AtmaJyoti.org is a service of Atma Jyoti Ashram, which is located in Cedar Crest, New Mexico, USA, and is dedicated to living the traditional Hindu monastic life.
In earlier times (not really so long ago) devout Hindus used to walk the “pilgrim’s trail” which went in a great circle around the entire Indian subcontinent and connected a series of nearly seventy centers of great spiritual power. There was a man who spent some years on this ambitious pilgrimage, and everywhere he went he would buy an image of the presiding deity of that particular holy place. Finally, toward the end of his pilgrimage, he was staggering along carrying a large wooden box filled with dozens of holy images. Whenever he would stop for the night, he would spread them out, do worship to each in turn, and after several hours go asleep. When he awoke in the morning he would again perform worship of all for some hours, then wrap the images up, put them in the box, and labor onwards.
One day a wandering monk observed all this and said to him: “Why do you bother to worship all these deities? Why don’t you just worship the most powerful god, and then you will get the benefits you would have from worshipping such a multitude.” Then he quickly walked on. The man began to ponder how he could determine which was the most powerful deity. Not being very bright, he hit upon an interesting decision: he would take an image in either hand and crash them together as hard as he could. The image that did not break would be the most powerful deity. So he spent the next couple of hours smashing his images against one another. Since most of them were made of clay or brittle stone, and only one of them was made of metal, in time he was left with that alone. Happy that he had at last found which was the most powerful deity, he tucked it in his bundle of clothing and bedding, gave the wooden box a kick, and went on his way.
After reaching home, he expressed to his parents the desire to have his own household, so they arranged a marriage for him and in time he and his wife lived in their own house. Near the house he constructed a separate small hut in which he installed the deity and worshipped it daily, often boasting to his neighbors about his success in finding the most powerful of the gods. Understanding that meditation is important, he also began to meditate before the image after having first performed worship and–as is the custom in India–giving offerings of food to the deity.
Once as he was meditating, he heard sounds from the altar, and opened his eyes to see that the cat had knocked over the image and was eating the food. Rather than being enraged, he was delighted. Obviously the cat was a more powerful god than the one he had been bothering with! So he began to worship the cat and every day he put out food on the altar, the cat would eat it, and he would sit and meditate, visualizing in his heart the form of the cat.
After some time of this worship, he happened to see his wife shooing the cat away from the house. She whacked it with her broom and kicked it with her foot. The cat ran away, but the man ran and bowed before his wife. “You are greater than all the gods,” he told her, “even more powerful than the cat god.” So from then on he worshipped his wife. He would have her sit on the altar, and he would meditate on her.
It did not take long for her to get tired of this foolishness, so one day she refused to come and be worshipped. This made him so angry that he picked up a stick and threatened to beat her if she did not cooperate. Off she ran to the hut-temple.
As he put down the stick, he came to the realization that he must be more powerful than his wife, and therefore the greater god. He went and shooed her out of the hut, sat himself on the altar, and began to meditate upon himself. And, it is said, he attained enlightenment, for the true light is of course within.
In our trips to India in the past years, we have taken hours of video footage to remind us of our heavenly sojourns there. As time has allowed, we have edited the footage of our various adventures. We have now added some of these videos to our main web site, for the enjoyment of those who love the spiritual face of India. View links to the videos below on our India Videos page. Due to the size of some of the videos, and the speed of your web connection, the pages may take some time to load, but the wait is well worth it.
From Belur Math to Dakshineshwar
On the banks of the Ganges River north of Kolkata are two of the most remarkable religious sites in all of India. On one side is the Dakshineshwar Kali Temple, where Sri Ramakrishna practiced intense spiritual disciplines while serving as the priest of the Goddess Kali. The temple compound has become a place of pilgrimage for devotees of Mother Kali and Sri Ramakrishna alike, including monks from Atma Jyoti Ashram who filmed this video.
Down river, on the other side of the Ganga, is Belur Math, the monastery founded by Swami Vivekananda, the world-renowned disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, which has become the world headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission.
Ganga Arati
Every night in Hardwar, in the foothills of the Himalayas, at about 6:00 p.m. there is worship (arati) of the Ganga at the Brahma Kund. In February of 2003, pilgrim-monks from the Atma Jyoti Ashram participated in the Ganges worship, which they also videotaped, as well as the shrines and religious goods shops located around the Brahma Kund.
Glimpses of India
A compilation of four short spiritual events filmed by our pilgrim monks during their trip to India in 2005:
The Morning Havan by the students at the Vedic Gurukula at Om Shanti Dhama in Karnataka.
Rare footage of the spiritual figure known as “Ajja” in Puttur, southern Karnataka.
The evening Nagar kirtan of Ram Nam at Anandashram, made famous by Papa Ramdas, near Kanhangad, Kerala.
Devotional Bhajans and dancing by village devotees at the Samadhi Shrine of Jnaneshwar in Alandi, Maharashtra.
Temple Elephants in India
A two minute video filmed in various temples throughout India, showing temple elephants blessing devotees, and being fed by their mahuts. Elephants in this video include Rukmini from the Arunachaleshwar Temple in Tiruvannamalai, Andar from the Sri Rangam Temple in Trichy, and the temple elephant from the famous Krishna temple in Udupi.
India Smiles
When people anywhere see a camera, it seems to bring out the budding actor in them. In our trips to India, we have frequently brought smiles to people’s faces by showing them their images in both still and video cameras. This film is a short collage of footage of both young and old enjoying their moment of fame on film.
Visit our India Videos page to see these videos in your choice of sizes, depending on the speed of your web connection.
Q: Are you aware of the current scene in N.? Do you think that true spirituality still exists in N. and other holy places in India, or is it being replaced by a market-place spirituality? Can such holy men as Sivananda still be found there? I would appreciate your honest opinion.
The French have a most insightful proverb: “The more things change the more they stay the same,” the idea being that changes in externals only point out the fact that human nature stays just what it always was. Only the childish and foolish think that they are different from preceding generations.
India is just what it always was. As in any other country and era of history, there have been saints, sages, scoundrels, fools, and hypocrites. It is all a matter of magnetism: we encounter those that are on our own wavelength. I knew some people that went to India to find a guru and ended up making connections with drug dealers, instead.
Throughout my first trip to India I was always in walking distance of at least one great saint, but at the very same time other Westerners were searching and searching–even for years–and met not one worthy spiritual teacher. Others met the saints and thought they were bores and fools, so the result was the same.
It is all a matter of karma, of mental vibration, whether or not we meet holy people and whether or not we benefit from the meeting. This I can tell you: the saints do not waste their time on non-yogis or those that do not have the potential to be yogis.
The key to India is within
The key to whether you will meet great souls in India is in you alone. If you meditate–really meditate–and are leading a purified life, observing the moral precepts of yama and niyama (and not just for a few weeks), then you will find the saints and the saints will find you. And be careful who you have as a traveling companion. They can spoil everything.
Market-place teachers have always existed in India for market-place seekers. Unfit disciples get unfit gurus. The unclean and impure easily meet unclean and impure “gurus” who will eagerly help them ruin their mind and life. Water does find its own level.
Right in N. there is one of India’s spiritual gems, living in total obscurity and even secrecy. A true jnani, this holy one does not play the guru game, dresses like any rural Indian–no gerua, big beads, or big tilak–does the housework, cooks and cleans, and only lets a few people come at designated times for satsang. Westerners who have pushed in and demanded teaching have been sent right back out the door. Others have been welcomed and conversed with freely and openly. But they had to be prepared for some straightforward and pungent truths! They left uplifted and inspired to work on themselves–not “take refuge in Sri Guru” or any such nonsense. Please do not ask me the saint’s name or location–it would do no good if the saint did not want the meeting. And if the saint wants the meeting it cannot be avoided.
Work on yourself. As Buddha said: You are your only refuge; all else is external and therefore ultimately delusional.
An article written by Paramhansa Yogananda in 1929
India is the epitome of the world in everything–a land of all kinds of climates, religions, commerce, arts, peoples, sceneries, stages of civilizations, languages.
Her civilization dates back many thousands of years. Her great seers, prophets and rulers left records behind them that prove the great antiquity of the Aryan civilization in India.
Many European travelers visit India, see a few of the street magicians, sword-swallowers or snake-charmers, and they think that is the highest India has to offer them. They do not realize that these men do not represent India. The real life and secret of India’s vitality is her spiritual culture, which has made her the motherland of religions since time immemorial. Although the West can teach India much about sanitation, business methods and development of resources–although India needs business missionaries like Henry Ford and Thomas Edison, yet the Western lands, too, are thirsty, consciously or unconsciously, for the practical spiritual lessons that India has specialized in for centuries.
In the Western cities, science has progressed so far that the physical man is usually well taken care of, fed and clothed and sheltered. Yet physical and material comfort without mental and spiritual peace and solace is not enough. India has been the unproclaimed reformer, the grand inspirer of human minds and souls. She has been the spiritual model of all religions. Her greatest and richest legacy to mankind has been the techniques discovered and handed down for centuries by her saints and seers for the scientific spiritual culture of man.
India is a land of mystery, but of mystery that reveals itself to the sympathetic inquirer and seeker. India has the grandest and highest mountains–the Himalayas–in the world. Darjeeling, in the north of India, is the Switzerland of that country. The unique ruins of ancient castles and vast palaces of princes in Delhi; the vast Ganges made sacred by the centuries of meditation near its banks by many God-realized saints; the sun-gilded teeth of the Himalaya mountain-ridges; the ancient places and caves of meditation where Yogis and Swamis saw the faggots of ignorance blaze with the wisdom of God; the Taj Mahal at Agra, the finest dream of architecture ever materialized in marble to symbolize the ideal of human love; the dark forests and jungles where the distant tigers roam, the blueness of the Indian skies and the bright sunshine, the innumerable varieties of Oriental fruits and vegetables; the many various types of people–all these tend to make India different, fascinating, romantic, never-to-be-forgotten.
A Land of Great Contrasts
India is a land of great contrasts–untold riches and utmost poverty, the highest mental purity and coarse, plain living, Rolls Royces and bullock carts, gaily-caparisoned elephants and quaint horse-wagons.
In the north, we find blue-eyed and blonde-haired Hindus, and in the hotter south, we find the dark sun-kissed skins of the tropics. From start to finish, India is a land of surprises, of contrasts and extremes. Life becomes prosaic with too much business, too many dull certainties; so in India one feels that life is a great adventure, a thing of mystery and surprise.
India may not have material skyscrapers and all the sometimes spiritually-enervating comforts of modern life–she has her faults, as all nations have–but India shelters many unassuming, Christ-like spiritual “skyscrapers” who could teach the Western brothers and sisters how to get the fullest spiritual joy out of any condition of life. Those scientific mystics and seers, who have known Truth by their own effort and experience, and not through ordinary, personally-unverified beliefs, can show others how to develop their own intuition and open the fountain of peace and satisfaction from beneath the soil of mysteries.
Though I have had the advantage of some Western education, yet I feel that in India alone I found the true solution to the mysteries of life. This feeling inspired the following poem to India, which I wrote recently:
My Mother India
Not where the musk of happiness blows,
Not in the land
Where darkness and fears never tread,
Not in the homes of perpetual smiles,
Not in the heaven or Land of Prosperity
Would I be born
If I have to put on a mortal garb again.
A thousand famines may prowl
And tear my flesh,
Yet would I love to be again
In my Hindustan.
A million thieves of disease
May try to steal the fleeting health of flesh,
Or the clouds of Fate
May shower scalding drops of searing sorrow,
Yet would I there
In India love to re-appear.
Is this, my love, a blind sentiment
Which beholds not the pathways of reason?
Ah no! I love India,
For I learned first to love God and all
beautiful things there.
Some teach to seize the fickle dew-drop–Life–
Sliding down the lotus leaf of Time.
Some build stubborn hopes
Around the gilded brittle body-bubble.
But India taught me to love
The soul of deathless beauty
In the dew-drop or the bubble,
Not their fragile frame.
Her sages taught me to find my Self
Buried beneath the ash heaps
Of incarnations and ignorance.
Through many a land
Of power, plenty and science,
My soul, garbed as an oriental
Or an occidental, traveled far and wide
Seeking Itself–
At last in India to find Itself.
If mortal fires blaze all her homes
And golden paddy fields
Yet to sleep on her ashes and dream immortality,
O, India, I will be there!
The guns of science and matter
Have boomed on her shores,
Yet she is unconquered,
Her soul is free evermore.
Her soldier saints are away
To rout with Realization’s ray
The bandits of Hate, Prejudice,
Patriotic Selfishness,
And burn the walls of Separation dark
Which lie ’tween children of the One,
One Father.
The Western brothers by matter’s might
Have conquered my land;
Blow, blow aloud her conch-shells all!
India now invades with love
to conquer their souls.
Better than Heaven or Arcadia.
I love Thee, O my Mother India,
And thy love I shall give
To every brother nation that lives.
God made the earth,
And man made his confining countries,
And their fancy-frozen boundaries.
But with the new found love I behold
The borderland of my India
Expand into the world.
Hail, mother of religions, lotus,
Scenic beauty and Sages,
Thy wide doors are open
Welcoming God’s true songs
Through all the ages.
Where Ganges, woods,
Himalayan caves and men dream God,
I am hallowed; my body touched that sod.*
Visions of India’s Life-Giving Philosophy
From time immemorial, India’s greatest minds have specialized in discovering and understanding the philosophy and mystery of life. One of the oft-disputed questions in philosophy is whether the goal of human life is service or selfishness. Once I had a great controversy with a European who repeatedly and blindly affirmed that the goal of life was service, while I maintained that it was higher selfishness. I asked him again and again for his reasons in believing in “service”, but instead of satisfying my discrimination, he kept on reiterating, “Service is the goal of life. It is blasphemous to doubt that.” Finding him so dogmatic, I asked him, “Is service the goal of life because the Scriptures have declared it?” “Yes,” he vehemently replied. “Do you believe everything literally in Scripture?” I questioned him. “Do you think Jonah was swallowed by a whale and came out alive after a few days? How do you account for it?” “No. I do not understand how he could do that,” my friend said. That was just the point. In order to really know the truth contained in Scriptural stories, and in order to understand what is erroneous, or right, literal or metaphorical, in Scriptural writings, one must use his own reason, discrimination and power of intuitional verification developed thru meditation.
Scriptures Not Always Infallible
Many people think that what is printed in black and white is right. Above all, most people believe that anything wearing the robe of Scriptural authority is absolutely beyond question. But putting on an outward garb cannot make one infallible. Writers of Scriptures can also make mistakes. In order to know the truth of a doctrine, we must live it and find out if it works or not–give it the acid test of experience. Let us get out into the world and compare our religious beliefs with the religious experiences of true teachers. Let us be iconoclastic of our own errors that need to be destroyed within us. We must not harbor an undigested mass of theology and thus suffer from chronic theological indigestion.
Service a Form of Selfishness
The law of service to others is secondary to, and born out of the law of self-interest and self-preservation and selfishness. Man never in his sane mind does anything without a reason. All religious doctrines and instructions are based either on blind superstition or on real religious experience. The real reason behind the Scriptural injunctions to “Serve thy fellow-men”, and “Love thy neighbor as thyself” is that the law of service to others is to be obeyed by all devotees who would, thru others, expand the limits of their own self.
No action is performed without reference to a direct or indirect thought of selfishness. Giving service is indispensable to receiving service. To serve others by financial, mental, or moral help is to find self-satisfaction. Besides, if any one knew beyond doubt that by service to others, his own soul would be lost, would he serve? If Jesus knew that by sacrificing his life on the altar of ignorance, He would displease God or lose His favor, would He have acted as he did? No, He knew that though he had to lose the body, He was gaining His Father’s favor and His own Soul. Such immortal sons of God and all the martyrs and saints, make a good investment–they spend the little mortal body to gain immortal life.
There is nothing worth-while gained without paying a price. Thus even the most self-sacrificing act of service to others can be shown to be done not without any thought of self. It is logical, therefore, to say that the higher selfishness, or the good of the Higher Self, is the motive of life instead of service to others without thought of self.
Must be Given Because Received
In giving service to others, a man knows also that otherwise he cannot rightly receive service from them. If the farmers give up agricultural work, and the business men give up their business of transportation and distribution, then how could even the renunciate maintain himself? Nowadays, with increased population and wealth, even forests are divided off and owned by big landowners, who placard the trees with signs warning the trespasser that he will be prosecuted for coming into another man’s property. So the renunciate cannot logically say, “I will not work or earn my living–I will live on the wild fruits of the forest”. Hence, services given and received have reference to the goal of a lower or higher selfishness.
Three Kinds–Evil, Good and Sacred Selfishness
We must, however, clearly distinguish between the three kinds of evil, good and sacred selfishness. The evil kind is that which actuates a man to seek his own comfort by destroying the comforts of others. To be rich at the cost of others’ loss is sin, and against the interests of the higher individual self of the person who does it. To delight in hurting others’ feelings by carping criticism is evil selfishness. This malignant pleasure is not conducive to any lasting good. True and good selfishness is the kind which makes a man seek his own comfort, prosperity and happiness by also making others more prosperous and happy. Evil selfishness hides its many destructive teeth of suffering beneath the apparently innocent looks of comfort-assurances. Evil selfishness shuts one in a small circle and shuts all humanity out beyond it. Good selfishness takes everybody, including one’s own self, into the circle of brotherhood. Good selfishness brings many harvests–return services from others, self-expansion, divine sympathy, lasting happiness and self-realization.
Good selfishness should be followed by the business man, who, by sincere, honest, wholesome, constructive actions and labors, enables himself to look after his own and his family’s needs. Such a business man is far superior to the business man who thinks and acts only for himself, thinking neither of the ones he serves or of those dependent on him for support. He is then acting against his own best selfish interests, for he will suffer in time. Many misers die, leaving their wealth to relatives who often squander it on wrong self-indulgences. Such selfishness helps neither the giver nor the receiver, in the end.
To avoid the pitfalls of evil selfishness, one should first follow and establish himself in the good forms of selfishness, where one thinks of his family and those whom he serves, as part of himself. From that attainment, one can then advance to a practice of the sacred selfishness, (or unselfishness, as ordinary understanding would term it), where one sees all the universe as himself.
Being Sacredly Selfish
Feeling the sorrows of others in order to make them free from further suffering, seeking happiness in the joy of others, and constantly trying to remove the wants of bigger and bigger groups of people is being sacredly selfish. The man of sacred selfishness counts all his earthly losses as deliberately brought about by himself for others’ good, and for his own great and ultimate gain. He lives to love his brethren, for he knows they are all children of the one God. His entire selfishness is sacred, for whenever he thinks of himself, he thinks, not of the small body and mind of ordinary understanding, but of the needs of all bodies and minds (within the range of his acquaintance or influence). His “self” then becomes the Self of all. He becomes the mind and feeling of all creatures. So when he does anything for himself, he can only do that which is good for all. He who considers himself as the one whose body and limbs consists of all humanity and all creatures–certainly finds the Universal, All-Pervading Spirit as Himself.
Act Without Expectation
He does not act with expectation but, with his best judgment and intuition, goes on helping himself as the many, with health, food, work, success and spiritual emancipation.
Working with good selfishness and sacred selfishness brings one in touch with God, resting on the altar of all-expanding goodness. One who realizes this, works conscientiously only to please the ever-directing God-peace within.
* The final lines of this poem were the last words spoken by the Master, who immediately after their utterance consciously left his body on March 7, 1952.
This is the first of several articles by Swami Sivananda Saraswati on Hindu Dharma. Unknown terms can be found in A Brief Sanskrit Glossory.
Silent adorations to the Lord, the Embodiment of Dharma, the Controller and Protector of Dharma and the Fountain-head of Dharma.
What is Dharma? Dharma is so called, because it holds; Dharma alone holds the people, etc. The word Dharma is derived from the root Dhr—to hold—and its etymological meaning is ‘that which holds’ this world, or the people of the world, or the whole creation from the microcosm to the macrocosm. It is the eternal Divine Law of the Lord. The entire creation is held together and sustained by the All-powerful Law of God. Practice of Dharma, therefore, means recognition of this Law and abidance by it.
That which brings well-being to man is Dharma. Dharma supports this world. The people are upheld by Dharma. That which secures preservation of beings is Dharma. Dharma leads to eternal happiness and immortality.
That which is Dharma is verily the Truth. Therefore, whosoever speaks the truth is said to speak Dharma, and whosoever speaks Dharma is said to speak the truth. One and the same thing becomes both.
Dharma includes all external deeds, as well as thoughts and other mental practices which tend to elevate the character of man. Dharma comes from the Divine and leads you to the Divine.
Definition Of Dharma
No language is perfect. There is no proper equivalent word in English for the Sanskrit term Dharma. It is very difficult to define Dharma.
Dharma is generally defined as ‘righteousness’ or ‘duty.’ Dharma is the principle of righteousness. It is the principle of holiness. It is also the principle of unity. Bhishma says in his instructions to Yudhishthira that whatever creates conflict is Adharma, and whatever puts an end to conflict and brings about unity and harmony is Dharma. Anything that helps to unite all and develop pure divine love and universal brotherhood, is Dharma. Anything that creates discord, split and disharmony and foments hatred, is Adharma. Dharma is the cementer and sustainer of social life. The rules of Dharma have been laid down for regulating the worldly affairs of men. Dharma brings as its consequence happiness, both in this world and in the next. Dharma is the means of preserving one’s self. If you transgress it, it will kill you. If you protect it, it will protect you. It is your sole companion after death. It is the sole refuge of humanity.
That which elevates one is Dharma. This is another definition. Dharma is that which leads you to the path of perfection and glory. Dharma is that which helps you to have direct communion with the Lord. Dharma is that which makes you divine. Dharma is the ascending stairway unto God. Self-realisation is the highest Dharma. Dharma is the heart of Hindu ethics. God is the centre of Dharma.
Dharma means Achara or the regulation of daily life. Achara is the supreme Dharma. It is the basis of Tapas or austerity. It leads to wealth, beauty, longevity and continuity of lineage. Evil conduct and immorality will lead to ill-fame, sorrow, disease and premature death. Dharma has its root in morality and the controller of Dharma is God Himself.
Maharshi Jaimini defines Dharma as that which is enjoined by the Vedas and is not ultimately productive of suffering.
Rishi Kanada, founder of the Vaiseshika system of philosophy, has given the best definition of Dharma, in his Vaiseshika Sutras: “Yato-bhyudayanihsreyasa-siddhih sa dharmah.” “That which leads to the attainment of Abhyudaya (prosperity in this world) and Nihsreyasa (total cessation of pain and attainment of eternal bliss hereafter) is Dharma.”
The Sole Authority Of The Vedas
The four Vedas, the Smriti texts, the behaviour of those who have entered into their spirit and act according to their injunctions, the conduct of holy men and satisfaction of one’s own self—these are the bases of Dharma, according to Manu.
In the matter of Dharma, the Vedas are the ultimate authority. You cannot know the truth about Dharma through any source of knowledge other than the Vedas. Reason cannot be the authority in the matter of Dharma. Among the scriptures of the world, the Vedas are the oldest. This is supported by all leading scholars and antiquarians of the entire civilised world. They all declare with one voice, that of all books so far written in any human language, the Rig-Veda Samhita is undoubtedly the oldest. No antiquarian has been able to fix the date when the Rig-Veda Samhita was composed or came to light.
The Changing Dharma
Just as a doctor prescribes different medicines for different people according to their constitution and the nature of their disease, so also Hinduism prescribes different duties for different people. Rules for women are different from the rules for men. The rules for different Varnas and Asramas vary. But, non-violence, truth, non-stealing, cleanliness and control of the senses, are the duties common to all men.
Dharma depends upon time, circumstances, age, degree of evolution and the community to which one belongs. The Dharma of this century is different from that of the tenth century.
There are conditions under which Dharma may change its usual course. Apad-Dharma is such a deviation from the usual practice. This is allowed only in times of extreme distress or calamity.
What is Dharma in one set of circumstances becomes Adharma in another set of circumstances. That is the reason why it is said that the secret of Dharma is extremely profound and subtle. Lord Krishna says in the Gita: “Let the scriptures be the authority in determining what ought to be done and what ought not to be done” (Ch. XVI, 24). The truth of Dharma lies hidden. Srutis and Smritis are many. The way of Dharma open to all is that which a great realised soul has traversed.
Dharma In Other Religions
All other religions also lay stress on Dharma. Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, Islam are all remarkably alive to its value. Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Kant, Swedenborg and Spinoza are all striking examples in the interesting history of Western philosophy for the high pedestal on which they have placed morality, duty and righteousness, and adored them all as the only means to the attainment of the goal of life. Each religion lays greater stress on certain aspects of Dharma.
When visiting India in 2003 and 2005, members of Atma Jyoti Ashram filmed hours of video so that we could revive the memory of our visits more clearly. We found that whenever we pulled out our video camera that the innate actor in people would arise. We put together this musical montage of some of that footage both for our entertainment and for yours.The video is less than two minutes long.
"Come here every now and then. A brass pot must be polished every day: otherwise it gets stained. One should constantly live in the company of holiness."
—Sri Ramakrishna
In earlier times (not really so long ago) devout Hindus used to walk the “pilgrim’s trail” which went in a great circle around the entire Indian subcontinent and connected a series of nearly seventy centers of great spiritual power. There was a man who spent some years on this ambitious pilgrimage, and everywhere he went he would buy an image of the presiding deity of that particular holy place. Finally, toward the end of his pilgrimage, he was staggering along carrying a large wooden box filled with dozens of holy images. Whenever he would stop for the night, he would spread them out, do worship to each in turn, and after several hours go asleep. When he awoke in the morning he would again perform worship of all for some hours, then wrap the images up, put them in the box, and labor onwards.
Q:
An article written by Paramhansa Yogananda in 1929
This is the first of several articles by Swami Sivananda Saraswati on Hindu Dharma. Unknown terms can be found in 
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