Knowledge of Brahman - Upanishads

Vajasravasa, desiring rewards, performed the Visvajit sacrifice, in which he gave away all his property. He had a son named Nachiketa. When the gifts were being distributed, faith entered the heart of Nachiketa, who was still a boy. He said to himself: Joyless, surely, are the worlds to which he goes who gives away cows no longer able to drink, to eat, to give milk, or to calve. He said to his father: Father! To whom will you give me? He said this a second and a third time. Then his father replied: Unto death I will give you. Among many I am the first; or among many I am the middlemost. But certainly, I am never the last. What purpose of the King of Death will my father serve today by thus giving me away to him?

Kathamrita by Swami Chidananda Part 3

Try to meditate on the Supreme Divine Spirit, let us sit erect, close our eyes, and turn the mind inwards. Let us not allow any thoughts to interfere. During these few moments let us take our mind towards the Divine who is shining in our heart in all glory. Let us place ourselves wholly at the heart centre. Let us pray for the welfare of the whole creation. Peace, peace, peace be unto all.

ॐ स्थापक्य च धर्मस्य सर्व धर्म स्वरुपिने; अवतार वरिष्ठाय रामकृष्णाय ते नमः

Stapakayaca Dharmasya,Sarva dharma svarupine, Avatar Vrishthaya Ramakrishnaya te Namah.

Let us offer our salutations to Sri Ramakrishna the embodiment of all religions, who came to integrate all religions of the world.

ॐ असतोमा सद्गमय, तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय, मृत्योमांरितं गमय, ॐ शान्तिस्स्शान्तिस्शान्तिः

Kathamrita by Swami Chidananda Part 2

Try to meditate on the Supreme Divine Spirit, let us sit erect, close our eyes, and turn the mind inwards. Let us not allow any thoughts to interfere. During these few moments let us take our mind towards the Divine who is shining in our heart in all glory. Let us place ourselves wholly at the heart centre. Let us pray for the welfare of the whole creation. Peace, peace, peace be unto all.

ॐ स्थापक्य च धर्मस्य सर्व धर्म स्वरुपिने; अवतार वरिष्ठाय रामकृष्णाय ते नमः

Stapakayaca Dharmasya,Sarva dharma svarupine, Avatar Vrishthaya Ramakrishnaya te Namah.

Let us offer our salutations to Sri Ramakrishna the embodiment of all religions, who came to integrate all religions of the world.

ॐ असतोमा सद्गमय, तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय, मृत्योमांरितं गमय, ॐ शान्तिस्स्शान्तिस्शान्तिः

Kathamrita by Swami Chidananda Part 1

Try to meditate on the Supreme Divine Spirit, let us sit erect, close our eyes, and turn the mind inwards. Let us not allow any thoughts to interfere. During these few moments let us take our mind towards the Divine who is shining in our heart in all glory. Let us place ourselves wholly at the heart centre. Let us pray for the welfare of the whole creation. Peace, peace, peace be unto all.

ॐ स्थापक्य च धर्मस्य सर्व धर्म स्वरुपिने; अवतार वरिष्ठाय रामकृष्णाय ते नमः

Stapakayaca Dharmasya,Sarva dharma svarupine, Avatar Vrishthaya Ramakrishnaya te Namah.

Let us offer our salutations to Sri Ramakrishna the embodiment of all religions, who came to integrate all religions of the world.

ॐ असतोमा सद्गमय, तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय, मृत्योमांरितं गमय, ॐ शान्तिस्स्शान्तिस्शान्तिः

‘Vairagya Shatkam’
Of King- Sage Bhartrihari

चूडोत्तंसितचन्द्रचारुकसिकाचञ्चच्छिखाभास्वरो िीिादग्धवविोिकामशिभः श्रेयोदशाग्रे स्फुरन् | अन्द्तःस्फूर्जद्^^अपारमोहततसमरप्राग्भारं उछचाटयन् श्वेतःिद्मतन योगिनां ववर्यते ज्ञानप्रदीपो हरः ‖१‖ cūḍottaṃsitacandracārukalikācañcacchikhābhāsvaro līlādagdhavilolakāmaśalabhaḥ śreyodaśāgre sphuran | antaḥsphūrjadapāramohatimiraprāgbhāraṃ uccāṭayan śvetaḥsadmani yogināṃ vijayate jjṇānapradīpo haraḥ ‖ 1 ‖
(1) Lord Shiva, who is like a lamp that is kindled by the flame of true knowledge that comes with self-realization, resides in a symbolic temple in the heart of self-realized and enlightened ascetics. On Shiva’s head there is an illuminated moon, shining in its radiant best and adorning the Lord’s head like a magnificent ornament. Lord Shiva destroys Kama (sensual pleasures and attractions for the world) like a moth (a metaphor of sensual pleasure) that is killed when it goes near a flame.

Towards the Goal Supreme

1. To realize God an aspirant must have: Patience, Perseverance, Purity of body and mind, Intense desire or yearning, the aggregate of the Six Attributes, namely, Shama (tranquility of mind, Dama (restraint of the senses), Uparati (giving up of attachment to objects, Titiksha (remaining unaffected amidst all kinds of afflictions), Shraddha (faith in the words of the spiritual teacher and the scriptures), and Samadhana (concentration of mind on the Chosen Ideal, or God).
2. Do not tell anybody else, except the Guru, the realizations, the visions, or similar experiences, that spiritual practices may bring to you. Always keep your spiritual treasure-your inmost thought-hidden within you. These are not for vulgar gaze. These are your sacred possessions to be shared only between you and the Lord in secret. Likewise, do not talk of your defects and blemishes to others. You lose thereby your self-respect and the respect of others for you. They are for you to confess to the Lord. Pray to Him for strength to overcome them.
3. When you begin meditation, first sit steadily for a while and watch the mind; let it wander wherever it pleases. Think that you are the witness, the seer. Sit watching how the mind floats and sinks, runs and skips. Keep thinking, “I am no the body, not the senses, not the mind; I am altogether separate from the mind. The mind, too, is material; it is only a finer form of matter. I am the Atman (Self), the master; the mind is my servant.” Whenever any idle thought arises in the mind, try at once to put it down forcibly.

Chapter 9

"The Self-existent One projected the senses outwards and, therefore, a man looks outward, not within himself. A certain wise one, desiring immortality, with inverted senses, perceived the Self within." As I have already said, the first inquiry that we find in the Vedas was concerning outward things, and then a new idea came that the reality of things is not to be found in the external world; not by looking outwards, but by turning the eyes, as it is literally expressed, inwards. And the word used for the Soul is very significant: it is He who has gone inward, the innermost reality of our being, the heart center, the core, from which, as it were, everything comes out; the central sun of which the mind, the body, the sense-organs, and everything else we have are but rays going outwards. "Men of childish intellect, ignorant persons, run after desires which are external, and enter the trap of far-reaching death, but the wise, understanding immortality, never seek for the Eternal in this life of finite things." The same idea is here made clear that in this external world, which is full of finite things, it is impossible to see and find the Infinite. The Infinite must be sought in that alone

The necessity of religion

Of all the forces that have worked and are still working to mound the destinies of the human race, none, certainly, is more potent than that, the manifestation of which we call religion. All social organizations have as a background, somewhere, the workings of that peculiar force, and the greatest cohesive impulse ever brought into play amongst human units has been derived from this power. It is obvious to all of us that in very many cases the bonds religion has proved stronger than the bonds of race, or climate, or even of descent. It is a well-known fact that persons worshipping the same God, believing in the same religion, have stood by each other, with much greater strength and constancy, than people of merely the same descent, or even brothers. Various attempts have been made to trace the beginnings of religion. In all the ancient religions which have come down to us at the present day, we find one claim made--that they are all supernatural, that their genesis is not, as it were, in the human brain, but that they have originated somewhere outside of it.

CHAPTER 14 

THE LORD AND HIS DEVOTEES

Why the Lord Is Not Seen

639. The sun is many times larger than the earth, but distance makes it appear like a small disc. So, the Lord is infinitely great, but being too far away from Him, we are incapable of comprehending His real greatness.
640. Because of the reeds and scum that cover the surface of a pond, one cannot see the fish playing in it; Similarly, because of the screen of Maya that shuts off God from human view, one cannot see Him playing in one’s heart.
641. Why do we not see the Divine Mother? She is like a high-born lady transacting all her business from behind the latticed screen, seeing all but seen by none. Only Her devout sons see Her, going near Her behind the screen of Maya.
642. The policeman with his lantern (bull’s eye) can see everyone on whom he casts the light, but no one can see him so long as he does not turn the light on himself. So does God see everyone; but no man can see Him until He reveals Himself to him in His mercy.

CHAPTER 1 

MAN 

The Destiny of Man

1. You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say that there are no stars in the heavens during the day? O man, because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God.
2. He is born in vain, who having attained the human birth, so difficult to get, does not attempt to realize God in this very life.
3. A Man is rewarded according to his thoughts and motives. The Lord is like Kalpataru, the wish-yielding tree of heaven. Everyone gets from Him whatever he seeks. A poor man’s son, having received education and become a judge of High Court by hard work, is apt to think, “Now I am happy. I have reached the highest rung of the ladder. It is all right now.” To him the Lord says, “Do thou remain so.” But when the judge of the High Court retires on pension and reviews his past, he understands that he has wasted his life, and exclaims, “Alas, what real work have I done in this life!” To him the Lord also says, “Alas! What hast thou done!”