Bhagavad Gita Yoga By Sri Swami Sivananda The Bhagavad Gita is a gospel of the life spiritual. It concerns not merely some remote other-worldly life unconnected with practical activity here, but the whole gamut of experience, and lays down rules of disciplining life here on earth. No aspect or phase of life is excluded from the scope of the Bhagavad Gita way of self-transfiguration. Life is a process of series of experiences which are mysteriously and inextricably connected with the entire universe in all its planes of existence. Hence, when the Gita offers a solution to the problems of life and prescribes methods of regulating and harmonising its modes, it has to take into account everything in the universe to which life is related. The greatness of the Gita lies in the integrality of its scope, the universality of its teachings, the all-comprehensiveness of its doctrine. The Perfect Man gives the Perfect Science of the Perfect Life. This Perfect Science which is the Bhagavad Gita aims at unveiling the deepest secrets in a language which is at once simple and grand, charming and dignified, revealing the glory of the Spirit, the majesty of the Divine. This secret is the relation between man and God, between man and his environment. When once this secret of existence, this art of living, is known, man is lifted from penury to a blissful fulfilment, from limitation to self-completion in the Infinite. The Bhagavad Gita discloses the fact that the primary cause of the troubles in which man finds himself is the erroneous notion which he has about his relations with the body and the world, and virtually with God. The perishable nature of the body and the world, and the immortal nature of the conscious soul within is forgotten, and man clings to the reverse of this truth, thinking that the body and the objects amidst which it is placed have a permanent value, and that the self is a dependent entity entwined in inter-relations with things that seen to sustain it. Sri Krishna openly declares the immortality of the soul and the transience of all its extraneous appendages. “The non-existent never becomes existent, and the existent never becomes non-existent.” (II-16). The soul is the existent, and all objective phenomena are the non-existent. The non-existent is to be understood as that which is not ever enduring, which does not persist in the changing processes of time. Affection for the non-existent and the wrong notion that objects bring pleasure to the self, strike at the root of the peace of the soul, for these loves and false ideas spring from ignorance. “The pleasures that are contact-born are wombs of sorrow: the wise does not rejoice in them” (V-22). The pains of life have this ignorance and wrong notion as their basis. Buddhi or the higher reason should be made use of in distinguishing between the truth and the falsehood of life. Discrimination between the real and the unreal is possible only when the light of understanding is thrown upon the facts and events which become contents of consciousness. But, mostly, it is found that reason in the human being works in co-operation with the senses and becomes a mere tool of the latter, carrying out the function of transmitting to the individual, the characteristics of the objects of sense-perception. It interprets life in terms of space, time and objects, and degrades experience to body-consciousness. The joys and sorrows of life, even good and bad, are judged from the standpoint of sense-experience, and reason seems to play second fiddle to the clamourings of the senses. But the fact is that true happiness cannot be had by resort to body and its physical companions. The knowledge of this fact can come to the reason of man only when it is purified and gets freed from the shackles of the senses. Reason which reflects the characteristics of sense-experience is different from the a priori reason which draws sustenance from the Inner Self and commands the sense-powers, independent of spatial and temporal relations. But the senses will continue to work even when an independent purified reason is developed. Man cannot cease from action. Action is the law of individual life. To act, and not to allow the reason to get attached to the acts, is the essence of Karma Yoga. “He who has no sense of doership, whose intellect is not attached even while destroying all these worlds (or people), neither destroys these nor is bound” (XVIII-17). Cessation from physical action is not non-action. For one can be physically inactive and yet be performing actions in a different sense. Vital, emotional, mental and intellectual action is real action. Cessation from actions like these would be real inaction. But man has no freedom to do this. He is forced to act by the very nature of his being. All actions generally disturb the phenomenal vestures of the personality of man. On account of this disturbance, he feels a non-normal state in his being. And to maintain a state of equanimity even in the midst of disturbing activities he should act in a spirit of self-sacrifice, self-surrender, self-restraint or self-knowledge. The universe is a living organism, every element of which perforce tends to and does fulfil the unitary law of the organism. And the duty of everyone, therefore, is to be conscious of this Great Organism and work in loyalty to it. Karma-Yoga which Sri Krishna teaches is action based on the consciousness of the absoluteness of God, the surrender of oneself to God, or one’s steadfast concentration on God. Love and service should become the mottos of one’s life. Absolute negation of action, is not possible for man; but he can neutralise the effects of actions, by turning them into Yogic activity. No person can really afford to happily lead a completely selfish life. The universe works on a co-operative basis. One thing is dependent and hangs on another thing. Experiences of individuals are relative to particularities, and the absolute worth

The Ancient Gospel to Modern Mankind By Sri Swami Sivananda The Bhagavad Gita is an ancient solution of the modern problems too. The problems that face the human beings are essentially the same in all periods of time, though they appear in different dresses at different times. The greatness of the Gita lies in that it is an integral gospel, a solution of all problems in all their aspects, at all times, in all places and under all circumstances. The Gita was pronounced by the integral person, Sri Krishna, who represented the true Being; the Gita was meant to be an instruction to Arjuna, who represented the true man! The problems that faced Arjuna face mankind in general; the Gita is the answer to the universal question of life as a whole. Social problems, political problems, and individual problems, relating to the different conditions of life, physical, intellectual and spiritual, are all offshoots of certain fundamental difficulties which appear to make existence a scene of acute restlessness and grief. Peace, abundance and happiness seem to be the factors which control the value of life; the lack of these becomes the source of a severe want and a problem; the continuous presence of these seems to overcome all forms or sorrow. The basic error which the Gita points out that man has committed is the absence of the knowledge of the main cause of all kinds of problems that obstruct the establishment of oneself in non-intermittent, ceaseless satisfaction. The various categories of the constitution of the universe enumerated by the Gita point to the fact that the Soul of the universe is not what is perceived by man through his senses or thought of by his mind, but the presupposition of conception, perception and all knowledge which man professes to generate or possess. The God of the universe is the heart thereof, the Transcendental Subject without an object, which means that problems and difficulties arise in objectivating the true Subject, the God within man, i.e., in being untrue to one’s real Self. In order to know the world fully, the knower must be independent of the laws governing the world; else, knowledge complete would be impossible. One whose knowledge is controlled by external phenomena can never have knowledge of them. The impulse for absolute knowledge guarantees the possibility of such a knowledge. This shows that the knower is superior to the known to such an extent that the known loses its value of being in the light of the absoluteness of the knower. The Bhagavad Gita stresses on the existence of this state of the Supreme Being to the exclusion of everything else, in the statement “other than Me, nothing is.” To try to find absolute perfection in the world, therefore, is to attempt the impossible; for, that is possible only in “attaining Me” (in the words of Lord Krishna), in attaining, or, rather, in being the absolute knower whose knowledge is not of anything except himself. To become Krishna is to become the Absolute Being, where alone is perpetual peace, abundance and happiness in unalloyed essence. The satisfaction found in the world is the mind of the knower seen through the mirror of objectivity; it is the perception of one’s idea in concrete objective forms, though the basis of such forms is the absolute Self or the universal Soul. The repeated assertions made in the Gita to the effect that doubts, problems and worries are overcome in the attainment of God, make it clear–that, because knowledge of God, or attainment of God means being God, the riddle of life in the universe with its unsurmountable vexations and annoying experiences can be finally solved on arriving at the knowledge that the fundamental error is the attribution of reality and selfhood to thought-forms and that true perfection is being rooted in the consciousness of Absolute Selfhood. The modern man opines himself to be scientific and strictly rational. The Bhagavad Gita warns man that science and rational knowledge are simply laws and knowledge of the forms of external experience which by no means are valid by themselves. They are valid only in so far as they are related to an experiencing phenomenal subject, but they are invalid to noumenal subject which is the heart of even the perceived or the known forms of experience. Experience is not prior but posterior to Self-consciousness; hence all experience in the world is the outcome of the ideas given rise by consciousness in the capacity of the knowing subject which it essentially is. The phenomenon should vanish in the Noumenon which is the Root-existence. Until this is achieved, no problem can be solved, no pain can be alloyed. The great modern problems are a trifle to the wisdom of the Gita which considers worldly wisdom as fool’s paradise. The way of life to be lived in order to reach absolute perfection is pointed out by the ethics of the Gita itself. It is the calming of the passions, creative willing, the cessation of all psychic functions, that leads to a merging in Self-consciousness, where alone is the freedom from the oppression of life in a multifarious universe, where alone is thorough and unlimited perfection, and which alone is real knowledge, true wisdom. The world is the special mode of the conception and the perception of the Absolute by the functions of ideation or creative imagining. The cessation of such functions is liberation from all problems and possession of andlife in infinite peace. This is the supreme word of the Gita to all. May you all attain the freedom which knows no bounds and rest in peace!

Gita Jayanti By SRI SWAMI SIVANANDA THE HOLY Gita Jayanti, or the birthday of the Bhagavad Gita, is celebrated throughout India by all the admirers and lovers of this most sacred scripture on the eleventh day (Ekadashi) of the bright half of the month of Margaseersha (December-January), according to the Hindu almanac. It was on this day that Sanjaya narrated to King Dhritarashtra the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, and thus made the glorious teachings of the Lord available to us, and to people of the world, for all time. The Gita Jayanti marks one of the greatest days in the history of mankind. Nearly six thousand years ago on that day a dazzling flash of brilliant light lit up the firmament of human civilization. That flash, that marvellous spiritual effulgence, was the message of the Bhagavad Gita, given by the Lord Himself on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Unlike ordinary flashes of light which die away after a split-second, this brilliant flash of that memorable day has continued to shine through the centuries, and even now illumines the path of humanity on its onward march to perfection. The Gita is the most beautiful and the only truly philosophical song. It contains sublime lessons on wisdom and philosophy. It is the “Song Celestial”. It is the universal gospel. It contains the message of life that appeals to all, irrespective of race, creed, age or religion. The Gita was given to us about six thousand years ago by Sri Krishna, the Lord incarnate, through His most devoted disciple, Arjuna. Its teachings are based on the sacred Upanishads, the ancient, revealed metaphysical classics of India. The Gita shows a way to rise above the world of duality and the pairs of opposites, and to acquire eternal bliss and immortality. It is a gospel of action. It teaches the rigid performance of one’s duty in society, and a life of active struggle, keeping the inner being untouched by outer surroundings, and renouncing the fruits of actions as offerings unto the Lord. The Gita is a source of power and wisdom. It strengthens you when you are weak, and inspires you when you feel dejected and feeble. It teaches you how to resist unrighteousness and follow the path of virtue and righteousness. The Gita is not merely a book or just a scripture. It is a living voice carrying an eternally indispensable and vital message to mankind. Its verses embody words of wisdom coming from the infinite ocean of knowledge, the Absolute Itself. The voice of the Gita is the call of the Supreme. It is the divine sound explained. The primal source of all existence, all power, is the manifested sound–Om. This is the Divine Word. It is Nada Brahman, whose unceasing call is: “Be ye all ever merged in the eternal, unbroken, continuous consciousness of the Supreme Truth.” This is the sublime message that the Gita elaborates and presents in all comprehensiveness and in a universally acceptable form. It is this message of the Gita that I wish to recall and reproclaim with emphasis to you. To be always conscious of the Divine, to ever feel the Divine Presence, to live always in the awareness of the Supreme Being in the chambers of your heart and everywhere around you, is verily to live a life of fullness and divine perfection on earth itself. Such a constant remembrance of God and such an attitude of mind will release you forever from the clutches of illusion and free you from all fear. To forget the Supreme is to fall into illusion. To forget Him is to be assailed by fear. To live in unbroken remembrance of the Supreme Truth is to remain always in the region of light, peace and bliss, far beyond the reach of illusion and delusion. Mark carefully how the Gita stresses again and again this lofty message. The Lord declares: “Keep thou thy mind in Me, in Me place thy reason”. In another verse He says: “Therefore, at all times remember Me and fight. You will surely attain Me, having thus offered yourself”. And yet again: “Perform thou action, remaining united with Me at heart”. The Gita guides you to glory with the watchwords: “Be thou divine-minded, devoted to Me as your goal, and let your subconscious mind be divine”. The Lord gives the following firm assurance also: “I become the saviour from this mortal world for those whose minds are set on Me”. Such is the most illuminating message of the Gita, seeking to lead man to a life of perfection even while performing his ordained role here. Long has this message been neglected by man. Forgetting the Lord, the world has turned towards sense indulgence and mammon. A terrible price has been paid. O man, enough of this forgetfulness! The Lord has warned you against heedlessness: “If, out of egoism, thou wilt not hear, then thou shalt perish”. It is a matter of great regret that many young men and women of India know very little of this most unique scripture. One cannot consider oneself as having attained a good standard of education if one does not have a sound knowledge of the Gita. All post-graduate knowledge, all research in universities is mere husk or chaff when compared to the wisdom of the Gita. Live in the spirit of the teachings of the Gita. Mere talks or lectures will not help you in any way. Put into practice the teachings of this most sacred scripture and attain eternal bliss and peace. The Gita may be summarised in the following seven verses: 1. “Uttering the one-syllabled Om, the Brahman, and remembering Me, he who departs, leaving the body thus, attains the Supreme Goal”. 2. “It is meet, O Lord, that the world delights and rejoices in Thy praise; the demons fly in fear to all quarters, and all the hosts of Siddhas bow to Thee!” 3. “With hands and feet everywhere, with eyes, heads and mouths everywhere, with ears everywhere, He exists in the world, enveloping all”. 4. “Whosoever meditates on the omniscient, ancient ruler of the whole world, minuter than an atom, the supporter of all, of form inconceivable, effulgent like the sun, such a one

Lord Ganesa–The Remover of Obstacles By Sri Swami Krishnananda Human life is beset with obstacles. We face oppositions and encounter difficulties in galore, and the whole of our daily activity may, in a sense, be considered as a struggle against all odds which come in different forms as the sorrows of life. The moment we wake up in the morning, we have to face the obstacle called hunger which we try to obviate by cooking and eating food, the obstacle called thirst which we have to get rid of by drinks and the obstacle called disease, exhaustion, fatigue, sleeplessness and the like, which we endeavour to remedy by the introduction of various types of medicines. The very presence of people around us is an obstacle and the human individual suddenly becomes restless, and both consciously and unconsciously puts on an attitude of self-defence, as if one has found oneself suddenly in a terrific warfield. The difficulties of life are, to a large extent, the very substance of life itself. The whole of life is a bundle of difficulties. It is a mess of oppositions, which calls for a continuous counteracting force which is what is called human enterprise. If the whole earth were filled with milk and honey, and if there is no fatigue, no old age and death, no hunger and thirst, no opposition and nobody to utter a word, then there would be no activity, no necessity to do anything and no incentive in the direction of any movement. The quantity, the expanse and the magnitude of the opposition which comes before us in life is such that no single individual will be able to face it. This whole world is too much for a single man and considering the incongruous, disproportionate relationship between a single human individual and the vast world outside, there is very little hope of man’s achieving anything in this world, successfully. Because, with a spoon you cannot bail out the ocean of waters, though your effort may be laudable. You are, no doubt, very sincerely industrious in emptying the ocean of its waters with a little spoon or a ladle. Notwithstanding the fact that this effort on your part is praiseworthy, that is not going to lead you to any success and the expected result will not follow. The ocean cannot be emptied by any amount of bailing out with a spoon. Such seems to be the type of world into which we are born and people who are acutely conscious of this situation become humble enough to accept that even an inch of success cannot be expected in this world without a miraculous grace of God. So, even the little success that sometimes seems to come to us is a kind of undeserved promotion, as it were, granted to us by the mercy of the Almighty. Our efforts are only a puny child’s whining and weeping with a helpless weakness of body and mind. The traditional annual worship of God in this role, as the remover of all obstacles, as Vighna Vinayaka, is known as Vinayaka Chaturthi or Ganesa Chaturthi. It is the day on which we offer special adoration to the Remover of obstacles. We are terribly afraid of obstacles. There is no other fear in this world except obstacle. So, always we cry: “Remove the obstacles, clear the path, cleanse the road.” On the fourth day of the bright half of the lunar month of Bhadrapada (August-September) every year, the great Lord called the Lord of Hosts, Ganapati, is worshipped throughout India, perhaps in many other parts of the world also. There is no Hindu who does not recognise the pre-eminence of the worship of this mysteriously conceived deity called Ganapati whose name occurs right in the beginning of the Rigveda itself, the earliest of scriptures, where pointedly the name is taken in a Mantra, “Gananam tva ganapatim havamahe…” The fear of God is supposed to be the beginning of religion. A person who has no fear of God has no religion also, because religion is respect for God. The fear of God goes together with the acceptance of the greatness of God and His Power. Wherever there is power, we are afraid of it. An ocean, a lion, an elephant are all powerful things and we dread the very sight of them. Tradition conceives this great Remover of obstacles, Ganapati, as the son of Lord Siva with a proboscis of an elephant and a protuberant belly, with weapons of various types and a benign gesture of goodwill, grace and blessing with His right hand. The family of Bhagavan Siva is of a peculiar set up. The Lord of all the worlds, lives as one possessing nothing! This manner of living in Mount Kailasa by the great Master of Yogis, Lord Siva, is perhaps a demonstration of the great definition of the glory of Bhagavan, the Supreme Being as possessed of all-knowledge, all-power and all-renunciation. What is Bhagavan and what are His characteristics? ‘Bhagavan’ is one who has six characteristics. “Aisvaryasya samagrasya viryasya yasasah sriyah; Jnana-Vairagyayoh chaiva shannam bhaga itirana”–these six characteristics mentioned are all called Bhaga. One who has Bhaga is called Bhagavan. All prosperity, all wealth, all treasure, all glory, all magnificence is Aisvarya. Entire Aisvarya is there. Virya is tremendous energy, force and power. Yasas is fame and renown. Srih is prosperity. Jnana and Vairagya are the pinnacle of wisdom and the pinnacle of renunciation, respectively. Knowledge is supposed to be a benediction from Lord Siva Himself. In the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana, at the commencement of the second Skandha, Sri Suka delineates the names of various deities who have to be adored for various purposes. “Jnanam Mahesvaradicchet–All knowledge is to be expected from the great Siva.” They say that the ocean of Siva is incomprehensible; a part of it was contained in a pot by Brihaspati, and a spoon of it was taken by Panini who is the promulgator of Sanskrit grammar. You know the interesting story as to how Panini, the originator of Sanskrit grammar, received knowledge from Lord Siva. He was supposed to be the dullest of the students in a group that

A Good Beginning By Sri Swami Chidananda Loving adorations to the spiritual presence of worshipful and beloved Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji who has graciously drawn us all together in a serene, holy spiritual fellowship at this early morning hour in his sacred Samadhi Shrine Hall! May his guru kripa be upon you all! I had reason and occasion to dwell upon the plain truth that as the tangible fruit of his guru kripa, he has granted to all of us this holy ashram in Uttarakhand which is tapo bhumi–not bhogabhumi but tapo bhumi. It is a place for samyama, for tapasya and for titiksha (restraint, penance and endurance). As Mahatma Gandhi put it, it is a place for simple living and high thinking. In such a place, if we do not utilise our time and life in the direction that this place provides for, then we do a great injustice towards Gurudev, his life work and his kripa. And if we fail to recognise the worth and value of his kripa, great will be our regret. Scriptures take a very serious note of such a lapse. Worse still, if in this place one behaves unspiritually, in an undivine manner, contrary to the minimum requirements of the spiritual life, then one is courting disaster, one is inviting much sorrow in the future. There is a saying: “anyakshetre kritam papam, punyakshetre vinashyati; punyakshetre kritam papam, vajralepo bhavishyati (Sin committed at other places is destroyed in a holy place, but the sin committed in a holy place becomes firmly attached).” That means that it cannot be taken away, shed afterwards. It is a manner of speaking, a way of stressing a point, of focusing our attention upon what should be done and what should not be done. Time should not be wasted–kalakshepo na kartavyah. It should not be wasted because time is precious. We have not come here to spend our time doing anything other than the practice of spiritual life–the practice of vairagya, viveka and bhratritva (brotherhood), the practice of tolerance, mutual goodwill, and paropakara (doing good to others), the practice of yoga, bhakti, Vedanta, Gita jnana upadesa and of Upanishad udbodhana (awakening by the Upanishad). We have come here for that. This is a place meant for that. And today of all days is a great day for making all good beginnings. It is a day dedicated to Ganesha who removes all obstacles on the path of good undertakings. He is siddhidayaka (the bestower of success). He gives success if you work in the right direction. And, therefore, it is deemed to be a very auspicious day, a very appropriate day–just like Vijaya Dasami–for making good beginnings. Where shall we begin? We shall begin by stopping all activities of thought, word and deed that are not good, all the activities of vyavahara that are not good. They say read the Vedas daily and engage in actions that have been laid down or declared in the Vedas as actions that are to be engaged in–taduditam karma suanusthiyatam (we must act according to the injunctions of the Vedas)–which means we must not act contrary to the injunctions of the Vedas. It is already implied in the declaration. Speak the truth means do not speak falsehood; it is implied. Practise ahimsa means do not practice himsa; it is implied. Be a vegetarian means do not eat meat or non-vegetarian food; it is implied. Be a brahmachari means do not be a vyabhichari; it is implied. Fast today means do not take food. It need not be told. It is already implied; one contains the other. Divine, godly qualities lead you towards liberation–daivi sampad vimokshaya. And if the highest goal of life is moksha, then we must not only practise daivi sampada which will help us to obtain moksha, but we must also give up all asuri sampada, because it says that asuri sampada leads to greater bondage. Therefore we must not only cultivate daivi sampada but guardedly, with alert vigilance, avoid the contrary. It is implied in it. In his book Satsanga Lectures, Gurudev said: “Today I will tell you of a simple path to God-realisation, three simple sadhanas that will grant you liberation. The first sadhana is to eradicate negative, unspiritual qualities and cultivate positive, spiritual qualities. Secondly, constantly remember God in the midst of all vyavaharic activities. And thirdly, dedicate all your activities at the feet of God.” So, the first sadhana is to eradicate negative, undivine qualities and cultivate positive, divine qualities. Therefore, on this auspicious day of the worship of Lord Ganesha, the remover of obstacles and the bestower of success, let us begin by eradicating wrong qualities and cultivating sublime, noble, spiritual qualities and divine virtues. In his “Universal Prayer” Gurudev says: “Fill our hearts with divine virtues.” If we pray to the Lord to do this, then we must assist God by ourselves also trying to fill our heart with divine virtues. Then He will help us and make it a success. What quality to eradicate? What divine virtue to cultivate? The great Holy Mother Saradamani Devi, the divine consort of Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsadev of Dakshinesvar, giving advice said: “My dear child, take away doshadrishti (looking at the faults of others), take away this negative habit of picking upon the faults of others. Life is too short; there is not enough time to remove our own faults. We have so many faults that if we will start introspecting, trying to analyse and recognise our own negative qualities, we will have a full-time work to do. Even a whole lifetime will not be sufficient to get rid of all the faults that each one of us has. So, if instead of doing your own house cleaning, you start picking on the faults of others, you will remain what you are.” Perhaps it may be worse still, because if you focus on negative things, on the defects of others, trying to pick holes in their svabhava (nature) instead of focusing upon God, your ishta devata or guru charana (the feet of the guru), then you are doing a great injustice to yourself, an injustice to God, an injustice to Gurudev and an injustice to this wonderful ashram that he has created for you and offered to you as his parting gift, complete with all the facilities required for self-unfoldment. You ignore all this and make your vision low-down by

Ganesh Chaturthi By Sri Swami Sivananda SALUTATIONS to Lord Ganesha who is Brahman Himself, who is the Supreme Lord, who is the energy of Lord Shiva, who is the source of all bliss, and who is the bestower of all virtuous qualities and success in all undertakings. Mushikavaahana modaka hastha,Chaamara karna vilambitha sutra,Vaamana rupa maheshwara putra,Vighna vinaayaka paada namasthe MEANING: “O Lord Vinayaka! the remover of all obstacles, the son of Lord Shiva, with a form which is very short, with mouse as Thy vehicle, with sweet pudding in hand, with wide ears and long hanging trunk, I prostrate at Thy lotus-like Feet!” Ganesh Chaturthi is one of the most popular of Hindu festivals. This is the birthday of Lord Ganesha. It is the day most sacred to Lord Ganesha. It falls on the 4th day of the bright fortnight of Bhadrapada (August-September). It is observed throughout India, as well as by devoted Hindus in all parts of the world.Clay figures of the Deity are made and after being worshipped for two days, or in some cases ten days, they are thrown into water.Lord Ganesha is the elephant-headed God. He is worshipped first in any prayers. His Names are repeated first before any auspicious work is begun, before any kind of worship is begun.He is the Lord of power and wisdom. He is the eldest son of Lord Shiva and the elder brother of Skanda or Kartikeya. He is the energy of Lord Shiva and so He is called the son of Shankar and Umadevi. By worshipping Lord Ganesha mothers hope to earn for their sons the sterling virtues of Ganesha.The following story is narrated about His birth and how He came to have the head of an elephant:Once upon a time, the Goddess Gauri (consort of Lord Shiva), while bathing, created Ganesha as a pure white being out of the mud of Her Body and placed Him at the entrance of the house. She told Him not to allow anyone to enter while she went inside for a bath. Lord Shiva Himself was returning home quite thirsty and was stopped by Ganesha at the gate. Shiva became angry and cut off Ganesha’s head as He thought Ganesha was an outsider.When Gauri came to know of this she was sorely grieved. To console her grief, Shiva ordered His servants to cut off and bring to Him the head of any creature that might be sleeping with its head facing north. The servants went on their mission and found only an elephant in that position. The sacrifice was thus made and the elephant’s head was brought before Shiva. The Lord then joined the elephant’s head onto the body of Ganesha.Lord Shiva made His son worthy of worship at the beginning of all undertakings, marriages, expeditions, studies, etc. He ordained that the annual worship of Ganesha should take place on the 4th day of the bright half of Bhadrapada.Without the Grace of Sri Ganesha and His help nothing whatsoever can be achieved. No action can be undertaken without His support, Grace or blessing.In his first lesson in the alphabet a Maharashtrian child is initiated into the Mantra of Lord Ganesha, Om Sri Ganeshaya Namah. Only then is the alphabet taught.The following are some of the common Names of Lord Ganesha: Dhoomraketu, Sumukha, Ekadantha, Gajakarnaka, Lambodara, Vignaraja, Ganadhyaksha, Phalachandra, Gajanana, Vinayaka, Vakratunda, Siddhivinayaka, Surpakarna, Heramba, Skandapurvaja, Kapila and Vigneshwara. He is also known by many as Maha-Ganapathi.His Mantra is Om Gung Ganapathaye Namah. Spiritual aspirants who worship Ganesha as their tutelary Deity repeat this Mantra or Om Sri Ganeshaya Namah.The devotees of Ganesha also do Japa of the Ganesha Gayatri Mantra. This is as follows.Tat purushaaya vidmaheVakratundaaya dheemahiTanno dhanti prachodayaat.Lord Ganesha is an embodiment of wisdom and bliss. He is the Lord of Brahmacharins. He is foremost amongst the celibates.He has as his vehicle a small mouse. He is the presiding Deity of the Muladhara Chakra, the psychic centre in the body in which the Kundalini Shakti resides.He is the Lord who removes all obstacles on the path of the spiritual aspirant, and bestows upon him worldly as well as spiritual success. Hence He is called Vigna Vinayaka. His Bija Akshara (root syllable) is Gung, pronounced to rhyme with the English word “sung”. He is the Lord of harmony and peace.Lord Ganesha represents Om or the Pranava, which is the chief Mantra among the Hindus. Nothing can be done without uttering it. This explains the practice of invoking Ganesha before beginning any rite or undertaking any project. His two feet represent the power of knowledge and the power of action. The elephant head is significant in that it is the only figure in nature that has the form of the symbol for Om.The significance of riding on a mouse is the complete conquest over egoism. The holding of the ankusha represents His rulership of the world. It is the emblem of divine Royalty.Ganesha is the first God. Riding on a mouse, one of nature’s smallest creatures and having the head of an elephant, the biggest of all animals, denotes that Ganesha is the creator of all creatures. Elephants are very wise animals; this indicates that Lord Ganesha is an embodiment of wisdom. It also denotes the process of evolution–the mouse gradually evolves into an elephant and finally becomes a man. This is why Ganesha has a human body, an elephant’s head and a mouse as His vehicle. This is the symbolic philosophy of His form.He is the Lord of Ganas or groups, for instance groups of elements, groups of senses, etc. He is the head of the followers of Shiva or the celestial servants of Lord Shiva.The Vaishnavas also worship Lord Ganesha. They have given Him the name of Tumbikkai Alwar which means the divinity with the proboscis (the elephant’s trunk).Lord Ganesha’s two powers are the Kundalini and the Vallabha or power of love.He is very fond of sweet pudding or balls of rice flour with a sweet core. On one of His birthdays He was going around house to house

Significance of Ekadasi By Sri Swami Krishnananda   Ekadasi is a Sanskrit word, which means ‘the eleventh’. It refers to the eleventh day of a fortnight belonging to a lunar month. There are two fortnights in a lunar month–the bright and the dark. So, Ekadasi occurs twice in a month, in the bright fortnight and the dark fortnight. The special feature of Ekadasi, as most people know it, is a fast, abstinence from diet. This is how it is usually understood. ‘We do not eat on Ekadasi’, is what people understand. In this country (India) it has become a routine to be abstemious, if not observe a complete fast on this day. The significance of this particular observance is not merely constituted of a fast, physically, though it is also an essential element; it has other deeper aspects. In fact, the fast is only a practical expression and a symbol of something else that we are expected to do, which is of special significance to our personality. Those who know astronomy as something which tells about the inter-relation of the planetary system, the stellar world, would be aware that we form a part of this planetary or solar system. By a system we mean an organism or organisation which is methodically arranged. When we know that we belong to the system of planetary motions, we understand thereby that we are an inseparable part of the system. We are not unrelated bodies on the surface of the earth, like a cart on the road which has no organic link. We belong to the solar system–a huge family of which the sun is the head and the planets are the members. The sun guides the activities of this family and we, being contents of this system, cannot be out of the influence of the sun. We are involved in the laws operating in this system. This has led to the discovery of astrology. Astronomy studies the movements of planets and stars, and astrology the effects they produce on the contents of the system. The Ekadasi observance is an astrological phenomenon and it is observed due to this relation we have with some of the planets in the system. The entire personality of ours is tremendously influenced by the movement of planets. There is no use imagining that the planets are above our heads. They are everywhere. There is a relative movement of planets among which the earth is one. The movement of one thing in relation to another is a relative movement. There is no planet which is static. Even the sun is not ultimately static. The whole solar system is moving and rushing towards some huge star, which is eighty million times larger and brighter than the sun, whose light has not yet reached us, as astronomers tell us. We have to understand that there is relative motion amongst planets and we are relatively influenced by the planets., Each planet tells upon our system and we cannot get rid of the influence of theirs as long as we are in this planet, of which we are a part. The gravitational pull of planets has an influence on us.     The sun is said to influence the centre of our personality; hence the sun is called Atmakaraka. He is the soul-influencer of the human body. In the Rig-veda, the sun is identified with the soul of the universe as well as the soul of the individual. The different limbs of our body and different parts of our system are supposed to be influenced by different planets. The sun is capable of influencing the entire being. He is, thus, the Atmakaraka. Karaka is doer, manipulator, director. If there is no sun, we know what difference it makes for us; our digestion becomes sluggish on days when there is no sun. So important is the sun.     The moon is supposed to influence the mind. The mind is also made up of material substance. The mind is not spiritual but material. How is mind matter? This can be known if we know how, in Homeopathy, the medicine is manufactured. In Allopathy, they give the crude base of a medicine, which Homeopathy calls mother tincture. In Homeopathy, one drop of mother tincture is mixed with hundred drops of rectified spirit and shaken with a tremendous force. That mixture is one potency of medicine. One drop of that is mixed in hundred drops of spirit again. It becomes 2 potency medicine. Likewise, they have larger potencies. So, you can imagine what happens to the medicine when it reaches the higher potency. There is no medicine at all. So, Homeopathy says, they give no medicine, but a vibration,–vibration of the original base-material. It is a subtle aromatic vibration, aromatic in the sense of the subtle residium of the original medicine; and what will create a circumstance in Allopathy will remove that very circumstance in Homeopathy. Nevertheless this potency is material in the sense that it is formed of matter. So is the mind. It is the subtle portion of the material substance of our food. The subtle essence of the food, not only directly taken through the mouth but through all senses, contribute to the make up of the mind or the mind-stuff. Mind is material in a subtle sense, like a mirror which is made of earth-material only, though it shines. Only the mirror is able to reflect light, and not the brick, though it is also made of the earth material. Mind is material in this sense. It is very, very subtle and is made up of everything that we take. So, matter influences matter. Planets are not spiritual bodies, and yet they influence the mind. The mind’s presiding deity is moon. Ekadasi is particularly relevant to this relation of moon and mind. You will find that, when you go deep into the study of astronomy, you have nothing in your body except some planetary influences! We are made up of planetary forces and there is nothing independent to call