A thief used to come and steal from Swami Sivananda’s ashram in Rishikesh. During a festival, the ashram was giving prasad in the form of blankets and other necessities to poor people living in the area.

The thief came to be given this prasad.

Prasad is tangible nourishment blessed in a ritual invoking a form of the Enlightened Self: a Guru or Deity.

Some residents of the Ashram came to Swami Sivananda and advised him not to give prasad to the thief. They felt that the thief had already taken many things; why should Swami Sivananda give him more? (more…)

A reader from New England asks:

I was reading your post on the Precious Words of My Teacher. You wrote there about the “plane of equality.” What does that mean?

Most human beings experience various aspects of life as higher or lower, better or worse,  more attractive or less attractive. This is pure suffering. (more…)

Durga fearless and beneficent

Today is the start of Navaratri, a ten day festival celebrating the Grace and Wisdom of the Goddess.

Maha Shakti is the entirety of the life process. Everything we are, see, feel, touch, hear, smell, and accomplish is Her.

During Navaratri, we celebrate and receive the Grace of the Goddess emanating from three of her manifestations: Durga, Lakshmi, and Sarasvati.

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I am very happy to report that a fourteen year old reader from Florida has asked this question:

Who is Ma?

People asked Anandamayi Ma this question from the time she was a teenager. (more…)