For The Love of Seva the Russian Way

This information is taken from an e-mail from Tilakavati:
The Russian people, who are devotees of Sri Swami Vishwananda and Mahavatar Babaji, demonstrate for all of us, through the fundraising event they presented, what unity and love for one’s Guru, Sri Swami Vishwananda, their Paramguru, Mahavatar Babaji and love for people can succeed in attaining.

On 26 January 2012, Thursday/Guru Day, Russian devotees of Swami held a fundraising event. Their purpose for this was for generating the monetary means to have Babaji’s book Journey Into Freedom: The Bhakti Sutras of Mahavatar Kriya Babaji professionally translated from English into the Russian language. Each one performed their seva from the love in their hearts for their Guru, Sri Swami Vishwananda and their Paramguru, Mahavatar Babaji and for the people who may be spiritually inspired from the Russian translation. It was a great joy for people to participate and help. It also united everyone who came and people had lots of fun. The participants donated offerings from their lives at a lower cost than “in the world workforce” such as:

Atma Kriya consultations

Medical consulting from Certified Doctors
Ayurvedic massage vouchers
Foot massage sessions
Self-made colorful plates
Self-made colorful thread-mandalas
Self-made cakes and other food
Self-made soap
Professional hair styling
Professional Nail Service
Selling tea, etc.

TOMBOLA:
The event also included a Tombola containing Quotes from Mahavatar Babaji taken from his sayings. It was interesting to note that each person who purchased one of Babaji’s quotes told us that the quote was “exactly true” for each person who bought that particular ticket.

All the people had fun. And even though we will need to do more fundraising in order to publish the book of Babaji, we already can start working on it now with the funds we raised this time (more than 1000 Euro) in one evening!

Thank you [Swami Vishwalakshmianandama – Lakshmi] for the inspiration from Babaji that you sent to us. It brought a lot of enthusiasm and perhaps also more people to our event.

Mahavatar Babaji’s Message to the Russian Devotees of Sri Swami Vishwananda who are working on fundraising for the translation and printing of Mahavatar Babaji’s book, Journey To Freedom: The Bhakti Sutras of Mahavatar Kriya Babaji.

Beloved Russian Friends:

It is time for the world to come together in the oneness of single family togetherness. The translation of our Journey to Freedom book into languages other than English is a Divine Blessing, which I happily and lovingly send to those involved and those who will read the translation.

My pranams to those who undertake such a daunting seva on any level of the work. Remember the humility lesson of Swami Yukteswar when he saw the washing of the sadhu's feet at the Kumbha Meela. It is good to cultivate humility in all time periods and all devotees. [Babaji is speaking about this story from His meeting with Sri Yukteswar at the Kumbha Meela in Autobiography Of A Yogi, by Paramahansa Yogananda|.

Love and blessings,
Babaji

More Photos: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/37479247/bhaktimarga3205.zip

WINDOWS

Mahavatar Babaji

WISDOM  OF  LOVE

Windows Of The Soul

Reflected Natural Light From a Window on Mahavatar Babaji’s Picture
(Bhakti Marga Photo)

We do not often publish comments written about entries on VBV blog. However, today we feel this comment is for everyone!

"Dear Vishwalakshmianandama:The energy in the temple of Shree Peetha Nilaya this morning was extremely filled with light and bliss. Swamiji joined the group and sang bhajans to intensify the whole atmosphere. So Babaji gave his message through that cross covering his face, so wonderfully commented by your words [in the poem below]. What a grace to live in this time! JGD Ramayotee”

“You have to really want it!” - Sri Swami Vishwananda

Swami blessing murti of Divine Mother Mary
Holding Baby Jesus
Darshan 28.1.2012

WINDOWS  OF  THE  SOUL

“When I find myself in times of trouble

Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom:
 ‘Let it be!'
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom:
'Let It Be' "
So, say lines in one of the most
Belove-ed songs of all time.

Windows into the soul

Come in many ways and many forms.
Soul windows may come even in the simple
Reflection of a Cross, the symbol of Christianity,
While a Living Enlightened Master,
Sri Swami Vishwananda, sits with devotees
In devotion in His Hindu temple,
While the natural phenomenon
From the physical window shines on a picture
Of an Immortal Master, Mahavatar Babaji.
Therein, one sees only Babaji’s forehead and the
Crown of His Belove-ed Head, while the rest of
The picture is enlightened with the
“Light of the Christian Cross in a Hindu Temple.”

Perhaps we can “Let It Be” that the two traditions
Are One in Essence, and at the Heart of the Unified Love
Wherein there is only HIM!

While viewing a natural physical light from a window,
From the soul one may feel, know and see a mystical
Light when one looks at the picture of this
Opportunity for perceiving the light within
One’s own soul.

One way one may know this – for example –
When this Swamini awakened this morning
I heard the always wondrous words of Mahavatar Babaji
Filling the room in mystical light:
“Windows of the soul.”
Often when hearing “The Voice of Babaji” on awakening,
I know from this auditory window into my soul
That a poem or some spiritual information
Has been downloaded into my soul and
Conscious memory and then I begin to write.

After hearing Babaji’s Voice this morning, I was inspired
To look on one of the social networks and there
I saw the picture of “The Cross of Light”
On Mahavatar’s picture and knew, intuitively,
That it was related to Babaji’s Voice on awakening!
In experiencing subtle energy, one must
“Connect all the spiritual dots,” a game I love to play!

Perhaps you, who are reading this, will be inspired
To view the pure picture, reproduced above, and feeling
The blessing of Mahavatar Babaji through
 “The  Voice of Babaji” I heard
On awakening this morning . . .
You may be inspired to feel, see or know
Your own soul’s reflected light from the picture, even as the physical
Widow light reflects upon the picture of Mahavatar Babaji
In Sri Swami Vishwananda’s temple.

Quoting the great master of English words, William Shakespeare:
“There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

For those of you who may be thinking:
“This is: ‘Much Ado About Nothing,’ “  words also per William Shakespeare,
Remember this: Subtle energy is subtle energy, is subtle energy!
In the words of our Belove-ed, Prema Avatar Sri Swami Vishwananda:
“You have to really want it!”

Swamini Vishwalakshmianandama (Lakshmi)

LET IT BE - Beatles

Crossroads In Life

Sri Swami Vishwananda  "On the spiritual path we are all learning. We are learning to attain God, but first of all we are learning to rise above our mind [where our crossroad decisions appear]. And if you really want to be spiritual, be positive. Train yourself to be positive." 

Krishna Bhagavad Gita: “For those who wish to climb the mountain of spiritual awareness, the path  [where our crossroads lie] is selfless work. For those who have attained the summit of union with the Lord, the path is stillness and peace".

Bible:"Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good (godly) way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls." - Jeremiah 6:16 – Bible

Centering Yourself In The Heart

 Sri Swami Vishwananda at

Tree of Krishna Vrindavan, India

When you center yourself in your heart and awaken this Divine Consciousness, the Higher Consciousness inside, you will always flow. No matter what, you will enter into Divine Ecstasy and you will feel different energies flowing through you. The mind cannot understand and then it will cry, “I want to understand it, but I can’t!” When the power of the mind decreases, the power of the heart increases. It is so simple, the Lord has sent you here to Realize this, to develop bhakti and to attain Self-Realization,.

Understand the whole creation of God, because actually it’s your own creation, the way you want the world to be is the way it is. Some people want war, they have it. Some people want God, they also have it. Some people want illness, they also have it. Some people want the cure of the illness, they also have it. The way you make this mind think, you create it. If you want love, you will have it. If you want God, you will have it. It’s just that you have to want it! Want it without any doubt. Want it with a heart that really is calling for God, “God, I want You!” God is always with you.

Avatar Ram and Hanuman

Hanuman 

HEARTBEATS THROUGH TIME

On a mountain top one is free to be!
The rarified air rings in the silence,
Infused with lyrical sound waves when the birds sing,
And the grass and colorful wild flowers rustle,
Ever so softly, when stirred in the gentle wind.
Bring your troubles to the mountain top
And allow the wind to whisk them away
Into the mysterious, rarified wild blue yonder.

When Ram was in Badrinath, India in “Ramayama”
Times of old, he stood on its highest mount
Sending waves of Dharmic Love around
This wondrous, beautiful entire Planet Earth.
Ram had with him, even then, the Son of the Wind God,
 Hanuman, who, through time, became an inspiration
To every devotee, of every Guru, since the time of
That great and Maha Avatar Ram.

History records that Hanuman became for mankind
In his generations to come--the perfect devotee—like this:
 Once in the High Court of Ram, Hanuman tore open his chest
Revealing his devoted heart, where every heartbeat echoed the
Divine Chanted Name: Ram . . . Ram . . .  Ram.

Does your heart beat to the dullest, out-of-tune rhythm . . .
 That of ego, pride, greed, lust and fame?
Or does your heart beat to the Maha beat of the
Satguru Avatar beat of Love Divine?
Do you hear your heart whispering ever so lovingly:
Vishwananda, Vishwananda, Swami Vishwananda;
Rama, Rama, Ram;
Krishnaya, Krishna, Krishnaya;
OM Namaha Shivaya;
Narayana, Narayana, Narayana, OM?

Each devotee makes his own way to the Divine
Guided by the Masters of one’s choice . . .
This you know . . . those whom the Divine chooses to send.
Hanuman initiated us into his divinity through his devotion to Ram.
In our day, we can choose to be initiated into the Love in each heart
As it beats to the sound of the Prema Avatar of Love, Itself. . .
Chanting . . . day and night and always . . .
Vishwananda . . . Vishwananda . . . Swami Vishwananda . . .
OM . . . OM . . . OM . . . Amen . . . and OM. 

Swamini Vishwalakshmianandama

Love's Pearls of Wisdom by Mahavatar Babaji

Love’s Pearls of Wisdom by Mahavatar Babaji

Swamini Initiation and Satsang in Mauritius

Initiation of new Swamini Vishwamohini in Mauritius

by Swami Vishwananda

SATSANG IN MAURITIUS
by Swami Vishwananda

I have given the easiest sadhana of all with Atma Kriya. There is no other sadhana because by practicing Atma Kriya, you are burning much Karma from many lives and so you will reach a very high level. For the rest it is only through my grace. 

Look, I play more human than anybody. This is my role, I have to do it; otherwise, I can't be here.

Enjoy being here, surrender the maximum you can and the rest will be given to you. What is surrender? Surrender is to forget yourself, to hand over yourself and everything. The ego is the arrogance. The ego is attached to you and you cannot control it. You can try to control the ego to your maximum, but it sticks on you.

The mind is the personality of the ego. You can control the mind. It is not easy but it is not impossible. When you surrender you have to make the first step towards the Divine. You are aware that God is in everything. It is only Him. “Nama gete uta uti.” There is nothing which is not God. Nothing else. Who is Tuka (Bhakti Saint who sang this song)? There is no Tuka. There is no Vishwananda, there is only Him, nothing else. It is Him who acts in everything. But just to know it like that does not mean everything. Tomorrow you forget about it through your actions in the world.

Once you have surrendered, there is not a single moment where the Divine is not present. That is why you can see in the life of saints that God is always present every single moment. This is surrender – only Him, nothing else. How do you do that? You do this by continuously thinking of Him, even if you have to challenge your own self. If you have to challenge your mind, challenge it. That is why Krishna said: “In millions only a few come to me. People are so preoccupied by pain, fame, name forgetting that this is just for some time only. This will only make you jump from one place to the other.

Language Of The Soul

 Sri Swami Vishwananda
Vibhuti Manifestation in Mumbai, India

Language Of The Soul
Love is a language, which the limited words that we speak can’t express; it can be felt only. It’s a language that the mother understands. When a newborn baby comes on earth the baby doesn’t speak. It’s a heart-to-heart communication and this heart-to-heart communication is the true language. This is the language of love, the language of the soul. Life without this language, life without love is of no use. Even if someone doesn’t feel love, there is a degree of love, or otherwise nothing would exist. A life without love is like a land, which you can till as much as you want, but it will never be fertile. The life with a little bit of love, that’s what we call joy.

Sri Swami Vishwananda

WANDERING SOUL
Lyrics / Sung by John Denver
(See video below)

In this magic hour of softening light

The moments in between the day and the night
The instance when all shadows disappear
The distance in between the love and the fear

There's a longing deep within the wandering soul
It's like the half that understands it once was whole
Like the two who only dream of being one
Like the moon whose only light is in the sun

There's a danger in forever looking outside
You start to believe that all your prayers have been denied
And you forget the sound of your own name
And thus begins the suffering and the pain

I wanted an answer, I wanta know why
I want to know love’s here on Earth and peace inside
And I want a reason, I wanta know why
Can there never be heaven right here on Earth and peace inside

Inside my heart
Deep in my soul
Within each part
And in the whole

There's a promise in the journey of the mind
You begin to believe that there are miracles you will find
And that someday you'll remember who you are
The seed within a bright and shining star

That lights the flame that lives within a hungering heart 
That only awaits a gift of love for it to spark
Into a fire that burns forever, endlessly,
Like the river that can't help but meet the sea

In this magic hour between the dark and the dawn
In the space between the silence and the song
Suddenly the mystery is clear
That love is only letting go of fear

Love is the answer and love is the way
Love is in knowing just what to do and what to say
And love is the reason and love is the why
And love is in heaven right here on Earth and peace inside

Inside your heart
Deep in your soul
Within each part
And in the whole

Love is the answer and love is the way
Love is in knowing just what to do and what to say
Love is the reason and love is the why
And love is in heaven right here on Earth and peace inside

WANDERING SOUL - John Denver

Reveal My Purpose

 Wisdom of Love

Guru Sri Swami Vishwananda's Arti

At Shree Peetha Nilaya, Sri Swami Vishwananda’s ashram in Springen, Germany, after Prayers, the Guru Arti is chanted as the light is waved before the deities on the altar and to Swami when he is in the temple sitting in his Chair.

Ananda Mangala Karu Arti, Hari Guru Santa Ki Seva

Meaning .  .  .
“I’m  waving the divine light, waving the divine light which is in all the saints and in my Guru .  .  .

NEWS from Bhakti Marga
Sunday Morning Prayers at Shree Peetha Nilaya, Sri Swami Vishwananda’s Ashram: Sunday Morning Prayers are Live Streamed beginning at 9 a.m. through approximately 11 to 11:30 a.m.

LINK: http://bhaktimarga.org/livestream/

Please start using the link of our new LIVE STREAM page on bhaktimarga. org. You can use the service just as before, in addition we will keep updating the page with fresh new messages regarding upcoming events etc which you will find useful.  ( From Bhakti Marga http://www.bhaktimarga.org./  )

Inner Call

Swami Vishwananda was asked: “How do you know this inner call?”

People have a house but they feel something is missing; they have this urge to know more. You buy one object after the other and you are not satisfied; there is always something lacking. This deep emptiness can be filled by everyone, the urge to know more. When you turn inwardly, you have this satisfaction inside yourself. One learns to observe. People feel it. When they take a decision in life, the first feeling they have is always the right one. But the mind comes, “Oops, it was wrong.” And the reason told them something else to do. The first feeling was right

.GOD SAYS: 

“I have been waiting for you.”

 








The human heart has one occupant
Therein lives either the Beloved
Or the ego personality of man.
It is like burning the body on the funeral pyre
When one burns the ego in the
Intense heat of Divine Love.

Masters say that one feels this painful fire in the heart,
As it is not a figment of one’s imagination
Or even an etheric fire.
This fire of transformation
Is one which is felt as pain;
This is called a longing for God,
As pain calls the Divine name.

When all dross is burned away,
And the attachments of the material world
Lie burned away into ashes,
There remains only the
Purification and transformation of Divine Love
It is then you Realize that the longing in your heart,
The pain you have experienced,
Is truly God’s longing for you,
Calling you home to Him!

Have courage and continue
On your Spiritual Way even as
People, places and things
Pass away and illness,
Sorrow and financial difficulties
Sometimes come alone your way.

Remember that God is waiting for you
So that He may say: “Have no remorse.
Your long journey has been worth the effort,
For you have come home at last!
I have been waiting, longing for you. . .
With a heart full of Love.”

                         Swamini Vishwalakshmianandama

                                     Heart on Fire for God

Mahavatar Babaji "Love's Pearls of Wisdom"

Guru Guidance - Flight Of The Soul

Swami Vishwananda at engagement Celebration, Yagna and Blessing
of His Cousin in Mauritius January 2012

When one comes into the guidance of a Spiritual Master, a Guru, and surrenders to what He says, of course, one will be pulled out of this illusion. As long as one doesn’t want to come into guidance of a Master, one will always be in the ignorance. -Swami Vishwananda

Flight Of The Soul
Guru’s Practical Magic

Into the homeland of Mauritius
The Guru wanders every January and June,
Of so it seems.
In truth, he was not born there
Nor does he return each January/June.

This is simply Guru’s Practical Magic
He carries within his eternal soul.
He comes to Earth, or so it seems,
In India, England, Egypt, Australia
Or Persia in days of yore.
But, as you know perfectly well,
He never is born and he never dies
In the greater reality of Eter-ni-ty.

So, when the Guru appears in a body
Looking much like yours and mine,
It is simply Practical Magic
To land on Earth somewhere,
Seemingly born to woman and man—
A mystery the mind cannot conceive,
This Immaculate Conception. . .within
Which… the Guru Creates Himself‘
Again and again, and again!

Thereby, he never is born and he never dies!
The mind goes disbelievingly blank,
With this kind of thinking,
Even in today of the Internet—
That Wondrous World-Wide Web!
For, beloveds, the Guru comes
From the Cosmic-Universal-Wide Web,
Never to be born and never to die
In the common way of the
Unenlightened man.

Oh mankind, beloved of God,
Beware of your limited thinking,
It will lead you nowhere!
Well, it could lead you to hell on Earth
If you benumbingly and mindlessly desire it.
For the Guru’s Practical Magic
Reverberates from disciple to devotee,
From the Heavens to the Mauritius Isle on Earth.
The Guru’s Practical Magic appears on Earth
 For one reason and one reason only:
To return all mankind to his
Real homeland on High,
To the realms of Maha Lakshmi-Vishnu-Narayana,
The Eternal Sustainer of life.

So, relax, in the Guru’s presence.
 Love the Beloved dearly, and
Take his lessons to Heart:
Control the mind,
Fetter that restless, seemingly powerful ego
And open the Heart to the relentless
Pursuit of Perfected Love.
Then you become who you really are. . .like Him:
Through the Guru’s Practical Magic, you
Become One With the Omnipotent, Magnificent, Great Divine.

Amen and Om, Amen!

Swamini Vishwalakshmianandama 

Wisdom of Love by Mahavatar Babaji

Heart or Ego

Swami Vishwananda and Mahavatar Babaji speak about attunement to ego or Heart:

Mahavatar Babaji: Beloved friends, look to the Divine for your heart connection to winning in life. From this attunement to Divine Love you will create quite a different lifestream than when connected to ego attunement. Swami Vishwananda speaks about the power of the ego in the following Satsang video. This video is a tool which the Divine uses in modern day, since the world is attuned to video watching and you do indeed connect to the speaker’s energy when viewing. It is to your greater advantage, also, to experience the energy, the love, which radiates from Swami Vishwananda in his physical presence. Let your life be accordingly, as you will it from the ego or from the Heart as Swami Vishwananda teaches.

I am Babaji who is ever at your side, in your heart and mind and eternally with you on your evolutionary path back to the Divine from which your Lifeforce first came into being.

Mahavatar Babaji

SWAMI VISHWANANDA:
Why does the Ego perceive itself to be so powerful?

Human Mistake

Humans always do this mistake of wanting things for the wrong reason. They pray to God, they ask for realization, but they do this out of selfishness. If you want permanent happiness, it is only possible when you surrender completely to God. -Swami Vishwananda

Gurudev, My Beloved, I’m Comin’ Home

GURUVAAR

Thursday is known as Guruvaar, Guru day. 

GURU’S MANIFESTED HOLY ASH

An urn carries sacred ash of the Guru
Spun by his human hand,
Brought forth from the depths of his soul,
The essence of his Self,
No beginning–No Birthday–No end.

His devotees gather to partake
Of the Ash—the bounty of his wisdom.
The Guru’s Ash conveys the meaning
Of life, the everlasting Truth,
Which is this. . . . . . .
Love is All There Is—the Divine.

Fish do not know the wisdom
Of the Guru’s Ash—
That they are One with the All.
In total unawareness,
They don’t know that they are fish
Swimming through God.

Humans strive lifetime after lifetime,
Even a million or more,
To reach the truth that lies within
The wisdom of the Ash.

All material things, be it Guru’s body
Or the Ash of wisdom he conveys,
Eventually return to the eternal —
“Dust thou art, and to dust
Thou shalt return."

But the Truth of the Guru’s Ash
Stands as a sentinel of the Divine —
Like an urn full of water poured from the
Guru’s hand into the tranquil, celestial
Himalayan Lake Manasarovar,
Sending ripples of Love
To the shores of the Divine.

Swamini Vishwalakshmianandama (Lakshmi)

Note: In the Hindu Tradition, Lake Manasarovar represents the human mind.

Love's Pearls of Wisdom by Mahavatar Babaji

The Sweetness of Swami and Things

SWAMI Dances and Sings

The Sweetness of Things

Sweetness flows from the heart of things.
An apple is the sweetest
When it falls from the tree
At the perfect ripeness in time.

A harmonium plays the sweetest tune,
When the heart and fingers of the hands that play,
Are in tune with the heart of the player,
And the harmonium playing, as one.

A heart in tune with the nature of things,
Which indeed do have heart,
And are as alive as you and I,
Creates a sweet symphony of love,
In attunement with the nature
Of The Divine, and all things.

So let your heart open wide
As Swami Vishwananda
Ever so sweetly sings. . .
"Bala Mukunda Jai Nandalala
Krishna Kanhaiya Jai Gopala
Bala Mukunda Jai Nandalala
Krishna Kanhaiya Jai Gopala"

Flow with nature’s symphony,
And your heart will sing
The eternal song of love Divine,
The “Bhagavad Gita,”
The sweetness and beauty
Of the magnificent splendor of
“The Song of God.”

Swamini Vishwalakshmianandama (Lakshmi)

The Sweetness of Swami Singing Bala Mukunda

Wisdom of Love Sri Swami Vishwananda

Real spirituality is in each one of you, in each one of your hearts. Whether you believe it or not, it's there. God is sitting permanently within you. But to achieve it, this is each one's way, each one’s personal way.