​​🌿As a lake gives birth to various things such as the fish, the frog, the lotus and the reed, even so children born of one womb differ in intelligence, temperament and bodily frame. Some things in a child are passed on to him by his parents and some are from his past Karma. But even that which is from the parents as well as which parents he is to be born to, is determined only by his own Karma. For no Soul needs to bear another's burden but only his own. I, the Great Life and Creator of all living things, am Ever Compassionate and Just. And so is My Sanatan (Eternal) Dharma.

🌿I do not create evil, but man himself does so, when he chooses another path instead of following My Law (Dharma). Evil (Adharma) is a force that arises from opposition to what is right (Dharma). It enters the sinner's heart and takes hold of his life. Thus he suffers until he takes to the right path. He that follows My Law, shall never suffer except for his own good. For until Perfection is attained, (the experience of) pain may still be needful for the perfecting of the Soul and the mending of his life. But when man has become Perfect neither pain nor Death shall ever touch him. As for the others, who are unfaithful to My Law, they shall each fare according to his Karma. This is the Sanatan (Eternal) Dharma.

🌿Dharma is Righteousness Itself. It is the World Order whereby Truth governs everything that It creates and whereby It makes everything abide in Unity with Itself. Dharma manifests itself in all things that are true, just, beautiful and good. In those that are not thus, It is dormant and unmanifest. It is by the following of Dharma that good works (satkarma) are done and good rewards are enjoyed in return. Those that follow It not, shall abide in the shadow of Discord. Their works shall come to naught and they shall suffer an ill fate. But he that follows My Sanatan (Eternal) Dharma shall not be harmed by evil Karma. Dharma is the World-Supporting (nourishing) Law.

🌿Therefore, know that there are two kinds of pain suffered by man. That which is a punishment for evil deeds and that which is for a good end. For sometimes man himself willingly goes through hardships to attain a desired end. But in the end both kinds of pain are for the perfecting of the Soul. I am Ever Compassionate and All-Wise. Doubt not My Wisdom, for to do so is a great sin. Follow not in the footsteps of the weak-hearted. If doubt enters your heart, know that it is doubt itself that is to be doubted and not Truth.

~Lord Shiva to Sages 🕉
•Shiva Rahasya, Chapter 9, Verses 41-44

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MUST WATCH

🍃🌸Shiva Manas Puja🌸🍃

•Composed by Adi Shankaracharya

[With Sanskrit Shloka and English Translation]

~Duration - 5:50 mins

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🌿Evil of "I" and "Mine"🌿

🌼'I' and 'mine' - these constitute ignorance. 'My house', 'my wealth', 'my learning', 'my possessions' - the attitude that prompts one to say such things comes of ignorance. On the contrary, the attitude born of Knowledge is: 'O God, You are the Master, and all these things belong to you. House, family, children, attendants, friends, are yours.'

🌼God laughs on two occasions. He laughs when the physician says to the patient's mother, 'Don't be afraid, mother; I shall certainly cure your boy.' God laughs, saying to Himself, 'I am going to take his life, and this
man says he will save it!' The physician thinks he is the master, forgetting that God is the Master. God laughs again when two brothers divide their land with a string, saying to each other, 'This side is mine and that side is yours'. He laughs and says to Himself, 'The whole universe belongs to Me, but they say they own this portion or that portion.'

Master (Sri Ramakrishna, laughing): Can one know God through reasoning? Be His servant, surrender yourself to Him, and then pray to Him. God cannot be realized through mere scholarly reasoning.

Intoxicated with divine love, the Master sang :-

Who is there that can understand what Mother Kāli is?
Even the six darsanas are powerless to reveal Her.
It is She, the scriptures say, that is the Inner Self
Of the yogi, who in Self discovers all his joy;
She that, of Her own sweet will, inhabits every living thing.
The macrocosm and microcosm rest in the Mother's womb;
Now do you see how vast it is? In the Muladhara
The yogi meditates on Her, and in the Sahasrara:
Who but Śiva has beheld Her as She really is?
Within the lotus wilderness She sports beside Her Mate, the Swan.
When man aspires to understand Her, Ramprasad must smile;
To think of knowing Her, he says, is quite as laughable
As to imagine one can swim across the boundless sea.
But while my mind has understood, alas! my heart has not;
Though but a dwarf, it still would strive to make a captive of the moon.

Continuing, the Master said: Did you notice? The macrocosm and microcosm rest in the Mother's womb; Now do you see how vast it is?

Again, the poet says: Even the six darsanas are powerless to reveal Her. She cannot be realized by means of mere scholarship.

~From: The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

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Question: Why has God created the world?

Swami Sivananda: Ask God why He has created this world! Attain wisdom of the Self. Then you will know why God created the world. You cannot understand it with your intellect. You can understand it only with intuition. For the sake of sport, God created the world. Lokavattu Lila Kaivalyam. Creation of the world has a purpose. Just as we cannot have a sun without rays, similarly, we cannot have God without the world process. The world is like His rays. It is His Svabhava, nature. Just as a juggler produces something and makes it disappear, so also, God produces this world and makes it disappear. God is omnipotent. To ask why He created the world is an Ati-prasna, a transcendental question. We will be only wasting time by discussing it. Before asking about the world, ask about yourself. Know who you are. Then you will know everything.

Question: Which is greater— love or wisdom? Bhakti or Jnana?

Swami Sivananda: Keep your intellect in a box. Love and wisdom are one. Bhakti and Jnana are one. Prema leads to Jnana. The one helps the other. People read books and start arguments. Is this great? Or is that great? It is all foolishness. God is both love and wisdom. One should not waste his time in these useless arguments.

~From: May I Answer That?, Q.32, Q.50

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​​🍃🌸BHAVANI-ASHTAKAM STOTRAM🌸🍃

🌿न तातो न माता न बन्धुर्न दाता
न पुत्रो न पुत्री न भृत्यो न भर्ता ।
न जाया न विद्या न वृत्तिर्ममैव
गतिस्त्वं गतिस्त्वं त्वमेका भवानि ॥१॥

Neither the Father, nor the Mother; Neither the Relation and Friend, nor the Donor, Neither the Son, nor the Daughter; Neither the Servant, nor the Husband, Neither the Wife, nor the (worldly) Knowledge; Neither my Profession, You are my Refuge, You Alone are my Refuge, Oh Mother Bhavani.

🌿भवाब्धावपारे महादुःखभीरु
पपात प्रकामी प्रलोभी प्रमत्तः ।
कुसंसारपाशप्रबद्धः सदाहं
गतिस्त्वं गतिस्त्वं त्वमेका भवानि ॥२॥

In this Ocean of Worldly Existence which is Endless, I am full of Sorrow and Very much Afraid, I have Fallen with Excessive Desires and Greed, Drunken and Intoxicated, Always Tied in the Bondage of this miserable Samsara (worldly existence), You are my Refuge, You Alone are my Refuge, Oh Mother Bhavani.

🌿न जानामि दानं न च ध्यानयोगं
न जानामि तन्त्रं न च स्तोत्रमन्त्रम् ।
न जानामि पूजां न च न्यासयोगं
गतिस्त्वं गतिस्त्वं त्वमेका भवानि ॥३॥
 
Neither do I know Charity, nor Meditation and Yoga, Neither do I know the practice of Tantra, nor Hymns and Prayers, Neither do I know Worship, nor dedication to Yoga,
You are my Refuge, You Alone are my Refuge, Oh Mother Bhavani.

🌿न जानामि पुण्यं न जानामि तीर्थ
न जानामि मुक्तिं लयं वा कदाचित् ।
न जानामि भक्तिं व्रतं वापि मातर्गतिस्त्वं
गतिस्त्वं त्वमेका भवानि ॥४॥

Neither do I Know Virtuous Deeds, nor Pilgrimage, I do not know the way to Liberation, and with little Concentration and Absorption, I know neither Devotion, nor Religious Vows; Nevertheless Oh Mother, You are my Refuge, You Alone are my Refuge, Oh Mother Bhavani.

🌿कुकर्मी कुसङ्गी कुबुद्धिः कुदासः
कुलाचारहीनः कदाचारलीनः ।
कुदृष्टिः कुवाक्यप्रबन्धः सदाहं
गतिस्त्वं गतिस्त्वं त्वमेका भवानि ॥५॥

I performed Bad Deeds, associated with Bad Company, cherished Bad Thoughts, have been a Bad Servant, I did not perform my Traditional Duties, deeply engaged in Bad Conducts, My eyes Saw with Bad Intentions, tongue always Spoke Bad Words, You are my Refuge, You Alone are my Refuge, Oh Mother Bhavani.

🌿प्रजेशं रमेशं महेशं सुरेशं
दिनेशं निशीथेश्वरं वा कदाचित् ।
न जानामि चान्यत् सदाहं शरण्ये
गतिस्त्वं गतिस्त्वं त्वमेका भवानि ॥६॥
 
Little do I know about The Lord of Creation (Brahma), The Lord of Ramaa (Goddess Lakshmi) (Vishnu), The Great Lord (Shiva), The Lord of the Devas (Indra), The Lord of the Day (Surya) or The Lord of the Night (Chandra), I do not know about other gods, but always seeking Your Refuge, You are my Refuge, You Alone are my Refuge, Oh Mother Bhavani.

🌿विवादे विषादे प्रमादे प्रवासे
जले चानले पर्वते शत्रुमध्ये ।
अरण्ये शरण्ये सदा मां प्रपाहि
गतिस्त्वं गतिस्त्वं त्वमेका भवानि ॥७॥

During Dispute and Quarrel, during Despair and Dejection, during Intoxication and Insanity, in Foreign Land, In Water, and Fire, in Mountains and Hills, amidst Enemies, In Forest, please Protect me, You are my Refuge, You Alone are my Refuge, Oh Mother Bhavani.

🌿अनाथो दरिद्रो जरारोगयुक्तो
महाक्षीणदीनः सदा जाड्यवक्त्रः ।
विपत्तौ प्रविष्टः प्रनष्टः सदाहं
गतिस्त्वं गतिस्त्वं त्वमेका भवानि ॥८॥

I am Helpless, Poor, Afflicted by Old Age and Disease, Very Weak and Miserable, always with a Pale Countenance, Fallen Asunder, Always surrounded by and Lost in Troubles and Miseries, You are my Refuge, You Alone are my Refuge, Oh Mother Bhavani.

~By Adi Shankaracharya

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🌿SIGNIFICANCE OF SADHANA🌿

The process which takes you from tamas [laziness, dulness, ignorance, indolence] to sattwa [purer, more luminous, tranquil, harmonious way of living] has a name, and that is sadhana. Generally, when we use the word ‘sadhana’, people identify it with a spiritual discipline, a spiritual practice. However, sadhana means attainment of perfection in that which you do. When you were learning to write ABC at school, you had to fill many pages by writing each letter repeatedly. After three or four pages of writing ‘A,’ you had to write ‘B’, and so on. You were given lined pages and you had to write in between those lines. That is sadhana for a child, and the result of that sadhana is received. If you write properly, you get plus marks, you get a gold star, and if you do not write properly then you get a red ‘x’. The sadhana of a child gets results then and there. The more you write, the more fluent you become, the more clarity there is in the writing, and the letter is recognized the more easily.

The result of any sadhana you do well is attainment of maturity. Through sadhana you get plus marks in life. Those who do not do sadhana get minus marks, become lazy and stay ignorant. Another form of sadhana is found in the story of Arjuna, friend and disciple of Sri Krishna. When he was young, he was an avid archer. Once, while he was eating his dinner at night, the candle blew out and there was pitch darkness in the dining room. Arjuna kept on eating and suddenly he realized that his hands were going automatically to his mouth; they were not going to his nose, or to his eyes, or to his ears, but straight to his mouth. He recognized that even in absolute darkness, if the senses are trained, they will follow their course of action. With this in mind, he started training himself to shoot the arrow at night without seeing where he was shooting. Of course, this sadhana had its own problems, but he overcame them all and became the greatest archer of his time.

The story indicates that if you train your senses and your mind, then there is nothing that you cannot achieve; everything is achieved naturally and spontaneously. Training regulates the behaviour of the senses and the mind. This is the kind of training you lack in your life. This regulation of sensory and mental behaviour is known as sadhana. Sensory education takes place at the physical level, the sensorial level and the interactive level. It is an interactive process: you and the world. Mental sadhana is practised to pacify mental agitation and to develop concentration and focused awareness. Emotional sadhana takes place in the form of bhakti, intellectual sadhana in the form of jnana and spiritual sadhana in the form of pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and absorption.

~Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati
•Excerpt from book: Sadhana

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You may feel good or bad, but these feelings are bubbling from your own mind.

Nobody is responsible except you. Nobody can make you angry. Nobody can make you happy.

Once you realise this much, that's when you awaken to the real beauty of life.

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🌿भूतपूर्वं कृतं कर्म कर्तारमनुतिष्ठति। यथा धेनुसहस्रेषु वत्सो विन्दन्ति मातरम्॥

A calf recognizes its mother among thousands of cows; similarly, previous deeds get their doer.

~Garuda Puran, 1/113/54

[Natural law regarding our actions is simply irrefutable. So we have to do every action carefully as if someone is gazing at us. This will ensure that we do not deviate from the path of truth. If we do not add up the miseries of wrong actions, we will slowly and firmly transcend the cause and effect cycle of action and its result.]

___________________

🌿द्वे पदे बन्धमोक्षाय नममेति ममेति च। ममेति बध्यते जन्तुर्नममेति प्रमुच्यते॥

There are two reasons for bondage and salvation - "it is mine and it is not mine". A living being with the thinking "this is mine" binds himself and the one with the thinking, "this is not mine" becomes free.

~Garuda Puran, 2/49/93

[When we see nothing as me or for mine, it marks the beginning of everlasting freedom. Our associations with the objects, other people, body, and mind put us in bondage. If we free ourselves from these associations and attachments, the path of liberation appears before us wide and open.]

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✨​​🌿Lord Dattatreya Jayanti🌿✨

Dattatreya is the universal Guru, isn’t he? And he has said that the whole world was his Guru.

If you look at evil you feel you should not do it. So he said evil also was his Guru. If you see good, you would wish to do it; so he said that good also was his Guru; both good and evil, he said, were his Gurus.

It seems that he asked a hunter which way he should go, but the latter ignored his question, as he was intent upon his aim to shoot a bird above.

Dattatreya saluted him, saying, "You are my Guru! Though killing the bird is bad, keeping your aim so steadfast in shooting the arrow as to ignore my query is good, thereby teaching me that I should keep my mind steadfast and fixed on Ishwara. You are therefore my Guru."

In the same way he looked upon everything as his Guru, till in the end he said that his physical body itself was a Guru, as its consciousness does not exist during sleep and the body that does not exist should therefore not be confused with the soul - dehatmabhavana [the feeling that the body is the soul]. Therefore that too was a Guru for him.

While he looked upon the whole world as his Guru, the whole world worshipped him as its Guru.

~Sri Ramana Maharshi
_______________________

🍃🌸Wishing you all an auspicious and joyful Dattatreya Jayanti. May the Avadhuta's grace bless and guide you all to the highest good of Self Realisation.🌸🍃

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MUST READ

#books
_____________

Lord Dattatreya gives secret of highest knowledge to Lord Parshurama through the medium of tales.

Tripura literally means the three cities. They are the states - Jagrat, Swapna and Sushupti [Waking, Dream and Sleep States]. The undercurrent of consciousness in all of them remaining unaffected is metaphorically called the Resident Mistress, by the name, Sri Tripura.

It is an ancient Prime text on Advaita in Sanskrit and was highly commended by Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi for study by seekers, who sincerely seek to know the true nature of the Self.

This book is not to be picked up, read through and put away. The verses are full of Divine nectar which will quench the thirst of any earnest seeker who repeatedly reflects on their meaning and in right earnest attempts to implement the teachings.

Through fascinating stories and analogies the entire spectrum of spiritual pursuit and attainment is laid out in clear terms for the aspirant.

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