Swami’s Discourse on striving for world peace and prosperity

THE dualistic attitude of man was born out of a sense of separateness which was not correct.

Man should realise his inherent divinity and get rid of identification of his real Self with the

body. The body is only an instrument for realising the Self. No great scholarship is needed for

achieving this realisation. The attitude of surrender to the Divine and dedicating all thoughts,

words and actions as an offering to the Divine will lead to Self realisation. The bliss one will

experience in that state is beyond description in words.

Today marks the beginning of the year Akshaya (according to the Hindu Almanac). Akshaya is a

combination of "Kshaya" and "A." "A" represents the Atmaswarupa--the Absolute, the Eternal.

"Kshaya" represents the Jivaswarupa--the individual entity that is liable to change. Akshaya

indicates the union of the unchanging Eternal Spirit and the impermanent individual entity.

Because of the association of the human entity with the indestructible and eternal principle, you

have to investigate what is permanent and unchanging and what is transient and liable to decay.

The march of time is inevitably associated with ups and downs, joys and sorrows, gains and

losses. This is inherent in the nature of the world, which is called Jagat--That in which birth and

death take place. ("Ja" means birth and "ga" means passing).

Sai Krushna Mandir Updates

On 7^th January, an eye check-up camp was held in school in co-ordination with doctors from Karthik Netralaya. The doctors were headed by founding member, Dr Karthik himself, and the doctors first briefed the children about eye care and followed it up with screening of all the children. Exceptional cases were identified and children with refractive lens requirements were listed. All these children will be provided with free spectacles and those needing special attention will be taken to the Karthik Netralaya for follow-up. The camp also saw the participation of almost 70 parents and villagers in addition to the participation of the 250 school children from classes 1-10 and their teachers. The event was a grand success and we profusely thank Mr Pothana Setty, Mr Ashok Meda and Dr Karthik Meda for their continued support and help in this.

The children have also been busy with different contests like Spelling Bee conducted by Mrs Vijayalakshmy Krishnan this month.  Prizes were given for all students class-wise based on their ability to spell 30 different words given during the contest. It was wonderful to see all the children participating with enthusiasm and we hope that this will increase their zest for learning. 

Republic day was celebrated in school on 26^th January, 2014. This time the function was a brief occasion involving the Chief Guest’s speech and welcome speeches by the school students and teachers. The children sang the national anthem and saviouries were distributed to all the children. 

On 27^th January, 2014, all of us celebrated the birthday of Shreyas Gowda- one of the children residing in Sai Krushna Mandir. Cake cutting was done and the Happy birthday song was sung,  just after Shreyas took the arathi for Bhagavan. 

We were also very happy to have had many visitors this month. Kalpana aunty and Niki aunty from London spent time teaching bhajans and gardening to the children. They also got them some interesting story books and goodies from London.  Asmita aunty and Urvashi aunty spent time classifying the library books for the children and labelling them. Thanks to Mr Kaliprasad and Mrs Usha for their thoughtful gesture of getting rice and dal for the kids.  Mr Madhav Naik’s visit from Vermont, USA along with his family was nice too.

The SKM team is now actively engaged in finding a suitable warden on paid basis. The major duties of the warden will involve supervising the children, helping them with their homework and co-curricular activities. Knowledge of computers, record maintenance and driving skills will be bonuses on this job.

We look forward to all your active involvement and participation in this God given opportunity. We also welcome you to come and visit the site and participate in the activities of Sai Krushna Mandir. We pray that Swami’s grace will crown our genuine intentions and He will continue to guide and bless the children and residents to live in a happy home and grow to his ideals.

Atmajyothi

by Shri Lakshminarayan Aithal 

लोकवेदेषु तदनुकूलाचरणं तद्विरोधिषूदासीनता ।। 11 ।।

      11.Among  worldly  and  Vedic  activities,  performing  only  those  (activities)  that  are  favorable  to  uniqueness (अनन्यता)  is  indifference  to  unfavorable  (activities).

अनन्यता

    34. Giving  up  of  worldly  and  Vedic  activities – these  words  have  the  meaning  that  in  all  ways  giving  up  of  actions.  But,  theists (नास्तिकाः)  have  given  up  all  actions;  by  that  giving  up,  the  restraint  has  not  taken  place  at  all.  Therefore,  the  meaning  of  ‘ giving  up  of  worldly  and  Vedic  actions’ – should  be  unraveled  further.  The  restraint  of  desire (कामनिरोध)  of  a  devotee  is  not  merely  giving  up  of  activities.  Two  parts  are  included  in  that  restraint.  Among  the  two – not  having  difference (अनन्यता)  is  the  first  part;  and,  indifference (उदासीनता )  is  the  second  part.  The  tenth  aphorism  tells  that  what  is  not  having  difference  with  God.  Not  having  difference

Luxury Or Overvaluation

Prakash Srinivasan

A smartphone that is priced at Rs 51,500, Samsung Galaxy S5 (as costly as a high-end laptop)

A car priced at Rs 5 crores (Bentley, costlier than a premium villa)

The list is endless….welcome to the age of overvaluation which is conveniently cloaked as “luxury.”

When I came to know that the recently launched Samsung phone is priced around Rs 50,000 I was aghast. The price and convenience of portability cannot be so much! It’s also very unethical that companies can make profits of 100-200%. The value of a brand cannot be so sky-high that it starts overpricing its products. Brands and products go through phases and once they get established and become famous, they start getting a little arrogant and then the problem begins. Its starts hoodwinking customers and overcharging them and the psychological value of the product (riding on the brand perception) makes customers fall prey to it.

Sunshine Cafe- The Night Series

T.R Mist

Continuation of The Night-IV

As I walked back that evening to my home, I noticed a beggar a few meters away from the entrance of my home under a streetlight dozing. “If this guy is a municipality agent then he should have thought up of a better disguise,” I thought to myself, because this part of the city was extremely uneconomical for his profession. There were hardly any people living around on the fringes.

I walked up the stairway to my home and spread myself on the bed, thinking about the strange encounter I had had with Corto. Suddenly a realization came to me that I was famished. My entire plan to visit Bro’s café apart from chatting up with him and K was to have dinner, which was spoiled by Mr. Corto. I decided to make do with some salad for the night.

 With the kind of enlightenment Corto had provided me, I quietly walked into my office the next day and settled in my seat looking lost. I listlessly opened a file and kept gazing at the printed words for a long time and finally I had success. Buck Tooth came to me and asked, “what man you look completely lost. Is everything OK with you”?

The World Through A Child’s Eyes

Here is the account of the experience of a small child, recounted in later life. I have taken it from Edward Robinsons's book Living the Questions.

It was a summer day and I was playing out back of the house, in an alley in the city where we lived. It was one of my happier days, when I had found playmates. A sudden storm came up and interrupted our play. I sat alone out there between the garages behind the house and waited for it to end. It was near noon. The rain ended almost as soon as it came, and the sun shone hot and bright once more. All at once I felt as if I were seeing everything for the first time. The light seemed like gold, the smell of the wet foliage was like perfume, with the rainwater shining and running about in little rivulets, the humming and the buzzing of insects and bees was pleasant to my ears. Everywhere I looked there was beauty. In that dirty alley wherever there was a leaf or a blade of grass it sparkled. I was filled with a great sense of comfort and peace. Now I watched a beetle going about its business, and then a small garden spider, and I was glowing with warmth.

It was as if all that was outside of me, I felt to be part of it. Then a thought came, It said “See! Everything is alive, everything lives. That insect, it has life, the grass, the air even.” And then I felt joy, and with joy, love and then a feeling of reverence.”

Swami Vivekananda on Muhammed

Source : http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Works_of_Swami_Vivekananda/Volume_1/Lectures_And_Discourses/Mohammed

   
The ancient message of Krishna is one harmonising three — Buddha's, Christ's and Mohammed's. Each of the three started an idea and carried it to its extreme. Krishna antedates all the other prophets. [Yet, we might say,] Krishna takes the old ideas and synthesises them, [although] his is the most ancient message. His message was for the time being submerged by the advance wave of Buddhism. Today it is the message peculiar to India. If you will have it so, this afternoon I will take Mohammed and bring out the particular work of the great Arabian prophet....