Japa, Mantra, Meditation - Part1 Mar 6, 2008 6:18 pm 387 Views New Open save Save as Page setup Print Send == Short cut to desktop *** Two Talks on JAPA,MANTRA, MEDITATION -Part 1 by Swami Dayananda Saraswati While many varieties of mantra meditation, japa, are currently being taught in the West, such techniques have been commonly practiced in India for thousands of years. These two talks on japa given to the students attending a three year resident course at Arsha Vidya Gurukulam are a complete introduction to the subject of japa as mantra meditation. In this short format, Swami Dayananda, Hindu monk and scholar, addresses the following questions. · What is japa and what are its benefits? · How does japa work? · Can any word of chant be used as mantra? · Why is japa more than a technique? · What is " monkey thinking "? · How can japa be used as prayer? · What is the nature of thought and silence? JAPA Talk 1 Japa is the repetition of a word or short sentence during the practice of meditation. The letter pa stands for that which removes or destroys all impurities and obstructions and the letter ja stands for that which puts an end to the cycle of birth and death. Therefore, japa is an indirect means for liberation, moksa. By destroying the varieties of obstructions to knowledge, japa paves the way for liberation. japa , then, is more than a mere discipline or technique. These two talks will give you an understanding of the nature and logic of japa and how it works. With this understanding you will be able to do japa with conviction and handle it properly. THE UNPREDICTABILITY OF THOUGHTS At any given time, you have only one thought and what your next thought will be is anyone's guess. But when the next thought does occur, it will have done so because of some logic. There is no thought without a certain connection to the preceding thought. This connection may be flimsy or it may be very clear and logical. But the thought itself is never predictable. Even now, I cannot predict what I am going to say. I simply said I would talk on japa, and I started. Even the words I am saying right now were not known to me. What is going to come is unpredictable, but when it does come, it has a logic, a reason. " BMW THINKING " Suppose you see a BMW on the road and it draws your attention. What will your next thought be? " How can he afford it? " and then : " A person I work with just bought a new BMW. How can he afford such an expensive car? Last year he did not even have a job. His wife must have a lot of money. I wish my wife had a rich family. When I got married I did not think about money or my future. " All these thoughts started from seeing a BMW and they follow a certain logic. This particular sequence is only one line of thinking. Let us look at another one : " The German people are quite industrious. Even though their country was devastated during World War II, their economy rebounded quickly. They produce the best scientific equipment in the world.! Where did we start? From BMW. What will come after BMW is anyone's guess. Even in deliberate thinking you do not know what is coming next because thinking is always linear, one step at a time, one thought at a time. The connection between the thoughts can either be a logical, syntactical connection within a sentence or a simple association. But there will always be a connection, be it weak or strong. In " BMW thinking, " the connection between thoughts is not a deliberate one. Therefore, the next thought can be anything. The sky is the limit. " The BMW emblem is different. It is not like the Mercedes insignia. " The Mercedes insignia makes you think of a star and then your next thought may be, " My astrological sign is not favorable. " This movement from one thought to the next is listless thinking, a meandering of thoughts in which there is no direction. PART -2 WILL CONTINUE -[Mostly posted during week ends ] 0 Comments

You Want ?? Mar 6, 2008 6:17 pm 278 Views ''It is impossible to change others ! Then you may ask '' Swamiji, why are you talking ? I can't change you ! But I can create THE WANT IN YOU TO CHANGE !!'' Swami Dayananda in his recent talk in coimbatore ,india 0 Comments

ACCEPT OTHERS Mar 5, 2008 4:33 am 314 Views Vedanta is a teaching about oneself in which one discovers that the real meaning of the word 'I', the Self who remains unchanged from childhood to youth to old age, and whose nature is pure awareness that is absolute contentment and love, free from any sense of limitation. To appreciate yourself as such, you require a mind that is prepared for assimilating such knowledge. For the one with an unprepared mind, Vedanta becomes like calculus for a person still learning addition and subtraction. In Vedanta the preparation required is a mind that has in relative measure what it seeks to discover in the absolute. If the Self is absolute contentment, then the mind of the seeker must be relatively content. If the Self is absolute love, then the seeker must be a relatively loving person, who happily accepts people and things as they are. To gain such a mind means to develop certain values and attitudes and to be clear about them in terms of understanding their importance. Accommodating others in such a value. In fact your anger is due to lack of accommodation. You want the entire world to behave according to your desires. It is your own expectation of others that brings anger to you. You want the world to follow your dictates. Better understand one thing to help you develop a value for accommodating others: the other person behaves in a given manner because he cannot behave differently. How should you expect a behaviour other than the one he has? That is all he is capable of. "He could have done better", you say; then he would have done so. What right do you have to demand that the other person act differently, in the manner you want him to? Does he not also have the right to ask you to behave in a different manner; because if you change, then he need not change, he has the right to ask you to let him live as he is. At least he doesn't want you to change; he wants you to let him live as he lives. What is wrong in that? In fact only by accommodating others, allowing them to be what they are, you gain a relative freedom in your day to day life. If you analyse it, everyone interferes in everyone's life. Everyone causes a global disturbance by his actions. You only need a large computer to figure it all out. Ordinarily you just look at things from a small perceptive, and you find one person looming large before you whose influence seems to be so much. In fact you are never free from anyone's influence nor from all the forces in the universe in so far as your physical body is concerned. Nor can you do an action without affecting someone. You cannot even make a statement and get away without affecting another. Therefore no one is really free, we are all inter-related. Even the Swami is not free. Once I went to the zoo here and passed two people. One said to the other, "Did you see the new one?" People always make comments. I try not to disturb people, but I disturb them even by my dress. I wear these clothes because in my country they are the traditional dress of a renunciate, and so I want to appear the same in this country also. I have made a decision, and that decision definitely will affect someone. If I get disturbed by other's comments, I allow them to disturb me; and then I gain only that much freedom which they grant to me. But if I reverse the process and give them the freedom to be what they are and think what they think, as long as they don't step on my toes,then I am free in this world. To the extent that you give freedom to others to be what they are to that extent you are free. I just see myself as free, and I give you the freedom to have your problems. Therefore I don't fight with you. My freedom is only the amount of freedom that I give to you to have any opinion you have about me. When a person sees my clothes and asks, "What is all this?" I smile away. I say to him, "Halloween has come early this year". I need not change his opinion, even though it may be wrong. I give him the freedom to be what he is. It doesn't disturb me; that is the only freedom I have. Thus you should accommodate people as they are. If someone makes a comment about you, allow him to have his comment. If the comment is not true, you usually try to justify your actions and prove his wrong. That is silly. If you are objective, you can see if there is any validity in his criticism of you. If he has put your down for his own security, give him the freedom to do so; and then you are free. What tightening can you do to a bolt when the threads are not there? By changing yourself totally in this way, you gain the relatively abiding contentment and freedom that everyone wants. Thus you have come to terms with yourself psychologically; that is what we call yoga-sadhana. You cannot circumvent psychology; you have to come to terms with yourself as a personality. It is not an exhaustion of vasanas or impressions; it is just understanding certain problems that are there. Look back in your life and see what were the situations, the people and events, that had really disturbed you. What you find are not mere memories but leftovers of reactions. A reaction is not what you do consciously. You cannot consciously gent angry, for anger is not an action but a reaction that takes place because you have no say over the matter. These reactions create a great impact on you and become part of your psyche. They are the things that create a personality out of a person. In fact they are false, born because of a lack of alertness on your part and having no real roots in the mind. Memory alone is not unpleasant. Unpleasantness is there only because of the leftover reactions which have become as though real. People might have caused some disturbance in you. Or you had disturbed some people for which you carry around a certain guilt. In the seat of meditation recall them all and let them be as they are. Thereby you free yourself form all the reaction that you have had. When you look at the blue sky or the stars, or the birds and mountains, you have no complaints about them; and you are pleased and happy. You see the rocks on the riverbed; they did not do anything to please you. Yet you are happy because youdon't want them to be different. You accept them as they are, and therefore you are pleased. The river flows in its own way; it doesn't bother you. You don't want the volume of water to be greater or the flow to go in a different direction. In fact you seek out natural spots because they do not invoke the displeased person that you seem to be, the angry, hard-to-please person. The demanding chord in you is not struck by them. You are one with the situation, an accommodating Self, without the world doing anything to please you. Thus you are a pleased person with reference to a few things. See how pleased you are, and bring that person to bear on all the situation and people that had displeased you and whom you had displeased at one time or another. Then look at yourself just as you would when you look at the birds and the mountains. Accept others as you accept the stars. Pray for a change if you think they need to change, or do what you can to help them change. But accept them first. Only in this way can you really change as a total person. Otherwise you can study any amount of Vedanta, but it won't work. You will only have a feeling that there is something underneath. You want to change others so that you can be free, but it never works that way. Accept others totally, and you are free; then you discover love, which is yourself. -SWAMI DAYANANDA 0 Comments

ANTHONY QUIN AS OMAR MUKTHAR Feb 25, 2008 9:57 am 664 Views Anthony quinn's versatile acting brings infront of the eyes the days of the freedom fights of OMAR MUKTHAR OF LIBYA BETWEEN 1910 -1931.This is really adventurous. Now a days with the high tech action, these sort of real life characters are an inspiration. 1 comment

OMAR MUKTHAR ; THE DESERT LION Feb 25, 2008 9:54 am 843 Views Omar mukthar was really a desert king! It was a life of heroism and bravery coupled with faith in GOD which made this REBEL of LIBYA a hero among their countrym during 1910-1931, made known to the world through the movie OMAR MUKTHAR. Anthony quinn's versatile acting is unforgettable. Yesterday, I saw the movie through cable TV after about 20 years when I saw the movie for the first time. Jawahar,TN, INIDA 1 comment

Most nutritious food in the world ! Feb 14, 2008 9:26 am 585 Views Idli(rice cake of south india)has been identified as the most nutritious food in the world by the American researchers ! it contains Carbohydrates(rice),proteins(bengal gram, fat(nuts in chutni)and other vitamins - Sri Sri Ravishankar in Coimbatore, TN, India,yesterday during the Mahasatsang (massive spiritual retreat) 1 comment

Essential ayurvedic practices daily Feb 14, 2008 1:41 am 323 Views 3-Triphla tablets ,an ayurvedic preparation, should be taken daily by anyone 35+ daily to keep the excretory system clean. -Sri sri Ravishankar in coimbatore, TN, India during the Mahasatsang( massive spiritual retreat) 0 Comments

Want to be a BUTTERFLY ? Feb 8, 2008 12:20 am 311 Views butterfly, when it moves it's wings in South America, there would be a corresponding vibration in the clouds which creates rain in China !. Says a research Like that , If we medidate together as a large gathering, there would be vibrations, which would benefit people in various parts of the World.. Let us now have a requisition that there would be peace in Sri lanka. -Sri Sri Ravishankar in a Q&A session in Pollachi,TN,INDIA 0 Comments

TRUE LOVE : A HINDU INDIAN STORY Feb 7, 2008 8:39 am 484 Views Savitri was the beautiful daughter of a wise and powerful king. The fame of Savitri's beauty spread far and wide, but she refused to marry, saying that she would herself go out in the world and find a husband for herself. So the king chose the best warriors to protect her, and the princess wandered throughout the country searching for a prince of her choice. One day she reached a dense forest, where dwelt a king who had lost his kingdom and fallen into his bad days. Old and blind he lived in a small hut with his wife and son. The son, who was a handsome young prince, was the sole comfort of his parents. He chopped wood and sold it in the countryside, and bought food for his parents, and they lived in love and happiness. Savitri was strongly drawn towards them, and she knew her search had come to an end. Savitri fell in love with the young prince, who was called Satyavan, and was known for his legendary generosity. Hearing that Savitri has chosen a penniless prince, her father was heavily downcast. But Savitri was hell-bent on marrying Satyavan. The king consented, but a saint informed him that a fatal curse laid upon the young prince: He is doomed to die within a year. The king told her daughter about the curse and asked her to choose someone else. But Savitri refused, and stood firm in her determination to marry the same prince. The king finally agreed with a heavy heart. The wedding of Savitri and Satyavan took place with a lot of fanfare, and the couple went back to the forest hut. For a whole year they lived happily. On the last day of the year, Savitri rose early and when Satyavan picked up his axe to go into the forest to chop wood she requested him to take her along, and the two went into the jungle. Under a tall tree, he made a seat of soft green leaves and plucked flowers for her to weave into a garland while he chopped wood. Towards noon Satyavan felt a little tired, and after a while he came and lay down resting his head in Savitri's lap. Suddenly the whole forest grew dark, and soon Savitri saw a tall figure standing before her. It was Yama, the God of Death. "I have come to take your husband," said Yama, and looked down at Satyavan, as his soul left his body. When Yama was about to leave, Savitri ran after him, and pleaded Yama to take her too along with him to the land of the dead or give back the life of Satyavan. Yama replied, "Your time has not yet come, child. Go back to your home." But Yama was ready to grant her any boon, except Satyavan's life. Savitri asked, "Let me have wonderful sons." "So be it", replied Yama. Then Savitri said, "But how can I have sons without my husband, Satyavan? Therefore I beg of you to give back his life." Yama had to give in! Satyavan's body came back to life. He slowly woke up from the stupor and the two gladly walked back to their hut. So strong was the single-minded love and determination of Savitri that she chose a noble young man for her husband, knowing that he had only a year to live, married him with all confidence. Even the God of Death had to relent, and bowed to her love and devotion. 2 Comments

Legendary Feb 6, 2008 9:08 am 306 Views Legendary is the love that withstands the rejection; It will be free of anger and ego. Legendary is the committment that withstands humiliation,it will be one-pointed and will reach the goal Legendary is the wisdom that withstands turbulance; it will ve integrated into life. Legendary is the faith that withstands the million chances of doubt. It will bring perfection-siddhis. Legendary are the events that withstands time.They will become morals for the millions. SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR 0 Comments

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