whom you call God. This Great Being, this Universal Spirit, is the eternal source, substratum and the goal ultimate of all existence. He is existence eternal, knowledge absolute, infinite bliss, immeasurable and perennial peace. To attain Him is to become fearless and free and immortal. By attaining Him you transcend death; you pass beyond all sorrow, pain and suffering. You reach a state of indescribable joy, ineffable peace and a supreme exalted consciousness of bliss and beatitude. This is as tangibly and substantially possible as plucking a ripe fruit and tasting and enjoying it at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 13: The Truth About Yoga, 1.The Wisdom of the East
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 13: The Truth About Yoga, 1.The Wisdom of the East, At the present juncture in this momentous Twentieth Century, the concept of one world is gaining ground in the minds of all thoughtful men. The necessity for the exchange and interchange of cultural values and scientific knowledge, and many other aspects of human life, is being felt more and more. The achievements of the different human races and nations are becoming the common property of the whole world. People everywhere are becoming more and more conscious of the oneness of humanity at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 13: The Truth About Yoga, 2.What Yoga Is Not
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 13: The Truth About Yoga, 2.What Yoga Is Not, First and foremost, Yoga is not mere acrobatics. There are some peculiar notions about Yoga, as though it were primarily concerned with the manipulation of the body into various queer positions: standing on the head, twisting the spine, or assuming of the odd poses demonstrated in the illustrated texts on Yoga. These techniques are employed for one type of Yoga practice, but they do not form an integral part of the most essential type. It is possible that without hearing of these physical poses, or knowing anything about them, one could yet be a perfect Yogi. The practice of the poses is not an indispensable part of Yoga. At best, the poses serve as an auxiliary or a minor aid to Yoga proper at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 13: The Truth About Yoga, 3.Sorrow and SufferingThe Genesis of Yoga
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 13: The Truth About Yoga, 3.Sorrow and SufferingThe Genesis of Yoga, Now having tried to tell you what Yoga is notnot acrobatics, not magic, not torture, not weird rites or ceremonials, not hedonism or paganism, not occultism or mystery-mongering, not auto-hypnosis or LSD and mescalin experiencesI shall tell you what Yoga is. Yoga is essentially a spiritual matter concerning a spiritual method. It is an intensely practical approach towards the realization of the Supreme Reality, the very Centre of your livesGod. Yoga is the heritage of all humanity. Briefly, I shall now touch upon the genesis of Yoga. Observing mans life on earth, you will have to admit that life is not all ice-cream and chocolate milk-shakes and drive-ins. It is birth, growth, pain, suffering, sorrow, loss and gain, honour and dishonour, fulfilment and disappointment, straggle, affliction, disease and, ultimately, decay of the human frame and death of the body. These things are absolutely inexorable and inevitable at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 13: The Truth About Yoga, 4.A Science Built upon Practical Experience
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 13: The Truth About Yoga, 4.A Science Built upon Practical Experience, What Divinity is, that, essentially, man also is. Man partakes of the same nature, and is enabled to regain his awareness of that divine nature by subjecting himself to the process of Yoga. By availing himself of certain well-tried practical techniques, one is raised in consciousness from the physical level to the vast transcendental spiritual level. This higher level becomes one with the Consciousness of God. It is Divine Consciousness, God Consciousness, Cosmic Consciousness. This is the attainment that is bestowed upon the Yogis who have tried again and again, a hundred thousand times, the various practical methods which culminate in this glorious experience. Seers and mystics throughout the centuries have proved the validity of these techniques right to the very last factor. The science does not depend merely upon belief, but upon experience gained from the practical application of its principles. The actual living realization has been attained and the glorious experience declared with the authority of many who have mastered themselves. Such masters there are, even today, in all parts of India at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 13: The Truth About Yoga, 5.A Universal Technique for All Time
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 13: The Truth About Yoga, 5.A Universal Technique for All Time, While this science was being evolved, the great seers were not so much concerned with the requirements of particular groups such as the Hindus or the Easterners; rather, they undertook a consideration of man on earth as he was constituted. It was apparent to them that the physical body and the mind served certain purposes: the body as an instrument of the mind and the mind as a channel for the expression of the soul. They observed that most unfortunately man was enslaved by the body, gripped by the senses, and caught up and tyrannized by the cravings of the mind. This was the picture of the earthly mansense-bound and desire-ridden, the glory of his spirit entirely eclipsedand this picture they sought to change by their practice of Yoga at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 13: The Truth About Yoga, 6.Training of the Mind in Yoga
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 13: The Truth About Yoga, 6.Training of the Mind in Yoga, There is a fourfold expression of the mind. First, it is expressed as rationality or the power of reasoning. Second, it is expressed as emotion or love. Third, it is expressed as activity or dynamism. And fourth, it is expressed as reflection or contemplativeness. All four aspects of the mental being have to be disciplined and trained to go inward so that your resources are completely channelled and directed towards the Great GoalGod at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 13: The Truth About Yoga, 7.Spiritual Research of the Indian Sages
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 13: The Truth About Yoga, 7.Spiritual Research of the Indian Sages, First, as to the peculiarity of Yoga, there is none as it is practised in India. The same techniques are practised there as elsewhere. However, as to the speciality of Yoga, there is thisin India is to be found the clearest conception of the process involved in concentration and meditation. The Indian sages made deep and thorough spiritual research to learn all that was involved in the process that takes man from his lower condition to the ultimate glorious condition that he is to attain. They made it their special concern to study the process in such detail that every bit of the human anatomy was revealed to them on the ascent unto Divinity. Every bit was perfectly analysed and known. From their study they found what obstacles were present in the way of the practical seeker. They discovered why these obstacles came and which factors inherent in human nature were the source of these obstacles; and they found out the way to remove these obstacles at their very source. For this purpose they formulated wonderful techniques, tried them out and proved them effective. They explained how these techniques worked and how they were to be applied. Their knowledge of the internal mechanism was amazing. Their knowledge of the structure of the human being was unparalleled. This, then, is the speciality of Yoga in India at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 13: The Truth About Yoga, 8.The Over-all Pattern of Yoga Life
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 13: The Truth About Yoga, 8.The Over-all Pattern of Yoga Life, I shall now sum up briefly the over-all pattern of Yoga life. First of all, Yoga recognizes the true purpose of human life. It gives you the answer to the question: Why have I come here and what is my task in life? Then it opens your eyes to the true nature of the universe. It tells you not to be deluded by these passing objects which are perishable and therefore temporary. Objects do not give an unalloyed experience of pleasure or bliss. Yoga shows you the objects of this world as they really are, not as they appear to be, and warns you not to be duped and deceived by their external glamour, not to be thus lured and enslaved by them. It advises you to develop dispassion, for if you are passionately attached to objects, sorrow will be the harvest which you will have to reap at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 13: The Truth About Yoga, 9.The Different Yoga Systems
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 13: The Truth About Yoga, 9.The Different Yoga Systems, There are various systems of Yoga which I will very briefly describe. In the intellectual system, one gets an understanding of God by listening to the exposition of the nature of Reality, by reflecting upon It again and again, and through the power of reasoning and the intellect ultimately penetrating into It in the depths of meditation at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 13: The Truth About Yoga, 10.Puritythe All-important Foundation
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 13: The Truth About Yoga, 10.Puritythe All-important Foundation, All the techniques of Yoga require perfect ethical and moral purity. Purity is the foundation of Yogic life. One cannot be a bad man and then try to practise Yoga. One cannot allow himself to be impure, insincere, untruthful, deceitful, and harmful to others and, at the same time, try to practise Yoga. There cannot be any spiritual realization when interior circumstances are imperfect. There cannot be any religious practice or true interior life when moral goodness is not deeply implanted in the being. One has to be rooted in goodness, in purity, in truth and in selflessness. Half of the process of Yoga is in thus getting perfectly established in ideal moral conduct. When this basis has been established, then the application of the techniques of Yoga is like the striking of a dry match upon the match-boximmediately there is a flame. Without the basis, it is like trying to ignite a wet match by striking it upon a cake of soapnothing happens at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, The great subject of meditation, which we have the good fortune to consider now, is one which provides the ultimate solution to the greatest problem which has faced and challenged mankind ever since the dawn of Creationthe problem of life as well as of death at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, 1.Value Of Meditation
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, , In meditation, you are raised into an experience where you can laugh at death, where you can treat it as a mere trifle. You are given the realization of your ever-changeless existence. You are birthless, deathless, changeless, without beginning or end. You are given the solid experience of that realization right here and nownot in some after-life, not in the beyond. Even while you are in this body, you are thus liberated from the terror and the fear of death. You know that if something perishes, it is of the earth, earthy, but it affects you not. You are the deathless Spirit indwelling the body, remaining absolutely untouched even when the body is dissolved. You know that you are glorious and independent of the body and the mind. You realize that to you, there is no need of this body, that it is the same to you whether you are within the body or without the body. That is the triumph attained through meditation at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, 2.Intellect and Intuition
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, 2.Intellect and Intuition, Outwardly, due to the limitations of your physical frame, you are finite. Your powers also are limited. Your intellect is bound by the necessity of basing all conceptual activity upon name and form, for without name and form mind cannot conceive of any idea. Therefore, the very function of your intellect is possible only within the framework of name and form at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, 3.Life Is Meant for Meditation
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, 3.Life Is Meant for Meditation, Is it to be taken, then, that until our meditation has reached that ultimate stage of perfection, where it is able to open the intuitionthe centre of true Consciousnessall our effort is futile or that, until that stage is reached, meditation is just toil and effort with no gainful return or reward? The answer is an emphatic NO! The exact opposite is the case. Meditation brings you a reward the very day you start it. Immediately you begin to feel the blessedness of meditation and you get a great return in terms of greater tranquillity, composure, clarity of mind, balance and peacefulness. All these results come from the very start of proper meditation. That is the greatness of this process at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, 4.The Process of Meditation
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, 4.The Process of Meditation, Now, let us consider the definition of meditation according to those who have mastered this science and have expounded its principles. Pre-eminently, meditation is a process of the mind. It is a mental-cum-intellectual process and, therefore, it is entirely interior in its realistic form and takes place in the silence of your inner being. Patanjali, a great Eastern sage and exponent of the great science of mind-control, has given the world one of the most thorough and scientific works on the subject of meditation. He defines meditation as continuous unbroken concentration or the unbroken flow of the mind concentrated upon a single subject. This means that meditation has a certain target, as it were, upon which the concentrated mind is brought to bear. The concentrated mind is kept in this state, and the flow or continuity of thought is kept unbroken. It may be compared to the flow of oil from one vessel to another. This is meditation at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, 5.CharacterThe Gateway to Meditation
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, 5.CharacterThe Gateway to Meditation, This process itself is very simple; it is the preparation for the process which is complex. If you want to shake hands with the President in the White House, it is very simple. Nothing to it! But, although the ultimate process is simple enough, yet all the red tape and all the hurdles that you have to face and surmount in order to get yourself into a position in which you stand before him and merely have to raise your hand and clasp his, all this preparation may take many months. You have to have all your credentials and the date of the interview fixed by the Presidents Office; then you have to book a seat on the plane or train, reserve your accommodation in Washington, and then, even if you do actually enter the White House, you may find that there are others who have come before you and a long wait may ensue before you may actually see the President at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, 6.The Power of the One-track Mind
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, 6.The Power of the One-track Mind, It is the concentrated mind which can work efficiently and powerfully. All outstanding achievements have been won in every field by means of the power of concentrated thought. Master statesmen, master military strategists, master engineers, master scientists, inventors and surgeons have all achieved success through the power of concentrated thought. They have had what is called a one track mind. They made themselves so. They deliberately cultivated the one-track mentality. What was Einstein if not a man of meditation? He was able to probe into the innermost secrets of the vast universe in meditation and there the truths came tumbling to him. They were revealed to him. His intuition got sparked and this led to the discovery of the cosmic secrets which he then formulated in amazing equations at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, 7.The Laws Of Thought
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, 7.The Laws Of Thought, Meditation succeeds in a marvellous way in revealing the great truths of life through the operation of the laws of thought. The first law of thought is: anything which is held in the mind persistently and intensely dwelt upon for a protracted period of time soon becomes concretized into fact. It becomes as actual as a concrete fact. This is one of the great laws upon which the knowledge of the power of thought is based. The other law, which is not restricted to the mental and intellectual level, but goes deeper and beyond and is much higher, is a spiritual law. This law is: such deeply concentrated thought persisted in to its ultimate conclusion suddenly takes a leap beyond the intellect and mind and enters the realm of intuition. This is the law of transcendence. When the mind is totally concentrated and deeply absorbed in this process of meditation, it transcends itself and you are plunged into the experience of Pure Consciousness. It is similar to the electric current switched on to an arc lamp. When the current reaches one terminal of the arc, it faces a gap separating the two terminals and then, suddenly, with a flash it springs out, bridging the gap in an instant and bursts into the incandescence of a dazzling light at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, 8.The Role of Body, Mind and Prana in Meditation
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, 8.The Role of Body, Mind and Prana in Meditation, Body, Mind and Prana are all interconnected. There is, therefore, another great help for you to be found in the practice of sitting steadily in one position without moving the body, and holding that position in tranquillity. In the preliminary stages of Raja Yoga discipline, you find that the basis of your life of Yoga has to be established on an absolutely pure, ethical and moral life. Then you are ready to start sitting steadily every day. At some special time each day you should retire into a quiet corner and sit there steadily poised for your practice. You may sit on a chair, if you prefer such a position, keeping the spine erect, relaxing your body totally, locking your fingers, resting them on your knees, and try to remain in that state at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, 9.Breathing Exercise for Mental Tranquillity
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, 9.Breathing Exercise for Mental Tranquillity, I have explained this at length to students of Yoga to impress upon them the close co-ordination of body, breath and mind. This gives them a deeper understanding into the rationale of Yogic breathing exercises. Now, in these exercises, you have to concentrate on the breath. You may try one called Alternate Breathing. This is one of the simple techniques, alternate in the sense that you breathe in through one nostril, exhale through the other, then inhale once again through the second nostril and exhale through the first nostril. This completes one round. Thus, for this Alternate Breathing, you close your right nostril with your right thumb and inhale through the left nostril. When the inhalation is complete, you close the left nostril with your ring and middle fingers, simultaneously releasing the right nostril by raising the thumb, then exhale completely, slowly, smoothly and gradually through the right nostril at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, 10.MeditationTemporal and Spiritual
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, 10.MeditationTemporal and Spiritual, Now, before dealing with this subject, we have to note a distinction. We have been told that any process of concentrated thought is meditation. Meditation is a process used by all people. I have pointed out that scientists, for instance, are meditators; that inventors, statesmen, great military strategists like Napoleon, are all meditators. Great strategists, like Napoleon, sketched out their campaigns to the minutest detail, beforehand. Vast structures, like the Empire State Building, were erected by engineers who laid their plans, likewise, after concentration and meditation. Every nail that was necessary, every ounce of material, every angle and joint, was clearly indicated in the blueprint. As such, the process of meditation by itself is a purely scientific technique, but in its application in Yoga, it is entirely spiritual and not material or temporal at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, 11.Aids to Successful Meditation
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, 11.Aids to Successful Meditation, From the great mystics I shall give you some valuable suggestions for success on the path of meditation. They are: (a) Constant recollection; (b) Continuous prayerfulness; (c) Repetition of the Divine Name at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, 12.MeditationA Panacea for All Ills
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 14: Meditation And Prayer, 12.MeditationA Panacea for All Ills, St. Peter of Alcantara, one of the medieval sages, has said that it is morally impossible for him who neglects meditation (mental prayer) to live without sin. He who neglects mental prayer does not need a devil to carry him to hell; he takes himself there by his own hand. It must be stated, without reservation, that no other means has the unique efficacy of meditation and that, as a consequence, its daily practice can in no wise be substituted for. The common practice of all saints and the important ecclesiastical documents demonstrate how highly one should esteem meditation at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 15: Saints And Sages
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 15: Saints And Sages, Blessed Immortal Atman! Glorious children of the Supreme! Beloved seekers! It is a great joy and a great blessedness for me to be with you all and bathe myself in the radiance of your holiness. It is said in India that the greatest blessedness a soul can have is to come in contact with those who love the Lord. Many things can be hadyou can have riches and material things which may be very valuable, but this is not anything compared to having the company of the pure in heart, of people who love God, of people who aspire for Truth. This latter cannot be purchased. It comes to us only through His Grace. It is a bestowal that comes directly from God. It comes only when the Divine wishes to be gracious unto us. He has been very gracious to me in this way at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 15: Saints And Sages, 1.The Purifying Power of Holy Saints
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 15: Saints And Sages, 1.The Purifying Power of Holy Saints, Satsanga is a transformer. Satsanga is the company of those who are at one with the Reality. Sat stands for the Supreme Truth or Reality. Sanga is association or company. Satsanga means being in close contact with the Supreme. The highest of holy company is to be with God in God-thought or divine contemplation, in meditation, in worship. You get close to the Reality with the aid of these processes at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 15: Saints And Sages, 2.Conflicting Declarations of Creeds and Scriptures
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 15: Saints And Sages, 2.Conflicting Declarations of Creeds and Scriptures, The pathway to the Supreme is beset with many difficulties and it is confused with conflicting declarations. Especially in this modern age, man is confused about religion. He does not know what the truth is, or the right religion, or the correct belief, for diverse religions abound. There are different scriptures declaring the Ultimate Reality in different terms, one contradicting the other. There is mutual conflict. There is no agreement and each religion insists that its conception of the Truth is the only Ultimate Reality. Sometimes they do not stop at this, but go one step further saying, All other conceptions will lead you to hell-fire and you will have to continue in that state, in the furnace of hell-fire and brimstone, for centuries and centuries. You who do not believe thus are all pagans and heathens at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 15: Saints And Sages, 3.Infallible Guidance from the Lives of Saints
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 15: Saints And Sages, 3.Infallible Guidance from the Lives of Saints, So, if you go to the scriptures and they confuse you, well, just look to the path which these great ones have taken. See how these saints have lived, how these people have tried to make themselves fit for the expression of the Supreme. See how they have spoken, how they have dealt with their fellow-men, how they have reacted to life and its experiences. Behold! Channel your life upon the pattern of the saints, and in this way, the great importance of the lives of saints for us is that they present to us a blueprint of the life-perfect. Their lives offer to us a tangible scheme of living, a way of life, glorifying their own exemplary personalities, their own ideal personalities; and we find that now we are in safe hands if we can just follow in their footsteps. Lives of great men oft remind us...they leave behind them footprints in the sands of timeand these footprints, their ideal pattern of living, becomes to us the indicator of the path to perfection at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 15: Saints And Sages, 4.The Transforming Influence of a Saints Action
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 15: Saints And Sages, 4.The Transforming Influence of a Saints Action, There was a saint living on the banks of the Ganges in the province of Bihar, a Vedantin, but devoted to Lord Rama. For many years he had been practising Yoga in a cave which he had dug out on the river bank and had attained to a very high spiritual state. He would be immersed in trance for several days and weeks and eat no food during that time. Due to this, he came to be known as the holy man whose food was air. Being a devotee of Lord Rama, he had many articles of worship (vessels, plates, pots, spoons, lamps and candlesticks) and devotees would come and lavish upon him their offerings (fruits, flowers, camphor and incense) and he would offer these to the Lord at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 15: Saints And Sages, 5.True Saintliness Is Egolessness
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 15: Saints And Sages, 5.True Saintliness Is Egolessness, The principle which the saints enliven within themselves, the principle of seeing the Lord in all, beholding the Self in all, and of attaining to a state of absolute desireless non-possessionthat is the way to liberation. The Supreme can be achieved only by making these truths live in reality within ourselves. And the forbearance of the saints! The very essence of saintliness is the total effacement of the ego. If you wish to briefly sum up the inner heart of saintliness, it is the total effacement of the ego. That is the perfect emptiness of which Christ spoke when he said, Empty thyself and I shall fill theea total emptying of ourselves of all I-ness and mine-ness and of all their offsprings, namely, desire, selfishness, attachment, anger, delusion and greed. From I springs mine. If there is no I, there is no mine. I is the root thought that separates us from God, and when I and mine come, there comes selfishness. The I wants to possess all things and countless desires spring into life. And when a desire is blocked, anger comes; and if the desire is fulfilled, more desire comes and greed follows because desires are insatiable and cannot be appeased. From desire springs greedgreed to obtain and possess that which is desired. Out of this possession comes clinging, infatuation and delusion. Saints are devoid of I at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 16: Divine Life
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 16: Divine Life, Blessed immortal seekers! Glorious rays of the Eternal Divine Light! Friends! I greet you in the name of my Master, the great Master, Swami Sivananda, and I greet you in Divine Life. To such of you who are new to this type of gathering, who have come here for the first time today, I extend my warmest welcome and I express my love and greetingsespecially to the people who are attending for the first time at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 16: Divine Life , 1.What Is Divine Life?
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 16: Divine Life , 1.What Is Divine Life?, Divine Life is life lived in the awareness of your divine destiny. Divine Life is life lived in the full consciousness of your true divine nature, in the knowledge that you are not a body and a mind, but an eternal, all-pure and perfect spiritual being. That is the innermost central truth of your being; that is the true fact of your real nature. You are divine. You are spiritual. Therefore you are imperishable and ever-perfect. You partake of the nature of the eternal and inexhaustible source of your being, viz., God, even as every ray of the sun partakes of the suns radiant and luminous nature. As is the source, so is the emanation. Therefore, as God is divine, ever-pure and perfect, whatever emanates from Him is also divine, ever-pure and ever-perfect, is also of the very nature of indescribable bliss and supreme peace. A life lived in the awareness of this true nature of yours is Divine Life. A life constantly lived in order to express this divine nature of yours through all your thoughts, sentiments and feelings, through all your spoken utterances and, more important than anything else, through all your actions, your practical lifesuch is Divine Life at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 16: Divine Life , 2.Significance of the Human Birth
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 16: Divine Life , 2.Significance of the Human Birth, The Supreme Self illumines everything, but is overlooked in apparent appearances. When the great Atman is like the absolute voidnameless and formlessthere is no creation. The world is not then, and there is no universe either. There is no matter and no motion, but only absolute, ineffable stillness. There is no matter and no motion, but only Pure Consciousness. And then the Pure Consciousness sets itself into motion as an act of the Absolute Will Divine. This motion brings into being subtle matter or Prakriti, as the Indian philosophy terms it. Then, from Prakriti, the universe comes into being. From the Atman or Supreme Spirit is light at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 16: Divine Life , 3.Mahatma Gandhi as a Spiritual Seeker
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 16: Divine Life , 3.Mahatma Gandhi as a Spiritual Seeker, Mahatma Gandhi said at a certain stage of his life: Those who think me to be a politician and those who think that my business is politics have really not understood me at all. They have totally missed the real being in me. I am a seeker or nothing at all. The truth about my life is my seeking, my quest for God. Politics is only an incidental part of my life at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 16: Divine Life , 4.Spiritualize Your Activities
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 16: Divine Life , 4.Spiritualize Your Activities, Spiritualize your activities. To live a divine life, offer all your actionseven reading, talking, playing tennisto the Lord. Feel that the whole world is indwelt by Him. Feel that all your children are manifestations of the Lord. Serve humanity with such inward spiritual feeling. Then all your daily activities will be transformed into spiritual exercises. They will be transformed into Yoga at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 16: Divine Life , 5.Elements of Divine Life in a Nutshell
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 16: Divine Life , 5.Elements of Divine Life in a Nutshell, I will close now with a little song in which the Master sums up the elements of divine living, of Divine Life and the virtues which one should cultivate in order to support Divine Life. The elements of Divine Life are purity, selflessness, spirit of service, love (love of man and love of God), regular meditation, inward life, and ultimately, realization of the Absolute. Therefore, the Master sings about Divine Life: Serve, love, give, purify, meditate, realize, Be good, do good, be kind, be compassionate. Inquire Who am I?, know thy Self and be free. Serve, love, give, purify, meditate, realize, Be good, do good, be kind, be compassionate. at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 18: Glossary
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 18: Glossary at energyenhancement.org
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