A Letter on Yagna or Selfless Work by The Master Himself

December 12, 2012

In Geeta 3-10, Śrī Kṛṣṇa states:
सहयज्ञाः प्रजाः सृष्ट्वा पुरोवाच प्रजापतिः |
अनेन प्रसविष्यध्वमेष वोऽस्त्विष्टकामधुक् ||३-१०||
At the beginning (of creation), having created mankind, together with sacrifices, The PRAJAPATI (the Creator),said, "by this shall you prosper; let this be the milch-cow of your desire - "Kāmadhuk" (the mythological cow which yields all desired objects).

I came across a wonderful letter by Param Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayanandaji in my personal collection. Pujya Gurudev always referred to his public Geeta talks as Geeta Gnana Yagna borrowing from verse 4-33 in which Śrī Kṛṣṇa declares that Gnana Yagna is superior to any form of material Yagna. He also referred to the process of organizing the Yagna as an exercise in working in the Yagna spirit as in the verse above.

Pujya Gurudev constantly guided us (the organizers) with boundless compassion, yet was always insistent on high quality planning to ensure that the audience be able to listen to the teaching in quietude and concentration. He was generous in his praise of the workers and constantly inspired us to keep in mind that we were to keep in mind always that we were serving the Lord and the people.

I am thrilled to present a scanned copy of the message written by Gurudev in his own handwriting on January 2, 1984 (you can click on the thumbnails to enlarge the letter). I have also included a transcription of the letter below. In His message, Pujya Gurudev discussed how dedicated work a team of workers (volunteers)"becomes (the) Lord's own expression. Success alone must rise from it."

As one of the youth organizers working in communications during that First International Spiritual Camp and Geeta Gnana Yagna, I was the fortunate one to receive the concluding message from Him. Recalling those days, I echo Sanjaya's phrase मुहुर्मुहुः (Geeta 18-76), "I rejoice again and again."

Transcipt of the letter:

Though it all started as a mere midsummer fancy in a car-drive, and I enthusiastically accepted the rash suggestion of Srichand and appointed him as Secretary General on that very day in 1981, I never thought that it would grow up into an actual fact in life.

A true and selfless SANKALPA when rises in an individual's heart, and when that sankalpa is consistently worked out by a disciplined team of workers, it becomes Lord's own expression. Success alone must rise from it.

This maybe the FIRST International Yagna and camp, but like the early tricklings at the source slowly flows down and it is met with by other tributaries feeding it into a mighty river, so too the work gathers its momentum and blesses the generation.

We have already a call to hold the SECOND Inter(national) Camp in Michigan, USA.

Each of you delegates must now spread out and start your own personal sadhana and each must work as best as you can to spread the message of Hinduism as a culture.

I salute you all! You are Lord's own chosen few.

Love

OM Chinmayananda

Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post

Geeta Dhyānaṁ 2 - Vyāsā's Vast Intellect

January 7, 2013 Previously on Geeta Jayanti, I had posted on the eternal debt of gratitude to Mother Geeta that is the basis of Geeta Dhyānaṁ. I love Param Pujya Gurudev 's commentary on the Geeta Dhyānaṁ. Pujya Gurudev's commentary is after the introduction to the Bhagavad Geeta in the commentary on Chapters 1 & 2 published by the the Chinmaya Mission. I personally believe it should be a book by itself. After invoking Mother Geeta, we now pay tribute to the wise Vyāsa Rishi - the Guru whose Jayanti marks Guru Pūrnima every year. Pujya Gurudev starts His tribute to Veda Vyāsā in his commentary on the 1st verse of the Dhyānaṁ. Vyāsa, the father of the Vedās, who, first collected, edited and published the Veda texts and who thereafter, gave us the dialectics of Vedānta in his Brahma Sūtra, himself a great man of realization, was indeed well fitted for the job. The ancient seer had both the mastery of the theoretical science of religion - Hinduism and also the practical expe

In every field, let Dharma flourish - क्षेत्रे क्षेत्रे धर्म कुरु

August 9, 2012 Swamini Vimalanandaji has done a series of talks at the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) called "406 SMS – Sure Mantras for Success from Bhagwad Geeta" (item 406 at this AMA link ). In this she has a very interesting take on the 1st line of the Bhagavad Geeta. धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे १-१ dharmakShetre kurukShetre 1-1 <i> on the holy plain of Kurukshetra... </i> Swamini turns that slightly and says, क्षेत्रे क्षेत्रे धर्म कुरु - kShetre kShetre dharma kuru. Swamini goes on to establish that we can use this mantra to make that: "In every aspect of society, must be pervaded by Dharma" Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post

Geeta in Literature - IF by Rudyard Kipling

September 12, 2011 I came across a nice YouTube video that is an animation of Rudyard Kipling reading his famous poem IF . The full text sourced from wikisource is below: If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too: If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise; If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim, If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same: If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools; If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And los

Everyday Geeta

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