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[On the Eve of Ugadi] Diabetes by itself is not a disease but is the source of all dangerous diseases. An old king by himself cannot fight the war but by his oral order, the army will fight the war and brings success. Similarly, the mind (or its feelings) cannot bring any fruit either in the world or in the spiritual field, but it is the source of all actions that can bring fruits in the world or in the spiritual field. Action alone can bring the fruit, but, action is generated by the will of mind only. All the rituals and idol worship are actions only but these actions cannot bring any fruit from God because these actions...
[Shri C Bala Krishna Murthy asked a question “How Upanishads frequently say that Atman (Self) is Paramatman (God)?”]
Swami replied: How do you take the word Atman as self? The word Atman means that which pervades. The awareness pervades all over the body and hence, it is called as Atman. Since the body also pervades in space, it is also called Atman in Sanskrit language. Therefore, the word Atman stands either for the soul or for the total human being. Suppose, you say that the Prime Minister is in house...
[Shri R Parthasarathy asked: “The Gita says that we should do the action without aspiring for its fruit. How is it possible? We do any work expecting some fruit only”.]
Swami replied: Arjuna came to Kurukshetra to fight with enemies in order to get back his kingdom. He thought that the war is his case and Krishna was helping him in his case like an advocate helping the petitioner in his case filed in a court. Arjuna thought that since he is the owner of the case, he can withdraw the case whenever he likes to do so. If the petitioner is not interested to fight the case...
[Message on Vaikuntha Ekaadasi] Today is Vaikuntha Ekaadasi and devotees see Lord Narayana through North gate. This is our tradition. Tradition is always action or karma. Karma generates Samskara or feeling. Devotion is feeling about God. Therefore, tradition aims at the development of devotion in devotees. Karma generates Samskara and this Samskara again generates karma. The quality of stealing leads to the action of stealing. While doing stealing, the quality of stealing gets more and more developed. Both these mutually contribute to each other. Therefore, the tradition...
People take the word Satsanga in the sense of a few devotees sitting together and enquire about God and other related aspects to God. If all the born blind people sit together and discuss about Sun, their conclusion is that Sun is black because they always experience darkness only and not even a trace of light. They can never turn even to the right direction in spite of intensive and very long discussions...
[On the Eve of Christmas] Every religion says that its God created the entire earth and entire humanity. But, unfortunately there is only one earth containing this humanity. Due to one earth, there must be one God only and hence, all the religions are calling the same God by different names. Since the God is unimaginable and nobody can even imagine Him, all the names indicate that unseen and unimaginable God only. This unimaginable God is mediated by energy. Such mediated God is also one and the same because energy is also one and the same for all religions. This mediated God is called as Brahman by Hinduism...
[Datta Jayanti] Jnanam, Gaanam, Dhyanam and Daanam should be clearly understood on this day. Jnanam is the spiritual knowledge related to intelligence (Buddhi) represented by God Brahma. Gaanam is the expression of knowledge and devotion related to words (Vaak) represented by God Vishnu. Dhyanam is the devotion or meditation related to mind (Manas) represented by God Shiva. Daanam is the donation or service related to action (Karma) represented by God Datta. The first three constitute the theory and the last constitutes the practice. Theory should lead into practice. This point is represented by...
There are three points in the spiritual path. The first point is about yourself. If you know that you are not the God and also that God is not in you, the first point is over. You are only on the support of God since you are part and parcel of the creation and the whole creation is supported by God. Again here, the contact of the support also does not exist as in the case of a table supporting an object standing on it. The creation stands just...
Shri Ramana Maharshi snored in His deep sleep. A disciple asked Him about His ignorance in the deep sleep since snoring indicates intensified deep sleep. Shri Ramana Maharshi replied that He was quite aware of His deep sleep since He also heard His own snoring similar to His observers. This means that in deep sleep, the awareness of God exists because of the existence of God with continuous awareness...
God gives value for the spiritual knowledge contained in the religion. Religion is the external cup and spiritual knowledge is the internal material supplied to the customer in the hotel. The customer pays for the internal material and not for the external cup. The sweet Payasam in the cheap ceramic cup will have high payment. The cheap drinking water given in costly golden cup has no payment at all. The customer takes the material only and not the container. Similarly, the spiritual knowledge alone follows the soul from birth to birth and not the religion. When the external body is left over her...
Each limb of the elephant in its figure is contributing to the totality of the diagram. But at the same time, the limb has limitations of its size and should be in its proper place. Both the aspects of contribution and limitation are equally important. You cannot increase the size of the limb enormously to occupy the whole page and say that the limb itself is the elephant. No doubt, the elephant is incomplete without the limb and hence, it is contributory....
[A devotee asked Swami about ‘Aakasha Deepam’, which is said to guide the devotee after death to the abode of God if it is lit in this month of Kartika.]
Swami replied: “If this oil lamp lit by you has such power, let it prove a small fraction of its power now itself. You lit the lamp here and go outside in the darkness. Let this lamp show you the path outside”. If this lamp cannot have even such small power while it is burning, how can we believe that it has power after a long time when it does not exist? Everything in the creation happens according...
Hindus are spending lot of money on ritualistic functions like marriage etc., in which the major item is serving expensive varieties of food. The receivers of this food are mainly relatives and friends invited based on your blind passion for relatives and your attitude of business to friends. The donation of food is ‘Annadaanam’ and for any donation, the receiver must be an eligible person, selected not based...
There is a misunderstanding that women were suppressed in Hinduism without independence. People quote Manu Smruti in this context, which says that woman should not be independent (Na stree svatantryamarhati…). But, the same Manu says that women should be worshipped to please God (Yatranaryastu pujyante ramante tatra devatah…). Both these contradict each other. If you are not giving even basic independence...
The essence of the Gita relates to the basic attitude of the spiritual aspirant, which decides the direction i.e., whether you are proceeding towards God or away from the God. The external projections are immaterial. If you compare Kannappa and Ravana, the external projections are quite opposite. Ravana used to take bath in all the seven seas in the early morning and used to worship Lord Shiva...
[Krishna Ashtami Day at Bhimavaram] The essence of the message of Lord Krishna to the human beings is the Bhagavat Gita. Sage Vyasa wrote all the eighteen Puranaas and Maha Bharatha, but still he was not having mental peace. It is surprising to see that the Sage Vyasa did not get peace even after composing the Gita!! The reason is that the theoretical knowledge does not give any fruit unless it is practiced. Arjuna was not the best example...
Today our Country is facing a very serious problem. The poor man does not receive the fruits of the Schemes implemented by the Government and so the poor becomes poorer day by day. This is the reason of the unrest and tension in the minds of majority of the public since the majority is poor. Every political party, which is voted to the power, tries to serve the poor by implementing good Schemes. But, the fruits of every Scheme are filtered by a screen called corruption. The authorities involved in the implementation of the schemes snatch away the fruits and so rich becomes richer day...
[Guru Purnima Message] GURU means the preacher, who removes ignorance – darkness by emitting knowledge – light. The field of the context is important here. If you are ignorant of Mathematics, a teacher may remove your ignorance about Mathematics by teaching mathematics. Such a teacher cannot be called as Guru. Guru is the preacher, who diverts you towards God by removing your ignorance about God. This is the most important field for any human being because it is the basis of every aspect of life here as well as there after death. The final knowledge of God is to know that you are always ignorant...
The soul is imaginable item. It is a part of creation and creation is imaginable. The soul taken as basic inert energy can be seen by eyes with the help of powerful scientific instruments. The soul taken in the form of special work or transportation of information by special neuron cells can also be visualized. Thus, the soul taken in any form is visualized and hence, it cannot be the unimaginable God. The Veda (Drushyatetvagraya…) and the Gita (Pashyanti Jnanachakshushah…) clearly say that the soul can be visualized by Scholars or Scientists. God is beyond space and hence...
[A talk given by Swami at the inauguration function of Montessori Engineering College and College of Pharmacy, Vijayawada.]
Today, several people speak about the various ways to develop our country. All are forgetting one basic concept. The progress of a country is like the improvement of strength of a normal healthy person by giving various tonics. But, if the person is a patient of cancer, what is the use of talking about strengthening him without looking into the treatment of the cancer? Any number of tonics given to such...
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