No success or achievement in material terms is worthwhile unless it serves the need or interests of the country and its people and us achieved by fair and honest means - J.R.D Tata, 1904-1993
Monday, July 29, 2013
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Monday, July 8, 2013
How I start my day: Start a New Life Every Morning
OGYEN TRINLEY DORJE, His Holiness The 17th Karmapa
We sometimes wake up fresh in the morning yet still go through the day half asleep.Our busy 21st century lives overwhelm us with a relentless stream of immediate tasks.We lose sight of how precious it is just to have a human life.This is an awareness that we need to feel in our hearts.I would like to share with you a practice that I call living your whole life in a single day. You can do this by starting with this thought in the morning: I am starting a whole new life.It begins right now.Initially,leave yourself a note at your bedside to remind you,and then slowly cultivate the habit of waking up with this thought.Your body is fresh from the nights rest;when you wake up with this awareness,so does your mind.Ask yourself what kind of person you want to be in the life that you will live today.Throughout the day,remind yourself that your life is happening right now.In the afternoon,check to see how your life is going and readjust as needed.A whole lifetime of possibilities stretches out before you every moment.This is the basic truth of interdependence.Conditions are constantly shifting,and what seemed impossible earlier can suddenly become possible.Every moment counts.Every action counts.A single kind act can have a positive impact on the future of many others you share the earth with.You can change the course of the future in any moment.Do so consciously,and the whole world will benefit.
Source: Times Life July 7, 2013
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Self Knowledge: Sage Vasishta Educates Prince Rama
Swami Venkatesananda
Self-knowledge is not gained by explanations and descriptions,nor by the instructions of others but by direct experience.Whatever is experienced and known here in this world,all that is the Self,consciousness devoid of the duality of the experiencing and the experience.It is the Self alone that exists everywhere at all times,but because of its extreme subtlety,it is not experienced.
In all beings,it is the jiva.All activities take place in the light of the sun,but if the activities cease,the sun does not suffer loss: even so,it is on account of the Self that the body et al function,but if the body et al perish,the Self does not suffer loss.The Self is not born,nor does it die;it does not acquire,nor does it desire;it is not bound,nor is it liberated the Self is the Self of all,at all times.
That (Self) is unconditioned by time and space;how does it become bound Abandon these two false concepts that of bondage and of liberation,and live an enlightened life here.There is no liberation in the sky,on earth or in the nether world;liberation is but a synonym for pure mind,correct Self-knowledge and a truly awakened state.
The complete absence of all desires and hopes is liberation.Until one reaches this true inner awakening or Self-knowledge,one considers oneself bound and strives for liberation.Abandon these wrong notions of bondage and liberation.
O Rama,he who knows that all activities happen because of the mere existence of consciousness even as a crystal reflects the objects around it without intending to do so is liberated.They,who,even after taking this human birth,are not interested in such non-volitional activity,go from heaven to hell and from hell to heaven again.
Some are devoted to inaction,having turned away from or suppressed all action;they go from hell to hell,sorrow to sorrow,fear to fear.Others know the Self;blessed indeed are they,they have carefully enquired into the nature of the mind and overcome all cravings;they do go to higher planes of consciousness.
He who has taken birth for the last time now,is endowed with a mixture of light (satva) and a little impurity (rajas).Right from birth he grows in holiness.Noble qualities like friendliness,compassion,wisdom,goodness and magnanimity seek him and take abode in him.He performs all appropriate actions,but is not swayed if their results appear to be gain or loss,nor does he feel elated or depressed.His heart is clear.He is much sought after by people.
One,who is full of all the noble qualities,seeks and follows an enlightened master who directs him along the path of Self-knowledge.He then realises the Self which is the one cosmic being.Such a liberated one awakens the inner intelligence,and instantly knows itself to be the infinite consciousness.
Such is the normal course of evolution,O Rama.However,there are exceptions.For those who have taken birth in this world,two possibilities exist for the attainment of liberation.The first is: treading the path indicated by the master,the seeker gradually reaches the goal of liberation.The second is: Self knowledge literally drops into ones lap,as it were,and there is instant enlightenment.
Source: The Times of India, Speaking Tree
Self-knowledge is not gained by explanations and descriptions,nor by the instructions of others but by direct experience.Whatever is experienced and known here in this world,all that is the Self,consciousness devoid of the duality of the experiencing and the experience.It is the Self alone that exists everywhere at all times,but because of its extreme subtlety,it is not experienced.
In all beings,it is the jiva.All activities take place in the light of the sun,but if the activities cease,the sun does not suffer loss: even so,it is on account of the Self that the body et al function,but if the body et al perish,the Self does not suffer loss.The Self is not born,nor does it die;it does not acquire,nor does it desire;it is not bound,nor is it liberated the Self is the Self of all,at all times.
That (Self) is unconditioned by time and space;how does it become bound Abandon these two false concepts that of bondage and of liberation,and live an enlightened life here.There is no liberation in the sky,on earth or in the nether world;liberation is but a synonym for pure mind,correct Self-knowledge and a truly awakened state.
The complete absence of all desires and hopes is liberation.Until one reaches this true inner awakening or Self-knowledge,one considers oneself bound and strives for liberation.Abandon these wrong notions of bondage and liberation.
O Rama,he who knows that all activities happen because of the mere existence of consciousness even as a crystal reflects the objects around it without intending to do so is liberated.They,who,even after taking this human birth,are not interested in such non-volitional activity,go from heaven to hell and from hell to heaven again.
Some are devoted to inaction,having turned away from or suppressed all action;they go from hell to hell,sorrow to sorrow,fear to fear.Others know the Self;blessed indeed are they,they have carefully enquired into the nature of the mind and overcome all cravings;they do go to higher planes of consciousness.
He who has taken birth for the last time now,is endowed with a mixture of light (satva) and a little impurity (rajas).Right from birth he grows in holiness.Noble qualities like friendliness,compassion,wisdom,goodness and magnanimity seek him and take abode in him.He performs all appropriate actions,but is not swayed if their results appear to be gain or loss,nor does he feel elated or depressed.His heart is clear.He is much sought after by people.
One,who is full of all the noble qualities,seeks and follows an enlightened master who directs him along the path of Self-knowledge.He then realises the Self which is the one cosmic being.Such a liberated one awakens the inner intelligence,and instantly knows itself to be the infinite consciousness.
Such is the normal course of evolution,O Rama.However,there are exceptions.For those who have taken birth in this world,two possibilities exist for the attainment of liberation.The first is: treading the path indicated by the master,the seeker gradually reaches the goal of liberation.The second is: Self knowledge literally drops into ones lap,as it were,and there is instant enlightenment.
Source: The Times of India, Speaking Tree
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