"When will be peace in the world?" was asked Swami Vishwananda

When we change we will change the world. Be clear what do you want in life. When you are in peace, you will be happy, you will make others happy and you will change the world. All start in the heart. In the heart you are much more rich as in the mind. If you look at the beauty you have inside of you, you will see also this beauty outside.

Share this happiness

Sri Swami Vishwananda: Once you have found this real happiness within you, you can express it; you can share it.
But one has to really want it.
How many among you really want that, sincerely?
That’s good.
So, and what would you do for that?
Eh?
Anything?

After reading this beautiful message you might be interested in purchasing Sri Swami Vishwanandas book Just Love

I would like to share with you this very sweet video the power of kindness

Find this eternal happiness within you

Sri Swami Vishwananda: All the great Masters have taught about Self-Realisation, about finding this eternal happiness–not in the outside, but within you.
Because with the happiness that we run to in the outside, we say we are happy about something, but the moment we get that thing our happiness changes into something else, until we find this real happiness within.

More is written in this special book Just Love

Beautiful song: There is a place

You have to be truthful towards yourself

Human beings are said to be Satchitananda. This is a Sanskrit word. Sat means: Existence; Chit is the Consciousness and Ananda is Bliss. Everybody wants to be blissful, no? Everybody wants to be happy, but if you really, really want to be happy you have to be sincere towards yourself. You have to be really truthful towards yourself, first. Then, if you ask God: “Lord, give me happiness”, do you think He will refuse you? He will not. He will give it to you, freely. But it`s up to you to maintain the happiness. It`s up to you to keep this happiness and let it grow.

Do you accept yourself how you are?

Devotee 5: Swamiji, why do people then feel the need for an ego?
What is the problem really?
Because it’s not that they want to specifically be a bad person, to be egoistic.
But there must be a reason why people after all these centuries, since the Vedas, don’t change and don’t share.
So the ego- there mustbe some reason for it.
They are afraid or there must be something.
Not that they are bad, but something why they can’t do it….

Sri Swami Vishwananda: No, there’s nothing. Well, did I say they are bad? (laughing)

Devotee 5: No, but the ego like... What is the obstacle not to be in the ego?

Sri Swami Vishwananda: Because no one wants to look at himself.
How many people really accept themselves how they are? Hm?
No, I am asking.
Accept everything.
I ask you this question now – Do you accept yourself how you are?

Devotee 5: No, I don’t think...

Sri Swami Vishwananda: Like you, many will answer the same thing.
As long as you don’t…

Devotee 6: It’s hard

Sri Swami Vishwananda: Aha. (laughter) (laughing)
When this ‘difficult’ is gone, when you don’t see it as a difficulty, then you will know the answer for that.

A beautiful way to start your day:
Just smile and watch :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs1VBC1wqKU&feature=related
Healing affirmation card set with photography by Robyn Nola and affirmations by Karen Drucker.

From being proud into being positive

Here now the second part about pride.

Sri Swami Vishwananda: Second, like I said: When pride arises, you will think of knowing better than anybody, even better than the teacher himself.

You will start lecturing others.
And what will happen, if they do not have the same idea as you?

They are wrong, you are right.
And when this happens, God gives you again experience in life: Good, bad, joyful, painful, happy or sad.
Why? That you become strong.

So this is personal.
But what people very often do is that they go around, talking positively, but they talk towards their own negativity.
What happens?
It poisons other people.
This is also another form of pride.
As you are all on the spiritual path you have to be positive.

Today i found a nice video, which i really needed, when i woke up and which helped me a lot- to be positive, to be grateful for the "small things" in life, like a smile of a friendly person or a small sunray coming behind the cloud.
Hopefully it will also help you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j_Vj779yqE

Concering the picture: Just a simple message- Be positive :-)

An apparition of little Jesus and the joy of having a Mother

During Christmas time Sri Swami Vishwananda shared with his Devotees the experience of having an apparation of Little Jesus.
Sri Swami Vishwananda: Do you have any questions? You can ask. Just let us discuss something together.
Nobody has anything to discuss? Oh Triambhakeshwari, discuss something.
Discussion, eh? (Triambhakeshwari: No) Not a question.
Triambhakeshwari: Discussion is good. Actually I wanted to ask you, if you would
like to tell us something about Mother Mary, about Her life…
Sri Swami Vishwananda: I am not talking about Mother Mary. I am talking about a discussion. You have to discuss. (laughter) You lift your hand, discuss. (laughter) Go on. Tell us a little bit of Mother Mary.
Triambhakeshwari: Me?
Sri Swami Vishwananda: Yes. (laughter)
Triambhakeshwari: So I think She was compassionate, She was very pure. She loves
God very much. And I think She wanted to have a Divine Child.
Sri Swami Vishwananda: No, She didn’t want that. It just happened. (laughter)
(laughing)
Triambhakeshwari: Maybe on a higher level She wanted, She wished.
Sri Swami Vishwananda: No, She didn’t wish it also. (laughing) Pritala? [Swami
Vishwavijayananda] (Swami Vishwavijayananda: Oui?) Where are you? (smiling)
(laughter) Do you remember? I had an apparition of little Jesus. He was talking about His Mother. It was a few years back actually, when I saw baby Jesus. Well, not baby like in a cradle (smiling), child (laughing). And He was very enthusiastic to talk about Mother Mary. Actually He talked a lot about Her, but I can’t remember everything right now. Pritala has the writings, because as Jesus was talking, I was writing it also. There, He was expressing the joy of having a Mother. He was expressing how He created Her, so that She created Him.

A happy and blissful new Year with Divine Love and Bliss!

Happy New Year to all of you!

Here is a wonderful excerpt of a Speech, which is a nice message for the new year. It is true: Life is the most precious and most beautiful. So we should not waste and just spread Love all around us and focus on the source of all this Love- God.

Sri Swami Vishwananda:

How many among you, out of fear what people think are not doing something? (Some raise their hands) Many; but than you are limiting yourselves. Be free. That is what your inside is calling you- to be free, to learn and to move on.

Life is the most beautiful thing that God has given you. Don’t waste it. Cause at the end, when life is departing this body and you look back you say: “Oh my God, I have missed so many choices. So many chances God has sent to me, but yet, my mind has been ruled by so many matrikas. I blinded myself.” Why do I say, I blind myself? Because the choice to be blind or to see is up to you. How to do that?

You do your sadhana every day, no? Do you, or not? How many among you do your sadhana regularly, I mean every day? (Many raise their hands) Good. You see the spiritual sadhana helps you to free the mind, helps you not to get entangled into this limitation.

And here the proof that God watches always over you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6Y-NjLN3nY&NR=1
(This video was recorded during a Hurricane in Kerch) Sri Swami Vishwananda told us that these are the eyes of the Divine Mother. Devi Mata ki- Jai!

The Divine Mother- terryifying and soft

Here another excerpt from Navaratri 2009, from the 6th day on September 24th.
This was the day of Katyayani Devi and Sri Swami Vishwananda was talking about the love of the Mother, who can be also terriyfing, like all of us. All our Shakti (Power) always comes from God, but we have to know that all negative energy like hatred, fustration, anger or jealousy can also be transformed into postivite energy like love, joy or bliss.
Sri Swami Vishwananda is adressing us to find this deep Love inside of us, which will help us not only to have a beautiful environment and harmony, but also to develop a loving relatinship to the Divine.

Sri Swami Vishwananda: A Mother is lovely, but a Mother also can be strict and disciplined. Often we see a woman always frail and not that strong. The men always think of themselves being more strong.
It’s just an illusion, because when a woman gets angry, what does she become like? Bhadrakali, no? (laughter) Where does this power come from? You know about it, no Matajis? (laughter) (Some: Yes) (laughing) You are well experienced about that. Ma is very calm, but She has different aspects. Like yesterday we were saying if you have this negativity inside of you, of course you will never see Her in Her calmness. You will see Her always in Her terrifying aspect, because She takes this terrifying aspect not towards you, not towards you who you are. Because all is just Her. She knows that. But this terrifying aspect is the negativity of yourself, of your mind. That’s why She appears terrifying.
If your mind is pure, even if Bhadrakali comes in front of you, She will be as beautiful as all the other Goddesses. But when you look at Maha Kali, you look at Her picture, you see how terrifying She is, no? I know very well in Mauritius many people told me “You know Swamiji, we don’t like to pray to Kali.” And I asked them “Why?” Then they said “I am scared of Her.”(laughter)
Well… why are you scared of Her? She is the Mother. She is not terrifying.

Watch and listen here a video with one of the most beautiful Aratis- the Kali Arati.
This is a similar version to the version that we sung each night with Sri Swami Vishwananda during our Navaratri Celebrations in September 2009.
Maha Kali is the Goddess who destroys our ego and all evil in and around us.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdmSfHLR5VU&feature=related

The longing of the heart

Before his Darshan in Austria, in the beautiful City Vienna, Sri Swami Vishwananda gave a Speech, from which we are presenting you here a small excerpt:

Jai Gurudev! It’s nice to be here with all of you. While coming I was talking with Naamdev in the car. I said to Naamdev: Everybody who is here knows about spirituality already. They know what they are searching- Well, i guess so. So, we all know we are searching for something. Whether we are in the world outside or we are spiritual. We are always on the search. But what are we searching for? Happiness? (Someone: Yes) Joy? (Someone: Yes) Freedom? (Someone: Yes) Where are we searching it? Outside? (Someone: Yes) Did you forget about it? (Laughter)The search is here. Inside our Self. To rediscover who we are. We all search for something, we all long for something. When we get it, we long for something else. Why does the longing to the outside never finish? Because the longing of the heart is the most important thing, but the longing of the heart- if you try to understand it with the mind, it’s not possible. When we talk of love, we all have an idea of how love has to be. In our mind we say “Yes, love has to be this way, this way, this way.” But if you know really how love is, you don’t talk about it.

Israel Trip part 3 / Life is a pilgrimage

Today we provide you the third excerpt of Sri Swami Vishwananda's speech about his pilgrimage to Israel:

Sri Swami Vishwananda:
I remember in one of the churches we visited in Nazareth, there something was made with pieces of stones. I can’t remember the name of it, but it was very beautiful: Christ as the shepherd. On His shoulder there was a sheep. For sure you have seen the picture of the good shepherd? Which was very beautiful about that particular, let’s call it icon, was that He was not pictured as what we see in a long robe, but He was like with a short, well not really a short, but a piece of cloth wrapped and He was showing the strength. Then I was talking with the guide and the guide was explaining about it. I asked him “Do you know which representative is this image of Christ?” Of course he would say it’s the good shepherd. And actually the original picture of it was from Apollo, which was changed afterwards into Christ, but it doesn’t matter. It shows us that He lived normal, He lived with the people. He was laughing also, not always moody, not always thinking of the cross. (laughter) He had His mission and His mission is to spread universal love and to make people realize the kingdom of God. He always said “The kingdom of God is near”. But near where? Near there? (Pointing upwards) No, near here (Pointing to the heart).
If you shut the mind and be in your heart through love, you will see the kingdom of God inside of you.
And that’s what all these places remind oneself of: The love that God is giving constantly to human, but we have to know how to receive it. If you receive it with an open heart, it will grow always, but if you receive it with an open mind, it will have it’s limitation. So remind yourself constantly of opening that heart and finding the deity inside of you. We are all pilgrims. This life on earth is a pilgrimage; a pilgrimage which will end when you have found the Lord, when you have realized Him. And He has made it so easy and clear. It’s not far away, it’s just near. So: Shut the mind, put it off and open the tap of love inside your heart. Open it, let it flow and you will see how near the Divine is to you. I guess during this trip many have experienced great joy. Of course it awoke certain things, but it was lovely. Everything is good.

We are like a lovely Chandelier

Sri Swami Vishwananda is talking about the equality that connects us all: There is no power of the mind to stop anyone because we all are equal. We all are the same light, the same energy. We are like a lovely chandelier that has many lights, but it’s the same electricity that is lighting all the lights. Keep reminding yourself of your purpose of this incarnation and make sure that you reach it in this life. Don’t think of other lives; now will be the best time.

It is possible to fulfill the purpose of your incarnation only if you surrender body, mind, and soul completely to God. Let go of your identity, let go of this ‘I’, this egoism that causes you to focus only on the outside. When you let go of your identity, then the Divine will reveal Itself to you. Then you will see the Unlimited and you will feel the blissful happiness.

Serve whenever you can

Sri Swami Vishwananda points out how important it is to help others and perform service to them:

People offer a lot of things to please God- big, big things in the outside, but everything is from Him. It’s Him who gives. We are just taking what is given by Him, and offer it to Him. Whereas this love, which we have inside, is also Him. But it’s upon to us to develop it or not. It’s upon to us how we handle it.

We can go and do service in the outside, like many organizations just buy a lot of things and give it to the poor countries. Does this mean this is service? You can always put hundred Euro every month aside, and put it in an organization account, saying, “That’s service.” But the moment it’s gone, you don’t even know what it is happening with that.
But when you yourself go and participate in it, it creates another joy. And that’s the joy that God wants you to develop. People say, “Yes, but I don’t have time to go and serve.” Because in the mind, when you talk about service, people think that you have just to go to India or to Africa to serve.
But here your neighbor is dying or the neighbor by your side is hungry. You’re thinking of India and of Africa, but God will think about it. Service starts near, around you. Stop seeing the difference, clear your mind of the difference, and see the same road everywhere. Offer from deep within your heart the flowers that you have inside. Offer it to Him. In this way, you don’t even need to sit to pray. Because He will be always with you.
So, open up your heart. And serve whenever you can. Help whenever you can.

A story about Guru Nanak or loving service

Sri Swami Vishwananda is telling a story of the life of the Indian Saint Guru Nanak.
Once a very proud and arrogant King came to Guru Nanak. Guru Nanak is a Sikh guru, who he wore a turban on his head. So, when the king came to him, Guru Nanak offered him a small needle. This king normally was very wicked and he liked to collect things only for himself. So, Guru Nanak gave him this small needle and said to the king, “King, take this needle. Keep it and return it to me when you see me in heaven.”

So, the king was very happy. Joyful, he reached his kingdom and said, “Guru Nanak, has said I will go to heaven.” And, he showed his queen, “Look queen, Guru Nanak has given me this beautiful needle. He said I shall return this to him in heaven.” The queen looked at him and said, “My dear king, how would you return the needle to Guru Nanak in heaven, because when you die you leave your body here?” So, he said, “Yes, that's a good question. Out of my joy and my happiness I forgot to ask him. I forgot that I have to leave my body here.”

So, early morning he was at Guru Nanak’s place. And he said very happily “Guru Nanakji, you have given me this needle yesterday and you told me to return it to you in heaven, but tell me something, how will I return this to you in heaven? When I die, I leave my body here, how will I take this?” Guru Nanak smiled at him and said, “My dear king, you don’t realize what you have collected from the people, in a not good way. All the thing that you have collected don’t even worth this small needle, but yetyou can't carry this little needle to heaven How will you carry all the other things that you have collected?”
Hearing that, his pride and all he was inside of him was shattered. So, he fell down to the guru’s feet and asked for forgiveness. And he asked the guru to blessed him. He detached himself and gave everything to the people.
So if you want to be happy, serve. Serve with the open heart. Serve with love and don’t expect anything, because if you expect you will be always unhappy.

The 24 teachers in life

Sri Swami Vishwananda tells us a beautiful story about life:
Once, somebody went to a master. And when he went to this master and saw this master who was so blissful, this person, who himself was a master, said to the great master: “Tell me: who is your teacher? Why are you radiating so much light!?” Then the great one said: “I don’t have one teacher- I have twenty-four teachers.” Then he asked: „Who are these twenty-four teachers?” The master said:” First, above all the teachers, I’ve learned from my parents. Above all, firstly I have learned from my mother, who held my hand and made me walk. Secondly, I have learned from my father who was disciplined,and had shown me, how to sustain myself. My mother has shown me,how to stand on my feet.” Thee man went on like that-he never mentioned anybody apart from the mother and father, the rest he mentioned was about anything that he had seen in his life: the plants, animals... He had learned from every small insect, all together twenty-four. He had learned humility, patience, joy, happiness... all these qualities, just from nature.

A story about selfless service

Sri Swami Vishwananda once told us an interesting story from the life of Sri Ramakrishna, which shows us how important it is to perform seva (selfless service) and to help others: Once there was a doctor. Of course he took his job very serious. And he was very satisfied. Whenever people came to him to get healed, he was very happy about it. But his happiness had only short duration. He was always wondering “Why I am happy, but yet it lasts very short." We all know about this happiness. So he went to Ramakrishna. He is a Saint in India, who lived last century. He said “Ramakrishnaji, tell me how You love? I feel this love, but it’s very short.” Ramakrishna said to him: ”My dear doctor, I know that you help people and you feel this love, but one thing: Your love is based on how much you get as payment.”So go and help people. It’s not that you should not take money- take, but once a week give free consultation. You will see that this love inside of you will grow more and more." And of course He practiced it. After a few months he came back to Sri Ramakrishna and fell down at the feet of Ramakrishna. He said “My Lord, I have done what you have told me and I’m the happiest person. Now I don’t even do only one time a week selfless service, but I do it two or three times a week.”

Experiencing God

Sri Swami Vishwananda is talking about one of the greatest experiences that one can have- The experience with the Divine.

To experience God we should love. This is the main experience of it. The definition of God? Love!

Very often people think, when they feel God, they will think “Oh something marvelous, something great”… whatever. But each one has their own way of feeling God. For some the Divine will express itself as complete joy, but for some the Divine will express Itself as separation. For some it is joy just to be in love with Him and just to know that He is there. Actually you can describe every feeling as coming from the Divine. But which is the right feeling? Everybody has his own. And each person is on a different level, each person vibrates on a different level of vibration, where they can feel the Divine in their way.

For somebody who is in the world, the Divine will express Itself in the worldly way. For somebody, who is on the spiritual path, God will express Itself in a spiritual way. But when somebody is completely surrendered to the Divine, the Divine also will surrender complete to that person. This awakening of this cosmic love within oneself can be in a painful way, in a joyful way, but one who is in the spiritual world, one who surrenders completely to the Divine will not question the Divine, but will happily accept it. When one is completely surrendered to the Divine, one doesn't has their own will into it. But when one has their own will, then this pride and ego are still workingand this will make one unhappy. But this is also a feeling that you can express to the Divine.

The branches or how to find the Sadguru

Today another interesting Story about the search of the Sadguru, which was told by Sri Swami Vishwananda in May 2008:

Once there was a man. He was always searching for his Sadguru. So he went everywhere, but yet his heart was not satisfied. He met many masters, but yet his heart was not satisfied. It is also one quality of the devotee, that his heart shall feel when meeting the Sadguru. So he went around, but without success. And one day he in the near of a Saint and he asked him “Listen dear Sir, I am in the search of my Sadguru. Could you please guide me?” The Saint closed his eyes, meditated for a little while and said to the man “Listen my son, up on this mountain that you see there are many holy men staying. Tomorrow is a very good day. Invite all of them at your place. Invite them for lunch. With love and dedication serve them food and give them respect, everything. And as they are eating ask them a question. Take a twig from any tree. Take two twigs, two pieces of branch and say to them “Tell me dear Sir, which branch does this tree belong to?" .“Name the tree”. So he did as the Saint told him, invited the Saints and served them food with lots of love and respect. Then he showed them the pieces of the twig of the tree and asked all of them “Dear Sir, tell me which plant, which fruit tree, does this twig belong to ?”. They all looked at it and said “It’s a mango twig, a mango branch”. The Saint said to the man “You do that, but contradict them. When they say it’s a mango, say no it’s a peepul.” So then the Saint also said to him. “If you do that and if they get angry, they are not a Sadguru, but the one, who will stay calm and will say “Maybe, it is possible, that it is a peepul twig" will be a Sadguru. So he did. Eventually as he was asking which twig does this plant belong to, the other gurus got very frustrated and furious and said “Why you don’t see that it is a mango twig and you all tell us all the time that it is a peepul twig. We tell you it is a mango branch”. They all got very angry. Among them, there was one man, very simple, who stayed calm. He was eating his food and looked at him. When the man asked him “What about you dear Sir, reverent Sir?”. He said “Well, it can be possible that it is a peepul twig” very calmly and very serenely with a smile he said this.

You see: the quality of calmness is very important. How can a master guide, if he is not calm? And this is the greatness of a Sadguru. No matter what happens, he will always stay calm.

Like I said in Gurupurnima:The best way is to ask the Sadguru or the Guru directly. So when you see this quality of calmness, when you have found your Sadguru surrender and stop asking questions. The mind, like I always say, is always full of doubt. If you don’t give Sadguru the chance to hold your hand and guide you out of it, you will move away from this. You will lose a chance.

So let the Sadguru hold your hand and guide you. So the feeling that you have, the joy, when the Sadguru is in front of you- the same is reflected. The Sadguru will never show the feeling, but YOU will feel it. He knows that, but he wants YOU to know it. The Sadguru has already found God, has already realised the Divine and he wants you to realise. That’s why you look for him. Try to feel always with your heart and try to listen to your inner self. Cause when your inner self reveals something, the mind will always say "Oh no, no, no, no it’s not like that. It has to be like this. "The mind will always try to divert you from this path, from the reality. That’s why you have to show the mind, that you are the master and not that the mind is the master of you.

Love and pain

During a Satsang following question arised: "Why does love hurt so much , when it is the most beautiful thing of the world?"

Sri Swami Vishwananda answered: Love can create pain, but it can create also great joy. Why does it create pain? It’s how we see it. Love can be pain, when we want something and we don't get it. Then it’s painful, but if we get what we want it’s joyful. You have the choice. But very often it is even painful to love God . Many will say that... Love is not accessible so easily and that’s what makes it painful. If we have Him, (God) we take Him very often for granted and we don’t really enjoy Him. But when we don’t have Him, we realize what we have lost.

In fact we didn’t loose anything. He is there all the time. It’s just that He shadows Himself, so that we can realize how great He is.

Letting go of your identity

Sri Swami Vishwananda tells you today: Let go of your identity, let go of this ‘I’, this egoism that makes you focus only on the outer. When you let go of your identity, the Divine will reveal itself to you. Then you will see the unlimited. You will feel the blissful happiness. So open up – if the mind is still troubling you, take any divine aspect, focus your mind on it and surrender to the Divine aspect until you reach the formless. From the form to the formless.