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Om Namah Shivaya!
Mahashivratri Greetings
In This Issue
Vedanta Sandesh
Spreading Love & Light
Hari om!
Monthly eMagazine of Vedanta Mission The once-in-a-lifetime, unique 'annular' solar eclipse was watched by millions
Sharing the message of Vedanta and Sanatan Dharma
in the southern part of India and elsewhere in few other parts of the world with
awe & wonder. The next annular solar eclipse will happen after 1033 years, on
23rd Dec 3043 to be exact. In this special kind of eclipse the sun appears like
Feb 2010 an annulus (a ring) because the moon which comes in between sun & earth is
On the Net since 1995 farthest from the earth, and thus appears a bit smaller than the sun disc and
as it does not cover the entire disc of sun, the ring shape of the sun is conse-
quently presented. The master of the skies, the glorious Sun, seems to have
in its wardrobe all the possible jewelleries, it is normally the glorious cosmic
pendant of the necklace made of the various stars & planets, it occasionally
Started by:
showpieces its astounding diamond ring, and now an amazing bangle.
Poojya Guruji Sri Swami Atmanandaji
During such cosmic events not only the birds, reptiles and various animals
show abnormal behaviour like becoming quiet etc, but even the devoted people
take time off from their normal routine and pray for the well-being of the total-
Editor: ity. Both respond to a special cosmic event in their own ways, simply because
Swamini Samatananda they are intimately connected to the cosmos and its events. How one responds
obviously reveals their individual knowledge & conditionings, yet one thing is
obvious that they are 'connected' with the totality, and that is obviously great.
Establishing our connectivity with the totality is one of the important agenda of
Published from: Hinduism & its philosophy, the Vedanta. Texts like Vedanta-Saar have an amaz-
Vedanta Ashram ing study on the nature & consequences of individual-centric and the total-
E/2948-50, Sudama Nagar centric or holistic vision of life. Such drastic is the consequence of this cosmic
Indore-452 009, India awareness & centricity that all the scriptures unanimously give us ways and
means to bring about such a paradigm shift in our perceptions & sensitivities.
Such deep-rooted is this awareness and conviction, that our festivals,
samskaras and events, all reveal some special cosmic connectivity. Whether
Web: it is the festival of Sankranti or the on-going Mahakumbha Mela all are basi-
cally our salute to some cosmic event. Those who are aware of this unique
www.vmission.org.in
Hindu psyche appreciate not only their cosmic sensitivities but also the effect
of such a ‘Samashti Drishti’ on the ethics & morality of the people at large.
Email:
Ethics and morality of individual-centric people are such a pity that the whole
vmission@gmail.com country has paid and is still paying an unimaginable price by this value-struc-
ture where only the needs, whims & fancies of an inidividual or the ego is of
prime concern. Look at the cosmos, say the masters, and that very moment
you realize your place in this vast & beautiful creation.
Swami Atmananda
Atma Bodha - Shloka 15
Vedanta Section
The Five Koshas veil the Self
Atman can never be seen as an object as we see various things around in the world, since it
is the very light which enables us to objectify and see the world. Just as my own eye cannot see its
own self . Yet the Upanishads show us our very own self, the Atman. This tricky knowledge is given
by giving us pointers which indicate the atman, by negating the anatma. In the last three slokas a
pointer was used to discriminate between the atma and the anatma by doing the sharira-traya
viveka. The entire spectrum of the anatma was divided into the three bodies and we saw how these
three bodies are not our true self and that the Real Self is beyond these three bodies. In the present
sloka another very significant pointer is been used which is taken from Taittiriya Upanishad. Here
the entire spectrum of the anatma is divided into five parts known as ‘koshas’. This panchakosha
viveka give us a deeper understanding of the anatma and reveal the self effulgent and blissful self.
15
The pure immaculate Self appears limited because of the identification with the Five Koshas,
just as a Sfatika crystal appears colored when brought in proximity of a colored cloth.
Page # 5
Life Still has Meaning
- Author unknown
I am happy that you realize the negative effects of jealousy so nicely that
you have called for help. I wonder what steps you have been taking to
handle this extremely bad & negative emotion, which scriptures call as a
sure-shot way to hell. Please remember that it is not just any effort but
intelligent efforts which alone handles any problem.
Till the time you So before taking any steps go into the very cause of jealousy. It is 'your'
appreciation of its cause which 'alone' roots out such emotions. Why should
make your motivation the success and prosperity of others ever pain you? Look at such things
pure and positive, positively. The other person has obviously worked hard and has been
blessed accordingly. It is the secret of success of the others which rather
always make it a point should tickle your fancy. A person who burns in the fire of jealousy misses
out on these important lessons. I know you have a great desire for success
to 'appreciate' the
- but just a bit more than others. See this fact that today, you are basically
success of others. driven by one-upmanship. This is a negative motivation. A better way to live
is to just love what you do, irrespective of what others achieve or do. Think.
Bless them, feel good
You are you and the others are what they are, so why compare. Let every
for them. flower in the garden be what it truly is and bloom to make the whole garden
a beautiful place. Always keep an eye on your true motivation and drive.
- Poojya Guruji
Live your life your way and never let others malign your drive.
Till the time you make your motivation pure and positive, always make it a
point to 'appreciate' the success of others. Bless them, feel good for them.
Such positive responses will never let the negative ones to even have a
place to keep their foot in any corner of your mind.
Finally pray to God to give you strength and power to make your motivation
pure and positive, and make your life a real blessing - for yourself and all
others around you. Don't pray to remove darkness, just pray for light, and
then darkness will never get a chance to exist.
Swami Atmananda
Page # 9
The festival of Mahashivratri is the 'Grand Night dedicated for the worship of
Lord Shiva'. This festival is celebrated every year on the 13/14th day in the Krishna
Paksha (waning moon fortnight, just before the new moon) of the month of Phalgun.
As per the English calendar this is somewhere around Feb or March.
This day and more so the night is dedicated by the devotees of Lord Shiva for
his worship, practice of various austerities & meditation. All the Shiva Temples
are fully decorated and there are hordes of devotees queuing up to get darshan
of Lord & offer their obeisance's at the feet of Lord Shiva.
Maha Shivratri
There are several stories which are associated with this special grand night of
Lord Shiva: The Samudra Manthan Story wherein Lord Shiva, to protect life, con-
12th Feb 2010
sumes the poison that comes out of the ocean. The Gods pleased the Lord by
performing music and dance and singing his glories. The Lord in turn blessed all
and also said that whosoever worshipped & contemplated on him on this day
shall be blessed with the fulfillment of his or her wishes. Since then, on this day
and night - devotees fast, keep vigil, sing glories of Lord and meditate.
On this day manifested the great & also the first ever effulgent (Jyotirmaya)
form (Anala-skanda or a pillar of fire) of Lord Shiva in front of Lord Vishnu &
Brahmaji.
In this manner even unconscious acts of goodness are blessed in such a way,
then what to talk of our conscious acts of expressing our love, respect and rever-
ence for Lord Shiva. He is indeed Ashutosh, one who gets pleased very soon.
Lord Shiva is indeed an embodiment of infinite love & compassion, that is why he
is so easy to please. He showers us with his blessings at every moment of our
lives, may we all devote this day of Mahashivratri to express our gratitude unto
his feet. It is a very auspicious day.
VedantaSandesh
Vedanta Sandesh- -Feb
April2010
2009 Page # 10
How to celebrate Mahashivratri?
3. Use this day to bring to one’s mind the infinite ways that life has been blessed.
In our obsession with thinking on what all I dont have we fail to see the infinite
ways in which we are so positively blessed. The fact that you can read right now
is a great blessing, ask someone who cannot see. Feel truly blessed & gratified
and express your thanks & devotion at the feet of Lord by chanting the mantra
‘Om Namah Shivaya’ as many times as you can.
4. Practice Dhyana for longer periods than the usual routine. Be one with your
loving God, and revel in utter fulfillment.
5. Remain more introvert on this day contemplating about the truths of life.
7. Try to get darshan & satsang of some learned Mahatmas. Offer sewa at Ashrams
& Temples.
Om Namah Shivaya
Om: The one non-dual Truth as revealed in the Vedas, Brahman, who is
unmanifest and also manifest. Impersonal yet so personal.
Page # 11
Your Value
A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill.
In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?"
He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do
this." He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up.
He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?"
Still the hands went into the air.
Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into
the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come
our way.
On the same day there was a unique Annular Solar Eclipse.In south-
ern parts of India, like Rameshwaram, total solar eclipse was seen, while in
other parts only partial eclipse was seen. At Indore, we saw partial eclipse,
and even that brought about a dawn like effect, and the birds became sur-
prisingly quiet. The next annular solar eclipse will take place after more than
a thousand years. Pic of eclipse by Poojya Guruji using x-ray film as filter.
Pachmarhi Yatra:
After the Sadhana Camp, Poojya Guruji along with five other devo-
tees went for a three days trip to the famous place of Pachmarhi. They took
an overnight Sleeper bus to the place, and checked in a nice hotel of MP
Tourism called Glen-View. A Gypsy jeep was hired for the three days to take
us around to the various places of interest.
Pachmarhi is in the Hosangabad Dist of MP and is at the height of
1156 meters above sea level. It is a quiet & quaint place with a max popula-
tion around 12-14 thousand. It is basically a tourist place and also has an
Army Educational Corps Center. The small town of Pachmarhi is surrounded
on all sides by dense forests and is therefore under the strict control of either
the Forest department or the Army, and is therefore still relatively untouched.
It gets its name from the five (Panch) caves (Marhi) which are today called
as Pandav Caves. There are so many beautiful natural spots, like water-
falls, lakes, valleys, caves, and view-points etc that our three days stay were
very busy.
On the first day, we first visited the Pandav Caves. These are sup-
posed to be of Buddhist origin. Then we saw the Handi Kho, a deep gorge,
rather a well-like natural formation, whose 300 ft bottom is only seen when
the sun is right on top. From there we went to Gupt Mahadev, which is a
cave in the forest with an old Shivlinga, and then to a nice spot called Bada
Mahadeo, a must see. After lunch and some rest we did boating. 2nd day
we went to Jata Shankar, a nice spot down the hill. It has a cave with old
Shiv Linga. Then we went to another very nice place, the Bee-Fall. There is
a steam and a water-fall. We all took bath in the stream there. Our next spot
was Rajat-Prapat and Apsara Kund. The former is a 350 ft waterfall deep in
the jungle. Evening we went to Rajendra Giri to see the Sunset. Last day
we went early morning to Dhupgarh, the highest point in MP to see the
Sunrise, then had a great experience of Para-Sailing. Then to Reechgarh
and finally saw the Rock Paintings.
Page # 17
Hari om !
Om Tat Sat