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The Lord of Death
Today Swami discussed the 11th chapter, continuing about the vishva rupa darshana. Here is one shloka, ‘Kalo’ smi lokaksayakrt pravrddho, lokan samahartum iha pravrttah,Rte’ pi tvam na bhavishyanti sarve, ye’ vasthitah pratyanikeshu yodhah.’ 11.32 After Arjuna sees the fearful and destructive form of the Lord, he asks, ‘who are You?’ To this, the Lord says, ‘I am Death, intent on destroying all the worlds. Besides you, all of the warriors here will cease to exist.’ Here, the Lord is showing His destructive form to Arjuna. This is where some of us become confused. Why can’t the Lord reveal His nature…
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IAM in BSF SriNagar
After getting down from train in Jammu on 13th June 2007, we started for BSF Sector Headquarter – Srinagar in a BSF convoy on 14th Morning. The Officers and Jawans at BSF RTO office as well as in the Transit camp were very kind to us. Especially the Mess Commander Mr. S.K. Ghosh, who originally hailed from Calcutta, took very good care of us. We started for BSF Sector Headquarter – Srinagar in a BSF convoy on 14th Morning. In the evening, we met a vibrant officer, Assistant Commandant, K.S. Gulia, who was posted in Bandipura. We discussed various spiritual…
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divine sight
Swami Kaivalyananda discussed some parts from the 11th chapter of the Gita. Here is one shloka;‘Na tu mam shakyase drashtum, anenaiva svacakshusha,divyam dadami te cakshu, pashya me yogam aishvaryam. 11.8. The Lord tells Arjuna, ‘but you are not able to see Me with your own eye; therefore, I give you divine sight. See my glorious Yoga!’ Thereafter, Sanjaya describes the form the Lord showed to Arjuna; several eyes, arms, feet, mouths, and wonders; divine fragrances, divine dresses and garlands, etc. One thing we should understand is that this ‘vishva rupa,’ or universal form of Sri Krishna is not something material.…
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delusion is removed
Today, Swami discussed the first part of the 11th chapter, The Yoga of the Universal Form.’ Here is the first shloka, said by Arjuna; ‘Madanugrahaya paramam guhyam adhyatma samjnitam, Yat tvayoktam vacas tena moho ‘yam vigato mama.’ Here, Arjuna tells the Lord, ‘out of compassion, You have instructed this highest secret of spirituality. By this, my delusion is gone.’ Here, we can understand that after so much instruction, a small dent at least was created in Arjuna. He finally understood who was sitting in front of him in the chariot; the Supreme Lord Himself. At least this much was achieved.…
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Divine Glories
Swami Kaivalyananda discussed part of the 10th chapter of the Gita, dealing with the Lord’s divine glories, or vibhutis. Here is one shloka;‘aham atma gudhakesha sarvabhutashaya sthitah,aham adis ca madhyam ca bhutanam anta eva ca.’ The Lord tells Arjuna, ‘I am the Self, seated in the hearts of all beings. I am the beginning, the middle, and the end of all creation.’ Here, this is the first glory the Lord reveals of himself. This means that the highest devotee of the Lord should see Him as the Self of all beings. However, not everyone is capable of having that understanding.…
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Multidimensional Interaction
Last night we were watching Amma giving Devi Bhava Darshan in LA. This era of webcasts has really changed the atmosphere here in Amritapuri during the times Amma is away. Some years ago when Amma used to do the Europe and US tours one after the other she was away from the ashram over three months at a stretch, which really felt like an eternity to be separated from her especially in the years when there was not even an email connection to get some news about her every now and then. Of course there was the inner email of…
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the Yoga of Knowledge
Swami Kaivalyananda started classes on the 10th chapter, called ‘Vibhuti Yoga.’ Here, the Lord reveals his divine aspects seen in creation. One important shloka is, ‘tesham satatayuktanam bhajatam pritipurvakam,dadami buddhiyogam tam yena mam upayanti te.’ Here, the Lord says, ‘for those constantly immersed in remembrance of me, full of love for Me, I give them the Yoga of Knowledge, by which they reach me.’In this part, Sri Shankaracharya has provided a beautiful illustration, of how the Lord, or Guru, lights the lamp of knowledge within the devotee/disciple. That light destroys the beginningless darkness of ignorance within. There, the light is…
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Strong Wind
rain and strong wind hits the state of kerala today. it affected amritapuri too. uprooted tree by the cowshed in the video: the wind blew off the wall, took off the metal-roof of the water tank it rained heavily yesterday
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Live Nature documentary
Since the Amrita Setu bridge was built some peculiar visitors have been frequenting the ashram. Earlier this year we had one monkey who crossed over in the hope of, well we don’t quite know what. He was a fairly mischievous one and was known to bare his teeth at people coming from the café and forcing them to surrender their veggie burgers etc. One morning he even jumped on the veggie choppers table sending them into a panic and then happily devouring the veggies. Oh yes, and he took a dump in one devotees shoes; quite accurately too that was…
