Pujya Gurudev’s Daily Dose of Anecdotes
Swami Siddhananda Ji has been collecting, composing and publishing an anecdote a day for several years. Search the full text of every anecdote, not just the titles, by a word, a phrase or an anecdote number. Anecdotes with your exact phrase are listed first, then those with all your words, then those with some of them.
Q&A: Swamiji, who are you? I am you! - 17/20
Many times, people tell me that they have gone through the Gita many times. I tell them, “Let the Gita go through you - at least once! It will do you better.” Not just hearing or reading, but absorbing the great ideas contained in…
Q&A: Swamiji, who are you? I am you! - 16/20
…e is my problem. A: This was exactly Arjuna's problem in the Bhagavad Gita. The Lord advised him: recognize your real enemies; they are desire and anger, born of a passionate nature. Knowing your enemies will enable you to destroy…
Q&A: Swamiji, who are you? I am you! - 13/20
…that the teachers say is but a pleasant and effective lullaby to the agitated mind-intellect of the seeker. The Prophets prescribe for us special “health diets,” indicate what all we should avoid, give us mantras to recite, talk t…
My Gurudev by V. Srinivasan – 3/4
…w the Lord came to the help of Arjun in his confused state of mental agitation...’ (Cont’d)
My Gurudev by V. Srinivasan – 1/4
…ivekachudamani, Shri Rama Geeta etc. Gurudev recommended the Bhagavad Gita to everyone, as the methodology followed by it was more acceptable to the modem scientific mind. The younger generation who wanted everything to be proved …
What is your Question? – 3/7
…ve those values of life described in the 12th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. Q: Is it possible to digest and assimilate all these Vedantic thoughts by reading only? A: According to Vedantic Masters, directly hearing (shravana) from…
Knowing the Knower! – 5/5
…prayachchhati tadahaṁ bhaktyupahṛitam aśhnāmi prayatātmanaḥ (Bhagavad-Gita - 9.26) Whoever offers Me with devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit, water - that I accept, offered by the pure-minded with devotion. So, the Lord says: patr…
Knowing the Knower! – 3/5
…itṛi-vratāḥ bhūtāni yānti bhūtejyā yānti mad-yājino ’pi mām (Bhagavad-Gita, 9.25) Worshippers of the celestial gods take birth amongst the worshippers of bhūtās (the elements) take birth amongst materialistic beings, but My devote…
Knowing the Knower! – 1/5
…bhureva cha na tu mām abhijānanti tattvenātaśh chyavanti te (Bhagavad-Gita - 9/24) I alone am the enjoyer and the Lord of all sacrifices; but they do not know Me in essence (essential nature), hence they fall (return to this morta…
The Worker, The Work, The Field of Work
…s about a hitherto unknown dexterity in action, which in the Bhagavad Gita is described as Yoga. Where can we come across a more beautiful exposition of work? When I have leadership qualities, the best way of life for me would be …
The Visionary And The Missionary – 2/3
…philosopher who can thus give us a universal scripture - the Bhagavad-Gita - should be not only brilliant in his culture but also supremely divine. He was an embodiment of what is best in Hindu tradition and in the Aryan culture. …
Our Generation - the Modern – 2/4
…ern improved world, weeping in their neurotic sorrows, inexpressible agitations, and voiceless fears. To realize this condition of modern man in the modern world is indeed a disheartening reflection, and many are the intelligent m…
The Art of Love – 4/5
…it is glorified as relinquishment (tyāga). Lord Krsna in the Bhagavad-Gita defines tyāga as the ‘giving up of all anxiety to enjoy the fruit-of-actions’. To ‘give’ love is, therefore, to love everyone without expecting any results…
The Art of Love – 2/5
They are separate, but they live together. In fact, in their togetherness alone, there is existence for each. The child cannot live and grow up without the mother, and the mother is not a mother without the child. Each completes t…
The Individual, the World, and God – 3/5
…cient and ineffectual in this world, mainly because of his own inner agitation. A tranquil mind is as potent as God. The more we gain this inward tranquility, the more joyous and effective our lives become. The enemy of this tranq…
How to Retain Godhood – 12/12
…Brahman, refuse to initiate any new selfish activity. In the Bhagavad Gita we are similarly advised: “Having set the mind upon That, thereafter, never initiate any new line of thought”. Similarly, here we are told how when the min…
How to Retain Godhood – 10/12
…forgets his real nature, the imperfections of his intellect make him agitated. Vasanas, desires, passions, jealousies, and greed are the ulcerations of the intellect, which produce nothing but sorrow. The poor man is led to disast…
How to Retain Godhood – 2/12
…sh the brilliant poise of the mind at meditation and make it full of agitations. You feel more distracted when you come out of the prayer room than when you went in. All this is because of the devastating play of the ego. Therefor…
How to Retain Godhood – 1/12
…rt again. And when the ego is reborn, and starts reasserting itself, agitations will immediately rise up. As long as you have the ego, the world of objects-emotions-thoughts can never be satisfactory by itself. A thousand varietie…
Real Freedom – 7/10
…motives and endeavors. Hence Vedanta declares: “uddharedatmanātmānam” Gita, 6.5.1 - lift yourself by yourself. You are yourself the cause of your own upliftment or destruction. This idea must be clearly understood. In any action o…
Real Freedom – 3/10
…ood old days. However, sorrows have also increased because the inner agitations have increased. We have lost our equanimity of mind, and naturally, our intellectual equipoise is also shaken. The Secret of Joy As human beings, all …
A Jnana Margi and A Karma Margi – 2/4
…ease of the commemorative coin of Pujya Gurudev. When he spoke on the Gita, Swamiji was a jnana margi and while running the schools and hospital, he was a karma margi. Through the paths of knowledge and action, he literally tried …
A Legend in His Lifetime – 6/8
…oreigners among them. Swamiji was giving a beautiful discourse on the Gita and there was pin drop silence. Since I entered last, I was sitting in the last row. Every day, Swamiji used to select two people after the day's discourse…
A Legend in His Lifetime – 1/8
…e upper Himalayas for more intense and deeper studies of the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads under Swami Tapovan ji Maharaj, who was a well-known scholar. After completing the studies and tapas, he decided to go to the plains and…
Graded Lessons for One's Spiritual Unfoldment
The Bhagavad Gita is personally and specifically addressed to Arjuna, a confused average man, at a moment when he felt completely confounded by the problem that was facing him. Naturally, the highest methods of subtle meditation, …