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Leave Blind Practices: Today is the festival of Lord Krishna. Deepavali means a series of lights. Krishna Himself told in the Gita “Jnana deepena” i.e., light means knowledge. In other verses also, Swami (Lord) told the same “Satvat sanjayate” “Prakasa upa” i.e., Satvam (good quality) is light. Satvam means knowledge. So light is knowledge. The Gita also says “Na pavakah” i.e., the sun, moon, and fire cannot shine before Lord. The Veda also...
Art of Living—Heart of Loving: In the word ‘living’, the second letter ‘i’ is a semi circle (when written by hand; cursive writing). If that semi-circle is made a full circle, it becomes ‘o’. Then the word ‘living’ becomes ‘loving’. Now to the word ‘art’, add the word ‘He’ in the beginning. It becomes ‘heart’. ‘He’ means God. The Veda says ‘Purushohavai’ i.e., God is the only...
Which Knowledge Requires Propagation? Some people desire to become a Guru (preacher) when they fail in every business. They want to succeed in the spiritual business. Some other people have the itch to become a Guru to get disciples around them. But in order to preach and become a real Guru in this world, there are three requirements: 1) You should discover a truth in the scriptures that is better [than what is currently known]. 2) Due to the lack of the knowledge of your discovery...
The Proof of Real Devotion: Guru Dakshina is the money offered in the service of God. Money is the fruit of work. Therefore, money and work are inter-convertible forms. In the Gita, donating money is called as karma phala tyaga and donating work [your voluntary efforts in God’s mission] is called as karma samnyasa. Both these put together are called as karma yoga or seva (service). One can do service by doing both or any one of these two according to one’s convenience. Only this service...
Swami Vivekananda cried loudly looking at the sky, “Why is India, with such rich spiritual knowledge, suffering with poverty?” Only Lord Datta can give the answer to this question. Today, the answer is given. Any country means its people and their mentality. The mind decides everything and the action follows accordingly. If the mentality is analyzed, the action and its fruit become clear. Almost all the foreign countries are blessed with wealth, except India. So the mentality of all...
Destroying the Buffalo-Demon: Today is the Vijayadashami festival. Today Goddess Durga got victory over Mahishasura (Buffalo-Demon). Durga represents the highest power, which is knowledge. Mahisha (he-buffalo) represents the foolish rigidity of blind tradition. Yama Dharma Raja, the Lord of Death and Justice, sits on Mahisha. Yama means the rules and regulations imparted by the tradition. Dharma means the age-old practice. Raja means strictness and ego. Therefore, Mah isha represents an ignorant...
[Mumbai] The Majority Loses: In spirituality, the path of the majority should not be taken. For example, just because gravel stones are in majority and diamonds are in minority, we cannot say that the gravel stone is more valuable than the diamond. There is only one Adi Shankara, one Meera, one Swami Vivekananda, and one Tyagaraja. Such people are very rare. Only one in millions happens to be such a person. Our spiritual aim should be such a rare diamond alone. We should not take the majority as...
Root Causes of Terrorism: There are two root causes for the entire chaos and terrorism in this world. One is the thirst for earning money and the other is religious fanaticism. For the sake of money, people are quarreling with each other, whereas for the sake of religion, countries are quarreling with each other. Unless these two root causes are eradicated, we cannot achieve world peace. The tree will not die if you merely cut its leaves or branches. It dies only when you cut its roots. There is no use of earning extra...
[This discourse was given on the morning of the Guru Purnima day. Purnima is a full moon day. The birthday of sage Vyasa, which falls on a full moon day is celebrated as Guru Purnima, since sage Vyasa was one of the greatest Gurus. It is an occasion to express gratitude to and honor the Sadguru.] Today all of you have offered guru dakshina (donation) at My feet in the form of some money to be used for the propagation of divine knowledge and devotion to Lord Datta. The full moon today represents gold or a silver coin (money), which you have to surrender to the Guru as guru dakshina. In fact, you have to do this on the full moon day of...
Swami and Shirdi Sai Baba Are One: In the past, Swami appeared as Sai Baba to several devotees. Recently He appeared as Shirdi Sai Baba to Shri. K. Lakshman with smell of camphor. Next day, a devotee from Hyderabad, Smt. Ch. Sarada, came to see Swami. In her house, letters in Telugu (dotted shapes of letters, visible to everyone) appeared in milk that was kept as an offering before Sai Baba. Devotees copied all those letters written by Sai Baba in milk. It turned out to be a small verse in Telugu. The writings...
Punishment for Sins: When a policeman beats a thief with his stick the thief should not think that the stick is beating him. Of course the stick is directly beating him, but the stick is inert and cannot beat him by itself. It is the policeman who is beating him with the stick. If the thief prays to the stick there is no use. Even if he prays to the uniform of the policeman, there is no use. He should only pray to the policeman, who wears the uniform and holds the stick. The uniform is also inert. Since the thief...
Vedas and Shlokas: Shlokas are verses in Sanskrit, which can be composed by any Sanskrit scholar and cannot be the authority. The present Hindu is unable to distinguish between the Veda and a shloka. Anything read in Sanskrit is the Veda for him! Anything read in English is not the Holy Bible! Merchants and Sanskrit scholars got together and constructed this bad tradition. Merchants of flowers, coconuts, oil and camphor...
Conversation between Swami and a Christian Father:
Father: Those who do not have faith in Jesus Christ will be sent to the flames of liquid fire in hell. This is the declaration of our faith.
Swami: Does that mean that there is no salvation to all the generations of devotees who lived on this earth before the incarnation of Jesus Christ? If so, all those devotees were subjects of the partiality of God since they were...
God and Your Efforts: In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says “Bahuni me...” i.e., “Several births have passed for you and for Me. I remember all of them but you do not remember.” Sometimes the sadhana (spiritual effort) done by a devotee during this birth may be little. Yet God shows a lot of grace on that devotee. The reason for this is the penance done by that devotee during his previous births. Even that devotee forgets the penance done by him. Other devotees...
Yajna: All the Vedas describe ‘Yajna’ (sacrifice), which is nothing but the preparation of food. A fire is lit and it is called ‘Lowkikagni’ i.e., fire meant for cooking, but not for worship. The three parts of the fire, (Garhapatya, Ahavaneeya, and Dakshinagni) are only the three stoves for cooking various items of food. “Fools burn cooked food in this fire” says Kapila, the Incarnation of Lord Vishnu. The food, after proper cooking, must be...
[Durgashtami Message] Significance of Temples: Why is there so much rush in temples? There is only one reason. People think that if they go to the temples they can escape from the difficulties, which are the fruits of their sins. They also think that they can get some benefits (which are the fruits of good deeds) for good deeds that they have not performed. Obviously this is not true. The scriptures say “Avashyam Anubhoktavyam” which means that we must enjoy...
[This is a discourse given by Swami at Bombay] God and Real Love: When you see your son, your love for him flows spontaneously. Do you love him because he is serving you? No. Even if he beats you, you love him and you give your property only to him. But what about God? You love Him only because He removes your difficulties and gives you some benefits. If He keeps silent inspite of your prayers, you will remove His picture from your altar and put another picture there...
Nishkama karma yoga is a word that often comes in the Bhagavad Gita. Karma, akarma and vikarma are also mentioned in the Gita (Karmanohyapi…). Karma means the work done with a selfish desire for the limited circle of one’s family. Karma yoga means the work done for the sake of Lord. Akarma means inaction; not doing either karma or karma yoga. Vikarma means action, which disturbs the peace of the world by harming...
[A devotee, Shri G. Lakshman once asked Swami, “What is the use of the form of God, when I can experience God directly, once I come to know His qualities?”...
Swami replied: Let us assume that Parabrahma (God) is fire. The qualities of Parabrahma like knowledge, bliss and love put together, can be assumed as the heat. Also, let us assume the Human Incarnation to be a wire. We agree that unless you have experienced...
Some people criticize the Human Incarnation of God saying that He concentrates more on rich people than on poor people. But they should remember that all human beings are children of God. The father concentrates on the child, who is suffering from cancer. Although cancer is incurable, the father still attempts to do something for the child. He is more concerned with that child and pays more attention...
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