June 2007

Divya Jivan Newsletter

June - 2007

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Remembering Sannyasa Diksha of Holy Master Sri Swami Sivananda (June 1, 2007)

On Existence Of GOD
"Who is God? What is God? Is there a God? Where is God? How to realise God? Man wants an answer to these eternal questions. Certainly there is God. God exists. He is the only reality. God is your creator, saviour and redeemer. He is all-pervading. He dwells in your heart. He is always near you. He is nearer to you than your jugular vein or nose. He loves you. He can talk to you. You cannot find God by the intellect. But, you can find Him by feeling, meditation, experience and realisation."......

"Reduce yourself into zero before God. Only then will God completely take care of and guide you. Only then surrender becomes complete. Forget your own interests, your own longings, your own desires. You will attain the bliss of the Supreme Self. Crucify, sacrifice the lower self, if you wish to have union with God. Empty your egoism. You will be filled with God. Lose your personality. You will find the Divine Life. You will realise God."- Swami Sivananda <<More>>

Early Morning Meditation talks from" Ponder These Truths" by Sri Swami Chidananda

Based Your Life Upon Wisdom
"Beloved Immortal Atman! Blessed children of the Divine! Blessed are all of you who have entered into a life that leads to the

realisation of the divinity inherent in you as your own essential nature. In all that you do in this life, day by day, morning till night, in all that you say and do, make sure that it springs from wisdom and not from wrong understanding or ignorance. Where there is wisdom as the basis of your life, as the basis of your action, there is no sorrow, there will be no sorrow for you. Where you allow wisdom to be thwarted by thoughtlessness, forgetfulness, heedlessness, the letting go of awareness, wisdom becomes clouded. Letting go of awareness makes for your sleep. Falling asleep means ceasing to know anything, being in the dark, and such darkness the great sages term as avidya, ignorance. Such a state of ignorance is due to letting go of the awareness, “I am divine, I am divine.”- Swami Chidananda << More >>.

Highlights of the Activities at Sivananda Ashram, Ahmedabad

63rd Birthday Celebration of H. H. Sri Swami Adhyatmanandaji Maharaj (May 1, 2007 - May 3, 2007)......Follow up

With great devotion and enthusiasm devotees at Sivananda Ashram, A'bad celebrated the birthday of their Beloved H. H. Sri Swami Adhyatmanandaji Maharaj. As always, it was celebrated in a spiritual way with more Japa, Meditation and in the presence Holy Saints.
H. E. Governor of Gujarat Pandit Sri Nawal Kishore Sharmaji presided and graced the function held on Birthday Eve on May 2, 2007. He takes great delight to visit Sivananda Ashram again and again. It was his seventh visit to the Ashram. The highlight of the evening was honoring and awarding select group of individuals by Sri Sharmaji for their selfless services dedicated to humanity.

News In Slide Show

For details of Yoga Activities at the ashram, please visit our new page,
"SIVA" (Sivananda Institute of Vedanta & Yoga Academy).
Join any yoga group, as per your liking & ability and transform your life to Yoga Way of Living .

Yoga Teachers' Training Course (YTTC)(May 12, 2007 -May 31, 2007)

News & Activity report for the Month of May 2007

Parables of Sri Swami Sivananda ay I Answer That

Parable Of the Ants and Mountain of Sugar

There were thousands of ants living on a hill of salt. Being informed by an ant that there is a mountain of sugar nearby, some ants went to have their fill from it. Many of them walked on and on, but throughout the mountain they could find nothing except salt, because they had in their mouths salt particles which they were reluctant to leave aside. Some few left aside the particles of salt and took their mouthfuls of sugar, thinking that they are carrying the whole of the mountain!

Similar is the case with the ordinary persons of the world, who cannot find Bliss even if they are informed that the mountain of Bliss lies with them, or that they are walking upon the mountain itself, for they are reluctant to leave aside the attachments and selfish ends to which they are fast bound.

Mind itself is the cause of bondage and liberation. If the salt-particles of attachment are not renounced, one cannot get abiding peace anywhere, throughout the universe. Some few are able to practice renunciation to a small extent. Thereby they experience only a little reflection of Bliss. Blessed is he who merges himself into Bliss, thereby becoming Bliss itself, the result of the supreme renunciation of all desires and attachments.

Reflections

WHAT IS VIRTUE? WHAT IS SIN?

"Papa is sin. Punya is virtue. Remember the motto always: "Do unto others as you wish others do unto you". This is the Kasoti or test for virtue and sin. You do not wish to be hurt by others. So do not hurt another person. You wish to be helped by others. So help others. You do not wish to be robbed by others. So do not rob others' property.

That which elevates you is virtue; that which pulls you down is vice or sin. That which takes you to the Goal is virtue; that which makes you a worldly man is sin. That which helps you attain God-head is virtue; that which hurls you down in the dark abyss of ignorance is sin. That which gives you illumination is virtue; that which causes intoxication is sin. That which purifies your heart is virtue; that which taints your heart is sin. That which gives you peace, joy, satisfaction, exhilaration, expansion of heart, is virtue; that which brings restlessness, dissatisfaction, depression, and contraction of heart, is vice.

Service of humanity and Guru is virtue; mischief-mongering is sin. Faith in God, in the scriptures, in the words of the spiritual preceptor, is virtue; doubting is sin. Loving all is virtue; hating others is sin. Unity is virtue; separation is sin. Independence is virtue; dependence is sin. Brahmacharya is virtue; lust is sin. Truthfulness is virtue; falsehood is sin. Generosity is virtue; miserliness is sin. Oneness is virtue; duality is sin. Knowledge is virtue; ignorance is sin. Strength is virtue; weakness is sin. Courage is virtue; cowardice is sin. To behold the One Immortal Self everywhere is virtue; to see diversity is sin.

That which you are ashamed to do in public is a sin. That which you dare not admit before your Guru is a sin.

Learn to discriminate between virtue and sin, and become wise. The Antaryamin will guide you rightly; hear Him." Swami Sivananda

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NEWSLETTER (June 2007)

Sivananda Ashram , Ahmedabad

Divya Jivan Newsletter

Early Morning Meditation talks from" Ponder These Truths" by Sri Swami Chidananda

Regular Activities and Services at the Holy Sivananda Ashram