by Satinder | Jul 9, 2017 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
Śaṅkara’s Philosophy: A Brief Overview! Śaṅkara’s fundamental Vedāntic stance can be summarized as follows: That the Brahman (Absolute) is One only, without a second and is of the nature of Pure Consciousness and Bliss; that It is always, absolutely, one with...
by Satinder | Jul 8, 2017 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
Arjuna-viṣāda-yoga— The Yoga of Arjuna’s Great Sorrow The Gītā teaches us that all sorrow springs from misunderstanding the Reality of the world in which we live—taking the unreal as real and real as unreal. That which is permanent and unchanging is real and that...
by Satinder | Jul 2, 2017 | Happiness Inc., Poetry Unlimited, Practical Spirituality |
Rain Bird, Chātak Pakshī, eagerly waiting to quench its thirst with the rain drops of Swāti Nakshatra The holy period of Chaturmaas in 2017 will commence from July 4 and come to an end on October 31. [Literally, four, chatur, months, maas] In most spiritual...
by Satinder | Jun 17, 2017 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
The Bhagavad Gītā is an endearing dialog (saṁvād) between two friends—the warrior prince, Arjuna, and the Lord in human form, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. So, if you want to understand the true import of the Gītā, you have to befriend Śrī Kṛṣṇa. There is no room for contention,...
by Satinder | May 29, 2017 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
Who Am I?[1] Discerning what is ‘I’ and what is ‘not-I’ (ātmānātma-vicāra) Perhaps the most important question that Vedānta attempts to tackle is Who am I really? Generally, we take ourselves to be a separate and limited body-mind-senses complex. Vedānta says...
by Satinder | May 24, 2017 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
Is your gold ring real? Of course yes. But is it really real? To find out, let’s look at it more closely. If we melt the gold ring, what do we get? Gold. Where did the ring go? Well, ring was just a “name” and “form” which got resolved...
by Satinder | Mar 19, 2017 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Quotable Quotes and Stories, Who Am I? |
Musings on Life and Living! Kindly find below some quotes, vignettes, and musings to uplift your spirit: [the wisdom-beads belong to others; I have only tried to supply the thread] Don’t waste your time with explanations: people only hear what they want to hear.―...
by Satinder | Mar 14, 2017 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Quotable Quotes and Stories |
Our Psychological Sleep! A modern man lives in sleep, in sleep he is born and in sleep he dies.” ~Gurdjieff to Ouspenksi in In Search of the Miraculous Grace Notes: It may at first seem a bit harsh assessment of humans; but then how can one explain the wars,...
by Satinder | Jan 20, 2017 | Practical Spirituality, Quotable Quotes and Stories, Who Am I? |
The Story of Two Ants* Once upon a time, two ants used to live on two different types of ant-hills. One used to live on a hill made of sugar crystals and the other used to live on a hill made of salt crystals. Let/s call them sugar-hill and salt-hill ant. From time to...
by Satinder | Oct 24, 2016 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
KEY POINTERS TO SELF-KNOWLEDGE The point of these pointers is to lead us home which we have never left! Self-knowledge deals with who and what we truly are. The Self, our true nature, is the ever-present awareness of our own being. Who am I? What is Self-knowledge?...
by Satinder | Oct 24, 2016 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
‘Me’ to ‘I’ Perhaps the most often used word in the English language is ‘I.’ We are constantly saying ‘I’ ‘I’ all day long, all life long. We rarely pause to think what does this ‘I’ really mean. For the most part,...
by Satinder | Sep 27, 2016 | Happiness Inc., Poetry Unlimited, Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
Already, Always the Self! All states of mind come and go. No such thing as ‘permanent’ state of mind. Mind disappears daily during deep sleep. Thankfully, you don’t. Therefore, you are not the mind! When sleep gives way to the waking state, ‘Me’ and the ‘world’ appear...
by Satinder | Sep 17, 2016 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
CUTTING THE ROOT OF ALL SEEKING AND SUFFERING! At the root of all suffering is the unexamined notion that I am a separate, limited or isolated entity. However, when we closely examine our existence, we realize that our being is not separate and limited. This fact is...
by Satinder | Sep 12, 2016 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Quotable Quotes and Stories |
Spiritual Costs of Selfishness? A Rare Story! The psychological costs of self-centeredness are well documented in positive psychology literature, such as greater psychological distress (anxiety and depression), poor physical health (lower immune system and increased...
by Satinder | Sep 11, 2016 | Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
Artwork by Shally Dhiman AVIDYĀ: THE ROOT-CAUSE OF ALL EVIL! All seeking and suffering is due to “mis-taking” the apparent ego-entity–the “me-notion” to be our real self. All evil (अनर्थ) anartha, proceeds from it. Adi Śaṅkara makes it very clear in Adhyāsa...
by Satinder | Sep 5, 2016 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
Guru: The Embodiment of Supreme Compassion: परम करुणानुना गुरुणा This is how Adi Shankara defines a teacher, a guru: That s/he is the very embodiment of supreme compassion. That is the only raison d’être that the teacher teaches. The teacher wants the shishya to...
by Satinder | Aug 25, 2016 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
Lord Krishna Artwork by Shally Dhiman HAPPY JANMASTHAMI All that I learned at the lotus feet of my Vedānta teachers, illumined by the Lord within: On this auspicious day of Janmasthami, let us remember Lord Krishna though his wonderful teachings of Bhagavad...
by Satinder | Aug 24, 2016 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
FIRE OF FREEDOM IN THE HEART! Freedom is available only to those who want it not merely more than anything else, but to the exclusion of everything else. ~Poonja ji [Grace Notes: To explain this, Sages often give the example of a person whose clothes are on fire, who...
by Satinder | Aug 11, 2016 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
DEVOTION AND SUPREME DEVOTION BHAKTI AND PARĀBHAKTI IN ADVAITA VEDĀNTA Once an ardent devotee of the Lord Rama was offering his puja to an idol (murti) of Sri Rama with great devotion. A Seer was watching him perform the pūja. The Seer asked him, “So, to which...
by Satinder | Aug 6, 2016 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
Self Alone is All This! Most Profound Upanishadic Teachings Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad: 2.2.12: Mantra and Shankara’s Commentary: ब्रह्मैवेदममृतं पुरस्ताद्ब्रह्म पश्चाद्ब्रह्म दक्षिणतश्चोत्तरेण । अधश्चोर्ध्वं च प्रसृतं ब्रह्मैवेदं विश्वमिदं वरिष्ठम् ॥ १२ ॥ भाष्यम्...
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