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Those,
whose hearts and minds are engrossed in Shree Krishna's love, are so contented
that they do not desire anything else. Even the greatest worldly achievements, the ultimate glory of mayic realm do not attract them.
***********
The path of devotion is free from all conditions of
time, place, rituals, manners, etc. All that is required is
to love Shree Krishna selflessly with a simple heart.
****************
Remembrance
or chanting is not a mechanical repetition of the name without love. It should
be with a heart filled with love and eyes wet with tears.*************
Finding
faults in others has two harmful effects. Firstly, that fault will enter our mind and
make our heart dirty and impure. Secondly,
finding faults in others increases one's ego and pride. This is one of the biggest obstacles in
devotion.
***********
By
selflessly loving God and Guru, a devotee can never fall down in the
path of devotion. By following God and Guru's instructions one
can speedily progress in this path.
Having
respect for others without seeking any compliments, being humble and
always forgiving,
all of these virtues can be expressed in one word Humility. It is the
foundation of devotion. Devotion starts, stays and develops only
on
the basis of humbleness.
***********
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Announcements
Visit JKY Website
New Look and Feel!
Take a tour of JKY website! Check out many new features.
Make sure to visit brand new section designed for Bal-Mukund children's
program.
****
Swamiji's USA Tour 2010
Swami Mukundananda has reached USA. He will be starting his first program from May 2nd at Silver Spring, MD.
Along
with enlightening lectures, the program offers Yoga and Meditation
sessions to provide a holistic treat for body, mind, and soul.
****
Retreat with Swamiji
Philadelphia
29th - 31st May 2010
Register now to take advantage of EARLY BIRD special.
View Retreat Flyer
****
JKY Gift Shop Online!
You can now browse and shop for all your
favorite lectures DVDs, Kirtans and Books from Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj
and Swami Mukundananda.
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Featured Kirtan CD
Sadhana
Featured Video:
IIT Lecture
How to Reach the
Absolute Truth
Swamiji was invited by IIT Delhi Alumni
Assocation to address a special gathering of
academicians and scholars on March 25th. He delivered a captivating speech on the topic, "How to
Reach the Absolute Truth".
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Upcoming Events
Swamiji's USA Tour
Silver Spring, MD
May 2nd - May 8th
Flushing, NY
May 9th - May 14th
Edison, NJ
May 16th - May 21st
Ashland, MA (Boston)
May 22nd - May 27th
Philadelphia Retreat
May 29th - May 31st
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Current News
A spiritual picnic was organized on April 10th at
Lal Mandir, Delhi.
Swamiji spent a fun-filled day with all devotees gathered there. Devotees participated joyously in singing kirtans along with
Swamiji. There was a bhajan competition, Shree Radha's childhood leela narration,
prasadam, parikrama and Q & A session.
Swamiji gave a captivating speech on the topic
"Spirituality in Management" in NALCO, Bhubaneshwar on April
15th. The talk was followed by an enthusiastic session of
Questions &
Answers.
Leadership Conclave of
IIT Delhi
The Alumni Association of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, organized a "Leadership Conclave" at Sheraton, New Delhi, on April 17th.
Alumni of the prestigious
Institute who had attained exceptional leadership position in industry and
society participated in it.
Swami
Mukundananda, alumnus of 1982 batch, was invited to speak on the topic, "Alumni
Success and Social Responsibility." His
talk was warmly applauded by the delegates of the conclave.
Haridwar Sadhana Shivir
A
three day Sadhana Shivir was held at Prem Nagar Ashram in Haridwar from 23rd
to 25th April. More than 2500
devotees from different centers of Orissa, Gujarat, Delhi,
Indore, Nepal and Haridwar took part in
this Sadhana Program.
From
early morning till late in the night, devotees were fully immersed in Bhajans
& Kirtans, Yoga and 'Roopdhyan'
Meditation, under the guidance of Swami Mukundananda.
The highlight of the
shivir was an enlightening series of discourses on "Narad Bhakti Darshan", by
Swamiji, every morning and evening.
A
special 'Ganga Aarti' was done by
Swamiji along with thousands of devotees. Devotees also had the golden chance to do seva
in the ashram during the sadhana program. They felt fortunate
and blessed to participate in this program in the blissful presence of Swamiji.
Devotees in USA! Do try to attend the Philadelphia Retreat and
be a part of the special spiritual holiday with Swamiji.
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The Editor
Jagadguru Kripalu Yog
XVII/3305, 1st Floor,
Ranjit Nagar,
Near PUSA,
New Delhi - 110008
India
7405 Stoney Point Dr
Plano, TX 75025
USA
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Welcome to the
Jagadguru Kripalu Yog
e-Magazine |
Kaamanaaye-Desires
by Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj
Continuing from the previous issue....
When
we realize the true knowledge that the material world is made for the body, the
soul is Divine and a part of God, and that God is the real subject of the soul, we will then desire for God.
Here
is another example. Till the age of 18 years, a girl stays at her father's
place. She considers her father's property as hers - the car, house and all the
luxuries at home. If anything is lost, she will feel equally bad, as her father
does. When she brings home her friends, she tells them that everything is hers.
Now, when she gets engaged and married to a person she never knew before, and
goes to his place, she claims that his house is hers and his car is also hers! How
is this possible? We get attached to objects where we perceive our happiness. We
do not have to try hard or practice, it happens automatically.
If a
theft occurs at her husband's place, the new bride will get equally tensed
about this, as she considers his possessions to be hers. Hence, the moment our intellect
decides that this material world is not ours and only God is ours, and that we are
souls and the soul's subject is God, the desire for this material world will
end, and the desire to know God arises.
The desire for God is not created as we
desire for material objects. This happens because our knowledge is limited, and
we think that we can find happiness in this material world. We say that our
father, mother, wife are not good, but we still believe that we can find
happiness in this material world. When we take the decision that, everybody is
looking for happiness and how can they give us happiness when they themselves
do not have it?
What can a beggar do when he feels generous? The best that he can do is give his empty bag
and the meagre earnings he has. We need to understand this fact and leave the
bondage of this material world. We
cannot leave it by just talking or by reading about it or by being
told by the saints.
Now if you do something for your father he will love you
but when his purpose is not solved he will get angry on you. When you accept
all that your wife wants, she will love you but if you don't accept it, she will
get sad. This is the selfishness of this material world and we need to
remind ourselves about this every time. Friendship
or enemies, attachment or detachment has to be made firm by its repetition. Think
about this again and again and make the decision firm that there is no
happiness in this world, and we are not separate from that.
At the funeral service, Hindus chant "Ram naam
satya hai"
which means, "The only truth is God's name and this material
body is not true." If we truly realize this and believe in it,
the attachment for
this material world will fade away. If we do not desire for the
material world, we do not have to create the desire for God, it is
created automatically since we cannot desire anything else.
We have to create the desire for God since we cannot find
happiness in this material world. This material world is for the body and God
is for our soul. Everything has a
different subject - like the eye are required to see, ears to listen and so on. Now we cannot listen through our
eyes or see through our ears. People will say that we have gone mad.
Similarly if you desire happiness of the soul in this material world, how
is this possible? This is the reason why it is said that, "remove your mind from
this material world and concentrate it towards God". If your mind thinks
about pure things, it will get purified. We need pure water to wash dirty
cloths. It is not possible to wash dirty cloths with dirty water. It will
become dirtier.
The material world is not pure, it is under maya. It is under three types of
qualities - Satvagun, Rajogun and Tamogun.
If the mind gets attached to any of these three, it will degrade
further. If the mind is attached in pure things it will become
pure.
That is the reason we need to remove it from the material world and
concentrate
it towards God. If you are not able to attach your mind towards
God immediately,
practice to do so. Concentrate it towards God every time it gets
diverted. Slowly and steadily, your mind will get attached to
God.
You smoke a cigarette, have a drink and lie to people. After regular drinking, you
get so habituated to it that you cannot leave it. The mind thinks that it is not possible for us to
leave the material things as well. God is an ocean of Bliss.
Concentrate towards God again and again.
You will gain a lot of happiness, and soon, you will not be able to leave Him.
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Secrets of Spiritual Sadhana
by Swami Mukundananda
Continuing from the last month...
These are the next lines of the series "Sadhana Karu Pyare".
boolihooṁ durbhāvanā kahuṁ, ho na
sapanehuṁ pyāre
lakhahuṁ jani paradoṣh kabahuṁ, doṣh nij
lakhahu pyāre
jagat te man ko haṭā ke, lagā hari meṁ pyāre
Jagadguru
Shree Kripaluji Maharaj further reveals a very important point
here. Each line of
this kirtan series gives us a very important message that all devotees
need to
implement in their lives. Further more, we
should never harbor any ill-feelings for others even by mistake.
It is very beneficial to have positive thoughts
for others, while it is harmful to have harbor negative thoughts about
others. Our thinking shapes our personality. For example,
if we think negative about
others by saying, "He is a bad person", it does not harm the other
person. Instead, it harms us. It is equivalent to
shooting ourselves in the foot.
We are advised
to have a feeling of 'Godliness' towards others. This
attitude is considered to be of the highest order. This means, we should see God in all entities.
We should think that God resides in
every being. If you cannot bring
yourself to see God in someone, then you should at least think positive about that
person, and in no case harbor negative thoughts. The normal human tendency is that we develop a
feeling of 'negativity' towards a person who has wronged us. We keep thinking about how to get back at him.
We derive happiness from this. This is known as Tamasik Sukh.
Our
attitude is, "He used foul language against me, so I
slapped him. He will never forget the
lesson." Irrespective of whether the
other person remembers the incident or not, you are recalling it in
your mind. This negative thinking spoils your mind. We may
think that our negative thoughts harm
the other person, but the fact is that we end up harming ourselves by
making
our mind dirty. This is the reason that Maharajji tells us not to
have any
ill-feelings towards others. Further, he
says that we should never find faults in others.
There is a saying in Urdu -
"tu jo auroṁ kī or karatā hai aṅguste numāi"
If we find faults
and point our fingers towards the other person, three of our fingers point
towards us. Our saints teach us not to
see the negative aspect in others, instead we need to focus on their positive
qualities.
You might have heard about an incident in the life of Saint
Eknath. He was a saint from Maharashtra. He
made a great impact on the culture of Maharashtra, which
exists even today. "Naath Bhagvad", a
manuscript by him, is very famous. Once
he was returning after a bath in the holy Narmada River.
A pathan came and stood in front of him. He filled
his mouth with water and spat on him. Eknath did not get angry on him or say
anything. He kept quiet and then said - "Jai
ho Rukmani Vithal". He then had a bath in Narmada again. When he came out, the pathan
spat on him again. This sequence continued many times. The moment he came out after taking a bath,
the pathan would spit on him. This continued from the morning till the
evening. People gathered on both the sides of the bank to see who would emerge
victorious. At last the pathan gave up. He asked the saint, "Maharaj,
what are you made of? Wood or stone? I spat on you so many times, but you did not
even ask me as to why I spat on you?" The
saint said, "Why should I get angry with you? You are doing good to me. It is
because of you that I could take bath in this holy Narmada River." This is how saints think. If someone thinks
bad or does bad things to them, they don't get disturbed.
There was a Mahatma,
great man who was always opposed by a person. People used to say that the
person was condemnable, but the Mahatma
never said anything to him. One day, the
man died and Mahatma came to know
about this. He started crying when he
heard this news. People said, "He was a
bad person and always disturbed you, and derived happiness from that. Now that he is no more, it is good for you, he
won't be able to disturb you anymore." The Mahatma
replied, "It was due to him that I could increase my tolerance. He helped me
increase my humility and reduce my ego.
He used to do good for me. Now
that he is no more, I am tensed as to how I will be able to progress
spiritually?"
This illustrates that
great people do not get affected by opposition; instead they feel happy about
it. It is a very unique quality not to
find faults in others. In fact, each one
of us has faults in us since we are under the influence of maya.
When we see faults in others,
our ego prevents us from realizing our own shortcomings. This is very
natural. We are not able take any
initiative in correcting ourselves and our own faults keep
increasing. Hence, Shree Kripaluji Maharaj says that if you want
to see faults, see them in
yourself. Once we
implement this philosophy in practice, we will find a lot of peace.
Secondly, stop judging others and everything
will move on smoothly.
There was a man who had two sons. He taught them to get up
early at 4 am and practice sadhana. Both of them tried to get up early, but only
the elder one could make it. He took
bath and then sat for meditation. The
younger son slept on till 7 am. The
elder son complained to his father about the carelessness of his younger
brother. His father said, "If you wanted
to wake up at 4.00 am to find faults in your brother, it would have been better
if you had slept on like him."
Similarly, if we are to go to a satsang to find faults in others, it is
better to stay at home than to participate in satsang. The more impure the
mind is, the more faults it find in others. The day our mind becomes pure, we will stop
finding faults in others. According to the scriptures, there are only three
people who have the right to see faults or judge other people. The first is a doctor. It is his duty to find
physical faults. Next is a lawyer. He is paid to find faults and the third is a teacher,
because he imparts education. No person
other than these three has the right to find faults.
Shree
Kripaluji
Maharaj further gives us the solution of one of the most
important questions. Everybody complains that we cannot
concentrate our mind on God. Please give us some magical formula
with
which we can concentrate.
Once
a person asked Maharajji that he is
not able to concentrate his mind on God. Maharajji
said, "Which fool told you that you will be able to concentrate on God? It is a
great achievement if you can concentrate in God. You are still doing sadhana. By sadhana we are trying to concentrate our mind in God, and you think you would be
able to do it automatically!" We have to
try and make an effort to concentrate on God. Maharajji
says that we must detach our mind from the materialistic things and turn our
mind towards God. But do not expect that
your mind will continuously concentrate on God. It will naturally lean towards
the materialistic world. You may wonder why
this happens.
Maharajji replies that, "Our mind is mayic in nature, and the world around us is also mayic. Hence, it is not surprising if the mind is
attracted to the material world. It
takes effort to concentrate our mind on God. It is difficult to throw a ball upwards, but
it takes absolutely no effort to throw it down. Just release the ball from your hand and it
will fall down. In sadhana, we have
to concentrate and make a firm decision using our intellect that, "My goal is
God. I am related to Him and with the
help of my intellect I will detach my mind from this materialistic world." If your mind gets diverted towards the
material world, bring it back towards God. Every time the mind deviates from
the path, we have to bring it back towards God. We need to sustain this effort continuously.
It is similar to the Mahabharat war. If we want to find God, we need to fight with our
mind. If someone discourages our effort and tells us to let things be the way
they are, we will continue to revolve around the 8.4 million species. We will
not gain freedom from the cycle of birth and death. Hence, this is the only way
to attain complete freedom. It is known that any work seems difficult in the
beginning, but with practice, it becomes easier. Initially, it is a bit
difficult to concentrate our mind on God. Keep doing sadhana sincerely
and continuously, and it will become easier. This way, we will progress slowly but
surely.
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Bal-Mukund Showcase
Bal-Mukund welcomes all contributions of
creative works from children in different areas including poetry, moral
stories, art work, etc. Their work may be show cased on the JKYog website.
*******
One day, a big bird came to the lake to live. All the swans cackled,
"Hey! You cannot live here. It is our lake. We pay a feather to the king every six months. Thus we have bought this
lake."
Brothers, I am a homeless bird. Please give me shelter," begged the
bird.
But the swans ignored its pleas and drove it away.
The
arrogant behaviour of the swans angered the bird. It made up its
mind to teach a lesson to the
arrogant swans. It went to the king and complained, "Lord! The swans in
your
lake are very impolite. I went to them as a refugee and begged for
shelter in
the water of the lake of the gracious king. They refused to give
me any space. One of the swans even said that the king was no body
to order them to do
anything. They claimed that the lake was
purchased by them with golden feathers. They think that the lake was
purchased
by them with golden feathers. Thus, they think that the whole lake is
their
private property. I was insulted and driven away. Such injustice
in your otherwise kind rule is
bad. I seek your justice, O King."
"Don't worry. You will get justice." The king announced and ordered his soldiers to get the arrogant swans
and bring them to his presence. It was
clear that the king would punish them severely.
The
solders rushed towards the lake. The swans saw the soldiers and
were frightened. An old swan said, "Friends! We better leave
the lake. It is time we paid the price for our rude behaviour. We will
be
punished if we stay here." Very soon,
the swans flew away.
The king allowed the new comer to live happily in the lake for the
rest of his life.
Moral: Arrogance and rudeness will never help us. We must always be
polite, helpful and humble to others. If
the swans had shared the lake with the new bird, they could have lived together
happily. But their rude behavior caused
their own downfall.
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Question:
Whenever I am in satsang I feel de-stressed but once I am out
of satsang the stress level increases.
My question is, how to get relieved of stress?
Answer:
People in present age are experiencing more stress. We experience stress because we want
something to happen or we get attached to some situation and think it should be
like this. If we surrender to God and
think whatever God does, He does it for good, that feeling of surrender will
get rid of our stress.
Thus,
stress is a symptom of lack of our surrender. When we experience
stress, the best medicine
to cure it is to increase our level of surrender. Now, what is
the problem in increasing the
level of surrender? Worldly attachments. We keep on
pondering, "This should happen
this way; that should happen that way." This is the main hurdle
for complete surrender. We need to increase detachment to
increase the
level of surrender.
The soul is not independent. It is
not in the hands of soul to fulfill all of its desires. By
nature, the soul is a servant of God. Now, what is the duty of a
servant? Whatever his master wishes, he must wish the
same.
rāzi hain usi mein jis mein teri
razā hai.
yun bhi wāh wāh hai tyun bhi wāh wāh hai.
So,
by increasing the level of detachment and surrendering to God, we can get rid of
stress.
Before God-realization there will always be some level of
tension within all because the percent of surrender will not be one-hundred
percent. God-realization is yet to
happen, which means that the surrender is not yet complete. However, by giving us tension, God is signaling
us that something is wrong and we need to get it right by surrendering to Him. This is just as when we put our hand in the
fire, we feel pain. What would happen if
we did not feel the pain? Our hand would
burn without our knowing it. The feeling
of pain is, in fact, a form of Grace. We
are getting the signal that something is wrong, and we must take the hand
out. Similarly, stress is a signal that
we need more of detachment, more surrender and more of devotion.
A spiritual doctor will prescribe you the medicine of
surrender to get relieved of stress, whereas a material doctor will give you
all kinds of chemical medicines. But
such chemical medicines will not help eradicate the root cause of stress. By increasing the level of surrender, the
cause of stress itself will be eradicated. Shree Krishna states this in the Bhagavad
Geeta:
karmaṅye
vādhikāraste, mā phaleṣhu kadāchana
"Work with full dedication.
Do not be careless while performing your tasks. But do not get attached to the fruits of
those works." Else, you will definitely
experience stress. So, trash away the
attachment to the fruits of your work.
Shree Krishna again says:
yoginaḥ
karma kurvanti sangan tyaktvatm shuddha ye
"A yogi is one who can work without any attachment to the
results." If we follow this formula,
stress will be abolished from its roots. |
Trivia Time
Hindus view three cosmic activities of the Supreme Being, which are,
creation, preservation, and dissolution and recreation. They associate
these three cosmic tasks to the three deities, Brahma, Vishnu and
Shiva. Lord Brahma is the creator and represents the creative part of
the Supreme Being. Lord Vishnu runs and maintains the universe and thus
represents the eternal principle of preservation. Lord Shiva is the
destroyer and recreator. These three gods put together form the Hindu
Trinity ( Trimurthy).
Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are not without connection. They are the
same power (the Supreme Being), but have three different aspects. The
Supreme Being is called Brahma. Vishnu, Bramha or Shiva when perform
the three different cosmic tasks of creation, preservation, and
dissolution/recreation.Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara (Shiva) form the trinity of Hinduism.
Brahma is the creator, Vishnu is the preserver and Siva is the
destroyer. Their wives help them in their duties, who are goddesses
called, Saraswathi, Lakshmi and Parvathi. Saraswathi is the goddess of
knowledge while Lakshmi, is the goddess of wealth and Parvathi is called
the Mother Goddess. All three gods rule three different worlds. Bramha
rules Brahmalok, Vishnu rules Vaikunth and Siva rules Kailash. |
Jagadguru Kripalu Yog
Uthanasan
Method
Stand-up straight. Keep a distance of one foot
between the legs. Raise your hands in front to your shoulder level.
1. Inhale
(Radhey) and slowly bend your knees with your feet on the floor (as if you are
sitting on an imaginary chair). Remain in this position for 5 seconds. Exhale
(Shyam) while coming up to the standing position.
2. Perform
this asan, while coming down to squatting position, if you can, for 5 seconds.
Benefits
It
strengthens knees and legs muscles. It generates vital energy in the body.
Contra-indication
Women suffering from prolapse
of the uterus
should not practice this asan. Do not try this asan after 3 months of
pregnancy.
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