THE VISION, January 2025, Vol. 92, Issue 4:
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Beloved Readers,
“Behold Divinity in every aspect of this world-Lila. Verily, it is He at play in all beings and creatures,” said Beloved Papa Swami Ramdas. The question before all aspirants is how to translate these words into a reality, at least gradually.
From experience, we find that going through disciplines like chanting, leading a life which is not detrimental to the interest of others, etc., do not help much in moving towards the goal of experiencing the presence of Divinity. This could be because, unwittingly, we have not been able to connect our daily life with our daily Sadhana. What is really required is to transform all activities into Sadhana — from the minutest to the grossest.
To make a beginning in this direction could be to remember that everything happens only by His will. For this, it is necessary to remember Him, which can be done through the chanting of Divine Name with the right perspective, and simultaneously striving to bring the God-dimension behind every object, person and situation we come into contact with.
This month’s issue of THE VISION is an effort to throw light on this crucial aspect of trying to experience Divinity in our day-to-day lives.
— EDITOR
AS WE SCROLL DOWN...
- ‘All This Is Verily God’ — Beloved Papa Swami Ramdas states that the worlds are the form of God Himself, illustrating His marvellous and grandiose existence. Even a blade of grass is worthy of worship, because the light and power of God pervade everything, from the tiniest to the mightiest.
- ‘Words of Beloved Papa Swami Ramdas’ — encourage us to engage in all activities as a service to God. Work then becomes worship and brings great joy. Ultimately, we realise that the entire universe is our body, and our love and service to anyone in it are love and service done to ourselves.
- ‘Seek Universal Vision’ — urges Pujya Mataji Krishnabai, inspiring us to look upon all in the same light as we would our kith and kin. We have eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and various other organs, yet we do not distinguish between them. Each organ has its own function: the ears cannot speak, and the eyes cannot hear. Just as we regard every organ in our body as our very own, we must similarly look upon all the people around us as our own.
- ‘Words Of Pujya Swami Satchidananda’ — remind us that whatever we see or touch is a form of the Lord. When everything is identified with God, whatever we do becomes Puja—worship of God.
- ‘Editor Answers’ — how to feel the presence of Divinity in our daily life by trying to identify the Source — Consciousness — from which everything is coming forth. Consciousness then replaces the sense of doership.
- ‘The Triad of Service’ — according to Acharya Vinoba Bhave, involves the Bhakta, who is the servant, while the Lord is the one to be served. The rest of Creation serves as the means of worship. Thus, all the activities that we do throughout the day should be done in a spirit of worship.
- ‘Actions Imbued With Shraddha’ — explains Swami Paramatmananda, become Sadhana. Whether it be the way we hang our washed clothes or the way we offer Naivedya; all actions should bear the stamp of dedication.
- ‘Life On The Godward Path’ — as elucidated by Dada JP Vaswani, begins with the spiritual awakening sparked by the heart’s cry to the Lord seated within. The essence of this new life lies in love for God. When love for Him becomes our guiding principle, everything we do flows from the deep love we cherish for Him. This is the simplest way to commune with the Divine.
- ‘Seeing God Everywhere’ — clarifies Beloved Papa Swami Ramdas, means perceiving the Substratum behind the visible world. Just as ornaments made from gold have distinct names and forms, but their essence, gold, is one. Similarly, the Immortal Essence of the universe is One, and all forms and beings are Its expressions.
- ‘Dear Children’ — true happiness fills our heart when we share happiness with others as our own.
- ‘Inspiring Luminaries’ — are beacons on the spiritual path, guiding and uplifting us. Their Darshan is profoundly elevating. They awaken and enthuse us.
- ‘Epistles Of Swami Ramdas’ — makes us aware we can attain liberation while living in the world and doing all the work that falls to our lot in the usual course.
- ‘Important Days In 2025’
- ‘Anandashram News’:
- ‘Thought For The Month’
- ‘Message For The New Year — 2025’
- ‘Download THE VISION’ in PDF format and the Audio Book.
ALL THIS IS VERILY GOD
By Swami Ramdas
The greatness of man lies only in the rare and illumined faculty with which God has gifted him so that he can raise himself to that supreme consciousness which grants him the unique experience of oneness with God — the indwelling controller and the external power in manifestation. In the ecstasy of this attainment the soul does exclaim: “I am one with all life that animates the worlds — the entire universe is my visible image. My love for all is based upon my knowledge of identity with every being in spirit and in form.”
In the light of this exalted experience, you now behold the worlds as the very form of God Himself, illustrating His marvellous and grandiose existence. Man’s conceited supremacy has no place in this vision. He adores even a blade of grass as worthy of worship because he beholds the light and power of God in the tiniest to the same degree as in the mightiest. Everywhere, in every creature and thing, it is God alone who is manifest. Everywhere it is His power alone that works. The creative, constructive and destructive forces that cause, mould and change the face of nature are entirely His because He is in all and He is all…
WORDS OF BELOVED PAPA SWAMI RAMDAS
Ramdas does not want anyone to lead only a contemplative life. One must also serve one’s fellow-beings in a selfless spirit. “Love thy neighbour as thyself” does not mean that love should only be felt in the heart. It must be shown also in action, in the form of relieving distress and rendering help in all possible ways. To serve man is to serve God. In Karma Yoga, work is done as worship. Then alone it gives joy. It should be done as perfectly as possible, with great care and love and never in a slip-shod, clumsy, irregular or half-hearted way. The inner beauty must reveal itself in outer conduct.
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To serve your fellow-beings is to serve God. In the final synthesis of an all-round spiritual experience, you realise that the whole universe is your body. Your love and service to anyone in it will be felt to be but love and service done to yourself.
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As the Cosmic Force, it is He who controls everything. It is by His light the sun, the moon and all luminous bodies shine. The worlds and the universes are His self-revelations. When this supreme vision is attained, what words can describe the beauty, power and glory of God?
SEEK UNIVERSAL VISION
By Mataji Krishnabai
What can you learn from coming here (to Ashram)? What you have to learn is that all the forms you see around are your own. Look on them in the same light as you would your kith and kin. Each one is endowed with eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and so on, each organ having its own function. Can these functions be exchanged by the organs? Can the ears speak or the eyes hear? Of course not. No two organs in this wonderful body, gifted to us by Papa, are one and the same. Yet, do you differentiate between them? Of course, you don’t. You look on every organ as your very own because they all constitute part of your physical being. Similarly, you have to look upon all the people around you as your own. You can do so only by taking your Guru Mantra, whatever it be. When you chant His Name continuously and intensely, you will realize Papa in your heart. His Saguna form (that is, with name and form) is no doubt important, but such Darshan is impermanent and comes and goes. What you need is the Universal Vision and to realise Him in your heart as the Nameless and Formless, Beginningless and Endless Supreme Being, who is at once eternal and infinite. If you realize this, only then will your coming here have been worth all the trouble you have all taken.
WORDS OF PUJYA SWAMI SATCHIDANANDA
First thing required (in Sadhana) is remembrance of God. You should take it that every object you touch is the manifestation of God. When you start your work, you may say, “Paper is God, pen is God, everything is God, etc.” As you go on identifying everything with God, whatever work you do in the office or elsewhere is like the Puja where you worship God by touching the different idols, chanting Stotras, clothing the idols and feeding them etc. Everything is done with deep devotion and perfect attention.
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(During Sadhana) Whenever the thought of a person came to my mind, I took him to be not an individual but a part of the universe, which is the manifestation of God. From early morning whatever I saw, whatever I touched, I used to say within myself: “This is also Your form, O Lord!” Thus, everything was identified with God. This made me speak less as the mind was busy engaged in identifying everything and everybody with God and trying to be conscious of the Purusha (the Static aspect of the Reality) pervading the entire body of that person or object.
EDITOR ANSWERS
Question: Give us a practical hint on how to feel the presence of Divinity in our daily life.
Answer: First of all, we try to understand that ‘seeing Divinity’ is not a subject to be discussed because it is not objectifiable and cannot be perceived by our senses or mind. It is the outcome of spiritual practices, which is past expression. The only way is to quieten the mind. So, all our spiritual practices should enable us to become aware of His presence within us. In order to direct the mind in this direction, dwelling on revelations by spiritually evolved souls might help. Pujya Swami Satchidanandaji shared his experience thus, “When I look at a person, I see him or her as Pure Consciousness and the body, a tiny speck floating in the Consciousness… When someone speaks, I know the sound comes from Consciousness only. Though the body walks, etc., the power is of Pure Consciousness only. But Consciousness is not affected by so-called actions. So, it can be said that such actions are taking place through the vehicles and the Power for such actions is drawn from Pure Consciousness only.” Consciousness then replaces the sense of doership.
Another method is to observe that all activities go on minus the label. The outcome of spiritual practices culminates in seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, smelling, thinking and doing without any prefixes or suffixes.
THE TRIAD OF SERVICE
By Acharya Vinoba Bhave
The Gita wants every action of ours to be imbued with Bhakti. It is good to worship the Lord for half an hour… But the Gita is not satisfied with this much only. It wants that all the activities that we do throughout the day should be done in the spirit of worship.
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When a Bhakta gets up in the morning, he has only three things in mind. First, he remembers the Lord. Then he makes preparations for His worship. The Bhakta is the servant, while the Lord is the one who should be served. The rest of the creation is the means of worship.
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Worship does not mean offering flowers, etc. to the idol; keeping anything neat, clean and tidy is its worship — be it a lamp, a scythe or a door hinge. The means of worship should be spotless and faultless. Divine Consciousness pervades everything. When we have this vision, Jnana will enter into our Karma.
Source: Talks On The Gita
ACTIONS IMBUED WITH SHRADDHA
By Swami Paramatmananda
When I was living in Tiruvannamalai, this was quite a long time ago, I had to learn the lessons in Shraddha. In fact, if I could sum up everything that I learned in those thirteen years, it was Shraddha.
One day I had finished washing my clothes. I was putting them on the line. I was just walking away when my teacher said, “Why don’t you look at your clothes closely before you walk away.”
I looked at them and said, “What’s wrong?”
He said, “Just look at them closely and tell me if you see anything wrong.”
When I looked, I said, “No, I don’t see anything wrong at all.”
He said, “Didn’t you notice that the bottoms of the clothes are not in line with each other? One is like this and one is like that. They should be in line with each other. Then, if you do everything like that in line, your mind also will get in line.”
Then I wondered, “Even for hanging up clothes, I have to have Shraddha!”
Source: On the Road to Freedom: A Pilgrimage in India
LIFE ON A GODWARD PATH
By Dada JP Vaswani
To move Godward, we need to get up and open the door (of our hearts) and let God in. This happens only when man realises the need for God. Out of the very depths of his heart, there awakens the cry: “I need you, Lord! I cannot live without you!” This is known as ‘spiritual awakening’. Something happens deep within you and your life becomes new. You are filled with light and warmth. In this connection the following suggestions may be found helpful:
- The secret of the new life is love for God. This love grows from more to more. Love is a gift of God to man. Therefore, pray as often as you can: “I love you God! I want to love you, more and more! I want to love you more than anything in the world.”
- Whatever you do — it may be sweeping a room or saving a life — do it wholly for the love of God. “Whatever you eat, whatever austerity you practise, whatever you give in charity, whatever you do, do it, O Arjuna, as an offering unto Me,” says the Lord in the Gita. Can there be a simpler way of communing with God than this, that we offer unto Him every little thing we do, every thought we think, every word we utter, every aspiration we breathe?
SEEING GOD EVERYWHERE
By Swami Ramdas
We speak of God’s will and God’s power as active in the world and active in us. That means, the Universal Power of this nature is active in us. It is this Power that makes us work, talk, move about and do everything. When we recognise this truth, the ego-sense — ‘I am the doer’ — naturally disappears. When that has disappeared, we shall know we are one with the Universal Spirit. By this realisation attained by our surrender to the Divine Power, we see we are not only one with the all-pervading, still and calm Spirit, God, but also one with His manifestation, that is the nature around us. That is what is meant by our seeing God everywhere; seeing all forms with the knowledge that they are the manifestations of the Spirit. You can take, for instance, a lump of gold out of which you can make so many ornaments. All the ornaments are separately named and formed, but they are all made out of the one gold lump. Only in names and forms are they different. So also out of one Immortal Essence, the whole universe has come out. All forms and beings are the expressions of that Essence. So they are not different. If you see only the names and forms, they seem to be separate, as mere names and forms mislead and make us see separation. If you see the Substratum behind, then they are all seen as one.
DEAR CHILDREN
When Nigerian billionaire, Femi Otedola in a telephone interview, was asked by the radio presenter, “Sir, can you remember what made you a happiest man in life?”
Femi said: “I have gone through four stages of happiness in life and finally I understood the meaning of true happiness. The first stage was to accumulate wealth and means. But I did not get the happiness I wanted. Then came the second stage of collecting valuables and items. But I realised that the lustre of valuable things does not last long. Then came the third stage of getting big project. But even here I did not get the happiness I had imagined. The fourth stage was the time a friend of mine asked me to buy wheelchair for about 200 disabled children. The friend insisted that I go with him and hand over the wheelchairs to the children. There when I gave these wheelchairs to those children, I saw a strange glow of happiness on their faces. I felt REAL joy inside me. When leaving, one of the kids grabbed my legs. I bent down and asked the child: ‘Do you need something else?’ The answer changed my attitude to life completely. This child said: ‘I want to remember your face so that when I meet you in heaven, I will be able to recognise you and thank you once again.’”
Source: https://mobile.x.com/Bernadotte22
INSPIRING LUMINARIES
Darshan of saints is very elevating. They are beacons. They show the path and hearten us in our struggle. They awaken and enthuse us.
This month we pay our reverential homage to Purandara Dasa and Thiruvadi Thuli Baba.
t Sri Purandara Dasa:
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t Thiruvadi Thuli Baba:
EPISTLES OF SWAMI RAMDAS
Beloved Ram,
…Ramdas is far from inducing or encouraging householders to give up the world and take to the life of a hermit. Living in the world and doing all the work that falls to one’s lot in the usual course, one can attain God. This is the message Ramdas delivers to all…
IMPORTANT DAYS IN 2025
Feb 4 Tue Pujya Mataji Krishnabai’s Mahasamadhi Day
Apr 12 Sat Beloved Papa Swami Ramdas’ Jayanti
Jul 10 Thu Guru Purnima
Jul 29 Tue Beloved Papa Swami Ramdas’ Mahasamadhi Day
Sep 21 Sun Pujya Mataji Krishnabai’s Jayanti
Oct 12 Sun Pujya Swami Satchidananda’s Mahasamadhi Day
Nov 12 Wed Pujya Swami Satchidananda’s Jayanti
Dec 27 Sat Beloved Papa Swami Ramdas' Sannyas Day
ANANDASHRAM NEWS
15500-CRORE NAMA JAPA YAGNA FOR WORLD PEACE:
The total Japa received in the fourth round of the 15500-Crore Nama Japa Yagna for World Peace in the month of November 2024 is 210 crores, chanted by 190166 devotees.
The grand total of the Japa done so far in this round now stands at 3720 crores.
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SESSIONS WITH CHILDREN AT ANAND KUTIR IN ANANDASHRAM:
In the month of November 2024, 11 interactive sessions were held with children at Anand Kutir, in which 471 students participated. As the sessions are free from teaching and preaching, they help the children to bring out their own learnings:
- Akash Babu expressed, “I learned to love nature, appreciate text books and strive not to exclude anyone from my life.”
- Shyam Prasad noted, “I realised that life needs to be redesigned and redefined.”
- Shreya Babu observed, “I understood how words can turn into conflicts and how to resolve problems. This introspection was the most important class for a 10th Standard student like me.”
- Vaiga shared, “I discovered new ideas: the belief that the world is one family, the value of every second, that quarrels and arguments are never the solution, and we must live beyond caste and creed.”
- Manushree stated, “I realised the need to change my goals and perspective. I never thought solutions to problems at home could be so simple. I also gained a deeper understanding of myself.”
- Shreya PV said, “I realised that happiness and peace originate within individuals. This was an unforgettable experience.”
- Anamika shared, “I had the chance to delve deeply into myself, asking who I can become and what I can do. This experience will help me correct and improve myself.”
- Aksa reflected, “I realised the importance of the little things in life.”
- Anuraj observed, “Today, I understood the vastness of the universe, the insignificance of the earth within it, and the even smaller role of humanity. Despite thinking we rule the world, we are, in truth, just a fragment of existence.”
THOUGHT FOR THE MONTH
“Behold God within you, and then behold Him everywhere as all the manifested worlds. Don't adhere to the lower planes; don't seek satisfaction there. Soar up into the regions of your transcendent being. Aspire, aspire, aspire, until the highest goal is reached!”
— Swami Ramdas
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