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VEDANTA FOR BEGINNERS -1.7 . SWAMI SIVANANDA

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======================================================================= ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 23/01/2020. 1. Introduction -7. 7.The Mind And Its Works  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mind is Jagat. The mind moves the senses, the Pranas, etc. Mind is the cause of bondage and  liberation. A keen study of the mind and its works is necessary for the study of Vedanta.  The presiding deity of the mind is Moon or Soma. Moon is cool. It is formed of Apas-Tattva (water). Water has a tendency to run downwards. So also the tendency of the mind is always to run downwards towards sensual objects. The external ear, the eye-balls, etc., are only instruments. They are not the real senses of Indriyas. The real centres or senses are in the brain or most correctly in the as...

VEDANTA FOR BEGINNERS -5&6. SWAMI SIVANANDA

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====================================================================== ======================================================================= 03/01/2020 5. Upasana & 6. Control Of The Senses : ====================================================================== 5. Upasana  : Practise Upasana for acquiring concentration of mind. Upasana is of various kinds, viz., Pratika Upasana, Pratima Upasana (worship of idol), Panchakopasana (worship of the five deities : Ganesha, Siva, Vishnu, Durga and Surya), worship of Avataras like Rama and Krishna, and Ahamgraha Upasana. Ahamgraha Upasana is Nirguna Upasana. The aspirant meditates on his own Self as Brahman. He identifies his individual self with the Supreme Self or Brahman. He tries to take out the Self that is hidden, within the body of five sheaths. Hence the significant name, ‘Ahamgraha’ Upasana. ‘Food is Brahman’. ‘Akasa is Brahman’. ‘Surya (Sun) is Brahman’. ‘Mind is Brahman’. ‘Prana is Brahman’,—All these are...

VEDANTA FOR BEGINNERS -4. SWAMI SIVANANDA

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======================================================================== ======================================================================== 28/11/2019. 4. RENUNCIATION : ======================================================================== The Atman can be realised only through renunciation. You have enjoyed sensual objects in millions of births. You have enjoyed sensual objects for so many years in this birth. If there has not come satisfaction in you till now, when will it come, then? Do not run after the mirage of sensual objects. The senses are deluding you. Develop dispassion and renunciation. Realise your Atman. Then only you will get eternal satisfaction, everlasting peace and immortal bliss. Wake up from your slumber of ignorance, O worldly fool! If your body-clothes catch fire, with what celerity you want to run towards water for cooling you? You must feel like this from the burning fire of Samsara. You should feel that you are roasted in the fire of Sa...

VEDANTA FOR BEGINNERS -1,2 and 3. SWAMI SIVANANDA

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======================================================================= ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 07/11/2019. Dear members, on request of some who not understood this subject well, restarting from the beginning to make them follow well. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. INTRODUCTION : Vedanta is the culmination of the Vedas. It is entering into the study of Brahman. It is the science which raises man above the plane of worldliness. It is the rational method of meditating on the Supreme Absolute, the Eternal, the Infinite. Vedanta is the culmination of human experience and is the end of the faculty of thinking. It is the greatest and the highest knowledge. This wisdom was revealed to the ancient sages. The Rishis and sages of yore have made experiments and researches in meditation and given ...

VEDANTA FOR BEGINNERS -1 : 24. : 7,8 & 9 - SWAMI SIVANANDA

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======================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20/10/2019 1. INTRODUCTION : 24 24. ILLUSTRATIONS IN VEDANTA  : 7,8, AND 9. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. Padmapatra-Nyaya This is the analogy of the lotus-leaf and water. Rain water often falls on a lotus-leaf but the water drips down and the leaf does not get stained by or attached to the water on it. In the same manner, this Atman or Brahman is untainted, though there are countless worlds rolling in it, and countless bodies are seen to be put on by it. 8. Vatagandha-Nyaya The wind carries whatever scent is exposed to it and spreads it everywhere. But the air is pure and is not defiled by bad scent or ornamented by a good scent therein. This is similar to the illustration of the...

VEDANTA FOR BEGINNERS -1 : 24. : I / 4,5, and 6.- SWAMI SIVANANDA

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========================================================================= --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15/09/2019 1. INTRODUCTION : 24 24. ILLUSTRATIONS IN VEDANTA  : 4,5, AND 6. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Kanakakundala-Nyaya : This is similar to Mrittika-Ghata-Nyaya and the analogy of iron and implements. All the ornaments are made of one type of gold, but they are of diverse forms. They are all gold only in reality. There are various kinds of jars, pots and vessels, big and small, round and narrow, and of all forms, but all of them are but mud in reality. Various kinds of implements and tools are manufactured, with various forms and uses, but all of them are iron only in reality. The names of those various formations and their forms are false, since they are, in reality, only the ori...

Vedantam for Beginners -1 : 24. : I / 1,2,3.- Swami Sivananda

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======================================================================== 13/08/2019  Vedantam for Beginners -1 : 24. : I / 1,2,3. - Swami Sivananda ======================================================================== 1. INTRODUCTION : 24 24. ILLUSTRATIONS IN VEDANTAM  : I.(Nyayas)  : The Vedanta Philosophy is best taught through practical illustrations of daily life, because its abstract truths cannot be understood by the finite intellect very easily. The main purport of Vedanta is that Brahman alone is real and the whole world of appearance is unreal, and that the Jiva is nothing but Brahman Itself. This abstruse theory cannot be comprehended by ordinary men of small understanding, who are immersed in the life of relativity and ignorance. They are taught this sublime Truth by means of illustrations suitable to them, so that they may fix their minds on the Reality through various angles of vision. -----------------------------------------------------...