Thursday, September 27, 2012

ISRO Director visits Shirdi to thank for the success of 100th mission.



Renowned scientist S.Veeraraghavan, the Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, recently, visited the Shirdi Saibaba Temple to offer his prayers at the Samadhi of Sai and to thank Shirdi Sai for the ISRO's 100th Successful mission.

The ISRO's launch vehicle 'PSLV-C21' placed in orbit two foreign satellites - French spacecraft SPOT 6 and Japanese micro satellite PROITERES - from Sriharikota, last Sunday.  This marks the 100th successful mission for ISRO.  A remarkable achievement indeed!. 

During his visit on Friday, he said, " We scientists and engineers do our best and leave the rest to God.  After the mission, I thought I should come here, take his blessings, and particularly after this very successful mission.  I should be thanking for the success". 
 
 
 
 

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Shridi Saibaba ashram in Shirdi to be inaugurated soon




The Shirdi Saibaba ashram being built in Shirdi would be completed by October and President Pranab Mukherjee has been invited by both the Shirdi Sai Sansthan and the Maharashtra government, to inaugurate the new facility. 

The ashram spread over 12 acres of land is being built at an estimated cost of Indian rupees 140 crores (14 million rupees) and will have  192 big halls and 1,536 rooms which could accommodate 15,000 devotees. Chennai based K V Ramani, a Shirdi Saibaba devotee, has donated Indian rupees of 100 crores and the Shirdi Sai Sansthan has invested Indian rupees of 40 crores to complete construction of the Saibaba ashram.

Saibaba temple to auction gold, silver donated by devotees in October 2012 - cancelled after High Court Stay


 
The Shirdi Saibaba Sansthan Trust has announced that in October they will be auctioning of a part of the gold, silver and diamonds donated by the devotees. According to Sansthan's executive officer Kishor More, there was 280 kg of gold and 3,000 kg of silver with the trust, of which 37 kg gold and 516 kg silver had been sent to Mumbai for melting. Some of the remaining gold and silver along with diamonds would be auctioned. The details would be available on the temple's website.


Update:
Shirdi (Maharashtra), Oct 16 (IANS) The auction of offerings at the Saibaba Temple here, scheduled in three phases starting Thursday (Oct 18), has been cancelled after the Bombay High Court stayed the process, a temple trust official said.
"The Bombay High Court has stayed the proposed auction and accordingly it has been cancelled until further orders of the court," said an official of Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust (SSST).
The official declined to give more details of the cancellation of the auction, which had generated tremendous enthusiasm among Shirdi Saibaba's devotees in India and abroad.
Now, it will be conducted at a later date after the permission of the high court, the official added.
Valuable gold and silver crowns, statues, garlands, padukas, necklaces, coins, diamonds and precious stones and other articles offered at the Saibaba Temple by devotees were due to be auctioned this week onwards at the temple premises.
The proposed auction - the third of its kind in the past decade and the second in five years - had included 32 kg of silver offerings, 18 kg of gold offerings and 52 precious stones or articles studded with precious stones.
 

Union State Minister for Railway, Mr. K.H.Muniyappa at Shirdi temple



Union State Minister  for Railway, Mr.K.H.Muniyappa offering his prayers at Shirdi Shri Saibaba's Samadhi.

Two Rudraksha Gold garlands donated to Shirdi Sai


According to Shirdi Sai Sansthan, in the first week of September a Gujarat-based family donated two gold garlands having 108 ‘Rudraksha’ beads, made of 1.156 kg gold, valued at Indian rupees 4 million during Aarti at the Shirdi Sai Baba Temple. 

Monday, September 24, 2012

Free Weekly online Meditation sessions. Every Saturday 7:00AM NY EST

The BabaTimes: With the blessings of Gurudev Shri Sivananda Maharaj, Free Weekly online Guided meditation sessions and discussions on spiritual topics are held online to benefit spiritual seekers.

Free online conference on ‘Guided Meditation Sessions’ and ‘Discussions on spiritual Topics based on Hindu Scriptures like Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita’ is held  every Saturday at 7.00 AM NY EST



 

The Meditation session and spiritual discussions are held under the guidance of Swamiji Shri Padmanabhanandaji, of Divine Life Society, Rishikesh, India. 

The session starts with introduction and invocation prayers. Prior to silent meditation session, a recorded prayer by Swamiji Chidananda Maharaj is played. Then spiritual discussion starts.

Each week a topic for discussion is emailed to the spiritual seekers.  This week's svadyaya for discussion is "Stillness in the midst of activity" by Swamiji Chidananda Maharaj.

For more information and to subscribe to the event, spiritual seekers please email your interest to

DLSUSA.org@gmail.com

Stillness In The Midst Of Activity by Swami Chidananda Maharaj

Topic for discussion September 29, 2012 Saturday, 7 AM, New York EST "Stillness in the midst of activity"
My telling you all this has but one purpose, your highest welfare. With this one
single intention and view, this sharing has been done with love and goodwill for you and with a prayerful supplication at the feet of Gurudev that his grace and blessings may make your life all-round success. May you shine as a light unto yourself, a lamp unto other pilgrims upon this great path that leads up from death and morality to Liberation and everlasting Bliss. Be up and doing.
I wish to put one little thought seed into your mind in this context. When one attains Brahma-jnana, when one realises the Supreme Reality, one comes to the vision and experience of “ Sarvam Vishnu Mayam Jagat, Sarvam Khalvidam Brahman. The entire universe is pervaded by the Supreme. Verily all this is Brahman”. Whatever exists is that one great Reality. This world is a manifestation of Shakti. In Her vyavaharic satta [relative reality] in this world of activity, you do not see everything as Brahman until you reach that state of Experience. You see an infinite variety of movements and actions; nothing stands still. This universe is in a constant state of movement, constant activity.
Everyone is engaged in action, action, action. One that does not enter into the stream would be cast aside on the way. Because, time and tide wait for no man. We have to be up and doing.
In the heart of this constant activity, however, there is the supreme Stillness, the great absolute Silence, where there is no motion. In a whirling wheel, all the spokes, all the circumference is whirling rapidly. If you put anything upon the spokes of the wheel, you find it thrown off. But if you put something right in the centre at the hub it will remain there . There, in spite of all the whirl, there is serenity; there is total stability. What you put in the centre never moves. It is there and remains established there. In the eye of a hurricane, there is calm. In the midst of this great whirling wheel of Prakriti, there is great Stillness. But behold movement everywhere.
This movement is brought about of a certain Will. Therefore, they say that ichcha-shakti leads to kriya-shakti and if this kriya-shakti is channeled in the proper direction, it ultimately comes to jnana-shakti – the jnana that transcends mere vidya and becomes Para-vidya.
. Swami Chidananda

Free Weekly online Guided meditation sessions and Satsung

Free online conference on ‘Guided Meditation Sessions’ and ‘Discussions on Topics of Vedas’
Every Saturday at 7.00 AM EST from New York through Skype
Send in ‘Add Request’ from your Skype account to ‘DLSNewYork’


The Divine Life Society
RISHIKESH °  INDIA
 
NEW YORK CHAPTER
This Week's Topic 'Stillness in the Midst of Activity'
ABOUT THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
The Divine Life Society is a shining example of the creative aspect of the Divinity within man. It is a remarkable achievement of the Founder, His Holiness Sri Swami Sivananda, who from the year 1936, has built up the wonderful mansion of 'Divine Life' brick by brick, on the firm foundations of purity, integrity, nobility and magnanimity.
Please take a few minutes to read the attached svadyaya page
‘Stillness in the Midst of activity'
by
Swami Chidananda Maharaj
 
29 September 2012 Agenda:
 
v  Introduction
v  Initial Prayers
v  Guided Meditation
v  Discussions on
‘Stillness in the Midst of activity’
v  Concluding Prayers
v  Acknowledgements
 
 
 
 
Some Tips on Joining the Conference:
 
Await our Calls at 6.50 AM
Answer without Video (unless pre-planned)
Mute your Microphone
Enable your Microphone when called for Comments
Feel free to make suggestions
Consent to ‘Recording of the session’
DLS New York Mission
 
With the blessing of Guru Maharaj, we have started conducting this Satsung from our New York center every Saturday at 7 AM EST. Shortly we will also be hosting an additional Spiritual Satsung session to accommodate our West Coast members here in the USA.
 
In this session, we plan to bring in ‘Guided Meditation’ Techniques as prescribed by the Swamijis in the Shivananda Ashram for many decades and from the Divine Life Society Rishikesh directly. Swami Chidanandaji’s recording will be played for the practice of the Meditation.
 
After the Meditation, we open up a topic for each week for discussions among the participants. With the help of our Gurus and Swamijis we will pick up a suitable topic for each week.
 
Great topics (not limited to) that we are planning are:
 
1)      All the ten most important Upanishads
2)      Process & Practice of Meditation
3)      Philosophy and Religion
4)      Integration of Science, Religion and Philosophy
 
If you wish to opt out of the Email News, please send email to dlsusa.org@gmail.com with subject line ‘Remove me from DLS News Alerts’

96th Birth Anniversary of Swami Chidananda Maharaj


September 24, 2012 - 96th Birth Anniversary of Swami Chidananda Maharaj

 
Swami Chidananda Maharaj born September 24, 1916 was known as Sridhar Rao before he was initiated into the Sannyasa order by Gurudev Sivananda Maharaj on Guru Poornima day, the 10th of July, 1949.

Even though he was born into a prosperous zamindar family (wealthy family of landlords),  from his childhood he showed signs of embracing jnana marga and serving Lord Narayana Himself, by providing service to the needy.  

During his college days he showed more interest in reading spiritual books written by Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda and listening to discourses by saints and Sadhus.  He choose the path of a true spiritual seeker by adapting a simple life and renouncing the comforts by practicing austerities even before he joined Sri Sivananda Maharaj’s ashram in Rishikesh in 1943. There he took care of the dispensary and wrote articles for magazines and delivered lectures. His biography of Gurudev Sivananda Maharaj “Light Fountain” is a classic tribute to his Guru. 

By 1948 he was nominated as the General Secretary of The Divine Life Society and he was initiated into the holy Sannyasa order on Guru Poornima day, July 10, 1949 and was given the name Swami Chidananda which means “ One who is in a Higher Consciousness state of bliss”.

He was elected President of the Divine Life Society in August of 1963 after the Mahasamadhi of Gurudev Sivananda Maharaj. He travelled throughout India, and to other countries like Malaysia, Australia and South Africa to name a few, to meet the devotees of the Ashram. He devoted his life in the service of people, by providing guidance to other spiritual seekers through his books and lectures here in India and abroad.  His life was a shining example to many, who were guided to nurture and care for others without any expectation.  Even though he attained Mahasamadhi on August 28, 2008 at 20:11 pm, he continues to guide us spiritually.
 
Om Namo Bhagavathe Sivanandaya 
Om Namo Bhagavathe Chidananadaya

References:
http://www.dlshq.org/saints/chida.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swami_Chidananda_Saraswati
http://www.sivanandaonline.org/public_html/?cmd=displaysection&section_id=1345