NEWSLETTER
November- 2005

Hari OM! Namaste!
OM Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya!
OM Namo Bhagavate Chidanandaya!
OM Namo Bhagavate Krishnanandaya!
http://www.divyajivan.org/may_you_be_blessed.htm
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"The sun does not shine there, nor do the moon and the stars, nor do
lightnings shine and much less fire. All the lights of the world cannot be
compared even to a ray of the inner light of the Self. Merge yourself in
this light of lights and enjoy the supreme Deepavali."- Swami Sivananda
Deepavali - A festival of Light, Joy & Illumonation -A special page
http://www.divyajivan.org/Diwali/index.htm

Deepavali Message from H. H. Swami Adhyatmanandaji Maharaj.
http://www.divyajivan.org/Diwali/Deepavali%20Message2005.htm

As you perform Laxmi Punajan on Dhanteras & Deepavali,

Sri Yantra - Hymns of Goddess Lakshami
 http://www.divyajivan.org/ashtalakshmi/sri-yantra.htm

Sri. Ashtalaxmi Darshan, Sri Mahalaxmi Stuti and "Sri Suktam (audio clips)
http://www.divyajivan.org/ashtalakshmi/sri_suktam.htm

News & Activity report for the Month of October 2005
http://www.divyajivan.org/News/Newsletters/Oct05_news.htm
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For upcoming events, please refer to page:
http://www.divyajivan.org/upcoming_events.htm

For new uploads at the Divyajivan site, please refer to page:
http://www.divyajivan.org/what_is_new.htm

For interesting audio clips in Real Audio Format, please visit
page:
http://www.divyajivan.org/multimedia.htm
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Q & A on Spiritual Life & Sadhana from “May I Answer That?”- by
Holy Master Sri Swami Sivanandaji  Maharaj.

God is all-pervading formless Being. How can He be confined to an idol? What
is the use of idol worship?
The divinity of the all-pervading God is vibrant in every atom of creation.
There is not a speck of space where He is not. Why do you then say that He
is not the idols?
The idol is a support for the neophyte. It is a prop of his spiritual
childhood. A form or image is necessary for worship in the beginning. It is
not possible for all to fix the mind on the Absolute or the Infinite. A
concrete form is necessary for the vast majority for practicing
concentration.
Idols are not the idle fancies of sculptors, but shining channels through
which the heart of the devotee flows towards God. Though the image is
worshipped, the devotee feels the presence of the Lord in it and pours out
his devotion unto it. The idol remains an idol, but the worship goes to the
Lord.
To a devotee, the image is a mass of Chaitanya or consciousness. He draws
inspiration from the image. The image guides him. It talks to him. It
assumes human form to help him in a variety of ways. The image of Lord Siva
in the temple at Madurai in South India helped the fuel-cutter and the old
woman. The image in the temple at Tirupati assumed human form and gave
witness in the court to help His devotees. There are marvels and mysteries.
Only the devotees understand these.
Idol worship is not peculiar to Hinduism. The Christians worship the Cross.
They have the image of the Cross in their mind. The Mohammedans keep the
image of the Kaaba stone when they kneel and do prayers. The mental image
also is a form of idol. The difference is not one in kind, but only one of
degree.
All worshippers, however intellectual they may be, generate a form in the
mind and make the mind dwell on that image. Everyone is an idol worshipper.
Pictures and drawings are only a form of Pratima. A gross mind needs a
concrete symbol as a prop or Alambana; a subtle mind requires an abstract
symbol. Even a Vedantin has the symbol OM for fixing the wandering mind. It
is not only pictures or images in stone and wood that are idols. Dialectics
and leaders also become idols. So, why condemn idolatry?
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An Incidence From H. H. Sri Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj's Life

With all his busy schedule round the year, the itinerary extending to
distant parts of the globe, Swamiji yet succeeds in wrenching himself free
every now and then to be in the company of some saint or other. That is the
atmosphere he longs for; at the mental plane that is the world which perhaps
he continually inhabits. Nimkaroli Baba, a wonder mystic of North India, a
Hanuman Siddha, was one such saint for whom Swamiji had very high regard.
Swamiji knelt down beside the cot and humbly offered his homage to the Baba
and after sometime sang a few Bhajans and Stotras in praise of Lord Hanuman.
At the close of Swamiji's Kirtan the usually reticent and severe-looking
Baba instructed all his disciples to bow down at the feet of Swamiji and
declared that if they did not do so, they would miss a unique opportunity of
prostrating before an illumined sage of high order. In his inimitable way,
Swamiji said that if a person held a flower for a considerable length of
time it was natural that the fragrance could be smelt on the palms.
Therefore, it was no wonder if the fragrance of Gurudev's virtues was
sometimes wafted through him because of his fortunate protracted contact.
Swamiji never misses the opportunity, if any, of meeting a saint. Public
stature, expansion of an institution, name of the sect or number of
disciples are matters of no concern to him. A saint, whether he be in a Muth
or in a forest, in public life or in Sannyas, is equally alluring to him. In
this manner he had met Acharya Vinoba Bhave at Paunar and offered him
salutations, as he would do to any senior Sannyasi.
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