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 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...
by Satinder | Jul 26, 2016 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
You ARE That! Direct Experience of Reality as your own Self! The students of Vedānta are very familiar with the great saying, Mahāvākya, तत्त्वमसि, Tat Tvam Asi, translated generally as “Thou art That,” originally occurring in the Chandōgya Upaniṣad 6.8.7. It means...
by Satinder | Jul 24, 2016 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
TRUTH IS A PATHLESS LAND! J. Krishnamurti once said, “Truth is a pathless land.” This pithy, enigmatic quote does not really mean that there is no path to truth; rather it signifies that we are already the truth that we are seeking. Since there is no separation from...
by Satinder | Jul 21, 2016 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
WAKING, DREAM, SLEEP AND SAT-CHIT-ANANDA! Dream is that state which when occurring “appears” to be as real as the waking state. We only “call” it dream from the “prejudice” of the waking state. What if, extending the logic, the...
by Satinder | Jul 15, 2016 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
A LĪLĀ, DIVINE PLAY, “IN” AND “OF” CONSCIOUSNESS! It is all a play “of” consciousness. Better yet, it is all a play “in” the consciousness. Consciousness is not just the Seer, “witness” of all and...
by Satinder | Jul 11, 2016 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
VEDĀNTA IN SRIMAD BHĀGAVATAM: [Bhāgavatāmṟutasāra: skandha 6; chapter 16, verses 51-56] [Chatu-Sloki Bhāgavatam: skandha 2, Chapter 9, Verses: 33-36 अहं वै सर्व-भूतानि भूतात्मा भूत-भावनः I शब्द-ब्रह्म परं ब्रह्म ममोभे शाश्वती तनू II 6.16.51 ahaṁ vai sarva-bhūtāni...
by Satinder | Jul 8, 2016 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
TURĪYA MANTRA: KEYS TO LIBERATION! The main import of Maṇḍūkya Upaniṣad and Guaḍapāda’s Karikās is to establish the true nature of ātmā, the Self, the Pure Consciousness. It provides the entire methodology (prakriya) to cognize one’s self within...
by Satinder | Jul 2, 2016 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
Oneness of the Self with Brahman! In the great epic Ramāyaṇa, we find that Sri Rāma asked Sri Hanumān-ji a question in the assembly: “O Hanuman, what do you think of me in relation to yourself?” Tears were rolling down Hanumanji’s cheeks. Full of devotion and...
by Satinder | Jun 28, 2016 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
Self-Realization (Atma-Anubhava): Some Preliminaries By the mysterious operation of the sheer Divine Grace,[1] one comes in contact with the non-dual Vedānta teachings and a realized teacher. Vedānta is not an abstract philosophy but a concrete science of Reality—a...
by Satinder | Jun 27, 2016 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
Meditation According to Patānjali Yoga and Advaita Vedānta According to Patānjali, yoga is defined as “stilling the modification of the Mind”: योग: चित्त-वृत्ति निरोध: (yogaḥ citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ): Yoga Sutras 1.2. In Advaita Vedānta, Self-Knowledge...
by Satinder | Jun 21, 2016 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
ONE IN MILLION: A LEAF FROM A TRAVEL DIARY! Only a seeker who is ready benefits from the teachings. Otherwise, one may be living with or around the greatest teacher in the world and completely miss it! History and our current experience amply bear out this fact. The...
by Satinder | Jun 19, 2016 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
THE MEANS TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHEST SELF Praśnopaniṣad (प्रश्नोपनिषद्) consists of six questions asked by six students to the great Seer, Pippalada. At the very outset of his commentary, the Ādī Śaṅkarācārya, points out that this Upaniṣad serves to teach...
by Satinder | Jun 17, 2016 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
THE PATH AND THE GOAL! NO FREEDOM WITHOUT SELF-KNOWLEDGE! जन नानक बिन आपा चीन्हे, मिटै न भ्रमकी काई…गुरुबाणी Nanak says: O man, without knowing thyself the darkness of illusion cannot be dispelled. नानकजी कहते हैं: हे मनुष्य, बिना स्वयं को पहचाने भ्रम की...
by Satinder | Jun 13, 2016 | Happiness Inc., Practical Spirituality, Who Am I? |
The Goal and Uniqueness of Vedānta-2 In the first essay, we saw that the usual means of objective knowledge such as perception and inference are not appropriate for cognizing or realizing our true Self. It is because the Self, being the very subject, is not available...
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