Articles

In our search for God we seek to spiritualize our lives through the transformation of character and our consciousness. We seek to transform our lives right […]

“Silence is not an absence but a presence, not emptiness but repletion. Silence is something more than just a pause; it is the enchanted space in which things open up, and surfaces fall away, and we find ourselves in the midst of absolutes. In silence, we often say, we can hear ourselves think; but what is truer to say, is that we can hear ourselves not think, and so sink beneath our daily selves, into a place deeper than mere thought allows. Silence is a way of clearing space and staying time; of opening out, so that horizon itself expands, and the air is transparent as glass."

We are all subject to the workings of Karma. Action is the nature of a universe bound by time and space. Within the context of creation Karma refers to the cause and effect mechanism operating within Prakriti (or Nature). It is the force which keeps the wheel of manifestation turning. Should this wheel stop, all action ceasing, the universe would cease also....

By Pravrajika Virajaprana Pravrajika Virajaprana is a nun in the San Francisco Convent. Her paper will be posted in two parts. Read Part 1 Swamiji makes […]

In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, there is a conversation between the great sage Yajnavalkya and his wife Maitreyi in which he said to her: “The Self, my dear Maitreyi, should verily be realized. How? “It should be heard of, reflected on and meditated upon. By the realization of the Self alone, my dear, through hearing, reflection, and meditation, all this is known.”

By Pravrajika Vrajaprana This paper was delivered at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture during March 2013.  Pravrajika Vrajaprana is a nun in the Santa Barbara […]

By Pravrajika Vrajaprana This paper was delivered at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture during March 2013.  Pravrajika Vrajaprana is a nun in the Santa Barbara […]

A symbol represents or recalls a thing by possession of analogous qualities or by association in fact or thought. The original Greek word symbolon means a sign by which one knows or infers a thing. Symbols express the invisible by means of visible or sensory representations—the immaterial via the material.

Swami Vivekananda’s ideas have been seen through various eyes, and new light has been thrown upon these ideas. In one sense, Swamiji is inexhaustible. In another sense, it can be supported that Swamiji’s core message is that man is the Atman, Atman is perfection, and perfection defies all types of limitations.

Why Take a Mantra from a Guru? If a mantra is taken from a book, the results will not be exactly the same as if received directly from a guru, nor will it be a waste of time either. God’s name has its own power. Illumined souls explain that if an aspirant learns from a guru who lives the life, who has progressed a little, the results will be greater. One becomes convinced it is possible to realize God after having seen such a soul before one’s own eyes. In the struggle Godward, every now and then aspirants become discouraged. Therefore, to keep up the struggle and sustain a certain zeal, one must associate with the holy. That is another benefit of the guru.