Monthly eMagazine of the International Vedanta Mission

Year 21 Issue 5

Monthly eMagazine of the International Vedanta MissionNov 2015 : Year 21 / Issue 5

Editor: Swamini Samatananda Saraswati

Published byInternational Vedanta Mission

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

There are two categories of knowledge - both worth knowing.The first is Sabda-Brahman (pertaining to the manifested truth,all that which can be objectified), and the second is about Para-Brahman (the subjective, unmanifest & the transcendental truth).One who knows the first properly, becomes competent to knowthe latter kind.

}s fo|s osfnrO;s fg 'kCnczã ija p ;r~A 'kCnczãf.k fu".kkr% ija czãkf/kxPNfrAA

Amrutbindu Upanishad -17

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

Vedanta reveals that the true nature of everyone is Brahman - infinite, complete, timeless. To directlyrealize this fact - as our very Self, is the door to Moksha. Moksha is the real goal of life, all other goals arepreparatory in nature. Moksha is all about direct knowledge, an awakening to the truth of life & oneself. Aslong as our very identity is limited & also relative, so long we shall continue to transmigrate and keep onendlessly seeking. The core realization is about our very truth - as limitless, infinite and absolute. Not only weneed to appreciate & realize this astounding & amazing fact that 'I am That' but also very clearly appreciatethat everything else is relative. Anything which is relative exists only in relation to something else, and istherefore not independently existing on its own as that particular thing. Like A man is a father only in relationto his children. He cannot be called a father without any children around - that is relative existence. Anythingwith relative existence is not indepedently existing as that particular thing. Anything which is relative is technicallycalled as Mithya, and the students of absolute & timeless truth learn to take all relative things lightly, for thesimple reason that it is not really & independently there. May the focus of all students of the truth of liferemain focussed, may they not be destracted by transactional aspects of life, then alone they can undertakethis unique & amazing journey.

The capacity of deal with transactional world is simple common sense, and just requires open eyes &ears. The world itself teaches us various lessons of life and even an atheist starts leading his/her life intelligently.While learning from life by keeping an open mind is a great quality but true intelligence is not merelytransactional smartness but the capacity to see through all this game and appreciate even the transendentaltruth - of the world and more so about oneself. Slowly & steadily one learn to act lovingly, intelligently & evencreatively - yet unattached. Such people live to give rather than take. Attachment is all about motivation forselfish ends. Every attachment is a call for self-security & preservation. We love because of our happiness,we earn because of our security & comforts. We crave for recognition for our ego-fulfillment. It is all self-centered motivation. Stress is an inevitable outcome of self-centric endeavors. When something is nothappening as per our plans then it becomes an existential issue and that is what stresses us. All this isbecause we are living to take. Initial knowledge enlightens us to see the beauty of selfless & loving life. Anykarma undertaken with this motivation is a joy for us and also for all those round. They love their work, theylove the people around yet hang on to none. All this knowledge is good & even essentail, but this is not yetVedanta, it is all preparations for the real knowledge of life. We call this stage of life as conscientious living,caring living, loving living - this is what Yoga is all about. It helps to bring about a loving, sensitive, dynamic,focused yet a detached mind. Such people enjoy doing any sewa. It is the journey which is important,reaching is natural.

Real knowledge starts with such a 'yogi' mind and is no more interested with better living etc, it justwants to know the absolute truth. Such person are adept in managing things of relative value, and thereafterits is some other pilgrimage. They want to know what is it which transcends relative realm, for the simplereason that relativity is an endless game, and at the end of it you are dealing with things which are not reallythere. Living only in this midst is like children playing with toys. We are amazed to realize how neck deep weare in this relative world, and the first thing is to get rid of all these cobwebs. That is called negation. Once ourmind is free from excessive importance we give to things of relative existence, we attain what we call as amind of a sanyasi, and it is they alone who realize the awesome substratum of all this dreamy world. Negationof relative is the door to the realization of the absolute.

Absolute & Relative

from Poojya Guruji Swami Atmanandaji

Vedanta Sandesh

Tattva BodhaWhat is the Gross Body?

The Atma cannot be directly objectified andhence pointers have been given to reveal the atma bynegating what the Atma is not. This being the funda-mental the Acharya explained the Atma by pointing outthat which the Atma is not and so in the previous sec-tion it was said the Atma is that which is other than thethree bodies, the five koshas and the three states.Keeping this in mind if one were to directly embibethat the Atma is other than the three bodies or the fivekoshas etc, it would only be an imaginary awarenessfor a seeker who wishes to enquire about the truth. It isnot enough to merely glide into an imaginary percep-tion that the Atma is not this or that. To actually seethis truth one has to prove this fact by directly seeingwhy the atma is not the three bodies etc. To see thisone has to dive deeply into knowing the truth of theanatma that is the three bodies and the five koshasand so on. Hence there is a sure necessity of studyingthe various aspects of the three bodies in order to ne-gate them and to realize the truth. This is known as theprocess of discrimination between that which is the

atma and that which is not the atma. It is the discrimi-nation of the three bodies. It is extremely important tosee what the atma is not. This alone paves the path ofknowing the atma. Otherwise an imaginary conclusionof the atma will be like another feather in the cap ofknowledge.

Having known directly that I am not the bodythen all the features connected to the body like birth,change and death become a case of objective experi-ence. This body is mine, I am not the body. The bodyis born and the body will die not me. In the process ofself knowledge the atma does not have to be seen, allthat needs to be done is to remove the veils of seeingthe body as the atma. Unveiling the superimpositionsof the Self on the non-self and of the non-self on theSelf. Just as the sun is not visible due to the clouds, itis not the clouds which cover the sun the clouds actu-ally veil our vision, so also our misunderstanding ofthe self and the world has veiled our vision and weare unable to see the real self. Our conditioning and

In the previous discussion the student had expressed his desire to know the Atma. The Acharya gavesome pointers explaining what the Atma is not and what the nature of the Atma is. It was indicated that the Atmaor the Self is that which is beyond the three bodies, that which transcends the five sheaths & that which is theseer of the three states of existence. Atma is that which is of the nature of Sat Chit & Ananda. Having gotintroduced to such pointers, the student does not take things for granted but goes on to further enquire what isthe first body which has been mentioned as the Sthoola Shareer or the Gross body?

That which is made up of the five great elements that have undergone the process ofpanchikarana, born as a result of the good actions of the past, the counter of experiences like joy,sorrow etc and subject to the modifications namely, to pottentially exist, to be born, to grow, tomature, to decay and to die-is the gross body.

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attach ment to the body is the obstacle in not beingable to see the self. Hence this analyses of the threebodies holds great significance.What is the Sthoola Shareera or the Gross body?

The Gross body is the physical body which canbe perceived by our senses, hence it is called the grossbody. The Acharya gives us some distinct features thatcover various aspects of the Gross body.That which is made up of the five great elementsthat have undergone the process of grossification:

The Gross body is made up of the five greatelements that have undergone the process ofpanchikarana or grossification. The five great elementsare space, air, fire, water and earth. For that matterthe entire world is a manifestation of millions of grossbodies all which are a permutation and combination ofthe five great elements. The Jiva in his ignorance iden-tifies with this gross body and comes to believe that ‘Iam born’ and ‘I will die’. In reality I am not this body butthe body is mine wherein I as Jiva lives.Born as a result of good actions in the past:

The human body is indeed a fruit of the gooddeeds performed in the previous births. A human be-ing is the only adjunct wherein not only do we havethe pottential to be conscious and of the world otherthan the Self but only a human being has the pottentialto conscious of the true nature of the Self. Saints andthe Scriptures forever glorify the opportunity to be bornas a human being. In fact a human birth is the onlykind where has the freedom to perform actions basedon one’s discrimination. A man alone has the freedomto discriminate between right and wrong, betweengood and bad, to do or not to do or even to do other-wise and above all a human being alone can realizeignorance and evolve the Self by acquiring right knowl-edge. Thus based upon the law of karma good and

May the ‘Festival of Light’, bring ‘Love & Light’ in your Life

righteous deeds alone earn us the privelege of beingborn as a human being. A life further lived of meritori-ous actions gains the opportunity to bring about a mindand situation to acquire Self knowledge.The Counter of Experiences:

Our Gross body is the house or office wherein‘I’ the Jiva goes through various experiences and per-forms all the transactions of the senses and the mind.Without this physical body it would not be possible tointeract with the objective world. It is thus said the grossbody is the house through which we experience plea-sure and pain. In the Upanishads the gross body iscompared to a city with nine gates.It is subject to six modifications:

The gross body undergoes six modifications:1: Asti: (Manifested Existence):The coming of the Jiva in the mother’s womb. The firstsign of existence of a living being.2: Jayate: (is born):Birth of the baby. When he comes out of the mother’swomb to experience the outside world.3: Vardhate: (grows):Slowly the physical growth of the baby takes place.The body is noursihed by food and thus develops theannamaya shareera.4: Viparinamate: (matures):It grows from being a child to an adolescent, to anadult and over time the body finally attains its peakand starts maturing.5: Apakshiyate: (decays):Signs of aging begin to show in the body. Hair turnsgrey, bones weaken and slowly an overall process ofdegeneration in all parts of the body begins to takeplace. 6: Vinashyati: (dies):The body embraces death and finally disintegrates togo back to its constituent elements.

Vedanta Sandesh

Once a man was walking along a beach. The sunwas shining and it was a beautiful day. Off in the distancehe could see a person going back and forth between thesurf's edge and and the beach. Back and forth this per-son went. As the man approached, he could see that therewere hundreds of starfish stranded on the sand as theresult of the natural action of the tide.

The man was stuck by the the apparent futility ofthe task. There were far too many starfish. Many of themwere sure to perish. As he approached, the person con-tinued the task of picking up starfish one by one and throw-ing them into the surf.

As he came up to the person, he said: "You must becrazy. There are thousands of miles of beach covered withstarfish. You can't possibly make a difference." The per-son looked at the man. He then stooped down and pickup one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean. Heturned back to the man and said: "It sure made a differ-ence to that one!"

The Starfish

Creation in Vedanta

Initially oneshould learn to seethe creation asmanifestation of god,we need to see theintrinsic divinity ofeverything, and laterdiscover its relativity,which means that it isnot there from theabsolute point of view.So the srishtisiddhanta arefoundations for therealization of the non-dual reality. - PoojyaGuruji

What is the essence of the Theory of Creation as postulated by Vedanta?___________________________________________________________________Hari om !There are basically two aspects of the Theory of Creation as presented by the Rishis ofthe Upanishads.One, creation is a deliberate & conscious presentation of & by Ishwara. Ishwararepresents one who is infinite, limitless, the very embodiment of intelligence & power.He is of the nature of Sat-Chit-Ananda, Existence-Consciousness & Bliss, coupled withomniscience & omnipotence. Creation is not a chemical reaction of some inert matter,but is a very harmonious, exquisitely balanced, deliberate, conscious & lovingpresentation of God. At the very heart of everything & everyone is love, so it is veryappropriate to say that everyone is part of one Ishwara - who is basically formless &nameless divinity, an embodiment of intelligence, and is the material & also theinstrumental cause of the entire creation. The creation has come out because of 'his'sankalpa, like the tree comes out from a seed. He is called the 'Abhinna-Nimitta-Upadana-Karana' of the creation. He is the intelligent creator and also the very material of thecreation. Not only from him alone the creation has manifested, but the implication is thathe alone has manifested as 'all this'. Therefore we see intrinsic beauty & divinity ineverything, and also there is amazing harmony in everything. Everyone has inifite potentialas God himself, everyone is basically divine, blissful & loving. The extent of manifestationof divinity depends on the kind of upadhi, which is always subject to improvement. Thefulfillment of life is not in aggrandizing things outside, but waking up to ones subjectivetruth.Two, the Theory of Creation presented by the Masters of Upanishads presents thetruths about creation in such a way, so as to reveal the relativity of the world. The triggerof the manifestation is the Maya Shakti of Brahman, which is just the projecting powerof the mind, and the dream-like creation is presented because of ignorance of our truth.As long as the ignorance remains so long we shall continue to live in this relativetransactional world. To say that the world is relative implies that from the absolute pointof view it is not there. If at all someone can wake up to the absolute non-dual reality,then it is logical that the duality would have to be negated. The creation is explained inupanishads in such a way that we negate the world, and realize it to the ephemeral.Realization of the ephemerality of the creation is the basic objective of the Theory ofCreation of Vedanta.So initially one should learn to see the creation as manifestation of god, we need to seethe intrinsic divinity of everything, and later discover its relativity, which means that it isnot there from the absolute point of view. So the srishti siddhanta are foundations forthe realization of the non-dual reality.Love & omSwami Atmananda

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bySwaminiSamatananda

This world or the Jagat is created by Ishwara’s power called Maya. Maya isIshwara’s divine power. It is like that majical power which brings into existencethat which is not really there but still appears to be there. Such is the amazingpower of Maya that the entire world is deluded by it. Just like we get deluded bythe awesome creation of a magician. Nothing created by the magician truly existsyet it all appears to be real. So also maya production deludes the world. The gloryof this delusion is such that most of us blindly follow each other in acquiring thepleasures of this mirage water and at the same time we fail to even becomeaware of the true goal o f life. If in case we are even aware of it, very rarely is someone able to free oneself of this net of Maya and realise Ishwara as the very Self.Maya is not only the power of God at the cosmic level but we all have the power ofcreation. It is with this power of maya or imagination that we create our dreamworld. We present a world that did not exist. We are the Masters of it, this dreamworld is our creation, we sustain it and it then gets dissolved within us. We havean inherent pottential to create anything we wish to. The Jagat at large is also abig dream at the cosmic level in the mind of the creator-Brahmaji. Vedanta hasthis very unique theory of creation. Even the modern day scientists are fascinatedand amazed by the unique vision presented by our Vedic Rishis. In the world ofscience it has always been a subject of continuous study trying to understand howthe world was created. The Big bang theory, the recent researches going on tofind out the God particle, trying to understand what in the begining created thisworld. In fact scientists too have come close to speaking about a theory of singu-larity or a power which is inexplicable. Vedas have long before spoken aboutMaya being the inexplicable power of Ishwara. A power which presents the worldbut which cannot be described or categorized in words. It brings about a presen-tation which even though appears to be there and yet does not truly exist. In thisverse of the Gita Sri Krishna at the level of Ishwara says this wielding power is myMaya Shakti.The Glorious power of Maya has threefold modifications:

The power of Maya is in the form of three modifications or ‘Gunas’. Sattva,Rajas and Tamas. Sattva guna reflects purity, knowledge and selflessness. Rajasreflects self-centric activity and predomination of constantly doing something andaccomplishing worldly goals. This tendency gives birth to various negativities ofindividual likes & dislikes, self-centricity, ego, desires, anger etc. Tamas is thethird guna which reflects disenthusiasm, dullness and inactivity towards the selfand others. All in all the entire world and all its living beings and non-living beingsare a multiplicity of different permutations and combinations of these three gunasalone. All the three gunas have the power to bind us. Tamas binds us in dullnessand inactivity, Rajas in self-centricity and hyper-activity and Sattva too binds us byattachment with righteous actions, practises of rituals, sadhanas, and worshiptowards forms of God.

(Daivi h

yesha g

unamay

i)

Vedanta Sandesh

When we seemaya as the effect ofGod then the prioritychanges. The cre-ation is not the be alland end all, one mustsee the signature ofgod in the whole cre-ation..

Maya has its own beauty and lessons to give:There is no doubt that world created by the Lord’s Maya is indeed beautiful

and mesmerising. Such is the beauty of this world and its experiences that Mayahas become synonymous to bondage. It is believed that living in this world andenjoying the countless presentations of this world of Maya inevitabely invites bond-age. But this is not so. Our Rishis and scriptures give us a totally different vision ofliving in this world just like a lotus lives in water and yet is totally untouched by it.That is why the scriptures speak of liberation here and now when the person isamidst this magical creation of Maya. The Upanishads do not entertain aposthamous liberation as a goal of life. But they give us a vision of knowledgehwerein we live not as slaves of Maya but as its Master. Maya is not a power tofear but it is a power to wield with one’s own freedom with a sense of fulfillment.So in the first place a wise person looks at this worldly creation appreciating thebeauty of the world created by God and his Maya Shakti and learning the rightlessons. One is deluded when one does not learn the right lessons and getsattached n identified with the objective world, its relationships, money, fame etc.There should be a thoughtfulness and observation when being involvedin the world of maya. There should be an inquisitiveness toknow the truth and not fol- low blindly. The truth aboutMaya is that it is not independant and cannotcreate on its own. A di- vine power wields hisMaya shakti and he alone sustains and de-stroys it. Secondly anything created in therealm of Maya is inert and appears to be therefor sometime. Its fas- cinating light is like thelightening in the sky, ex- tremely bright andequally momentary.Overcoming Maya:

As mentioned Maya does not have an independant existence. Maya shouldbe seen as an effect of God himself. In this verse Sri Krishna says the one whosurrenders to me alone overcomes Maya. When we see maya as the effect ofGod then the priority changes. The creation is not the be all and end all, one mustsee the signature of god in the whole creation. When somebody has cookeddelicious food we cannot ignore the one who has made all the food. It is only whenwe get carried away with the objective world and its sensory pleasures to theextent that we ignore the its creator and sustainer, then alone we are deluded byMaya and for such a person it is extremely difficult to overcome this mesmerisationand cross Maya. Focusing on god does not mean having an ishta devata andworshiping him all the time.It means to be able to see god in and through every-thing that we see, eat, do, give etc. It is to see him as the giver of fruits of actions.All aspects of our life have the signature of god. We see him function quitely,compassionately without any expectation. Thus having immense gratitude foreverything bestowed upon us. Bring about this fragrance in life and you will over-come maya. Starting our spiritual journey from here fromwe will go into the depthsof god and realize the ultimate truth of seeing God and his Maya shakti as ourvery own Self.

The implication of crossing Maya or overcoming the influence of Mayathen translates as being liberated here and now. Living like a lotus in water.

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Vedanta Sandesh

On this day, Morrie says that he has an exercise for us totry. We are to stand, facing away from our classmates, andfall backward, relying on another student to catch us. Mostof us are uncomfortable with this, and we cannot let go formore than a few inches before stopping ourselves. Welaugh in embarrassment.Finally, one student, a thin, quiet, dark-haired girl whom Inotice almost always wears bulky, white fishermansweaters, crosses her arms over her chest, closes her eyes,leans back, and does not flinch, like one of those Liptontea commercials where the model splashes into the pool..For a moment, I am sure she is going to thump on the floor.At the last instant, her assigned partner grabs her headand shoulders and yanks her up harshly."Whoa!!" several students yell. Some clap. Morrie finallysmiles. "You see", he says to the girl, 'you closed your eyes,That was the difference. Sometimes you cannot believewhat you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if youare ever going to have other people trust you, you mustfeel that you can trust them too - even when you're in thedark. Even when you're falling".

Believe What You Feel

Wanderingin Himalayas

Dispassion

Excerpts fromthe

Travel Memoirsof

Param PoojyaSwami

TapovanjiMaharaj

His mind thus turned away from wealth and pleasure and learnt todespise kingship and its paraphernalia. His mind rose to the most intensestate of vairagya, and he resolved to renounce everything and become asannyasin. In an assembly where his brothers like Bhima, comrades likeKrishna, and Teachers like Vyasa were present, he announced his inten-tion to retire to the forest and there give up his body in penance. Bhimaand the other brothers objected. They argued: “If, by sheer renunciation, aking could reach his goal, then even the mountains and trees which haveno desires of their own must reach the goal still more easily.”

Yudhishthira answered them logically, quoting the Vedas; yet, be-cause he could not reject the affectionate advice of Krishna and Vyasa, hehad to defer the fulfillment of his wish to a later time. He continued to rulehis kingdom, but in a spirit of perfect detachment. The news of the exter-mination of the Yadavas as a result of internal strife, and of the passingaway of Lord Krishna, inflamed the old desire that lay smouldering in hisbreast. He decided to give up all worldly activities and soon set out on thefinal journey. His brothers and Draupadi followed him. they moved furtherNorth through the heart of the Himalayas.

They had left Badrikashram behind, when BHima cried out, “Alas!Draupadi has dropped down on the way.”

Yudhishthira neither stopped nor turned; he just said, “That is be-cause of her partiality for Arjuna,” and passed on.

A little later Bhima reported the fall of Sahadev, “That is because ofhis pride in his wisdom,” said Yudhishthira quietly and moved on.

Thus, one by one, all the brothers fell, and Yudhishthira, in intenseloneliness, made his way forward, over rock and snow without once turn-ing back. Just think of his vairagya, his courage and heroism! Let us nowfollow the route he persued on the great journey.

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The one never becomes many, - when many candles are kindled fromanother, it is the same flame which burns in all candles. Same way, one Brahmanappears to be many. As so many candles, the flame of Brahman shines ineveryone’s heart. It is the same light, be it me, a child, husband or wife, bird orflower. When one contemplates the unreality of this diversity, and sees theunderlying reality behind all various forms, he is freed from sorrow.

Jiva is nothing but the imaginary limitation in consciousness, and when,with contemplation, this limitation goes, there is peace. What is the world andwhat is the jiva? They are nothing but appearances, just like two tongues of thesame fire - one small and one big. They may appear as different from each other,but it is the same fire. On account of theagitation in the mind, one is seen asmany, and the pure Consciousnessappears to become the object ofknowledge, like in drinking slumber onesees all kinds of phantasms in the emptysky, and everything appearswhirling around. Then there arise in themind all kinds of false notions like “I amborn”, “my name is so and so”, “I live insuch and such city”, “I have family” etc.This knowledge is not different from themind itself, - they all are ignorance ordelusion only. They are seen as such,as ignorance and delusion only, upon theright enquiry.

To rid oneself of this disease of the world and little “I”, one need to give upliquor of various notions, become sober and seek wise counsel. There is no otherremedy for this disease but wisdom, or self-knowledge, which can be given by thecompetent guru only. Knowledge alone is the cure for the false perception of themultiplicity of the world, like only by recognizing the rope behind wrongly perceivedsnake, one is cured from fear of a snake-bite. When there is such knowledge, themind understands the unreality of the world. And it loses its desires and cravingsfor the things outside, loses the taste for sense-pleasures, which only aggravatethe ignorance.

Vedanta Sandesh

AdhyatmicTeachings

ofGuru

Vasishthato

Sri Ramji

bySwaminiVidyananda

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When there are no objects and ideas in the mind, then there is no movementof thought in the mind. When there is no movement, the world appearance asseparate reality ceases. The movement of notions and ideas creates the jiva, ititself is called jiva, cause and action, and it is the seed of the world-appearance.

Everyone can be freed from this movement of thoughts in just one life-time,and someone else is freed in thousands of births. This movement creates wrongnotions and the wrong notions as if cover the truth of the sole undivided reality. Butwhen this truth is seen and recognized as such, nothing whatsoever can hide it. Itis recognized in and through everything, and mistake of taking the notions of theworld or “I” for being real is never again repeated. The same light is seen in allappearances, and the world becomes the manifestation of the joyous love andbliss, everything being the same light of the pure Sat-Chit-Ananda, or manifestationof the same Existence, Consciousness and Bliss. Having recognized it properlyonce, it can never again be hidden from the view - everything is full of Sat-Chit-Ananda and everything is Sat-Chit-Ananda only! And in every blade of grass, inevery flower and in every smile and appearance we recognize our own Self, whichis also the Self of all, and which is Shiva - “Chid-ananda rupah, Shivo’ham,Shivo’ham”.

Diwali is celebrated for various great & worthy reasons. In Vedicera it was celebrated as the day to pay our respects to ‘Yama-Raj’. He isnot only the God of Death, but is also the king of Pitra Loka, where ourforefathers reside. As a respect for Lord Yama, a lamp is lighted and waskept in front of our houses.

Yamaraj is also called Dharmaraj. He is an embodiment of righ-teousness, Dharma, and is also an embodiment of Knowledge. Yamarajis someone who performs his highly important, but often thankless duty oftaking us to the realms beyond - without any fears or favors, likes or dis-likes, in an absolutely astounding manner. Lord of Death alone is the onewho gave the very famous upadesha of the 'Secrets of Life & Death' tothe young Nachiketas, in the famous discourse of 'Kathopanishad'. Maywe remind our readers that Kathopanishad is considered as the sourcebook or mother of the famous Srimad Bhagwad Gita.

Vedanta Sandesh

Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannotchange their minds cannot change anything.

Change before you have to.

When we are no longer able to change a situation - we arechallenged to change ourselves.

To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it,change your attitude.

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or someother time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are thechange that we seek.

If you change the way you look at things, the things you look atchange.

Miracles happen everyday, change your perception of what amiracle is and you'll see them all around you.

Quotes

Once upona time ...

StorySectionOne of the very important personalities of Mahabharata, Karn ( the son of

Kunti-Surya and supposedly brother-like to Pandavas) who is fondly remem-bered as “Daanveer Karn” made lots of charity in form of jewels, money andlands. When he died and ascended to heaven, he got all that he gave in form ofcharity in multiples.

But, he didn’t get food as he did not give food-charity. He starved for daysand finally asked the “Yamaraj” if he could get a chance to make for this defi-ciency. Yamaraj allowed him and granted a period of 14 days to go back to theearth and make for it. These 14 days were used by Karan to give numerousfood-charities and he also offered Shradh to his ancestors.

When he finally returned back to the heaven, there was plenty of foodavailable to him.

Thus, in Hindus, it is considered very auspicious to donate food in form ofShradh to poor, as whatever donated is supposed to reach directly to one’s an-cestors. During these days and especially on the day of new moon it is believedthat the soul of the dead ones (Atmas), are permitted by Yamaraj to reach earthand receive the benefits of these rites from their children.

The Scriptures reveal that “The soul never dies”, it only transforms fromone external form (body) to another. Thus it is believed that in whatever form ourancestors exist, the charity during this time surely reaches them.

The sons performing the rites of Pitru Paksha are free of any Pitr doshand are eligible for Pitr lok. It lasts for a fortnight and the day to perform therituals depend on the Tithi, calculated according to the Hindu calendar.

In southern and western India, it falls in the Hindu lunar month ofBhadrapada (September–October), beginning with the full moon day (Purnima)that occurs immediately after the Ganesh festival and ending with the new moonday known as Sarvapitri amavasya, Pitru Amavasya, Peddala Amavasya,Mahalaya amavasya or simply Mahalaya. Most years, the autumnal equinox fallswithin this period, i.e. the Sun transitions from the northern to the southern hemi-sphere during this period. In North India and Nepal, this period corresponds tothe dark fortnight of the month Ashvin, instead of Bhadrapada.

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The Legend of Pitru Paksha

Vedanta Sandesh

Poojya Swamini Amitanandaji conducted a week-long ‘Gita Gyana Yagna’ at Hariom Mandir Lucknow from 4th to 10th Oct. The subject matters for the morning & eveningdiscourses were: Kaivalyopanishad & Gita Chapter 8. The program was nicely attended,and on the last day a Bhandara was organized by the Mandir authorities for all the devotees.

The 23rd Sanyas Deeksha Day of Poojya Guruji was celebrated at Vedanta Ashramwith sraddha & devotion. Early morning Poojya Guruji did the Rudrabhisheka of BhagwanSri Gangeshwar Mahadev himself, and later in the evening a ‘Bhajan & Bhojan’ programwas organized for the devotees. The evening program started with prayers and bhajans.Later Poojya Guruji enlightened everyone about the significance of Sanyas Ashram in ourreligion & tradition. Later everyone had prasad.

Vedanta Ashram completed its twenty years of existence on the Vijaya Dashamiday which this year was on the 22nd Oct. A lovely altar was made & decorated for theoccasion and all the Mahatmas did Shivnama Archana with 108 names. Stotras were chantedand the objectives of Vedanta Ashram were brought to mind, which continue to inspire usand everyone re-dedicated themselves to them.

On 25th Oct was the last Sunday of the month, and thus was the day of the monthlyHanuman Chalisa Satsang. Fresh after celebrating Navratras & Dusshera the devoteesgathered for the monthly event. Poojya Guruji briefly summarized the last pravachan andthen continued further to reveal the significance of the word ‘Tej’ in the 2nd line of thechaupayi ‘Tej pratap sakal Jagvandan’. Later there was aarti & prasad.

On her way to conduct a week=long ‘Gita Gyana Yagna’ at Ramdas Ashram,Bhavnagar, Poojya Swamini Amitanandaji first stopped at Vadodara and inaugurated aMeditation Room at the Atmajyoti Ashram there. This was a room of the Mahatmaji whoestablished the Ashram. She spoke on the significance of ‘Japa & Dhyana’. Later atBhavnagar she conducted two discourses a day from 25th to 31st Oct - on Bhagwad GitaChapter 8 and Kaivalyopanishad.

On her way back to Indore, another Satsang was organized at Vadodara, at theresidence of Sh Ajitbhai Kalaria.

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Vedanta Sandesh

Devotees celebrated the Sanyas Deeksha Day of Poojya Guruji with sraddha & devotion - on 10th Oct

By Poojya Swamini Amitanandaji at Hari om Mandir, LucknowSubs: Gita-8 & Kaivalyopanishad - from 4th to 10th Oct 2015

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Bhajans, Chanting & Pravachan of & on Hanuman Chalisa by Poojya Guruji - 25th Oct at Ashram

by Poojya Swamini Poornanandaji at Dutta Mandir, Jalgaon - 9th to 15th Sept. Gita-5 and Katho 2-2

Inauguration of Meditation Hall at Vadodara / Gita Gyana Yagna at Bhavnagar - 25th to 31st Oct

Vedanta Sandesh

Fear of DeathA man was once crossing a river in a boat. As the water lapped in thesides of the boat, it created a pleasant sensation. The man felt cheer-ful and condescendingly asked the boatman.“My good man, what was your father’s occupation?“He was a boatman, sir.”“And your grandfather?”“He also ferried a boat, sir.”“Are there many accidents on the river?”“Sometimes there are, My father died in such an accident and so didmy grandfather.”The man looked at the boatman wonderingly and asked, “My dearman, both your father and grandfather died in both accidents, Are younot afraid of ferrying a boat?”The boatman smiled and asked, “Sir, where did your father die?”“He died while asleep in bed,” replied the man.“And your grandfather?” “He also died in bed.”The boatman asked, “Sir, your father and grandfather both died whilesleeping. Are you not afraid of sleeping in bed?”

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Gita Gyana Yagna, Indore :A week-long Gita Gyana Yagna by Poojya Guruji Sri Swami Atmanandaji has

been planned to be organized at the Main Hall of Hindi Sahitya Samiti Sabhagruh, RNTMarg, Indore from 23rd to 29th Nov. Subs: Gita-3.Gita Gyana Yagna, Lucknow :

A week-long Gita Gyana Yagna by P. Swamini Samatanandaji will be organized atRamnaam Bank Community Hall, SBI Colony, Lucknow from 27th Nov to 3rd Dec. Subs:Gita-1 / Tattva Bodha.

Gita Gyana Yagna, Mumbai :A six days long Gita Gyana Yagna by Poojya Guruji Swami Atmanandaji will be

organized at Ramkrishna Math Campus in Khar, Mumbai from 7th to 12th Dec. Thesubject matter of the proposed discourses will be Gita-13 / Mundakopanishad 3-1.

The annual musical program organized by the Indian Cultural Foundation, Mumbaiwill be organized on 6th Dec, this time at the Vivekananda Hall in the RK Math Campus.

Hanuman Chalisa Satsang / Bhandara at Ashram, Indore :The Nov edition of monthly‘Hanuman Chalisa Satsang’ will be organized on 15th

Nov, due to preoccupation of P.Guruji on the 29th. This day is also the birthday of P.SwaminiSamatanandaji , so bhandara also is being organized for all the devotees.

Salil Sandhya, Indore :On 15th Dec, the birthday of Poojya Guruji, the annual Salil Sandhya will be

organized. Apart from the Flute recital, there will be Bhandara for all.

Gita Jayanti, Indore :On 21st Dec is the Mokshad Ekadashi - the Gita Jayanti. The Ashramites and its

devotees shall chant the entire Bhagwad Gita on that day.

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

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

Indian Cultural Foundationhttp://icf.vmission.org.in/

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

Om Tat Sat