ESSENCE OF YOGA by Sri Swami Sivananda Sarasawti

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from ESSENCE OF YOGA by Sri Swami Sivananda SarasawtiQ: Where can you find eternal happiness?A: In your own Atman within.Q: Which is the most troublesome organ?A: Tongue.Q: Who is your terrible enemy?A: Mind.Q: Who is your best friend?A: Satsanga or association with the wise.Q: Who is your real father?A: Guru.Q: Which is the best language?A: Language of the heart.Q: Which is the best virtue?A: Brahmacharya.Q: Which is the worst intoxicant?A: Lust.Q: Which is the sacred river?A: Brahma Jnana.Q: Who is the real king?A: A Jivanmukta or liberated sage.Q: Which is the best Dharma?A: Selfless service.Q: Which is the worst quality?A: Anger.Q: Which is the best thing in this world?A: Pain (because it is the eye-opener, it goads you to seek

liberation.)80ESSENCE OF YOGAQ: Which is the best food?A: Hearing of the Srutis or Upanishads.Q: Who is the best man?A: A kind-hearted man.Q: Who is the worst man?A: A selfish man.Q: Where is the worst hell?A: In the mind filled with jealousy, crookedness and hatred.Q: Where is the best heaven?A: In the heart filled with love, mercy and generosity.Q: Which is the best science?A: Brahma-Vidya or the science of Atman.Q: Which is the most precious thing in this world?A: Vairagya or dispassion.Q: Who is the strongest man?A: He who practises Ahimsa, he who can bear insults, injuries and persecutions with a smiling face.Q: Who is a weak man?A: An irritable man.Q: Who is the happiest man?A: A Tyagi or a man of renunciation.Q: Who is the most miserable man?A: A rich man.Q: Who is the most

beautiful man?A: A Yogi.Q: Who is the ugliest man?A: A greedy man.Q: Who is a beggar?A: He who has desires.Q: Which is the biggest ocean?A: Ocean of Bliss (Brahman or Atman).81QUESTIONS AND ANSWERSQ: Which is the most dangerous thing in this world?A: Company of a worldly man.Q: Which is the greatest temptation?A: Woman for a man, man for a woman.Q: Which is the most desirable thing?A: Brahma Jnana.Q: Who is the best engine driver?A: God.Q: Which is the most wonderful machine or engine?A: Mind.Q: Which is the biggest factory in this world?A: Mental factory.Q: Who is a real drunkard?A: He who is intoxicated with the pride of wealth and learning.Q: Who is a real blind man?A: He who has no inner divine eye or the eye of intuition.Q: Who is the real cobbler?A: He who thinks

that the body is Atman and talks always of matters concerning the body.Q: What is your foremost duty?A: To find out this hidden driver of this body-engine to love Him, to live for Him, to serve Him, toknow Him, to realise Him, to live in Him and merge in Him.Q: Why did the All-merciful God create pain in this world?A: Pain is the only blessing in this world. It is an eye-opener. Man would never attempt to attainsalvation if there had not been any pain in this world.Q: How can I know whether I have purity of mind or not?A: If you have Vairagya (dispassion or indifference to sensual enjoyments), that is a sign of ChittaSuddhi or purity of mind. No sensual desires or Vasanas will arise in the mind.Q: What is the purpose of God creating the world?A: This is a transcendental question or Atiprasna. You will know the purpose when you attainSelf-realisation or Brahma Jnana. The finite mind that

is conditioned in time, space and causationcannot get an answer to a question that relates to transcendental matters.Q: What is the use of repeating the Mantra again and again?A: It gives force. It intensifies the spiritual Samskaras.82ESSENCE OF YOGAQ: When I concentrate, so many thoughts arise in my mind. How can I avoid them? Can I suppressthem?A: Do not try to suppress them with force. The thoughts will manifest with redoubled force. Theywill rise up frequently also. You will tax your will and waste your energy. Be a silent witness ofthese thoughts. Say unto yourself: .I have no concern with these thoughts.. Be indifferent. Alluseless worldly thoughts will die by themselves.Q: How to prevent bad dreams?A: Study any religious book. Meditate for half an hour just before retiring to bed. You will have nobad dreams.Q: What are the signs of a person who has no

Ahamkara or egoism?A: He will not identify himself with his body. He will be free from pride, likes, dislikes, jealousy,anger and hypocrisy.Q: Why does evil exist in the world?A: Change the angle of vision or Drishti. All evils will disappear. Evil is negative good. Evil existsto glorify good. It has a raison d.etre, reason for its existence. Evil and good are relative terms.What is good at one time is evil at another time. What is good for one is evil for another. Understandthis and become wise. Behold the one Atman in all forms and beings. Evil and good are mentalcreations. Transmute evil into good by Atma-Drishti. There is good in evil also.Q: How to lead the life of unity?A: This is attained by service, charity, sharing what you have with others, cultivating cosmic loveand realising the one Atman seated in the hearts of all, through constant Brahmachintana ormeditation on

Atman.HOW TO LIVE A DIVINE LIFE1. Nitya Sukha, Parama Santi, eternal satisfaction, Infinite Bliss, knowledge andImmortality can be had only in God or Atman who gives light to the intellect and the Sun.Therefore, realise the Sat-Chit-Ananda Atma through meditation right now, this very second, bypurifying the mind.2. Samsara (world) is Mithya, Asara, Apadramaniya, evanescent, impermanent, full ofmiseries, untruth, hatred and selfishness, disease and pain. It is a long dream. Be not worldly.3. Time is most precious. Utilise every second profitably.4. Serve Sadhus, Sannyasins, the sick, the poor and the country. This is Pada-Sevan of God.5. Whenever your friend is annoyed with you, speak to him first, with a smile, and apologisesincerely with tears in your eyes even though you may be in the right. Serve him nicely with Prema.Vindictive spirit is a deadly enemy of peace, devotion and

Jnana.6. Observe Mouna (silent) during eating. Observe Mouna for six hours on Sundays.83QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS7. Keep the pictures of Saints and Sages in your bedroom and the front room. Do not keepany obscene pictures in the house.8. Speak the truth, preserve Veerya and control anger by Kshama, love and service. Repeat.Om Santih. twelve times mentally and drink some cold water when you detect the least symptomof irritation in your mind.9. Sleep always alone. Take one meal and some milk at night on Sundays. Do one lakh ofRama-Nama Japa on Sundays.10. Write daily for half an hour in a notebook the Mantra of your Ishta Devata or .RamaRama.. Write down in bold types on slips of paper .Speak Truth.. .Om Courage,. .Om Purity,. .Iam immortal Atman,. .I must realise God now,. .Time is most precious,. .I will be a trueBrahmachari. and .Brahmacharya is Divine Life. and fix them in

the bedroom, front rooms andverandah. Keep some slips in your pocket.11. Keep always a few pies in your pocket and distribute them daily to the poor and thedecrepit.12. Do Hari-Kirtan at night. Sing .Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare.HareKrishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare. along with the members of your family andservants of your house for one hour.13. Study Gita or Upanishads, Ramayana, Bhagavata or Yoga Vasishtha for one hour in theevening with some of your friends. The ladies of the household should also do this.EPILOGUEThe beginning of saintliness is killing of egoism or Ahamkara. The end of saintliness isEternal Life. The key to saintliness is humility and self-mortification. The light of saintliness issilent meditation. The garb of saintliness is virtue and tolerance, not the Gerua cloth alone.Pravritti and Nivritti are not two different paths. They are

two aspects of one and the samepath. There is Pravritti in Nivritti and Nivritti in Pravritti. It is the mental state that counts. Look atJanaka, the king of Videhas. In him, there was absolute Nivritti in Pravritti. Always remember:.Yogasthah Kuru Karmani Sangam Tyaktva Dhananjaya..Man is the master of his own destiny. He sows an action and reaps a habit; sows a habit andreaps a character; sows a character and reaps a destiny. So he is entirely responsible for hisPrarabdha Karma. Prarabdha is under his Adheenata or control. He will become an absolute fatalistand a slothful, inactive man, if he attributes everything to a preordained destiny or Prarabdha. Lethim awaken his free will. Let him avail himself of his Paramartha (Will). God has endowed manwith Buddhi, independent, free thinking principle, rational reasoning and all sorts of faculties. Hecan control atoms; he can control elements; he can fly in

the air, he can forward a thought from onecorner to another corner of the world; he can command electricity to pump out water from a well; he84ESSENCE OF YOGAcan walk over water; he can sit on fire: he can pass from one body to another; he can roam about theworld without being seen by any one.In fact there is nothing impossible for him under the sun. Instead of realising his real natureby introspection within himself or Atmic enquiry, he dwells in an instinctive plane, wanders aboutin vain here and there in this phenomenal world of mere mental creation and forgets themagnificence of his real Self. He worships man instead of worshipping God. He is aman-worshipper. He signs .I beg to remain. Your obedient servant., instead of asserting his divinenature as a centre of consciousness in the ocean of life, instead of styling as a Director, controllerand supporter of Universe. Wake up

immediately to rectify this lamentable condition; otherwise itwill be too late to gather honey in winter! Awake! Arise, Dear Reader!For sincere spiritual aspirants, marching boldly in the Adhyatmic field, this handypublication provides, succinctly, innumerable PRACTICAL hints. Every page abounds in muchvaluable information in a condensed form. The laconic lessons contained in this book should speakfor themselves. If this proves in any way useful to the ardent Mumukshus, the author.s sincereendeavour to help them will be more than amply fulfilled.

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