Thursday Quote

“If you practice spiritual discipline for some time in a solitary place, you will find that your mind has become strong, and then you can live in any place or society without being in the least affected by it. When the plant is tender, it should be hedged around. But when it has grown big, not even cows and goats can injure it. Spiritual practices in a solitary place are essential.”

-Sri Sarada Devi

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

“Yoga is especially necessary at this point in time, when life appears especially confusing and filled with tension, stress and distractions. It helps one to slow down in life and re-align oneself with the harmony of the universe and find peace within. It will help diminish cravings and bad habits, and bring you a disease-free body, a balanced mind, radiant health and long life. Yoga brings very special results. It is the door-opener to intuitive knowledge and Eternal Bliss.”


-Swami Kailashananda

Monday Bonus Quote

Fear is a great human curse. It is your worst enemy. Fear assumes many forms and blights many lives. But a calm mind brings courage. Then you will face the trials and difficulties of the spiritual path without fear. Fearlessness is a divine quality. What is fear? It is an imaginary zero; it is maya's deception. It is a mental delusion. It is a negative modification that arises in the mind-lake when one forgets his real, divine nature. It is a whirlpool that emanates from the chitta (mind) when one has lost his power of vichara (inquiry) and discrimination. It is the dark wave that proceeds from the ocean of antahkarana (mind) when one has intense attachment to the body.

Friends, there is nothing to fear really. Fear is due to acceptance of suggestion. Victory over fear really means victory over the thing that we fear. We attract to ourselves the very things we are afraid of. That is the universal law of nature. You need not be afraid of anything else in this world save fear itself.

Auto-suggestion helps a lot in removing fear. Assert the truth of being. Assert, "Nothing in the three worlds can make me afraid. I am absolutely fearless. My will is strong and irresistible." Make friends with the threatened experience, or the things you do not like. The raja yoga method is to repeat the formula: "I am courageous" or "OM courage". In the morning meditate on the virtue of courage.

The devotee's method is to pray to God with faith and sincerity and to make perfect self-surrender: "O God, make me fearless. Grant me the virtue of courage. O Mother, take thy son in thy lap. Thou art fear; thou art courage. Let me see thee alone in all these forms". Feel the invisible helping hand of the ishta devata (your own deity). Have strong faith. Real strength lies in fearlessness. Remove fear of all sorts.

The vedantic method is to enquire: "Who am I?". Identify yourself with the inner Self. Assert: "I am the embodiment of courage - I am immortal Atman - I am not this perishable body. Who is to fear whom when all this is the Self?" This will destroy fear to its very root. How peaceful and strong are they who have victory over fear. May we all shine in divine glory, radiating courage all around. May the divine splendour, the brahmic aura shine in all faces and remove the darkness of fear, ignorance and terror. May we all attain that state of absolute fearlessness - brahmi sthiti (the state of Brahman). May we become one with the fearless Brahman.


-Sri Swami Sivananda



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Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"At the moment of commitment, the entire universe conspires to insure your success."

-Norman Lear

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"Meditation also means concentration. You don’t have to do all these things (practice all these techniques), but if in your mind you are always remembering the L-rd, you are always in meditation. For example, if when you walk in the street, your thoughts are resting on the L-rd, then it’s meditation. So, I always encourage the Study of the Self: a meditation that doesn’t require stopping the mind or anything like that. The main point to succeed in meditation is to gradually be free from cravings, from fickleness, from opening the eyes, or from becoming nervous if you are not experiencing anything. You have to eventually be able to sit quietly for an hour without being nervous. To achieve this, gradually, you must eat the right food so that the mind is no longer jumpy. If you eat too much spicy or animal-based food, you’ll never be able to concentrate on anything."

-Sri Dharma Mittra
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Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"Anger begets anger, and forgiveness and love lead to more forgiveness and love."

-Mahavira