Thursday, February 8, 2024
Among the preliminary qualifications for yearning to know Brahman, the first is discrimination (viveka) between the transitory and the eternal - in other words, the discovery that the Atma (divine Self) alone is beyond time and that all objects perceivable by the senses of sight, etc., are only transitory. The Atma alone suffers no change. It alone is a timeless truth (nithya sathya).
Wednesday, February 7, 2024
Returning injury for injury, harm for harm, or insult for insult only adds to the karmic burden, which must be endured and eliminated in future lives. This burden is termed "impending (agami)." One can't escape the task of undergoing the consequences of one's thoughts, words, and deeds in due course. Paying evil for evil can never lighten the weight of karma; it will only become heavier. It might confer immediate relief and contentment but can only make the person suffer later. Forbearance (titiksha), therefore, instructs people to do good to those who injure them.
Tuesday, February 6, 2024
For the growth of faith and the fostering of understanding, an essential requirement is the purity of the heart, the very base of thought (kshetra), and the levels of consciousness (chitta). Without this purity, the sudden effort of self-inquiry or investigation into the self-existent Atma, during diverse worldly and material entanglements will be rendered fruitless since it will not stem from an eager will.
Monday, February 5, 2024
God is present in every being as the eternal witness. This truth is proclaimed by 'Soham,' pronounced with each breath, 'So' with each inhalation, and ‘Ham’ with each exhalation. ‘So’ means That (God), and ‘Ham’ means I. This process goes on 21,600 times a day in every human being. In this manner, the inner voice reminds one of their divine nature many times every day.
Sunday, February 4, 2024
Though the objective world appears real, one must be aware that it is deluding us. As a result, one must give up the yearning to derive pleasure from the objects that appear and attract, both here and hereafter. One is liberated as soon as one renounces all attachment and all desires.
Saturday, February 3, 2024
The Lord is a mountain of love (prema). Any number of ants carrying away particles of sweetness cannot exhaust His plenty. He is an ocean of mercy with a limitless shore. Devotion is the easiest way to win His grace and to realize that He pervades everything; in fact, He is everything! Total surrender, leaving everything to His will, is the highest form of devotion.
Friday, February 2, 2024
You need not waste time trying to discover Me and My nature. Understand what I teach, not "who is the teacher," for I am beyond your intellect and your power. You will understand Me only through My work. That is why, sometimes, to reveal "who I am," I show you My "visiting card," something that you call a miracle. Carry out the duty I assign you.
Thursday, February 1, 2024
The Lord is everyone’s father, in whose property everyone can claim a share. But to get the father’s property, one must reach a certain age, a certain standard of intelligence, and discrimination. God’s property is grace and love (prema). If you have discrimination and renunciation, you can claim your share, which is your right.
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
If you want to attain happiness, you should understand that happiness is union with God. Every human being imagines that happiness is somewhere outside and strives to attain it through various activities. How did the ancient sages adore God? They worshipped God with the flower of sacrifice and offered their love to God. They welcomed God as the embodiment of truth. They believed in love, kindness, and oneness.
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
If you want real, lasting happiness, you can get it only by union with God. God is all-pervasive. Why should you search for God while the Lord is within you? The body is like a water bubble, and the mind is a mad monkey. Don't follow them. You should follow only your conscience, sathya, the principle of truth. If you have an unpolluted heart and engage in unblemished action, you will experience the manifestation of God.
Monday, January 29, 2024
Make God the foundation of your life. Carry on your normal duties. Duty is God. Work is worship. Spiritualize all your actions. Whatever happens is for your good. Learn to experience perennial bliss by seeking union with God. Never forget God. Do not go after the things of the world. Have no fear of death. When your life is rooted in these three maxims, you will realize the Self (Atman).
Sunday, January 28, 2024
Humans yearn for happiness in every act, in every kind of experience. Humanity pines for happiness. All actions are aimed at deriving happiness. Whether doing business or working in an office, the aim is to derive happiness. But does one find it? No. It is a temporary phase only as it is worldly happiness. One may be happy for a while, but permanent happiness is attained only by contemplating God. So, contemplate on the divine.
Saturday, January 27, 2024
Entrust your mind to the Lord before it is too late, and let God shape it. Assign your mind the task of serving the Lord, and it will grow tame. You do not give a quite nice ornament to the goldsmith; you give the ornaments for repairs or reshaping those that have been broken or dented or gone out of fashion. So, too, provide the Lord with your mind that certainly needs repair, if not complete reconstruction.
Friday, January 26, 2024
The believer should try to plant today the seed of Lord’s name in a well-prepared heart, devoid of the thorns of egoism. Water it with love, fence the sprout with faith, and feed it with the fertilizer of remembrance of the name. From the grown-up tree of the mantra (holy letters), pluck the fruit of bliss and relish the sweetness.
Thursday, January 25, 2024
Lead your life with love and enjoy peace and happiness. You should strive for the happiness of not merely yourself, your friends, and your relatives but for the welfare of all. Strive to make everyone happy with the constant prayer, Loka samasta sukhino bhavantu (May all the people of the world be happy)! Then, you will certainly experience true peace and bliss. Those who help others will always be helped in turn; they will never be put to harm.
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
True happiness has no limits. How can it be attained? It cannot be attained from outside. It originates from the heart. The heart is the dwelling place of God. To experience true happiness, we should develop firm faith in God. Where there is faith, there is love. Only when one cultivates love can one practice righteousness. Righteousness leads to truth, which in turn leads to God.
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Our actions should be such that they bring happiness to ourselves as well as others. First, we must inquire what true happiness and sorrow are. People think happiness lies in eating to the fullest and having a sound sleep. That is no happiness at all. Happiness lies in working hard and serving society. We can experience peace and happiness only when we help the less fortunate and underprivileged.
Monday, January 22, 2024
One need not search for happiness elsewhere. It is always with you and in you. You are unable to experience it as you have not understood the true meaning of happiness. You are under the illusion that happiness lies in money, wealth, and material comforts. Once you have the taste of true happiness, you will not crave for worldly possessions. True happiness springs forth from the depths of one’s heart.
Sunday, January 21, 2024
True happiness is that which is related to the Atma. You should not be afraid of difficulties; they are passing clouds. Do not waver. Follow the heart, which is steady and unwavering. Unity of head, heart, and hand is essential for humanity.
Saturday, January 20, 2024
God can do anything and can go anywhere. The Lord can change anything. Do not give room for doubts. One who doubts divinity will certainly be doomed. Develop unwavering faith and follow the divine command. True dharma (righteousness) lies in following the divine command. When you follow God, you will be blessed with all goodness and auspiciousness.
Friday, January 19, 2024
Humanity seeks to banish sorrow and acquire happiness (ananda). What is happiness? Do wealth, power, or health confer happiness? The world has numerous wealthy people, but are they experiencing happiness? There are many who wield power or have good health, but are they happy? No. The reason is there can be no real happiness as long as one is infected with the ever-greedy ego.
Thursday, January 18, 2024
God is all-knowing, all-pervasive, and all-powerful. The words God utters while embodied in the human form, the acts the Lord deigns to indulge in during the earthly sojourn are inscrutable and extraordinarily significant.
Wednesday, January 17, 2024
People have come into this field of activity (karma-kshetra) only to engage themselves in activity, not to earn the fruit of such activity. That is the teaching of the Gita, its fundamental lesson. The Gita is the quintessence of the Vedas.
Tuesday, January 16, 2024
There is a difference between happiness and bliss. In common parlance, "happiness" is momentary. It comes and goes. Bliss is something that wells up from within. It emerges from the heart because of one's union with God. If one feels separate from God, one cannot experience bliss. Embodiments of Love! You must experience such bliss in abundance in the days to come. Let me remind you once again that neither age nor position nor for that matter anything in this physical environment can bring about such bliss. Only a pure and loving heart is the source of bliss.
Monday, January 15, 2024
The holy festival of Sankranti signifies the change or transformation of the heart. It is experiencing bliss arising from realizing the changeless, eternal principle. Divinity is the only principle that is changeless. God is ever blissful. In fact, God is the embodiment of bliss.
Sunday, January 14, 2024
The Gita is a boat that takes people from the self-imposed state of bondage to the freedom that is their nature. People are taken from darkness to light, from lusterlessness to splendor. The Gita ordains disciplines and duties free from the taints of tendencies and impulses that tie people to the relentless wheel of birth and death.
Saturday, January 13, 2024
Lord will be the guide of whoever installs God as their charioteer (sarathi). God will not consider that position inferior. The Lord is the eternal charioteer (sanathana sarathi) come to be the charioteer of all. He is the Lord for all who seek a master, a support. The soul is the master in everyone, and Krishna is the universal soul, personified.
Friday, January 12, 2024
Some people develop faith when their desires are fulfilled. If their desires are not fulfilled, they lose faith. This type of attitude is not good. Keep your faith firm, irrespective of whether your desires are fulfilled. Preserve your faith carefully. Faith can work wonders. It can make a blind person see, and a dumb person speak. Do not at all doubt the power of faith.
Thursday, January 11, 2024
Faith is the basis for all creation. Where there is faith and love, everything else will be added unto such a person. Hence, first and foremost, one must develop faith. Many people have faith, but they lack love. Faith devoid of love has no use. Love and faith must be together like mutually attractive magnetic poles.
Wednesday, January 10, 2024
A person who never swerves from their determination, even under trying circumstances, is called a dheera (a hero), and such a person wins the grace of the Lord. We should try to seek fulfillment in our day-to-day life by basing our mundane activities on spiritual values. As I have been telling you off and on, you must have your hands in society and head in the forest. Whatever the activities you are preoccupied with in society, you must be steadfast in holding on to the spiritual ideal. This alone is the true spiritual practice (sadhana) that will bestow lasting peace on you.