Sri Ramakrishna Sevashrama Moradabad Uttar Pradesh India

15 Feb 2018

Personality Development: What activates the body-mind system?

What activates the body-mind system?

This is an important question, the answer to which will help us have better knowledge of ourselves. This question engaged the attention of ancient Indian seers and sages. They experimented with themselves –their sensory and mental apparatus-and after a disciplined quest they found out that there is a divine element in human beings, which is the Mind of the mind, Eye of the eyes, Ear of the ears and Speech of the speech. It is this divinity which constitutes the real ‘I’ and the eternal element in our personality. This divinity survives physical dissolution of the body. This divinity remains latent in us as long as we identify ourselves with our body-mind and the sensory system. The goal of life, according to the scripture and the great ones, is to manifest this hidden divinity.

Contact Details:

SRKS, Moradabad

prateekb786@yahoo.co.in

www.facebook.com/SriRamakrishnaSevashramMoradabad2016

www.linkedin.com/in/sri-ramakrishna-sevashrama-moradabad-12126a36

www.youtube.com/channel/UCiYthJsXijeiediCfRbeOnw

+919457971925

6 Feb 2018

Personality Development: What is character?

What is character?

Every action and thought of ours leaves an impression in our mind. These impressions determine how we behave at a given moment, how we respond to a given situation. The sum total of all our impressions is what determines our character. The past has determined the present. Even so the present –our present thoughts and actions-will shape our future. This is a key principle governing personality development.

Contact Details:

SRKS, Moradabad

prateekb786@yahoo.co.in

www.facebook.com/SriRamakrishnaSevashramMoradabad2016

www.linkedin.com/in/sri-ramakrishna-sevashrama-moradabad-12126a36

www.youtube.com/channel/UCiYthJsXijeiediCfRbeOnw

+919457971925

30 Jan 2018

Swami Adbhutananda, Maharajji

Speaking about Latu Maharaj, Swami Vivekananda once said, “Latu is Sri Ramakrishna’s greatest miracle. Having absolutely no education, he has attained the highest wisdom simply by virtue of the Master’s touch”. Latu was the only disciple of Sri Ramakrishna who could not even read or write. He was born of very poor parents in a village in Bihar. He lost his parents in early boyhood. Poverty forced his uncle to take him to Kolkata where Latu was employed as a houseboy in the house of Ramachandra Datta, a close devotee of Sri Ramakrishna. The Master recognized the dormant spiritual potential in the boy and asked Ram to allow Latu to stay at Dakshineswar as an attendant. Under the guidance of the Master Latu practised intense sadhana, spending whole nights in meditation, a habit which he followed all through his life.

After Sri Ramakrishna’s passing, Latu joined Baranagar Math, and was ordained a sannyasin bearing the name Adbhutananda. He, however, spent most of his time in contemplation on the bank of the Ganga or in a room in Balaram Babu’s house.

Swami Vivekananda established Ramakrishna Mission on 1897 and Belur Math in 1898. Latu Maharaj with his deep absorption in contemplative life could neither take up the service activities of the Mission nor follow the discipline and routine of the monastery. So Swami Vivekananda permitted him to follow his own way of life. After some years Adbhutananda moved to Varanasi where he lived alone, but his needs were taken care of by the Ramakrishna Home of Service. At the end of a brief ailment he passed away in a meditative state on 24 April 1920.

Discourse on Swami Adbhutananda Jayanti would be on 6:30 pm at Holy Temple premises of Sri Ramakrishna Sevashrama, Lucknow. Please do come in large numbers......

Contact Details:

Sri Ramakrishna Math & Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

www.ramakrishnalucknow.org

www.youtube.com/RKMLucknow

+91522278-7143

27 Jan 2018

Personality Development : More about the mind

The Katha Upanishad describes human personality with the help of a chariot allegory. ‘Our ‘I’ is represented by the master of the chariot; the body is the chariot and the buddhi the charioteer. The manas is represented by the reins to which are yoked the horses representing the sense organs-ears, skin, eyes, tongue and nose- which are the five windows in a human being that give him or her the knowledge of objects in the world. The road on which the chariot travels is represented by the sense objects. The human being who identifies himself or herself with this body-mind system is said to be the enjoyer of objects or the fruits of actions.

If the horses are not broken and the charioteer is asleep, the chariot cannot reach its destination. It can even overturn and spell the death of the master. Similarly, if the sense organs are not disciplined, and if the power of discrimination lies dormant, one cannot reach the goal of human life.

On the other hand, if the horses are broken and the charioteer is wide-awake, the chariot reaches its destination. Even so, if the buddhi is wide awake, and if the sensory system together with the mind is disciplined and controlled, a human being can reach the goal of his life. What is the goal? We will come to it shortly. Another important activity of the mind that concerns personality development is our emotions. More the emotions are under control, healthier becomes one’s personality. Emotions can be broadly classified into two types, viz attraction and repulsion. Love, admiration, aspiration, sympathy, joy, veneration, pride and the like indicate attraction. Hate, anger, fear, sorrow, jealousy, disgust, shame, etc, are of the nature of repulsion. As long as one is entangled with the undisciplined mind, one’s personality does not really develop. Buddhi, the charioteer, serves as an effective instrument of self-development by controlling the emotions and raising that higher self from the hold of the lower mind.

Contact Details:
SRKS, Moradabad
prateekb786@yahoo.co.in
www.facebook.com/SriRamakrishnaSevashramMoradabad2016
www.linkedin.com/in/sri-ramakrishna-sevashrama-moradabad-12126a36
www.youtube.com/channel/UCiYthJsXijeiediCfRbeOnw
+919457971925

24 Dec 2017

Swami Saradananda Sharat Maharajji

Premonastic name :
Sharat Chandra Chakravarty
Date of Birth : 23 December 1865
Place of Birth : Kolkata

Born in an affluent family, Sharat was always calm and quiet and pious in his boyhood. He joined the medical college with the idea of becoming a doctor, but discontinued his studies in order to serve Sri Ramakrishna. Along with his cousin Shashi (who stayed with Sharat’s family) he joined the Brahmo Samaj, and in 1883 they went together to Dakshineswar. Sri Ramakrishna drew them to him like a powerful magnet. During the Master’s last illness Sharat also, like Shashi, dedicated himself to serving the Master day and night.
After the Master’s passing, Sharat joined the Baranagar monastery and took the vows of sannyasa assuming the name Swami Saradananda. After spending a few years in pilgrimage and tapasya along with his brother monks, he returned to Baranagar Math in 1891. When Swami Vivekananda started extensive preaching work in the West, and felt the need for another brother monk to assist him, Swami Saradananda was brought to the United States in 1896. His calm and gentle disposition, courteous and loving manners and able exposition of Vedanta won him many friends and admirers in America.
But Swami Vivekananda, who founded the Ramakrishna Mission soon after his return to India in 1897, saw that a highly capable person like Saradananda was necessary to manage the affairs of the Math and the Mission. So Saradananda was called back to Kolkata and made the General Secretary of Ramakrishna Math and the Mission, a post which he held for nearly three decades till the end of his life. By his mature wisdom, clear thinking, strength of mind and devotion to Sri Ramakrishna and Holy Mother, he guided the course of the twin organizations in those formative years when political agitation against the British rule was gaining momentum in India.
Apart from his important work as General Secretary, Swami Saradananda is remembered for several other types of great service that he rendered. The first one was his taking over the Udbodhan, the Bengali journal of Ramakrishna Math and Mission, as its editor and publisher in 1902 when Swami Trigunatitananda left for America. The second one was taking upon himself the full responsibility of looking after the needs of the Holy Mother whether she stayed in Jayrambati or Kolkata. His third work was writing the monumental biography of Sri Ramakrishna known as Sri Ramakrishna Lila Prasanga in Bengali (translated later into English under the title Sri Ramakrishna the Great Master). His last great work was the construction of the temple dedicated to Holy Mother in 1921 on the spot where her sacred body was cremated in Belur Math, and another temple at Mother’s birthplace in Jayrambati in 1923.
He was loved and respected by hundreds of people. He was a great support especially to women. In the first week of August 1927 he suffered a stroke. Two weeks later on 19 August 1927, he breathed his last.

For further reading : 1. Glimpses of a Great Soul by Swami Asheshananda
2. God Lived with Them by Swami Chetanananda.

Contact Details:
SRKS, Moradabad
prateekb786@yahoo.co.in
www.facebook.com/SriRamakrishnaSevashramMoradabad2016
www.linkedin.com/in/sri-ramakrishna-sevashrama-moradabad-12126a36
www.youtube.com/channel/UCiYthJsXijeiediCfRbeOnw
+919457971925

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)

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.

15 Feb 2018

6 Feb 2018

30 Jan 2018

Recommended for further reading

27 Jan 2018

24 Dec 2017

16 Nov 2017