Podcasts about Vyasa

Lecture by Swami Tyagananda, given on May 4, 2025, at the Ramakrishna Vedanta Society, Boston, MA

2025.02.11 Goloka Dhama EN

In the heart of Vraja, where every stone is sacred and every step a meditation, Govardhan Parikrama is more than just a ritual—it's a transformational experience. In this Wisdom of the Sages Q & A episode, Raghunath and Kaustubha explore the profound meaning of circumambulating sacred places and why yogis across generations have honored Govardhan Hill as Krishna Himself. Why do Bhakti yogis walk barefoot around Govardhan? What happens when we physically express our devotion? And how does this practice align with the deepest truths of the yoga tradition? Raghunath & Kaustubha take on these and other interesting questions.

In the heart of Vraja, where every stone is sacred and every step a meditation, Govardhan Parikrama is more than just a ritual—it's a transformational experience. In this Wisdom of the Sages Q & A episode, Raghunath and Kaustubha explore the profound meaning of circumambulating sacred places and why yogis across generations have honored Govardhan Hill as Krishna Himself. Why do Bhakti yogis walk barefoot around Govardhan? What happens when we physically express our devotion? And how does this practice align with the deepest truths of the yoga tradition? Raghunath & Kaustubha take on these and other interesting questions.

The Great Myth of the Sun GodsBy Alvin Boyd KhunIt may be that many of you have come to this lecture with the expectation of hearing about the superstitious beliefs of some ancient fire-worshippers or sun-worshippers. You may wonder why we should presume to waste an evening dilating upon the childish fancies of early peoples who could conceive of no more exalted form of deity in the universe than the physical body of our sun. Can there possibly be anything important in the study of such forms of crude fetishism?Let me disabuse your minds of any such prepossession at once. We have not invited you to hear of infantile nonsense of early child-humanity. On the contrary, it is our opinion that there is not a theme within the entire range of religious interest of such sublimity and authentic grandeur as this subject of the Sun-gods. We have come to the persuasion that this is the most important lecture that we have given or shall ever give. In it there is to be found the central thesis of all religion. We have asked you to hear an exposition of the cardinal principle of all true religion. Instead of dealing with an erratic notion of primitive barbarism, we have to present to you this evening the long-lost supreme datum of all high religion. And it is our design to show that religion in the world has drifted so far away from its original base that it no longer recognizes the very first and fundamental conception about which it was in the beginning constructed. The myth of the Sun-gods is the very heart's core of religion at its best.It is commonly supposed that religious honors were paid to the sun as a deity by a few isolated peoples or sects, such as the Parsees and the ancient Ghebers of Persia, and some African tribes. In correction of this view we are prepared to support the declaration that the worship of the Sun-god was quite universal in the ancient world. It ranged from China and India to Yucatan and Peru. The Emperor and the Mikado, as well as the Incas, and the Pharaohs were Sun-god figures. And is the belief only an empty myth? So far from being such, it is at once the highest embodiment of religious conception in the spiritual history of the race.Since the word "myth" occurs in the title, it is necessary to define it so that we may the better glimpse the nature of the subject. To the modern mind the word carries with it a derogatory implication. To reduce any construction to the status of a myth is to put it out of court and render it valueless. We regard a myth as a fiction and a falsity. To show that a theory or a belief is only a myth, is to relegate it to the world of non-reality, and dismiss it from further consideration as a thing of value.Not so with the ancients. With them (the ancients) a myth was a valuable instrumentality of knowledge. It was an intellectual, even a spiritual, tool, by the aid of which truth and wisdom could at one and the same time both be concealed from the unworthy and expressed for the worthy. The ancients rightly regarded spiritual truth and experience as being incapable of expression or impartation by means of words simply. A myth or an allegory could be made the better means of conveying subtly and with a certain added force, the truth veiled under a set form of dramatic presentation. The myth would enhance spiritual truth as a drama reinforces moral situations. It was all the more powerful in its message precisely because it was known not to be outwardly a true story. No one was caught by the literal falsity of the construction. Attention could therefore be given wholly to the hidden import, which was not obscured by the outward occurrence. The myth was known to be a fiction; therefore it deceived nobody--until the third century. But at the same time it was most ingeniously designed to instruct in the deepest of spiritual truths. It was a literary device to embalm lofty wisdom in the amber of a tradition that could be easily remembered, in the guise of a human story. It was truth incarnated in a dramatic occurrence, which was known to be untrue. Outwardly fictitious, but inwardly the substance of a mighty truth, was the myth. And as such it was the universal dress in which ancient knowledge was clothed.To indicate the universality of the Sun-god myth it is only necessary to enumerate some thirty of the chief figures known as Sun-gods amongst the nations about the Eastern Mediterranean, before the advent of Jesus. There were in Egypt, Osiris, Horus, Serapis, Hermes or Taht (Thoth), Khunsu, Atum (Aten, Adon, the Adonis or Phrygia), Iusa, Iu-sa, Iu-em-hetep; in Syria, Atis, Sabazius, Zagreus, Kybele (femine); in Assyria Tammuz; in Babylonia, Marduk and Sargon; in Persia, Mithra, Ahura-Mazda and the Zoroasters; in Greece, Orpheus, Bacchus (Dionysus), Achilles, Hercules, Theseus, Perseus, Jason, Prometheus; in India, Vyasa, Krishna, Buddha; in Tibet the Boddhisattvas; besides many others elsewhere.Likewise in the ancient Mystery dramas the central character was ever the Sun-god the role being enacted by the candidate for initiation in person. He went through the several initiations as himself the type and representative of the solar divinity in the field of human experience.Moreover, the Patriarchs, Prophets, Priests and Kings of Biblical lore are no less Sun-god figures. For in their several characteristics they are seen to be typical of the Christos.From the study of a mass of the ancient material the sincere and disingenuous student becomes ere long convinced of the fact that the Jesus figure of the Gospels, whether he lived historically or not (and there is much question of it even among theologians), is just another in the long list of the solar gods. They were figured by ancient poetic genius as embodiments of divine solar glory living among men, if they were not purely the mythical constructions of the allegorists.These Sun-god characters, of none of whom can it be said positively that they were living personages, were, it must be clearly noted, purely typical figures in the national epics of the several nations. They were symbols, one might say. But of what were they symbolical? That is the point of central importance. They were representative characters, summing and epitomizing in themselves the spiritual history of the human individual in his march across the field of evolving life on earth. They were the types and models of the divine potentiality pictured as coming to realization in their careers. They were the mirror held up to men, in which could be seen the possibilities locked up in man's own nature. They were type-figures, delineating the divine life that was an ever-possible realization for any devoted man. They were the symbols of an ever-coming deity, a deity that came not once historically in Judea, but that came to ever-fuller expression and liberation in the inner heart of every son of man. The solar deities were the gods that ever came, that were described as coming not once upon a time, but continuously and regularly. Their radiant divinity might be consummated by any earnest person at any time or achieved piecemeal.They were typed as ever-coming or coming regularly because they were symboled by the sun in its annual course around the zodiac of twelve signs, and the regular periodicity of this natural symbol typified the ever-continuing character of their spiritual sunlight. The ancients, in a way and to a degree almost incomprehensible to the unstudied modern, had made of the sun's annual course round the heavens a faithful reproduction of the spiritual history of the divine spirit in man. The god in us was emblemed by the sun in its course, and the sun's varied experiences, as fabulously construed, were a reflection of our own incarnational history. The sun in its movements through the signs was made the mirror of our life in spirit. To follow the yearly round of the zodiac was to epitomize graphically the whole history of human experience. Thus the inner meaning of our mortal life was endlessly repeated in the daily, weekly, monthly and yearly cycle of the sun's passage, the seven or twelve divisions of which marked the seven- or twelvefold segmentation of our spiritual history or our initiations. (They were figured at first as seven, later as twelve, when the solar gods came upon the cosmic scene.)The careers of these solar gods, then, were a type of what is occurring to every man who is dowered with the spark of divine soul within his breast. Each one of us has had or will have his festival of conception in June, his birth into the world of fleshly life in the autumn, his spiritual awakening at Christmas, and his glorious resurrection from the dead body of this life at Easter.The Christians say the Christos came once in a single character in history, Jesus of Judea, saying nothing about his coming to Everyman at all times. They present to the world the Only-Begotten Son of the Father, confusing in one historical figure two distinct characters of ancient philosophy, the Logos and the Christos, and making both historical in a human being born of woman. Suffice it to say that neither character was historical in the ancient systems. The Logos and the Christos were cosmic forces, and the erring Christians confounded these "personages" of ancient philosophy with the mundane career of the man Jesus, who was not other than one of the mythical Sun-god heroes, or national type-figures. What a travesty of truth the Christian representation has become! What a caricature the Gospels have made of the divine spiritual principle in man's life!The ancients had no "only-begotten" son because the term used in their systems, miserably mistranslated "only-begotten," was something with quite a different connotation. It was in Greek "monogenes," and in Latin "unigenitus," and was far from meaning "only-begotten." It meant that which was begotten of one parent, the father, alone, not the offspring of the union of father and mother. By the term the ancients meant to designate him who was the projection into matter of the spirit forces of life, not the final product of the union of spirit and matter, or the male and female elements. Had the early Christian Fathers known of the inner meaning of the symbolism of the Egyptian Ptah, as Khepr-Ra, who was typed by the male beetle that incubated in the ground and without union with the female transformed and regenerated himself after twenty-eight days (exactly a moon cycle) in the form of the young scarab, symbol of the new-born sun in the moon, they would have been intelligent enough to have avoided the great schisms that divided the Church into Roman and Greek Catholic bodies over the abstrusities of this very origin of the persons of the Trinity. But Egypt was farther away from Rome of the third century than it is from us, who can now read the inscriptions that were sealed from them.All this ancient scriptural data accentuates the fact that not the historical Jesus, but the spiritual Christ, or the god within the individual heart (as expounded in the lecture on Platonic Philosophy in the Bible) is the subject of the sacred writings of old, and the kernel of the whole religious ideology. Angelus Silesius has expressed this in a stanza which should be a perpetual reminder of the futility of clinging to the historical interpretation of Gospel literature.Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born, But not within thyself, thy soul will be forlorn; The cross on Golgotha thou lookest to in vain, Unless within thyself it be set up again. And the Christian hymn, "O Jesus, thou art standing, outside the fast-closed door," gives expression to the kindred idea that while we look across the map to localize the Christos in Judea, we keep the spiritual mentor of our own lives standing without, seeking an entrance into our lives in vain.By the aid of archaic sacred books we have been enabled to trace authentically the origin of the name Jesus. And it is of great importance to present this material, because it throws a flood of clear light upon the ancient conceptions of the Messiah and the coming Son, or Sun-god. In this light the name will be seen to be a type-designation and not the personal name of an historical being.It is derived from the two letters (or numbers) which in the beginning of typology symbolized the two first elements, spirit and matter, into which the primal One Life bifurcated. They are the I (or 1) symboling the male or spirit, and the O (letter) or 0 (cipher) symboling the female or material universe. Together they represented the biune male-female deity. We have, then, the letters IO, or the number 10. As the vowels were freely interchanged, in ancient languages, the name was written either IO, IA, IE , or IU, and all these forms are found. Next the I transformed into consonantal value and became a J (as it is yet in Latin), so that we find the names JO, JA, JE and JU, from each of which many names have arisen. When the creation had combined the male and female and the two had given birth to the Son, or Logoic universe, the name was given the form of three letters, and we then find such forms as IAO, JAH, IEO, JEU, ZUE. When the universe became founded on the four cardinal points or the square of four dimensions, the name was spelled variously as IEOU, JOVE, ZEUS, JEVE, DIOS, T/HEOS, HUHI, IHUH and others. In its character as a sevenfold or seven-lettered name, it took the form of JEHOVAH, SABAOTH, DEBORAH, DELILAH, SEP/HIROT/H, MICHAEL, SOLOMON, and others of seven letters. The I permuted with l (el) or 1 (one), so that IE became LE or, inverted EL, the great Hebrew character of deity. The EL and the IAH (JAH), became the most frequent determinatives of divinity, as a host of names will testify. There are Bethel, Emanuel, Michael, Israel, Gabriel, Samuel, Abdiel, Uriel, Muriel Azazel, and many others, in which the EL is prefixed. The JAH is seen in such names as EliJAH, AbiJAH, while the IAH comes in a host of such names as Nehemiah, Jeremiah, Obediah, Hezekiah, Isaiah, Messiah, Alleluiah and more.But whence comes the "s" in Jesus's name? This is of great importance. It is derived from an Egyptian suffix written either SA, SE, SI, SU, or SAF, SEF, SIF or SUF (SAPH, SEPH, SIPH or SUPH) and meaning "the son," "heir," "prince" or successor to the father. (The F is an Egyptian ending for the masculine singular.) When the original symbol of divinity, IO or IE, JO or JE, was combined with the Egyptian suffix for the succeeding heir, SU or SA, the resultant was the name IUSA, IUSE, IUSU, or IOSE; or IESU, JESU, IUSEF, IOSEF, JOSEF. One of the many forms was JESU and another was JOSEF. The final F became sibilant at times and gave us the eventual form of JESUS. The name then meant the "divine son," and combined in the Egyptian IU the idea of the coming one. Hence JESUS was the Messiah, the coming son of the divine life. There was in Egypt for ten thousand years B.C. the character of this functionary under the name of IUSA. Later he was the Iu-em-hetep, which means "the divine son who comes with peace (hetep). But most interestingly, this last word also means seven. Hence Jesus is he who comes as the seventh principle to complete the six elementary powers of natural evolution with the gift of divine intelligence, which supplants the elementary chaos with the rulership of love and intelligence and thus brings peace into a warring situation. Hence finally, Jesus is the seventh cosmic principle, announced in all religious lore as he who comes to bring peace and good will to men. And as such he was announced in the Christian Gospels. But there was more than one Jesus or IUSA or IU before the coming of the alleged historical Jesus.Startling as are the implications of this bit of etymology, a far more amazing denouement of Bible study is the revelation that not only were there over thirty Sun-god figures in the cults of the various nations of old, but there are immediately in the Bible itself, in the Old Testament, some twenty more Sun-god characters under the very name of Jesus! Are we speaking arrant nonsense or sober truth when we make a claim which seems at first sight so unsupportable? Twenty Jesus characters in the Old Testament! Let us see. We have noted the many variant forms of the Jesus name. There are still others in the Old Testament, never suspected as being related to the name of the Christian Redeemer. There are Isaac, Esau, Jesse, Jacob, Jeshu, Joachim, Joshua, Jonah and others. All these are variant forms of the one name, which has still other forms among the Hebrews in secular life, Yusuf, Yehoshua, Yeshu, etc. Joshua, Hosea and Jesse are from this name indisputably. A few might be the subject of controversy.Furthermore, beside these that bear the original divine name, there are other Sun-god figures in the Old Testament under a wide variety of names. They are Samson (whose name means "solar"), David, Solomon, Saul (equals soul, or sol, the sun--Latin.), Abraham, Moses, Gideon, Jephtha and the like. Their actions identify them as solar representatives.Now let us see what the conception of our divinity as a Sun-god in reality meant to the sages of old, and what it should mean to us. It meant that the divinity within us, our divine soul or Self, was itself the Sun-god, or solar deity. And what does this signify in concrete terms for us? Just this; that the god within us is constituted of the imperishable essence of solar light and energy! In short, we ourselves, in our higher nature, are solar gods in potentiality! Our highest nature is an incorruptible body composed of the glorious essence of the sun's energy! The gods in the Bible were always symboled by the light or fire of the sun. We are now enlightened to see it as a description of our nature as veritable truth and fact. We are Sun-gods. Our immortal spirits within us are composed of the radiant substance of solar energy.At the very time we were first assembling the material for this lecture, there came an announcement in the daily press of a discovery by a modern physicist, Dr. George W. Crile, of the Cleveland Laboratories, which practically fixed the seal of truth upon every word we have uttered or shall utter in this lecture. It was most startlingly corroborative of our exegesis. He announced that he had discovered at the heart of every living organism a tiny nucleus of energy, all aglow, with temperatures ranging from 3000 to 6000 degrees of heat, which he called "radiogens" or "hot points." These, he said, were precisely akin to the radiant energy of solar matter. He affirmed, in short, that a tiny particle of the sun's power and radiance was lodged within the heart of every organic unit! The light and energy that has life. What would be Crile's surprise, however, if he were to be shown a sentence taken from Hargrave Jennings' old book on the Rosicrucians, written over sixty years ago: "Every man has a little spark (sun) in his own bosom?" For this was one item in the teaching of the Medieval Fire-Philosophers, and the reason they were styled such. They knew what Crile has discovered, as likewise did the ancient Bible-writers. They based their Sun-god religions upon it. Our souls are composed of the imperishable essence of solar light! We are immortal because we are Sun-gods.But many will impatiently rise to expostulate with us, and ask why, if this was the universal fundamentum of the old religions, the Bible itself does not categorically carry this message and state this central fact. Wait a moment! Who that knows this primary datum has searched the Bible to see if it has nothing to say on the point? We, too, believed the Bible was remiss in expressing this conception, until we searched with a more watchful eye. And now let us hear what the Bible says as to our solar constitution, and determine for ourselves whether it is silent on the groundwork of religion or not. Let us hear first the Psalms. "Our God is a living fire," say they; and "Our God is a consuming fire." "The Lord God is a sun," avers the same book. "I am come to send fire on earth," says Jesus, meaning he came to scatter the separated sparks of solar essence amongst mankind, a spark to each soul. In Revelation the angels scatter the fire and the incense of their seven censers over the earth, among the inhabitants. Then says John the Baptist: "I indeed baptize you with water, but he that cometh after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire!" Jesus says: "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." (Satan was the descending Lucifer, or Light-bringer, before he was lifted up and divinized.) The fire that falls on Jeremiah's altar and many another in the Bible narrative types the deity coming to dwell with mortals. Says Jesus: "When I am in the world I am the light of the world." Again he said: "Ye are the light of the world," and "Let your light so shine that others may . . . glory your father which is in heaven." The Lord, say the Psalms, "made his angels messengers and his ministers a flame of fire." The New Testament Jesus, following the well-known Egyptian diagram of the Ankh, the solar disk with the spread wings, is described as "the sun of righteousness, risen with healing in his wings." John has Jesus saying that the condemnation of the world lay in that it rejected the light when it was sent into the world. Says Job: "Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine. The light shall be dark in his tabernacle and his candle shall be put out with him." Isaiah writes: "Behold all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks; walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks that ye have kindled." We are adjured to "Rise, shine, for thy light is come." "The Lord is my light," reiterates the Psalms. And again: "In thy light shall we see light." "Light is sown for the righteous." "We wait for light," cry the souls in the darkness of incarnation, far from their original fount of light. John declares that the Christos "was the true light" which was to come Messianically for the redemption of our lower nature. And again he declares that with the Christos "light is come into the world." No cry echoes with more resounding intensity down to this age than Paul's exhortation to our souls buried in lethal darkness: "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon thee!" And in Revelation there are those mighty pronouncements: in the spiritual resurrection "there shall be no more need of the sun to shine by day nor the moon by night, for the glory of the Lord did lighten it." And there is no more heartening assurance anywhere in the Bible than Jesus's statement: "Ye have light in yourselves."And these are only a gleaning from the great score of similar passages with which the Bible teems. And still folks will say they find no warrant for the Sun-god idea in the Bible!In Rome the sacred fire in the temple of Vesta was guarded by seven Vestal Virgins, chosen for purity and for psychic vision. If they permitted the fire to die out (symbolic of the light of deity dying out in the heart) the penalty upon them was death. If they violated their sexual purity, they were buried alive in the city. And from the great old Egyptian Book of the Dead we take just one passage among scores: "Lo, I come from the Lake of Flame, from the Lake of Fire, and from the field of flame, and I live." And again, from an old Book of Adam and Eve we quote a great passage in which the Lord says: "I made thee of the light, and I wished to bring out children of the light from thee." If only we had been taught by our religious teachers that our spiritual natures are woven and fabricated of solar light, we should have had a clearer apprehension of our potentialities for divine education.Supplementing all this material from the Bible and ancient scriptures, there is at hand for our supreme enlightenment one grand pronouncement from Greek Platonic philosophy which we conceive to be that lost ultimate link between science and religion. It is the truth before whose altar both science and religion can kneel at last and find themselves paying tribute to the same god,--the god of solar radiance. It is a sentence from the learned Proclus, last of the Great Platonists: "The light of the sun is the pure energy of intellect." Are we big enough to catch the mighty significance of that statement? Is it not the essence of what the modern physicist means when he talks of "mind-stuff?" The fiery radiance of the sun is already the motivating genius of intellect! Matter is itself intelligent and intelligence! Here is the basic link between all naturalism and all spirituality. Matter enshrouds and contains the soul of mind and spirit. The light of the sun is the deific flash of intellect! And the very core of our conscious being is a spark of that infinite indestructible energy of solar light. There is the "seminal soul of light" or the seed of fiery divinity (Prometheus's "fire" stolen from the gods) in each of us. It makes us a god.Armed with this unquenchable fire which is intellect, we are sent on earth to inhabit a body which is described as a watery and miry swamp. The body is nearly eighty per cent. water! It is the duty of the fiery spark to enlighten the whole dark realm of mortal life, to transmute by its alchemical power the baser dross of animal propensity into the finer motivation of love and brotherhood. This life is a purgation--Purgatory--because it is a process of burning and tempering crude animal elements into the pure gold of spiritual light. In Egyptian scriptures the twelve sons of Ra (the twelve sons of Jacob, and the twelve tribes of Israel) were called the "twelve saviors of the treasure of light." An Egyptian text reads: "This is the sun within us, the seminal source of light. Do not dim its luster or cause it to suffer eclipse." And another runs: "Give ye glory as to the sun; he is the chief, the only one coming from the body, the head of those who belong to the race of the sun."With this force of fire we must uplift the lower man and transmute his nature into the spiritual glow of love and intelligence. With it we must turn the water of the lower nature into the wine of spiritual force. Around it we must aggregate the refined material which we shall build into that temple of the soul, that body of the resurrection, the great garment of solar light, in which we shall rise out of the tomb of the physical corpus and ascend with the angels. This is the radiant Augoeides of the Greeks, the Sahu of the Egyptians, in which the soul wings its flight aloft like the phoenix, after rending the veil of the temple of the body. It is our garment of immortality, the seamless robe of glory, in prospect of which we groan and travail, says St. Paul, as we earnestly desire to be clothed upon with the garment of incorruption. As flesh and blood can not inherit the kingdom of heaven, we must fashion for our tenancy there this body of solar glory, in whose self-generated light we may live eternally, having overcome the realms of darkness, or spiritualized the body. Jesus prays the Father to grant unto him that glory that he had with him before the world was, and his prayer is fulfilled in the formation of the spirit body out of the elements of the sun.Who is this King of Glory?--says the Psalmist. And we are exhorted to lift up the aeonial gates, the age-lasting doors, to let the King of Glory enter into our realm. The King of Glory is the Sun-soul within us, raised in his final perfection in the fulness of Christly stature to the state of magnificent effulgence. The King of Glory is the immortal Sun-god, the deity in our hearts; and when at last he blazes forth in the heyday of his glory, and comes in majesty into our lives, then we behold his glory, as of the alone-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And when he appears to those still sitting in the shadow of darkness, they report that "they have seen a great light, and to those that sat in the valley of darkness did the light shine." And this light, seen ever and anon by some illuminated son of man, as he gropes in the murks of incarnation, is truly "that light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world."And when that light shineth clearer and brighter unto the perfect day, then, indeed, we know of a surety that we ourselves are nucleated of that same glorious essence of combined intellect and spirit. Then we know that we ourselves are the Sun-gods, and that the ancient allegory is not a "myth," but the very essence of our own Selfhood.The Great Myth of the Sun GodsBy Alvin Boyd Khunhttp://mountainman.com.au/ab_kuhn.html This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dwtruthwarrior.substack.com/subscribe

Gita is the most celebrated spiritual text of Hinduism and Vedanta. Shankaracharya immortalized Gita with his commentary.Many of Buddha's teachings were taken from Gita. The 26th chapter of Dhammapada is repetition of the characteristics of a “stitha-prajna” (wise man) described in the 2nd chapter of Gita. The concept of moderation discussed in the 17th verse of the 6th chapter of Gita was also adopted by Buddha.73rd verse: Arjuna says: “Now, I have listened to you carefully. I have overcome my doubts. I have regained my wisdom. I shall act according to your instructions.”Gita begins with Arjuna's dilemma. It was taught to an ordinary man of action, because it has a realistic approach to life, interpreting spirituality as common sense. In essence, it says that when we face a crisis in life, we should not know that it is transient. We should also know that happiness and unhappiness are two sides of the same coin, and we have to transcend both to find peace and happiness.Arjuna thought of himself as a physical body. Once he learnt the spiritual truth of his own true nature and a common-sense approach to life in this world, his delusions were gone.Gita is not just a book of action. According to Shankaracharya, the central theme of Gita is not action alone but the importance of spiritual knowledge.There is an epilogue to Gita called Uttara Gita. There Arjuna asks Lord Krishna to explain his teachings again, as he forgot the teachings. At that point, Lord Krishna scolds him. The implication of this story in modern times is that when we listen to something, we may emotionally connect with it, but we may not be able to implement the spiritual wisdom. We have to struggle hard to translate our intellectual understanding to our emotional system.After the 73rd verse, the scene shifts in Gita. In the next several verses, Sanjaya, who was blessed with divine vision by Vyasa says: “I still recall again and again in my mind the dialog between Lord Krishna and Arjuna. It fills my heart with joy.”Sanjaya was able to listen, enjoy and recall this great dialog because his mind was ready for it. We do not remember what we are not interested in. Sanjaya was a spiritual seeker and had the right spiritual attitude.Gita ends with the 78th verse: “Wherever there is a blending of Yogeshwara (man of spiritual wisdom) and Dhanurdhara (man of action), there will be fortune, prosperity, victory, welfare, righteousness and justice.”

To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/ Add to your wisdom literature collection: https://www.bbtacademic.com/books/ (USA only) https://thefourquestionsbook.com/ Join us live on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FanTheSpark/ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sound-bhakti/id1132423868 For the latest videos, please visit & subscribe https://www.youtube.com/@FanTheSpark #vaisesikaprabhu #vaisesikadasa #spirituality #bhaktiyoga #krishna #spiritualpurposeoflife #krishnaspirituality #spiritualusachannel #whybhaktiisimportant #whyspiritualityisimportant #spiritualconnection #thepowerofspiritualstudy #selfrealization #vaisesikaprabhulectures #spirituallectures #spiritualstudy #spiritualexperience

“By regular attendance in classes on the Bhagavatam and by rendering of service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed, and loving service unto the Personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 1.2.18)

Introduction To Vyasa Puja Book 2022 And Reflections ISV by Vaisesika Dasa

This inspiring episode of the Wellness Curated podcast is from the series ‘Healing Traditions Across Cultures.' Host Anshu Bahanda chats with Vedic expert and author Neema Majmudar about the ancient yet timeless Vedic way of life. Majmudar brings her deep knowledge of Advaita Vedanta to the discussion, sharing how these ancient teachings can be applied today for a peaceful and meaningful life.If you're looking to bring more clarity and purpose into your life, tune in to find out how Vedic teachings could be the key to a more connected and fulfilling life. Learn how these teachings help us understand our true nature and connect with the universe, making them relevant not just for sages of the past but for anyone seeking peace today. Neema uses a simple story about sage Vyasa and a young disciple to explain these concepts in an easy-to-understand way. This episode also covers practical aspects of the Vedic lifestyle and diet. For instance, how it can help with everyday issues from work stress to personal relationships.For a transcript of this show, go to https://wellnesscurated.life/understanding-the-vedic-way-of-life-with-neema-majmudar/If you liked our episode, you can subscribe to our podcast on any of the major podcasting platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts. Please leave us a review on Apple iTunes and help others discover this podcast. You can visit wellnesscurated.life and follow us on Twitter @WellnessCurated, On Instagram @wellnesscurated.life,On Facebook @Wellness Curated by Anshu Bahanda,On LinkedIn @Wellness Curated by Anshu Bahanda, And on YouTube @wellnesscuratedbyanshubahanda. for more wellness tips to help you live your best life.

Jul 1, 1999 Toulouse, France Continued from Part 1 Note : Lecture starts abruptly

Jul 1, 1999 Toulouse, France To be continued in Part 2 Note : Lecture starts abruptly

5th Niyama is Isvara Pranidhana complete surrender to the God head of your understanding. To have complete faith in the guiding and protective power of absolute reality behind all life and manifestation. Whatever is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. Yoga is not a religion, however a ‘Spiritual' practice.The teachings suggests we surrender our fruits of our actions, give all of our self over to this Grace that we entrust in and we stay open to what life has to offer. Starting thinking about what you are trying to control, be powerful over? Person, place or thing? Kids, finances, relationships, work outcomes…Or better yet, what would you like to let go of? Fear, anger, envy, resentments…Vyasa one of the commenters of the Yoga Sutras, stated that a mind that is disturbed, distracted and stupefied is not fit for reaching Samadhi. It is only reachable by Yogis who have cultivated a one-pointed and complete still mind, Nirodha. In our focused, diligent practice (Abhyasa) we refine our awareness (Viveka) to observe what arises, discerning our choices in practice. Vairagya is a practice of letting go of sensory observation, training the mind to detach from what arises, distracts or motivates the activity of the mind that prevents it from stillness. This becomes a repetition of mind to practice the art of surrendering that which doesn't serve the practitioner in their pursuit of attaining the state of Yoga.To read more and to practice with Zephyr Wildman, click here. To support Zephyr Yoga Podcast, donate here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lessons from 'The Bhagavad Gita' by Veda Vyasa. The Gita is an essential text within the Mahabharata. It is a dialogue between Lord Krishna and the warrior prince Arjuna, who is conflicted about fighting in the Kurukshetra war. The Gita explores themes of duty, discipline, righteousness, and the nature of reality. Order USA: https://amzn.to/4dAXw5a CA: https://amzn.to/3WAi2Ne Social & Website Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/ijmakan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/ijmakan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://becomingantifragile.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Newsletter ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ijmakan.substack.com

Last session we worked with Sauca which ‘cleans' the physical, energetic and mental bodies in practice and shines a brighter clearer light to a deeper tranquil state of being. All of this is the pursuit to the state of Yoga. In this session we are working on the second Niyama, Santosa, which points you to have a more intimate and honest relationship with the whole of you, so you can practice just being present with ‘what is' and that ‘what is', is enough. From that acceptance of ‘what is' in any given moment, it states it will bring you unsurpassed joy.Sam (san) in sanskrit means completely, altogether and entirely – Tosa(tosha) means a state of contentment, satisfaction, acceptance, being comfortable. When we feel content and satisfied with our lives, there is a profound acceptance of ‘what is' and delight, serenity, sincere gratitude arises.Vyasa stated in his commentary of the Yoga Sutras that when Santosa is achieved it is measured by the “existence of a joyful and satisfied mind, regardless of one's environment, whether one is met with pleasure or pain, profit or loss, fame or contempt, success or failure, sympathy or hatred.”To read more and to practice with Zephyr Wildman, click here. To support Zephyr Yoga Podcast, donate here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bhagavad Gita Ch. 10 “Yoga of the Opulence of the Lord” Verses 11, 12,13 The lecture discusses the nature of the Supreme Self as described by the great rishis, such as Narada, Asita, Davala, and Vyasa, as well as Krishna himself to Arjuna. Moksharthi - Please visit YouTube for Bhajans by Neil Bhatt - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8jOW56VdfinQGoaP3cRFi-lSBfxjflJE

“Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Brahman, the ultimate, the supreme abode and purifier, the Absolute Truth and the eternal divine person. You are the primal God, transcendental and original, and You are the unborn and all-pervading beauty. All the great sages such as Narada, Asita, Devala, and Vyasa proclaim this of You, and now You Yourself are declaring it to me.” (Bhagavad-gita, 10.12-13)

2024.02.24 Goloka Dhama EN

2024.02.24 Goloka Dhama EN

Kumaravyasa's Bharata is a crown jewel of Kannada literature, beloved by scholars and common people alike. In this 15th-century classic, Kumaravyasa reimagines Vyasa's epic, making it more compact, dramatic, closer to everyday life and language. He dispenses with most didactic material, cuts out subsidiary tales, and concludes with the end of the war. Here, Krishna, who is cool, clever, charming, and charismatic, is the central character, but many others, such as Draupadi, Karna, and Duryodhana leave an indelible mark. He narrates the story through fast-moving, deftly crafted situations, where characters confront grand conflicts and articulate subtle and complex emotions in brilliant metaphorical language. In this series of masterclasses, Professors SN Sridhar and Krishnamurthy Hanuru will introduce the audience to several aspects of Kumaravyasa's poetic genius, illustrating them with the modern English translations the first volume of which has just been published as The Kannada Mahabharata by Harvard University Press in the Murty Classical Library of India series. The first episode places the poet in relation to his life and times, discusses his unique poetic manifesto, outlines the work, and highlights his originality in the way he creatively transforms Vyasa's prototype of the Mahabharata and Pampa's version. In this episode of BIC Talks Professors Sridhar and Hanuru illustrate Kumaravyasa's genius and versatility while analysing what accounts for the enduring popularity of his work for over half a millennium. This is an excerpt from an in-person masterclass series that took place in January 2024. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible and Amazon Music.

Kumaravyasa's Bharata is a crown jewel of Kannada literature, beloved by scholars and common people alike. In this 15th-century classic, Kumaravyasa reimagines Vyasa's epic, making it more compact, dramatic, closer to everyday life and language. He dispenses with most didactic material, cuts out subsidiary tales, and concludes with the end of the war. Here, Krishna, who is cool, clever, charming, and charismatic, is the central character, but many others, such as Draupadi, Karna, and Duryodhana leave an indelible mark. He narrates the story through fast-moving, deftly crafted situations, where characters confront grand conflicts and articulate subtle and complex emotions in brilliant metaphorical language. In this series of masterclasses, Professors SN Sridhar and Krishnamurthy Hanuru will introduce the audience to several aspects of Kumaravyasa's poetic genius, illustrating them with the modern English translations the first volume of which has just been published as The Kannada Mahabharata by Harvard University Press in the Murty Classical Library of India series. The second session discusses some of the themes, characters and episodes in Kumaravyasa's Bharata, such as the sexual harassment of Draupadi, the diplomacy of Krishna, the manipulative, determined Duryodhana, the tragedies of Abhimanyu and Karna, the killing of Shishupala, the tragic death of Pandu, and Arjuna's confrontations with Shiva and Urvashi. In this episode of BIC Talks Professors Sridhar and Hanuru explore the contemporaneity and universality of Kumaravyasa's ideas about class, caste, war, power, human relations, patriarchy, women's status, and so forth. This is an excerpt from an in-person masterclass series that took place in January 2024. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible and Amazon Music.

Kumaravyasa's Bharata is a crown jewel of Kannada literature, beloved by scholars and common people alike. In this 15th-century classic, Kumaravyasa reimagines Vyasa's epic, making it more compact, dramatic, closer to everyday life and language. He dispenses with most didactic material, cuts out subsidiary tales, and concludes with the end of the war. Here, Krishna, who is cool, clever, charming, and charismatic, is the central character, but many others, such as Draupadi, Karna, and Duryodhana leave an indelible mark. He narrates the story through fast-moving, deftly crafted situations, where characters confront grand conflicts and articulate subtle and complex emotions in brilliant metaphorical language. In this series of masterclasses, Professors SN Sridhar and Krishnamurthy Hanuru will introduce the audience to several aspects of Kumaravyasa's poetic genius, illustrating them with the modern English translations the first volume of which has just been published as The Kannada Mahabharata by Harvard University Press in the Murty Classical Library of India series. The first episode places the poet in relation to his life and times, discusses his unique poetic manifesto, outlines the work, and highlights his originality in the way he creatively transforms Vyasa's prototype of the Mahabharata and Pampa's version. In this episode of BIC Talks Professors Sridhar and Hanuru illustrate Kumaravyasa's genius and versatility while analysing what accounts for the enduring popularity of his work for over half a millennium. This is an excerpt from an in-person masterclass series that took place in January 2024. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible and Amazon Music.

Vyasa Puja speech 2023-12-23 Cordoba, Argentina with Spanish translation

Title: Performing Actions with Sattvic Shraddha17th Chapter: verses 26, 27, 28; recapitulation of 17th chapterIt is difficult for normal human beings to perform their spiritual practices with perfection. With the utterance of “Om Tat Sat”, when we perform any act - Yajna, dana and tapah – they become purified. When we offer our activity to the all-pervading reality that is present in everyone and everything, the activity is purified. They become auspicious and spiritually meritorious.26th verse: “Sat indicates the Absolute Reality which is all-pervading, immortal, good for humanity and which sustains us. Sat means sat-bhāve “with the intention of essential goodness and nobility”, sādhu-bhāve “with auspicious intention” and praśhaste karmaṇi “Inspired by the an inner call and the Atman within”.27th verse: “With great steadiness, when we perform Yajna, dana and tapah, it is called Sat. Any activity done for the sake of Tat, which is the all-pervading divine reality, is also Sat.”Yajna refers to any noble, unselfish deed that is done with a sense of sanctity and sacredness and as an offering to God. Dana refers to any act of compassion, kindness and charity meant to help others. Tapah means austerity, activities that we do with the mind and senses focused on a single purpose with a sense of sanctity and sacredness.When we perform anything thinking of the all-pervading divine reality, then it becomes worship in the form of action, and it brings an element of steadiness to the activity. Steadiness comes from the Absolute Reality which is eternal and unchanging.28th verse: “Performing Yajna, dana and tapah with a sattvic attitude and a sense of dedication to the divine is Sat. Its opposite is called Asat. Performing hutam (sacrifice), dattam (charity), tapaḥ (austerity) or kṛitam (any other activity), without sattvic shraddha is Asat.”Shraddha cannot be properly translated in English. Shraddha refers to a sense of sanctity and sacredness that helps us preserve higher values. It can also mean faith in scriptures, God, teacher, and a sense of integrity. The shraddha of human beings is three-fold – Sattvika, Rajasika and Tamasika. Yajna, dana and tapah should be performed with sattvic shraddha.When we perform charity there is a possibility that we may get the opposite of gratitude from the recipient. That can hurt us unless we are guided by a higher spiritual ideal in the act of charity. Sattvic shraddha turns any activity into a spiritual activity.The following is a recapitulation of the 17th chapter:The 17th chapter starts with a question from Arjuna: “Those who have a high degree of shraddha but do not know how to follow shastram, what happens to them?”Shraddha is of three types - Sattvika, Rajasika and Tamasika. Sattvika is the highest and most sublime. It manifests itself as wisdom and serenity. If a person is very active and makes a show of his wealth and power, his attitude is Rajasika. Tamasika attitude manifests itself as laziness and delusion.In a rajarshi (philosopher king) – the philosophical aspect comes from sattva guna and the kingly aspect comes from rajo guna. His rajo guna is dominated and regulated by sattva guna.Shraddha is based on our inherent natural tendencies, which is based on our samskaras. Every action leaves a residual effect (vritti) in our mental system. Many identical vrittis – from similar, repeated actions – solidify a distinct memory block called Samskara.In Patanajali Yoga Sutra, Vyasa says: “The river of the human mind flows in two directions. One is of a positive nature and takes us towards higher spiritual fulfillment. The other is of a negative nature and takes us away from our cherished aspirations.” The mind may not act as our friend when it is not ready. For example, when we want to meditate (positive flow of the river), the mind may procrastinate (negative flow of the river).Vyasa also says that we can turn the mind into a friend with a refining process. The refining process starts with doing some noble, unselfish deeds. Such deeds increase the store house of positive samskaras and negate the negative samskaras. The mind then begins to evolve. When we perform our activities with sattvic shraddha, we improve the proportion of positive flow in the river of mind.The following discussions took place in the question-answer section of the class:The translation of Sanskrit words, such as Samskara, are limited in scope in the dictionary meaning. They can only be explained by giving examples. An example of past samskaras is a child prodigy in music, whose family has no background in music.We should put our ego to good work. When we perform an activity as Swadharma and as an offering to the divine, the ego is sublimated to a sattvic level.Creation moves in cycles – from creation to sustenance to dissolution to re-emergence.

Sameer Gadhia, the lead singer of YOUNG THE GIANT joins Abhay for a conversation about his musical journey, expressions of identity, parenting, performance, Point of Origin, and even lessons in leadership. It should be noted that the words "Vyasa" and the "rizz" were both mentioned in this episode - discretion is advised.(0:00 - 2:52) Introduction(2:52) Part 1 - Performing and touring, American Bollywood(14:18) Part 2 - Finishing art, identity and expression, feeling at "home"(29:25) Part 3 - Point of Origin, evolving as an artist, teamwork and sharing(41:26) Conclusion

“Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Brahman, the ultimate, the supreme abode and purifier, the Absolute Truth and the eternal divine person. You are the primal God, transcendental and original, and You are the unborn and all-pervading beauty. All the great sages such as Narada, Asita, Devala, and Vyasa proclaim this of You, and now You Yourself are declaring it to me.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 10.12-13)

Zoom Meeting On Vyasa Puja Of Jayadvaita Swami - Kadamba Kanana Swami - 5th November 2022 -Vrindavan by Kadamba Kanana Swami

Shraddha cannot be properly translated in English. Shraddha refers to a sense of sanctity and sacredness that helps us preserve higher values. It can also mean faith in scriptures, God, teacher, and a sense of integrity. One of the verses says: “A man is only as much as the shraddha he has.”2nd verse: “The shraddha of human beings is three-fold – Sattvika, Rajasika and Tamasika. It is born out of their own swabhava – their own natural tendencies. “Our temperaments are determined by a combination of the three gunas – sattva guna, rajo guna and tamo guna. Sattva guna is the highest and most sublime. It manifests itself as wisdom and serenity. Rajo guna manifests itself as dynamism and ambition. Tamo gunamanifests itself as laziness and delusion.Gunas are not visible and cannot be physically verified. We can infer which guna is predominant in a person by observing his external temperament.If a person has wealth and power, but he is humble, has self-control and does not make a show of it – he is endowed with sattva guna. Sattva guna indicates higher transcendental wisdom in a person. If a person is very active and makes a show of his wealth and power, he is endowed with rajo guna. If a person is lazy, ignorant, confused and does not want to earn higher qualities, he is endowed with tamo guna.Shraddha is based on our inherent natural tendencies, our swabhava, which is based on our samskaras. Every action leaves a residual effect (vritti) in our mental system. Many identical vrittis – from similar, repeated actions – solidify a distinct memory block called Samskara. Samskaras express through our determination to act in a certain manner, called Sankalpa. Sankalpa leads to further actions. This wheel continues, and it shapes our Swabhava.In Patanajali Yoga Sutra, Vyasa says: “The river of the human mind flows in two directions. One takes us towards higher spiritual fulfillment. The other is of a negative nature and takes us away from our cherished aspirations.” The mind may not act as our friend when it is not ready. For example, when we want to meditate (positive flow of the river), the mind may procrastinate (negative flow of the river).Vyasa also says: “We can never refine samskaras and turn the mind into a friend without a refining process. The refining process starts with doing some noble, unselfish deeds. Such deeds increase the store house of positive samskaras and negate the negative samskaras.The mind then begins to evolve.”The 1st sutra of sadhana pada in Patanjali Yoga Sutra says: “tap ah-svadhyaya-isvara-pranidhanani kriya-yoga” Kriya yoga refers to any kind of noble, unselfish activity. Such actions help us climb the ladder of three types of shraddhas – from tamasika, to rajasika to sattvika.One of the commentators on this verse says: “This shraddha is inherent but not inflexible. If inflexible, everything will degenerate into blind fatalism. We have the freedom to ascend to higher levels of shraddha by applying our own resources. This will strengthen the river of mind and help it flow in the positive direction.”3rd verse: “The shraddha of every individual is according to his/her natural disposition. Every individual and his level of shraddha are identified as one.”Brahma Sutras discuss the dynamics of leaving the world and the dynamics of returning to the world. We are born with the baggage of past samskaras (tendencies) – we cannot disown them. We collect these tendencies in our Antahkarana (mind, intellect, memory system, ego sense) through actions involving the senses and the mind. When the body is cremated, the physical senses are gone, but the Antahkarana is retained. It accompanies the soul when it takes a new body.These samskaras in the Antahkarana decide what level of shraddha each person possesses.In the next few verses, Lord Krishna describes how we can infer the level of shraddha by analyzing a person's actions and behaviors, such as whom he worships and what kind of food he eats.4th verse: “Those endowed with sattvika shraddha worship divine, angelic deities. Those with rajasika shraddha worship a god idea that gives them material comforts such as wealth and power. Those with tamasika shraddha worship supernatural and black magic concepts of god.”The God idea that we worship is dependent on our level of spiritual evolution. As we evolve, our idea of God also evolves.In spiritual life, we are never late and nothing is lost. Every moment can be used as the beginning of a new journey.

first things first- he's got three heads / “First things first … he's got three heads.” / material existence is riddled with envy fear and worry / Indra blows it again! / freedom comes with a price / the gradual path of letting go / big opulence leads to big bewilderment / Laxmi belongs to Vishnu, not to our Maya / attachment creates humiliation / sadhu's gotta cut- don't be a dirty old man / Indra is the hero of the Vedas, but the buffoon of the Bhagavatam (because Vyasa want's to show us that mixed devotion is not the goal of life) 

“First things first … he's got three heads.” / material existence is riddled with envy fear and worry / Indra blows it again! / freedom comes with a price / the gradual path of letting go / big opulence leads to big bewilderment / Laxmi belongs to Vishnu, not to our Maya / attachment creates humiliation / sadhu's gotta cut- don't be a dirty old man / Indra is the hero of the Vedas, but the buffoon of the Bhagavatam (because Vyasa want's to show us that mixed devotion is not the goal of life) 

2023.09.17 Radhadesh EN

2023.09.08 Goloka Dhama EN

2023.09.17 Radhadesh EN

2023.09.08 Goloka Dhama EN

Talk from ISKCON Warsaw temple; Przemowa ze świątyni ISKCON Warszawa. 2023-09-08

In today's sanga, Srila Dhanurdhara Swami shares his realizations about his spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, on the day of his appearance.

austerity, celibacy, even-mindedness, charity, renunciation, truthfulness, cleanliness, and regulative principles - all don't quite get to the root of material desire / Bhakti uproots the weeds of karma / the desire to enjoy this world (karma) and even the desire to become free of the sufferings of this world (jnana) are both “all about me” / Vyasa recommends Bhakti as a path free from fear - even while running with eyes closed / if your heart hasn't softened, you haven't understood what life is about SB 6.1.13-17   https://www.wisdomofthesages.com/events https://courses.vanischool.com/influences  

austerity, celibacy, even-mindedness, charity, renunciation, truthfulness, cleanliness, and regulative principles - all don't quite get to the root of material desire / Bhakti uproots the weeds of karma / the desire to enjoy this world (karma) and even the desire to become free of the sufferings of this world (jnana) are both “all about me” / Vyasa recommends Bhakti as a path free from fear - even while running with eyes closed / if your heart hasn't softened, you haven't understood what life is about SB 6.1.13-17   https://www.wisdomofthesages.com/events https://courses.vanischool.com/influences  

King Vichitraveerya passes away soon after his marriage with Ambika and Ambalika and leaves Hastinapur with no heir. Queen Satyavati summons her first born Ved Vyasa to help bless the queens with heirs to the throne. Ambika who closes her eyes when Ved Vyasa blesses her, gives birth to Dhritharashtra who is blind. Ambalika gets scared of Vyasa too and is pale with fear when she gets blessed and gives birth to the frail Pandu, wheras a maid who sits in for Queen Ambalika the second time accepta Vyasa's blessibg and gives birth to the wise Vidur. Dhritarashtra is not allowed to ascend the throne as he is blind, so Pandu becomes the new King of Hastinapur.



“This house, this car, this plane, this furniture, this bank account, so much reputation and fame, none of them are of any use to me.” - Kyrzayda Rodriguez / we're not here to just enjoy ourselves / death as the final exam and we've gotta prepare for it / Bhagavatam is Vyasa's way of clarifying everything / the devas are like tax collectors / your body is a universe SB 5.20.5-33



“This house, this car, this plane, this furniture, this bank account, so much reputation and fame, none of them are of any use to me.” - Kyrzayda Rodriguez / we're not here to just enjoy ourselves / death as the final exam and we've gotta prepare for it / Bhagavatam is Vyasa's way of clarifying everything / the devas are like tax collectors / your body is a universe SB 5.20.5-33

Welcome to Untold Stories of Ganesha, the podcast where we explore the fascinating myths and legends of the elephant-headed god. Today we're going to talk about how Ganesha wrote the Mahabharata for Vyasa. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nilnia/support

Lord Ganesha, the Lord of Wisdom helps Ved Vyasa write The Mahabharata.

R. Sriram, coauthor of Natya Yoga: Peace Passion Pain Mapping Emotions, reunites with J to talk about the deeper questions of purpose and meaning in yoga. They discuss his understanding of T Krishnamacharya's and TKV Desikachar's view on God, the effects of connecting to source, humility and faith, Vedic chanting with J Krishnamurti, academic bonafides and diverging from Vyasa's commentary on Patañjali's Yogasūtras, limitations of science and potential of human spirit, and respecting the personal artistic nature of the divine.   To subscribe and support the show… GET PREMIUM.   Check out J's other podcast… J. BROWN YOGA THOUGHTS.    

2023.04.29 Gaura Bhavan EN

2023.04.29 Gaura Bhavan EN

Scripture class by Rev. Dr. Swami Bhajanananda Saraswati on Devi Gita, chapter 1, verses 71-74 given to students of the Ramakrishna Seminary at Kali Mandir via Zoom on 13 April 2023. न जानेऽस्मत्पितॄणां किं स्थानं स्यान्निर्मितं परम् | एतादृशानां वास्याय येषां वंशेऽस्ति मादृशः || ७१ || na jāne'smat-pitṝṇāṃ kiṃ sthānaṃ syānnirmitaṃ param | etādṛśānāṃ vāsyāya yeṣāṃ vaṃśe'sti mādṛśaḥ || 71 || 71. "I know not what heavenly realm has been prepared for my ancestors to rest in, so blessed are they to have one such as myself born in their family.   इदं यथा च दत्तं मे कृपया प्रेमपूर्णया | सर्ववेदन्तान्तसिद्धं च त्वद्रूपं ब्रूहि मे तथा || ७२ || idaṃ yathā ca dattaṃ me kṛpayā prema-pūrṇayā | sarva-vedantānta-siddhaṃ ca tvadrūpaṃ brūhi me tathā || 72 || 72. "As you have already granted me one favor through Your loving compassion, would You also please describe for me Your true nature as explained in all the Upanishads."   योगं च भक्तिसहितं ज्ञानं च श्रुतिसम्मतम् | वदस्व परमेशानि त्वमेवाहं यतो भवेः || ७३ || yogaṃ ca bhakti-sahitaṃ jñānaṃ ca śruti-sammatam | vadasva parameśāni tvamevāhaṃ yato bhaveḥ || 73 || 73. "And further describe the paths of both yoga and knowledge combined with devotion, as approved by scripture. इति तस्य वचः श्रुत्वा प्रसन्नमुखपण्कजा | वक्तुमारभथाऽम्बा सा रहस्यं श्रुतिगूहितम् || ७४ || iti tasya vacaḥ śrutvā prasanna-mukha-paṇkajā | aktumārabhathā'mbā sā rahasyaṃ śruti-gūhitam || 74 || 74. (Vyasa spoke): "Hearing these words of Himalaya, and with Her lotus face kindly disposed, the Mother undertook to reveal the mystic teachings hidden in scripture."

Title: Effects of the Three Gunas14th Chapter: Verses 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15; 6th chapter verses 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42Our temperaments are determined by a combination of the three gunas – sattva guna, rajo guna and tamo guna. Sattva guna is the highest and most sublime. It manifests itself as wisdom and serenity. Rajo guna manifests itself as dynamism and ambition. Tamo guna manifests itself as laziness and delusion.Gunas are not visible and cannot be physically verified. We can infer which guna is predominant in a person by observing his external temperament.Of these three gunas, Sattva guna is the most refined, healthy and good. However, even Sattva guna binds, as the person endowed with sattva guna feels attached to sukha – he has a natural tendency to seek inner serenity and poise.10th verse: “In a person who is serene, detached and contented, sattva guna dominates. Rajo guna and tamo guna are almost non-functional. In such a person, laziness and confusion, which are manifestations of tamo guna, disappear. Similarly, hyperactive nature, manifestation of rajo guna, disappears.”The 11th verse refers to the five senses of perception, five senses of action, mind and intellect as the doors of the body, or the instruments through which one acts. A person endowed with sattva guna is able to restrain all these instruments of action – in him, these doors are illumined by light which represents serenity, wisdom and insight. He has a sense of inner fulfillment and contentment.12th and 13th verses: “Greed, craving, hyper activism, and restlessness prevail in a person predominated by rajo guna. Ignorance, laziness, negligence and delusion prevail in a person predominated by tamo guna.”Vyasa in Patanjali Yoga Sutras classifies the human mind into five categories: (1) Kshipta (scattered) (2) Mudha (dull) (3) Vikshipta (partially focused) (4) Ekagra (one-pointed) (5) Niruddha (fully focused). The first two are manifestations of tamo guna, viskhipta is manifestation of rajo guna, and ekagra is manifestation of sattva guna. In niruddha state, one transcends all the three gunas.The characteristics describes in the 12th and the 13th verses have parallels to the nine antarayas describes in Patanjali Yoga Sutras. Antaraya means obstacles to spiritual growth. Patanjali refers to the following obstacles, which cause the mind to wander - Disease, mental laziness, doubt, lack of interest, sloth, clinging to sense pleasures, false perception, lack of concentration, and unsteadiness in concentration.14th verse: “If a person dies when sattva guna is predominant, he goes to higher regions and stays with higher beings. Later, he is born in a surrounding where he can continue his spiritual journey.”15th verse: “If a person dies when rajo guna is predominant, he is born among people who are hyper-active. If a person does when tamo guna is predominant, he is born among the lower species.”At death, even though our senses of perception and action are gone, the tendencies that they created are stored in the Antahkarana (mind, intellect, memory and ego). These stored tendencies in the Antahkarana are never lost and are born again.In the 6th chapter, in the 37th, 38th and 39th verse, Arjuna asks: “Suppose a person is endowed with shraddha and is making an earnest effort to control his mind. Yet, he fails to attain perfection. What happens to such a person? “In answer to Arjuna's questions, Lord Krishna says that the one who is desirous of entering the path of Yoga, will be born in a pure and prosperous family, where his parents are spiritually oriented, and where his unfulfilled desires can be fulfilled. The one who is advanced and has entered the path of spiritual life, will be born in a family that has a tradition of producing great spiritual aspirants.Bhagavata Purana is the story of King Parikshit who has seven days left to live because of a curse. The entire Purana is a response to his question to Sage Suka – “What should a dying man do? How should he live the rest of his life?” Suka says: “One should be able to live life in such a way that he can leave the body with a smile on his face and with holy thought in his mind.” One is able to depart in such a manner only if sattva guna predominates in him.

Introducing Sabad Hajare Patshahi 10, new translations and commentaries of Guru Gobind Singh Sahib's composition. Harinder Singh (Innovation Director) and Jasleen Kaur (Research Associate) discuss their learnings and challenges while engaging with the words of this composition. The unique contexts and subversions these compositions reveal are a treat for those who yearn to get to know Guru Gobind Singh Sahib and those who yearn to celebrate Guru Gobind Singh Sahib. In the eighth composition of the “Sabad Hajare Patisahi 10” (popularly Shabad Hazare Patshahi 10) series, Guru Gobind Singh Sahib questions how That One can be said to be in one human form. Guru Sahib shakes the yogic methods and techniques of the methodological discipline of intense concentration and replaces them with an intimate connection with That One. In this ninth podcast, Harinder Singh and Jasleen Kaur explore Guru Gobind Singh Sahib's utterances on the vastness of IkOankar. They discuss the Guru's description of how even the holiest of people lost themselves in intense concentration, and his guidance towards understanding that no matter the person, deity, ghost, or spirit, all are calling That One infinite. Sabad ਬਿਲਾਵਲੁ ਪਾਤਿਸਾਹੀ ੧੦ ਸੋ ਕਿਮਿ ਮਾਨਸ ਰੂਪ ਕਹਾਏ॥ ਸਿਧ ਸਮਾਧਿ ਸਾਧਿ ਕਰਿ ਹਾਰੇ ਕ੍ਯੋ ਹੂੰ ਨ ਦੇਖਨ ਪਾਏ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ॥ ਨਾਰਦ ਬਿਆਸ ਪਰਾਸਰ ਧ੍ਰੂਅ ਸੇ ਧਿਆਵਤਿ ਧਿਆਨ ਲਗਾਏ॥੧॥ ਬੇਦ ਪੁਰਾਨਿ ਹਾਰਿ ਹਠਿ ਛਾਡਿਓ ਤਦਪਿ ਧਿਆਨ ਨ ਆਏ॥੧॥ ਦਾਨਵ ਦੇਵ ਪਿਸਾਚ ਪ੍ਰੇਤ ਤੇ ਨੇਤਹਿ ਨੇਤ ਕਹਾਏ॥ ਸੂਛਮ ਤੇ ਸੂਛਮ ਕਰਿ ਚੀਨੇ ਬ੍ਰਿਧਨ ਬ੍ਰਿਧ ਬਤਾਏ॥੨॥ ਭੂਮਿ ਅਕਾਸ ਪਤਾਲ ਸਭੈ ਸਜਿ ਏਕ ਅਨੇਕ ਸਦਾਏ॥ ਸੋ ਨਰ ਕਾਲਫਾਂਸ ਤੇ ਬਾਚੇ ਜੋ ਹਰਿ ਸਰਣਿ ਸਿਧਾਏ॥੩॥੧॥੮॥ Translation That One ‍Are we lost in yoga and meditation? Bilaval Sovereign 10 How can That One be said to be in one human form? The Siddhas could not see That One, lost themselves in perfect consciousness and intense concentration. Pause-reflect. Likes of Narada, Vyasa, Prasara, and Dhruva concentrated with intense concentration. Vedas and Puranas lost and left after stubbornness; even then, they could not concentrate on That One. Even demigods, deities, spirits, and ghosts call That One infinite and infinite. That One is recognized as the finest among the finest; That One is labeled as the greatest among the greatest. That One created all — land, sky, and nether regions — the One is known for many forms. Only that person is free from the noose of death who takes refuge in Hari-1. Read the full article: SikhRI.org/Articles ~~~ Presenters Harinder Singh - sikhri.org/people/harinder-singh Jasleen Kaur - sikhri.org/people/jasleen-kaur Credits Art - Kiran Kaur Ahluwalia (https://sikhri.org/people/kiran-kaur) Caligraphy - Albel Singh (https://sikhri.org/people/albel-singh) Sabad Kirtan - Bhai Balbir Singh (https://sikhri.org/articles/bhai-balbir-singh) Sabad Narration - Harjinder Singh (https://sikhri.org/people/harjinder-singh-gharsana) #GuruGobindSingh #Sabad #Shabad #Sikh #Sikhism #Poetry --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-cast-sikhri/support

algorithms are distorting our perception of reality - we need to be meeting with people in person more / dance unabashedly / all the sages draw from the teachings of Vyasa / how do we know that Bhakti is not just a concession, rather than the goal? / this is not our real home SB 4.29.45-49