The Song of God
Worshipful offering at the Feet of Gurudev Swami Sivananda
It has always bordered to the miraculous. Gurudev blessed Me and sent Me overseas in 1961, and I have been asked to speak, speak, and speak to all sorts of audiences in several countries. Before I stand up on the platform, and after I get down from it, I have always been sceptical of My worthiness to be there. But I have always experienced an inner transformation the moment I offer the prayer to the Guru - Gurudev took over. It was He who spoke, and I have always been the first listener.
I am nothing. It is Gurudev who has carried on His own mission - that it has been through this particular instrument is a blessing upon it. In the proces, the instrument itself has been chastened, purified, and in spite of its unworthiness, glorified. But, no one should ever forget that all glory, all praise, should be offered to Gurudev.
May this light shine forever in our hearts.
Swami Venkatesananda
Preface
The Bhagavad Gita - Song of God - has captured the imagination of thinking men and women all over the world. It has been translated into many languages and has among its devotees people belonging to many religions and nationalities.
The uniqueness of the gospel of the Bhagavad Gita lies in the fact that its follower need not belong to a particular formal religion or sect. "Each man devoted to his own duty attains perfection", declared the Prophet of Cosmic Vision, Sri Krishna, who continues to explain succinctly how this perfection is attained. "He from whom all beings have evolved and by whom all this is pervaded - worshipping Him with due performance of his own duty, man attains perfection."
Here, then, is an unique gospel which does not tamper with your station in life, distract you from your duties, disturb your faith, nor lure you away from the path you have chosen, but illumines your path and strengthens your faith. Its proclaimed object is to free you from worry and anxiety, to protect you from yourself - your own lower self, full of unruly desires and unjustified prejudices, deluded by ageless ignorance and therefore haunted by meaningless fears of imaginary calamities.
Is it possible in the modern world to live a life of peace and joy, free from tension and anxiety, fear and frustration? Yes! The Bhagavad Gita illumines that possibility.
Here is the story of the Mahabharata in brief. Two brothers, Dhritarashtra who was born blind, and Pandu who was born anemic, had a hundred wicked sons and five pious respectively. The wicked sons of the former were keen to 'take over' their cousins' share of the kingdom, and tried by all means, fair and foul, to achieve their ambition. God's Grace, however, rescued the sons of Pandu from peril to peril. The wicked hundred contrived to banish the pious five from the kingdom for a period of thirteen years, and when they returned after successfully completing the period of exile, the wicked ones flatly refused to give them their rightful share of the kingdom.
Sri Krishna, who was a friend of the pious five, made a last minute attempts to avert the armed conflict, which however became inevitable. The impartial Lord Krishna offered to help both the parties; they could choose between Himself and His vast army. The wicked hundred chose the army, and the pious five were happy that they could have Him on their side. Sri Krishna served as the charioteer of one of the pious five, Arjuna.
Dhritarashtra, the blind King, was complacent that his sons' superior might, the numerical superiority of their army, and the presence on their side of Bhishma of unparalleled valour - who could not be slain against his own will - would ensure their victory. However, on the tenth day of the battle, Bhishma fell. The blind King's faith was shaken, and he called upon his intuitive-sighted Minister, Sanjaya, to narrate the events of the war to him.
Now read on ...
© Venkatesananda & Chiltern Yoga Trust
Swami Venkatesananda Legacy Rights
May God bless you all with health, long life, prosperity, and spiritual enlightenment.
May you all walk in the Light of God, with God with your hand in His, with the whole of you in His Palm.
Live in God. Love in God. Serve God in all beings.
May that Supreme Being dwell in your eyes, in your heart, seeing His Own Self in all; seeing God Himself in all.
May we thus swim in the Ocean of Bliss.
May that Peace that passeth all understanding dwell in your heart, radiate from every pore of your skin,
bathing everyone who comes within the circle of your aura with that inexpressible peace.
May harmony radiate from you, dispelling the darkness of disharmony wherever it is found.
May bliss radiate from you, dispelling the gloom of suffering, misery, pain - physical, mental, moral and spiritual.
May God lead us from the Unreal to the Real, from darkness to light, from mortality to immortality.
Assert every moment of your life - I am not the body, I am not this finite, limited mind, I am the Immortal Self.
May you be established in that Self-Realisation right now.
May God bless you all with health, long life, prosperity, and spiritual inlightenment.
Swami Venkatesananda
Om Namah Shivaya - Om Namah Venkatesaya