religionandspirituality

Religion & Spirituality

Devi Suktam

PART 1 PART

PART 3

Sri Rudram occurs in all 101 Shakhas of YajurVeda and hence called SataRudriya. Regarding benefits of chanting it, it is itself clear from the meaning of Anuvaka. The chanter gets grace of Parameswara along with Uma. The chanter gets comfort and bliss in this world and also finally gets liberation. That's why the Kaivalya Upanishad and Jabala Upanishad recommended chanting of Sri Rudram hymn for liberation.

8th Anuvaka of Sri Rudram (of Taittariya Samhita) is of special importance because of revelation of Panchakshari Mantra ie. "Namaha Shivaya" in this AnuVaka.

Eighth Anuvaka of Sri Rudram

Meditation is the only way for attaining immortality and eternal bliss. Meditation destroys all causes of sorrow and pain. Regular meditation makes the mind calm and steady, and opens the avenues of intuitional knowledge. Without meditation you cannot attain the knowledge of the imperishable. Therefore, meditate regularly and attain self-realization.

On Meditation

Through a marvelous system of asanas, mudras and bandhas, expounded in the science of Hatha Yoga, the powerful sex energy is controlled, converted and conserved. The energy thus conserved shines in the practitioner as tejas. Pranayama is a great help not only to Hatha Yogins but also to Raja Yogins and Vedantins as it steadies the mind. Yoga brings a message of hope to the forlorn, joy to the depressed, strength to the weak and knowledge to the ignorant. There is a hidden treasure in you, a vast magazine of powers. Awaken these powers by regular practice of yoga.

On Yoga

The Absolute cannot be held to be modified into the Universe because it would then cease to be the Absolute.

On the Absolute

Hinduism is a monotheistic religion: Rigveda, Purusha Sookta, Kalidas declares that God has many names and forms but He is only one entity.

On Hinduism

Man proposes but God disposes. This is the popular view. Man proposes but woman disposes. This is the numerous view. God proposes and God disposes. This is the philosophical view.

By knowing the nature of inspiration and expiration, by having a comprehensible understanding and practice of the Swara Sadhana (science of breath), there comes into being the knowledge of the past, present and future. Many miraculous powers are attained.

On Swara Sadhana (Science of Breath)

Ida is cooling and Pingala is heating. Pingala digests the food. Ida is of pale color, Shakti Rupa. it is the great nourisher of the world. Pingala is of fiery red color, Rudra Rupa. Ida and Pingala indicate kala (time) and Sushumna swallows up time. The yogi knows the time of his death; takes his prana into sushumna; keeps it in Brahmarandhra, and defines time (kala or death).

On Ida and Pingala

Ida and the Pingala have duration of five ghatikas (two hours) each. They flow in order during the 60 ghatikas of a day. By a ghatika each, the five Tatwas also flow. The days begin with the Pratipata (the first lunar day). When the order is reversed, the effect is reversed. In the bright fortnight, Ida is powerful. In the dark fortnight, Pingala is powerful. If the breath rises by Ida at sunrise and flows throughout the day and Pingala rises at sunset and flows throughout the night, it convers considerable good results.

The famous Yogi Sri Chand Dev of Maharashtra fought against death several times by taking the prana into sushumna. He was a contemporary of Sri Jnana Deva of Alandi (near Poona). It was he who had Bhuta Siddhi, control over wild animals, through his yogic practices.

If one such person stands in the Sun when his shadow is not shorter than five feet nor longer than ten fee and directs his gaze towards either the neck, the hands or the feet of his shadow, without shaking his body and looks at the sky at once without closing his eyes, he will be able to see his image. If it is the color of gold, he will get gold. If it is white, he need not be afraid of death. His life time will increase. If he sees red, his life-period will decrease. If he sees it as a black image, decline will begin. If he does not see the head, he will die in three months. (contd..)

On Shadow Gazing

(contd...) If one practices looking at his own shadow in this fashion for twelve years, his own shadow will speak to him. Through that talk, he will gain the eight great Siddhis. After some days, this shadow will assume the shape of a man and go with him wherever he goes, lie where he lies, rise up when he rises, and will tell him beforehand of all the good and the bad that are going to befall him.

Knowledge is diffused love and love is concentrated knowledge.

Notes from the book 'Sivananda, the Modern World Prophet' by Dewan Bahadur and KS Ramaswami Sastri

philosophy

Philosophy

history

History

mindfulness

Mindfulness

'Sivananda, the Modern World Prophet' by Dewan Bahadur and KS Ramaswami Sastri

Intelligence is like the horsepower of a car. Thinking is like the skill which the car is driven. Information is like the road map available to the driver.

A person with high intelligence can take a position on a subject and then use their intelligence to defend that position very ably. The better the defense of that position the less does that person see any need to consider alternatives or listen to others. That is not good thinking. Someone who has grown up with the realization that he / she is more intelligent than most people around wants to get the best reward for being so intelligent. The quickest and best reward is to prove other people wrong. This is a risk-free demonstration of superiosity. It is also relatively easy.

Intelligence Trap

Less intelligent youngsters may not fully understand the 'game' that is expected of them at school, so they do poorly.

The scholars started to believe that they could move from certainty (fact) to certainty without any need for the messiness of 'possibility'. Possibility system: hypothesis, speculation, imagination etc

Progress comes to an end

Thinking is never a substitute for information. Thinking is needed to put information together to design value.

Logic will never touch emotions but perceptual thinking will. If you see things in a different way your reaction is different.

Notes from the book 'Intelligence Information Thinking' by Edward De Bono

By themselves, each of these three components- intelligence, information, thinking - is not enough, but together they can be used to great effect in the world around us. Dr. de Bono shows us the importance of combining all three in order to fulfull our potential and develop some truly creative ideas. Filled with the essentials of Edward de Bono's teachings in creative thinking, these short pocket books are ideal for reading anywhere at anytime.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

education

Learning & Education

books

Books

Edward De Bono is an accomplished writer whose work has resonated with readers around the world. Edward De Bono has published several books that explore a range of topics, from fiction to nonfiction, and has received critical acclaim for the ability to weave compelling narratives. Edward De Bono's writing style is known for its depth and authenticity, and has earned quite a loyal following of readers.

Edward De Bono

Intelligence Information Thinking

Dhanyashtakam contains eight beautiful verses were composed by Bhagavan Adi Shankaracharya to paint a picture of a blessed perso

Vedanta says that true knowledge does not make us increasingly extrovert, nor does it take us away from our own being. True knowledge is that which quietens the senses and leads us to abide in our own true nature. The senses are said to be quietened when our lives are controlled and not dependent on sensation for happiness, and when the mind is not constantly running away from itself.

Passions are enemies: Mada, Moha, Raga, Dvesa, Satruganam. Mada is arrogance. Moha or delusion, fascination, attachment, lack of discriminative understanding. Raga-dvesa likes and dislikes.Sanyasa is pleasurable. But Bhagavan Sankara says: 'Sannyasis live in a house (that is in the forest) with a beloved wife (who is none other than spiritual knowledge, paratma-vidya).

Blessed indeed are they who, having renounced the pleasures of the home - the cause of a man's downfall - with a desire for the self, always drink the nectar of the Truth of the upanishads. Free from all longings and dispassionate towards the host of sense pleasures, they roam about in solitary places without attachment to company.Paramatman gives you a body comprised of the five elements (space, air, fire, water and earth) which will return to the five great elements after death.

Sama-darsinah: Those who see the same (samatva) in all. Sama means paramtman, the supreme self, so sama darshana, could be translated to mean 'one who sees the lord everywhere'.Blessed indeed are those brahmans (twice-born) who, giving up the three kinds of desire, walk the path of liberation and sustain their bodies with the nectar of alms. Living in solitude they meditate in their hearts on the light of consciousness, which is beyond the beyond, called Paramatman, the Supreme Self.

Dwijah (twiceborn) - In Samskritam the word dwija is used to indicate a bird or a brahman. A bird is twice born, once from its mother as an egg, and a second time when it comes out of its shell. Similarly, brahmans are called dvijas, the twice born ones, since they have their first birth as babies from their mother's womb and their second birth when they receive instruction on the Gayatri mantra. The true meaning of dvija is one who was born as a baby and is reborn later when he realizes that he is none other than Brahman.

Parat-parataram - 'Beyond the beyond': what you see with your eyes is the world in front of you. But you cannot see your eyes with your own eyes, and in a sense the eyes are beyond the objects seen. Sleep, the unmanifest state, is beyond the wakeful mind. Consciousness is beyond even this unmanifest state and hence is described as beyond the beyond. Note that the word beyond in the preceding sentences should not be construed to mean some other place. Thus the statement that the mind is 'beyond the eyes' does not mean that the mind is hidden somewhere.

'Tyaktva esana trayam' - having renounced three kinds of desire. The three types of desire that consume our energy and leave us no time for meditation and reflection are:Desire for money (vrittesana): As long as we hanker after money and power, we will not have the time to devote ourselves to Paramatma.Desire for progeny (Putresana): Term signifies all worldly joys.Desire for the world (Lokesana): Eg: becoming famous.

Aveksita moksa margah - those who have turned towards the path of liberation.Those blessed ones alone shine in glory who meditate with single-pointed mind on that Brahman, which is neither real nor unreal, nor the combination of these two; neither small nor big neither man nor woman nor eununch; but it is the one seed of the universe. All others are bound with the ropes of becoming.

The Lord (or Paramatman) shines forth and is experienced when all notions and sense perceptions cease, when all thoughts become extinct in a pure, quietened, single-pointed mind. This does not mean, however, that Paramatman is a creation of the quiet meditative mind; but rather, that Paramatman becomes self-evident when the mind is in this state of total quietitude. Normally, our minds are so chittered with the universe of names and forms that we are unable to experience the eternal Brahman. At any rate, bitterness comes only because of jealousy, competition and the suppression of longings.

To them who have realized the Supreme Brahman, the entire world is like a garden, all the trees are wish-giving trees, all waters are the water of Ganga, and all their actions are pure and blessed, whatever they speak in their mother-tongue or in Sanskrit are the summary of Vedas, the entire world is a Varanasi (Kashi), and all objects and subjects are the part of Para Brahman itself (i.e., they see Truth everywhere).

Is one with good health and wealth blessed? Is not one with name and fame blessed? Does no one who has fulfilled his worldly duties and lives in beauty blessed?The eight verses of Dhanyastakam as composed by Adi Sankaracarya explain that being one with our infinite blissful nature is indeed a state of true blessedness.Swami Tejomayananda's commentary makes us long to be in the company of such blessed souls and experience directly the blessed state.

meditation

Meditation

Swami Tejomayananda

DHANYASTAKAM

The recitation of the Namaka and the Chamaka hymns is part of this practice. The focus here is not on the mere chanting of the mantra, but on the practice of inner yajna, the yajna which is occurring in our subtle bodies.

Notes from the book titled ‘Rudra Mantras'

Every Veda mantra has at least two levels of meaning namely the surface meaning and the deep meaning emphasizing the spiritual and psychological knowledge adhyatma. The understanding of the spiritual / psychological meaning is important for the practice of inner yajna.

Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa compiled four collections:Rig Veda Mantra SamhitaYajur Veda Mantra SamhitaSamaveda Mantra SamhitaAtharva Veda Samhita

A Vedic Mantra is outwardly a poetic verse. At a deeper level, it is the expression of the intuition arising out of the depths of the soul of the rishi. It is the voice of the rhythm which has created the worlds and is still creating perpetually several of its aspects.

A mantra is packed with the power of the ascetics (tapas) of the rishis to whom it was revealed. Even a person who has no earlier exposure to the Veda can feel its power when a devotee chants it in the proper mode.Rig Veda mantras propound all the speech or all the ideas and thoughts leading to all-sided perfection; the Yajur Veda develops the mind which is the source of all actions; the Sama Veda makes us fully develop our life energies or prajna for completely developing our potential. The Atharva Veda gives the methods of perfection of our body and senses like eyes (chakshu) or hearing.

The focus of the Yajur Veda is yajna or sacrifice, specifically the inner yajna (antar yajna) occurring in our subtle body. The outer rite is only a physical framework for those who cannot do the inner yajna.Rudra-Adhyaya is also known as shatarudriya hymn (a hundred ways of extolling Rudra).

The entire manifestation of the cosmos was the result of the mantra. Similarly rishis realised that every mantra recited with the appropriate metre (chhandas) rhythm or chant along with the understanding of its meaning results in a creative act with a high degree of perfection. That is why the rishis were called as world-builders (Rig Veda 9.86.21).

In the Rig Veda, the three deities Brahma, Brihaspati and Brahmanaspati denote one Deity.All problems of existence are problems of harmony.

Mere chanting of veda mantra without understanding its meaning is futile as testified by ancient authorities.

Devi Suktam

Eighth Anuvaka of Sri Rudram

'Sivananda, the Modern World Prophet' by Dewan Bahadur and KS Ramaswami Sastri

Intelligence Information Thinking

DHANYASTAKAM

Swaraagni