I would like to discuss with you about philosophy & spirituality. Most of this articles are copycat with due permissions. When I go through some articles, it correlates with my spiritual/ideological wavelength. This happens when we discuss with some people also. I also would like to present here some personalities, texts, articles, organisations to you which really touched my mind.
Swami Vivekananda UNIVERSAL TEACHINGS OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
SEE GOD IN ALL
This is the gist of all worship - to be pure and to do good to others. He who sees Siva in the poor, in the weak, and in the diseased, really worships Siva, and if he sees Siva only in the image, his worship is but preliminary. He who has served and helped one poor man seeing Siva in him, without thinking of his cast, creed, or race, or anything, with him Siva is more pleased than with the man who sees Him only in temples.
GOD IS WITHIN YOU
It is impossible to find God outside of ourselves. Our own souls contribute all of the divinity that is outside of us. We are the greatest temple. The objectification is only a faint imitation of what we see within ourselves.
PERSEVERE IN YOUR SEARCH FOR GOD
To succeed, you must have tremendous perseverance, tremendous will. "I will drink the ocean," says the persevering soul, "at my will mountains will crumble up." Have that sort of energy, that sort of will, work hard, and you will reach the goal.
TRUST COMPLETELY IN GOD
Stand up for God; let the world go. Blessed is the man who trusts in the God and whose trust is in the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a steam and will not fear when heat comes. But its leaves will be greenand it will not be anxious in a years of drought nor cease to yield fruit.
LOVE OF GOD IS ESSENTIAL
Giving up all other thoughts, with the whole mind day and night worship God. Thus being worshipped day and night, He reveals himself and makes His worshippers feel His presence.
I shall describe the people whom I love. They have goodwill towards all living beings, and are incapable of ill will. They are friendly and compassionate. They regard nothing as their own possession, and want no position of power for themselves. They are indifferent to both pleasure and pain. They are patient, contented, and self-controlled. They are firm in faith, and their hearts and minds are utterly devoted to me.
Their serenity is constant, and cannot be disturbed by others; on the contrary, their presence makes others feel serene. They are not elated by good fortune, nor depressed by misfortune. They do not compete with others and they have no fear of failure.
They are not attracted to particular people and places; nor are they repelled by particular people and places. They are both selfless and efficient in all their actions. They have no desire for pleasure and no fear of pain. They never grieve over the death of others or the loss of material goods; they accept with equanimity every event as it occurs.
They love friends and enemies equally. They are not encouraged by praise nor discouraged by blame. Whether they are honored or despised, they remain perfectly calm. Within their hearts there is silence.
These are the people whom I especially love. {From Bhagavad Gita 10, 13-16.}
[Bhagavad Gita is the dialog between Krishna and Arjuna before the Great Battle described in the epic Mhabharata. When the opposing armies stand ready to begin battle, the warrior prince Arjuna had a second thought about fighting and killing his kinsmen and lays down his arms.
Krishna, in the form of Arjuna's charioteer and friend, counsels him that, as a warrior, it is Arjuna's duty to fight. The discussion soon evolves into a general philosophical debate about the nature of the Self (atman), Brahman and the different paths to moksha. Krishna's 'Sermon of the Gita' is concerned with upholding the stability of society through the performance of one's duty (sva dharma).]
Prayer by Saint Francis of Assisi
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith,
Where there is despair, hope,
Where there is darkness, light,
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much
seek to be consoled as to console,
not so much to be understood as to understand,
not so much to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
it is in dying that we awake to eternal life.
Putting Prayer in Its Place - Teachings of Jesus Christ
(Matthew 6:5-13) Jesus’ instruction on prayer in Matthew begins this way:
“Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you”.
“When you pray, do not babble repetitiously like the Gentiles, because they think that by their many words they will be heard. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him”.
“So pray this way: Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored, may your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.
Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we ourselves have forgiven our debtors.
Jesus concludes His model prayer with these words: “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one”.
The Way of Love (1 Corinthians 13:1-13)
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I receive no benefit.
Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up. It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when what is perfect comes, the partial will be set aside. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways. For now we see in a mirror indirectly,but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.
She jumped up as soon as she saw the surgeon come out of the operating room. She said: 'How is my little boy ? Is he going to be all right ? When can I see him ?'
The surgeon said, 'I'm sorry. We did all we could, but your boy didn't make it..'
Sally said, 'Why do little children get cancer ? Doesn't God care any more ? Where were you, God, when my son needed you ?'
The surgeon asked, 'Would you like some time alone with your son ? One of the nurses will be out in a few minutes, before he's transported to the university.'
Sally asked the nurse to stay with her while she said good bye to son. She ran her fingers lovingly through his thick red curly hair. 'Would you like a lock of his hair ?' the nurse asked. Sally nodded yes. The nurse cut a lock of the boy's hair, put it in a plastic bag and handed it to Sally.
The mother said, 'It was Jimmy's idea to donate his body to the University for Study. He said it might help somebody else. 'I said no at first, but Jimmy said, 'Mom, I won't be using it after I die. Maybe it will help some other little boy spend one more day with his Mom.' She went on, 'My Jimmy had a heart of gold. Always thinking of someone else. Always wanting to help others if he could.'
Sally walked out of Children's Mercy Hospital for the last time, after spending most of the last six months there. She put the bag with Jimmy's belongings on the seat beside her in the car.
The drive home was difficult. It was even harder to enter the empty house. She carried Jimmy's belongings, and the plastic bag with the lock of his hair to her son's room.
She started placing the model cars and other personal things back in his room exactly where he had always kept them. She laid down across his bed and, hugging his pillow, cried herself to sleep.
It was around midnight when Sally awoke. Laying beside her on the bed was a folded letter. The letter said:
'Dear Mom,
I know you're going to miss me; but don't think that I will ever forget you, or stop loving you, just 'cause I'm not around to say 'I Love You'. I will always love you, Mom, even more with each day. Someday we will see each other again. Until then, if you want to adopt a little boy so you won't be so lonely, that's okay with me. He can have my room and old stuff to play with. But, if you decide to get a girl instead, she probably wouldn't like the same things us boys do. You'll have to buy her dolls and stuff girls like, you know.
Don't be sad thinking about me. This really is a neat place. Grandma and Grandpa met me as soon as I got here and showed me around some, but it will take a long time to see everything. The angels are so cool. I love to watch them fly. And, you know what? Jesus doesn't look like any of his pictures. Yet, when I saw Him, I knew it was Him. Jesus himself took me to see GOD ! And guess what, Mom ? I got to sit on God's knee and talk to Him, like I was somebody important. That's when I told Him that I wanted to write you a letter, to tell you good bye and everything. But I already knew that wasn't allowed. Well, you know what Mom ? God handed me some paper and His own personal pen to write you this letter. I think Gabriel is the name of the angel who is going to drop this letter off to you. God said for me to give you the answer to one of the questions you asked Him 'Where was He when I needed him ?' 'God said He was in the same place with me, as when His son Jesus was on the cross. He was right there, as He always is with all His children.
Oh, by the way, Mom, no one else can see what I've written except you. To everyone else this is just a blank piece of paper. Isn't that cool ? I have to give God His pen back now He needs it to write some more names in the Book of Life. Tonight I get to sit at the table with Jesus for supper. I'm sure the food will be great.
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I don't hurt anymore The cancer is all gone. I'm glad because I couldn't stand that pain anymore and God couldn't stand to see me hurt so much, either. That's when He sent The Angel of Mercy to come get me. The Angel said I was a Special Delivery ! How about that ?
Signed with Love from God, Jesus & Me. (a true...touching story received through e-mail)
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. 4By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead." Hebrews 11:1-3 (By Faith) There are certain steps we must follow for faith to be properly incubated and a central truth about the realm faith operates in. There is also a basic principle about the spoken word that we need to understand. So I want to speak to you about the creative power of the spoken word and the reason why the useage of it is so important. One morning I was eating breakfast with one of Korea’s leading neurosurgeons, and he was telling me about a recent finding about various operations of the brain. He asked, “Dr. Cho, did you know that the speech center in the brain rules over all the nerves? You ministers really have power, because according to our recent findings in neurology, the speech center in the brain has total dominion over all the other nerves.” I laughed saying, “I’ve known that for a long time.” He asked me, “How did you know that? In the world of neurology, these are new findings.” I replied that I had learned it from Dr. James. “Who is this Dr. James,” he asked. “Why, he was one of the famous doctors in Biblical times nearly 2000 years ago,” I replied. “And in his book, chapter 3 the first few verses, Dr. James clearly defines the activity and the importance of the tongue and the speech center.” The neurosurgeon was completely amazed. “Does the Bible really teach about this?” “Yes, the tongue is the least member of the body, but it can bridle the whole body.” Then the neurosurgeon began to expond on their findings. He said that the speech nerve center has such power over all the body that simply speaking can give one control over his body to manipulate it in the way he wishes. He said, “if someone keeps on saying, ‘I’m going to become weak,’ then right away, all the nerves receive that message and they say, ‘oh, let’s prepare to become weak, for we have received instructions from our central communication that we should become weak.’ They then in natural sequence adjust their physical attitude to weakness. If someone says, ‘Well, I have no ability - I can’t do this job, then right away all the nerves begin to declare the same thing. ‘Yes, they respond, we received instructions from the central nervous system saying that we have no abilities. To give up striving to develop any capability we must prepare ourselves to become a part of an incapable person.’ “If someone keeps saying, ‘I’m very old, I’m so very old and so tired, I can’t do anything,’ then right away the speech central control response begins giving out orders to that effect. The nerves response - ‘yes, we are old. We are ready for the grave. Let’s be ready to disintigrate.’ If someone keeps on saying that he is old, then that person is soon going to die.” The neurosurgeon continued saying that man should never retire. Once a man retires, he keeps repeating to himself, “I am retired.” And all the nerves start responding and become less active and ready for a quick death. That conversation carried great meaning to me. It made an impact on my life. For I could see that one important useage of the spoken word is the creation of a successful personal life. People easily adapt to speaking in an negative way. “Boy am I poor. I don’t even have any money to the Lord.” When an opportunity does come for a job with a good salary, the nervous system responds. “I’m not able to be rich, because I haven’t received that reverse instruction from my nerve center yet. I’m supposed to be poor. So I can’t accept this job. I’m not supposed to have money.” Light attracts light. And since you act as if you were a poor person, you attract poverty. This attraction, if it remains permanent, will allow you to dwell permantly in poverty. Exactly as the Bible said 2000 years ago, it is so today. Medical science has just recently discovered this principle. This one neurosurgeon said that people should keep saying to themselves, “I am young, I am able, I can do the work of a young person, no matter what my chronological age is.” The nerves of that person will become alive and receive power and strength from the nerve center. The Bible says clearly that whosoever controls the tongue controls the whole body. What you speak, you are going to get. If you keep on saying you are poor, then all your system conditions yourself to attract poverty. You will feel at home in poverty. You would rather be poor and argue with people who aren’t. But if you will keep on saying that you are able - that you can achieve success, then all of your body would be bridled to success. You would be ready to meet any challenge; ready to conquer it. This is the reason you should never speak in a negative way. We have the habit of making frequent use of words that have to do with dying. Common expresions are, “it’s so warm I could die. Oh, I’ve eaten so much I could suffocate to death. Oh, I’m so happy I could die. Oh, I’m scared to death. Koreans repeatedly use these negative words. That is the reason that throughout Korea 5000 year history we have been constantly dying constantly at war. My generation has never seen peace in this country. I was born during World War II, and I grew up during the Korean War. And now we still live in a country on the brink of war. Before you can be changed, you must change your language. If you do not change your language, you cannot change yourself. If you want to see your children change, you must teach them how to use proper language. If you want to see rebellious and irresponsible children change into responsible adults, you must teach them this new language. Where can we learn this new language? From the best book of all. The Bible. From Genesis to Revelation. The Bible’s language, the Bible’s rules for the tongue. (Look up all the words having to do with the tongue such as “speak,” “speech,” “words,” “tongue,” etc, in the Bible. )* Feed your nervous system with these words. Constructive, progressive, productive, victorious words. Keep repeating them so that you can have control of your whole body. Then you will become victorious. For you will become completely conditioned to meet your environment and circumstances and achieve complete success.
® Dr. Paul David Yonggi Cho is a KoreanChristianminister. He is Senior Pastor and founder of the Yoido Full Gospel Church (Assemblies of God), the world's largest congregation with a membership of 830,000 (as of 2007)
Adhi Shankaracharya wrote a number of vedantic works for imparting knowledge of the self and the universal spirit. He also composed a number of hymns to foster Bhakthi in the hearts of men. One of these hymns is the famous Bhaja govindaM. The way of devotion, is not different from the way of knowledge or gnyana. When intelligence matures and lodges securely in the mind, it becomes wisdom. When wisdom is integrated with life and issues out in action, it becomes bhakthi. Knowledge, when it becomes fully mature is bhakthi. If it doesnot get transformed into bhakthi, such knowledge is useless tinsel. To believe that gnyana and bhakthi, knowledge and devotion are different from each other, is ignorance. If Sri Adi Shankara himself who drank the ocean of gnyana as easily as one sip water from the palm of one's hand, sang in his later years, hymns to develop devotion, it is enough to show that gnyana and bhakthi are one and the same. Sri Shankara has packed into the Bhaja govindaM song: the substance of all vedanta, and set the oneness of gnyana and bhakthi to melodious music. Bhaja govindaM is one of the minor compositions of the spiritual gaint, Adi SHANKARA. It is classified as a Prakarana grantha, a primer to the major works. Though sung as a bhajan, it contains the essence of vedanta and awakens the man to think, "Why am I here in this life ? Why am I amassing wealth, family, but have no peace ? What is the Truth ? What is the purpose of life ?" Man is thus awakened and gets set on a path to the inner road back to God. The background of Bhaja GovindaM is worth examining. During Shankara's stay in Kashi, he noticed a very old man engaged in the early hours studying the rules of sanskrit by Panini. Shankara was touched with pity seeing the plight of the old man spending his years at a mere intellectual accomplishment while he would be better off praying and spending time to control his mind. Shankara understood that the majority of the world was also engaged in mere intellectual, sense pleasures and not in the divine contemplation. Seeing this, he burst forth with the verses of Bhaja govindaM. In 31 (some cite 33) verses, he, like no other, explains our fallacies, our wrong outlook for life, and dispells our ignorance and delusions. Thus bhaja govindaM was originally known as Moha Mudgara, the remover of delusions. Shankara explains, nay chides, us for spending our time in useless trivia like amassing wealth, lusting after (wo)men and requests us to discriminate and cultivate the knowledge to learn the difference between the real and the unreal. To emphasize that all knowledge other than Self-Knowledge is useless, Shankara makes the man realize how foolish he is in his conduct and behavior by these verses, and shows him the purpose of our worldly existence, which is to seek Govinda and attain Him. Bhaja govindaM is divided into dvaadasa manjarika stotram and chaturdasa manjarika stotram. At the end of composing the first stanza, it is said that Shankara burst forth with the next 12 stanzas of bhaja govindam. Thus stanzas 1-12 are called dvaadas manjarika stotram. Inspired by the extempore recital by Shankara, each of his 14 disciples composed a verse and the 14 verse compendium is called chaturdasa manjarika stotram. Shankara added the finishing touches by adding five of his own stanzas at the last bring the total to 31. This edition shows 33 verses, though the last 2 are not given in all versions. Bhaja govindaM has been set to musical tones and sung as prayer songs by children. It is divided into dvaadashapaJNjarikaa and charpaTapaJNjarikaa for this purpose. The former is a set of verses (verses 1,2,5,11,18,20,21,23,27,29,31) while the rest of the verses form charpaTapaJNjarikaa. Anyone who listens to the music of Bhaja govindaM is attracted to it. However, the significance of the text goes much deeper and contains a well defined philosophy of attaining salvation. Shankara words here seem to be quite piercing and seem to lack his softness and tenderness often found in his other texts. The reason is that this was an extempore recital to an old man. His words can be compared to a knife of a doctor. The doctor's knife cruely removes the tumor with much pain, but removing the tumor ultimately restores good health in the patient. So is Shankara's words, which pierce and point out our ignorance. It is a knife into the heart of worldliness, and by removing this tumor of ignorance, we can attain everlasting bliss with the grace of Govinda. May the acharayaa guide us from ignorance to truth and help us remember the song of Swami Vivekananda at all times : Meditate, O my mind, on the Lord Hari, The stainless One, Pure spirit through and through. How peerless is the Light that in Him shines ! How soul-bewitching is His wondrous form ! How dear is He to all His devotees ! Ever more beauteous in fresh blossoming love That shames the splendour of a million moons Like lightning gleams the glory of His form Raising erect the hair for very joy Worship his feet in the lotus of your heart with mind serene and eyes made radiant with heavenly love, behold that matchless sight. Caught in the spell of His love's ecstasy, Immerse yourself for evermore, O mind In Him who is pure knowledge and pure bliss. OM tat sat.
Nitya was born November 2, 1923, as the first son of Pandalam Raghava Panicker, a poet and professional teacher in Kerala. After his matriculation, he left home as a wandering mendicant to familiarize himself with the land and people of his country of birth. In those days, India was undivided. His wanderings took him to every nook and cranny of the subcontinent, both cities and villages, of almost all parts of what is now India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. He met all the great people of the subcontinent including great leaders like Mohandas Gandhi and poets of high repute. He sat at the feet of several spiritual masters, including Sufi fakirs, Jain munis and Buddhist monks, and Hindu teachers such as Ramana Maharshi and Nityananda. In 1947 he joined the University College, Alwaye, to continue his academic studies. After specializing in Philosophy and Psychology he taught these subjects in two Indian Universities. He again sat at the feet of highly reputed sannyasis to learn Vedanta, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimamsa, Indian poetics and literature. In 1951, he accepted Nataraja Guru as his spiritual preceptor and after Nataraja Guru left his body, Guru Nitya functioned as the continuator of Narayana Guru and Nataraja Guru as Guru and Head of Narayana Gurukula. As Narayana Gurukula is a world community, the Guru has to act as a liaison between all members of the Gurukula at an interpersonal level in the teacher-taught context and as the enunciator of programs from time to time to spur the Gurukula community to work in unison, to help everyone to understand his or her integral value vision (svadharma). Guru Nitya published over 120 books in Malayalam and 80 books in English, as well as countless articles on philosophy, psychology, social ethics and aesthetics. He also functioned as the chairperson of the East-West University, as the Commissioner for World Education and as a committed sponsor of the World Government of World Citizens. He attained his mahasamadhi on May 14, 1999 and his legacy of love and wisdom continues in his writing and in his disciples.
To me God is Truth and Love; God is ethics and morality; God is fearlessness. God is the source of Light and Life and yet He is above and beyond all these. God is conscience. He is even the atheism of the atheist. For in His boundless love God permits the atheist to live. He is the searcher of hearts. He transcends speech and reason. He knows us and our hearts better than we do ourselves. He does not take us at our word, for He knows that we often do not mean it, some knowingly and others unknowingly.
He is a personal God to those who need His personal presence. He is embodied to those who need His touch. He is the purest essence. He simply is to those who have faith. He is all things to all men. He is in us and yet above and beyond us… He cannot cease to be because hideous immoralities or inhuman brutalities are committed in His name. He is long-suffering. He is patient but He is also terrible. He is the most exacting personage in the world and the world to come. He metes out the same measure to us that we mete out to our neighbors--men and brutes. With Him ignorance is no excuse. And withal He is ever forgiving, for He always gives us the chance to repent. He is the greatest democrat the world knows, for He leaves us 'unfettered' to make our own choice between evil and good. He is the greatest tyrant ever know, for He often dashes the cup from our lips and under cove of free will leaves us a margin so wholly inadequate as to provide only mirth for Himself at our expense. Therefore it is that Hinduism calls it all His sport--lila, or calls it all an illusion--maya. We are not, He alone Is. And if we will be, we must eternally sing His praise and do His will. Let us dance to the tune of His bansi--lute, and all would be well. God is the hardest taskmaster I have known on this earth, and He tries you through and through. And when you find that your faith is failing or your body is failing you and you are sinking, He comes to your assistance somehow or other and proves to you that you must not lose your faith and that He is always at your beck and call, but on His terms, not on your terms. So I have found. I cannot really recall a single instance when, at the eleventh hour, He has forsaken me. In my early youth I was taught to repeat what in Hindu scriptures are known as one thousand names of God. But these one thousand names of God were by no means exhaustive. We believe--and I think it is the truth--that God has as many names as there are creatures and, therefore, we also say that God is nameless and, since God has many forms, we also consider Him formless, and since He speaks to us through many tongues, we consider Him to be speechless and so on. And so when I came to study Islam, I found that Islam too had many names for God. I would say with those who say God is Love, God is Love. But deep down in me I used to say that though God may be Love, God is Truth, above all. If it is possible for the human tongue to give the fullest description of God, I have come to the conclusion that, for myself, God is Truth. But two years ago I went a step further and said that Truth is God. You will see the fine distinction between the two statements, viz., that God is Truth and Truth is God. And I came to the conclusion after a continuous and relentless search after Truth, which began nearly fifty years ago. I then found that the nearest approach to Truth was through love. But I also found that love has many meanings in the English language at least and that human love in the sense of passion could become a degrading thing also. I found too that love in the sense of ahimsa had only a limited number of votaries in the world. But I never found a double meaning in connection with truth and not even atheist had demurred to the necessity or power of truth. But, in their passion for discovering truth, the atheists have not hesitated to deny the very existence of God--from their own point of view, rightly. And it was because of this reasoning that I saw that, rather than say that God is Truth, I should say that Truth is God. God is Truth, but God is many other things also. That is why I say Truth is God…. Only remember that Truth is not one of the many qualities that we name. It is the living embodiments of God, it is the only Life, and I identify Truth with the fullest life, and that is how it becomes a concrete thing, for God is His whole creation, the whole Existence, and service of all that exists--Truth--is service of God. Perfection is the attribute of the Almighty, and yet what a great democrat He is! What an amount of wrong and humbug He suffers on our part! He even suffers us insignificant creatures of His to question His very existence, though He is in every atom about us, around us and within us. But He has reserved to Himself the right of becoming manifest to whomsoever He chooses. He is a Being without hands and feet and other organs, yet he can see Him to whom He chooses to reveal Himself.
an I see him ?' 
