God realization through Bhakti and love ~ Swami Sivananda

God realization through Bhakti and love

by Swami Sivananda   

Since God is verily the Self, love of the Self is love of the God and that is bhakti. Jnana and Bhakti are thus one and the same.

Really there are only two methods, Self-Enquiry (Vichara) and devotion (Bhakti). One leads to the other. 

A devotee concentrates on God. A seeker, follower of the Jnana-marga seeks the Self. The practice is equally difficult for both.

Self-enquiry is possible for mature minds, not for immature ones.

For the immature ones, japa nama, worship of images, pranayama, visualizing a pillar of light and similar yogic and spiritual and religious practices have been prescribed.

Service, like prayers, japa and even businesss done in God’s name, lead to the highest Goal; Self-realization.

Complete effacement of the ego is necessary to conquer destiny, whether you achieve this effacement through Self enquiry or through bhakti-marga.

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi

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God is Love

God is Truth. God is love. Speak the Truth. Love everyone. You will realise Him quickly. Have Satsanga with Sadhus, Sannyasins and Bhaktas. This alone can give you Viveka, Vairagya, spiritual strength and peace of mind. There is no other way. Hunt out for Sadhus. They are everywhere. Sincerity and earnestness are needed in you. They are ever ready to receive you lovingly with outstretched hands.

By Satsanga your mind will be saturated as sugar in water with thoughts of God, with Divine Glory, Divine Presence, with sublime soul-awakening spiritual thoughts. Then only will you be established in the Divine consciousness always. Then you can attain Self-realisation within the time taken for the squeezing of a flower.

God's name is verily Omnipotent

Name of the Lord is a potent unfailing antidote for those who are bitten by the serpent of Samsara. It is a nectar (Amrita) that can confer immortality and perennial Peace. Yama (god of death) is terribly afraid of those who repeat the names of the Lord. He cannot approach them. Repeat the name of the Lord always and attain the fearless state.

May the Lord guide you in all your activities. May He enlighten your path enabling you to achieve the goal of life, viz., Self-realisation, your birthright. May you live drowned in a life of joy, bliss and prosperity!

Do Kirtan Regularly

Sankirtan is food for the mind and the Soul. Sankirtan is a Divine tonic. Sankirtan is a potent healing balm for the shattered nerves. Sankirtan is a celestial nectar. Drink the nectar daily by doing Sankirtan in Brahmamuhurta and night. 

The strength and intensity of devotion depends upon the completeness of the self-surrender and sacrifice. 

As the vast majority of persons keep certain subtle desires for secret gratifications, they do not grow in devotion. The two obstacles to self-surrender are desire and egoism.

Sing the Lord’s Glory

Worship the Lord at all times with all your heart and with all your mind. Sing His glory. Remember His name always. All miseries will come to an end. Your heart will be purified. The Lord will soon reveal Himself to you. You will feel His Presence. 

Pray fervently to the Lord for the descent of the Divine Light. Crave for His Mercy. Weep for His separation on account of Viraha. Yearn for communion with Him. Melt the mind in the Agni of Divine Love. Burn the body in the fire of devotion. Drink the honey of Prem. Get yourself intoxicated with the wine of Divine Love. Attain immortality and eternal Bliss.

Develop Devotion

Control your mind, speech and actions. Speak the truth. Be calm. Discipline the senses. Hear, recite, sing and meditate on the deeds, qualities and Avataras of Hari. 

Have exclusive devotion to the Lord. Give your whole mind to Him. Do not allow any outside worldly impressions wherein there is an iota of selfish desire to enter into your subconscious mind. Learn how to sing, interchange devotion and love each other and speak to each other of the glory of the Lord, till your hairs stand on end and sing and dance till you lose yourself in devout contemplation.

Realise the Lord through Prem

Lord Shiva is the Supreme Soul, the Antaryamin, the protector of all beings. He is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent. He was never born. He never died. 

If you are a true seeker of God, you will meet Him within a moment. Remember Him always. Live by His name. Sing His praises. Search for Him in your heart of hearts. Learn from the devotees the way to love and serve Him, the support of your soul, the only sovereign of the whole world, the Indweller of your heart and the inner Ruler. 

May you remember the Holy names of the Lord at all times and live in an ocean of divine ecstasy and divine communion! May prosperity attend on you for ever.

Peace, Love, Harmony

Dual Consciousness of the liberated Yogi (Jivanmukta) in Sahaja Avastha by Swami Chidananda,

Dual Consciousness of the liberated Yogi (Jivanmukta) in Sahaja Avastha*

by Swami Chidananda

Sahaja Avastha*: Superconscious state that has become natural and continuous.

The supreme state of Asamprajnata Samadhi (Highest superconscious state where the mind and the ego-sense are completely annihilated.) entitles the Yogi to be called a Yogarudha (One who is established in Yoga) or one who has scaled the peaks of Yoga and becomes established in the highest pinnacle of Yoga. Such a Yogi is called a Yogarudha Siddha Purusha. He is also called a Jivanmukta (Liberated one). He is established in the consciousness of his Purushahood. (Purusha is the supreme Being) Therefore he is no longer bound; he is no longer within the bondage of Prakriti or Maya or Avidya or delusion or ignorance. In that state, the body continues to be as it was before, and the senses (Indriyas) have their activity (Cheshta) as before. The eyes see and the ears hear and the hands touch; the nose smells and the tongue tastes.

The Yogi is able to differentiate between salt and sugar; he is able to differentiate between hot and cold, between ice-cream and hot coffee. He knows: “This is a child, that is an old man; this is a woman, that is a man; this is a beast, that is a human being”. He is able to see all that. The Cheshta of the Indriyas continues, and yet, the Yogi being in Sahaja Avastha, is not in the least deluded by the same. He has no Moha (infatuation,false identification), no attachment, no desire. 

In that state of Sahaja Avastha, he is not bound by desire, attachment or delusion. His consciousness is not qualified by identification with the various limiting adjuncts or Upadhis such as the senses, the Pranas, the sense-organs, the body, the mind and the intellect. He is therefore established in the full consciousness of his supreme isolated Purushahood, apart from Prakriti, distinct from Prakriti, independent of Prakriti. As such, he is unaffected and unafflicted by the modes of Prakriti. In short, he has regained his pristine status and has established himself in his own Svarupa (essential nature, Atman, Brahman). That is the fruit of Svarupa Avastha (State of being one with Brahman; resting in the Absolute Reality or Brahman). 

In the Yogi who is thus established in Svarupa Avastha, Yoga has fulfilled its purpose. In the midst of Maya, the Yogi is established in a consciousness freed from Maya. He looks upon the world, sees everything going on in it, but knows them to be vanishing shadows having no ultimate reality. He experiences his body and the various states of his mind and intellect, but knows himself as supremely apart from them. He is a mere witness of the changing conditions and states of the Upadhis (limiting adjunct; instrument; vehicle: body, mind, intellect) and remains unaffected and unattached and apart from those Upadhis. And he knows that as long as the least Prarabdha Karma remains to be enjoyed by him, he will have to continue in the state of embodied condition. 

In this state of Sahaja Avastha, the Yogi enjoys dual consciousness. He has the consciousness of the external names and forms. He also has the consciousness of the Svarupa (essential nature:Atman, consciousness) which is beyond all names and forms. And this consciousness of his inner Svarupa prevents him from falling into the delusion of the outer phenomena. In the midst of the waters of Prakriti, he swims on the surface, not drowning, not going in, not being engulfed by the water, but remaining on the surface.

The Yogi who is established in Sahaja Samadhi moves about in the world in a state of dual consciousness—consciousness of the Svarupa within and awareness of the multifariousness of the phenomenal Prakriti without. And at the end of the allotted span of life of his physical body, when the Prarabdha Karma (the portion of Sanchita Karma that determines one’s present life) is spent up and there is no more experience to be undergone, the Yogi gives up his body. Such a Yogi does not return to an embodied condition once again. This is the highest fruit of Yoga. And this is called Kaivalya, a state of liberation from the need to take rebirth once again, from the need to become embodied once again. This ultimate fruit of Yoga comes as the result of a diligent practice of concentration, meditation and Samadhi.

Read also:
Advaita - Nonoduality: Samadhi by Swami Chidananda

Brahman is realised by means of Nirvikalpa Samadhi

MEDITATION – REALIZATION – LIBERATION ...

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Ojas - Fluid Of Life BY Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Ojas – Fluid Of Life

Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Is Ojas the same as happiness?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Happiness is different from Ojas.
Ojas is a certain type of energy, vibrancy in you. Like in the morning you are very vibrant, then you go to work and get tired, and in the evening you don’t have that same energy, right?
In the same way, when you are enjoying through the five senses, you see television for three hours, or you sit in a movie for three hours and come out, your Ojas is spent. If you listen too much, or eat too much, your Ojas is gone. Too much sex and Ojas totally gets depleted. Ojas is spent when you are engaging in any of the five senses.
Ojas can be rebuilt in the system through proper food, rest and attitude, but not very late in life. You cannot say that you are trying to rebuild your Ojas at the age of 60 or so. It has to be done before a certain age. It is like you cannot become very flexible after a certain age.
Ojas is certain vibrancy in you, energy. Our body has seven substances and Ojas is one of them. In the pulse reading you can see that.
After a certain age, the testosterone hormone is gone; similarly Ojas is related to, let us say, hormones. You cannot build those hormones at a later age.
During teenage, Ojas is maximum, and then if one keeps up with a good routine, good food, then Ojas continues through the middle age. And in the middle age, you can increase it or completely get away with it. That is possible. But after sixty or seventy, you cannot say, ‘Okay, now I want to bring back the Ojas into my system’. It may be possible but it is difficult. It depends.
Then they advise you to do the Kaya Kalpa, which is a particular treatment in Ayurveda, where for forty days you have to be inside a small room with no sunlight. There is a particular diet that you have to follow and you are not allowed to come out in the sunlight. Then people feel totally rejuvenated after forty days.
It is like being in the womb again. Just like a child is in the womb for nine months, they put you through some rigorous treatment for forty days. Only the doctor will come in and give you the treatment, massages, etc.

    SOURCE:  THE ART OF LIVING     http://www.artofliving.org/ojas-%E2%80%93-fluid-life

 

READ ALSO:  

Sexuual energy, Ojas and Self-realization  

SUBLIMATION OF SEXUAL ENERGY By Swami Sivananda

  A clip by Dr Robert Svoboda on Ojas taken from the 2nd International Ayurveda & Yoga Conference - Sydney 2009

 Peace, love, harmony