Monthly eMagazine of the International Vedanta Mission

Year 21 Issue 11

Monthly eMagazine of the International Vedanta MissionMay 2016 : Year 21 / Issue 11

Editor: Swamini Samatananda Saraswati

Published byInternational Vedanta Mission

http://www.vmission.org.in / vmission@gmail.com

O Sankar! thou art verily Lord Shiva himself, knowing &believeing thus - my mind fills with great joy & reverence. I pray tothee that please bless me with thy knowledge so that I come outof the ocean of delusion in which I am presently in. O GreatTeacher, you alone are my resort.

Hko ,o Hkokfufr es furjka letk;r psrfl dkSrqfdrkAee okj; eksg egktyf/ka Hko 'kadj nsf'kd es 'kj.ke~AA

Totakashtakam - 4

Section Index

1. Message of P. Guruji - 52. Tattva Bodha - 6-74. Letter - 95. Gita Reflections - 10-116. Jivanmukta - 137. Yoga Vasistha - 14-157. Story Section - 178. VM News - 189. VM Activities - 1910. Album - 20-2111. VM Programs - 23

The story of Samudra Manthan is very symbolic. Kumbha Mela too is connectedwith that mythological lore. It first & foremost stresses the necessity of Purushartha - self-effort to get blessed in life. Various goodies & gifts came out of the ocean when Devatas& Asuras together churned the ocean. Nothing is got in life without concerted & hard work.Not only that but for undertaking the self-effort, we need to take the spade as spade,whether it is good & helpful people or whether they are evil, they all have their roles in thewhole scheme of things. They need to be accepted - as a creation & children of God, evenif they were not blessed with right upbringing & knowledge in their childhood. This alone issingularly the main reason for people to go astray and become asura’s. Its a differentstory how one becomes what they are, but today the fact is that they are part of the societyin which we too are. Love is all about accepting a person as they are, and also seeing theirinherent potential & capacities, and dealing with them accordingly. Most often such peoplecrave for some self-esteem & fulfillment, and it needs to be given to them sincerely albietdiscreetly, lest it may all appear artificial. Everyone is important and have a role to play - isyet another important lesson of this great story.

For our life to be what it is today, both the good & so called bad situations of life hadequal role to play. Our success & our failures, our joys & sorrows, respect or insults, alltogether constitute our past, and whatever was the past, it alone is the real root of ourpresent moment. We may personally like to remember only the good but lets not forgetthe equal role of the nasty situations. Every situation, every place, every endeavor willalways have its share of good & bad, can we take all these in our strides and thereaftergive out our best, without cribbing about the so called bad. We learn & grow more by suchchallenging & nasty situations in life. As the saying goes, no one became a good sailor inpeaceful seas. This is one important lesson of this great story. Accept life in its entirety.Remember that good & bad can be relative & are not something changeless & static.Anyways what ever is static is more often dead stuff. So go about facing your challengesof life. Give out your best, and all the cherished dreams shall come true, even amrut willbe brought to you lovingly by those who matter.

Lessons of Manthan Story

from Poojya Guruji Swami Atmanandaji

Vedanta Sandesh

Tattva BodhaThe Three States: The Deep Sleep State

In the deep sleep state there is total identifi-cation with the causal body, so much so and theawareness of our gross and the subtle bodies isalso not there. Thus there are no thoughts and noexperience of the external world nor are there anydream experiences. The mind comes to a com-plete rest. Deep sleep is a great blessing from God.We go in it tired and worn out and with the bodyand mind put to complete rest we come out re-charged and refreshed. In today’s language it islike putting your mobile phone on recharging andit is ready to function within a few hours. In the daytime just a few mins of a power nap is enough torefreshen the body and mind to function once againwith enthusiasm. Sleep gives us such an uncondi-tional joy that even the last five minutes before thealarm goes off feels like a great blessing. Such isthe glory of deep sleep that a person who is notable to sleep for some reason faces a day aheadof dulness and disorientation. The body feels tiredand lethargic, there is irritability in the nature of a

In the discussion of the three states having discussed about the Dream state the Acharya goes on todiscuss about the Deep-Sleep state. Let us see the various facets and implication of the deep-sleep state.

person and a total disinterest in any kind of perfor-mance. Often this is used a s a means of torturetowards prisoners under interogation.Doership & Enjoyership:

In the waking state since I am identified withthe gross, the subtle, and the causal body there isa strong sense of doership and enjoyership. Thereare various thing I want to persue, there are vari-ous resolutions made and having fulfilled them Ialso wish to enjoy the returns of all such persuits.In the dream state I identify only with the enjoyerand enjoy an imaginary world. In the deep sleepstate I am neither the doer nor the enjoyer of theworld. In the absence of thoughts in the deep sleepstate there is no concept of space, time and dual-ity. Hence while asleep I am totally unaware of howlong I slept or where I am sleeping. Sometimes ittakes a few seconds to come to understand whereI am and what the time is. Is it morning or night ornoon?

vr% lq"kqIR;oLFkk dk\vga fdefi u tkukfe lq[ksu e;k funzkuqHkw;rs bfr lq"kqIR;oLFkkAdkj.k’kjhjkfHkekuh vkRek izkK bR;qP;rsASo what then is the Deep-Sleep State?

Deep-Sleep is that ‘state’ wherein, on getting up we say, I do not knowanything, and I very peacefully experienced the sleep. Self identified with thecausal body is termed as ‘Pragnya’.

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GREETINGS TO ALL ON THE OCCASION OFSR ADI SANKARACHARYA JAYANTI

(11th May)One of the greatest teachers of Advaita Vedanta

manifested on this day at Kalady (Kerala)Namo Namah

Identity of the sleeper as per the state:In the waking and dream state there is a basic

awareness of my existence. I know I exist. My exist-ence is identified with various second hand relation-ships. I know myself as someone’s mother or fatheror Bos etc. But due to ignorance I am not aware ofmy real nature. Who am I truly? In the waking state Iam totally identified with gross and the suntle bodyand come to see the world as real. In the dream stateI am identified with the subtle body and see the dreamworld as real. In the dreep sleep state I am ignorantof my true nature as well as totally disconnected withthe world outside and the dream world as well. Ex-cept for the awareness that ‘I exist’, there is total ig-norance and therefore the individual is called‘Pragnya’ which means prayena agyaha-one who ismore or less ignorant. In the waking state we verydefinitely know about the absence of all experiencesin Deep Sleep. As all experiences remain in thememory bank of the mind, the recollection of the ‘ab-sence of any experience’ whatsoever in Deep Sleeppoints to the existence of a subtle yet a definite ex-perience therein. That experiencer is indicated by theword Pragnya.No Awareness of the Mind:

The experiencer along with its various good,bad & ugly thoughts are all product of our mind. Hencein deep sleep state where in the mind is completelyat rest there are no thoughts, good or bad, no joy orsorrow and no other features of the mind. Yet the

beauty is that I still exist. This reveals that theexperiencer and the various thoughts do not haveany roots beyond the mind. The Self which tran-scends the mind is untouched by all the limita-tions & products of mind. In deep sleep state sinceall identities, all desires and all efforts are negatedone glides into a natural state of existence whichis a state of peace, quitude and bliss.

Another very important factor is that all thestates are transitory and ephimeral in nature. Inthe waking state the Taijas or the dreamer is com-pletely absent and in the dream state Vishwa isabscent. There is complete absence of Vishwa &Taijasa in Deep Sleep state. This reveals revealtheir transitory & ephemeral nature, so too is withPragnya, who is present only in Deep Sleep. Thedeep sleep state is a great blessing. The absenceof all sense of individuality facilitates us to knowthat which transcends the individual. When themind & sense organs are at rest, still a blissfulquiet state of mind is experienced. This showsthe existence of a self-revealing, self-existing,blissful entity as the very witness of such a stateof mind. While the mind is at rest, still some lightor consciousness which reveals the absence ofexperiences still exists. It is because of that lightsome subtle experience and its subsequent rec-ollection is possible. With the mind is at rest weexperience no pains, problems or any sense oflimitations, but a timeless, spaceless, objectlessstate of nothing-ness.

Vedanta Sandesh

A Minister travelled for days by trainand car and boat to one of the furthest is-lands in the nation. As he surveyed thebleak but inspiring landscape, he turned toa local villager and said: "You're very re-mote here, aren't you?" She responded:"Remote from what?"

Different Perspectives

Transcendence

The wordtranscend is aninteresting word, itimplies deeper insightinto both the cause &effect, rather thanmerely appreciatingthe cause. It impliesappreciating theperceptible so verynicely that you seethrough it to its verycore.

- PoojyaGuruji

Hari om!

Thanks for your mail. Nice to know that you are studying Tattva Bodha nicely.Knowledge of our tattva ultimately is to not only negate the various self-imposed & baseless limitations on ourselves, but thereafter see the non-dualsubstratum, as ourselves and also as the fundamental essence of everyone.In short you alone are the essence of all, from you alone everything hasmanifested. However, in this process the truth of the so called 'everything' hasalso to be appreciated & also resolved. It is this knowledge which brings abouttrue freedom, fulfillment & love for all.

A few words on the word ‘transcend’, which you used in your mail. While youare right that it is our ignorance coupled with subsequent conditioningsbecause of which the truth gets apparently veiled, and we need the capacity &insight to see beyond. Well, the word transcend is an interesting word, itimplies deeper insight into both the cause & effect, rather than merelyappreciating the cause. It implies appreciating the perceptible so very nicelythat you see through it to its very core. The perceptible is part of the totalityand one should not ignore it but know it holistically. The change is like thewavy surface of the infinite ocean of the changeless, so has to be accountedfor too. So in scriptures we study about the fundamental cause as well thenature of the manifest, as well as the process of its manifestation. Holisticvision indeed.

Love & om,

Swami Atmananda

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bySwaminiSamatananda

Freedom from various conditionings of the mind, freedom from mental du-alities of personal likes & dislikes blesses a spiritual seeker with the ultimate knowl-edge of liberation. Thus speaks Sri Krishna in the 7th chapter of the Gita. A mindfree of various impurities of self-centric attributes which are born of illusion isfreed from the clutches of old age and death. Sri Krishna reveals one who has thecourage to break the shackles of all worldly support and surrender at the feet ofthe Supreme and make all the required efforts to discover the truth, they come toknow Brahman as their very own Self and these are the ones who also knowkarma in its entirety.Freedom from old age and death:

Old age and death are an inevitable part of the graph of life. Life mani-fested from the unmanifest grows, reaches its peak and then old age comes as aknock on the door of the unmanifest and then death is once again going back intothe unmanifest. It is our day to day experience how old age features a naturaldecay of the physical body, the senses and the various attributes of the mind. Theonce upon a time hyper active body slows down and soon demands a support towalk, sit, eat, sleep etc. The slowing down and decay of the body often keepspeople away and loneliness becomes the name of the day. Sometimes such isthe misery of old age that people pray for death to embrace them. This is the gloryof old age at the level of the physical body. Although physical changes and painare universal yet mental suffering is relative depending upon the mental attitudeand knowledge of a person. In the realm of ignorance surely old age is a chapterof great suffering. Thereafter death is a gradual step into the realms of theunmanifest. On one hand old age is a direct experience of pain and suffering,death becomes an imaginary horror where there is pain of going into the unknown& pain of leaving behind our beloved ones. Little does one realize the blessingsand beauty of death as being the threshold of adorning a new robe to once againexperience the beautiful creation of God. Neither is an ignorant being aware ofthe fact that the experience of death by itself is not painful. It is like gliding into adeep slumber only to wake up again in the dawn of a new innings. At the face levelold age and death both appear to be harmless by themselves. yet the Scripturesand our great masters speak of freedom from old age & death. Surely there is adeeper insight into the whole concept of freedom from birth, freedom from old ageand freedom from death. What is this freedom? And in that context what is thenature of bondage that one feels the need to be free of it?The nature of bondage and freedom from old age and death?

Even though the body goes through old age and death, yet the body doesnot say that ‘I am afraid of death’ or ‘I do not wish to die’. It is me the ‘I’ who saysso. Thus an important question arises, Who am I ? My identity of the Self is asso-ciated with the body that appears to be. I see myself as the body and hence allmodifications of the body, old age and death happen to me. I am born, I grow up,I go through changes, I turn old and I die. These are all notions borne out of the

Freedo

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Vedanta Sandesh

‘Taking refugein me, invoking myGrace, they seek toknow me’ and to-wards this they makee f f o r t s - ‘ M a a mashritya yatanti ye’.

Refuge is inthe form of enquiryand as a result onecomes to see God asone with their ownself.

conviction that I am this body and mind. Thus even though the body does not feelanything towards old age and death I am the one who constantly lives in fear.Therefore freedom does not lie in the immortality of the body. Bondage is not thephysical change and death of the body. Bondage lies in the wrong identification ofthe Self. Hence freedom too lies in freeing one’self of these wrong understandingof the Self. Moksha is not from physical death but it is from these wrong notionsthat I am the body and therefore I am born one day and I shall die one day too.This is the nature of freedom.How does one seek this freedom from death?

Sri Krishna says ‘Taking refuge in me, invoking my Grace, they seek toknow me’ and towards this they make efforts-‘Maam ashritya yatanti ye’. Any per-son who even has some faith towards God seeks refuge in him. But as BhagwanKrishna has said in the Gita itself that even devotees of God are of different types.Most of the devotees seek refuge in Ishwara to seek happiness and security insome way or the other. Majority of the people relate with the Divine in this man-ner. For them God is a divine and powerful enttity who is capable of doing allthat which an ordinary human being is unable to do. So the na-ture of the relationship of such people with God is thatof a seeker, where they are always small and lim-ited and Ishwara is the all powerful one. Buthere Sri Krishna is pointing out to that stu-dent who has to an ex- tent overcome his per-sonal likes and dis- likes and now he seeksnone other than paramatma himself. Heis now ready for dis- crimination between theReal and the Unreal. He is able to see the fact thatit is Ishwara alone who is worth dedicating one’selfto. He has the faith and persues to see the one-ness between himself and Ishwara. To know the absolute truththat he alone is Paramatma. There is no duality between Jeeva, Jagat and Ishwara.The world is like a dream borne out of my own self. All sense of duality andseperation is due to the ignorance of this truth. Hence knowledge alone is theredeeming means from all sufferings, from all trips of samsara. Such a knowledgeis the goal of this student.For this the student makes efforts-’Yatanti’

All devotees or spiritual seekers make efforts or in other words do sadhanato attain Paramatma. Here the nature of sadhana or effort is not rituals, puja, japa,teertha and the like. Here Sri Krishna says the devotee makes efforts with a mindabsorbed in me through Sravan, manan and nididhyasan. The mind is now free ofself-centric thoughts and persues the knowledge of Parameshwara by means ofinquiry into the shastras. Spending one’s time in sravan,manan and niddhyasan isbrahma abhyasa. A very popular quote goes on to say-tat chintanam, tat kathanam,anyonyam tat prabodhanam. Reflecting on the subject matter, talking about it toothers and discussing with fellow students trying to understand and help eachother in understanding, this is all part of brahma abhyasa.

This is the real nature of taking refuge in God and making efforts to knowhim. Refuge is in the form of enquiry and as a result one comes to see God as onewith their own self.

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Vedanta Sandesh

A Native American grandfather wastalking to his grandson about how he felt.He said, "I feel as if I have two wolvesfighting in my heart. One wolf is the venge-ful, angry, violent one. The other wolf isthe loving, compassionate one." Thegrandson asked him, "Which wolf will winthe fight in your heart?" The grandfatheranswered: "The one I feed."

The Two Wolves

Wanderingin HimalayasVYas,

Gaudapada& Sankara

Excerpts fromthe

Travel Memoirsof

Param PoojyaSwami

TapovanjiMaharaj

Modern historians hold that the Badarayana Sutra, popularly known asBrahma Sutra, was composed in the second century B.C. It is said that duringthat period there was an awakening of thought all over India. Not only India, butalso some countries in the West were wide awake at that time. It was during thefifth and the fourth centuries B.C. that philosophers like Socrates and Plato livedand taught in Greece. The dates of their birth and death have been fixed withcertainty, but it has not been possible to fix the dates of our great men like Vyasa.We have to be content with the little information derived from the Puranas andtraditions regarding them. Following such accounts, we shall take it that KrishnaDvaipayana, otherwise known as Veda Vyasa, was a resident of Badrikashram.The very appellation “badarayana” suggest that he belonged to Badri.

Here on the banks of Saraswati, is a cave called Vyasa Guha. It is saidthat Vyasa passed his last days here. To me the greatness of Vyasa and thegreatness of Badrikashram appear inseperable. Whatever greatness Vyasa had,he imparted to Badrikavanam. The Puranic story that Nara and Narayana per-formed their penance at this place, or that it is the holy abode of Lord Narayana,may not be accepted by most historians. Yet, the story is enough to invest thisspot with supreme sacredness. there is no evidence to disaprove the traditionthat Vyasa composed his Mahabharata and Vedanta Sutra here. It has been mycustom to spend some time, whenever possible, in the cave of Vyasa, breathingits sacred air.

Not only Vyasa but many other ancient Rishis like Sanaka, Bhrigu, Narada,and Sukra are associated with this cave. Here, on the bank of Alaknanda, is thefamous Gaudapada Sila, the rock on which, according to tradition, the greatSage Gaudapada used to sit in meditation.

Historians are of the opinion that gaudapada belonged to the eighth cen-tury A.D. It was Gaudapada who, for the first time, introduced to the world in ascientific, logical, incontrovertible manner, the theory of Advaita with its accom-panying conception of Maya, contained in the Upanishads. The familiar examplesand arguments that he had adopted from earlier Buddhist teachers likeAshwaghosha and nagarjuna, as well as the peculiarities of his style, have ledsome scholars to surmise that he himself must have been a Buddhist. thesescholars argue that gaudapada’s mandukya Karika is nothing more than an ad-mixture of Nagarjuna;s Sunya Vada set forth in the Lankavathara; and in supportof their contention they point out that the “firbrand” and other examples ofgaudapada have been borrowed from Buddhist literature , where they were quitefamiliar.

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All words in the scriptures are used only for the explanation for the oneswho want to understand. And words operate in duality only, and all pairs ofopposites are invented for the ease of communication. They all are not real inthemselves but if used in the right way, they all point to the supreme reality,which alone is their base and support. Like an arrow has two ends - one ispointing to the goal and another is pointing in the opposite direction. So also thewords, understood wisely, point to the supreme reality; but understoodcasually will indicate only trivial things. The words of the wise, based on theteaching of Vedas, are the only valid means for attaining of the reality. Knowledgeof that, which cannot be described in words, is attainable by following the wordsas pointers to transcend the world of names and forms. By themselves, the wordsare not real, their reality is borrowed from the Supreme. When truth is known,all descriptions cease, and silence alone remains. And this silence of the absolutecannot be broken up by any words or descriptions. As long as words are used todenote a truth, duality is inevitable; however, such duality is not the truth. All divisionsare illusory.

Vasishtha uses many illustrations in forms of stories and legends. By thepotent medicine of Vasishtha's explanations, you will surely overcome theillness that afflicts your mind, - for all problems and afflictions are in the mindonly. This samsara, or the world of transient appearances, is nothing but themind filled with its likes and dislikes, and when it is free of them, the world ofduality comes to an end, and that which was seen as samsara, is recognized asthe self-evident reality of the pure Consciousness only. The inert aspect of themind is the cause of the illusory appearances, which are cognized by the minddue to the consciousness, reflected in it. So, the consciousness in the mind,which is reflection of the pure Consciousness, is the seed of all substances andobjects. Because of the omnipresence of the consciousness the mind takes theform of the knowable and thus becomes the seed of the universe, like a childimagining the existence of the world. The cosmic mind is the cause of the world,and the individual mind is the cause of the samsara. There is a huge differencebetween the world created by the cosmic mind, and samsara, created by theindividual mind. The world, as it is, is neither good nor bad, neither sufferingnor joyful, it is just a playful manifestation of the omnipresent bliss of self-existence of the Consciousness. For the omnipresent Shiva sitting in meditation,everything is fine and does not need management, because it is naturally

Vedanta Sandesh

AdhyatmicTeachings

ofGuru

Vasishthato

Sri Ramji

bySwaminiVidyananda

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perfect and full. Samsara, the world of separation, lack and suffering, is the creationof the mind which attaches its own notions to the divine manifestation. Individualmind sees something as desirable and something else as undesirable, andboth are seen as separate from the mind itself. And so, the rat race begins - goingto the desirable, avoiding the nondesirable and always being limited and insufficient,lacking in fullness, comfort and freedom. When the mind is illumined it experiencesthe infinite Consciousness within itself.

So, the mind is the creator. Cosmic mind creates the world, andindividual mind, not knowing its own truth, creates its own incorrect views causingsorrows. Cosmic mind of Ishvara never loses its touch with reality, it is notdeluded thinking itself as separate. It is individual mind who is deluded and suffering.Yet, in both cases, the mind is the cause of creation, be it total or individual.Whatever is created by the mind, lasts till the notion of creation ceases in themind and cannot be destroyed by any other means. To illustrate that, Vasishthatells another story about creation of the worlds by the Creator Brahma.

Vedanta Sandesh

As water carves through stone those who per-severe will win.There may be nothing more treacherous thanfalse knowledge.You create your memories and experiences, notthe other way around.Don’t give others what they don’t want.Change for the better requires effort. Changefor the worse needs none.Manifest the courage to discard the shallow andseek the profound.All phenomena, even the most solid rock aretranscient.Remember that sometimes not getting what youwant is the best thing for you.

Quotes

Once upona time ...

StorySectionIndra, the King of Devas (gods), while riding on the elephant Airavata,

came across Sage Durvasa who offered him a special garland given to him bythe God Shiva. Indra accepted the garland and placed it on the trunk of theelephant as a test to prove that he was not an egoistic god. The elephant, know-ing that Indra had no control over his own ego, threw the garland to the ground.This enraged the sage as the garland was a dwelling of Sri (fortune) and was tobe treated as a prasada or religious offering. Durvasa cursed Indra and all devasto be bereft of all strength, energy, and fortune.

In battles following the incident, the Devas were defeated and Asuras(demons) led by King Bali, gained control of the universe. Devas sought helpfrom the Supreme God Vishnu who advised them to treat asuras in a diplomaticmanner. Devas formed an alliance with asuras to jointly churn the ocean for thenectar of immortality and to share it among them. However, Vishnu told the Devasthat he would arrange that they alone obtain the nectar.

The churning of the Ocean of Milk was an elaborate process. MountMandara or Mandar Parvat was used as the churning rod, and Vasuki, the king ofserpents, who abides on Shiva's neck, became the churning rope. The demonsdemanded to hold the head of the snake, while the gods, taking advice fromVishnu, agreed to hold its tail. As a result the demons were poisoned by fumesemitted by Vasuki. Despite this, the gods and demons pulled back and forth onthe snake's body alternately, causing the mountain to rotate, which in turn churnedthe ocean. When the mountain was placed on the ocean, it began to sink. Vishnu,in the form of a turtle Kurma, came to their rescue and supported the mountainon his back.

The Samudra Manthan process released a number of things from theOcean of Milk. One was the lethal poison known as Halahala, which in someversions of the story, escaped from the mouth of the serpent king as the demonsand gods churned. This terrified the gods and demons because the poison wasso powerful that it could destroy all of creation. Then the gods approached Shivafor protection. Shiva consumed the poison in an act to protect the universe, andhis wife Parvati grabbed Shiva's throat in an effort to prevent him from swallow-ing the poison, which was the most deadly poison in existence, harmful even toa god. As a result, Shiva's throat turned blue. For this reason, Lord Shiva is alsocalled Neelakantha (the blue-throated one; "neela" = "blue", "kantha" = "throat"in Sanskrit).

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Samudra Manthan

Vedanta Sandesh

A week-long Gita Gyana Yagna by Poojya Swamini Samatanandaji was organizedat Sivananda Samskrutik Kendra, Bhubaneswar from 6th to 12th April. This was the secondGyana Yagna at this location. The whole logistics were taken care by Sh Rajesh Kumar,who is posted there.

The Gyana Yagna was formally inaugurated by a Swamiji of the DLS, and the crowdresponded in a very enthusiastic way. The whole hall was full. The subject matter of thetwin daily discourses were Gita Chapter 2 and Kathopanishad 1-2. The DLS Mahatma P.Swami Srinivasanandaji was so pleased with the discourses, that he attended all thesessions.

During one of the days a Stress Management Workshop was organized at the SIDBIBranch Office. Poojya Swaminiji initially briefed everyone about the crux & consequencesof the problem, and later even conducted a Meditation session.

After the Gyana Yagna, Sh & Smt Kumar took P. Swaminiji and also SwamiSreenivasanandaji of DLS for an outing to a beach near Puri. It was the Toshali Beach.Everyone enjoyed the trip & arrangements.

Sri Ram Navami was celebrated at Vedanta Ashram with great devotion. An altar ofBhagwan Ram was made & decorated inside the Mandir, and all the inmates and variousdevotees gathered before 12 noon, and chanted stotras, shlokas & a section fromRamayana. Dot at 12 everyone did the Aarti of Bhagwan, and partook prasad.

On 18th April, just before the Kumbh Mela, Poojya Guruji, Swamini AmitanandajiSwamini Poornanandaji along with seven other devotees went to Ujjain, for a first handexperience & darshan of Kumbh Mela & specially the River Kshipra at Ujjain. All thearrangements were very good, and we had a nice darshan of Kshipra at Ramghat itself.We also went around the camp area of various akharas & Mahatmas.

On 24th Apr, the last Sunday of the month we had the monthly Hanuman ChalisaSatsang of Poojya Guruji. The satsang began at 6.30 PM with lovely bhajans, and thenthere was the congregational chanting of Hanuman Chalisa, and then was the inspiringpravachan by Poojya Guruji. This time he started the talk on the first part of the 9th chaupayi,which is ‘Sukshma roopa dhari Sihahi dikhawa’ More about the talk in our VM Blog.

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Vedanta Sandesh

By P. Swamini Samatanandaji - from 6th to 12th April at Sivananda Samskrutik Kendra. G-2/Katha 1-2

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Poojya Guruji, Sw Amitanandaji & Sw Poornanandaji & various devotees visited Ujjain on 18th April

Sri Ram Navami was on the 15th April. At 12 noon speacial Aarti, bhajans & chanting was done

By Poojya Guruji - on 24th Apr at Vedanta Ashram. 9th Chaupayi started

Vedanta Sandesh

A man who took great pride in his lawnfound himself with a large crop of dandelions.He tried every method he knew to get rid ofthem. Still they plagued him.

Finally he wrote to the Department of Ag-riculture. He enumerated all the things he hadtried and closed his letter with the question:"What shall I do now?"

In due course, the reply came: "We sug-gest you learn to love them."

Problem with Dandelions

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Hanuman Chalisa Satsang - Apr’16:The April 2016 edition of monthly Hanuman Chalisa Satsang will be organized

on 29th May. There will be bhajans, chanting of Hanuman Chalisa, followed by continuationof the talk of P. Guruji on the 8th chaupayi Chalisa. Open to all.

Gita Gyana Yagna, Mumbai :Poojya Guruji Swami Atmanandaji will be conducting a week-long Gita Gyana

Yagna at Ramkrishna Math campus in Khar, Mumbai from 15th to 21st May. Subjectswill be Gita-14 / Mundaka 3-2.

Gita Gyana Yagna, Baroda :Poojya Swamini Amitanandaji will be conducting a week-long Gita Gyana Yagna

at Atmajyoti Ashram, Baroda from 6th to 12th June. Gita Chapter - 5 / Katho 1-1

Guru Poornima, Indore :This year Guru Poornima is on 19th July. Special pujas / Satsang & Bhandara will

be organized during thesedays.

Gita Gyana Yagna, Ahmedabad :Poojya Swamini Amitanandaji will be conducting a five days Gita Gyana Yagna at

Samutkarsh Complex in Ahmedabad from 27th Jun to 1st July . She will take Gita Ch-1and Dhyana Shivir in the morning.

Vedanta (Janmashtami) Camp, IndorePoojya Guruji and all other Mahatmas of Vedanta Ashram will jointly conduct the

five days Vedanta Camp at Ashram from 20th to 24th Aug. 25th is Janmashtami, andnext day will be a special Yatra for campers. Subs: Atma Upanishad / Gunatraya Vivek.

International Vedanta Missionhttp://www.vmission.org.in/

Vedanta Mission Blog:http://blog.vmission.org.in/

Earlier ‘Vedanta Sandesh’ issueshttp://bit.ly/1oGD4TK

Om Tat Sat