Awaken Sweetness in Sadhana

Swami Vishwananda:
When the mind gets purified, the mind becomes positive. You will see how easy it is also in sadhana. It doesn’t matter if you do not succeed in one goal. I know people like a quick result, perhaps in one month, when they start practicing; they want results very fast.

Know one thing; the faster you go in, the faster you will go out also. It's like when you are cooking. When a Mataji is making syrup and she just takes the fruit and throws it in the syrup and then quickly removes the fruit, will the sweetness go into the food? It will not.You have to let it cook inside. Your sadhana works in the same way. If you just go inside and go out of it, being impatient with yourself, it will be the same as the quickly removed fruit; it will not be sweet.

The sweetness that you have inside of you is waiting to be awakened. It does not matter which path you follow or which sadhana you are doing; how you are doing your sadhana is most important.

To Which Kingdom Does God Belong

Swami Vishwananda: We often hear people asking the question, “Who is God?” I will ask you now, “Who is God?” As long as you have not known Him, you can’t answer this question. Love is God. But how many people realize this love? In which religion does God really belong? Is God Christian? Is God Hindu? Is God Muslim? Is God Buddhist? To which religion does He belong?

Love, and the word love, and everywhere you go, you will see there is only one God, and that is love. It’s in each one’s heart. But how do we realize this love? We are so busy with this material world that we forget about the Divine love. We try to look for this love in the outside world. We try to look for this love in other people. We try to look for this love by traveling around the world. We forget that we have to travel, not outside, but inside, to find this love in ourselves. We have to realize our closeness to this Divine love, which is inside, in our heart. Some people will say it’s very difficult to reach this point, but I will say it’s very easy. You just need to want it. People try to find the easy way. If people could buy love, they would. But love can’t be bought. If somebody comes and tells you, “Listen, I will make you be able realize this Divine love.” It’s not true as only the Guru can do that. Only by the grace of the Master can you realize this Divine Love.

Swami's Hints

“From then on, I searched more attentively for Swami’s hints and meanings that hid behind His loving words.”
During the time when I first started living at his Ashram, one day Swami Vishwananda was speaking to several people around me. I was sitting a slight distance away and was not paying attention to the conversation. Lost in my thoughts, I suddenly heard Swami’s voice call out, “Maja, can you see how many arms God has?” He was pointing to the Tibetan picture of the Buddha hanging on the wall. Before I even had time to comprehend His question, Swami had already resumed His conversation with the others.

The question Swami had posed hounded me for hours and made me very restless. Hence the next day when there was no one in the room, I tried to count the arms of Buddha. However I found that there were so many arms, heads and eyes, that it made the task impossible. The following day I woke up and again the same question popped into my head. Just at that moment, a sparrow appeared on the bush just outside my window. I could very easily and clearly see its eyes and how they stared intently at me. At that instant, a ray of realization connected to my inner being from that tiny bird. I felt that God was watching over me and that He had always kept His Loving gaze on me. I realized from that moment that every arm is His arm and every eye is His eye. From then on, I searched more attentively for Swami’s hints and meanings that hid behind His loving words.

Jesus and Krishna Taught Us

Swami Vishwananda: What have all the great masters like Jesus and Krishna taught us?
They have taught us to realise our Self! They have taught us the way. There are different ways to realise the Divine:

There is the path of bhakti.
There is the path of service.

There is the path of meditation.

But each path has its own way to realise the Divine.

An Example:

"When the mother is holding her child, there is no condition (Unconditional Love). Such is also the love of God. Whatever you have done good or bad, when you turn to Him, who has the love of a million mothers inside of Him, He will happily forgive."
-Swami Vishwananda

Antahkarana - Bridge of Light

Swami Vishwananda::
Somebody asked me, “I’m always talking to God, but why can’t I see God?” Many of you have this question.

We sit down for meditation and prayer, but still we don’t see Him! You see. whenever you sit down for meditation and prayer, do not expect anything. As long as you expect something, you are limiting everything from happening. Because your mind is not really focusing on the Divine, your mind is not really focusing on God. It is focusing on the want. So you have to let go of this wanting to know God.

This is the main desire of humans: to want God! But you have to let go of this want and the moment you let go of this want, you will see the light! We call it antahkarana, “the light within.”

All Forms of the Divine are One

India: Vishnu-Narayana Temple Badrinath
Swami Vishwananda: The Divine will take any form in which you call him. He is not bound by any limitation of the mind. He can manifest Himself the way you call Him. Call Him as Jesus, He will come as Jesus. When you call Him Krishna, He will come as Krishna. It’s not that you call Him as Jesus and He will appear as Narshinga Dev (Narasimha) in front of you! Some would never believe in Narshinga Dev. When somebody believes in Krishna and the Divine appears as Jesus, it would be strange; wouldn’t it?

Once, in India, there were three friends who were arguing. They were looking at a chameleon moving along a tree branch. One of the three friends said that the chameleon was green. The second one said, "No, no, it’s not green, it’s red." Then the third one said, "No, it’s brown." So, they were busy fighting with each other about what color the chameleon really was.

After some time, one of the three friends said, “Let’s go and ask the saint who is sitting under the tree over there.” So, they went and one friend asked the saint saying, “My dear holy man, is this chameleon green?” The saint said, “Yes.” The second friend said, “No, no, no, no, no, it’s red. Again the saint said, “Yes.” Then the third friend said, “No, no, no, no, no, that chameleon is brown.” Again the saint said, “Yes.” Of course they were all shocked that the saint always said, “Yes.” Then the saint explained to them: “It’s true that the chameleon displayed all the colors that you all said. Why? A chameleon changes colors according to where it is sitting.” Such is the Divine also. He will always come in the form and in the way you call Him.

Only Love of Devotee Binds God

Swami Vishwananda:
We are living in a dream state. When we awaken, we see the reality. But this reality is not to be understood with the mind.

Attaining the true reality of who you really are is the purpose of human birth. We will attain this reality only through unconditional love, the same love as God loves. Do you think His love is bound by any limitation, or what we understand of Him, or how we dress Him? The love of God is not bound by anything. It is only the love of His devotee that binds God.

Scream--God Give Me Realization

Swami Vishwananda: If a child wants something, the child will do anything to get it. In the same way, when Jesus talked about how to enter the kingdom of God one has to be like a child who wants it very badly. Such a one will scream to the Father, “God give me realization. God reveal Yourself to me. Reveal my purpose for being here on Earth.” Many people start, but in the middle, they lose hope and give up. But, of course, it is they, themselves, that stop the realization, not God,

Love is a word that for centuries has been used and misused. In the name of Love, and in the name of God, many bad things have happened. But it’s up to each one of you to rectify and to reflect what Love really is. You must reflect that you truly are part of God. Love is not just a word. It is not just a sound. Love is also something we can see with our eyes. You’re the child of God? Then prove that you are the child of God. Show that you’re the child of God. Have this deep determination of realizing God. Have this deep desire to realize who you really are. And you will have it.

Let Love be the most important thing in your life. Let God be the most important thing in your life. In Him there is everything. Whatever you desire is in Him, in your true Self. Otherwise, you will always have things that are limited; and these things will always make you unhappy. Try for real happiness, and really become the Satchitananda that God has created in each one of you. If you really want that, you will have it. It doesn’t matter how long it takes. It can also happen right now. If you are 100 percent sure of yourself everything will be given to you.

Love is the Absence of Fear

Swami Vishwananda at Satsang in Springen
Knowingly and unknowingly, all of you actually are here to open the heart. You are here to know who you really are, not here in this room, but here in this world. Often people come and ask me about how to open their heart. For me it is very easy to answer this question as I know how the heart is opened. When I tell them how to open the heart, it depends on whether the person will accept it or not. First I will answer with this question, “Do you love?” Then the person will tell me, “Yes, I love!” I then ask them, “But do you love yourself?"

The main and the important thing is that we love towards the outside. Yet in the same way that we love the outside, we judge the outside. As easy as it is to love, it is as easy to judge. You see, mankind is made in such a way that attention is always turned towards the outside and rarely one’s attention is turned towards the inside.

And searching means to go inside! The moment you stop judging, the moment you stop looking for faults in others, you will start loving everybody truly. And therefore you have to start looking within yourself and looking at what you have to change in your life. I’m not telling you to judge yourself, but to look at the negative part of you and face it. By looking at the negativity you will see that you have created it. To understand love is simple; it is just the absence of fear. Out of fear you can’t understand unconditional love. When people really want to understand love and who they are, they will!

There is no Difference

Swami Vishwananda:

Forget about your body.
Concentrate on yourself and
The Divine within you.
If the mind is playing games with you,
Close your eyes and repeat inside,
“I am the light. I am love. I am joy,
I am peace!
”Recite it many times,
Until you become this light,
This love, this joy, and this peace.
See it.
See it in the eyes of God that
There is no difference;
See it in the eyes of Jesus.
You will see there is no difference.
See it in the eyes of Krishna;
You will see there is no difference.
See in the eyes of any master,
That there is no difference.
But if you try to see it with the mind,
You will just see difference, nothing else.

Divine Eyes Looking

Swami Vishwananda in Darshan
Swami Vishwananda: Looking at the world with Divine eyes, you will see that the world is simply the radiated light of God shining through everything. Keep trying until you have come to that realization and never lose hope. The moment you lose hope, you lose everything. The moment you say, “I can’t do this,” you will not be able to do it. Challenge your fear! Keep reminding yourself that you are part of God. You are in His Divine hands and He will never let go of you. Never! He always will be nearer to you than the breath or the air you are breathing in.

You try to imagine how close God is with the mind. It’s difficult, isn’t it? The mind will never let you imagine God. When you start thinking with the mind of the heart, then you may realize Divinity completely. How does one think with the heart? Meditation is an important element in thinking with the heart as you sit with yourself in silence. Jesus said, “When you pray, go to the darkest corner of your house, close yourself in and talk with your Father.” Christ meant for you to go into the inner chamber of your heart and speak with God. Talk with your true Self, and you will receive an answer. So, what exactly is in this inner chamber of the heart? Therein is just love, nothing else!

Creation or Destruction – Your Choice

Christ Jesus
From Destruction of Physical Body
To Creation of Light Being
Swami Vishwananda: You can create or you can destroy. It’s upon each one of you how to control what you create. So the first and best thing that you can do in spirituality is to control the thought. The more the thought is negative it reflects outside. Very often this negative thought is about one’s own self. You think that you are bad and negative. First, we have to change the thoughts about our self. Then we can change the thought toward other people. Thought is very easy to control. You don’t need to sit down to control it [sit to meditate]. When the thought is passing through your mind you know about the thought. You know whether it is positive or negative.

When thought is positive, it will be constructive. Feed positive thought and then let it grow! But when thought is negative, then do not feed it. Then say to yourself, “This is not me!” And let go of the negative thought. When you let go of the thought, you will see how beautiful your life can be. And you will see how great this life really is that God has given. Then in your meditation also, you will be more relaxed. Thinking positive is powerful in human beings. Through this positive thought, whatever you wish, you will create.

Darshan Experiences

Swami Vishwananda at Darshan

Darshan Exerience: During darshan, Swami Vishwananda transmits divine energy to the crowd as well as personally when he gives the individual blessing. The individual blessing is a very intimate moment where whatever one is carrying around, be it sorrow or sickness, can be transformed by the divine energy. This is what I felt during my first darshan in Cape Town, South Africa. At other darshans I have experienced an incredible amount of energy, sometimes very powerful and sometimes very soft and tender. -Sumitra

Darshan Experience: Once, I was in darshan with Swami Vishwananda and all that was in my mind during the long wait in line before it was my turn to kneel in front of Swami for His blessing was: “Gurudev is an incarnation of a certain Enlightened Master I know in etheric form.” A scene with that particular Master appeared over and over in my mind and heart. And over and over this thought or knowing filled my mind and my heart with the truth of it.

Finally, it was my turn to receive the blessing of Swami Vishwananda. As I knelt before Him, He looked into my eyes with a radiant smile that filled my already full heart to overflowing! Incredibly, Swami leaned toward me with His eyes displaying the depth of eternity, and luminosity like a million stars shining brightly. His face came very close to mine; He looked into my eyes and said, emphatically: “Tell Me!” I leaned close to His right ear, cupped my hand over my lips, and said, “Swami, I was thinking you are an incarnation of this Enlightened Master I know in etheric form, and I named Him. Gurudev sat back in his chair and then dipped his head way down as if bowing and raised his head back in a graceful, grand gesture of assent, Yes! Utpalavati

No life is Ever in Vain

Swami Vishwananda Giving Darshan
Swami Vishwananda was asked during a Satsang: “Does the Satguru come life after life and guide the disciple until the disciple finally reaches God and merges with Him? Is the Satguru’s love always the same?

Swami answered: Well, it is true that the Satguru always comes to help the disciples to attain the Divine or to attain part of himself, because all is Divine. If one doesn’t make it in this life, it will happen in another life. No life is ever in vain. One also may take hundreds or a million lives to attain The Divine. But it doesn’t mean that the Satguru has to be there in every life. In all one’s lives, the love of the Satguru is always the same.

Gurudev Defines His Mission

Swami Vishwananda
Swami Vishwananda: There will never be peace as long as we look outside the heart. Focusing outside ourselves we will always see the differences between us. My mission is to help mankind realize their own Divine Self and to be able to express it in their day-to-day life. I wish for everyone to open their hearts so that they may experience this unconditional Divine love deep within. My mission is to spread love, Divine love.

The word ‘love’ has so many meanings nowadays that people have forgotten the true aspect of love. This unconditional love aspect is what will change the world. All forms of love have expectations. But when one feels this true love inside one’s heart, it’s beyond all expectation. And only with this true unconditional love can peace be restored.

Remember Purpose of Your Incarnation

Swami Vishwananda
and Aditya at Springen Center
Swami Vishwananda: There is no power of the mind to stop anyone because we all are equal. We all are the same light, the same energy. We are like a lovely chandelier that has many lights, but it’s the same electricity that is lighting all the lights. Keep reminding yourself of your purpose of this incarnation and make sure that you reach it in this life. Don’t think of other lives; now will be the best time.

It is possible to fulfill the purpose of your incarnation only if you surrender body, mind, and soul completely to God. Let go of your identity, let go of this ‘I’, this egoism that causes you to focus only on the outside. When you let go of your identity, then the Divine will reveal Itself to you. Then you will see the Unlimited and you will feel the blissful happiness.

Create a New Body at Will

Sri Yantra
Diagram of Creation
Swami Vishwananda: When we refer to death, we usually are speaking of the body, but the consciousness has the power of God to create a new body at will. You can see it in the lives of Saints. Even being dead, when they appeared to somebody who was praying to them, they appeared in flesh and blood. Death is something that nobody can escape. We all know about death, but we don’t want to see it and we don’t want to believe in it. When we believe in it, we see the most terrible and terrifying part of it, but we don’t see the beautiful part.

When we think or speak of death we don’t see this bridge, when the Beloved calls you and says “Come, cross over this bridge and attain me.” Actually, death is not terrifying at all. Like St. Francis said at the time of his death ,“Welcome, sister death.” That put death to a shock! When greeting death like St. Francis, you take away all the power of fear and create this great joy. This great joy happens when you are moving towards the higher plane towards your Beloved (God).

Note: Bhajan Book With Chords as we informed you yesterday on this blog will be available at the Springen Bhakti Shop estimated to arrive at around Christmas. Please check with the Bhakti Shop at that time. Thank You. Tel: +49 (0)178 - 32 04 809 Email: nivashini@bhaktimarga.org

New "Bhajan Book With Chords"

Announcement From Springen Center,
Swami Vishwananda's
International Spitirual Center, Germany

"With great joy we announce the completion of the new Bhajan Book With Chords. The book has over 480 bhajans, with chords for guitar and keyboard instruments."Swami Vishwananda has sung more than 230 of the book's bhajans recently. Of these 230, most are not included in our existing bhajan book. Also included are 125 pages on the A4 format with alphabetical order at the end. Wish you all much bliss and love through singing - Chaturananda"

Bhajan Book With Chords will be available at the Springen Bhakti Shop estimated to arrive at around Christmas. Please check with the Bhakti Shop at that time. Thank You. Tel: +49 (0)178 - 32 04 809 Email: nivashini@bhaktimarga.org

Mirror of the Heart

Cleansing Heart Fire

Swami Vishwananda: The heart is like a mirror covered with dirt. As long as there is dirt over it, do you think you will see clearly? You will never see your reflection clearly with the heart covered. You will know there is a reflection, yes, but it will be very foggy. So, as long as you do not clean whatever is covering the heart, it’s difficult to see the light! Since the thing closest to us is the body, first your body has to be clean. When your body is clean, the mind is clean and when the mind is clean, the heart is clean. And when the heart is clean, the Divine light will shine through you and everybody will see it clearly.

Cleansed Heart of Light
Reflected in Lake
So start every day by saying, “I’m God’s child and I have to be like the child of God!” Do this for yourself, for your own growth. You know what is good for you, so try your best to change. Take this strongly inside you and store it in your mind. Throughout the day keep remembering that you are love; you are trust; you are peace; you are unity; and you are joy! There’s no greater mantra; just sing, “I am love!” By singing, “I am love” you will always remember that you are a part of God."

You Judging You

Our mind functions in a way that it is very easy to look at the bad things only. Then we start judging ourselves, “Oh, I’m bad, I’m this or that.” But you are Divine, above all. See yourself the way God looks at you. Do you think God sees the negativity? Let’s think a little bit. Put yourself in the place of God. How would you see the world?

The human mind likes to judge a lot of things. We say that God is punishing people. God is doing this and God is doing that. However, it is not like that. It’s our own self; it’s we who see and say these things. But the Divine doesn’t see it like we do. When you rise to such a level of consciousness that you do not see any good or bad, everything becomes neutral for you because the Divine resides everywhere.

So try to practice this every day; imagine yourself as God! Watch whether you really see the negativity or if you see everything as God, as your own self. If you practice this every day, I tell you the time will come where there will be no difference. You will feel the peace of God everywhere. And wherever you go and with whomever you are talking, there will be this peace and love. You all are looking for this love and peace.

Free Will – Fact or Fiction

Swami Vishwananda:
What is free will? Do you think free will is the things that we do every day? Is free will expressed when we say, “Yes, I have done this and I have done that?” It is true that we have a certain will. Actually, we can choose which way and how we want our life, whereas an animal does not have that choice, that will.

God has given us will; He has given us choice.Through choice we are free. That’s why we call it free will. We have free will of choice, but even that choice is predestined. It’s not that God is playing with us, but the way our life has been created is our own manifestation. In reality, we are part of the Divine. We say that this whole world is God’s creation, but in reality it’s the manifestation of our Self.

There is a Saint that said, “We made the world how we want it.” It’s true! If this world was how God wanted it, there would be peace.

Don’t Look Back

Kalki Avatar - Don't Look Back
Very often in the lives of Saints, you see that they are on the spiritual path and they never lose hope. They never say, “No, I can’t attain something.” It's the same with football. When the running back is running with the football, he has a clear goal of where to take the ball. He will not turn back and run the ball to his own goal. The runner is always running towards the proper goal. And when the goal is made, everybody is happy [that is every one who is "with" the one who carried the football to its goal : ) ].

It is like that when you attain the Divine, everybody will be happy. You will be happy and everybody else also. So keep running, and like the football player running toward the goal, don’t look back.

My Heart Will Still Say It

Swami Vishwananda
Navaratri 2009
Honoring Nine Forms of Divine Mother Durga




















—Sri Swami Vishwananda

I will always remind you

That you are Divine . . .

Even if My Mouth

Gets tired . . .

My Heart

Will still say it

Until you reach

This level

That IS . . .

The Divine !

Life is Love and Love is Life

Swami Vishwananda with Devotees
and newborn baby
Swami Vishwananda: For most of humanity, The Divine seems far away. For the mind to understand the Divine, it’s very difficult. Until you have cleansed the mind from thinking and until you have purified the mind completely, the Divine is quite difficult to understand. Life is love and love is life. And love, of course, is Divine; love is God.

The feeling of love, and to realize this great love and not just partial love is what life is about. Not that today I say, “I love you,” and tomorrow, “Who is that person?” Not that love. Know love which is beyond expression, love which is unconditional and love that is in everything around you. That’s what love is; that’s what life is!

Sadhana 24--7 -- It's Easy The Gurudev Way

Sadhana is not to be practiced in the morning only, but during the whole day. Doing our daily Sadhana includes also to self-analyze ourselves and our day. At night before you go to bed, sit down and reflect on the day. Look at what you have done that is good and what you have not done well. Because what you have done that is good will bring joy to you, and what you have not done well leaves a trace of agitation inside of you. The disturbance comes because you try to rectify your actions.

When God sees that you are trying to rectify your daily actions, He will help you through His grace and love. He will remove all the pride and ego that you have, because He is merciful. We say God is merciful. And as He is merciful, He will give you what you ask. But God gives only as long as you know what you are asking, because sometimes you are asking for something that will put you in trouble. So, know what you are asking from God.

Heart to Heart Connection to Divinity

Swami Vishwananda
















You don’t know when the Divine will come to you and in what form the Divine will come. We think in our mind that the Divine has to come only in the form that we imagine. No, He may come in any form. In your inner self, your heart shall recognize whatever form The Divine takes.

Divine Mother
So many times I have seen the Divine coming in different forms. And when I was ready to act, The Divine stopped me and said “Keep quiet.” And this connection that we all have to God should be there. It’s not a connection with your mind that is trying to understand always. This connection is the heart to heart connection with God. Your heart, your consciousness will know about the Divine. Every day you have Darshan of God, for God dwells within each and all.

God Gives According to Time

And Short Report from Drishti
Kartik Purnima Celebration last night
Swami Vishwananda: Know one thing. Whatever God gives, He gives according to its time and according to whether you can handle things or not. He will not give you something that out of it you will make a big mess. He will not give you realization until you can handle realization. It's not just about saying, “I am self-realized in an egotistic way." It’s not like that. There is also a big responsibility and you have to go through certain purification to attain realization.

Self-realization takes determination and depends on each one individually, because spirituality is an individual path. And Of course the Master can make it happen. When the disciple is really, and sincerely ready, a touch of the Master can give realization just like that. But like I said: we have to have the determination.

From Drishti, Springen: http://swamivishwananda-info.blogspot.com/2009/11/kartik-purnima-celebration.html
Picture above is of Swami Vishwananda as he celebrated Kartik Purnima last night, Monday, November 2009, with an Abishekam, and a Yagna which was very strong. He told us the story about Tulsi Devi and Vishnu. There where a lot of Bhajans sang the whole night, along with dancing and much joy!

Darshan Sunday and OM Healing

Swami Vishwananda Darshan
Springen November 1, 2009
From Drishti:
Swami Vishwananda Darshan SundayNovember 1, 2009 in Springen.Here is just a picture from the Darshan tonight. Swami spoke about the pilgrimage through Israel and how touching it was not only to read about all this in the Bible, but to be there and feel...



Swami Vishwananda’s OM Healing web site
Reconstructed now on World Wide Web.
VISIT: http://www.om-healing.org/

The sound of OM

"Future flowers like the eternal rose will flourish in tune with the harmony to come worldwide. Likewise, man will bloom like the rose within his heart space wherein harmony resonates to the sound of OM, the creative force. Let it be so, that the OM Healing Circles of Swami Vishwananda radiate the sound of OM into the Earth's energetic grid system helping establish harmony in now time." -Babaji

Choosing To Love Painfully Or Divinely

Swami Vishwananda: Love can create pain, but it also can create great joy. Why does it create pain? It’s how we see it. Love can be painful when we want something and we do not get it; then it is painful. But if, in love, we get what we want, it’s joyful. You have the choice.

Many will say that very often it is even painful to love God. Love is not accessible so easily and that’s what makes it painful. If we have God, very often we take Him for granted and we don’t really enjoy Him. But when we do not have Him, we realize what we have lost.

Hanuman Great Devotee of Lord Rama
Who Loves Painlessly, Divinely, Unconditionally


In fact, we do not really lose God. He is there all the time. It’s just that God shadows Himself so that we can realize how Great He Is.