Sri Swami Vishwananda - SATSANG August 3rd, 2013

1. The Divine Mother is somehow an abstract image for me. How can we make contact with the Divine Mother? Which practice, rituals or ceremonies help for that?

SV: If you want to make contact you have to know that the mother is always close to Her children. Bearing in mind that the mother is close, if you have faith, you call upon Her, she will be with you. If you want to please Her with ritual, there are many. But they are complicated. You need to learn properly. But if you can love Divine Mother like a child loves the mother it’s the most simple way. And she will be with you. You see, if you want to find God, you will only find Him in the most simple things. When you pray, when you sing, the Divine is next to you. It´s not in vain. When you pray to the Divine Mother She will come and when She wants you to have a vision of Her you will have a vision. But you have to prepare yourself. You have to prepare your mind. You have to control it. You need to have a clear aim, this gives it a certain direction. So if you concentrate you become more and more strong.

2. Why of all the paths did you choose the Hindu Vaishnava and the Russian Orthodox lineage?

SV: The mysticism in Vaishnava and in Orthodox is similar. I am born Hindu, like everybody else is born Hindu. In Hinduism you do not have to do special rituals when you are born whereas in all other religions you have to do a ritual to become that religion.

3. How can we develop humility that helps to awaken love within us?

(There were many answers from the audience)

SV: The cosmic love awake when you forget about yourself. So the Divine can take full possession of you. As long as you trust that you can do it by yourself, its good, you have to make your effort, but bear in mind, its Him who does it. Remember that God is everything. Then you can find Him everywhere.

4. Beloved Guruji, how to practically understand words from the Bible like “if someone beats you on one cheek, give him the other one, too”?

SV: Your duty is to love, not matter if the other person loves you or not. But if you give love, it does not matter if they slap you, gossip about you. You just love them, don´t be disturbed about what others give to you, but be concerned what you give to others. That is what this parable means.

5. Dear Guruji, does bliss, ananda, nourish demons and gods?

SV: When you are in ananda, you rise above qualities. So, ananda is beyond good and non-good qualities. In the state of bliss neither good nor bad exists. Neither good nor non-good is nourished. You are transcending the good and the not-good qualities. Bliss is not a quality, it’s a state.

Question continues: Does immortality mean liberation?

SV: No, the Devas are immortal but not liberated since they are bound by their dharma. Whereas when humans rise they realise the immortality of the soul and that makes one free. You are not bound by limitations of things, you are free in the Divine. The immortal ones sit and watch whereas the liberated ones they attain the Lord.

 

6. Dear Swamiji, I would like to ask you about the Jehova witnesses. They believe that only Jehova is the best and everything else is taken from Satan. Please, tell me what is the truth.

SV: God laughs about this. He says: I am one with many form because each quality of me is a form. He is the same God with many qualities. If God would be limited He would not be god. God is in each heart? Which God is it? Hindu, Muslim, Christian…. The God of love. When all dissolves only love stays. When ignorance disappears from the mind, God reveals itself. It does not matter what people believe, as long as they believe but don’t criticise others. That will make you a better human being. Above religion you are a human, that’s very important. You have to have the respect of the humanity, towards the people. One has to open the windows of the mind than it becomes clear. If your parents don´t respect you it does not matter, you respect them, that is important.

7. Why did God create Maya?

SV: he created Maya so that He can enjoy His creation in everything. If He did not know how could He enjoy His creation?

8. Swamiji, can you please explain the experience of Déjà vu?

SV: It´s not a dreaming state. When you sleep your consciousness travels and it photos images. But when the fact happens when you are in normal life, you remember that you have seen it. The mind is like a recorder, everything gets recorded in the mind. Even an imprint you left in a place you can recall it in another life. The mind is the storage of the thoughts and it will make it happen. For that you have to be watchful of every thought in the mind. That’s déjà vu, an imprint. Consciousness is not limited, there is not wall to stop it.

 

9. Is it possible that the golden age does not take place on this planet earth, but in a different world?

SV: No, it will take place here. A yogi rotates in sat yug, they perceive the Divine everywhere. A material person will be in kali yuga cause they are so afraid of destruction. You have to make golden age happen now for you. Cause if you wait for golden age even your bones will not be here.

10. How to develop complete obedience and 100%surrender to the Satguru?

SV: To reach that state you have to remove your own will. People always talk about surrender, it´s just talk. If you want to surrender, just try it.

11. You teach us Indian mantras, bhajans, rituals, aspects of God. I noticed that a lot of people around you wear Indian cloths. Do we – in western countries – have to live an ´Indian life` to realize God? What is your advice?

SV: It is a certain respect towards the aim. It´s not about Indian cloths, it´s about being well dressed. But it will help on the way. There is a dress code for every occasion: church, beach.

 

12. How can we help an old person to prepare for dying (she is talking about), if that person does not follow any religion but believes in something absolute?

SV: You have to tell them: yes you will die. If you don´t accept that you die you will suffer even afterwards. But if you accept it it can open doors. You have to make the person not afraid of dying by talking of the immortality of the soul.

 

13. Who will end the weapon race between nations?

SV: He will end it when there is understanding.

Sri Swami Vishwananda - BHAJA NITAI GAURANGA

BHAJA NITAI GAURANGA

End of May, Gurudev asked all residents, people living in Springen and guests to chant a certain mantra for 12 hours continuously each day, taking turns of 15 minutes each person. After the evening prayers last Tuesday Guruji came and joined us and we started all to sing the mantra. It was a real nice and joyous atmosphere and we sang until our little BalaKrishna had to go to bed (because he really gets put to bed in a pyjama). Guruji said the following about the mantra chanting:

 

Why “Bhaja Nitai Gauranga Radhe Shyam Japa Hare Krishna Hare Ram”? You see “Bhaja Nitai Gaur” – “Bhaja” here stands for seva. It stands for the service one is rendering. It´s not a physical service, but it’s a service to the world through vibration. The aim of human life is to attain pure love, so that you can truly say that you have loved God. Like I explained in the satsang: there are stages to reach sacred love - prem. In this yuga they say always “chanting the Divine Name one achieves that level”.  So why Gauranga? Gauranga is a combination of Radha/Krishna, so that’s why we are singing “Bhaja Nitai Gaur” – service to Nitai and Gauranga, which is service to RadhaKrishna.

 

At the same time “Japa Hare Krishna Hare Ram” – at the same time you are chanting the mahamantra also. So how you will reach the love is by chanting and through the grace of Prabhu Nityananda - and Mahaprabhu can give Himself. Because if Nityananda Prabhu says something Mahaprabhu can´t refuse. It’s the same if Radha says something to Krishna, Krishna can´t refuse. That’s why it is said that Radharani is more wonderful than Krishna Himself. There is three kind of Love. When we talk about love, you say “I love you”, always – have you ever written a sms to Krishna, to God, to say “God, I love you and I miss you so much”? No, you never!

 

People: Yes! (lots of laughter) But to all the people you say “I love you, I love you, I love you”, you know. Imagine how much love that He has – for you, and yet, you forget about it. You are mostly concerned about human love, relationship all this, which will last only for some time and finish and then you jump again on another thing. Misery, misery, misery, misery, misery, misery – always misery! When your soul aim is to attain – just love, through service to Him. By chanting “Bhaja Nitai Gauranga Radha Shyam Japa hare Krishna hare Ram”, these 15 minutes that you give of your time is a great contribution.

 

Because everything is vibration, you know, everything vibrates. This time, when you concentrate and when you are chanting – He is here. And that´s what the mantra awakes. The knowing, that He is the Lord that governs everything. He is the Lord that governs your heart and He is the Lord of your heart and nobody else. In the Gita, it says “All the names that you chant are mine, all the forms are just inside of me, not out of me. Nothing can exist out of me. Whatever you see…”. You can say “yes, God is there, outside”, but the whole universe is inside of Him. How can you be out of Him? Without Him you would not be here. You can´t exist without Him! So that is what you have to realize: Even if in His cosmic form, He is deep inside everybody, He is in everything, but yet we are all part of His cosmic body.

 

What you see outside is the yog-maya, which catches everybody, which veils everybody through ignorance. But it is also His maya. His maya also catches Him. And His maya is Radharani – He can´t escape Her. He can´t escape because Radharani is completely fully in love. “Bhaja Nitai Gaur”, oh Lord Nitai! How you surrender to Gauranga, how you surrender to love incarnate? Through the service I am giving. Make also this love awake inside of us, make us also part of this drama, make us part of this contribution that we can give to this world. That´s what “Bhaja Nitai Gaur” stands for, you know. In the Narada Puran, Krishna Himself said to Narad Muni “one can give big lectures, one can talk a lot, one can read a lot, but if they don´t have love inside their heart, it´s nothing.” So, it´s that what is important. To learn to love God, you know. Not superficial, but real. So, that’s in short that what the mantra stands for.

 

Jai Gurudev!

Sri Swami Vishwananda - BHU DEVI YAGNA 2013

Menstruation is purification –

and a great service to all

 

 

 

At every spiritual ceremony women, who are in their monthly cycle, are asked, not to touch any temple-items, not to offer flower petals and not to offer anything into a yagna fire. Here is a summary of explanations which Swamiji has given at different occasions, to help everyone to understand why it is like that:

 

Once Swamiji explaining, that a woman is energetically receptive and during the month she collects a lot of negativity from her environment. In doing so she does a great service, as she purifies her environment. This impurities get removed from her during menstruation. At this year´s Bhu Devi yagna Guruji was quite clear, that women in their cycle should not participation in the yagna. He gave the following explanation:

 

“Menstruation is purification. You are going through your personal purification. You should not even touch the person which is performing the puja. You should not even touch other people. When you are doing a ritual everything gets energetically intensified. In menstruation there is already a certain negativity inside. So it gets intensified in the ceremony. So you should keep a certain distance. You can participate with the mind. You see, the manas puja (puja in thoughts) is also very important.”

 

At another occasion he explained that normally the flow of energy in people is upwards, but during the time of menstruation, the flow of energy in the woman is downwards. In a spiritual ceremony the energy is going strongly upwards towards the Divine. That means, that the flow of energy in a woman is going in the opposite direction than the energy of the ceremony. This causes an energetic disturbance which can lead to not being well. So in telling women to stay at a distance it is also about protecting them from energetic disturbances.

 

All together, it is not about portraying women as somehow impure. As Swamiji said just recently, women are the physical manifestation of the Divine Mother and menstruation is also given by the Divine for the purpose told above. With so much explanation for sure it will be more easy to follow this call with a good feeling.

SRI SWAMI VISHWANANDA's ~ Music For Download

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Sri Swami Vishwananda - YAMA & NIYAMA

Are Yama and Niyama necessary on the
path of Bhakti Yoga?

Sri Swami Vishwananda - Excerpt from May 24th 2013

Your prayer does help!

We have just finished the first puja of this year´s Bhu Devi yagna and like always it was wonderful to celebrate again in our tent. At the moment it is very cold in Springen and Guruji started by making a bit fun about the fact, that Springen is even colder than Steffenshof, the place of the first small ashram. Then He told us that the next 10 days from yesterday onwards, which was Narasimha chaturty (appearance day), will be a very auspicious time.

 

Swami spoke also about the importance of being silent for one minute per day. Silence for world peace. He told us that in these times the mind of man is changing and if the mind is not centred on the Divine and not controlled, the negative qualities will take over. But Mother Earth needs our prayer and our positive thoughts. He spoke these following words with so much love and tenderness for Mother Earth, that it was palpable that He really knows of Her true suffering from a different perspective: "When you see a mother suffering, what do you do? You help. If you see anyone suffering you try to help.

 

Either through prayer or through positive thoughts, you help." Swamiji is asking everybody to take this one minute of silence every day to concentrate on Mother Earth and to send her positivity. He gave assurance when he said, that when one does everything with the right intention, and one surrenders it to the Lord, everything will go smooth. And when we pray with the right intention the Divine will send our prayers to the people who are in real need.

 

No prayer is ignored, your prayer does help, but everything has its time and we need to be patient for the right time. Guruji is asking all of us: "So, one minute a day, for example 9pm when your work is done, you can sit in silence. Don’t do it more than one minute, just one minute, this is very precious. Actually all minutes are precious. But what makes this minute particularly special is your intention of Love and Gratitude. Send it to Mother Earth, the world, this universe. So try it."

 

Sri Swami Vishwananda - BHU DEVI

Bhu Devi yagna is a Vaishnava tradition to celebrate and pray to Mother Earth. Bhu Devi is actually Mother Earth. This yagna that we are doing is to show our gratitude and appreciation to Her, and also our understanding that She is going through a lot, not only now, but for centuries, actually. She has been taking a lot onto Herself, but people don´t see that this Mother is suffering. Its so easy to forget how important this Mother Earth is. We are here, we are born, yet we give Her so little attention. Mother Earth gives. She gives, gives, gives, not even expecting anything, nor taking. She is a manifestation of the compassionate, the ever-giving One and She is a manifestation of devotion also.

One can pray to God but, you see, when you show your appreciation, when you show your thankfulness, you have to show it to the person, to the Deity. There is a temple in Hampi, in South India, where She is venerated as the Universal Mother, as the Mother of Brahma, Vishnu, even of Shiva. Because it’s only here on this physical plane that She manifests Herself - even all the Avatars manifest themselves. The Divine manifests Itself here, on Earth, because She is very special to Him. She’s considered to be the wife of Maha Vishnu. She’s considered to be the other part of Lakshmi. Whenever Maha Lakshmi takes aspect as, for example, Sita or Radha or Andal or a different manifestation of Maha Lakshmi, it is Bhu Devi who manifests Herself.

 

Sri Swami Vishwananda

 

In the Srimad Bhagavatam Maha Vishnu said to Bhu Devi (after He rescued Her from drowning in the big ocean) “You will be ever present on my chest. From now on, people will venerate You as my wife and whenever You are in distress, I shall manifest Myself on You, to save the world.” Everything is made with five elements. The whole Universe is bound by these five elements, but in the whole Universe, not everywhere has these five elements in action. The only place where you have the five elements in action is Bhu Devi. That’s why, among all the planets, the Earth is the most beautiful. We are very lucky. That’s why the Divine always manifests on Mother Earth.

The prayer that we are going to do right now is called the Sudakshari Matri Puja. There will be sixteen invocations (into kalash), actually seventeen with the Bhu Devi, of all the forms of the Divine Mother. The sixteen aspects, forms and shakti of the Divine Mother, are actually the sixteen facets of the moon - called Nitya Kala - and also the sixteen qualities of Maha Vishnu. All these prayers which you will be chanting, all the mantras which you will be chanting, all of them will be transferred to the Mother Earth kalash, which in turn will be transferred to the whole world. We are going to chant the mantra Om Shrim Hreem Kreem Shreem Sri Devi Bhumavatiye Namaha. It is for Bhu Devi, Mother Earth.

It is said that if someone chants this mantra 36 times daily one will, first of all, get rid of all the negativity inside oneself and, secondly, one will get peace in oneself and in the surroundings. Om is the king of all the mantras and it is actually also the root of Lakshmi mantra. The Om mantra is a primordial sound in itself. What happens when one chants Om, is that one is dissolving pride. The word Shrim, this bij mantra, is very powerful in itself as it destroys all the negativity and brings peace. Hrim is also a bij mantra of giving peace, but Krim is Kali, Aim is Saraswati, The bij mantra Shreem or Srim denotes Maha Lakshmi, the giver of boons, and the Sarva Shakti, the all-pervading Shakti.

Maha Lakshmi creates also the balance. The balance in the elements, balance in yourself by purifying you, by cleansing all the negativity out of you, by uniting your body, mind and spirit, so that you can advance on your spiritual path. Then we have “Shree Devi Bhumavatiye Namaha”. This is the presiding Deity, Bhu Devi, Mother Earth Herself. When we chant the mantra, we invoke the Deity. Vibrationally the Deity is present. The Deities are vibrations. The moment you invoke them, call for them, they take their place and are present here with us. After that, they will be installed inside of each one of us because in reality we invoke them from deep within ourselves.

SATSANG with Sri Swami Vishwananda

May 17th 2013 at Shree Peetha Nilaya

Equanimity is one of the 26 qualities of devotee. Do you think it is possible for an average person to attain it and how?

 

Yes, it is. Because the real nature of who you are, the soul, is not bound by anything – not by good, not by bad. Soul is ever free. Nothing to bind it. As how the soul looks at it is always looking in an equal way. But the soul receives all the information of the universal consciousness – God. But when this knowledge enters the mind, the mind has to interpret it in a certain way. So the mind automatically puts a limitation, a judgement, on anything. This is why we judge. Because of the judgment the mind can´t comprehend the knowledge. In the Gita Krishna says: hey Uddhava, don´t waste your time with good and bad in this world. If you want to attain me you have to go above these qualities. This means it is possible. In the Bible it says: if you want to attain the kingdom of God, you have to rise above all limitation.

 

Yes, one can attain that level, if one really wants. This is the most important point. To attain equanimity is possible - but if you want it, this is the question. Until you are sincere, you can´t. Because the limitation, it is you who puts it. It is possible to attain that level even for a normal person. How much you focus on it, how much you desire for it. Desire in a right way – even to desire the Divine needs to be in a right way. Outside people desire the material things. But here, to desire you have to have a certain eagerness. We can say we love God, but do we have the eagerness for Him to manifest Himself? We can do japa, but to have this love you have to want it, you have to rise above limitation. You are on that path. That’s why God has called you. Through many lives of working. Its up to you. The teacher is here to remind you that´s up to you to follow it.

 

 

Should one learn to do everything with joy or only to do what brings joy?

 

Sometimes you do things which do not bring joy, but you should always try to do it with joy.

 

 

How do we be in contact all the time that He guides us?

 

The Divine is never far away from people. He is continuously close to you. How to become aware is through mantra japam. The more you chant the Divine name, the more the mind is in a subtle state and the more you will feel Him and you will feel Him in every action, in all that you do. From time to time He has to withdraw Himself, because the human nature is greedy. If the Divine gives everything in one go, how will you appreciate? But when you have to look for Him, you will feel that longing. Otherwise you will be ungrateful for it. You have to remind your mind through your japam. No matter, how you are, where you are, He is one step ahead. He is walking facing you. He is always in front of you, guiding your step, whether you want it or not.

 

 

How to help others through prayer?

 

Pray, but don´t beg.

 

 

If I give myself up completely to the Divine, do I also give up my personality?

 

Why would you give up yourself but hang onto your personality? Better to not give anything. That’s how people are: they give a gift and want back half. If you give something, let go of it. But if you hold on one side and He is holding on other side… Even the personality, you have to let go. To transcend the personality into the Divine you have to let go. If you don´t let go, you have another life to let go and another and another. 6) Should I serve even when I get abused? If one has taken a certain path, duty of serving, it does not matter if you get abused or not. But if you feel that despite giving all your service, to whom you are serving, there is not appreciation and there is not willingness to enjoy the service, you should bug away from that. Than you should reduce your service so that the person starts to appreciate it.

Satsang with Sri Swami Vishwananda, 18 April 2013

Last night Guruji gave another wonderful Satsang, which lasted more than 3 hours. As always, the atmosphere was very joyful with a lot of laughter and Guruji enjoyed his exchanges with the devotees present, often re-directing questions to the audience. And truly there were many, many questions asked. They will soon be available to all of you in written form as well as audio. Here is a selection of some of the questions and the respective answers in their essence for you.  In some cases, Guruji gave us new insights and in some he simply reiterated what he has already been saying in past Satsangs:

Q.: Do we have to ask God for help for a sick person only once or several times?

SV: If you have trust and faith one time is enough. If you don´t, you ask many times. To build up faith you should ask only one time and try to trust in Him. If you do things with confidence and faith it will turn out good.

Q.: What is the purpose of life?

SV: Looked at from the mind level, it’s a different purpose for each individual, looked at from the soul level it’s the same purpose for all. You have to transcend the human into the Divine, but not just knowingly – you have to MAKE it happen.

Q.: What is the soul-partner? How to recognise?

SV: The (idea of) a soul-partner is just to make people feel happy about their decision. There is no soul-partner. The real partner for the soul is God. What one perceives as soul-partner is a soul-recognition from past lives. You have to finish things (karma) with them.

Q.: How to transfer spirituality to children?

SV: Be a good example. Never force children. You can talk to them and explain.

Q.: How is it in heaven?

SV: There is a heaven. Know one thing: Love is felt with the heart. In heaven you do not have a heart. There is a form of Love because you are that Love. When you incarnate you become an expression of that Love. As a human when you realise yourself you experience bliss. Then it does not matter, where you are, here on earth or in another sphere. Heaven is another stage of realisation. There are also stages of heaven. All locas are heaven, some inferior, some superior, but always bliss. There is a sublimation of Love. You experience Love as you being Love. The individuality of the souls stays. The soul has supreme identity. Here is heaven, but you make it hell by the way you think about it.

Q.: When does a child start to collect karma?

SV.: The moment you take your first breath the law of karma starts, but you don´t collect karma. A child starts to collect karma when it develops a sense of “mine” (it get’s greedy).

Q.: Are there consequences or side effects to organ transplantation?

SV: If you are dead there are no consequences for the donor. The person who receives might have consequences, because the body carries karma. The consequences are depending from whom you receive. If you receive from a saint- very good!

Q.: Is there a cure for migraine?

SV: Drink enough water.

Q.: How to protect from negative energies/ influences from the outside?

SV: Trough prayer.

Q.: What is the connection between the Ishtadev and the Guru?

SV: The Ishtadev is revealed to the devotee by the Guru. When the devotee builds up an intense relationship to the Ishtadev, the Ishtadev will guide them to the supreme Lord. When the devotee is ready, the Ishtadev will appear to the Guru and ask the Guru to give realisation. Only the Guru can give realisation, not the Ishtadev.

Guruji was also speaking about how people ask for their Ishtadev, but have already on their mind what they wish for. Then they are disappointed that their Ishtadev is not who they were hoping for. It was actually really funny, how he told us, what he sees in their third eye and how it is different to their mind and that he is then in a conflict, whether or not to reveal their Ishtadev or not. So it is good to be open and happy about the information, because it is a really special gift from the Guru to receive such information.

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Sri Swami Vishwananda - Kumbh Mela Auspiciousness

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Sri Swami Vishwananda & Paramahamsa Nithyananda

Divine meeting at Kumbh Mela 2013!

Sri Swami Vishwananda - Satsang at Kumbh Mela

Sri Swami Vishwananda at KUMBH MELA SATSANG with Paramahamsa Nithyananda!

Vishwananda | Nithyananda Kumbh Mela 2013 at Nithyananda Tent Satsang

Sri Swami Vishwananda - Kumbh Mela 2013

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