Life-Transforming Spiritual Books By Gurudev Swami Sivananda Saraswathi & Swami Chidananda Saraswathi Of The Divine Life Society, Rishikesh, India

ॐ श्री गुरुभ्यो नमः  ॐ श्री शिवानन्दाय नमः 

 

Free e-Books on Yoga, Religion and Philosophy By Gurudev Swami Sivananda Saraswathi & Swami Chidananda Saraswathi

The above link of The Divine Life Society, Rishikesh, will take us to the Online Bookstore of the Holy Sivanandashram in India.

Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, the Great founder of this world renowned institution, has written more than 300 books on a myriad of subjects. A glance at these e-Books will give us a glimpse of the multifarious subjects covered by Swamiji. To read Swamiji's works is to drink at the Fountain of Wisdom Supreme. 

To propagate his message to all, Swami Sivananda wrote 300 books in English on every conceivable aspect of Yoga and Vedanta as well as Indian culture, ethics etc. He began his writing mission using whatever paper he could find to pen down his thoughts-sometimes using the blank side of used envelopes! His first pamphlet was published using a Rs 5 donation given to him for milk. Today in the heart of Sivananda Ashram is the Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy Press with all modern facilities producing thousands of Swami Sivananda's books, sold not only all over India but reaching every continent on the globe. The prices are low and many books are given freely.

Kindly browse through these life-transforming Spiritual Books, and I am very sure the spiritually inclined readers from around the globe, will positively find something that resonates with their innermost being.

Swami Chidanandajee, who was Gurudev Swami Sivananda Saraswathi's immediate successor, was an equally evolved & enlightened Sage.

Gurudev Swami Sivananda Saraswathi Of The Divine Life Society, Rishikesh, India

Swami Chidananda Saraswathi Of The Divine Life Society, Rishikesh, India

The Delightful Khasi Tribes Of Meghalaya, In The North Eastern States of India : Let Our Beautiful Tribes Never Go Extinct

Here are a few beautiful pictures of the Khasi tribes of Meghalaya, in the North Eastern States of India. A brief write-up follows, the following pictures of this beautiful tribe, and their life-style. Please don't miss it.

Posted above, are the exquisitely beautiful pictures, of the rural cottages of the Khasi tribes of Meghalaya, in the North Eastern States of India.

My trip to the densely clouded, beautiful state of Meghalaya, in the early 80's, during my one year tenure with ONGC, Upper Assam Project, was an extremely delightful experience, that is still so fresh & green in my declining mind, even after decades. The time I spent, associating with the highly Westernised local Khasi tribes of  Meghalaya, was an experience even more delightful.

How lovely are these rural cottages of Khasis !!! Would definitely love to spend a cosy holiday in these cottages, sometime in the near or at least in the far off future, when the time is right & the pocket is full. Just one visit, sometime in the remote past, is just not enough, to quench my thirst & appease my hunger, for enjoying the mesmerizing  rural beauty & the most hospitable rustic life of the interiors of this culturally rich vibrant country.

Nature Worship By Ancient Aryans Of India

A brief write-up follows, the following pictures of Mother-Nature. Please don't miss it.

Ancient Aryans in the Vedic Civilisation, were devout worshippers of Mother Nature. Nature worship sounds more sensible, many a times, to many of us in this modern age of science & technology..

God is a transcendental being. But nature is perceptible to our human senses. Aren't we directly being benefitted by nature in infinite number of ways? 

Cow is sacred in Hinduism. Nothing is as nutritious & as easily digestible as cow's milk. We can live on cow's milk alone & enjoy robust health, if nothing else is available. It's a complete food in itself....The Indian Desi cow, without the injection of allopathic hormones, for increasing the yield of milk artificially. Even new born babies can live just on cow's milk, with no side effect.

Thulasi plant of India, is an extraordinary medicinal plant & every Hindu lady makes it a point to have this plant at home for her daily worship. Thulasi is extremely good for cold, cough & several other ailments & a plant at home is very handy during illness.

Peepul tree (Ashwatha) too has got infinite number of medicinal uses, as per the Indian Ayurveda. We should have as many Peepul trees as possible in our environment, by watering them daily in the name of sanctity & Pooja.

Sun is the source of all energies on our planet. Sunlight blesses us with health, vigour & vitality. No wonder we have worshipped Sun God since time immemorial, in this land of Aryans.
Agni is Devatha. Can we ever think of our existence without fire? Never.

Himalaya again is Devatha for us Hindus. Can we think of torrential rain fall in our country year after year without the existence of this sacred mountain? Never.

Isn't Nature Worship then more meaningful to us earthlings than worshipping the thirty three crores Devathas of our Hinduism?🤣🤣

By worshipping nature in its various forms, we are expressing our love & heartfelt gratitude to Mother Nature for her bountiful blessings.

Global Warming : Is it That Difficult To Put An End To Global Warming ??

A brief write-up follows, the following pictures on the pathetic effects of global-warming. Please don't miss it.

One of the many notable causes for Global Warming is the numberless Air Conditioners ( Both Central Heating & Central Cooling Systems ), that the developed nations have been using since 20th century in a massively big way to fight extreme heat & extreme cold in their localities.

The huge quantum of Nuclear Power used by these wealthy nations, too is equally responsible in a very big way, towards Global Warming. They say, such alarming usage by us humans, has caused an enormously BIG HOLE in the Ozone layer of the atmosphere above Australia, permitting the outrageous entry of the extremely harmful Ultra Violet Rays' into Australia and causing deadly skin cancer to the inhabitants of the country. 

The great Scientist , who discovered this hole in the Ozone layer, was awarded Nobel Prize in Physics or perhaps Chemistry, a number of years back. But has this discovery helped us in anyway to improve?

The atmosphere in many of the industrialised Nations in the world, is thoroughly soaked & polluted with carbon dioxide gas from the local industries .......And the trees that are supposed to absorb this unhealthy (???) carbon dioxide gas to produce fresh oxygen once again to refresh the atmosphere, have all been heartlessly chopped off.

How then can we prevent Global Warming???

If all of us take the oath of planting at least one tree in our lifetime & taking care of it till it reaches a certain stage of maturity, we'll have more than one billion trees in our country ( India )....at least one billion, if not more....a number quite enough to drastically bring down the environmental pollution by carbon dioxide. This would prevent global warming in a real big way & help the country have good seasonal rainfall every year with a bumper crop for the starving population. 

JUST ONE PERSON ONE TREE.

Other Industrial Nations on our planet too could take similar oath to enrich the starving atmosphere with life giving Praanavaayu (Oxygen).

Pathetic state of Agricultural & Horticultural Land in our country

A brief write-up follows, the following pictures. Please don't miss it.

Even as early as 23 years back, when my aged parents had just shifted to Bangalore from Chennai, there were lush green forests & happily swaying agricultural farms in the outrskirts of our Desi Sillicon Valley Bangalore. But these days I see nothing other than annoying concrete, cement , brick & jam packed tar roads with non stop traffic in all directions. Many parts of this city is not livable by humans today. We don't have agricultural lands around most cities of India, anymore.

Does that mean we can't create new fertile agricultural lands in the uninhabited remote arid unfertile areas of our country? We have to start thinking seriously about this game-changing idea, if we want to be self sufficient in vegetables, fruits & food grains.Why depend on imports for every minor requirement? We want foreign multinationals to provide us with bottles of drinking water also. Is so much dependency on others, for even the most basic things of life, a commendable quality?? Let's think about it seriously.

While touring across the Nation, I have seen miles & miles of Banjar arid lands & waterless deserts with no end in sight. There are no takers for these unfertile real estates of government.

The amount of kitchen wastes, human & animal wastes, garden & farm wastes that we ignorantly waste in our country in unusually massive scale is pathetic.These precious organic wastes could be very successfully utilised for making our arid lands, real fertile. We just have to seggregate the wastes in a disciplined, organised way everyday, without making a messy mixture of all kinds of domestic wastes.

Even by diverting the routes of water rich rivers like Ganga, Brahmaputra etc, into the waterless deserts of our country, we could make them highly fertile & fit for cultivation.

Ganganagar in Rajasthan that was once a water starving desert, is a lush green, fertile area now. This has been made possible only by diverting the water route from Bhakhra Nangal Dam of Punjab into this unfertile region of Rajasthan.

These are example for us, for trying out the same techniques successfully in other places as well. Even the unfertile soil of Ramanathapuram in Tamilnadu is being made rich and fertile today by the hard work of a few Sardarjees from Punjab.
Rain water harvesting is yet another great way to keep our home gardens & kitchen gardens lush green.

Environmental Conservation Agriculture Horticulture Greenpeace India

Is Our Motherland India, Really Not A Country Worth Inhabiting?? Let's Get Away From The Polluted Metros, And Peep Into The Interiors Of India

A brief write-up follows the following pictures of some of the interior regions of densely populated India. Please don't miss it.

Saw the following post (within quotes), sometime back, on the Facebook Timeline of one of my cousins, settled in the United States, since the last couple of decades :

"Good to be back in USA (country I call home for 28 years ) after 11 weeks break. For all those who complain about USA , just travel outside USA, maintain a job , pay bills for equivalent comforts you have in this great nation, then you will know how blessed you are."

Is this impression about the whole of India correct? There are some people, like me, who will not fully agree with my cousin on this issue.

To enjoy real India, you should never choose Indian Metros for your stay, especially Kolkata, Mumbai & Chennai. These sultry places with unbearable heat, torturous mosquitoes & overwhelming crowd, are just not ideal places for anyone to stay, not even for the helpless local Indians, unless their job so demands.

India is a funny assorted mixture of great varieties of experiences, both good & bad. One should stay in places like the 'North Eastern States', 'Western Ghats', 'Vindhyas of Central India', & 'the great Himalayan region' to have an absolutely different impression about India. You'll at once go into spiritual trance if ever in your life you happen to spend your holidays in these spots ; so green & so beautiful are the sites, with dense rain forests, rivers, majestic mountains, terrific water falls & wild life !!

And the temples in these places?? They are simply Abodes of Peace & Tranquility, surrounded by nothing but intoxicating beauty all around.

Let's try to stop crowding the Metros & move towards the suburbs, now that many of us can work from home, with a computer and high speed net connectivity, from almost any geographical location.

Posted above, at the beginning of this Blog-post, are some views of Indian scenic beauty. Is India that bad a place for residing?? Perhaps not, at least in my humble opinion.

Man is very advanced today, and he's capable of creating even another Milky-Way today, with the Scientific & Technological wonders at his disposal. With all this, am still wondering, can man-made beauty ever give the joy & bliss of Great God's creation?

Chennai-rains / Chennai-floods : Water, water everywhere, not a single drop of water to drink

#Chennairains / #Chennaifloods : Water, water everywhere, not a single drop of water to drink. This was my Facebook postlast year, when the whole of Chennai was flooded last year, and there was not a single drop of water to drink, for the floating population ; though the whole of the city was submerged under water.







#Chennairains / #Chennaifloods : Water, water everywhere, not a single drop of water to drink, no water for bath, no water for housekeeping & no water for personal hygiene.

These are the times when we Indians all over India, should seriously contemplate on #RainWaterHarvesting . This is the time to make us understand the Gr8 value of Rain Water Harvesting.

Throughout history, wars were always fought mostly over Water, & now it's over Petrol.

No point cursing the ruling Government all the time, & creating a scene out of Cauvery issue, if we are reluctant to make use of our bountiful blessings, of God-given natural resources.

I love the attitude of Middle Eastern countries. They say God will never stop showering His choicest blessings on them. Even if the massive reservoir of black gold underneath gets exhausted, they say, they'll supply energy to the whole world utilizing their powerful Solar Energy. Glass is always half full for them, never half empty. What an attitude!!!

#Narendramodi

Here Is The Cow that was once considered very holy & sacred in India, & An Abode of Devi Mahalakshmi ( The Hindu Goddess of Wealth & Abundance )

Sacred Cow of Ancient Hinduism

Kamadhenu : The Divine Cow of Hinduism

Gomutra : Urine of the Sacred Cow

Panchagavya or Panchakavyam 

गौ-मूत्र--एक अद्भुत आयुर्वेदिक उपचार | Desi Cow Gomutra Therapy | Cow urine therapy

Cow protection movement

Why do Hindus regard the cow as sacred?

People who ask if cows are considered sacred should understand that Hindus regard all living creatures as sacred-mammals, fishes, birds and more. The cow symbolically represents all other creatures to the Hindu. The cow is a complete ecology, a gentle creature and a symbol of abundance. Yes, the cow is considered very sacred in Hindu religion and for very good reason. It's good qualities are those that we can emulate.

Traditionally, the bulls work in the agricultural farms, cows provide milk — as a baby, mother provides milk, later it is the cow. The generous cow gives milk and cream, yogurt and cheese, butter and ice cream, ghee, buttermilk etc. That makes one respect and love the cow. This is largely true in India even today!. Even after their natural death their skin provides leather. In modern times, however, the tanneries which use extremely carcigenous chemicals to process leather, have been polluting the scarce drinking water. It is true that most people respect the right of way to cows and in fact to any animal, when they stray in a street. They are viewed as food producers and not as food itself. Actually, the word for cow in Tamil is "pasu". The word for animal in Sanskrit is the same "pasu". In other words, the cow personifies "animals" in general. All animals are sacred in Hinduism.

No wonder milk is known as white poison in today's world. Contrary to this statement, in ancient India, cow's milk was regarded as a wholesome food for children and adults alike. It was a complete food in itself then, whenever nothing else was available to eat.

The way cows are ill treated today for more milk production, is nothing but torture to the poor animal. Whenever cows are forced to produce more milk, by injecting artificial hormones into their bodies, they become more susceptible to udder infections called mastitis. Mastitis is a condition which can increase the amount of cow’s pus cells, which ends up in the milk that we drink these days.

Mastitis is treated with antibiotics, increasing the antibiotics residues which are present in milk supplied to the consumers in India.

I was under the impression, that only under developed and developing countries, are crude and unscientific in farming and dairy production. But I now realise that developed nations are even cruder. Grass eating herbivorous animals like poor cows, are fed with minced beef along with fodder, for exponential growth in milk production in countries like US. I heard this from my brother Raman, who has almost stopped milk consumption these days. He says he lives on just Soya milk these days, as the beef eating cows' milk has a repulsive smell.

Yield & production are the only thing that matters in today's world. Quality is only secondary.

Clinical Trials On Animals : Cruelty Acceptable Or Unacceptable ??

Vedic Aryans have always done animal sacrifices in Yagyas in ancient times. This, the Vedas said, was for the welfare of the world & well-being of people. They believed that if a couple of animals were killed for the welfare of mankind, there was absolutely nothing wrong in that act. They believed that animals killed in Holy Sacrifices attained higher worlds like Heaven, Devaloka, Indraloka etc & were born again, taking births in good families, in good congenial environment, for further evolution. There must be some logic in this belief of the ancient Hindus, though this heinous act in the name of religion, does sound cruel..

Similarly, if a couple of animals are killed for good causes like clinical trials etc for the welfare of the world & for saving the precious lives of human beings, birds & animals, should we really have violent objections?

I am sure, by giving up their mortal bodies for a great cause, the animals would attain higher worlds for their further evolution, thereby putting a quick end to their petty animal life, without unnecessarily prolonging the life in lower species of existense. At least, our Vedic Rishis of India will have nothing against such 
killings, I am sure.

For clinical trials, the mighty Pharma companies of the developed nations, use even human volunteers, of developing & under developed countries.

Killing the innocent animals for satisfying our appetite & pallate is definitely not acceptable on any count. But then, the non vegetarians today say that even this killing is not really wrong. Else the exponential growth of pigs, goats, old cows, buffaloes, ox, cocks & hens would become a total menace to human society, destroying crops, farms etc.

While writing this post, the story that immediately flashes before my Inner Eyes, is the story of 'Vyadha Gita', in the great Hindu Epic Mahabharata.

The great Indian Philosopher Swami Vivekananda, describes the Vyadha Gita in one of his lectures in Karma Yoga and says that it contains one of the "highest flights of the Vedanta".

Who then is right??......A big question mark.

Hindu Theory of Reincarnation & Doctrine of Karma : Why some people suffer, and some rejoice? Is Great God An Unjust Supreme Ruler ? Is He Lacking In Justice?? Is There Utter Lawlessness In The Cosmos?? Is The Almighty Misusing His Powers?? Is The Great God Playing Dice For His Entertainment??

Gurudev Swami Sivananda Sarasvati on Law of Karma 

Gurudev Swami Sivananda Saraswathi of 'The Divine Life Society', Rishikesh

 Says Gurudev,

"If you take an individual life as an isolated event which begins with birth of the physical body and terminates with its death you cannot find any correct explanation or solution for the affairs of life. You will be groping in darkness and despair. Your present life is nothing, when compared with the whole soul-life. It is momentary - a mere fragment. If you want to find the cause or antecedent for anything, you will have to go deep into the affairs of the eternal soul-life. Then alone there will be perfect balance of cause and effect, antecedent and consequence. Life does not end with the disintegration of this physical body alone. There is reincarnation. There had been countless previous lives also. You will have to take into consideration the widest view of the life of the soul. Then you will find a perfect, satisfactory solution for all the intricate and complicated affairs of life.

Every wrong action or crime brings its own punishment in accordance with the law of retribution. The law of causation, the law of action and reaction, the law of compensation and the law of retribution - all operate together. He who hurts another man, hurts himself first.

Remember that God is neither partial nor unjust. Remember that God is not responsible for the wealth of one man or the poverty of another. You suffer on account of your own wicked actions. There is nothing chaotic or capricious in this world. Things do not happen in this universe by accident or chance in a disorderly manner. They happen in regular succession and events follow each other in a regular order. There is a kind of definite connection between what is being done now by you and what will happen in the future. Sow always the seeds which will bring pleasant fruits and which will make you happy herein and hereafter.”


Doctrine of Reincarnation / Rebirth

'Understanding Karma & Theory of Karma' By Gurudev Swami Sivananda Saraswathi

Creations Of The Great Cruel God ( ???)

प्रायश्चित्त (Praayashchit is the penalty you willingly pay for your evil-deeds, to dissolve the sins, and nullify the sufferings thereby )

Karmas and Diseases , By Swami Sivananda 

Doctrine of Reincarnation, by Swami Sivananda

Karma in Hinduism

Creations Of Our All-compassionate ( ???) Great God


Deformed Wild-Animals

Shockingly Deformed Animals  : 

Unfortunate Humans Living Under Utter Poverty

Slum Life Around The Globe

 Sufferings in Some Countries

Famines Around The Globe

Deadly diseases without treatment

Human suffering during Earthquake

 Human sufferings & Helplessness during nuclear wars

Innocent Children suffering due to malnutrition


More Wonders In The Great God's Creation (His Ways Are Mysterious & Unfathomable

Air India plans to set up aviation university

Air India plans to set up aviation university

Saw the above post a couple of weeks back, on my Cousin bro Rajan Krishnan's Facebook timeline. It's a great way to produce graduates with industrial experience, unlike most of our present, fresh Indian graduates, who are not ready for the industry, unless trained.

I knew many officers in my previous organisation ONGC, who were working for their PhD in the R&D Institutes of ONGC, on a topic of interest to ONGC, under a 'Research Guide' from ONGC, but were registered with IITs, IISc & ISM, Dhanbad for their PhD degrees.

This is very good. We need graduates, who are employable, straight out of college, with industrial experience. Graduates with just an academic degree, and no practical industrial experience, are not of much use, without rigorous training in the industries, after their purely academic life in colleges.

In our country India, we hardly come across faculty members in academic institutions, with industrial experience. They hardly have any exposures to the practical problems, faced by the industries.
Their knowledge & experience is mostly purely academic.
 

May be, the scene is slighty better these days, in Institutes like IIT, IIM, IISc etc, where we see the faculty members, every now & then, offering scientific & technical consultancy to the Corporates, for their practical problems, product innovations etc.

In this field, there's a lot we have to learn from the academic institutions of the developed nations like the US, UK, Germany etc, where the faculty members have ample exposures to the industries. A good chunk of their revenue comes from consultancies to the industries, and the multi-million dollar research projects they grab from the industries.

My Recent Holy Visit to Sri Ramana Ashram, also known as Sri Ramanasramam, in the town of Tiruvannamalai in TamilNadu

Sri Ramana Ashram, also known as Sri Ramanasramam, is the holy Ashram which was home to the modern Sage and Advaita Vedanta philosopher Ramana Maharshi from 1922 until his death (Mahasamadhi ) in 1950. 

A sacred Abode of immense peace & tranquility, the Ashram is situated at the foot of the Arunachala hill, at the town of Tiruvannamalai, in Tamil Nadu. This is the holy shrine, where thousands of seekers flocked to be in his presence., in His lifetime. His samadhi shrine continues to attract thousands of devotees from all over the world, even today, decades after His Union with The Supreme Almighty.
 

This is Sage Ramana Maharshi's place of Mahanirvana.
 

Amongst its early western visitors were British writer Paul Brunton in 1931, who is credited with introducing Ramana Maharshi to the West through his books "A Search in Secret India" (1934) and "The Secret Path".

Writer W. Somerset Maugham visited the Ashram in 1938, and later used Ramana Maharshi as the model for the holy man, Shri Ganesha in his novel, The Razor’s Edge (1944). Other visitors included Gurudev Swami Sivananda Saraswathi and Paramahansa Yogananda.
 

Arthur Osborne stayed at the Ashram for twenty years, and edited the Ashram's journal, 'The Mountain Path', besides writing several book on Ramana Maharshi and his teachings. 

Mouni Sadhu spent several months at the Ashram in 1949. David Godman came to the Ashram in 1976, and has since written or edited fourteen books on topics related to Sri Ramana Maharshi. He continues to live near the Ashram.

Niranjananda Swami, younger brother of Ramana Maharshi, who had moved to the Ashram along with his mother in 1916, stayed at the Ashram for the rest of his life, and taking care of its management. His son and grandson have looked after the ashram in turn.