Gurudev enlightens on calming the mind

August 20, 2024

This was a question and answer session with Gurudev , Swami Chinmayanandaji, on the 16/05/1984, in Siddhabari as he sat informally outside the old Satsang hall in the evenings. We all gathered around him to ask him for guidance on how to calm the mind. These are excerpts from my...

Karmic Effects of Matsarya (Jealousy)

November 23, 2023

Shrimad Devi Purana has this interesting story to illustrate how actions attract reactions. Aditi and Diti were two beautiful daughters of Dakshaprajapati, and both became the wives of Rishi Kashyap. Aditi had a son, the very powerful, brilliant and handsome Indra. Now Diti also wished for a son like Indra....

A Cheerful Mind

October 24, 2023

Cheerfulness, peace or bliss , is the most natural condition of any mind. Watch a child, his mind does not project violence ,fear or any negative thought, see how gleefully he gurgles, shouts and screams in play as he runs around with his arms stretched out in sheer joy and...

The Fourfold Division of society

September 12, 2023

All humans are born equal is a sweet sounding fallacy. It’s near impossible to find two human beings who look alike, (twins , may be) or even think alike ,or have similar ideologies, or similar desires and capabilities! Yes we all have one head four limbs and five sense organs....

The Householder Sanyaasi

June 6, 2023

A householder is one who holds the house until the house starts holding him! Sanyaas never allows the giving up of activities; it only allows the giving up of attachment to activities and their fruits. A householder can only feel bound if he feels shackled by the anxiety that his...

Seeking compassion and strength from Lord Hanuman

March 7, 2023

1981 saw me in Siddhabari propelled by an intense desire to visit this spiritual retreat in the lone serenity of the Himalayas. This retreat of the Chinmaya Mission was a small hamlet of a few humble cottages perched on a hillock with a dense pine forest on three sides, and...

The Colours of Love

March 21, 2022

Along with rigorous spiritual disciplines and fasting, Hinduism prescribes feasting and festive gaiety. Holi, this festival of colour, is one such occasion. Falling in the month of the Indian Spring, where all nature bursts forth in an effusion of God painted colours, it lovingly nudges you to spread the colours...

A child and his shadow

May 24, 2021

A little child that had just learned to crawl saw his shadow. The shadow moved and crawled very near him, and the child thought it to be something strange and fascinating. So, just as all children do, he wanted to catch it. To clutch and then put it in our...

THE UNIQUE YUG PURUSH SWAMI CHINMAYANANDA

May 10, 2021

Swami Chinmayananda Ji was not just one of the greatest saints of the 20th century, but a towering spiritual giant, a social reformer, a missionary, a freedom fighter, and a Vedantic teacher of the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Geeta par excellence. He brought about an unprecedented awakening, a renaissance in...

Seeking compassion and strength from Lord Hanuman

May 3, 2021

1981 saw me in Siddhabari propelled by an intense desire to visit this spiritual retreat in the lone serenity of the Himalayas. This retreat of the Chinmaya Mission was a small hamlet of a few humble cottages perched on a hillock with a dense pine forest on three sides, and...