20 Important Spiritual Instructions by my Guru

20 Important Spiritual Instructions

By

Sri Swami Sivananda

These twenty instructions contain the very essence of all Yoga Sadhana, Karma, Bhakti, Jnana and Yoga will all come to one who follows them whole-heartedly. They are the unfailing keys to quick and effective development and culture of the physical, mental, moral and spiritual self of man.

1. BRAHMAMUHURTA

Get up at 4 a.m. daily. This is Brahmamuhurta which is extremely favourable for Sadhana. Do all your morning spiritual Sadhana during this period from 4 a.m. to 6:30 or 7 a.m. Such Sadhana gives quick and maximum progress.

2. ASANA

Sit on Padmasana (lotus pose), Siddhasana (adept’s pose) or Sukhasana (any pose you like) for your Japa and meditation for half an hour, facing east or north. Increase the period gradually to three hours. Practice Sirshasana (headstand) and Sarvangasana (shoulderstand) for maintenance of health and Brahmacharya. Take light physical exercises as walking, etc., regularly. Do twenty rounds of easy, comfortable Pranayama (breathing exercises). Do not strain yourself while doing Pranayama.

3. JAPA

You can repeat any Mantra (sacred syllable), such as pure Om or Om Namo Narayanaya, Sri Ram, Sita Ram, Sri Ram Jaya Ram Jaya Jaya Ram, Om Namah Sivaya, Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya, Om Saravanabhavaya Namah, Hari Om, or Gayatri (a sacred Vedic Mantra), according to your taste or inclination, from 108 times to 21,600 times daily. Devotees of Christ may repeat the name Jesus or Hail Mary, Mother of Jesus. Parsis, Sikhs and Muslims may select a name or Mantra from the Zend Avesta, Granth Sahib or Koran respectively.

4. DIETETIC DISCIPLINE

Take Sattvic food. Give up chillies, tamarind, garlic, onion, sour articles, oil, mustard, asafoetida. Observe moderation in diet (Mitahara). Do not overload the stomach. Give up those things which the mind likes best for a fortnight once or twice in a year. Eat simple simple food. Milk and fruits help concentration. Take food as medicine to keep the life going. Eating for enjoyment is a sin. Give up salt and sugar for a week or a fortnight. You must be able to live on rice, dhal and bread without any pickle. Do not ask for extra salt for dhal, and sugar for tea, coffee and milk. People taking non-vegetaraian diet should try their best to gradually give up flesh-eating as completely as possible. They will be immensely benefited.

5. MEDITATION

Have a separate meditation room under lock and key. If this is not possible then a corner of the room should be set apart with a small cloth screen or curtain drawn across. Keep the room spotlessly clean.

6. SVADHYAYA

Study systematically the Gita, Ramayana, Bhagavatam, Vishnu-Sahasranama, Lalita-Sahasranama, Adityahridaya, Upanishads, Yoga Vasishta, Bible, Imitation of Christ, Zend Avesta, Quran, the Tripitakas, the Granth Sahib and other religious books from half an hour to one hour daily, and have Suddha Vichara (pure thoughts).

7. ELEVATE THE MIND

Get by heart some prayer – Slokas (prayer verses), Stotras (hymns) and repeat them as soon as you sit in the Asana before starting Japa or meditation. This will elevate the mind quickly.

8. BRAHMACHARYA

Preserve the vital force (Veerya (seminal energy)) very, very carefully. Veerya is God in motion or manifestation (Vibhuti). Veerya is all power. Veerya is all money. Veerya is the essence of life, thought and intelligence. This instruction is not for bachelors only. Householders also must follow it as far as possible. They must be extremely moderate in their marital connections with their spouse. This is very important.

9. CHARITY

Do charity regularly, every month, or even daily according to your means. Never fail in this item. If necessary forego some personal wants but keep up this charity regularly.

10. HAVE SATSANG

Give up bad company, smoking, meat and alcoholic liquors entirely. Have constant Satsang (association with holy people). Do not develop any evil habits. Deliberately exert to develop positive virtuous qualities.

11. FAST

Fast on Ekadasi (11th day of the Hindu lunar fortnight) or live on milk and fruits only. Christians must fast on alternate Sundays, Muslims on alternate Fridays, and Parsis on a suitable day every fortnight.

12. JAPA MALA

Have a Japa Mala (rosary) around your neck or in your pocket or underneath your pillow at night. This will remind you of God. Twirl the beads during your leisure. You should repeat the Name at all times, whatever task you may be engaged in.

13. OBSERVE MOUNA

Observe Mouna (vow of silence) for a couple of hours daily. Do not make gestures and inarticulate noises during the period of silence.

14. DISCIPLINE OF SPEECH

Speak the truth at all cost. Speak a little. Speak sweetly. Always utter encouraging words. Never condemn, criticize or discourage. Do not raise your voice and shout at little children or subordinates.

15. BE CONTENT

Reduce your wants. If you have four shirts, reduce the number to three or two. Lead a happy, contented life. Avoid unnecessary worry. Be mentally detached. Have plain living and high thinking. Think of those who do not possess even one-tenth of what you have. Share with others.

16. PRACTICE LOVE

Never hurt anybody. Ahimsa Paramo Dharmah (Non-injury is the highest virtue). Control anger by love, Kshama (forgiveness) and Daya (compassion). Serve the sick and the poor with love and affection. This is service of God.

17. BE SELF RELIANT

Do not depend upon servants. Self-reliance is the highest of all virtues.

18. HAVE SELF-ANALYSIS

Think of the mistakes you have committed during the course of the day, just before retiring to bed (self-analysis). Keep a daily spiritual diary and self-correction register as Benjamin Franklin did. Maintain a daily routine and resolve-form. Do not brood over past mistakes.

19. DO YOUR DUTY

Remember that death is awaiting you at every moment. Never fail to fulfil your duties. Have pure conduct (Sadachara).

20. REMEMBER GOD

Think of God as soon as you wake up and just before you go to sleep, and at all other times whether engaged in any work or not. Repeat His Name always. Surrender yourself completely to God (Saranagati).

This is the essence of all spiritual Sadhana. It will lead you to liberation. All these spiritual canons must be rigidly observed. You must not give any leniency to the mind.

4 Benefits of Speaking Less and Listening More For Tommorow

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.”

Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

• Limit Yourself To Saying What’s Important = If No, No One Comes Closer to You.
• Listen Before Jumping To Conclusions = If No, No one speaks to You.
• Think Before You Speak To = If Not, No One Listens To You.
• Get To Know Others Better = If No, No One Connect To You.

 

Refinancing Home Loan to Save Mortgage Interest and Be Prepared For Recession

Some reason why you should look at housing loan agreement and current interest rate paid to bank.

My flexi loan is locked at BLR-1.3% and  current BLR is – 2.4%.  majority of house buyers before 2008 will tend to gain at-least  25% increase in property value.  What will be the benefit if one decide to refinance ?

• cash out the home equity for other investment or expenditures
• Reduce monthly repayment
• Instant saving on interest cost
• Readjust loan tenure
• Better cash flow
• Consolidation of loan

These are just my thoughts and not to be mistaken as professional advise.Please do your research before making any decision and as usual.

Freedom from debts keeps the mind free from worries, unless the mind is clear of what its doing

53 Ideas for Blog post in 2014

I received 53 Greatest Lessons in 2013 from Robin Sharma few days ago. This looks like a great list to reflect on some useful tips and guide for those who intend to blog.

1. Success has less to do with hard work and more to do with massive focus on your few best opportunities.
2. Why resist change when it’s the main source of your growth?
3. The more you invest in growing and developing your mindset and way of seeing the world, the more everything you touch transforms in a breathtakingly positive way.
4. Pursuing perfection really does matter (in a world highly accepting of mediocrity).
5. Spending full days with zero technology to refuel or do important work is a game-changer.
6. Doing something super-nice for at least one stranger a day gives them a gift and an even larger one to yourself.
7. Adore your parents. You’ll miss them when they’re gone.
8. The smartest thing you can do to grow a great company is to first sweat getting A-players only onto your team and then sweat training and developing them so they play their A-game.
9. Most tv is toxic.
10. Have the discipline to clean out all the energy-draining people in your life. You really do rise or fall to the level of your associations.
11. Doing huge dreams we have never done can be frightening. Yet when we push to the edges of our limits, our limits expand.
12. If you don’t make the time for yourself to get inspired, no one around you will ever be inspired.
13. Your diet affects your moods. Eat like a superstar.
14. Talk less. Do more.
15. Integrity is more valuable than income.
16. Model Mandela and you’ll find at the end of your life you lived an awesome one.
17. Learn to love yourself. It’s the great rule for being loving with other people.
18. When your dominant business focus is to deliver outrageous amounts of value to your customers every time they do business with you, they become fanatical followers who tell the world about what you do.
19. Money invested in personal development and professional growth generally has a 30X plus return on investment (I went to more high-level seminars and programs than ever before and the ROI made them all free).
20. Real leaders have the guts to have the hard conversations.
21. Your environment (your home, your office, the magazines you read etc.) dramatically affects your levels of achievement.
22. The quality of your practice affects the caliber of your performance.
23. Reviewing your Big 5 annual goals every morning and working on your plan every day is an exceptionally powerful way to breed unbeatable focus and drive
24. Measure your success via your influence and impact versus only by your income and net worth.
25. To become successful, first learn how to be happy. Too many think that the route to happiness is to get successful. Untrue.
26. Getting ultra-fit lifts every other area of your life.
27. Self-belief is so incredibly important. Because if you don’t believe you can achieve a vision/goal, then you won’t even start to do the work needed to achieve that vision/goal.
28. Our biggest enemy is our own self-doubt. We really can achieve extraordinary things in our lives. But we sabotage our greatness because of our fear.
29. Drink more water.
30. Watch the documentary “Searching for Sugarman”.
31. Join a mastermind group. It’s just remarkable what being in a room full of people who are smarter than yourself does for your performance.
32. Related to the above, remember what Dennis Kimbro once said: “If you’re the smartest one of your friends, you need new friends.”
33. Dopamine is the elite performers best friend. [I really dug deep into the neurobiology of high-achievement in this past year and discovered that this neurotransmitter is the key to motivation…and it is released when we push our envelopes and do things that are difficult].
34. You rarely go wrong when you trust yourself.
35. Writing learning down works so much better than typing things down on a computer.
36. If you try to do it all yourself you get very little done. The most productive people set the dream and then hand it over swiftly to a project manager to execute with precision.
37. Become one of the rare people who don’t know how to quit (unless it really is time to quit).
38. Smile. It truly makes a difference to the people around you.
39. Just because excellent manners are not so common doesn’t mean that excellent manners are not incredibly important.
40. Always remember that there’s food on your table thanks to the customers you are privileged to serve.
41. It’s so much better to fail trying than to not even get into the game.
42. Music just makes life a whole lot better.
43. You can change the world or you can worry about fitting in but you just can’t do both.
44. Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and beautiful at the end.
45. The real key to getting great things done is stop doing so many good things.
46. Small little details done excellently and consistently stack up into something the world sees as Mastery.
47. Spend time in nature to renew and refuel.
48. Less entertainment, more education.
49. Gratitude is the antidote to misery.
50. We become happier not by accumulating more things but by creating richer experiences.
51. Your self-identity is what really determines your income, influence, impact and lifestyle. Retrain that and your bigness comes out to play.
52. The more you serve, the more joyful you’ll become.

ALL IS WELL = Peace

I am not this body
I am not this mind
I am radiant immortal
Atman

When all seems not well , above quote makes peace with my soul.

If you have any quote that you believe in it, try repeating it daily as affirmation because it does help when it become part of sub-conscious

Welcome 2014 blogging with no focus

Starting fresh in blogging seems easy now. It could be because i don’t intend to have big plan for this page.