Guru Poornima: Sri Ramakrishna on Guru

Who is the guru? God—Satchidananda—is the guru. Human gurus are the conduits of this supreme Source.” 
- Sri Ramakrishna

Swamiji: Hanuman as the Ideal

Disciple: What ideal should we follow now?

Swamiji: You have now to make the character of Mahavira your ideal. See how at the command of Ramachandra he crossed the ocean. He had no care for life or death! He was a perfect master of his senses and wonderfully sagacious. You have now to build your life on this great ideal of personal service. Through that, all other ideals will gradually manifest in life. Obedience to the Guru without questioning, and strict observance of Brahmacharya -- this is the secret of success. As on the one hand Hanuman represent the ideal of service, so on the other hand he represents leonine courage, striking the whole world with awe. He has not the least hesitation in sacrificing his life for the good of Rama. A supreme indifference to everything except the service of Rama, even to the attainment of the status of Brahma and Shiva, the great World - gods! Only the carrying out of Shri Rama's best is the one vow of this life! Such whole - hearted devotion is wanted.

Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume VII

To the Awakened India

The poem was written by Swami Vivekananda to Prabuddha Bharata or Awakened India, in August 1898, when the journal was transferred from Madras to Almora Himalayas, into the hands of the Brotherhood founded by Swami Vivekananda because of the untimely death of its first editor.

Prabuddha Bharata is India's longest running English journal, in publication since July 1896.

Once more awake!

For sleep it was, not death, to bring thee lifeAnew, and rest to lotus-eyes for visionsDaring yet. The world in need awaits, O Truth!No death for thee!

Resume thy march,

With gentle feet that would not break thePeaceful rest even of the roadside dustThat lies so low. Yet strong and steady,Blissful, bold, and free. Awakener, everForward! Speak thy stirring words.

Thy home is gone,

Where loving hearts had brought thee up andWatched with joy thy growth. But Fate is strong—This is the law—all things come back to the sourceThey sprung, their strength to renew.

Then start afresh

From the land of thy birth, where vast cloud-beltedSnows do bless and put their strength in thee,For working wonders new. The heavenlyRiver tune thy voice to her own immortal song ;Deodar shades give thee eternal peace.

And all above,

Himala's daughter Umâ, gentle, pure,The Mother that resides in all as PowerAnd Life, who works all works andMakes of One the world, whose mercyOpens the gate to Truth and showsThe One in All, give thee untiringStrength, which is Infinite Love.

They bless thee all,

The seers great, whom age nor climeCan claim their own, the fathers of theRace, who felt the heart of Truth the same,And bravely taught to man ill-voiced orWell. Their servant, thou hast gotThe secret—'tis but One.

Then speak, O Love!

Before thy gentle voice serene, behold howVisions melt and fold on fold of dreamsDeparts to void, till Truth and Truth aloneIn all its glory shines—

And tell the world—

Awake, arise, and dream no more!This is the land of dreams, where KarmaWeaves unthreaded garlands with our thoughtsOf flowers sweet or noxious, and noneHas root or stem, being born in naught, whichThe softest breath of Truth drives back toPrimal nothingness. Be bold, and faceThe Truth! Be one with it! Let visions cease,Or, if you cannot, dream but truer dreams,Which are Eternal Love and Service Free. (Complete Works, Volume IV)

Eid Mubarak: Quote by Prophet Mohammed

Even as the fingers of the two hands are equal, so are human beings equal to one another. No one has any right, nor any preference to claim over another. You are brothers.

- Prophet Muhammad

How Sister Nivedita's reacted to the news of the death of Swamiji

Swami Vivekananda, master of Nivedita died at ten minutes past nine p.m. on 4 July 1902. At that night Nivedita dreamed Ramakrishna leaving his body a second time. On the next morning, Swami Saradananda from Belur Math sent a monk with a letter to Sister Nivedita and conveying the message of Vivekananda's death. Instantly everything around Nivedita's eyes became blank. She immediately rushed to the Math and reached the place around 7 a.m and entered the room of Vivekananda. There she found Swamiji's body was laid on the floor. She sat near Vivekananda's head and started to fan his body with a hand-fan. Till 1 p.m. she sat like that and continued fanning Swami Vivekananda's body.

In the afternoon of 5 July, Swami Vivekanand'a body was taken for cremation. Vivekananda's body was wrapped with a saffron cloth. Nivedita wished to take a small portion of that cloth so that she could send it as a memento to Josephine MacLeod. Understanding the mind of Nivedita Swami Saradananda asked her to cut a small portion of the Swami's cloth. But, Nivedita was unsure whether the act would be proper or not and decided not to take it. When Vivekananda's body was being cremated she sat sat all the while looking at the burning pyre. Around six o'clock in the evening the burning flame was about to go out. Suddenly Nivedita felt somebody had pulled her sleeve. She turned around and found a small piece of saffron cloth which had somehow come out of the pyre during cremation. Nivedita lifted it and took it considering it as a blessing of the Swami.
(Courtesy: motherandsriaurobindo(dot)in
Image: Swami Vivekananda with Josephine Macleod, Ole Bull and Sister Nivedita in Kashmir.)

How to do Surya Namaskar

Sun Salutation – The Perfect Yoga Workout

If you are pressed for time and looking for a single mantra to stay fit, here’s the answer. A set of 12 powerful yoga asanas (postures) that provide a good cardiovascular workout in the form of Surya Namaskar. Literally translated to sun salutation, these postures are a good way to keep the body in shape and the mind calm and healthy.

Surya Namaskar is best done early morning on an empty stomach. Let’s begin with these simple yet effective Sun Salutation steps on our way to good health.

Each Sun Salutation round consists of two sets. These 12 yoga poses complete one set of Surya Namaskar. To complete the second half, you need to repeat the same sequence of postures, only moving the left leg instead of the right (in steps 4 and 9 ). You might find several versions of doing Sun Salutation. However, it is best to stick to one particular sequence and practice it regularly for best results.

Besides good health, Surya Namaskar also provide an opportunity to express gratitude to the sun for sustaining life on this planet, For the next 10 days, start your day with a feeling of grace and gratitude towards the sun energy. Do 12 rounds of Sun Salutation,  followed by other yoga poses and then rest deeply in yoga nidra. You might just find that this could be your mantra to stay fit, happy and peaceful. A mantra whose effects last through the day.

Courtesy:
http://www.artofliving.org/in-en/yoga/yoga-poses/sun-salutation (with video and pictures)

International Yoga Day: Swami Vivekananda's Views on Yoga and Pranayama

A series of exercises, physical and mental, is to be gone through every day, until certain higher states are reached. Therefore it is quite necessary that we should find a posture in which we can remain long. That posture which is the easiest for one should be the one chosen. For thinking, a certain posture may be very easy for one man, while to another it may be very difficult. We will find later on that during the study of these psychological matters a good deal of activity goes on in the body. Nerve currents will have to be displaced and given a new channel. New sorts of vibrations will begin, the whole constitution will be remodelled as it were. But the main part of the activity will lie along the spinal column, so that the one thing necessary for the posture is to hold the spinal column free, sitting erect, holding the three parts — the chest, neck, and head — in a straight line. Let the whole weight of the body be supported by the ribs, and then you have an easy natural postures with the spine straight. You will easily see that you cannot think very high thoughts with the chest in...

After one has learned to have a firm erect seat, one has to perform, according to certain schools, a practice called the purifying of the nerves. This part has been rejected by some as not belonging to Raja-Yoga, but as so great an authority as the commentator Shankarâchârya advises it, I think fit that it should be mentioned, and I will quote his own directions from his commentary on the Shvetâshvatara Upanishad: "The mind whose dross has been cleared away by Pranayama, becomes fixed in Brahman; therefore Pranayama is declared. First the nerves are to be purified, then comes the power to practice Pranayama. Stopping the right nostril with the thumb, through the left nostril fill in air, according to capacity; then, without any interval, throw the air out through the right nostril, closing the left one. Again inhaling through the right nostril eject through the left, according to capacity; practicing this three or five times at four hours of the day, before dawn, during midday, in the evening, and at midnight, in fifteen days or a month purity of the nerves is attained; then begins Pranayama."

(Excerpted from Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume 1, Raja Yoga)

Swami Vivekananda on Sri Ramakrishna

This is the message of Sri Ramakrishna to the modern world. Care not for doctrines or for dogmas, for sects or for churches. All these count for but little, compared with that essence of existence, which is in each one, and called spirituality. The more this is developed in a man, the more powerful is he for good. He who has most of it can do most good to his fellow-men. First, then, acquire that. … Only those who have seen it will understand this; but such spirituality can be given to others, even though they be unconscious of the gift. Only those who have attained to this power are amongst the great teachers of mankind. They are the powers of light.

Then be you this! The more of such men any country produces, the higher is that country raised. That land where no such men exist, is doomed. Nothing can save it. Therefore my Master’s message to the world is, “Be ye all spiritual! Get ye first realisation!” And to the young and strong of every country he would cry that the time is come for renunciation. Renounce for the sake of humanity! You have talked of the love of man till the thing is in danger of becoming words alone. The time is come to act. The call now is, Do! Leap into the breach and save the world.
                             (Courtesy: Vedanta DC)

Swami Brahmananda: Keep at least three-fourth of your mind in God

God first and then the world. The purpose of life is to know God. Attain knowledge and devotion and then serve God in mankind. Work is not the end of life. Disinterested work is a means of attaining devotion. Keep at least three-fourths of your mind in God. It is enough if you give one-fourth to service.

Swami Brahmananda, Spiritual son of Sri Ramakrishna

Smiling Buddha, 2016