Insights into Bhagavad Gita

Last night we had some discussion on mantra-japa. Mantra is a kind of compact formula in which an idea or attitude is expressed. S was repeatedly asking me whether the mantra will mean everything in the life of a seeker. My dear boy, for a serious seeker, mantra means everything! Everything related to his spiritual life as well as otherwise.

Q&A with Swami Nirviseshananda Tirtha (Published in Speaking Tree)

Coming back from Jamshedpur, I wrote to Swamiji: “Like all the previous years, your holy association has been very enriching. This time it has given a significant turn to my sadhana. For long I was strongly obsessed by the thoughts that I had to progress in sadhana as quickly as possible, I had to read many shastras as fast as I could, etc.

What is spiritual excellence? – its nature, scope and potency? Normally, the coveted aim before an earnest spiritual seeker is to know the Supreme Truth himself, to actualize it as a personal living experience, and thereby to become ‘fulfilled’. The path followed is essentially of self-absorption and withdrawal from world involvements to transcend the dwandwaas (dualities) posed by the mind and to reach a state of oneness of vision and experience.

Destiny is a word which finds repeated place in our common parlance. But it is an extremely abstruse concept, when it comes to a question of discussing it and trying to make one understand what exactly it denotes in our life, experiences and actions. The reasons are first psychological, intellectual next and philosophical last.

Meditation is an exclusive effort – an exclusive pursuit and application of the mind. Sitting in front of a deity and chanting God’s name need not be meditation. Meditator sits in a comfortable pose of stillness and the effort is made by the mind and mind alone. The effort is to make the mind clear and still.