Sri Ramakrishna Sevashrama Moradabad Uttar Pradesh India: November 2017

16 Nov 2017

Swami Chetanananda “How to Live With God: In the Company of Ramakrishna”

In the early 1900s Swami Vishuddhananda met a gardener in the Dakshineswar temple garden, who had had a vision of the Master’s luminous form. The Swami wrote:

“I met a gardener of seventy-six or seventy-seven years old, who had worked in the temple garden during Mathur’s time. I first saw him cleaning, very carefully, the path from the Master’s room to the Panchavati with a spud [a spade-like instrument]. He was a little bent because of his age. I observed that he steadfastly cleaned that path up to the pine grove and the bel tree. I was a little curious, because I saw him do the same work every day. One day I asked him: “Have you seen the Master?” He laid the spud on the ground, then looked at me in wonder and said: “I am following his order. The Master told me that many of his devotees would come. So I am cleaning this path for them”. He was reluctant to say anything more. When I pressed him to say something more, he told me this wonderful story: “One summer night I could not sleep, so I went for a walk in the garden. I saw a light coming from the Panchamundi area. I went there and found the Master immersed in Samadhi under the bel tree; a light emanated from his body. I was so scared, I could not stay there long. The next morning I went to him, fell at his feet, and burst into tears. He asked: “What is the matter? Why do you have so much overflowing devotion today?” I only said: “Master, please bless me”. He realized what was in my mind. He lifted me up and said: “Meditate on the form that you saw last night. Clean the path to the Panchavati. Many devotees will come in the future”. I meditate on that luminous form of the Master and clean this path every day”.

(Swami Chetanananda “How to Live With God: In the Company of Ramakrishna”, Advaita Ashrama 2008, Ch. 1 “Various Forms of Ramakrishna”, “Ramakrishna as a Luminous Being”, pp. 64-65)

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MY MASTER (14)(LIFE OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA)BY SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

MY MASTER (14)(LIFE OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA)
BY SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
Every moment I think of anything else is so much loss to me — even the marvels of earthly sciences; everything is vain if it takes me away from that thought. Life is but momentary, whether you have the knowledge of an angel or the ignorance of an animal. Life is but momentary, whether you have the poverty of the poorest man in rags or the wealth of the richest living person. Life is but momentary, whether you are a downtrodden man living in one of the big streets of the big cities of the West or a crowned Emperor ruling over millions. Life is but momentary, whether you have the best of health or the worst. Life is but momentary, whether you have the most poetical temperament or the most cruel. There is but one solution of life, says the Hindu, and that solution is what they call God and religion. If these be true, life becomes explained, life becomes bearable, becomes enjoyable. Otherwise, life is but a useless burden. That is our idea, but no amount of reasoning can demonstrate it; it can only make it probable, and there it rests. The highest demonstration of reasoning that we have in any branch of knowledge can only make a fact probable, and nothing further. The most demonstrable facts of physical science are only probabilities, not facts yet. Facts are only in the senses. Facts have to be perceived, and we have to perceive religion to demonstrate it to ourselves. We have to sense God to be convinced that there is a God. We must sense the facts of religion to know that they are facts. Nothing else, and no amount of reasoning, but our own perception can make these things real to us, can make my belief firm as a rock. That is my idea, and that is the Indian idea.

Personality Development : The fourfold functions of the mind

The fourfold functions of the mind:
The human mind has four basic functions. This can be illustrated by an example: suppose I meet a person whom I had met somewhere, say, about ten years before. I try to recollect when and where I met him and who is he. From the inner recesses of my mind there begins a process of scanning, as it were, to check if there are any events stored there connected with the person. Suddenly I am able to recognize the person as so and so and finally say ‘he is the same person I met in such and such a place,’ etc. I now have a firm knowledge about the person.
Analysing the above example, we are able to discern four functions of the mind:
Memory: The storehouse of memory and impressions of our past experiences presents various possibilities before the mind. This storehouse is called chitta. It is in this storehouse that the impressions of our thoughts and actions-good and bad-are stored. The sum total of these impressions determine our character. This chitta, again, is what is known as our subconscious mind.
Deliberation and Conceptualization: Not yet sure, the mind examines the many options presented before it. It deliberates on several things. This faculty of the mind is called manas. Imagination and formation of concepts are also functions of the manas.
Determination and Decision-Making: Buddhi is the faculty responsible for decision-making. It has the capacity to judge pros and cons of things and find what is more desirable. It is also the discriminative faculty in a person, which enables him to discriminate between the real and the unreal, between what is to be done and what is to be avoided, what is morally right and what is wrong. It is also the seat of will-power so essential for personality development and hence this aspect of the mind concerns us the most.
‘I’ Consciousness: Appropriating to oneself all physical and mental activities eg, ‘I eat’,’ I see’, ’I talk’, ’I hear’, ’I think’, ’I am confused’, etc., is called ahamkara or ‘I’ consciousness. As long as the ‘I’ identifies itself with the undisciplined body-mind complex, human life is dictated by events and circumstances of the world; we become happy with pleasurable events, and miserable with adverse circumstances. More the mind gets refined and disciplined, more does one get to know the real source of ‘I’ consciousness. Correspondingly, a person becomes more balanced and equipoised in his daily life. Such a person is no longer swayed by any event or circumstances of life.
These four aspects of the mind, viz manas, buddhi, chitta and ahamkara, are not watertight compartments. It is the same mind called by different names based on its functions.

13 Nov 2017

12th UP-UK Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Bhav Prachar Parishad Conference, Haldwani

रामकृष्ण-विवेकानंद भाव प्रचार परिषद के 12वें अ‌र्द्धवार्षिक सम्मेलन का शनिवार को शुभारंभ किया गया। कटघरिया स्थित नंदपुर के रामकृष्ण धाम में हुए सम्मेलन के प्रथम सत्र में स्वामी कृष्णानंद पुरी राष्ट्रीय एकता व विश्व शांति के लिए भागवत गीता को जरूरी बताया।

उन्होंने बताया कि स्वामी विवेकानंद ने कहा था कि अगर आप भगवान को पाना चाहते हैं तो इसके लिए आपको जंगल जाने की जरूरत नहीं, बल्कि स्वयं के भीतर झांकने की और खुद को जानने की जरूरत है। रोशनी तभी मिलती है, जब दीपक जलता है। इसी तरह ज्ञान तभी प्राप्त होता है, जब हम ज्ञान को पाने के लिए तप करते हैं।

उद्घाटन सत्र में गीता उद्बोधन, त्याग और सेवा, श्रीराम कृष्णवचनामृत सहित अन्य विषयों पर संतों के प्रवचन हुए शाम को उपासना सत्र संपन्न हुआ और रविवार,12 नवंबर को सम्मेलन का समापन हुआ । कार्यक्रम को स्वामी मुक्तिनाथानंद, स्वामी गुणाश्रयानंद, स्वामी धर्मानंद, स्वामी प्रतिभानंद ने भी संबोधित किया।

इस अवसर पर सुरेन्द्र निगल्टिया, राम सिंह डोगरा, खीमानंद पांडे सहित अन्य लोग मौजूद रहे।

Youtube Link : https://youtu.be/Eh5zm_WmGOI

10 Nov 2017

Personality Development : Necessity to know our mind

Necessity to know our mind:

We intend to do many things – make resolutions to cultivate good habits, to kick certain bad habits, to study with concentration, to do something with a concentrated mind. Very often our mind rebels, forcing us to beat a retreat from our efforts at implementing our resolutions. A book is open before us, and our eyes are open. But the mind has started wandering, thinking about some past events or some future plans. The same thing happens when we sit for a few minutes trying to pray or think of a divine name or form. Says Swami Vivekananda: ‘Free! We who cannot hold our minds on a subject, focus it on a point to the exclusion of everything else for a moment! Yet we call ourselves free. Think of it!
According to the Bhagavad Gita, the undisciplined mind acts as our enemy, whereas a trained mind acts as our friend. So we need to have a clear idea of the mechanism of our mind. Can we train it to obey us, to cooperate with us? How can it contribute to the development of our personality?

3 Nov 2017

Personality Development: What is Personality?

INTRODUCTION
What Is Personality?
ACCORDING TO THE Cambridge International Dictionary of English, ‘your personality is the type of person you are, which is shown by the way you behave, feel and think.’ Personality, according to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, is the ‘whole nature or character of a person.’
How a person behaves, feels and thinks, how he conducts himself in a given set of circumstances is largely determined by the state of his mind. Mere external appearance or a person’s speech or mannerisms are only fringes of one’s personality. They do not reflect the real personality. Personality development in the real sense refers to deeper levels of a person. So a study of our personality should start from a clear grasp of the nature of our mind, and how it functions.