“Well there’s your electrical problem. You’ve got too many Ohms”
Has a dog Buddha-nature?
This is the most serious question of all. If you say yes
or no, you lose your own Buddha-nature. Zen Koan
Compassion is the root of religion. Compassion brings with it kindness, love, fellowship and service. Dada J. P. Vaswani (1918-2018), Indian spiritual leader
A person can achieve everything by being simple and humble.Rig Veda
True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us. Socrates (469-388 bce), Greek philosopher
Q: “Why has God created wicked people?” Ramakrishna: “That is His will, His play. In His maya there exists avidya as well as vidya. Darkness is needed too. It reveals all the more the glory of light.
Ramakrishna (1836-1886), Hindu Mystic
The one eternal amid the transient, the conscious amid the conscious, the one amid many, who grants their desires, to the wise who perceive Him as abiding in the soul, to them is eternal peace and to no others. Katha Upanishad 2.2.13
A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. J. A. Shedd (1859-1928), American author and professor
There is force in the universe, which, if we permit it, will flow through us and produce miraculous results.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), Indian political ethicist
The brain and muscles must develop simultaneously. Iron nerves with an intelligent brain — and the whole world is at your feet. Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), influential Hindu monk
Everything in some way connects to everything else.Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519), Italian polymath
We know not. Chellappaswami (1840-1915), reclusive Sri Lankan Sage
Your ideas about yourself change from day to day and from moment to moment. Your self image is the most changeful thing you have. It is utterly vulnerable, at the mercy of a passerby. A bereavement, the loss of a job, an insult, and your image of yourself, which you call your person, changes deeply. To know what you are, you must first investigate and know what you are not. And to know what you are not, you must watch yourself carefully, rejecting all that does not necessarily go with the basic fact: “I am.” Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897-1981), Hindu sage
When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world. George Washington Carver (early 1860s-1943), African-American agricultural chemist and advocate for equality
Never worry about things that you are unable to change. Change your own way of looking at truth. Sri Chinmoy (1931-2007), renowned spiritual leader
Raise your words, not your voice, it is rain that grows flowers, not thunder. Rumi (1207-1273), Sufi mystic
Let your life lightly dance on the edges of time like dew on the tip of a leaf
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Bengali poet and philosopher
Mindfulness is attention in the here and now.Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, publisher of Hinduism Today
The purified, integrated mind, so perfected in its own understanding, lives in close communion with the soul radiance so that light becomes the constant companion of the mind. Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927-2001), founder of Hinduism Today
Did you know?
Wouldn’t espionage be a breeze if you could just listen to some special audio tapes to walk away in your astral body? You could then look around top-secret facilities, all while being completely unnoticed. A 28-page report commissioned by the CIA, written in 1983 by Lt. Col. Wayne McDonnell in partnership with Israeli-American biomedical engineer Itzhak Bentov and others, investigated the practicality of using the “Gateway Experience” to enhance US military and intelligence operations.
The Gateway Experience is a technique developed by the Monroe Institute for reaching altered states of consciousness. The technique attempts to invoke what they call brain hemisphere synchronization, shortened to “Hemi-Sync”, by playing sounds corresponding to different frequencies of the brain. Theoretically, subjects could then engage in “out-of-body movement,” probably with the express purpose of gathering intelligence from a foreign country.
An excerpt from the document reads, “In states of expanded consciousness, the right hemisphere of the human brain in its holistic, nonlinear and nonverbal mode of functioning, acts as the primary matrix or receptor for this holographic input…”
This siddhi of separating the subtle body from the physical body is documented in many Hindu texts. However, the texts note it is achieved only after many years of self-discipline, contradicting the idea that anyone could accomplish such feats by means of the methods outlined in the report.
Basics
Ganesa Festivals
Ganesha Chaturthi is a joyous celebration of Ganesha’s birthday. Vinayaka Vratam is twenty-one days of fasting and daily temple worship. Pancha Ganapati is a five-day family festival of harmony and gift-giving. On Ganesha Chaturthi, in August-September, elaborate temple pujas are held. Worship is also given in the home shrine to a clay image of Ganesha that we make or obtain. At the end of the day, or after ten days, we join others in a grand parade, called visarjana, to a river, temple tank, lake or seashore, where we immerse the image, symbolizing Ganesha’s release into universal consciousness. During the twenty-one days of Vinayaka Vratam, in November-December, devotees vow to attend daily Ganesha puja, fasting on water and taking a full meal after sunset. Pancha Ganapati, December 21 to 25, is a modern five-day festival of gift-giving, dear to children. Families invoke His five shaktis, one on each day—creating harmony in the home, concord among relatives, neighbors and friends, good business and public relations, cultural upliftment and heartfelt charity. Ganesha’s monthly holy day is Chaturthi, the fourth tithi after the new moon. The Vedas implore, “O Lord of Categories, you are the Lord, the seer of seers, unrivaled in wealth, king of elders, lord of the principle of principles. Hear us and take your place, bringing with you all enjoyments.”
From the teachings of Satguru
Sivaya Subramuniyaswami