Ganappa

Get Stronger Everyday

2011-11-24T12:03:00.001+05:30

I have often seen people expressing their displeasure in carrying out tasks assigned to them. “Why should I do this?” “This is not my job.” “Oh, what I have been reduced into?” My mother used to tell us, her children, “No work is degrading. As long as you are cooking food or cleaning vessels in your house, or mopping the floor of your house, or as long as you are cleaning the toilets of your

Get and Forget?

2011-08-29T14:38:00.001+05:30

I heard this recently in a talk: Humans get and forget, God gives and forgives Even if it may not be right to generalize it as humans, in the majority of humans this nature is indeed observed. Forgetting is good, if we can forget all the bad things others did to us. When we can give something good, however small the gesture may be, even if you can make another person smile, you have given a

Lessons to learn from the lives of Sri Ramakrishna’s disciples – Part 11

2011-08-12T16:40:00.002+05:30

Sri Ramakrishna’s entire life demonstrated one theme ‘Religion is realization of God’. The goal of being born as a human gets fulfilled only when one is able to realize God -- feel God, see God, and talk to God. It is possible only for humans. Therefore, human life is considered special, precious. We have to sense God to be convinced that there is a God. Otherwise, this human birth is considered

Lessons to learn from the lives of Sri Ramakrishna’s disciples – Part 10

2011-07-27T14:02:00.000+05:30

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna quotes the words of Sri Ramakrishna, “The goal of human life is to love God. The point is to love God even as the mother loves her child, the chaste wife her husband, and the worldly man his wealth. Add together these three forces of love, these three powers of attractions, and give it all to God. Then, you will certainly see Him.” Swami Ramakrishnananda, one of

Lessons to learn from the lives of Sri Ramakrishna’s disciples – Part 9

2011-07-22T13:47:00.001+05:30

Sri Ramakrishna often used to say, “Bhagavatha, Bhaktha, Bhagwan” to mean that the holy scripture, the devotee, and the God, all the three are equal. Therefore, service to devotees is service to God. Sri Ramakrishna’s disciples followed this teaching of the Master (Sri Ramakrishna). Here is an anecdote from the life of Swami Premananda displaying this quality. Once during the birth anniversary of

Lessons to learn from the lives of Sri Ramakrishna’s disciples – Part 8

2011-07-16T19:20:00.002+05:30

Sri Ramakrishna disapproved of wastage of resources. Once, in Dakshineshwar, he asked a devotee to light the oil lamp in his room. The devotee used four match sticks and yet could not light the lamp. Then the Master (Sri Ramakrishna) got down from the cot and lighted the lamp himself. He said to the devotee, “The householders save their hard-earned money and give it to the monks. Is it proper to

Lessons to learn from the lives of Sri Ramakrishna’s disciples – Part 7

2011-06-20T12:08:00.003+05:30

Sri Ramakrishna understood the universality in the teachings of various religions of the world by practicing each religion for a certain period of time and realizing God through each of them. When he was working as a priest of the Kali temple at Dakshineshwar (near Calcutta), he was seized by a desire to know whether the image in the temple is just a stone or the existence of such a Goddess is

Lessons to learn from the lives of Sri Ramakrishna’s disciples – Part 6

2011-06-18T11:20:00.001+05:30

In Part 5 we defined the meaning of ‘initiation’ (in a footnote) and how it helps a person in gaining spirituality. Of course, it is a very rudimentary definition since the writer of this blog is only a beginner in the path of spirituality and in no way be considered spiritually evolved. After writing the blog, we came across some good points about initiation that we wish to share in this part.

Lessons to learn from the lives of Sri Ramakrishna’s disciples – Part 5

2011-06-12T19:21:00.003+05:30

Sri Ramakrishna looked upon every woman as the Blissful Mother – the Divine Mother, Goddess Kali. He would stand before those women whom society would not touch, and falling at their feet bathed in tears, saying, "Mother, in one form Thou art in the street, and in another form Thou art the universe. I salute Thee, Mother, I salute Thee." Swami Vivekananda says, “Think of the blessedness of that

Lessons to learn from the lives of Sri Ramakrishna’s disciples – Part 4

2011-06-10T19:05:00.001+05:30

Mysterious is the divine will. A washerman donated two acres of land for setting up a branch of Ramakrishna Math! It happened in Nilgiri Hills, Tamil Nadu, India. Swami Shivananda, revered as Mahapurush Maharaj, was a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. Once when he was at Madras he contracted malaria and the doctors advised him to rest at a cool place. Accordingly, arrangements were made to

Lessons to learn from the lives of Sri Ramakrishna’s disciples – Part 3

2011-06-09T11:21:00.002+05:30

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna quotes Sri Ramakrishna’s words regarding sin: “He who says day and night, ‘I am a sinner, I am a sinner’ verily becomes a sinner.” “One should have such burning faith in God that one can say, ‘What? I have repeated the name of God, and can sin still cling to me?” “If a man repeats the name of God, his body, mind, and everything becomes pure.” Swami Brahmananda

Lessons to learn from the lives of Sri Ramakrishna’s disciples – Part 2

2011-06-08T11:46:00.004+05:30

In this blog we narrate an interesting episode from the life of Swami Brahmananda, who was revered as the spiritual son of Sri Ramakrishna. Swami Brahmananda was a spiritual giant and President of the Ramakrishna Mission for more than 20 years. After the passing away of Sri Ramakrishna in 1886 and until the formation of the Ramakrishna Order in 1897, Sri Ramakrishna's monastic disciples went to

Lessons to learn from the lives of Sri Ramakrishna’s disciples – Part 1

2011-06-07T23:18:00.002+05:30

Ganappa is one-year old today! In celebration of the first anniversary, we wish to present a series of articles providing interesting episodes from the lives of Sri Ramakrishna’s disciples. Humility is the hallmark of nobility. It is the greatest of all the noble virtues. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa practiced humility in his life and also instilled this noble quality in the lives of his

Condemn not...

2011-04-16T15:20:00.000+05:30

People brought a woman who had committed adultery to Jesus Christ. They told him, “This woman has led an impure life. According to Moses, such people should be killed by hitting them with stones. What do you say?” Without looking at them, Jesus was writing on the floor with his feet. They again insisted, “What do you say?” Jesus said, “Ok, the punishment may be carried out. But the first stone

Vishwaroopa of Lord Sri Ramachandra

2011-04-04T18:29:00.001+05:30

During the Mahabharata war, Lord Krishna showed his vishwaroopa (superhuman appearance) in the battlefield of Kurukshetra and preached the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna to convince him to fight the battle. This, I think, is known to majority of the Indians or, at least, to most of the Hindus. Have you heard of the vishwaroopa of Lord Sri Ram? Purandara dasa, a great devotee of Vishnu and composer of

Honey bee versus House fly

2011-03-31T13:20:00.004+05:30

Honey bees always alight only on flowers and suck the honey. They never sit on filth. They will never alight on anything else but flowers. House fly will sometimes sit on sweetmeat, sometimes on a rotting wound, and will also sit on filth. It will feed on any of these things. The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna says “Those who are able to devote their minds constantly on God are like bees which

Guru Gobind Singh is alive

2011-02-25T14:09:00.003+05:30

Guru Gobind Singh Ji infused the spirit of both sainthood and soldier in the minds and hearts of his followers to fight oppression in order to restore justice, peace, righteousness (Dharma) and to uplift the down-trodden people in this world. Is it possible to be a saint and soldier at the same time? Are they not the two extremes of human personality? They seem to be so unless we see a live

Do not criticize…

2011-01-18T14:01:00.003+05:30

I have seen people commenting, “Just by going to temple, doing a pradakshina, and breaking a coconut, what do they achieve? They have no real love of God.’’ The first sign of pure devotion is tolerance. Do not criticize. Know that each and every individual is progressing. The progress is different for different people. If you do not want to break a coconut or put flowers for a picture or idol,

Teachings of Sri Sarada Devi - Part IX: Further Teachings

2010-10-26T12:44:00.000+05:30

1. Disciple: "Those who are obtaining your blessings are fortunate indeed. What will happen to people in the future?" Mother: "What do you mean? Why won't they too succeed? God exists everywhere and at all times. The Master is always there. They will succeed through his grace. Are not people realizing God in other countries?" 2. To someone who asked if there is any truth in image worship, Mother

Teachings of Sri Sarada Devi - Part VIII: Love and Compassion

2010-10-06T15:24:00.000+05:30

Holy mother Sri Sarada Devi’s teachings regarding “Love and Compassion” are presented below: 1. "I tell you one thing — if you want peace, do not find fault with others. Rather see your own faults. Learn to make the world your own. No one is a stranger, my child; the whole world is your own." 2. "To err is human. One must not take that into account. It is harmful for oneself. One gets into the

Teachings of Sri Sarada Devi - Part VII: Advice to Householders

2010-09-16T12:18:00.000+05:30

Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi’s teachings for householders are presented below: 1. "Those who belong to a very high plane of existence alone can take to the monastic life and free themselves from all bondages. Again there are some who are born to have a little taste of this worldly life. I say that one should see through worldly enjoyments. …Let X — marry and finish all enjoyments in this life;

Teachings of Sri Sarada Devi - Part VI: Renunciation

2010-09-15T17:05:00.000+05:30

The Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi’s teachings on Renunciation are presented here: 1. "You are a living God. Who is able to renounce all for God's sake? Even the injunctions of Destiny are cancelled if one takes refuge in God. Destiny strikes off with her own hand what she has written about such a person." 2. "Will a man who has strong desires for worldly pleasures listen to me if I ask him to

The Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna - Part VIII

2010-09-13T16:31:00.000+05:30

This part presents the Sayings 350-395 350. As an unchaste woman, busily engaged in household affairs, is all the while thinking of her secret lover, even so, O you man of the world, do your round of worldly duties, but fix your heart always on the Lord. 351. As a wet-nurse in a rich family brings up the child of her master, loving the baby as if it were her own, but knows well that she has no

The Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna - Part VII

2010-09-03T11:01:00.001+05:30

This part presents the sayings 300-349: 300. The new-born calf looks very lively, blithe, and merry. It jumps and runs all day long, and only stops to suck the sweet milk from its darn. But no sooner is the rope placed round its neck than it begins to pine away gradually, and, far from being merry, wears a dejected and sorry appearance, and gets almost reduced to a skeleton. So long as a boy has

The Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna - Part VI

2010-09-01T14:22:00.003+05:30

This part contains the Sayings 250-299. 250. As the young wife in a family shows her love and respect to her father-in-law, mother-in-law, and every other member of the family, and at the same time loves her husband more than these; similarly, be firm in your devotion to the Deity of your own choice (Ishta-Devatâ), do not despise other Deities, but honor them all. 251. A truly religious man