Lakshmi

Shree Dhanaa Karshana Sree Maha Lakshmi Sahita Sri Kuberaya

and she told Swamiji the new spiritual Name of the Center Springen:

Shree Peetha Nilaya

Which means: Home of Lakshmi

Darshan

It was a wonderful cosy evening. Outside a lot of snow,inside a lot of warmness and love!

The youngest Devotee

Swami Vishwananda is right now in South Africa. Here a picture from his youngest Devotee.

Blog with 108 Names

There is a new blog with all the 108 names:

http://108names.blogspot.com/

An explanation of the ritual of Abishekam

During a Satsang Swami Vishwananda asked an Indian devotee to give this explanation:

Abishekam is basically a chance for us to invoke the cosmic energy into a murti, into a statue, into an idol before us. (SV.: we basically manifest). So, when we perform abishekam it´s an opportunity for us to interact and to have physical contact with this cosmic energy. The whole process of abishekam is rooted in the Indian custom of how we welcome a guest into our home. In India there is a Vedic slogan which says: “Adity deity pabha”, which means: “the guest is God”. So when a guest comes, the first thing we do is, we offer him a seat. We say: “Asanam samat payami”, which basically means: “we offer you a seat”. Next, after a guest comes to a house they probably travelled a long time, so we wash their feet. And that is: “Padyam samat payami”, which is: “we wash your feet, refresh the feet after a long journey”. Next we offer them a drink, we wash their mouth because they are probably parched, they are very thirsty after a long journey. These are the preliminary things.

Than we offer them a bath. We change their cloths and we bathe them. Firstly we use water, which is a great purifier, it cleans everything. And we wash the deity before us. Next we offer the five elements, which are milk, yoghurt, ghee, honey, sugar. These five elements are also present within our own bodies. And every time we offer the milk, the honey, the ghee, the sugar and the yoghurt we ask for purification and balance of these elements, both within us and also in the external universe. Thus, the abishekam is a chance for us to purify our own selves, our own bodies and our own spiritual being as well as the external universe. We offer ourselves before the Lord, we offer all our negative qualities and we ask for purification when we bathe the murti.

Once we have offered all these things, the curtain is drawn. This curtain represents the veil of maya. This maya is the illusion, it separates us from our own individual inner selves. The murti that we perform the abishekam with, is also this inner self that we have inside ourselves. So, all offerings we make to this external murti, all these offerings we make to our own inner higher self. The maya is stopping us from identifying who our real self is. Behind the curtain everyone is busy dressing the murtis, making them look nice and putting jewels, crowns on them, making the murti look re-presentable for the darshan. And in the meantime we are singing so our mind is kept focussed on God. Eventually the curtain is opened which means, maya has been dropped. And so you have darshan of the Lord in front of you. This darshan of the Lord is also representative of your own inner darshan of your true identity, your true self.

News from "little Vrindavan" in Portugal

Jai Guru Dev
I share with you some photos of the materialization of amrita (divine nectar) in the murti of Jesus here in Little Vrindavan Ashram of Sri Swami Vishwananda of Portugal.
This materialization began on the night of 7 January and stopped the next day.
I think that it is very important to share love
With much love. Mahesh

Krishna an Arjuna after the battle

After the battle of Kurukshetra, Arjuna and Krishna were walking together in the fields. Krishna raised his hand and said to Arjuna, “Look at these birds in the sky how nice they are!”

“Yes”, answered Arjuna, looking in the sky.

“But there are no birds”, said Krishna.

“No, there are no birds”, answered Arjuna.

“Look how nice these birds are”, said again Krishna. “They are really magnificent.”

“Yes”, said Arjuna. “These birds are really magnificent.”

“Why are you always repeating what I am saying?” asked Krishna, “There are no birds in the sky.”

“Yes, it is true. I don’t see any birds in the sky but I know that you could manifest at every moment, these birds and let them fly in the sky.”

Arjuna had total faith in Krishna and had totally surrendered body, mind and soul to the Divine. He was not trusting his mind or his eyes but he trusted every word from his Divine Sadguru.

Babaji Bhajan a bit Different

Babaji, oh won't you come to me

Won't you help me face the music
Bring it out so we can sing it out
Help me to find it before we lose it
At night when the stars are near
And there's no one to keep you from coming here
And there's no one to shield me before your eyes
Is it mine, is it mine, is it mine to know?

I can see it's not too good to me
To be afloat in the sea of glory
Babaji, oh how you comfort me
By showing me it's a different story
Your light in the dark is real
And I know that you know it is how I feel
When I see the reflections that's in your eyes
Is it mine, is it mine, is it mine to know?

Babaji, have you a song for me
To tell the world of its guardian angel
Bring it out so we can sing it out
Oh must you always remain a stranger?
At night when the stars are near
And I long for delusion to disappear
The I see the reflection that's in your eyes
Is it time, is it time, is it time to know?

(Supertramp)

With understanding and love....

I wanted to share a story with all of you that my mother told me today:

A few days ago, after her visit here at the centre, my mum was inspired to send me a text message with this quote: “Only with mutual understanding and love between all of us will Bhakti Marga be successful”

Today she was visited by a friend. While she was telling her about that sentence she was “inspired” to send me and also talked about our project here, the CD player switched on by itself and starting playing music. Suddenly the room was filled with an atmosphere of love which everyone present could feel. When they were finished talking about that subject, the CD player again switched off by itself (not just “stop”, but “off”).

Thought I should share this story with you…

Paarta

A Nun from Nepal

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

Om Meditation - purification through Divine light

Swami Vishwananda did this Meditation at Pentecost 2007 :

I´d like to do this little meditation with you:

I ask you, please, to sit straight if possible. Firstly take a few deep breaths. Inhale- and exhale. When you exhale, please, drop your shoulders, cause when you inhale your shoulders go up, you put pressure on yourself. When you exhale, exhale, breathe out all the carbon dioxide, breathe out all the air that you have in your stomach. Let your stomach go in, drop your shoulders. Breathe five to six times. (Pause). Now we give a game to the mind to play. Use the mind. Listen to your breath. Listen how you are breathing, how you are inhaling and how you are exhaling. Listen how beautiful it is this sound.

Now use your mind, focussing it on the third eye. Create an OM sign there. Or any sign you like. Each time you inhale you see the light, the OM becomes brighter and brighter. Imagine it, create it. You are children of God, you are part of God. So as he is the creator you all are the Creator also, so you create.

Now let the OM expand and let the light become more bright. There will come a point where you will not even see the OM. It will just be light.

Bring the light from your forehead to your right eye than to your left eye. Say to this light: Purify my eyes and heal them. – Pause –

Now bring the light to your right nostril of your nose, than to the left. Tell to the light: purify my nose and my smell. – Pause –

Bring the light to your right ear, than to the left one. Say to the light: Purify my ears so that I can hear your name always. – Pause-

Bring the light to your head. Say to the light: Purify my mind that I can always think positive about myself and others. – Pause –

Bring the light to your mouth. Say to the light: Purify my mouth that whatever I speak is out of love. That I may control my tongue. – Pause –

Bring the light to your right arm and hand than to the left. Say to the light: Purify my hands that I am always ready to help. – Pause –

Bring the light to your legs and feet, the right one and than the left one. Say to the light: purify my feet that I always walk the right path. – Pause –

Bring the light to your heart. Say to the light. Make that I love unconditionally. – Pause –

Feel the light in your heart, go deeper inside your heart. – Pause –

Stay focussed in your heart, slowly open your eyes. Chant with me. Chant eleven times OM. So you inhale and when you chant OM, let it vibrate in your chest

The Triple Filter Test

In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, “Socrates, do you know what I just heard about your friend?” “Hold on a minute,” Socrates replied. “Before telling me anything I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test.”

“Triple filter?”

“That’s right,” Socrates continued. “Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you’re going to say. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”

“No,” the man said, “actually I just heard about it and…”

“All right,” said Socrates. “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not. Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?”

“No, on the contrary…”

“So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about him, but you’re not certain it’s true. You may still pass the test though, because there’s one filter left: the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tellme about my friend going to be useful to me?”

“No, not really.”

“Well,” concluded Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?” This is why Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.

BEFORE SPREADING RUMORS AND GOSSIP, APPLY SOCRATES’ THREE FILTERS TEST

Interview in Polish TV

This interview with Swami Vishwananda was done in November 2009 and was send in TV in Poland on the 6th December. Here it is:

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!

Happy New Year

Healing a Hip Joint

In the summer of 1999, I sat with Swami Vishwananda in his parents' house in Mauritius. A young boy of nineteen years old travelled from far on his motorbike to visit Swami Vishwananda for the first time. He said that his father had many dreams of Swami Vishwananda, although he had not actually met him. The young boy was curious to know why Vishwananda was communicating with his father in this bizarre manner? Vishwananda conversed at length with the young man while I sat beside them. They swopped tales and laughed wholeheartedly while getting to know each other better. Suddenly Swami Vishwananda playfully hit him on his hip. The young boy was amazed to find out the pain that had troubled him for many years had gone. Swami Vishwananda said jokingly: "Tell your father that your pain on your hip is gone and you came here for this reason only."

Darshan

DARSHAN

Transcription of Pre-Darshan Speech

by Sri Swami Vishwananda

Rise above your limitations

December 26, 2009

Sri Swami Vishwananda: Jai Gurudev! (audience: Jai Gurudev!)

Firstly, Merry Christmas to all of you. To all who were not here, hope you have had a wonderful Christmas time and that you were filled with a lot of joy and happiness. Like I was saying a few days ago- it is a time of change. It is a time that we have to change ourselves. A time that we have to start taking responsibility. As long as we don´t take responsibility we weaken ourselves. Often we will see that we let ourselves be dominated by our mind. And you will say: “But, Swamiji, we try our best, but we don´t succeed. Why? We know very well, why we are here. We know very well what we are searching for. And it’s all inside of ourselves. But yet- why is this mind always troubling us? Why is it so difficult to let it go. Why? It is simple. The answer to that is: We like our limitation. Just that. We like to limit ourselves and we like to dance on this limitation. That´s how, when we analyze ourselves, we see our own limitation. But yet, deep inside ourselves there is another voice that says: “Hey you have to wake up. There is something greater than that.” But yet, the limitation of the mind shows that…“that’s it”. We are in our own game and we don´t want to jump out. It is, like we are caging ourselves like an animal and we run from one side to the other. Then we are back again to the same place. Like that we let our mind darken our true Self. But from time to time, through the grace of God, through the grace of Divine Mother, there are some rays of light and the gate is opened and you go out. But then, out of fear, you run in again. Where does that lead you to? Krishna has said to Arjun: “Dear Arjun, be free. Be like a Yogi. Raise your weapon and fight.” When he said that to Arjun, he did not say that to Arjun only. He said that to all of us. We are all Yogis but we have to be free. What is a Yogi? It is somebody who is – free! But yet when we see our limitation we see that we are not free. Whenever a fear arises, whenever a thought of: ”Oh, I should have done this, I have not done that”, you know, we run around always in circles. We don´t free ourselves. Because we are scared. We are scared to look at that limitation. What if this limitation is everything? No, What you have to do is to face it. You know very well that this limitation is not you. It is not that for which purpose you are here for. Face it. Look deep into the eyes of this limitation and let go of it. As long as you don´t look deep into the eyes and face it by yourself you will always be into this game. Unless you like it! I don´t know, you have the free will of choice about that. Like a great Sufi said: You have the choice of life to take this way or that way. It is your choice. You are free in that choice. But you will come to a point where the yogi which is inside of you, the greatness which is inside of you, will have to take the choice also. Your true self will have to take the choice. And this true choice of which is inside of you will overtake the limitation of what you think it is. So, cross over this limitation, face it, don´t have fear. Start firstly with little things. You know yourself. You know that God will always provide for you. If an animal knows that - we are bound by more qualities than an animal. So we can realize who we are. We are all one family, that what we call humanity. Everybody talks about humanity but very few really behave human (laughter). So, if we call ourselves we are part of this society, we are part of humanity, we have not to behave like an animal. Even animals behave better in society. Because they know who they are and they know where they are leading to. They trust in the higher consciousness that God will always provide. But poor us human being, us who have more than just an animal, we like to degrade ourselves. We like to make ourselves worse. It is time to cross over this limitation. It is time that you really let, what you have inside of you, awake. How many among you, out of fear what people think, you are not doing something? (some raise their hand) Many. But than you are limiting yourselves. Be free. That is what your inside is calling you. To be free, to learn and to move on. So, life is the most beautiful thing that God has given you. Don´t waste it, you know. Cause at the end, when life is departing this body and you look back you say: “Oh my God, I have missed so many choices, so much chances God has sent to me, but yet, my mind has been ruled by so many matrikas. I blinded myself.” Why do I say, I blind myself? Because the choice to be blind or to see is up to you. How to do that? You do your sadhana every day, no? Do you, or not? How many among you do your sadhana regularly, I mean every day? (many raise their hand) Good. You see the spiritual sadhana helps you to free the mind, helps you not to get entangled into this limitation. Once a student went to his Guru and said: “Master, I am troubled.” The master stood right in front of him and came very near to his face, like this microphone, and said: “Why do you hang on the illusion? You know, whatever is in this mind is an illusion, why do you hang on that. You know very well that deep inside of you only God resides. Why you don´t find joy inside of this?” Then the master said: “My dear child, recite for 24 hours nonstop your Guru mantra and meditate intensely for 4 hours and you will conquer the mind.” Of course the grace of the Guru was there. But the same thing- the grace of God is with you. Chant the name of God if you can 24 hours. And you will say: “What if I sleep?” How can we chant when we are sleeping? But that is the secret of mantra japa, you know. The more you train yourself of chanting throughout the day the name of God, the more you train yourself in reciting continuously, in every action to remember the Divine, the more it will become automatic, even when you sleep it will carry on chanting and will carry on singing the Divine names. And practice your spiritual practice, because your spiritual practice is like a shield, like an armor, that has been given to you to protect you. And when you are protected you don´t need to fear anything. But if you have been given an armor you put it in a wardrobe and here you have many enemies attacking you, how will you protect yourself? Tell me, would you be protected? No. So why putting the armor inside a wardrobe! Wear it and be disciplined about it, self-disciplined. Jai Gurudev! (audience: Jai Gurudev)And, happy New Year also! Hopefully next year we have many great yogis amongst you all. Well, it´s good to hope something, you know. We have to keep hoping! (laughter)

(starting to sing the bhajan “Bole Ki Jay Jay, Shivaji Ki Jay Jay”

Merry Christmas!

Christ is born:

Satsang

Last night Swami Vishwananda gave a spontaneous Satsang. The Tempel was immiatly packed full and there were a lot of interesting questions: about Jesus, about Mary the loving Mother and about all mothers of the world. -About to do your duty and karma... There was the question from Swamiji: "...do you really want to change?.."- and the following silence in the room.... and the loving smile from Swamiji! After the Satsang there was the possibility for some to have a private talk with Swamiji. (see picture)