Gregg Hill's Reflexology and Japanese Massage Institute presents:

DAILY MEDITATIONS
BY SWAMI SIVANANDA

MEDITATIONS FOR

AUGUST
 Gregg Hill's Reflexology and Japanese Massage Institute presents:
DAILY MEDITATIONS
BY SWAMI SIVANANDA

WHY D O Y OU LAUGH – 1

Why do you laugh in vain, friend when you really have cause to weep? You have wasted this life in foolish
mirth and carnal pleasures. You have wasted it in useless pursuits.
You have done various sinful acts and have not done anything to improve you r nature. You have no clear
conscience and your heart is filled with all kinds of impurities. You have no peace of mind. Remember that ~1
carnal pleasures will bite and sting you to death in the end.

I S THIS PLEASURE? – 2
In the Gita you will find: "That pleasure which arises from the contact of the sense-organ with the object is
at first like nectar but in the end like poison."
Open your eyes now and do virtuous actions. Seek the company of the wise. Remember Him, then you will
have a new and glorious life. What is wanted is mental nudity-the complete eradication of egoism and desires.
Do not be deceived by false external appearances.

TAKE PURE FO OD – 3
If you take pure food, you will have a pure mind. Mind is formed of the subtlest essence of food. If you
have purity of mind, you will remember God. If you always remember God, the three knots of the heart-desire,
ignorance and action-will be rent asunder. You will be free.
"A man should uplift himself by his own self; so let him not weaken this self; for this self is the friend of
oneself and is also the enemy of oneself." Thus says the Gita.

REAL W ORSHIP – 4
Worship the Lord with the flowers of knowledge, contentment, peace, joy and equal vision. This will
constitute real worship. This worship will give quick spiritual growth.
Try to identity yourself with the eternal, everpure, immortal Atman that resides in the chambers of your
heart. Think and feel always: "I am the everpure, eternal, all-pervading Atman." This thought will remove all
your troubles and fanciful thoughts. The mind will try to delude you. It will lurk like a thief. Therefore, start this
anti-current of thought now.

CARE N OR FOR CRITICISM – 5

Do not feel despondent on any account. Walk like a spiritual lion. Overcome all difficulties one by one.
Be not afraid of public criticism. People are still abusing Lord Mahavira, Sri Shankara, Lord Krishna and
Lord Rama. They will continue to do so from eternity to eternity. The world abounds with many Tamasic
people. Therefore, stand adamant under all conditions and at all times.
 Gregg Hill's Reflexology and Japanese Massage Institute presents:
DAILY MEDITATIONS
BY SWAMI SIVANANDA

THE RAZOR PATH – 6

Desires are very powerful. The senses and the mind are very turbulent and impetuous. Again and again the
battle has to be fought and won. That is the reason why the spiritual path is called the "razor path."
There is no difficulty for a man of iron will and strong determination even on this razor path. Inner strength
will come at every step. Extreme asceticism and self-torture are not necessary for the attainment of knowledge
of the Self.

KEEP IT UP – 7
When the mind is Sattwic you will get glimpses and flashes of intuition. You will compose poems and
understand beautifully the significance of the Upanishads.

But this stage will not last long. Tamas and Rajas will try to enter the mental factory. In the beginning, the
state of progress may be like tine jumping of a frog, never steady and continuous. You may think that you have
almost reached the goal, and then experience for the following sixteen or twenty days nothing but frustration.
Have sustained and intense dispassion and do intense Sadhana.

THOU ART SAFE – 8

O beloved Ram, you are within a strong spiritual fortress now. No temptation can influence you. You are
absolutely safe. You can now practice vigorous Sadhana without tear. You have a strong spiritual prop to lean
upon.
Become a brave spiritual soldier. Kill your foe – the mind – ruthlessly. Wear the spiritual laurels of bliss,
peace, equal vision and contentment. You are already shining with Brahmic splendor on your face.

GRADES OF EXPERIENCE – 9
Some experience glimpses of the transcendental wonders of the Atman. Some are on the borderland of the
vast domain of the Atman. Some are like Dattatreya, Jada Bharata, Vamadeva and Sadasiva Brahman, who
plunged deep into the ocean of bliss. The more the thinning of desires, egoism and attachment, the greater the
bliss of the Self. The more the Sadhana, the more the experience of joy of the Self.

WHO I S A SAGE – 10
Neither through matted locks nor through fiery lectures and erudition nor through the exhibition of miracles
does one attain perfection in knowledge of the Sell. He in whom the two currents of attraction and repulsion,
egoism, lust and anger are destroyed in toto is ever peaceful and happy. He is a liberated sage.
If desires and attachment to objects disappear completely, and if you are in that immovable state, you have
become a liberated sage.
 Gregg Hill's Reflexology and Japanese Massage Institute presents:
DAILY MEDITATIONS
BY SWAMI SIVANANDA

THE DEATH OF THE EGO – 11

The ego will lurk like a thief when you start introspection and self-analysis. It will elude your grasp and
understanding. You must be ever vigilant and alert. If you obtain the Grace of the Lord through Japa, Kirtan,
prayer and devotion, you can easily kill this ego. Through the Grace of the Lord alone will your self-surrender
become perfect.
When this ego melts in the Cosmic Ego you will attain communion with the Lord. You will become one
with Him. May you realize the goal of life – Self-realization!

SUCH IS LIFE – 12
Worldly life is like a dream, always troubled with diseases and the like. It is like a castle in the air. It is only
a fool who runs after it.
Life is waning at each rising and setting of the sun. Even though you see others dying and growing old, yet
you never wake up from your own dream of tile vanity of worldly life. Each day is like the other, each night is
like the other, and yet foolish man runs after worldly enjoyments and sees not the passing of time.

ENEMIES OF KNOWLEDGE – 13
Desire, passion, hatred, jealousy and greed are the enemies of knowledge. Under their influence man kills
his father, brother, sister and others. All mental fever has its root in passion.
Passion is the destroyer of virtue. So, abandon it and be at ease. Anger is your great enemy. One will have
no enemy if one cultivates forgiveness. Desire is a great ocean. Contentment is the heavenly bower. Peace
yields every desired object.

BEWARE! – 14
Alas! Life is waning away every moment, like water kept in an unbaked pot of clay. Diseases, like enemies,
are assailing the body on every side. Old age is troubling. Death is ever on the watch to swallow you. It is
awaiting its time to devour you.
May you all attain the state of complete mental detachment! May you all, while performing your prescribed
duties in the respective station of life, attain the state of perfection or final beatitude!

DEPEND N OT ON W ORLDLY O BJECTS– 15

Ignorant, worldly-minded persons are charmed and deluded by the products of Maya. They lose their
understanding on account of the force of Maya or ignorance and delude themselves by engaging in sensual
enjoyments. They eventually perish without realizing the Atman.
Worldly objects are unreal. If you think deeply and do enquiry, the world with its manifold and multi-
colored objects will appear as a long dream only. The objects, which appear for a short period only, like the
snake in the rope, do not exist in reality.
 Gregg Hill's Reflexology and Japanese Massage Institute presents:
DAILY MEDITATIONS
BY SWAMI SIVANANDA

WHAT I S THE REALITY? – 16

That which does not exist in the beginning and in the end, does not really exist in the middle also; it is
therefore unreal.
The snake that is seen in the rope at night does not exist when a lamp is brought. It appears in the middle
only. Such is the case with silver in the mother-of-pearl, water in the mirage, and city in the clouds. Therefore,
they are unreal even though they appear. The dream objects also do not exist in the daytime. Similarly, the
objects of this world appear only in the middle; hence they are unreal.

THINGS ARE EVER CHANGING – 17

Tile cells and atoms of the body of a man are always changing. The constructive and destructive processes
are ever going on in the different systems of the body. Within seven years the body is entirely rebuilt of new
atoms. One has then a different body altogether. Still a son says, "This is my lather who lived ten years ago." Is
this not false?
An object gives pleasure to a man. The same object gives pain to another. Therefore, pleasure and pain are
mental creations.

O BJECTS ARE REALLY WITHIN – 18

The objects created by the mind cause pleasure and pain. It is the mental imagination that generates pleasure
and pain.
Lust, greed, delusion and pride do not exist outside but are in the mind. They do not really exist. It is the
mind that assumes these modifications. Through these modifications man derives immense pleasure and pain.
The mind imagines and thinks: "This is a beautiful object outside. Will I be able to possess it?" A desire arises
in the mind and the heart burns with longing.

THINK C ORRECTLY – 19
An apple exists. Man gives value to it. He feels that it is very delicious. An attachment to the fruit is thus
created. This is the cause of bondage. He who does not like apples has no attachment to them. He who is a
teetotaler has no desire for liquor.
Man is bound by his false and incorrect thinking. O man, think correctly and rightly. Give up all your
erroneous notions. Think that you are Brahman or the Absolute and become eternally free and happy.

"TAT TWAM A SI" – 20

O beloved Ram, you have forgotten your real essential nature on account of your egoism and desire. Thou
art the immortal Soul. "Thou art That – Tat Twam Asi." Rise above infatuation. Give up identification with this
perishable body. Take a bath in the Ganges of devotion to the feet of the Guru.
Kill the thieves of lust and anger. Abandon the ideas: '" am the doer, I am the enjoyer." Be fully established
in the idea of the unreality of the world.
 Gregg Hill's Reflexology and Japanese Massage Institute presents:
DAILY MEDITATIONS
BY SWAMI SIVANANDA

THE NATURE OF THE SELF – 21

The Atman alone exists. It appears as the objects which we cognize, just as a rope appears as a serpent. The
Atman puts on the appearance of the objects. It is really the Self within all objects.
That Atman is without cause and effect, without anything inside or outside It. It is without limbs, without
parts, without name or caste. It shines by itself as It is self-luminous. All the objects that you cognize, shine
after it, that is, they borrow their light from tile self-effulgent Atman.

TRUTH IS I NDESCRIBABLE – 22
Saints emphatically declare that Brahman or the Eternal is "that which is undifferentiated; that which is
unborn either as cause or effect; that from which speech and mind turn back baffled; that which is neither this
nor that – "Neti, Neti."
Brahman is the real, unconditioned Existence. It is the Reality of realities. We are baffled in our attempts to
describe It. How can this finite mind grasp the Infinite?

MEDITATION ON BRAHMAN – 23
Brahman is a mass of intelligence. It is destitute of any other characteristic. It is entirely without any sort of
difference.
In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad you will find: "As a mass of salt has neither inside nor outside, but is
entirely a mass of taste, thus indeed has that Self neither inside nor outside, but is altogether a mass of
knowledge." The enlightened sage sees one illimitable, homogeneous mass of Consciousness only.

THE DIRECTOR OF Y OUR SENSES – 24

Just as a house exists for the use of someone, so also the ears, eyes, hands and legs exist for the use of their
director, who is entirely distinct from these senses.
That director is the real infinite "I," the inner ruler. He is the immortal and pure Consciousness. The
capability of the ears to hear sounds and of the eyes to cognize objects is due to the intelligence of this director.

THE SUPREME POWER – 25

The Supreme Self, who is the source of everything, who is the inner ruler of all beings, cannot easily be
seen. But you can infer His existence by looking at the sun, the moon, the stars and other marvelous objects of
this universe, which bespeak of His supreme glory and ineffable splendor.

FEARLESSNESS – THE FRUIT OF JNANA – 26

When the knower of the Self is centered in his own Self, when he rests in his own essential divine nature, he
sees, hears and tastes nothing else. One can be afraid of another but one cannot be afraid of one's own Self.
How can there be fear for one who sees only his own Self in every being and in everything? So Brahman
alone is the cause of the fearlessness of the knower. Although there are various causes of fear in this world, the
knowers of the Self are fearless.
 Gregg Hill's Reflexology and Japanese Massage Institute presents:
DAILY MEDITATIONS
BY SWAMI SIVANANDA

MEDITATION ON G OD – 27
This world is the manifest aspect of the Lord. He alone was in the beginning when there was no creation.
After creation He remains unattached and free like the ether in the pot. The earthen pot is full inside and outside
with ether, but the ether is not at all affected by the existence or non-existence of the pot.
Even so, the Lord is all-pervading and full inside and outside all beings; and yet He remains ever non-
attached. He guides the actions of all beings but He is not the actor.

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF I GNORANCE – 28

Tile individual soul creates this world of names and forms on account of its ignorance and delusion. When it
attains knowledge of the Self through the Grace of the Guru, it dissolves the external world into itself and sees
its own Self everywhere.
The soul now sees only oneness everywhere. It is struck with wonder when it thinks of the world of duality.
The world of diversity appears to it like a mere dream and it exclaims in surprise: "Where has this world full of
the charms of Maya disappeared now, which was glaring before my very eyes till this moment?"

INNER G OVERNMENT – 29
Just as there is a government in all countries to govern nations and maintain law and order, so also there is
an inner government to maintain law and order in this universe.
The marvelous inner government has Satyam (truth) as its banner, Dharma (righteousness) as its seal,
Omkara as its band, discrimination as its coat of arms, and dispassion as its shield. It has one policy – that of
helping aspirants to attain Self-realization. The head of the inner government is Brahman or the Supreme Self.

WHO I S A SAINT? – 30
The company of saints is the cause of emancipation. Saints are those whose minds are unruffled, who are
free from avarice, who have conquered desire, who have brought their senses and internal nature under control,
who are devoted to the Lord, who have no longing for anything, who are the same in pleasure and pain, who are
free from attachment, who have the attributes of self-control, and who are content with whatever comes their
way. Saints are the true benefactors of the world. Tile world is sustained by them.

VICTORY – THE FRUIT OF PERSEVERANCE – 31

The tendency to persevere, to persist in spite of hindrances, discouragements and impossibilities – it is this
that distinguishes the strong soul from the weak. A man of strong will and perseverance never meets with
failures, He attains success in all his undertakings.
When you embark on a project you should not leave it till you attain complete success. Pursue it resolutely.
A man of diligence, vigilance and strong resolution grows into a genius.
The nerve that never relaxes, the eye that never blenches, the thought that never wanders – these are the
masters of victory. Victory belongs to those who persevere. Perseverance gives power to weakness and opens
the door of poverty to the wealth of the whole world. With this quality great difficulties come to an end.