Sri Swami Vishwananda & taking shelter of the Master's Feet

Mahamandaleshwar Sri Swami Vishwananda says "Take shelter to the Feet of the Master. Take shelter and take the advice of the Master. Don’t go with your reason. Don’t follow what your mind is saying to you because the mind will always drag you towards what you think is right, but in reality it is not right.

Taking the shelter of the Master, follow the scriptures, follow what the Master says should be done in a disinterested spirit, with a humble heart. This must be done with a heart full of Love. And that’s what will bring the Grace upon oneself. It is through that that one attains God-Realisation."

Swami Vishwananda & the Secret of the Guru

Sri Swami Vishwananda says, "This verse is the mantra which a bhakta or somebody who is truly surrendered to the Feet of the Guru should chant, first thing in the morning, even before going out from bed, the moment the eyes are open. By singing this mantra, one reminds oneself of Who the Guru is. This is the secret of the Guru. Therefore, the first thing one should remember is the Guru as the Ultimate Supreme Lord, which means that the Transcendental Absolute is no different from the Master. As long as one perceives the difference between the Supreme Reality and the Master one is still on the way of realising, one is not a bhakta yet."

Sri Guru Gita, Verse 88
Śrīmat parabrahma guruṁ smarāmi
śrīmat parabrahma guruṁ vadāmi
Śrīmat parabrahma guruṁ namāmi
śrīmat parabrahma guruṁ bhajāmi

I remember my Guru who is Parabrahman (the Transcendental Absolute);
I praise my Guru who is Parabrahman; I bow to my Guru who is Parabrahman; I serve my Guru who is Parabrahman.

Swami Vishwananda & Being in the Present

Sri Swami Vishwananda says "The more you feed the mind, the deeper you go into the mind, farther and farther you go away from your consciousness, from your True Self. And the more difficult it is to be in the present awareness."

Swami Vishwananda & How to perceive God everywhere

Sri Swami Vishwananda says "It is Him, the almighty God Himself, who gives the true knowledge to perfect oneself, to recognise Him everywhere and in everything that one does. Even if you are doing your normal duty which has been given to you by Himself. By realising this truth that whatever you do, wherever you are, however you are, it’s all the Lord Himself. You rise above Maya, when the true knowledge awakes, it will give you Self-Realisation, it will make you see Him at all times.

Whoever has perceived Him everywhere, He is the one who takes full control of the bhakta and through different Leelas, through different pastimes that He enacts for each individual person, each one has his own personal relationship with Him. He manifests in certain aspects for that person and that’s how He makes Love grow. Love for God and Love for all. When you Love God truly, one perceives the Lord everywhere."

Swami Vishwananda & overcoming the duality of the mind

Sri Swami Vishwananda says "Whatever comes in the contact of the senses, in the contact of the mind – heat, sound, touch, colour, taste and smell: these are the product of the senses. Whoever gives attention to the outside, to the sense organs, to the sense objects, is bound by duality. And one will not be aware of this greatness, of the eternity of the soul. Because when the mind is always focused on the limitation one is trapped into that duality. And from that arises the cold, the heat, pleasure and pain.

Lord Krishna said in the Gita "Overcome pleasure and pain. Go out of this drama and remind yourself that you are eternal." You are here to witness, you are the Great Witness. And only when you realise that you are the Great Observer, then you can observe life and be apart from it. Not part of it!"

Swami Vishwananda & the Secret of the Soul

Sri Swami Vishwananda says "When God called you onto the spiritual way - it doesn’t matter in which religion - He called you through His grace, for different levels of spirituality, because the mind wants to understand certain things.
Firstly, the mind wants to understand where it comes from. The soul holds the secret, but humans are bound by the intellect, the mind and the senses, which makes it difficult.

Why does somebody search for things? One wants to be happy, but they are not happy, because the soul longs for something else. The soul longs for something greater. This thing which is greater is very difficult for the mind to understand,  because the mind, the intellect and the senses have grabbed man and have made him focus only on the outside. As long as one is focusing on the outside, one is limited to the outside. That is not the goal of why you are here. The goal of why you are here is to fully realise yourself."

Swami Vishwananda talks about dissolving the ego

Sri Swami Vishwananda says "The story of Narasimha has great meaning. Hiranyakashipu symbolizes the pride, the ego in its fullness. This can be dissolved only when it is completely surrendered to the Lord. When it is given to Him, it can dissolve. Otherwise, we will still think “Yes, I am greater than anybody else!”

The pride, even if it is very small, it is like Jesus said “If you have faith like the grain of a mustard seed…” You can pray, you can ask the Mother to remove the pride, and She will do it. But as long as we don’t willingly say “Lord, here, take it, I surrender it to you”, it will still hang on to us.

He came to protect the devotee not only that time, but always, He will appear to whoever just calls Him."

Swami Vishwananda & Longing between the Guru and Disciple

Sri Swami Vishwananda says "There is a story of one disciple, who was once reading in the Guru Gita “If one is surrendered and offers service to the Guru’s Feet, there is no need to go for pilgrimages, there is no need to chant big, big mantras, there is no need to do any harsh practices. There is no need to fast - in fact there is no need for anything extra! Just service to the Master, service to the Guru will give everything.” 

This played in his mind, “Why should I walk up and down, North to South India on pilgrimages if I can just surrender to the Feet and serve the Master?” So deep inside – of course, it was the Guru Himself calling him, who had placed this feeling inside of him – it doesn't just appear like that.

Why at that specific time and specific moment was this reacting inside of him? Why was this making a certain effect inside of him? It is not just plainly like that. When one has this deep longing for the Master it’s because the Master is also longing for the disciple. It’s both ways."

Swami Vishwananda talks about Inner Peace

Sri Swami Vishwananda says "When you sit in meditation, you are fully unaware of the outside, but you are fully immersed into the inner calmness, into the inner peace. And when you are immersed into that inner peace, you forgot about the big “I” and “mine”, you are not attached to that glory of the outside.

Automatically the intuition will awaken, so you will know what to do, how to do, you will not have fear. You will be full of confidence."

Swami Vishwananda talks about the Love of God

Sri Swami Vishwananda says “...You see how sweet He is? He makes it easy. In the Bhagavad Gita He said, “If you can have devotion, if you can do this and do that,” and finally He said, “Listen, if you don’t have time to do all this, don’t worry. But with love, whoever offers to Me one Tulsi leaf and few drops of water, I shall accept that.”

And that’s what love does. For love, He left Vaikuntha. For love for all He manifested many times. For the love of His bhaktas, He comes to their rescue. It’s due to that love, nothing else.”

Swami Vishwananda & the Christmas Tree

Sri Swami Vishwananda says "The tree in itself represents the Self in its fullness, when the consciousness rises up like the star, one attains the fullness in oneself. The fullness is not out there but within, that's why there is always a reminder of going inside not outside.

And Christmas is a special time when there is calmness. When you go deep inside and you meet Christ within your heart, there is this awakening of calmness. It's not only the night that is silent, but your inner Self also attains a certain degree of calmness and silence."

Swami Vishwananda talks about Good & Bad

Sri Swami Vishwananda says "Love doesn't know any distinction; it's beyond good and bad. That’s why love always prevails; it's above that. Love is not only good or bad; love is experienced differently. Even the good is nothing to do with the real love. Because if it was really love, there would be no ups or downs, or even if there are, one would not be bothered about it.

Love will always prevail because good and bad are only human perception. (Like Krishna said in the Gita, or as it is said in the Bible; Rise beyond good and bad). He said to Uddhava, "Don’t hang on good or bad, it's just passing figures, if you want to get Me, go beyond good and bad and you will achieve Me."

Swami Vishwananda & Meditating on the Guru within

Sri Swami Vishwananda says "It doesn't matter whether you are lying down, whether you are moving around or standing, or if you are dancing, whether you are driving a car or you are riding on a horse, whether you are asleep or awake.

The ones who are meditating constantly on the Guru and chanting the Guru's glory, meditating on the Guru's glory, meditating on the Guru within themselves, they are enlightened."

Swami Vishwananda talks about perceiving the Guru within

Sri Swami Vishwananda says "Once you meet your Satguru, your Satguru becomes everything for you. The Satguru becomes the mother, the father, the family.

The Satguru Himself becomes your own body. The Satguru Himself becomes the breath of yourself, the senses. You have to perceive that the Guru is indeed the One who is inside of you fully."

Swami Vishwananda explains: How to become Free?

Sri Swami Vishwananda says "Only when you fix yourself and you are not flickering around, everything becomes possible. Whatever one does, if it is with an attitude of disinterest, an attitude of surrender – wherever you are, the Lord is not far away from you, it is seated inside your heart.

So when you perform your own duty, with full love – you love what God has given you – you become free. Then Bhagavan Himself will reveal Himself wherever you are."

Swami Vishwananda & the Qualities of a Devotee

Sri Swami Vishwananda says "A devotee, when they are spreading the love, spreading the word of the Lord, the Lord considers them a carrier, a light carrier, bringing His love. To those who are such an example, everyone looks upon and tries to copy. A bhakta has this quality of surrender to the Lord, and bringing this knowledge to others, is considered to be the dearest to the Lord, because it is the Lord Himself who moves in the bhakta.

A bhakta which is always in deep awareness of the Lord, with full devotion, is dearer to Him than anyone else. So such is the charity, the service, the worship, the japam, the meditation of a bhakta. That every breath, every time, every second is a continuous reminder of the sweetness of this nectar of the Lord, remembering the Lord at all times."

Swami Vishwananda talks about Death

Sri Swami Vishwananda says "Don’t be scared of dying, remind yourself, you are the eternal soul. This is a practice you can do every day, remind your mind that you don’t die. Secondly, you have to start loving death; you have to be always prepared to go, because this is one thing for sure, you will die, unless you become like Mahavatar Babaji - but even that, then you are above death.

In reality you are immortal, it’s the essence of  who you are, the Atma is eternal.  Keep reminding yourself that you are eternal and death doesn't have any power, its like meeting a friend, you don’t have to be scared. Krishna had to go, Rama, Jesus; know there is a better place. Here is just a passage. Every day we are dying little by little. Nothing is eternal apart from the soul and the Love that you have. The Atma and Prem. God is eternal, beyond everything."

Swami Vishwananda talks about Free Will

Sri Swami Vishwananda says "On the spiritual path there is only one free will, God’s will; He is the only one who is free. If one is caught in illusion, etc. how can one be free? One is not free. Where is the free will? So there is not a free will really…the will which He gives to His creation is the will of loving Him. Because that He can’t do; He can’t force you to love. In love, there is a freedom, that’s why its said true love, when it awakens one pains for the Beloved only; one knows nothing else than God. The free will becomes one with the Beloved Lord.

A bhakta, a devotee, (bhakta is more than a devotee), whatever the bhakta does, is always to please  the Beloved. His own comforts, etc. are not required. That’s why it is said, God is present everywhere, in everything, but He is dancing in the heart of the bhakta only. Even if He is present in all hearts, but He is not dancing there; deep in action there, like in the heart of a disciple...you see, in the heart of a bhakta, disciple, it is more than God Himself. The action that one sees in the heart of a bhakta you don’t see anywhere else. In God you find God alone, but in a bhakta you find the bhakta and God; the relationship and action between both of them."

Swami Vishwananda answers: 'Does everyone have a Guru?'

Q: Does everybody have a Guru, even without knowing it?

Sri Swami Vishwananda answers: Yes, everyone has a Guru.

- There are billions of people in the world and few masters…

- Krishna Himself said it, "Out of millions only few will attain Me", and the few who attain Him choose to come back and serve the others.

- So each Guru has a lot of disciples to take care of?

- A few disciples. Only the one which is ready, they will be guided to a certain Guru. You see, when you’re ready to go to school, you’ll go to kindergarten first. Do you stay always in kindergarten? No. You go to primary school,...university, etc. Each level that you go, you have a certain Guru. But not everybody reach university degree, it’s like that. Only when one is ready, the divine provides. Know one thing, the Guru is not only here, it’s in any religion, they send always the teacher, the master to guide them.

Swami Vishwananda tells the story of Sathya Kama

Sri Swami Vishwananda says "A saint, Sathya Kama, approached a great sage, Bai Hari Drumatha. This great sage had the Divine knowledge, he was always fully absorbed in the Divine consciousness. Sathya Kama approached him and said, “Can you please instruct me into Brahma Gyaan, give me the knowledge of Brahman?". Having talked with him, the Guru selected 400 cows from his herd; weak and in an extremely terrible state. He went with him to the stable and took with him 400 weak cows, and asked Sathya Kama to follow them. The cows were lead, 400 of them, and behind was Sathya Kama. They all went towards the forest as instructed by the guru. He had great reverence and great enthusiasm and joy, because he was doing what the guru told him to do. Sathya Kama said, “I shall return with their number swollen to a thousand. He was very determined, he had great love in listening to the word of the master. He went and found a nice place with lots of grass, water, and he stayed there until the cows had increased to 1,000. With such determination and such awareness; he had a clear aim inside his mind, that he would not return to the ashram of his guru until that was fulfilled.

Every day his mind was fully absorbed only on the feet of the master. There was not a single moment where he would not think about his master, he had this deep longing inside of him. After many years, finally this herd reached 1,000. He counted and was very happy and enthusiastic. He returned back to the ashram and on the way, he attained enlightenment, full realization. He didn’t do much, just the advice of the master, just the blessing; through carrying out his duty with full love and surrender, with extreme reverence. He followed the advice of the master without any questioning, without any hesitation, with full faith, so that the duty which he received became his worship. Through that he attained self-realisation, God-realisation, just through listening to the advice of the master, nothing else."