How Swami Vivekananda Outwitted Police in the British Raj (Story 1)
Under the British rule of India, officers of the Raj, used to look upon sadhus (monks) with extreme distrust, suspecting them to be involved in conspiracies to overthrow the British government. Police officers frequently rounded up sadhus for questioning. Twice, Swami Vivekananda, who had taken the vow of Sannyas (monkhood) and who used to travel […]
Meditation Advice – Develop Steadfastness (Nishtha) To Progress in Life & in Spirituality
Meditation Advice for Beginners – One of the most common difficulties that sadhaks face when they begin to meditate, is that they are unable to bring their mind into focus. Random thoughts keep arising and boredom quickly sets in. Students too face this difficulty when they sit down to do their lessons. The reason this […]
What is Tapasya? Real Tapasya Is Not In Feats Of Torturing The Body
“The Sastras declare: Health is the vital factor in spiritual practice. This means that one should see that the vitality of the body remains unimpaired. One should eat healthy food, avoiding that which excites or produces lethargy.” – Swami Brahmananda Whenever the word Tapasya (penance, austerity) comes up, most of us imagine some sort of […]
Choose a God Realized Guru, As Only a Knower of God Can Guide to Samadhi
The following excerpt has been taken from the book Spiritual Teachings of Swami Brahmananda (Free). In it Swami Brahmananda explains the necessity of a God Realized guru for an aspirant pursuing the spiritual path. For those not familiar with Swami Brahmananda – he was a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, who under the able guidance […]
Only The Pure In Heart Can Attain To Samadhi | Story of the Endless Pitcher
“Purification means rejecting from one’s nature all that is egoistic or of the nature of rajasic desire (greed for fame, wealth, power etc.). Purification and a basis of calm are the first necessary steps in the spiritual life.” – Sri Aurobindo Purity forms the absolute bedrock of spirituality. Purity of heart comprises frankness, innocence, straightforwardness […]
How Swami Vivekananda Bestowed a Vision of “Lord Krishna” With His Mere Touch
God in Advaita Vedanta has been described as the formless and infinite ocean of Sat-Chit-Ananda consciousness. However this One Infinite Godhead, being the all-powerful creator of the Universe, can take up any form in which, a devotee worships Him with faith. This fact has been revealed by Sri Ramakrishna, who has emphasized that God is […]
Swami Vivekananda’s Experience of Nirvikalpa Samadhi or Complete Mergence With God
The enclosed dialogue with Swami Vivekananda was recorded by his disciple Sharat, at Belur, in the year 1898. In it Swamiji describes in detail his experience of Nirvikalpa Samadhi or complete mergence with “Brahman” or God – the infinite and self-luminous consciousness. Sharat: Sir, as the fruition of great austerities in past lives, I have […]
Be a Trustee, NOT an Owner of Wealth | Vivekananda’s Teaching to Rockefeller
Swami Vivekananda being a God-realized soul, possessed many yogic powers, one of which was the ability to read into a person’s past, present and future. He once described these mind reading powers of his, to a disciple: Swami Vivekananda: “While I was in America I had certain wonderful powers developed in me. By looking into […]
PHOTOS – Tree Under Which Swami Vivekananda Meditated & More…
12 Memorable Photos from Swami Vivekananda’s stay at Ridgely Manor in the United States, including – 1) The tree under which he meditated; 2) The couch he slept on; 3) The table he ate ice cream at & many more… During the years Swami Vivekananda spent teaching Vedanta in the US, there were 3 notable […]
Power of Brahmacharya | When Swami Vivekananda Memorized 10 Volumes of an Encyclopaedia (Part 2)
READ PART 1 HERE >> Power of Brahmacharya – Is Sexual Abstinence Old-Fashioned or the Sensible Thing to Do? In this post are presented 2 beautiful stories from the life of Swami Vivekananda, which capture his tremendous power of memory attained through the practice of brahmacharya. Story #1 – Swami Vivekananda Memorizes Several Volumes of […]
How Lord Buddha Suddenly Appeared Before Swami Vivekananda
Lord Buddha was one of the great spiritual ideals of Swami Vivekananda (Swamiji), whom he worshiped with intense love and devotion, just as he did his guru Sri Ramakrishna. “Who was there ever like Him?” he once spoke of Buddha, his whole face aglow with inspiration. “The Lord – who never performed one action for […]
Part 5: The Mysterious Pelting of Stones Which Disturbed Swami Brahmananda
The following incidents occurred in the life of Swami Brahmananda, one of the 16 monastic disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. Fondly called as “Maharaj” by others, he was a divine soul, who had attained to the highest state of spiritual realization (Nirvikalpa Samadhi, or complete union with God), just as his brother disciple, Swami Vivekananda had […]
Part 4: The Ghost Tamer Whom Swami Vivekananda Transformed With a Mere Touch
In the first story of this ghosts series, we saw how certain distressed spirits, who had committed suicide, had succeeded in greatly perturbing Swami Vivekananda (Swamiji) by wrongly informing him of his mother’s demise. At the time of occurrence of this incident, in the year 1893, Swamiji was away from his home in Calcutta, residing […]
Part 2: Do Ghosts Exist or is Seeing Ghosts a Sign of Delusion?
The goal of this post is to clear the doubts that one of our fellow Spiritual Bee readers was having. After reading the earlier article Conversation with Ghosts, he was wondering whether seeing ghosts is actually a sign of delusion. Could it not be that Swami Vivekananda was merely hallucinating talking to spirits of people […]
Part 3: Do Ghosts Exist? Swami Vivekananda Sheds More Light On This Mystery
The following exchange between Vivekananda and his disciple occurred two or three days after Swamiji returned back to Calcutta after visiting Kashmir, in the year 1898. Disciple: “Sir, these ghosts and departed spirits we hear about, which the Shastras (scriptures) also amply corroborate, are all these true or not?” Swami Vivekananda: “Certainly they are true. […]
Part 1: Conversation With Ghosts – Stories from the Life of Swami Vivekananda
The following incident took place in Madras in 1893, just before Swami Vivekananda set sail for his historic journey to America. In those days Swamiji had taken the monastic vow of Agyatvas – during which, he, for a few years, had severed all contact with his family, friends and brother disciples (of his guru Sri […]
The Hidden Reason Behind the Early Death of Swami Vivekananda (VIDEO)
Swami Vivekananda, one of India’s greatest teachers of Vedanta Philosophy, left his physical body on July 4th, 1902. He was just 39 years of age. Many people have wondered – what caused an evolved soul like Swami Vivekananda to die at such a young age? Aren’t yogi’s able to extend their own life-span and live […]
The Origins of “Arise! Awake!” – The Thundering Words With Which Swami Vivekananda Woke Up India
Arise! Awake! And Stop Not Till the Goal is Reached! These were the famous words with which Swami Vivekananda roused the sleeping soul of India, more than a 100 years ago. In those days, India was labouring not only under the brunt of foreign colonial occupation, but also suffering from social subjugation at the hands […]