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another summer
It’s been another summer In the past most of the summers in Amritapuri were a time that nearly nobody from outside visited the ashram. The monsoon period was the time with dark rainy days and lots of wind. Not easy for people to travel and come to the ashram. The past seven weeks in the ashram has been different. It’s been quieter than the rest of the year, but there was a continuous in flow of people. Visitors came for a few days and left. Some groups of travelers stopped for a few hours at the ashram because they heard…
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Samsara and God
Today Swami discussed the 3rd shloka from the 13th chapter of the Gita; ‘Kshetrajnam capi mam vidhi, sarvakshetreshu bharata,Kshetrakshetrajnayor jnanam yat tat jnanam matam mama.’ 13.3 This is a very important shloka for Shankara’s commentary. The Lord says, ‘Know Me to be the field-knower in all fields, Arjuna! That knowledge which is of the field and the field-knower, that is what I consider true knowledge.’ Here, there is a very long commentary by Shankaracharya, as this shloka is in his favor. This is because the Lord says that it is He Himself who exists as the knower of the body,…
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Blissful Seat
Om Namah Shivaaya, This was the day of Devi Bhava in NewYork. The puja just got over and Amma started giving darshan, wearing a beautiful red saree. I went for dinner and came back in the hall. My mind wanted me to sit in the hall and listen to the bhajans, the other thought was telling me to walk 10 mins to the dishwashing room to do seva. I opted for the bhajans, realizing that it was 11:00PM at night and I just had this delicious dinner. Amma obviously had different plans for me. I started looking for a space…
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Grace & Love from DC & NY
When Amma arrived in Washington DC on sunday July 8th it was standing room only. Some might attribute this to it being a weekend day but this devotee attributes it to Amma’s Wonder and Grace calling out with Her Supreme Divine Love catching hold of us one at a time to let us all know what Real life is and helping us come to this state ofLove. When this devotee thinks trully of Amma’s grace and feels the wonder of Her in his heart he only knows that Amma’s grace is so far beyond words that one can only feel…
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The Field and the Knower
Today, Swami Kaivalyanandaji began discussions on the 13th chapter, ‘the Yoga of the field and the knower of the field.’ Here is the 2nd shloka; ‘Idam shariram kaunteya, kshetram ityabhidhiyate,Etad yo vetti tam prahuh kshetrajnam iti tadvidah.’ 13.2 There is also a shloka before this in some books, ‘purusham prakritim caiva…’ However, Swami said that this shloka is not in any of the major sanskrit commentaries, by Shankaracharya, Ramanujacharya, or Madhvacharya. Therefore, it is said that it was added in later. In the major commentaries, the 13th chapter begins from this shloka. The Lord says, ‘Arjuna! This body is called…
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Values of a Brahmachari
‘Values of a Brahmachari’ The other day, there was a question in the class to Swami Kaivalyananda; ‘what are the values of a brahmachari?’ Swami gave a beautiful answer. He said that we are already studying the values of a brahmachari, because the 12th chapter gives the qualities of a devotee; freedom from anger and attachment, friendliness, compassion, etc. All these are the values of a brahmachari. Then Swami described the old times where brahmacharya is described in the scriptures. In certain scriptures, like ‘Manu Smriti,’ it gives all of the rules and customs that a brahmachari must follow. First…
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Wondeful Mother!
Amma’s unbound Compassion has taken the shape of IAM Technique for Paramilitary Forces of India. On the other hand, the soldiers (Jawans) from these forces are also receving this gift of Love from Amma with an open heart. It is a great feeling to see the soldiers of our country, who are otherwise so rough and tough, totally melted down with Amma’s Love. Actually, it is a misconception that soldiers are rough and tough – that may be true but just externally. Internally our soldiers are very kind, considerate and soft-hearted. How can one doubt it, when it is quite…
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We miss you
IAM at CISF HMT Srinagar and PGCI WagooraOn 30th June 2007 we headed towards Srinagar again. It was dark outside, raining and weather was cold. In around 2½ hours we reached HMT, Srinagar. The IAM sessions were scheduled from 1st July 2007 to 3rd July 2007, for both HMT (Hindustan Machine Tools), Srinagar as well as PGCI (Power Grid Corporation of India), Wagoora. On the first day we had a combined class of Jawans from both of these places at HMT, Srinagar. The number of Jawans was comparatively lesser than before. Totally we had around 50 Jawans on first day.…
