Gems from Gandhiji-2:

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 is a personal God to those who need His personal presence. He is embodied to those who need His touch. He is 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. ...And surely conscience is but a poor and laborious paraphrase of the simple combination of three letters called 'GOD'.

Courtesy: 'Truth is God' (Gleanings from the writings of Mahatma Gandhi bearing on God, God-Realization and the Godly Way), Compiled by R.K.Prabhu, Published by Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedbad-380014.

Gems from Vedanta-9:

The Jivatman or the individual soul is the shadow of Paramatman, the Cosmic Substance.

Gems from Swami Chidbhavananda-4:

He who knows the value of time has known the secret of life.

Gems from Thirukkural-2:

That lore is vain which does not fall

At His good feet who knoweth all.

Translated by Yogi Shuddhananda Bharati

Gems from the Bhagavad Gita-12:

Action is superior to inaction. Hence perform your prescribed duties with detachment.

Gems from Swami Vivekananda-16:

All the strength and succour you want is within yourselves. Therefore make your own future. 'Let the dead past bury its dead.' The infinite future is before you, and you must always remember that each word, thought, and deed, lays up a store for you and that, as the bad thoughts and bad works are ready to spring upon you like tigers, so also there is the inspiring hope that the good thoughts and good deeds are ready with the power of a hundred thousand angels to defend you always and for ever.

For Spiritual Aspirants-3: "Sattva is the Last Step"

A man endowed with sattva is quiet and peaceful. So far as dress is concerned anything will do. He earns only enough money to give his stomach the simplest food. He never flatters man to get money. He does not hanker for name and fame. His worship, charity and meditation are done in secret; people do not known about them at all.

Sattva is the last step of the stairs; next is the roof. As soon as sattva is acquired, there is no further delay in attaining God. One step forward and God is realized!

Source: Not available

For Spiritual Aspirants-2: "SPIRITUAL PROGRESS"

There is benefit for you in every situation. If, that is, you know how to look for it.

The idea behind steady spiritual progress is to see every circumstance and situation (particularly those that challenge you) as a tailor-made lesson in your personal plan for self-development.

For example, in a situation where hurtful or angry words were exchanged, why not see it as the chance either to perceive things about your own character which need changing or to rehearse some virtue or quality that you need to put into practice more often? Actually, we should be grateful for the opportunity to evaluate ourselves.

In this way, you can transform anything into a constructive lesson. Never think that you have learned enough and now can stop. You should love it when people try to correct you or give you advice. It keeps you alert and gives you plenty of opportunity to put your truth into practice. It is a sign of great danger to be unable to accept criticism and instead use your understanding to criticise others. Realise deeply the significance of every moment, and your spiritual progress will be assured.

Courtesy: "Companion of God: The Wisdom and Words of Dadi Janki" - Published by the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, London.

Grateful thanks to the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University.

"Burning Incense sticks good for brain!"

Religious leaders have contended for millennia that burning incense is good for the soul. Now, biologists have learned that it is good for our brains too. An international team of scientists, including researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, describe how burning frankincense (resin from the Boswellia plant) activates poorly understood ion channels in the brain to alleviate anxiety or depression. This suggests that an entirely new class of depression and anxiety drugs might be right under our noses. "In spite of information stemming from ancient texts, constituents of Boswellia had not been investigated for psychoactivity," said Raphael Mechoulam, one of the research study's co-authors. "We found that incensole acetate, a Boswellia resin constituent, when tested in mice, lowers anxiety and causes antidepressive-like behaviour. Apparently, most present day worshippers assume that incense burning has only a symbolic meaning." To determine incense's psychoactive effects, the researchers administered incensole acetate to mice. They found that the compound significantly affected areas in brain known to be involved in emotions as well as in nerve circuits that are affected by current anxiety and depression drugs. Specifically, incensole acetate activated a protein in mammalian brains.....
Excerpt from Sunday Times of India, Chennai, June 29, 2008.
Wikipedia article on "Boswellia":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boswellia
Grateful thanks to The Times of India and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Gems from Paramahamsa Yogananda-3:

Anxiety and Stress:

The disturbance of mental equilibrium, which results in nervous disorders, is caused by continutous states of excitement or excessive stimulation of the senses. Indulgence in constant thoughts of fear, anger, melancholy, remorse, envy, sorrow, hatred, discontent, or worry; and lack of the necessities for normal happy living, such as right food, proper exercise, fresh air, sunshine, agreeable work and purpose in life, all are the causes of nervous disease.

On Prayer-1: "Prayer - The Essence of Religion" by Gandhiji

I believe that prayer is the very soul and essence of religion, and therefore prayer must be the very core of the life of man, for no man can live without religion. There are some who in the egotism of their reason declare that they have nothing to do with religion. But it is like a man saying that he breathes but that he has no nose. Whether by reason, or by instinct, or by superstition, man acknowledges some sort of relationship with the divine.

.... prayer is the very core of man's life, as it is the most vital part of religion. Prayer is either petitional or in its wider sense is inward communion. In either case the ultimate result is the same. Even when it is petitional, the petition should be for the cleansing and purification of the soul, for freeing it from the layers of ignorance and darkness that envelop it. He therefore who hungers for the awakening of the divine in him must fall back on prayer. But prayer is no mere exercise of words or of the ears, it is no mere repetition of empty formula. Any amount of repetition of Ramanama is futile if it fails to stir the soul. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart. It must be in clear response to the spirit which hungers for it. And even as a hungry man relishes a hearty meal, a hungry soul will relish a heartfelt prayer. And I am giving you a bit of my experience and that of my companions when I say that he who has experienced the magic of prayer may do without food for days together but not a single moment without a prayer. For without prayer there is no inward peace.

If that is the case, someone will say, we should be offering our prayers every minute of our lives. There is no doubt about it, but we erring mortals, who find it difficult to retire within ourselves for inward communion even for a single moment, will find it impossible to remain perpetually in communion with the divine. We therefore fix some hours when we make a serious effort to throw off the attachments of the world for a while, we make a serious endeavour to remain, so to say, out of the flesh. You have heard Surdas's hymn. It is the passionate cry of a soul hungering for union with the divine. According to our standards, he was a saint, but according to his own he was a proclaimed sinner. Spiritually he was miles ahead of us, but he felt the separation from the divine so keenly that he has uttered that anguished cry in loathing and despair.

I have talked of the necessity for prayer, and there through I have dealt with the essence of prayer. We are born to serve our fellowmen, and we cannot properly do so unless we are wide awake. There is an eternal struggle raging in man's breast between the powers of darkness and of light, and he who has not the sheet-anchor of prayer to rely upon will be a victim to the powers of darkness. The man of prayer will be at peace with himself and with the whole world; the man who goes about the affairs of the world without a prayerful heart will be miserable and will make the world also miserable. Apart therefore from its bearing on man's condition after death, prayer has incalculable value for man in this world of the living. Prayer is the only means of bringing about orderliness and peace and repose in our daily acts. Take care of the vital thing and other things will take care of themselves. Rectify one angle of a square, and the other angles will be automatically right.

Begin therefore your day with prayer, and make it so soulful that it may remain with you until the evening. Close the day with prayer so that you may have a peaceful night free from dreams and nightmares. Do not worry about the form of prayer. Let it be any form, it should be such as can put us into communion with the divine. Only, whatever be the form, let not the spirit wander while the words of prayer run on out of your mouth.

All things in the universe, including the sun and the moon and the stars, obey certain laws. Without the restraining influence of these laws the world would not go on for a single moment. You, whose mission in life is service of your fellowmen, will go to pieces if you do not impose on yourselves some sort of discipline, and prayer is a necessary spiritual discipline. It is discipline and restraint that separates us from the brute. If we will be men walking with our heads erect and not walking on all fours, let us understand and put ourselves under voluntary discipline and restraint.

Excerpts from Gandhiji's article in "Young India", January 23, 1930.

Gems from Thirukkural-1:

'A' leads letters; the Ancident Lord
Leads and lords the entire world. (Thirukkural 1.1)

Translated by Yogi Shuddhananda Bharati

Gems from the Bhagavad Gita-11:

That person who goes about unattached giving up all sense-objects, devoid of the idea of ownership and free from egotism, he attains peace.

Gems from Swami Chidbhavananda-3:

Integrity elevates man to divinity.

Gems from Paramahamsa Yogananda-2:

We should learn how to visualize our thoughts - how to recharge them with the energy of concentration until they become visible manifestations. Proper visualization by the exercise of concentration and will power enables us to materialize thoughts, not only as dreams or visions in the mental realm, but also as experiences in the material realm. - "Man's Eternal Quest" by Sri Sri Paramahamsa Yogananda.

Gems from the Holy Mother, Sri Sarada Devi-3:

One realizes God in proportion to the intensity of one's feeling for Him.

Gems from Vedanta-8:

Obstructed desire turns into anger. It is the worst enemy of man.

Gems from Swami Vivekananda-15:

Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.

Q&A-25: "Why does man suffer when God has created man in His own image?"

The question is put in Biblical terms. According to the Bible, the original man Adam, was no doubt created in the Divine image, and he had then no suffering. But he disobeyed the Divine commandment and thereby incurred sin. But this did not end with him, sin was inherited by man, his progeny. All the trials and tribulations of mankind are attributed to this original sin of his ancestor which has been inherited by man. This is understandable and acceptable to people who have been brought up in certain traditions and who accept them unquestioningly. To others it seem very queer.

The Hindu mind has thought of it in more philosophic terms. Unlike the Christian, the Hindu will make a hard and fast distinction between the spirit (Atman) and the body-mind. The Atman, the essence in man, is never created, it is held by some to be an aspect of His being, or by other thinkers as a spiritual centre distinct from Him but still inseparably related with Him. Samsara or involvement of the Atman as Jiva, i.e. in association with body-mind is without a beginning. The association is brought about and determined by Karma or the effects and tendencies brought about by action. But how this association originally came? No thinker or scripture answers because it is unanswerable. They only point out that, as this association is without a beginning in the cyclic process of Samsara, it would be more profitable to bring abut its end than search for its beginning. The Atman is blissful, but Karma, which has brought it into indistinguishable association with body-mind, is the cause of all its sufferings. But even these joys and sufferings have a great meaning. Through the experiences of repeated lives, more and more refined body-minds are evolved, with which the Jiva is ultimately enabled to attain freedom and be established in his blissful nature. So according to this theory we will attain bliss if we find our identity in the Atman, but a mixed condition of sufferings and happiness will be our lot so long as we are identified with the body-mind.

Courtesy: "Spiritual Quest: Questions & Answers" by Swami Tapasyananda, Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai-600004.

From my Spiritual Diary-49:

* Guru Purnima or Vyasa Purnima falls this year on July 21st (written in 1986). The sacred occasion serves to remind us of the massive contribution of the myriad-minded Vyasa to our philosophy and literature. He edited and classified the Vedas, composed the Brahmasutras, wrote the Mahabharata with its crest jewel of the Gita, and gave us the innumerable Puranas crowned by Srimad Bhagavata. To Vyasa, we owe everything in our culture.

* ....today 'varna' is wrongly interpreted as caste. The Gita clearly defines 'varna' as determined by Guna and Karma.

* The excellence of a person depends on the perfection with which he does his job. It does not depend on the nature of the job as long as it is socially useful.

* That which takes us from our present state to the transcendent state is comprehensively called Dharma. The word means that which sustains, that which nourishes, that which protects, and that which gives us the beautitude. (C.S.Ramakrishnan).

Q&A-24: "How to see God?"

God can make Himself visible and appear in any form at any time. Since God is not limited to any one manifestation, it is all right to visualize Him in whatever form is dearest to your heart. He will appear to you in a form representative of one of His divine attributes...or as any avatar, saint, or great soul that you love. The first step in drawing that divine response is to visualize, with eyes closed in meditation, the image of the...saint. If your meditation is deep and your effort is persistent, you will draw God to you - Yogoda Magazine.

Courtesy: SELF-REALIZATION from YOGODA SATSANGA SOCIETY OF INDIA , KOLKATA, WEST BENGAL.

Grateful thanks to Yogoda Satsanga Society of India.