Ponderings

Please support this podcast by pressing the follow button and support Chinmaya Mission Mumbai projects taken up by Swami Swatmananda, through generous donations. Contribution by Indians in INR can be made online using this link: https://bit.ly/gdswatmanDonors outside India who would like to offer any Gurudakshina/donation can send an email to enquiry@chinmayamissionmumbai.com with a cc to sswatmananda@gmail.com to get further details.These podcasts @ChinmayaShivam are also available on Spotify, Apple iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Podomatic, Amazon music and Google PodcastFB page: https://www.facebook.com/ChinmayaShivampageInsta: https://instagram.com/chinmayashivam?igshid=1twbki0v3vomtTwitter: https://twitter.com/chinmayashivamBlog: https://notesnmusings.blogspot.comLinkedIN: www.linkedin.com/in/swatmananda

Please support this podcast by pressing the follow button and support Chinmaya Mission Mumbai projects taken up by Swami Swatmananda, through generous donations. Contribution by Indians in INR can be made online using this link: https://bit.ly/gdswatmanDonors outside India who would like to offer any Gurudakshina/donation can send an email to enquiry@chinmayamissionmumbai.com with a cc to sswatmananda@gmail.com to get further details.These podcasts @ChinmayaShivam are also available on Spotify, Apple iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Podomatic, Amazon music and Google PodcastFB page: https://www.facebook.com/ChinmayaShivampageInsta: https://instagram.com/chinmayashivam?igshid=1twbki0v3vomtTwitter: https://twitter.com/chinmayashivamBlog: https://notesnmusings.blogspot.comLinkedIN: www.linkedin.com/in/swatmananda

Please support this podcast by pressing the follow button and support Chinmaya Mission Mumbai projects taken up by Swami Swatmananda, through generous donations. Contribution by Indians in INR can be made online using this link: https://bit.ly/gdswatmanDonors outside India who would like to offer any Gurudakshina/donation can send an email to enquiry@chinmayamissionmumbai.com with a cc to sswatmananda@gmail.com to get further details.These podcasts @ChinmayaShivam are also available on Spotify, Apple iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Podomatic, Amazon music and Google PodcastFB page: https://www.facebook.com/ChinmayaShivampageInsta: https://instagram.com/chinmayashivam?igshid=1twbki0v3vomtTwitter: https://twitter.com/chinmayashivamBlog: https://notesnmusings.blogspot.comLinkedIN: www.linkedin.com/in/swatmananda

Please support this podcast by pressing the follow button and support Chinmaya Mission Mumbai projects taken up by Swami Swatmananda, through generous donations. Contribution by Indians in INR can be made online using this link: https://bit.ly/gdswatmanDonors outside India who would like to offer any Gurudakshina/donation can send an email to enquiry@chinmayamissionmumbai.com with a cc to sswatmananda@gmail.com to get further details.These podcasts @ChinmayaShivam are also available on Spotify, Apple iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Podomatic, Amazon music and Google PodcastFB page: https://www.facebook.com/ChinmayaShivampageInsta: https://instagram.com/chinmayashivam?igshid=1twbki0v3vomtTwitter: https://twitter.com/chinmayashivamBlog: https://notesnmusings.blogspot.comLinkedIN: www.linkedin.com/in/swatmananda

Please support this podcast by pressing the follow button and support Chinmaya Mission Mumbai projects taken up by Swami Swatmananda, through generous donations. Contribution by Indians in INR can be made online using this link: https://bit.ly/gdswatmanDonors outside India who would like to offer any Gurudakshina/donation can send an email to enquiry@chinmayamissionmumbai.com with a cc to sswatmananda@gmail.com to get further details.These podcasts @ChinmayaShivam are also available on Spotify, Apple iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Podomatic, Amazon music and Google PodcastFB page: https://www.facebook.com/ChinmayaShivampageInsta: https://instagram.com/chinmayashivam?igshid=1twbki0v3vomtTwitter: https://twitter.com/chinmayashivamBlog: https://notesnmusings.blogspot.comLinkedIN: www.linkedin.com/in/swatmananda

Please support this podcast by pressing the follow button and support Chinmaya Mission Mumbai projects taken up by Swami Swatmananda, through generous donations. Contribution by Indians in INR can be made online using this link: https://bit.ly/gdswatmanDonors outside India who would like to offer any Gurudakshina/donation can send an email to enquiry@chinmayamissionmumbai.com with a cc to sswatmananda@gmail.com to get further details.These podcasts @ChinmayaShivam are also available on Spotify, Apple iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Podomatic, Amazon music and Google PodcastFB page: https://www.facebook.com/ChinmayaShivampageInsta: https://instagram.com/chinmayashivam?igshid=1twbki0v3vomtTwitter: https://twitter.com/chinmayashivamBlog: https://notesnmusings.blogspot.comLinkedIN: www.linkedin.com/in/swatmananda

Please support this podcast by pressing the follow button and support Chinmaya Mission Mumbai projects taken up by Swami Swatmananda, through generous donations. Contribution by Indians in INR can be made online using this link: https://bit.ly/gdswatmanDonors outside India who would like to offer any Gurudakshina/donation can send an email to enquiry@chinmayamissionmumbai.com with a cc to sswatmananda@gmail.com to get further details.These podcasts @ChinmayaShivam are also available on Spotify, Apple iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Podomatic, Amazon music and Google PodcastFB page: https://www.facebook.com/ChinmayaShivampageInsta: https://instagram.com/chinmayashivam?igshid=1twbki0v3vomtTwitter: https://twitter.com/chinmayashivamBlog: https://notesnmusings.blogspot.comLinkedIN: www.linkedin.com/in/swatmananda

Please support this podcast by pressing the follow button and support Chinmaya Mission Mumbai projects taken up by Swami Swatmananda, through generous donations. Contribution by Indians in INR can be made online using this link: https://bit.ly/gdswatmanDonors outside India who would like to offer any Gurudakshina/donation can send an email to enquiry@chinmayamissionmumbai.com with a cc to sswatmananda@gmail.com to get further details.These podcasts @ChinmayaShivam are also available on Spotify, Apple iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Podomatic, Amazon music and Google PodcastFB page: https://www.facebook.com/ChinmayaShivampageInsta: https://instagram.com/chinmayashivam?igshid=1twbki0v3vomtTwitter: https://twitter.com/chinmayashivamBlog: https://notesnmusings.blogspot.comLinkedIN: www.linkedin.com/in/swatmananda

Please support this podcast by pressing the follow button and support Chinmaya Mission Mumbai projects taken up by Swami Swatmananda, through generous donations. Contribution by Indians in INR can be made online using this link: https://bit.ly/gdswatmanDonors outside India who would like to offer any Gurudakshina/donation can send an email to enquiry@chinmayamissionmumbai.com with a cc to sswatmananda@gmail.com to get further details.These podcasts @ChinmayaShivam are also available on Spotify, Apple iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Podomatic, Amazon music and Google PodcastFB page: https://www.facebook.com/ChinmayaShivampageInsta: https://instagram.com/chinmayashivam?igshid=1twbki0v3vomtTwitter: https://twitter.com/chinmayashivamBlog: https://notesnmusings.blogspot.comLinkedIN: www.linkedin.com/in/swatmananda

Please support this podcast by pressing the follow button and support Chinmaya Mission Mumbai projects taken up by Swami Swatmananda, through generous donations. Contribution by Indians in INR can be made online using this link: https://bit.ly/gdswatmanDonors outside India who would like to offer any Gurudakshina/donation can send an email to enquiry@chinmayamissionmumbai.com with a cc to sswatmananda@gmail.com to get further details.These podcasts @ChinmayaShivam are also available on Spotify, Apple iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Podomatic, Amazon music and Google PodcastFB page: https://www.facebook.com/ChinmayaShivampageInsta: https://instagram.com/chinmayashivam?igshid=1twbki0v3vomtTwitter: https://twitter.com/chinmayashivamBlog: https://notesnmusings.blogspot.comLinkedIN: www.linkedin.com/in/swatmananda

Please support this podcast by pressing the follow button and support Chinmaya Mission Mumbai projects taken up by Swami Swatmananda, through generous donations. Contribution by Indians in INR can be made online using this link: https://bit.ly/gdswatmanDonors outside India who would like to offer any Gurudakshina/donation can send an email to enquiry@chinmayamissionmumbai.com with a cc to sswatmananda@gmail.com to get further details.These podcasts @ChinmayaShivam are also available on Spotify, Apple iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Podomatic, Amazon music and Google PodcastFB page: https://www.facebook.com/ChinmayaShivampageInsta: https://instagram.com/chinmayashivam?igshid=1twbki0v3vomtTwitter: https://twitter.com/chinmayashivamBlog: https://notesnmusings.blogspot.comLinkedIN: www.linkedin.com/in/swatmananda

Talk and meditation on Shivananda Lahiri Verse 01kalā bhyā ṁ  cūḍālaṅkṛta-śaśi-kalā bhyāṁ nija-tapaḥ -phalābhyāṁbhakteṣu prakaṭita-phalābhyāṁbhavatu me ।śivābhyām astoka-tribhuvana-śivā bhyāṁ hṛdi punar-bhavābhyām ānanda-sphurad-anubhavābhyāṁ natiriyam ॥Simple Meaning“My salutations are always to that divine couple —Śiva and Śivā —• who are adorned with the crescent moon,• who are themselves the fruit of their ownausterities,• who openly bestow the fruits of devotion upontheir devotees,• who are the very source of auspiciousness for thethree worlds,• who are born again and again in the devotee’sheart,• and whose experience shines forth as pure bliss.”

Talk and meditation on Shivananda Lahiri Verse 43mā gaccha tvam itas-tato giriśa bho! mayyeva vāsaṃ kurusvāminn ādikirāta māmaka-manaḥ-kāntāra-sīmāntare ।vartante bahuśo mṛgā mada-juṣo mātsarya-mohādayaḥtān hatvā mṛgayā-vinoda-rucita-lābhaṃ ca samprāpsyasi ॥Simple Meaning“O Lord Girīśa (Śiva)! Do not wander here and there — dwell within me alone. O Primordial Hunter (Ādi-Kirāta), in the dense forest of my heart dwell many wild beasts — pride, envy, delusion, and the like. If You, as the hunter, slay them, You willobtain the true joy and reward of the hunt."

Talk and meditation on Shivananda Lahiri Verse 29tvat-pādāmbujam arcayāmi paramam tvāṁ cintayāmi anvahaṁtvāṁ īśaṁ śaraṇaṁ vrajāmi vacasā tvām eva yāce vibhovikṣāṁ me diśa cākṣuṣīṁ sakaruṇāṃ divyaiściraṁ prārthitāṁsaṃbho lōka-guro madīya-mānasaḥ saukhyōpādēśaṁ kuru“O Lord Sambhu (Śiva), I worship Your divine lotus feet. I meditate on You constantly, I surrender to You alone. By my words I plead to You, O  Lord, to bestow upon me, that merciful glance of Thy looks, so eagerly awaited by the Divinities and impart to my mind the instruction that confers Bliss.”

Talk and meditation on Shivananda Lahiri Verse 13asāre saṁsāre nija-bhajana-dūre jaḍa-dhiyābhramantaṁ mām andhaṁ parama-kṛpayā pātum ucitam ।madan-yaḥ ko dīna-stava kṛpaṇa-rakṣāti-nipuṇaḥtvad-anyaḥ ko vā me trijagati śaraṇyaḥ paśupate ॥ 13 ॥“O Paśupati (Lord Śiva)! In this insubstantial, rootless world, with my dull intellect I have wandered, blind and far away from devotion to You. It is fitting that, out of Your supreme compassion, You protect me. Where is the person more miserable than I?  Who other than You is skilled in protecting the poor, the distressed and helpless? In all the three worlds, who else but You can be my refuge?”

Talk and meditation on Kashika Stotram Verse 5kāśī-kṣetraṃ śarīraṃ tri-bhuvana-jananī vyāpinī jñāna-gaṅgābhaktiḥ śraddhā gaye’yaṃ nija-guru-caraṇa-dhyāna-yogaḥ prayāgaḥ |viśveśo’yaṃ turīyaḥ sakala-jana-manaḥ-sākṣibhūto’ntarātmādehe sarvaṃ madīye yadi vasati punas tīrtham anyat kim asti || 5 ||This body is the sacred field of Kāśī; the all-pervading stream of knowledge is the Gaṅgā, the Mother of the three worlds. Devotion and faith are the holy place of Gaya; the yoga of meditation on the feet of one’s Guru is the Prayāga. The Lord ofthe Universe is the Fourth (Turīya) state — the Inner Self, the Witness of the minds of all beings. If all these dwell within my own body, what other place of pilgrimage can there be?

Talk and meditation on Kashika Stotram Verse 4kā śyā ṃ hi kā śyate kā śı̄kā śı̄ sarva-prakā śikā |sā kā śı̄ viditā yenatena prā ptā hi kā śikā || 4 ||In Kāśī, indeed, shines the Effulgent Kāśī (the Self) who is the one that brings everything in the universe to light! He who has known that Kāśī has indeed attained Kāśī — that is, attained salvation.

Talk and meditation on Kashika Stotram Verse 3koṣeṣu pañcasv adhirājamānābuddhir bhavānī prati deha-geham |sākṣī śivaḥ sarvagato’ntarātmāsā kāśikāhaṃ nija-bodha-rūpā || 3 ||Whose sovereignty extends over the five sheaths (kośas), where the intellect (buddhi) is Bhavānī, residing in every bodily abode, and where the all-pervading Inner Self — the Witness — is Śiva. I am that Kāśikā, of the form of Pure Consciousness, the Self.

Talk and meditation on Kashika Stotram Verse 2yasyām idaṃ kalpitam indra-jālaṃcarācaraṃ bhāti mano-vilāsam |sat-cit-sukhaikā paramātma-rūpāsā kāśikāhaṃ nija-bodha-rūpā || 2 ||That Paramātma — the one Reality of Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss — upon which is superimposed this magic illusion (of creation), and in which the universe of moving and unmoving objects appears as the playful creation of the mind — Iam that Kāśikā, of the form of Pure Consciousness, the Self.

Talk and meditation on Kashika Stotram Verse 1 manojña-vṛttiḥ paramopaśāntiḥsā tīrthavaryā maṇikarṇikā ca |jñāna-pravāhā vimalādi-gaṅgāsā kāśikāhaṃ nija-bodha-rūpā || 1 ||This opening verse distills the essence of inner pilgrimage to Kashi, from an Advaitic viewpoint:• मनोज्ञवृत्तिः परमोपशान्तिः — When the mind’s activities (vṛtti) become serene, attractive (manojña), and ultimately stilled in supreme peace (parama-upaśānti), one experiences the true sanctity.• सा तीर्थवर्या मणिकर्णिका च — That inner stillness is the greatest of holy places (tīrtha-varyā), the Manikarnika within. In Vārāṇasī, Manikarnika is the cremation ghat where liberation is promised. In the yogic sense, it is the place within where the ego and ignorance are cremated.• ज्ञानप्रवाहा विमलादिगङ्गा — The ever-flowing current of pure knowledge (jñāna-pravāha) is the spotless, Primeval Gaṅgā (vimalādi-gaṅgā). This is not the physical river, but the unbroken awareness of the Self.• सा काशिकाहं निजबोधरूपा — That Kāśikā, the city of inner light, i