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Manage your mind and all becomes possible

Change management is a topic that is frequently discussed in the corporate world. People constantly change their minds; economic and political situations are volatile and subject […]

The Magic of Willpower: How to Change the Course of Your Life

Human beings are the most advanced of all the species on earth. Possessing an intellect, we have the ability to ponder over, communicate, and comprehend issues. […]

Stand Up and Face Life!

On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Arjuna, a mighty warrior, a great achiever and celebrated hero suffers a psychological breakdown. At the very crucial moment, when weapons […]

Work and not expectation, produces results

The only thing we all seek is happiness. But, we indulge in contrary actions: one gets married because one wants to be happy; one seeks divorce […]

Diwali: The lamps in true light – Swami Tejomayananda

“Diwali is the day when we harvest the results of our hard work blessed with wealth by Mother Lakshmi. We pray to her with gratitude and […]

Reminiscences of Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda

Bitter experiences can purify: *Bharati Sukhtankar: * One day over lunch, Gurudev said, “This gourd may be bitter, but it will cleanse your system. Don’t reject […]

Swami Chinmayananda on Lord Krishna

This Supreme Essence born as a mass of Beauty, Music and Joy, dazzling in Wisdom, noisy with Laughter, ever a Master of Circumstances, a King of […]

Pearls of Wisdom for Self Improvement – by Swami Chinmayananda

/ Part One / CONTROL YOUR MIND In introspection the mind itself is the subject of study. Mind alone is Māyā at play. A mind at […]

The Three Principles – by Swami Chinmayananda

To realise our full spiritual Nature is to experience the fullness of life. As long as we have not attained this state of being, our intellect […]

An Enquiry Into Peace – Swami Chinmayananda

Let nothing disturb your inner peace – Swami Chinmayananda Had man been just an animal, he would not need anything more than physical comforts and security, […]

A Life of Inspiration & Service – Swami Chinmayananda

“Only in the silence of quiet mind can you realise your oneness with the supreme reality [Brahman].” – Swami Chinmayananda Swami Chinmayananda: How He Taught In […]

You Can Refuse To Be Miserable

Anxiety is an emotion that we all experience. Anxiety, as well as all the other emotions, can actually be turned around to our advantage. When we […]

The Glory of Bhakta Hanuman

In this world, it is almost impossible for an individual to lead a perfect, blemish-free life – a life that is above criticism. Studying the great […]

The Three Principles by Swami Chinmayananda

To realize our full spiritual Nature is to experience the fullness of life. As long as we have not attained this state of being, our intellect will […]

Why do we celebrate Mahashivaratri?

Amongst many stories that portray why we celebrate Mahashivaratri, here are four main reasons why is Shivratri celebrated: Mahashivaratri marks overcoming darkness and ignorance in life […]

The Art of Listening

We can learn a lot from every event in life. Just as the honeybee has the special instrument (proboscis) to extract the very essence in the […]

The Doubting Mind

Those who are constant doubters can enjoy neither here nor there. Such men are psychologically incapable of enjoying any situation, because the doubting tendency in them […]

Management Tips – Overcoming Obstacles – by Swami Chinmayananda

“Some act till they meet obstacles, others act inspite of obstacles, and conquer them; but some act not, fearing the possibility of some obstacles that might […]

Let Us Be Hindus

A Hindu Swami to talk. A Hindu temple for the background. A crowded hall with a Hindu audience, and the subject for discussion: “Let Us Be […]

Article from Tapovan Prasad

Q: What does the Chinmaya Mission teach its members? What will I get if I join it? Gurudev:  Chinmaya Mission will never teach you anything,  but […]

Finding Balance in a Changing World

Life is full of ups and downs. Things change. Even Sri Rama and Lord Krishna, Christ and Mohammed had to face them. Their glory was that […]

What Is True Diwali?

On this Sacred day of Deepavali (Diwali) at dusk when darkness intensifies, all homes are illumined by lights, tiny mud pots with oil wicks. I appeal […]

Stand up, perform to your maximum potential

On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Arjuna, a mighty warrior, great achiever and celebrated hero, suffers a psychological breakdown. At the crucial moment, when weapons were about […]

Faith – The secret of achievement

Human beings are capable of a tremendous amount of effort. This is possible only when we are inspired; otherwise the ability remains dormant. The quality of […]

The Technique Of Living in Tireless Enthusiasm!

To every thinking man, the truth is obvious that in life, he is at best only an instrument in His hands. We are not generally ready […]

You need never feel lonely again

Today, loneliness is a familiar occurrence. Being alone is not synonymous with being lonely. Loneliness does not arise from being ‘alone’ with ourselves; it emerges when […]

Religion and Spirituality

Religion and spirituality are the same if we understand them correctly. Generally, we can say that religion is that which involves various rituals, dogmas, worship and […]

What is the Vedantic message of the Ramayana?

In Ayodhya, (yudhdha means conflict, Ayodhya means where there is no conflict) to King Dasharatha was born the Supreme Lord, Shri Rama as a baby. Shri […]

Devotion – as both the means and goal

What exactly is devotion? When three types of thoughts – Love (prema), respect (aadhara), and faith (shraddha) combine, it results in bhakti – devotion. When true […]

Success without Stress

Modern management theory suggests stress can be good for people, and in part that is correct: people do work harder when under a certain amount of […]

Performing in the Storm

It represents those moments in our lives when everything is so promising, so wonderful, we wish it would last forever. But before we know it, all […]

Historical figures on the Bhagavad Geeta

Mahatma Gandhi The Geeta is the universal mother. She turns away nobody. Her door is wide open to anyone who knocks. A true votary of the […]

Love's labour can never be lost

Actions can be broadly classified into three types: unproductive, productive and inspired. In reality there is no action that does not produce some result. However, most […]

The Geeta: her special charm

A culture when sustained through its religious practices, if it has no elasticity, will come to choke the growth of the community and the people will […]

Vijay Rath

The obstacle to sustaining a positive thought is, of course, a negative thought, like: a) It can’t be done b) I did it once but I […]

The importance of teamwork

The very acronym of the word ‘Teamwork’ explains it in detail: T: Togetherness The spirit of togetherness is invoked in the Indian Culture through the ‘Yagna’. […]

A little fear can do you some good

Emotions like fear and anxiety are meant to help us rather than to become a curse in our lives. For example, if we did not have […]

You can just refuse to be miserable

Excessive brooding over the future or regret for the past gives rise to worry or anxiety. Let us see how we can use the word worry […]

Humility

Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda pointed out a great truth in this connection; He said, “Humility is a strange thing – the moment you think you have it, […]

Tips for joyful living

Surrender and insistence on one’s will cannot go together. It is we who carry the load of all due to our sense of doership, possessiveness or […]

You and Yours (on parenting)

The question of how to live the values of life is not a new one faced only in modern times. It is as old as our […]

Acts that liberate us

1. Duties that come to us unasked according to our status in life are to be understood as God sent. Their performance frees us from personal […]

Overcoming stress

We generally hear that there is too mush stress, strain and tension in our day to day life. In business we have cut throat competition. There […]

Divinised emotions are good for you

Emotions exercise great power and influence over our thoughts and actions. Negative emotions cause agitation, unrest, conflict, struggle, and frustration, resulting in unhappiness. Positive emotions, on […]

Pearls of Wisdom

What is happiness? Happiness is to be fully content, to be totally satisfied with oneself; something that is only possible once we have realised our true […]

Living with people

We know that fire is hot and we accept that fact. If we are burnt by touching fire, we do not blame it. If a whole […]

Management tips – overcoming obstacles

Some act till they meet obstacles, others act inspite of obstacles, and conquer them; but some act not, fearing the possibility of some obstacles that might […]

Lively Aliveness

1. Liveliness means to be Active, Animated, Spirited and to Shine with Lustre like a Bright Light. Liveliness transforms Thought into Actuality, Mental Idea into Reality. […]

Learning through relationships

1. It is through relationships that we learn to express and receive love, we learn to forgive, help, serve and evolve. 2. When we recognize that […]

You Become A Spiritual Millionaire!

Only Love is real. Love is an energy of incredible power and strength. We are all made of this energy. Love is absolute. Love never ends, […]

Presentation on Swami Chinmayananda

Hari Om! There are many saints and sages in the history of India. There are also many gurus. But visionaries are only a few. Sri Swami […]

Vision of the Geeta

He wanted to prove to him that the war he was fighting was a war for justice and righteousness. It was not a war for territory, […]

The best words

The greatest handicap…………………. FEAR The best day…………………………. ………TODAY The easiest thing to do………………… FIND FAULT Most useless asset……………………… PRIDE The greatest mistake…………………… GIVING UP The greatest […]

Makar Sankranti, Lohri & Pongal

Lohri celebrates fertility and the spark of life. People gather round the bonfires, throw sweets, puffed rice and popcorn into the flames as an offering to […]

Mahashivratri

Renunciation born of Divine Realisation, not born of frustration, not born of an escapist attitude, not born of defeatism, but born of an insight into the […]

Holi

Holika wanted to kill Prahlad after the death of Hiranayakashyap. She had been granted a boon that fire would never hurt her. So she decided to […]

Diwali

In this sense, Diwali is a day of many blessings: It is the day when Kaikai’s wickedness, jealousy and greed accepted defeat and when Bharat’s love, […]

Swami Chinmayananda's Jayanti & Mahasamadhi

You are aware of two most important aspects of Chinmaya Mission, namely, one’s own spiritual growth and positive contribution to society. Keeping this in view, in […]

Festivals

Let us first analyse why there is a need for these religious festivals. As we work everyday from morning until evening, we become tired and naturally […]

Sri Ganapati – Vinayaka

These names clearly show that He is a Master of all circumstances and not even the divine forces can ever obstruct His path. Since He is […]

Shri Krishna Janmashtami

In and through the clamour of the lower beastly gruntings in our bosom we surely hear very often the enchanting notes of a warbling music of […]

His vision and mission

There are four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. They are bosom friends. An important project came up and Swamiji asked Everybody to do it […]

When the lion roars

Swamiji, we generally find that it is tough getting work done from our co-workers. But Gurudev never seemed to have such a problem. Why is that […]

Strive On!

In this world nothing is gained without action. Through action we produce, providing a conducive and comfortable atmosphere for living. The Bhagavat Geeta says that through […]

Reminiscing about Swami Chinmayananda

When we were in the CHYK in Hong Kong, we used to chase Gurudev in every Bhiksha and bask in his love. During one of the […]

Thoughts of Reverence

He kept dodging. Looking at Sakshi, a two year old baby, he said, “She is distracting me. She is looking at me and that is distracting […]

The Embodiment of Love, Chinmaya

Those were my poorva centrea days. I was then doing M.Sc. in Physics and my only motive was to join an centre. The then Manager of […]

Lord's Chosen Flute – Swami Chinmayananda

The greatest glory of the Master is that not only he becomes great by virtue of His Self Realisation but He makes His disciples also discover […]

A preacher who took the Gita to the masses

A self-confessed agnostic and aimless drifter turning into a missionary and going about converting people – converting Hindus to Hinduism – that is the story of […]

On the Eve of His First Global Tour

“Now that I am going abroad people there will ask me why are you trying to improve others when you yourselves are so bad at home? […]

Excerpts from Gurudev’s first global tour

On 20th May 1965, Swamiji was invited at the Bartholomew Hospital for tea and later to address the students, most of whom were in their final […]

At every breath, a teaching

He compared life’s journey to travel over a long – distance road: When you are travelling across the country a long distance, some part of the […]

Into or Out of?

‘Out’ of Living Hell Swami Chinmayananda Pujya Gurudev said of his early days before Sannyas: Menon was supremely confident as he strode out to meet life. […]

Message to the World's Parliament of Religions

In this ugly edifice, living together packed in its limited living space, the occupants feel no more any pride in their sacred home, nor do they […]

A rewarding reply to a humble request

Respected Swamiji, I am anxious to learn about you. I have been hunting for some biography (or autobiography) of Swami Chinmayananda. You seem to have written […]

Dharma and Sampradaaya

Let us try to understand the words ‘Dharma’ and ‘Sampradaayaa’ in their true meaning. These are words of the Sanskrit language and so their true meaning […]

Not an Idol – an Ideal

Worshipping God and seeking His grace seems to be a mere blind belief meant only for escapists and failures. However, true worship is not a mere […]

Krishna and Radha

Consciousness is the pure Self, the sentient Life Principle which enlivens one’s material equipment to function in their respective realms. Consciousness is the very Subject of […]

Attrition of time

Even mountains must erode and crumble to the level of the earth as the fleeting steps of time march down its slopes. Not only gross substances […]

Mission and Vision

Though spirituality and religion should not be organized, it can be unfolded; spiritual vitality can be unfolded within the heart of a human being, only in […]

Immortal Values

The great religious masters of India, using their own ingenious efforts, have time and again revived the philosophical and religious values for which India stood and […]

Let us be Hindus

It has become a new fashion with the educated Hindu to turn up his nose and sneer in contempt at the very mention of his religion […]

Tapovan Jayanti

He hated all ostentations, physical and mental. He recommended study, reflection and attempts at direct experience. The birth of such a Master should be celebrated not with […]

Father missed it, son got it

Q: When did you first meet Gurudev? Ans: It was way back in 1969 – 70 that I met Gurudev. At that age, my parents took […]

How is our destiny created?

After years of intensive monastic training, the man who had walked into the centre with gelled hair came out with a shaven head — as Swami […]

Mind over chocolate mousse

Q. Hinduism believes in one God, one consciousness that pervades everyone and everything. What is the relationship between this one God which Hinduism believes in and […]

Study groups

Q. Swamiji, why is it that Study Groups face the problems of lack of Sevaks and dwindling attendance? A. Low numbers in the study groups need […]

Spiritual growth

Question: “Swamiji, how can we analyse our spiritual growth?” Answer: “Suppose I am unwell. How do I know that I am getting well? When the symptoms […]

Chinmaya answers…

Question: Swamiji, is it necessary to believe in reincarnation? Swamiji: First, reincarnation is not a belief, it is an assumption of Hinduism. Religion must be supported […]

You, me and God

It was a young man, modern, tight pants, tobacco pipe stuck at waist, trim thin moustache. He spoke English with an Americanised drawl, and was evidently […]

Our children, our future

The future is not a continuity of the present world – it can never be. The present world is being handled, dandled, destroyed and created through […]

A touching story

At a Chush fund raising dinner, the father of a Chush child delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling […]

CHYK makes young people look forward to life

The interested ones are the people who are already on the path, on the track, who have already got these values, etc. Gurudev was very clear. […]

Exam tips for students

With your examinations fast approaching, here are a few ideas and tips that may help you face any steamy situation with a cool head. (1) Be […]

Think big, act wisely, show results

When not handled properly, our wrong thoughts lead to a defective vision of the world and a very chaotic relatioship with it. As a result we […]

You are responsible for the future of the country

An orphan – he doesn’t know who his father is, or who his mother is. He has been cared for all these years in an orphanage. […]

Young ambassador

A dry syphon cannot draw or convey; a heart that is dry of any of the higher values cannot get itself benefitted in the presence of, […]

Thoughts from Swami Chidatmananda

The moment he started, I felt he talked sense. It was humorous, simple and scientific. I went the next day too, and then the next, and […]

Interview with Swami Brahmananda

A. It’s a very good question, really. Let us say, there is a thread with 108 beads holding all the beads together. All beads are supported […]

Interview with Swami Tejomayananda

Q. Swamiji, your becoming the Mission Head was so sudden. Was it too drastic a move in your eyes? Do you feel as if you are […]

Swami Tejomayananda describes the greatness of Swamini Saradapriyananda (Amma)

I had come for the first time to Chinmayaranyam in 1995 when Amma was here and now I am here again but without her and I […]

New years message – 2001

Look at every moment anew and enjoy all the blessings hidden therein. I wish all the members of Chinmaya Mission worldwide a very happy New Year, […]

Message from Pujya Guruji after the Vishwa Sammelan

In gratitude I am overwhelmed by the amazing manner in which you all responded to the Sammelan. I have no words and no way to thank […]

Reflect on our pledge

Pujya Gurudev (Swami Chinmayananda) in his visionary foresight gave us a beautiful pledge, which is recited in all our centres on various occasions. However, very often […]

Chinmaya Vibhooti

When an ordinary person dies, then it is called as death. We say, “that person passed away”. In the case of an enlightened person, we do […]

Swami Chinmayananda's message to Mission members in 1964

This is an age of organisation and without it Hinduism has suffered sufficiently long all these recent centuries. All workers in the Mission will tighten up […]

I shall be watching…

Every activity of the Mission members is being critically watched by the others around. Think before you speak. Remember the Lord before you act. Let not […]

Neither a chargesheet nor a shopping list

Although there is infinite potential in each one of us, we cannot attain all of our desires due to our own self-imposed limitations. At such times, […]

The smile of life

One morning As I neared the temple gates I saw amidst the thick of green A lonely white flower Blooming in its maiden beauty It seemed […]

Devotion

When some things are special, It is sorrow … When one thing is special, It is deep misery … When one thing is everything, It is […]

Q&A on meditation in daily life

Q. What was the impact that Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda made on you? A. Meeting him became a turning point in my life. He asked me at […]

Witness the ego

You and I maintaining contact with the prapancha refer to ourselves as aham. This I is the limited jeeva who is confined by the limitations and […]

Shrutam me Gopaaya

These are the words of the Rishis. This is how the Rishis of the Upanishads prayed to the Lord – “O Lord, bless us so that […]

A Dot of Thought

I felt and thought a lot and knowing mattered a lot. So I continued to feel and think a lot. Subjects varied, what not. Till I […]

Meditation

Meditation is prescribed as a balm to remove all the stress and strain of life. It is in fashion these days and every other person claims […]

My Master, the best diamond cutter

A quiet humble Master lived in a village 8 to 10 miles away from a town. A man from the town visited him regularly. He would […]

Brahman and Maya

Scene 1 In an extremely wondrous garden roses of different hues are swaying in ecstacy. The light of the early dawn has speckled them with its […]

Am I a fit seeker of the Truth?

The following acid test would show our fitness: (a) If required to do so, am I willing to do what I do not like and give […]

Peace of mind

The Nature of Desire Once a desire arises, we cannot forget it. There is complete insistence that things must happen the way we want. As long […]