Today is Hanuman Jayanti!

Sri Swami Vishwananda said in his speech on Hanuman Jayanti 2010:

"Mahavishnu decided to incarnate as Rama and after that, He incarnated alone. So all the Deities, all the Devas incarnated.

At the same time He was asking Shiva: 'You are the Lord of the Universe, you are realised. You are one with God all the time, but tell me one thing:

On whom are you meditating, like that? You always sit in meditation, but for sure you are meditating on somebody.'

Shiva replied: 'Yes, all my thinking and all my mind, all my concentration, my meditation is only on God, Mahavishnu. So whenever I meditate it’s on Mahavishnu, that I’m meditating and my Love for Him doesn’t have any limit. So now that He is going to be incarnated on earth as Rama, I’m thinking also to be incarnated.'

So Hanuman is a manifestation of Shiva. He is a pure incarnation of Shiva actually. He is not just part of Shiva, but a full manifestation of Shiva.

Even if Shiva has space in Shiva Loka, in His body, He is a full manifestation of Hanuman. That’s why it’s said that if you can not pray to any Gods, pray only to Hanuman - you will have everything. And when you chant the Hanuman Chalisa, this part of the Hanuman Chalisa that says: 'I don’t pray to anybody, but only to you.' 

'Aura Devata Chitta na dharayi,

Hanumata se yi sarva sukha karayi'.

It means: even if you don’t pray to any Deity, but only to Hanuman, you will receive the blessing of all the Deities."

The Power of the Rama Mantra

Today is Ram Navami 

(Rama's Birthday)

At 10:00 am we celebrate Rama's Birthday with an Abishekam ceremony in our temple at Shree Peetha Nilaya.

Swami Vishwananda said about the Mantra "RAMA":

"Why is this two syllabled mantra so potent? Because it represents the perfect merger of Shiva and Narayana. How so?

The syllable RA was picked from the great eight syllabled Narayana Mantra, Om Namo Naa RA yanaaya and the syllable MA was picked from the great five syllabled Shiva mantra, Na MA shivaaya. Thus RAMA mantra combines the power of the Om Nama Shivaya mantra and the Om Namo Narayanaya maha mantra.

Thus the Rama mantra represents the perfect merger of Shiva and Narayana. Hence the pre-eminent position of the Rama mantra amongst mantras."

Evening Prayer with Swami Vishwananda

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Durga Prayer

.. Every Tuesday night the evening prayer here at Shree Peetha Nilaya is done for Durga Maa. One of Durga's "specialities" is to kill the Ego :).

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Last night Swami Vishwananda was with us and with him there is a particularly wonderful atmosphere. His presence makes such a difference!

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He sung some bhajans for the Divine Mother and ended the prayer with the Durga Chalisa and the Durga Aarti.

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Evening prayer with Swami Vishwananda

Last Night after the Interviews, Swami Vishwananda sung some nice Bhajans during the evening prayer.

To listen to his voice, to let his voice deep inside of you has a special effect on your different systems.

The whole time his 4 month old niece was sitting on his lap feeling absolutly safe and relaxed.

Shirdi Sai Maha Samadhi

Today is Shirdi Sai Baba's Samadhi (1918).

We celebrate this day from about 1 pm on with a Maha-Abishekam and a Yagna.

The following pictures with Swami Vishwananda are from the celebration in 2009:

St. Martin

Last week in the Chapel during a prayer to St. Martin.

To my beloved Guruji

One morning, while doing my daily sadana, I was intensely aware of Swami’s presence. His love pervaded me in such a way that a poem spontaneously arose from this love.

Milk and honey I offer you;

Let me humbly anoint your holy feet.

Your love you bestow on me;

It’s more than a thousand greetings.

Messenger of God are you.

The light of the Lord you send to me.

Thus I can walk my path.

Your light is shining, and I can see;

Into the valley,

And to lofty heights

You are guiding me.

Thank you, o Lord, over and over again.

When I reach the end one day,

I will see your light like one thousand suns.

In the light you stand waiting for me,

And I recognize the, You, that is me.

Your light shines and shines so far,

Far out into all eternity.

Jai Gurudev

Rolf – Germany

Namaha

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means:
                          "I bow down"

to your Lotusfeet

"...In life one needs the blessing of a Guru!  ...the master carries the amrit, the nectar, even when you don't perceive it with the mind, but you do receive it!...
 Enjoy the nectar, enjoy the sweetness…"

Swami Vishwananda

Bow Down

This is how God becomes dust.
Touch your forehead to the earth,
bow down to the light in your body.
When the light within lifts up your head, crying
"Do not worship me, for I am you,"
bow down, bow down.
All around you, dripping with quietness,
flowers are doing this to rain.
The golden moth that lives one day
is doing this to flame.
The moon does it to the sun.
One breath does it to another.
Receive yourself.
Bow down and drink.
Be the mother of your heart:
this is how dust becomes God.


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Touching your Guru's Feet

Gururbrahma gururvishnu

gururdevo maheshwarah

Gurusakshat parabrahma

tasmai Shree guruve namah

“The Guru is Brahma, the Guru is Vishnu, the Guru is the Great Lord Shiva. To be near the Guru is to be near the ultimate Oneness – I adore you, O venerable Guru!”

There is a lot of power in this simple gesture:

In the West, there is often a lack of understanding about the tradition of touching the Guru’s feet.

In India one touches the feet of one’s parents, for instance, to show respect. Showing reverence for the Guru is not meant to create or increase superiority of the Guru, but rather, to create and increase humility in the devotee. Therefore, when we touch the guru’s feet, we are saying, “I am humble and I am your servant, because I am confident in myself and you, and trust in my ability to follow your guidance and excel in it.”

When we touch the Guru’s feet, we are following tradition, and paying respect in the same way that billions have done so for thousands of years.

There is power in this simple ceremony, and it is in essence a form of worship, a recognition of the Divine nature of the Guru. The reason we say that the Guru is God, is because the Guru shows the pathway to God.

The Guru becomes more important than God for the spiritual adventurer, because while God can be felt and sensed and worshipped, the Guru is there in flesh and blood, with a voice and ears and eyes, and the experience and accomplishment to be able to guide you in the best possible way. Guru's feet are a tremendously potent channel of Spiritual Transmission.

The effective Guru doesn’t give you all the answers, but helps you stand and walk the path on your own. The effective Guru can help us tell the difference between fact and fiction, between our imagination and an experience of divine grace. The loving Guru helps to puncture our egos, which keep us separated from knowledge of the true Self, and does so with love and compassion, never in a way that shames, belittles, or damages us.

The Guru carries us from ignorance to insight, but they do so as part of a vast, moving, living stream of wisdom. Touching the Guru’s feet, then, is an act of respect and reverence, but also of learning. We facilitate our own spiritual progress when we learn to be humble. Humility puts us in a place of learning. By touching their feet, we demonstrate not only that we are ready to listen to them, but also that we are ready to transform and strengthen ourselves.

Healing Prayer for the Gulf

Om Healing:

Our next Full Moon OM Healing will be on 26th of June from 8.00 to 9.30 p.m. We would like to dadicate it to the Oil Slick in the Gulf of Mexico. Let us together send the healing vibration of OM to that area of the world!

Dr. Masaru Emoto's Healing - Prayer for the Gulf

"I send the energy of love and gratitude to the water and all the living creatures in the Gulf of Mexico and its surroundings. To the whales, dolphins, pelicans, fish, shellfish, planktons, corals, algae, and all living creatures . . .

I am sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you."

Morningprayer

Every morning, 7am we sit together in the Tempel doing the Morningprayer.

Sometimes it is a bit difficult to sing and clab with the hands in the early morning- but after the prayer you feel really awake and energised.

Today, when the curtain opened, I found that Krishna looked in a special way extra nice!

Blog with 108 Names

There is a new blog with all the 108 names:

http://108names.blogspot.com/

A Nun from Nepal

Ani Choying Drolma, a Buddhist nun from Nepal, chants the Ganesh Mantra:

Puja in South Africa

Here some nice pictures from New Year Night in South Africa. Swami Vishwananda did a Narashimha Puja.

Footprints in the sand

 One night I dreamed

I was walking along the beach with the Lord.

Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.

In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.

Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,

other times there were one set of footprints.

This bothered me because I noticed

that during the low periods of my life,

when I was suffering from

anguish, sorrow or defeat,

I could see only one set of footprints.

So I said to the Lord,

"You promised me Lord,

that if I followed you,

you would walk with me always.

But I have noticed that

during the most trying periods of my life

 there have only been one set of footprints in the sand.

Why, when I needed you most,

you have not been there for me?"

The Lord replied:

"The times when you have seen only one set of footprints in the sand,

is when I carried you."

(Poem written 1936 by Mary Stevenson)

We wish you a happy new year!

Hanuman Chalisa

Sung by Krishna Das, who is great Devotee of Hanuman with translation

Prayer to Shiva

Shiva Sadakshara Stotram by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar



Omkaram, Bindu Samyuktham,
Nithyam, dyayanthi yogina,
Kamadam, mokshadam chaiva,
Omkaraya Namo nama. (3)

Translation:
Salutations and salutations to letter “om”,
Which is meditated as a letter Om with a dot,
Daily by great sages,
And leads them to fulfillment of desires,
And attainment of salvation.