A Summary of the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapuranam ( 04/04/2013. )

18/09/2018 1. In ancient times, Raja Parikshit raised a detailed question that amounted to asking whether we are living in this world alone, or if it is possible that we may be citizens of some other worlds also. This question of King Parikshit was connected with the background of his own life, which has the antecedence of the great story of the Mahabharata. When Asvatthama, the son of Acharya Drona, discharged the invincible missile known as Narayana Astra with the hope of ending the Pandavas in a single instant, he felt that his aim of life was complete. As this was an astra which could not be faced by all the forces of the Earth put together, he was under the impression that the Pandavas had been reduced to ashes. As the Pandavas were at a distance, Asvatthama climbed to the top of a tree in order to see the heap of ashes that were their remains, but to his surprise he found the Pandava forces were as jubilant as ever, and it did not seem to have occurred to their minds tha

14/01/2018 Discourse 5: Naradan Instructs Yudhisthira on Ashrama Dharmam-14. Aneka-janma samsiddhas tato yati param gatim (B.G. 6.45, Second line of the slokam ) : - Sometimes many births have to be taken to achieve this goal, or to even have this idea in the mind. Even having an idea of it is to be considered a blessing, as this idea itself cannot arise in a buffalo, a donkey, or a corrupt individual. But you are devotees of Swami Sivananda and are here, hearing these things. These ideas are in your mind; you are accepting them and making them your own, which is itself a great blessing for you. You must have taken many births to come here and listen to these things, and to be devoted to the great ideals of Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. Though you have taken many births, and it is possible that many of you will take more births, always expect the best. When you take an exam, do not have the attitude that you will come in second. Aspire for first place, and if you do

05/01/2018 Discourse 5: Naradan Instructs Yudhisthira on Ashrama Dharmam-13. So, the meditation of a Sannyasin is direct unified experience of consciousness with Reality. This is, finally, the catching of the Universal ‘I’ by the so-called individual ‘I’, in its attempt at unification of its ‘I’-ness with the Universal ‘I’. There are many ‘I’s in this world. You have an ‘I’-ness, I have an ‘I’-ness, and everybody is ‘I’. But these are empirical ‘I’s—physical ‘I’s, as it were, conditioned by physical bodies—and so it appears to us that there are many ‘I’s everywhere. But these ‘I’s are drops in the ocean of one single ‘I’, which is the ‘I’ of God, of the Universal Being. Catch it! Catch that Supreme ‘I’ which is inclusive of every ‘I’, as drops are included in the ocean. This Total ‘I’ is very difficult to attain or even conceive. Where is this Total ‘I’? It is the pure Universal Subjectivity, and is bereft of even a touch of externality. That is the Supreme ahamgraha upasana,