Sunday, December 30, 2012

Selfless prayers for others are lyrics of the soul….. Bhagavan (my Father) is very fond of such prayers.

Nama Article 30th December 2012
 

New year Message from His Holiness Maharanyam Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji

 

பிறர் துயர் கண்டு தன்னலமில்லாமல் செய்யப்படும் பிரார்த்தனைகள் தான் மனதின் கவிதைகள்.....இந்த கவிதைகள் பகவானுக்கு மிகவும் பிரியமானவை 

 

Selfless prayers for others are lyrics of the soul….. Bhagavan (my Father) is very fond of such prayers.

 

Please check these: Excerpts from a discourse by our Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji

 

Individual chanting Vs group chanting

 

Today is a very happy day, not just because it is a New Year day.  It gives me a great pleasure to be in company of you the devotees, who chant the Lord's Name in this wonderful evening

 

Nama Yoga - The most practical path - Divinity for All

 

Mahans and Sadhus are truly those who are full of campassion for the masses in the world and liberate them by giving them the Divine Name of God


Selfless prayer is a penance by itself

 

Bhajan has the unique feature of doing Bhakti involving the whole community

 

When a community prayer is held, a divine force flows from one to the other even without our knowing it, and this helps in the spiritual evolution of the soul.

 

Obstacles can be removed by by congregational hearing and chanting of Divine names and by following the footsteps of the great Masters

 

The object of congregational prayers and Bhajans is to develop broadness of vision.....It is the spirit of brotherhood that takes the aspirant nearer God

 

I introduced the practice of having congregational prayer some time before the commencement of the South African satyagraha struggle.

 

 

Chant the Mahamantra Nama kirtan :

 

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare


Saturday, December 29, 2012

The power of the Divine Name is invincible. It can convert pain into joy. It can change death into immortality.

Nama Article 29th December 2012
 

Source: The Vision

INVINCIBLE NAME, By Swami Ramdas

 

The difficulty with some is that they cannot repeat the Name continuously although they desire to do so. The reason for this is that their love for the Name is not greater than their love for the perishable objects of the world. It is a psychological truth that our mind thinks most of the object which we love most, because, our concentrated love inevitably influences the mind to remember that object. So also, if our mind is fired with an intense love for the Name, this love will automatically enable us to remember the Name constantly. When this love is lukewarm and unsteady, our remembrance of the Name will correspondingly become unsteady and broken.

 

When the necessary intensity of love for the Name is present, our mind will dwell uninterruptedly on the Name. As an example, we find in a household that the mother loves her youngest child most, and even when the child is in its cradle beyond the sight of the mother, she will not fail to keep up a sustained remembrance of the baby. What does make the mother thus keep up a stream of remembrance of the baby? We have to admit that it is her concentrated love for the baby.

 

Similarly, if we love God beyond everything else in the world, this love will automatically maintain in our mind a continuous flow of God-remembrance. The Name of God will start on our tongue spontaneously and will run on it continuously. Further, the sweet sound issuing from the utterance of the Name will prove to be a veritable nectar to the attentive ear. When thus the mind is inebriated, as it were, with the love of God and filled with the music of His Name, all its desires will be transmuted into Divine waves of ecstasy, and all the movements of the senses will be saturated with the same joy. In this state, vision of God will flash out through our eyes raising us to the supreme status of universal vision. This is the ineffable summit of Divine union and revelation.

 

Really blessed is the soul who keeps the Divine Name always on his lips. A saint has rightly said that the devotee who is thus blessed is really a Jivanmukta or a liberated soul. Where the Divine thought ceaselessly dwells, there the ego-sense is absent, there selfsurrender is complete, there the vision of God everywhere is attained.

 

The power of the Divine Name is invincible. It can convert pain into joy. It can change death into immortality. Nay, it can transform our entire life into the very being and consciousness of the all-pervading and all-inclusive God-head.

 

 

Please check these: Excerpts from a discourse by our Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji

 

Only in the company of Sadhus is 'premai' experienced in one's heart.

 

So also when an ignorant, bound and sorrow-stricken soul comes in contact with an illumined, liberated and all-blissful person, the former by such contact is fired with a zeal to become also like the latter.

 

To associate oneself in Satsang (being in the company of Holy persons) brings detachment towards worldly pursuits. Chant the Divine Name Govinda

 

The intention of continued chanting of the Divine names is to take one to the state of total selfless, unconditional LOVE

 

I can worship God, but how can I love LORD KRISHNA? You can love Him if you understand that Sri Krishna is pure love and love alone.

 

Mechanical chanting is the only starting point we can attempt. It matures to love by grace.

 

THE JNAANA (KNOWLEDGE) BORN OUT OF GRACE, THE VIDWAT (LEARNING) BORN OF THIS GRACE, WEALTH RECEIVED FROM SUCH A GRACE IS EVERLASTING AND SAFE (HARMLESS).

 

God gives whatever is required (by His devotee), removes whatever is not needed, leads the devotee in the path suited to him/her; Since Bhagavãn takes utmost interest in the devotee's needs the latter will not earn/attain any 'siddhi'

 

What is there in this world that devotion to the Lord cannot do?

 

By repeatedly chanting the Divine Name of Lord Hari, one attains all siddhis (powers). When Lord, the Consort of Goddess Shridevi, and the Lord of the world, is pleased, what remains an impossibility on this earth?

 

Repetition of Name will create Love. Hari will be yours when you attain Love

 

'Similarly, my friend,' the master says, 'you can sit like that forever, but you'll never be meditating or understanding truth.'

 

Chant the Mahamantra Nama kirtan :

 

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare


Friday, December 28, 2012

There is nothing better than prayer to rid ourselves of bad traits and purify our hearts. Without prayer there will be no peace of mind.

Nama Article 28th December 2012
 

Mahathma Gandhi

 

Prayer is not mere uttering of some words. It is the performance of good deeds that will yield good results. Repeating the Lord's Name only at the time of prayer and forgetting Him after that does not amount to true prayer. It is like insulting Him. Those who do not have the unshakable faith that God resides within, cannot do prayer. If we keep praying for the purification of our heart, we will get progressively purified day by day.

Prayer is not only the means to ultimate Liberation, but also liberation in this world. When we are blessed with something bigger, we automatically get those which are smaller. Prayer is the great love that the soul has for the One which is a complete whole. That is the tool for the spiritual evolution of the soul. If we are determined to keep our hearts pure, God will not ignore our prayers. When a community prayer is held, a divine force flows from one to the other even without our knowing it, and this helps in the spiritual evolution of the soul. God does not listen to the prayers of those who are arrogant and those who indulge in prayer as a commercial quid pro quo.

There is nothing better than prayer to rid ourselves of bad traits and purify our hearts. Without prayer there will be no peace of mind. I have never lost my peace of mind even when I was assailed by any number of failures in my political life. There were many who had envied me for that. I was able to get that peace through prayer. For real prayer, there is no religious or caste distinction. Prayer seeks the good of the entire human race. If that happens, the kingdom of God will be on this earth.

 

Please check these: Excerpts from a discourse by our Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji

 

What is prayer?

 

Believe in simple prayers

 

Conversing with God in a personal manner is prayer in itself. Thanking God for all the good things He has given you is prayer in itself. Singing His Divine Name is prayer in itself.

 

In the same way, God is sought for obtaining job, for marriage, for begetting a child, for education, for wealth and various other reasons. But, if we bring God Himself to our homes, we will get everything that we need.

 

The man of prayer will be at peace with himself, and with the whole world

 

Chanting lips make many hands work

 

Prayer gives us a pure heart and a pure heart can do much

 

Repeating a demand or prayer over and over again, mentally or orally, and with deepening attention and devotion, spiritualizes the prayer

 

What is the power of practising prayers, how it can transform a person and why a devotee is dear to Lord Krishna ?

 

You are never so poor that you cannot do anything for others

 

By God's grace and power everything is possible, if our prayers are really sincere.

 

When I was crossing into Gaza, I was asked at the checkpost whether I was carrying any weapons. I replied: Oh yes, my prayer books

 

Chant the Mahamantra Nama kirtan :

 

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare


Thursday, December 27, 2012

So also when an ignorant, bound and sorrow-stricken soul comes in contact with an illumined, liberated and all-blissful person, the former by such contact is fired with a zeal to become also like the latter.

Nama Article 27th December 2012
 

Swami Papa Ramdas

 

The easiest means to make the mind dwell in the idea of God is to constantly reiterate mentally or vocally the Name of God. Such a recitation of the Name should of course be accompanied by implicit faith in the efficacy of the Name and intense love for the immortal ideal which the Name represents, viz: the supreme Reality who is absolute existence, consciousness and bliss and who is seated in the hearts of us all. When thus the mind is completely absorbed in the Divine idea, a stage is reached when the mere individual or physical consciousness is transmuted into the universal and ever blissful consciousness.

 

Everybody wishes to possess this hunger, this keen aspiration which will bring him or her the experience of Divinity. But the complaint is that such a state does not come even when one wishes for it. How then could this burning desire for the attainment of absolute bliss be generated? Just as an uneducated man or a poor man would evince an ardent wish to be a literate man or a rich man when he comes in association with a learned person or a wealthy person; so also when an ignorant, bound and sorrow-stricken soul comes in contact with an illumined, liberated and all-blissful person, the former by such contact is fired with a zeal to become also like the latter. Hence the society of saints has been held as the most important factor in the spiritual evolution of the soul. The saints not only awaken the ignorant souls and create in them a thirst for self-realisation but also infuse into them by their blessings the needed spiritual strength to battle against the forces that confront the aspirant in his march towards this goal of supreme beatitude.

 

In order to know what are our actual facial features we have to look into the mirror; similarly, if we wish to get a glimpse of our real and immortal life we can do so only when we are in the company of saints. Saints are verily the redeemers of fallen souls. It is by their power alone the mind that runs in pursuit of transient pleasures can be made to concentrate its attention upon the eternal, changeless and blissful indwelling Reality. When thus the mind is permeated through and through with the imperishable idea of God, man attains the supreme goal of life.

God-realisation does bring about not only the divinisation of the internal life of man but also all his external life and activities. He beholds all beings and things as the illumined expressions of the one allpervading Divinity. Satsang awakens the human soul and fills his thought with Divine light and joy and grants him the knowledge of the immortal Self, which in its turn confers upon the devotee the comprehensive knowledge of God in all His aspects.

 

Please check these: Excerpts from a discourse by our Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji

 

Just like a cool shade which soothes someone who has walked a long distance under the sun, those beings who have been attacked by the sorrows of the world frequent such Mahãns

 

The rarest of the rare is getting a Uttama Guru. When you have a Guru, you can peacefully rest.

 

How does a Sadhu argues the case of ordinary persons with the Lord?

 

It is the Guru who shows that way, and the gratitude shown to such a Guru is Guru Bhakti

 

How to show our gratitude to our Guru?

 

The only act a true devotee can do is to chant Nama to express the gratitude to the Guru for the grace showered on the devotee.

 

To associate oneself in Satsang (being in the company of Holy persons) brings detachment towards worldly pursuits.

 

Satsang is the confluence of the Triveni* of the Lord, the Devotee and the Name.

 

 

Chant the Mahamantra Nama kirtan :

 

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare


To associate oneself in Satsang (being in the company of Holy persons) brings detachment towards worldly pursuits. Chant the Divine Name Govinda

Nama Article 26th December 2012
Bhaja Govindham – Adi Shankara

सत्सङ्गत्वे निस्स्ङ्गत्वं, निस्सङ्गत्वे निर्मोहत्वम् ।
निर्मोहत्वे निश्चलतत्त्वं, निश्चलतत्त्वे जीवन्मुक्तिः
भज गोविन्दं भज गोविन्दं गोविन्दं भज मूढ़मते

To associate oneself in Satsang (being in the company of Holy persons) brings detachment towards worldly pursuits. Detachment leads to freedom from delusion. From freedom from delusion arises constancy of mind in meditation of Supreme Being. Constancy of mind leads us to permanent awareness (liberation), even while alive.

O deluded minded friend, Chant the Divine Name Govinda, Chant the Divine Name Govinda, Chant the Divine Name Govinda.

Please check these: Excerpts from a discourse by our Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji










Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

To whom do you belong? Where from have you come? O dear, think again and again over the truth of all these. Chant the Divine Name Govinda

Nama Article 25th December 2012
 

Bhaja Govindham – Adi Shankara

 

का ते कान्ता कस्ते पुत्रः, संसारोऽयमतीव विचित्रः।

कस्य त्वं वा कुत अयातः, तत्त्वं चिन्तय तदिह भ्रातः ॥

भज गोविन्दं भज गोविन्दं गोविन्दं भज मूढ़मते

 

Who is your wife ? Who is your son? Indeed, strange is this mortal world. To whom do you belong? Where from have you come? O dear, think again and again over the truth of all these.

 

O deluded minded friend, Chant the Divine Name Govinda, Chant the Divine Name Govinda, Chant the Divine Name Govinda.

 

Please check these: Excerpts from a discourse by our Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji

 

All these - your father, mother, brother, sister, wife, children - are outside. But, I am within you

 

The main things for attaining mental balance are

 

Real freedom, the dignity, the beauty of it, is in oneself when there is complete order. And that order comes only when we are a light to ourselves.

 

The husband becomes grief stricken at the death of his  beloved, soft hearted and amicable wife, who has given birth to many children

 

All the relations (children, wife) come to an end in death. There is nothing in this world that is permanent

 

The human body is a rare boon to embodied souls

 

Chant the Mahamantra Nama kirtan :

 

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare


Monday, December 24, 2012

In child is ever intent on play, the young is infatuated with lust; Old people are ever immersed in their worries. O deluded minded friend, Chant the Divine Name Govinda

Nama Article 24th December 2012
 

With blessings of Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji, Deiva Tamizh Isai Vizha 7-9 pm daily, Dec 21 - 27 @ Mahodaya Hall, Ashok Nagar. All are welcome.

 

Bhaja Govindham – Adi Shankara

 

बालस्तावत् क्रीडासक्तः, तरुणस्तावत् तरुणीसक्तः।

वृद्धस्तावच्चिन्तासक्तः, परे ब्रह्मणि कोऽपि न सक्तः ॥

भज गोविन्दं भज गोविन्दं गोविन्दं भज मूढ़मते

 

Child is ever intent on play, the young is infatuated with lust; Old people are ever immersed in their worries.

 

But there is no one who wants to be engrossed in remembrance of Lord Govinda, the parabrahman (The Supreme) at any stage.

 

O deluded minded friend, Chant the Divine Name Govinda, Chant the Divine Name Govinda, Chant the Divine Name Govinda.

 

Please check these: Excerpts from a discourse by our Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji

 

We cannot recover the past. We are not sure of the future. It is only the present that is at our disposal. So don't waste it. Chant, chant, chant!

 

Twelve years pass in childhood,………. when he is old, he repents and regrets

 

Much more valuable is the hour, consciously spent, in endeavoring for the highest good.

 

Only one who has spent this human life by Chanting the Name of the Lord can remain fearless of death; all the others will fear facing death!

 

Every moment of our life that is spent without the thought of God is indeed a waste.

 

Every moment of your life should be taken as His gift.  Be rest assured that every incident that happens is by His grace and happens for your well-being.

 

You have to understand the clear distinction between a Sadhu and a lazy person.

 

 

Chant the Mahamantra Nama kirtan :

 

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare


Sunday, December 23, 2012

We are wrongly persisting in unreality, that is, thoughts and worldly activities. Cessation of these will reveal the Truth.

Nama Article 28th Septemeber 2009


Source: Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi

Japa may be done even while engaged in other work. That which is, the One Reality. It may be represented by a form, a japa, mantra, vichara or any kind of attempt. All of them finally resolve themselves into that One Single Reality. 
Bhakti, vichara, japa are only different forms of our efforts to keep out the unreality. The unreality is an obsession at present. 
Reality is our true nature. We are wrongly persisting in unreality, that is, thoughts and worldly activities. Cessation of these will reveal the Truth. Our attempts are directed towards keeping them out. It is done by thinking of the Reality only. 
Although it is our true nature it looks as if we are thinking of the Reality. What we do really amounts to the removal of obstacles for the revelation of our true Being. Meditation or vichara is thus a reversion to our true nature.

Chant the Mahamantra Namakirtan :

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

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Remember again and again that wealth is always evil. There is not the slightest trace of happiness in it.

Nama Article 23rd December 2012
 

With blessings of Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji, Deiva Tamizh Isai Vizha 7-9 pm daily, Dec 21 - 27 @ Mahodaya Hall, Ashok Nagar. All are welcome.

 

Bhaja Govindham – Adi Shankara

 

अर्थमनर्थं भावय नित्यं, नास्ति ततः सुखलेशःसत्यम् |

पुत्रादपि धनभांजां भीतिः, सर्वत्रैषा विहिता रीतिः ||

भज गोविन्दं भज गोविन्दं गोविन्दं भज मूढ़मते

 

Remember again and again that wealth is always evil (cause for troubles). There is not the slightest trace of happiness in it.

 

For the rich there is fear even from their sons, this is the rule every where.

 

O deluded minded friend, Chant the Divine Name Govinda, Chant the Divine Name Govinda, Chant the Divine Name Govinda.

 

Please check these: Excerpts from a discourse by our Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji

 

By chanting the Name of Bhagavãn one attains Atma Jnana, Jivan Mukti state

 

Accumulate the wealth of the Lord's Name; that wealth does not go anywhere

 

Nothing we earn today would come with us to the final destination but only the Divine Name WILL

 

From sunrise till sunset, you work to earn a living, Flattering, supplicating, and obliging others

 

For the ones who are lost in the worldly activities, indeed there is no higher gain than the Chanting of Divine Names

 

Be happy with what ever you get as a result of your past actions (karma).

 

As long as a man is fit and capable to earn money, everyone in the family show affection towards him.

 

Lord Rama says, "Any accumulated wealth will dissolve in due time. Any position of power attained will come to an end. All the relations (children, wife) come to an end in death. There is nothing in this world that is permanent."

 

I spent all my energy and all my moments in life acquiring all of these possessions and wealth and now......I cannot get back even one moment

 

Just as wealth accrued by a man is useful to the world and for future generations, a man's bhakti and the power of Nama gives strength to innumerable people

 

Divine Name Rama is the real wealth in this world for all because it is the treasure which will not be reduced by spending and which no one can loot.

 

The Name of the Lord - this alone is my wealth. I do not tie it up to hide it, nor do I sell it to make my living.

 

Chant the Mahamantra Nama kirtan :

 

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare