Reading of Sri Bhagawat Geeta

An old Farmer lived on a farm in the mountains with his young grandson. Each morning Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading his Bhagawat Geeta. His grandson wanted to be just like him and tried to imitate him in every way he could.

One day the grandson asked, "Grandpa! I try to read the Bhagawat Geeta just like you but I don't understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bhagawat Geeta do?"

The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and replied, "Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water."

The boy did as he was told, but all the water leaked out before he got back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, "You'll have to move a little faster next time," and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again.

This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket instead. The old man said, "I don't want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You're just not trying hard enough," and he went out the door to watch the boy try again.

At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got back to the house.

The boy again dipped the basket into river and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basket was again empty. Out of breath, he said, "See Grandpa, it's useless!" >

"So you think it is useless?" The old man said, "Look at the basket."

The boy looked at the basket and for the first time realized that the basket was different. It had been transformed from a dirty old coal basket and was now clean, inside and out.

"Son, that's what happens when you read the Bhagawat Geeta. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, you will be changed, inside and out. That is the work of Krishna in our lives."

"Celebrate Life. Care for others and share whatever you have with those less fortunate than you. Broaden your vision, for the whole world belongs to you." - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

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A Quotation by Dr.Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

"Religion is a transforming experience. It is not a theory of God. It is spiritual consciousness. Belief and conduct, rites and ceremonies, dogmas and authorities are subordinate to the art of self-discovery and contact with the Divine. When the individual withdraws his soul from all outward events, gathers himself together inwardly, strives with concentration, there breaks upon him an experience, sacred, strange, wondrous, which quickens within him, lays hold of him, becomes his very being. Even those who are the children of science and reason, must submit to the fact of spiritual experience which is primary and positive. We may dispute theologies but we cannot deny facts. The fire of life in its visible burnings compels assent, though not the fumbling speculations of smokers sitting around the fire. While realisation is a fact, the theory of reality is an inference. There is a difference between contact with reality and opinion about it, between the mystery of godliness and belief in God."

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Spiritual Technique For Mind Repair - Vipassana

Some of us believe that happiness is subjective. Others, however, point out that its objective roots are beyond debate. Maintaining balance of mind despite the bumps on the road of daily life means overcoming being miserable. Even a moment's perfect equanimity is actual happiness, peace of mind, or whatever one labels optimum mental functioning. Such a temperament does not come ready made. For most of us, attaining a state of level headedness requires hard work and training. Occasional unhappiness is an inevitable part of life. So too is disease, bad health and accidents. But we don"t shrug it off saying that it's just part of life and refuse medical help.
So why should we ignore mental short circuits, ranging from mood swings and bad temper to depression and insecurity?

A practical-minded person cares as much for repairing the mind as to healing bodily malfunctions.

Mind repair is simply spirituality at its core practical level. We optimise mind machinery for a better life, for ourselves and for those around us. We need a powerful mind tool, and Vipassana is an ancient mind-enhancing technology. In Pali, Vipassana means 'insight to see things as they really are". Vipassana is a self-observation technique taught by Gautama the Buddha. "Its origins were already lost in timeless antiquity", he had said. He rediscovered it in his prolonged search for a fundamental antidote to human misery.

The Sakya crown prince who had already mastered every prevalent teaching in India of those times, realised that nothing, including systems of the famous Alara and Ramputta, touched deep-rooted impurities entrenched in his mind. Observing bodily sensations, he realised, led to hidden depths of the mind where our habit patterns are formed and multiplied. At the deepest level, our mind is constantly in touch with any feeling in the body like pain, heat, cold, perspiration and pressure. At the subtler subatomic level of the body, these sensations are felt as a biochemical flow of particles arising and passing away with tremendous velocity. Any pleasant feeling in the body, and the mind reacts with clinging. Unpleasant feelings are instantly greeted with aversion. The reactions go on every moment of our life, unnoticed. It seems that we are reacting to the external world. But in reality we constantly react with like or dislike to a biochemical flow within caused by our sense organs in contact with external stimuli.

This blind reaction pattern forms the root cause of our mind's malfunctioning, the Buddha realised. So instead of neither reacting nor suppressing reality within, he gave humanity the Middle Path of merely observing reality as it is. This technique of objective observation of mind matter interaction at the level of sensation without blind reaction is Vipassana . This practical, universal technique represents the quintessence of the Buddha's actual scientific teaching. It was lost to India and the world 500 years after the Buddha's passing away. Fortunately, a little known chain of teachers in neighbouring Burma (Myanmar) preserved it in its pristine purity.

Every Vipassana student independently performs self-surgery of the mind. A teacher guides and makes clarifications. But the student works very hard nearly 13 hours each day of the meditation course. Alone, sometimes in a meditation cell, he or she braves inner demons and fights pain barriers. Confronting reality within needs courage. It often shatters carefully polished self-images.

"You are your own master", Sayagyi Goenka, a Vipassana teacher, tells his students. "The cause of your happiness or misery is within you". This emotional self-dependence helps accept accountability for one's condition in life. A Vipassana practitioner realises everything in the world changes constantly, including people and situations. Our full enjoyment of life is not dependent on any particular circumstance. Happiness means a balanced mind to face the reality of the moment. Only then can the mind calmly and dispassionately unleash its awesome power to solving our problems. Life turns from negative reactions to beneficial positive action.

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Inspiring Thoughts by Swami Sivananda

To practice non-violence, truth and purity is Divine Life.
To be kind, generous, humble, tolerant is Divine Life.
To practice virtues and be righteous is Divine Life.
To serve the poor in selfless, dedicated ways is Divine Life.
To serve the sick with all-is-God attitude is Divine Life.
To be merciful, courageous and devotional is Divine Life.
To sing the Name of God and pray is Divine Life.
To do Japa and meditation is Divine Life.
To be an instrument in the hands of God is Divine Life.
To act rightly and live in God is Divine Life.
To do unconditional self-surrender to God is Divine Life.
To restrain the senses and to have God-communion is Divine Life.
To be one with the Divine Will is Divine Life.
To be a silent witness of the three states (waking, dreaming and deep sleep) is Divine Life.