To See or be Blind - Your Choice

Swami Vishwananda:
The choice to be blind or to see is up to you. How does one see? Do you do your sadhana every day? Do you, or not? How many among you do your sadhana regularly and I mean every day? You see, the spiritual sadhana helps you to free the mind and it helps you not to get entangled into limitation. The grace of God is with you.

Let The Yogi Inside You Make Choices

Become Like a Child And Enter The Kingdom of Heaven Within
-Christ Jesus
Swami Vishwananda Teaching (Excerpted from Pre-Darshan Speech December 26, 2009): We are scared to look at our limitation. We ask ourselves, “What if this limitation is everything?” What you have to do is to face your own limitation. You know very well that this limitation is not you. It is not limitation that is the purpose for which you are here (on Earth). Face it; look deep into the eyes of this limitation and let go of it. As long as you do not look deep into the eyes and face of your limitation, by yourself, you always will be into its game. Unless you like it! Do you? You have free will choice about that.

A great Sufi once said: “You have the choice in life to take it this way or that way; it is your choice.” You are free in that choice, but you will come to a point where the Yogi which is inside of you, the greatness which is inside of you, will have to take the choice also. Your True Self will have to take the choice. And this true choice that is inside of you will overtake the limitation of what you think it is. So, cross over this limitation, face it, don´t have fear. Start first with little things. You know yourself. You know that God will always provide for you. Animal knows that God will provide and we are given more qualities than an animal. So we can realize who we are and that we are all one family that we call humanity.

Everybody talks about humanity but very few really behave human. So, if we say of ourselves that we are part of this society and that we are part of humanity, we should not then behave like an animal. Even animals behave better in society than most humans because they know who they are and they know where they are heading. They trust in the higher consciousness that God will always provide. We have more qualities than an animal, but we pitiful human beings like to degrade ourselves. We like to make ourselves worse than we are actually It is time to cross over this limitation. It is time that you really let what you have inside of you awaken. How many among you, out of fear of what people think of you, are doing or not doing something? Many—and you are limiting yourselves. Be free! That is what your voice inside is calling to you. Your inner voice tells you be free, to learn, and to move on. Truly, life is the most beautiful thing that God has given you. Don´t waste it!

A Savior Which is Christ the Lord

Luke 2:8-14
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for, behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

Swami Vishwananda Speaks of Christ Jesus

True Meaning of Christmas: As one matures and grows older with the years, you understand the deeper meaning of Christmas. It’s not just a festival where you go to Churches. People of the Christian tradition like to go to Churches for Midnight Mass. And I have been to the Hindu Bhajan singing. Actually, Christmas is not about that! It’s true that Christ was born some 2000 years ago.

Christmas is about celebrating Christ’s birth and life. Because He brought something new to the world; Jesus gave the teaching of forgiveness with Love.Along with Christ, many Avatars have come to Earth. For sure, they all have brought Love, but the Love did not include forgiving. Many Saints have come, prophets have come, but the Love was just, “Yes, I love you”, but there was always a condition to the Love. And also if you did something wrong to them, you would get back what is wrong. But Jesus brought this forgiveness, unconditional love, which is a greater teaching, a greater way of being.

That’s why in prayer the Christians keep reminding all to forgive what you have done wrong, forgiveness of yourself actually. You yourself forgive. It’s not about God forgiving you, but you forgiving yourself.Focus on the Love that you carry inside of you. And Christ is born. It’s nice outside to celebrate Him, but Christ is born inside each one of us. And this rebirth is not only because of Christmas time. He is born continuously in each cell of your body.

Sending all readers wishes for a Wonderful and Blessed Christmas and Harmonious, Peaceful and Loving Spiritual Advancement in 2010. -Utpalavati

Swami Vishwananda - Talking With God

To become this love (Divine Love) there are many obstacles you have to overcome. People think to love God is to love something separate from themselves. Whenever we pray, we pray to the outside; we should stop separating the Divine and us. Try your best always to pray. It doesn’t matter which kind. When you talk with God, talk with the True Self inside you. Do it from your heart.

Meeting Truth

I am happy to learn that so many people
have made it their goal to achieve God realization
by the year 2012.
Your determination will make it come true.
But it will not happen just by your sitting and waiting until 2012.
No, you must do something for it.
You must be determined to get it.
-Swami Vishwananda

Sitting For Meditation

Swami Vishwananda
Even when people sit for meditation most expect to see some light, to see God in front of them. But I tell you, even this is an expectation and with this expectation in the mind, you will never see the light; you will never see the Divine.

Only when you let yourself say, “God, I have tried everything and now I completely abandon myself to You along with all my expectations.” Then, you will see the light. The light will reveal itself to you because the light is yourself.

Quiet the Mind - Hear the Heart

Swami Vishwananda
Swami Vishwananda: When your mind is quiet you can hear the heart talking to you. So keep practicing. I always say it, and I will keep saying it. Maybe every time you come for Darshan you will hear the same thing. As long as you do not practice listening to the heart properly, I will keep saying it; I will bore you with it. When you attain the greatness of love that you have in your heart, you will know it is even much more beautiful than this nature that you see on the outside.I would love all of you to reach Divinity. I want all of you to realise the love of God that is inside you. And not only that, I want all of you to become an instrument of this love and share it around. Bring this love to everybody. You don’t need to go and hug the person or whatever to share the love of God. Just by the reflection of your face, this light will be passed on wherever you go.And this light will be continuously with you.

Long for God Like the Air you Breathe To Live

Swami Vishwananda:
Once a Master was asked by his disciple, “How is it to find God?” The teacher took the disciple by the hand and dragged him into the water of the Ganges River. When the disciple was in the river, the teacher took the head of the disciple and forced it under the water.

What is happening? After some time the teacher pulled the head of the disciple out of the river and asked him: “How was it?” The disciple said: “I was trying to breathe for I was suffocating. I was trying to grasp some air; I was battling for air.” The teacher smiled and said: “You want to find God? It is this way. You have to try your best. When this longing for the Divine or for realization, God-realization, whatever name you put on it, is like intensely suffocating yourself, when you can’t even breathe, then you can say, ”Yes, I’m on the way towards Divinity.”

As long as this longing is not like that, you are still here in this world. And that’s how it is to find God.

Reaching Your Cosmic Mind For Opportunity

Swami Vishwananda: Like I always say, have faith in your own Self. Have faith that what you are hearing within your heart is true. So many times you hear your heart, but you doubt it. You ask yourself, “Oh, is this really true or not?” You often have doubt like that. As long as you do not believe in what the Divine wants to show you, you will not advance.

The moment you sincerely have faith in what you feel inside your heart, it will manifest in the outside world. Like I say, God gave man the power to create, to have power over everything. You have within you the willpower of construction that comes from the constructive willpower inside the mind.

Deep inside the inner Cosmic Mind,
Therein lies also the Divine.
That is the point where
We have to use the mind
To achieve the higher state.

Very often we say the mind is something apart, something which is very negative. It is true that very often the mind is negative, but we have within us the power to transform it.

As long as man tries to hold onto even one material thing, he will stay on the material level. If you turn inward and focus on the Divine Within [your cosmic mind], the Self, you will feel great happiness and great joy.

But for that you must lock in your faith.

Swami Vishwananda's Christmas Wish

Swami Vishwananda Wishes His International Family
A Merry Christmas and A Happy and Blessed New Year
Swami Vishwananda’s Wish List for
2009 Christmas Gifts and Onward
Swami has an explicit Wish List for Christmas this year, and it contains only one item. Swami requests all devotees to please take His wish seriously and not to give personal gifts to Him from now forward.

"No presents, please!". . . Swami Offers You an Alternative. . .

In that regard, beginning now, and ongoing into the future, Swami wishes all gifts that people desire to give Him to be in the form of contributions, monetary or otherwise, to be given to His International Spiritual Center, Center Springen, in Germany. Center Springen is a source of spiritual inspiration for people from around the world.

Contact person for contributing support to Swami Vishwananda’s mission (monetary or otherwise): Mr. Kubera, naamdev@bhaktimarga.org.

Swami Vishwananda and Bhakti Marga Center Springen send you a sincere Thank You and Wish You Happy Holidays and a wonderful New Year.

Why Pray - Swami Vishwananda and Christ

Swami Vishwananda Praying:

Swami Vishwananda explains why it is so important to pray regularly: People ask the question, “Swamiji, why do we have to go to temples? Why do we have to go to prayers to pray?” I tell them: Praying is also a part of Sadhana. This is also why we go to pilgrimage places. These are places where all the energies are gathered in one place.When you go to prayer or when you go to spiritual places, to holy places, you are always going to gain something. You are profiting from all the prayers and all the vibrations which have been collected in those placees.

When you go to holy places, your sadhana gets amplified; it becomes more intense and more powerful. The same thing occurs when you sit down (for meditation) in the same place every day and at the same time, you build up certain energy. When you chant the same Mantra again and again, the energy gets built up. Do not think that when you get up from that place the energy is dissipated. The energy is always there. It’s solely defined at that place when you sit regularly for prayer or meditation.

How Did Jesus Pray
Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane before the crucifixion: “Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will’” (Matthew 26:39)
Jesus prayed for guidance in places of quiet solitude - “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” (Mark 1:35)

“But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:16).

Jesus prayed for His disciples and for all believers (all people) -“Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name-the name you gave me-so that they may be one as we are one” (John 17:11

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message (Jesus' disciples), that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you” (John 17:20-21).

Jesus prayed in praise to God, the Father - “At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father, lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure’” (Luke 10:21).

Jesus prayed prayers of thanksgiving - “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take it; this is my body’” (Mark 14:22),

Jesus prayed in a posture and with an attitude of reverent submission - “Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will’” (Matthew 26:39).

Jesus prayed in times of anguish – “And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:44).

“About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” (Matthew 27:46

Another example of how Jesus prayed may be found in “The Lord’s Prayer” located in Matthew 6:5-15. This is the time when Jesus taught the disciples how to pray.

Jesus prayed without expectation for He knew the Father heard His prayers and would respond.

Reference Link:
http://www.allaboutjesuschrist.org/how-did-jesus-pray-faq.htm

Love Like You Have Never Been Hurt Before

Swami Vishwananda:
Whenever we have a problem, we identify ourselves with the problem, and say, “Oh, God has turned His back on me.” But we don’t realise that we have turned our back on ourselves. If we look deeper within, and if we turn our gaze inwardly, we will find the solution for every problem. Everything that you want to know, it’s just here within us.

Forget about the mind and just enter the heart, and don’t be scared to let the heart open. You may say, “Oh, if I open my heart, I will get hurt!” No! Just let the heart open and don’t think about it. You are here to love; just love and nothing else!

-John Philip Sousa-

Dance as though no one is watching you.

Love as though you have never been hurt before.

Sing as though no one can hear you.

Live as though heaven is on Earth.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Sincere composers believe in God. -Sousa

Leave Everything to Narayana-Vishnu

Swami Vishwananda: We often ask ourselves how it is to unite with God. We ask, how is this unification and what does one feel in this merging with God?
Narayana-Vishnu & Maha Lakshmi
Actually, when one comes to a point of self-realization, or one has come to the point of complete union with God, one doesn’t ask any questions such as how is this and how is that? Because all the questions and all these things are in the mind. It’s the mind that asks questions.

You have to transcend the mind to understand devotion. Unless you transcend the mind, you will always ask the question, "How is it to unite with God? The mind always wants to be fed with negativity and this is where the mind gets it’s power. The more You feed the mind, the more the mind will have control. The mind's game is to control you, play the game with you, and to make you dance in his game? The more you dance in the game of the mind, the more you will be suffering in it. The more you suffer, the more you will complain. As long as you do not surrender the mind, it’s difficult. And how to surrender the mind is only by chanting the name of God continuously. Loudly chant the name of God. Surrender to the lotus feet of Narayana and leave everything to Him.

Lord Give Me Happiness

We are always on a search. We search for who we are, and we search to understand why we are here on Earth. Many times this searching clicks in the mind, and we ask, “Am I just an incarnation of man born here on Earth?”
You see, this search can last for years and years. You can go around the world looking for some deep experience and to find something that truly will satisfy you. But, because humans always desire new things, you enjoy whatever you have for some time and then the desire disappears. Then you desire something else. Humans always create desires, and you will keep on desiring as long as you want material things. One desire will lead you to another. Do you think this is the true incarnation of mankind? No!

Human beings are said to be Satchitananda. This is a Sanskrit word. Sat means Existence; Chit, the Consciousness; and Ananda is Bliss. Everybody wants bliss, everybody wants to be happy. But if you really, really want to be happy, then you have to be sincere and truthful towards yourself. Then you can ask God, “Lord, give me happiness.” And do you think he will refuse you? He will give what you ask to you. Then it is upon you to maintain the happiness. It is upon you to keep it and help it grow.

In The Beginning

Gurudev Cooking
In the beginning, when God created the world, everything was peaceful. There was no aggression. When the mind came into play, the aggression started. We have to reach the point again where all started in the beginning. This is where the Bible and the Bhagavad Gita teach the same. They teach the truth that man can reach that state again.

This state of love that you have inside of you is the source of all things. Let it flow. Do not try to stop it and don’t put any barrier around it. Now you are putting up barriers and how long can these barriers hold this love? It will overflow one day; so let it flow and overflow right now."