God cannot be realized without purity of heart

Sri Ramakrishna: "Is it possible to understand God's action and His motive? He creates, He preserves, and He destroys. Can we ever understand why He destroys? I say to the Divine Mother: 'O Mother, I do not need to understand. Please give me love for Thy Lotus Feet.' The aim of human life is to attain bhakti. As for other things, the Mother knows best. I have come to the garden to eat mangoes. What is the use of my calculating the number of trees, branches, and leaves? I only eat the mangoes; I don't need to know the number of trees and leaves.

Baburam, M., and Ramdayal slept that night on the Hoor of the Sri Ramakrishna's room.

It was an early hour of the morning, about two or three o'clock. The room was dark. Sri Ramakrishna was seated on his bed and now and then conversed with the devotees.

Sri Ramakrishna: "Remember that daya, compassion, and maya, attachment, are two different things. Attachment means the feeling of 'my-ness' toward one's relatives. It is the love one feels for one's parents, one's brother, one's sister, one's wife and children. Compassion is the love one feels for all beings of the world. It is an attitude of equality. If you see anywhere an instance of compassion, as in Vidvasagar, know that it is due to the grace of God. Through compassion one serves all beings. Maya also comes from God. Through mava God makes one serve one's relatives. But one thing should be remembered: maya keeps us in ignorance and entangles us in the world, whereas daya makes our hearts pure and gradually unties our bonds.

"God cannot be realized without purity of heart. One receives the grace of God by subduing the passions — lust, anger, and greed. Then one sees God.

Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Quote of the day with tabbed interface for iGoogle and blog released

 

Namaste,

Quote of the day with tabbed interface for iGoogle and blog sidebar is released. Tabbed interface saves space. I am not a professional programmer and hence I am not able to give flexibility to change font type and colour.

This gadget/widget is removed from the sidebar. Hope you enjoy this widget.

Hari Aum

INDIASPIRITUALITY

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Death - 2

Question:  At the last moment of one's life, if there is no remembrance of God nor of the world, what will be the outcome?

Swami Ramsukhdasji:  This is not possible. Something or the other will definitely be remembered - "na hi kaschitkshanamapi jaatu tishthatyakarmakrt" (Gita 3:5)

Question:  For remembrance of God to take place at the final moment, for such a thing to happen, what must one do?

Swamiji:  Remember God at all times, because each moment it self is the final moment. One does not know when death will arrive! Therefore God has said in the Gita - "tastmaatsarveshu kaaaleshu maamnusmar" (Gita 8:7). "Therefore at all times, you be in remembrance of Me and also engage in war"

Question:  Whatever the man remembers at the time of death (at time of leaving his body), that he will attain, does this ruling apply to even those that commit suicide ?

Swamiji:  Yes! it applies to those who are committing suicide as well. But for those individuals it is very difficult for them to be in remembrance of God (auspiciousness). This is because they are committing suicide out of deep pain and sorrow, but their desire remains to be happy. Secondly, when the life force is leaving them, they are repenting of their act, but they are unable to do anything about it. Thirdly, while life force is leaving, they undergo terrible and immense difficulties. If their inner feelings are pure, if they have faith in God, if they desire to remember God, then they will not do this terrible crime of committing suicide. Lastly, it is because the inner intellect is impure, that one thinks of committing suicide. Therefore those that commit suicide have a major downfall. Skanda Purana says that such persons do not attain salvation for several lives to come. Therefore, intelligent people must never ever think of suicide even out of forgetfulness or mistake.

Source:"Prashnouttermanimala" pg 94-95 by Swami Ramsukhdasji

Read: What is Death?

We all are under the will of God

Sri Ramakrishna (to the devotees): "A man becomes liberated even in this life when he knows that God is the Doer of all things. Once Keshab came here with Sambhu Mallick. I said to him, 'Not even a leaf moves except by the will of God.' Where is man's free will? All are under the will of God. Nangta was a man of great knowledge, yet even he was about to drown himself in the Ganges. He stayed here eleven months. At one time he suffered from stomach trouble. The excruciating pain made him lose control over himself, and he wanted to drown himself in the river. There was a long shoal near the bathing-ghat. However far he went into the river, he couldn't find water above his knees. Then he understood everything (He realized that man is not free even to kill himself, that everything depends on the will of the Divine Mother. See) and came back. At one time I was very ill and was about to cut my throat with a knife. Therefore I say: 'O Mother, I am the machine and Thou art the Operator; I am the chariot and Thou art the Driver. I move as Thou movest me; I do as Thou makest me do.'”

Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

tags: spirituality, ramakrishna, gospel

Online presentation on Pitru-paksha/Shraddh - a spiritual perspective

Forum for Hindu Awakening is organizing a free online presentation on the spiritual perspective behind Pitru-paksha/Shraddh. This year, Pitru-paksha is from Sep 24 2010 until Oct 7 2010.

Topic: Pitru-paksha/Shraddh - a spiritual perspective

Date/time: Sep 25 2010 (Saturday), 11:30 am – 1 pm IST (Indian Standard Time)

                   For those in Melbourne, Australia:   4 pm - 5:30 pm AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time)

Mode/venue: Online via Skype audio conference

For those in Melbourne, Australia -

Venue: 1/14-16 McGhee Avenue, Mitcham, 3132 (Australia)

Agenda:

What is Pitru-paksha / Shraddh?
Purpose of performing Shraddh
Importance of the ritual of Shraddh
What are ancestral problems?
How 'Sree Gurudev Datta' chant cures ancestral problems
Benefits of performing Shraddh
Importance of the 15 days in Pitru-paksha
How is Shraddh performed?

Event registration: Please register at the following link:

http://www.forumforhinduawakening.org/events/study.php?id=126

Please let me know if you are interested in attending this presentation latest by Sep 22 and will share further details with you.

Limited connections available

You become what you think says Sri Ramakrishna

Sri Ramakrishna (to Vijay): "Will you tell me one thing? Why did you harp so much on sin? By repeating a hundred times, 'I am a sinner', one verily becomes a sinner. One should have such faith as to be able to say, 'What? I have taken the name of God; how can I be a sinner?' God is our Father and Mother. Tell Him, 'O Lord, I have committed sins, but I won't repeat them.' Chant His name and purify your body and mind. Purify your tongue by singing God's holy name."

Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Asana

15. Asana is that posture in which one can sit for meditation steadily and with ease for a long time. But the spine has to be kept straight, and the chest, neck and head should be held erect, so that the entire weight of the upper part of the body may not be on the ribs and the chest may not sag. A stooping posture, in any case, is not healthy.

Source: Parmarth Prasanga -Towards The Goal Supreme- Swami Virajanandaji of Ramakrishna Math

Tags: spirituality,asana, yoga

Bhakti is the only essential thing says Sri Ramakrishna

It was about four o'clock in the afternoon when Sri Ramakrishna arrived in Calcutta to attend the annual festival of the Brahmo Samaj, which was to be celebrated at Manilal Mallick's house. Besides M. and other devotees of the Master, Vijay Goswami and a number of Brahmos were present. Elaborate arrangements had been made to make the occasion a success. Vijay was to conduct the worship.

The kathak recited the life of Prahlada from the Purana. Its substance was as follows: Hiranyakasipu, Prahlada's father, was king of the demons. He bore great malice toward God and put his own son through endless tortures for leading a religious life. Afflicted by his father, Prahlada prayed to God, "O God, please give my father holy inclinations."

At these words Sri Ramakrishna wept. He went into an ecstatic mood. Afterwards he began to talk to the devotees.

Sri Ramakrishna: "Bhakti is the only essential thing. One obtains love of God by constantly chanting His name and singing His glories. Ah! What a devotee Shivanath is! He is soaked in the love of God, like a cheese-cake in svrup.

"One should not think, 'My religion alone is the right path and other religions are false.' God can be realized by means of all paths. It is enough to have sincere yearning for God. Infinite are the paths and infinite the opinions.

"Let me tell you one thing. God can be seen. The Vedas say that God is beyond mind and speech. The meaning of this is that God is unknown to the mind attached to worldly objects. Vaishnavcharan (A noted devotee of the Vaishnava sect and an admirer of Sri Ramakrishna.) used to say, 'God is known by the mind and intellect that are pure.' Therefore it is necessary to seek the company of holy men, practice prayer, and listen to the instruction of the guru. These purify the mind. Then one sees God. Dirt can be removed from water by a purifying agent. Then one sees one's reflection in it. One cannot see one's face in a mirror if the mirror is covered with dirt.

"After the purification of the heart one obtains divine love. Then one sees God, through His grace. One can teach others if one receives that command from God after seeing Him. Before that one should not 'lecture'. There is a song that says:

You have set up no image here,
Within the shrine, O fool!
Blowing the conch, you simply make
Confusion worse confounded.

"You should first cleanse the shrine of your heart. Then you should install the Deity and arrange worship. As yet nothing has been done. What can you achieve by blowing the conch-shell (The conch-shell is blown during the temple service.) and simply making a loud noise?"

Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna