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
Vyas
Poornima or Guru Poornima falls on the full moon day in the month of Ashadha,
the fourth month of the lunar Indian calendar.Men and women worship their spiritual Gurus or teachers on this day.
As
Gurus, in the earlier days, did not accept money from their students as fee,
the students after having settled down in their life used to make annual
offerings in accordance with their earnings.The scholars also present their newly published books and take the
blessings of their Guru on this day. In
a way, it used to be an old student’s day.
It
is said that in each Dwapar yuga, some great scholar re-arranges the Vedas and
the Puranas and is called Vyas.The 28th
Veda Vyas (author of Mahabharata) born to Rishi Parashar and Matsyagandha, is
known as Krishna Dwaipayana Veda Vyas.He is called Krishna because he was dark in color, and Dwaipayan as he
was born in a dweep or an island in a river.
Veda
Vyas spent a large part of his life in Haryana.Thevillage Bilaspur (near
Chhachhrauli-Jagadhri) is old Vyaspur, where on the bank of river Saraswati, It
is believed that those who worship their Gurus are blessed by Saraswati, the
goddess of learning.They become
sharp-minded and men of knowledge and are also ways held in high esteem.
Maharishi
Veda Vyas was the greatest scholar of the Dwapar Yuga.Besides scholars like Vidhura, he had a large
number of disciples. To show their reverence to their Guru, these great scholarly
students decided to meet their Guru every year on Ashadha Poornima day (the
first day of Chaturmasya).This being
the rainy season in India, the Sanyasis or the Spritual Gurus settle down at a
particular place and do not travel for four months and are said to deliver scholarly discourses to their
disciples and devotees. Another reason for selecting the Poornima day, is the belief
that, like the moon which shines by reflecting the light of the sun and
glorifies it, the disciples can shine like the moon by gaining knowledge from
their guru.
Even
though God is extremely simple, our minds being so complicated, we need a Guru
-- not to teach us about our path, but to teach us about our mind, and to get
us through the mind to that absolute simplicity, which is God.
On
Vyas Poornima, people still observe this day as Guru Poornima day and recite
Guru Gita (said to be a part of Skanda Purana) written by Veda Vyas. In this
Lord Shiva explains to his consort Parvati the significance of worshipping the
Guru.
The
form of the Guru is the object of meditation, the feet of the guru are the object
of worship, the words of the Guru are the mantra and the grace of the Guru is
the means of liberation. (Guru Gita)
Sanatana means eternal, never beginning
nor ending.
Dharma is from dhri, meaning to hold together, to sustain.
Sanatana Dharma eternally holds All together.
Sanatana Dharma is experience based rather than
belief based.
'Satyam
vada, Dharmam chara'
Literally
means, Speak the Truth and Practice Dharma.
Ancient
Hindu scriptures emphasize the importance of 'Satya' and 'Dharma'. Satya is the eternal, absolute and unchanging
truth. Dharma is often translated as righteousness, Law or Natural Law.
In the Rigveda, the word appears as an n-stem,
dhárman-,
meaning "something established or firm"
The Upanishads saw dharma as the universal
principle of law, order, harmony, all in all truth, that sprang first from
Brahman.
In the
Brihadaranyaka's own words:
Verily, that which
is Dharma is truth.
In the Mahabharata (12.110.11), Lord Krishna defines
dharma as,
meaning, Dharma upholds both this-worldly and
other-worldly affairs.
The prayer,
“तमसोमा ज्योतिर्गमय” Tamasoma Jyothirgamaya, in the tradition of Sanatana Dharma means
“Lead me from darkness to light”. Darkness symbolizes ajnana or ignorance;
while light symbolizes jnana or knowledge.
The Guru alone is capable of guiding one from the
darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge. It is due to this fact that
utmost importance is given to the Guru in Sanatana Dharma.
About 1200 years ago, Great saint, Jagadguru Sri Adi Shankaracharya, the great philosopher, in his brief life of 32 years was instrumental in the spread of Advaita Vedanta philosophy of the Upanishads. According to Sringeri Peetam Jagadguru Sri Bharati tirtha Mahaswamiji, Adi Shankaracharya re-established the path through which everyone can experience and become one with divinity.
Video link to the documentary released from Sringeri Peetam, about Jagadguru sri Adi Shankaracharya .
