The first step in spiritual practice is adherence to dharma (righteousness) in every individual and social act. The dharma that is followed in relation to the objective world will automatically lead on to dharma in the spiritual field also; only you must stick to it through thick and thin. When Aswathama in the blindness of his fury slaughtered the children of the Pandavas, Arjuna, who caught him prisoner, threatened to cut off his head; but Droupadi, the bereaved mother, interceded to save him! She said it was not dharma to return murder for murder, to slay the son of one’s own guru. Such steadfastness is needed in the path of dharma; that alone is the sign of true surrender: “Let the Will of the Lord prevail; one’s duty is but to connect oneself with the current of His Grace.
The story of Mohajith, a prince, is a good example of this highest type of detachment. Mohajith went to a sage in the forest and sought guidance in the spiritual path. The sage asked him whether he had conquered attachment, as his name indicated. The prince said that not only he but everyone in his kingdom had!
So the sage started to test the truth of this claim. The sage took the prince’s robes, soaked them in blood, and hastened to the palace gate with the gruesome story of the murder of the prince by some ruffians in the jungle.
The Lord created everything from Truth and everything is permeated by Truth. Realise that there is nothing in the world that is not based on Truth and everything is composed of Suddha Sarva (the divine essence). Man has forgotten this fact. Man has emerged from the Divine (Madhava). Forgetting this truth is the Maya (delusion) from which man suffers. A true human being cannot suffer from this delusion.
Embodiments of Divine Love! Humanness is inextricably linked to divinity and is not separate from it. The same Atma resides in all beings. There are various limbs and organs in the body such as hands, legs, eyes, nose, mouth, ear, etc. All of them are integral parts of the body. There is an intimate connection between these different limbs and the Shareeri (Indweller) in the body. The Jivatma is the Indweller. The limbs constitute the body. The relationship between the Indweller and the body is integral. All limbs belong to the individual. Hence the Indweller will not hate any limb. T...
At nightfall the moon is the illuminator;
At dawn it is the Sun who illumines;
Righteousness illumines the three worlds;
A virtuous son is the light of the family.
EMBODIMENTS of Love! At night the moon is the source of light for us. During the day the sun sheds light and serves mankind. The three worlds are illumined by Dharma (Righteousness). A virtuous son is a beacon for the family. From ancient times, Bharatheeya culture has been illumined, fostered and inspired by didactic sayings of this kind. It is purity of mind that helps to sublimate mankind, directs it towards God and enables it to manifest the inherent divinity in man. “What is perceived is liable to perish” (says an aphorism). That which is seen, that which appears to be real, is bound to pass away in the stream of time. All that is apparent in the phenomenal world is bound to disappear sometime or other. We should make every effort to know that which is invisible but imperishable. All external objects seen with...
THE peace or distraction, calm or anxiety that one gets is the product of one's thoughts and deeds. It is dependent on one's attitude and behaviour to oneself and others. There are many who take up the process of dhyana or regular meditation on the Name and Form of God, who are able to quieten the agitations of the heart and open the way to inner realisation. But, dhyana should not be vacillating or wavering from one ideal to another. It should not be reduced to a mere mechanical text-book formula, a rigid time-table of breathing through alternate nostrils, a meaningless stare at the tip of the nose. It is a rigorous discipline of the senses, the nervous current, and the wings of imagination. That is why it is said, the dhyana is the valley of peace that lies on the other side of a huge mountain range, with the peaks named the Six Foes. These are lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride and envy. One has to climb over the range and reach the plain beyond. One has to rend the veils, befor...
The Lord is a Mountain of Prema (Love); any number of ants carrying away particles of sweetness cannot exhaust His Plenty. He is an Ocean of Mercy without a limiting shore. Devotion is the easiest way to win His Grace and also to realise that He pervades everything — in fact, is everything!
Total surrender, leaving everything to His Will, is the highest form of devotion.
Once a brahmin was crossing a river bed near which some men were washing clothes. Finding a nice new silk shawl on his shoulder, they fell upon him in a group, shouting that it belonged to the palace and had been given to them to be washed but had been stolen and had not been traced.
