Facets of spirituality: Dioluges and discourses of Swami Krishnananda/ Bhagyalakshmi, S

PART I: Swami Krishngnanda: THE MAN
22 June 1977
Genesis of the project—God-realisation is duty—
Yoga-Therapy and Psychic Theraphy—Rasleela
Pictures etc.—Panchikarana—Walking for Sadhaks—
Kirtan by a mother and her children.
18 December 1978; A Monday {No morning Darshan
on Sundays)
Why Durga-Saptasati is divided into three parts—
Concern for sick Ashramite—Help in ill-health only
in prayer—The fitting in of a 'Sadhak-intent' into
the establishments of the Ashram—Maun staggers
up energy—"Before Adam was I am".
21 December 1978
Compassion and cosmic-consciousness—Meditation
and concentration—Recitation from the Vedas—
The aim of life—Ordinary consciousness and
higher consciousness—Shakti—Positive and Nega
tive Forces—The meaning of Yoga—Yoga—Indi
vidual reality and cosmic reality—Intellect, mind,
feelings and personality—Jnana Shakti and Kundalini
Shakti—Knowledge and wisdom.
23 December 1978
What causes perception of changes—Dream, its rele
vance to Yoga—Yoga not a singled out subject—
Application of Yoga to remove unhappiness—Spiri
tuality, depression, lack of understanding—The re
medy—The best religion—I want to stay in the
Ashram.
26 December 1978
Simple method of starting concentration—The struc
ture of the cosmos—Realisation of the unity of the
'subject' and 'object'—Consciousness, gold in orna
ments—Everything is charged with Divinity—After
death?—Thoughts need background to understand
them—The Absolute and the lesser deities—Kaliyuga
in the cycle of four Yugas.
30 December 1978
Why do we have to search for our own soul?
19 March 1979
Difficulty in concentration—Think of God humbly
without going into flights of philosophy—God will
tell you what Truth is—Four dimensional reality—
Sivananda Ashram and Jerusalem—"I will not ans
wer that question."
22 March 1979
Control of mind—Relevance of the 'Glory of Gita' to
its central study—Idle questions—Karma Yoga.
Undated
Western philosophers and Acharya Sankara—Reason
—Satsanga—Repetition in the Vedas—The Leeks of
the Lord—Meditation: thinking on the Divine; the
concept of grace; maya and meditation—Zen and
the conclusions of the Gita—The World and God.
PART II: THE MENTOR
Acquisition of strength by Yoga-practice Madhusudan
Sarasvati—Lord Krishna s Leelas : a spiri
tual interpretation—limit of tolerance—Jesus suffer
ed—Negation and transcendence, the difference.
Too much book-learning—Isvara: a discussion bet
ween Sr. Krishnanandaji and Jim McMicheal No
short-cut to God-Realisation—Asking for liberation
—The attitudes of man and the Bhaktas to the Sun
and God respectively—Meanings of technical terms
in spirituality—Use of pilgrimages in spiritual life-
God is just—Definition of morality—Intention
bereft of understanding—short or long life?
Recitation of Mantra—story—celibacy and Sages—
Nirguna of the Vedas—Sarva-Mukti—War amongst
the Hindu Gods—Sirasasana: benefit—"Avidya",
its 'locus'—'Isvara' a name only for relational pur
poses Logic and Metaphysics—Consciousness,
awareness, self-consciousness—'Ananda'—views—
• detachment—religion, religiosity—Truth—Tricks of
the mind—Mauni Swami—Meaning of'giving up'—
Xbve all, trust few—Japa and meditation—the com
mon weal—Mahatma Gandhi—The brain washed
mind—The waking and dream consciousness—Has
a cat in the bag—God and effort.
All problems are only a single one—Single problem of
you and the universe—Unanswerable questions—
Only Guru can—only a spiritual guide can answer—
The universe is travail—stories of Ramadas, Narsi
Mehta—Paryanka Vratam—Japanese Gods and
the Hindu Gods—It is the soul that keeps asking—
Offerings as food and prayers to the departed souls
are M.O. to them. Souls need this till they reach
God. The effect of these on the souls of the de
parted.
Blessings and curses—Story of Dharmaputra and the
dog—Creation a 'lee!a'—Isvara—World a cosmic
dream—Sankara and Ramanuja—The Vyavaharika
and the Paramarthika levels of reality—Religion of
God and the Atman—Arguing with dogmatised
minds—^Technique of teaching other beliefs.
The worth of man—Problems in Pranayama—Karmaphalatyagam—
Solving an individuaPs personal
problems—The Police and the Army, tlieir place in
man'slife—Training the mind—Ways of contemplat
ing on God—The meaning of 'Mleccha'.
Instinct and reason
The (naturally) blind professor has sighted wife and
Sw. Krishnananda, discussions on philosophy and
Sanskrit—Initiation into meditation.
The Americans—Iranian Professor—Double devotion
to the perceivable world and the abstract form
of God—The Saguna and the Absolute—need of
proper guide—wanting to build a house and wanting
God-realisation through meditation need scientific
approach.
Yoga begins where philosophy ends.
God is a stage of waking up to frightening awareness—
Sleep in eternity awareness—Yajnavalkya's Madhu
—Why do Gods decorate themselves?—which is
better to have, God or the world?—How to work
for God? Vidya—'self-love\
Liberation when the Torces' withdraw and the ego
goes—universe—Understand structure of God—
God has not created the world.
Why is the spiritual path so difficult—'Leela' as in the
Kurukshetra War—Krishna a Kapata-nataka-Sutradhari—
Understanding Him is to ^become' him like
the gopis did—God plays like a child does with a
mud-house etc. Do not try the logical and intel
lectual methods to understand it—Lord Krishna a
bundle of contradictions—^Ninda-Stuli' in Kusumanjaii—
Knowing the limitations is transcending
them—Bhaktas overstep their limitations; their law
is different—Connotation of knowledge in the Gilain
different contexts as the interpretation of devotion.
Sivananda's words of praise—The Gita's authorship—
Dharma and Rati—'Namaha'—The tenor of the
Mahabharatam—Some doubts cleared—A personal
psychological problem resolved—Definitions limit
Truth—Affirmations true only for a particular level
—Illumined intellect—Intelligence and intellect—
Curiosity a desire—Atman the light that illumines—
Chitta—Mind—Brahmacharya and its preservation
is contextual in the lower and higher level—The
whole world dies in one stroke and then?—
Difficulties more and more intense in the progress
of spirituality.
'Guru' a must—"I am what I am to-day because of
Sw. Sivananda my Guru"—Socrates questions val
ues—Nyaya-Vaisheshikas—Vedantin Sriharsha and
his Khandana-kavyam—Nihilists.
Spirit and soul the same—Kindness and goodness—
Austerity—Every standard is correct at its level—
Does God spare the wrong-doer? Any justification
forpujariof Kedarnathto be compelled to bathe even
when suffering from typhoid fever? Absolute stan
dard only in Krita-Yuga which begins the cycle of
Yugas—To the Absolute Kali-Yuga is the same as
describing darkness to the solar-Sun—if you want
to say 'God exists' add the clause, 'and nothing else
exists'—Mind must be gradually trained to this
idea—Arjuna was thus trained.
Idealism and mania—Should a seeker search for a
Guru?—A seeker's attitude to his kith and kin a
pre-requisite to become a Sadhak—Trisul of Swami
Sivananda—Righteous anger—Truth defined as the
uncontradictable is unsound logic—World and God
exist if two words are used for one thing—Rishis
and dry-leaves—Siddha-purusha and prarabdhas—
God's grace intuits higher-knowledge—Fatalism
—How does God change ugliness to perfection?—
A Consciousness like God's sees only perfection—
Sw. Sivananda, an episode in his life as to what the
Master means by equal-vision—How to see God in
everything, like the cookies and the crunchies?
Should not get attached to a principle in following
it—American visitors question: Is Prana Truth?—
The Yaksha Kanya and Indira—Time, its technical
meaning—Madhu-Vidya in the Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad—Anandamaya Kosa.
PART HI THE PHILOSOPHER
1. Practical Hints on Sadhana
2. A Talk on the Concluding Day of the Sadhana
Week
3. Significance of Japa and Prayer on the Anniver
sary of Akhanda Namakirtan
4. On Reason and Higher Life
5. The Path of Devotion in the Epics and Puranas
6. *Excerpts from The Yoga-Vcdanta Forest Uni
versity Weeklies
(i) What are the Brahma Sutras?
7. Worship the Saints
8. (ii)*Christ to the Spiritual Aspirant
9. The Principles of the Bhagavad Gita
10. The Call of Srikrishna
11. A Pictorial Philosophy of Yoga
12. (iii)*Prayer for the Departed Souls
13. (iv)*An Article from "Panchadasi" Explained
14. Four lectures delivered at the Lai Bahadur Shastri
National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie
on different occasions:
(i) The Cosmology of Yoga Practice
(ii) Yoga—The Science of Life
(iii) The Organism of Administration
(iv) Humanity As Yajna or Sacrifice of
Pefection
15. Talk Broadcast: on 27 August, 1980—The
Principles of Education
16. Foundations for an Educational Career (An ex
cerpt from the journal of the Divine Life
Society, Rishikesh, October, 1982)