Swami Sankarananda explains that everything is within us. The greatest treasure of life that everybody searches for, namely happiness, is within us, and nowhere else. And this treasure is called God. God is infinite peace, infinite bliss and infinitive knowledge. God doesn’t dwell somewhere in the sky watching over us and judging our actions as good or bad. This is a fable. It is we who first know whether we did something right or wrong. Our heart tells us right away. So Vedanta gives this knowledge of the Inner Self, the inner world. It redirects our mind to go back within instead of going out (the opposite of how the mind normally travels). Going into our Self, there we find the actual peace, the actual knowledge, the actual happiness. You cannot find things externally, they are not in the scriptures, churches, temples or mosques. It is in the realization of these things that matters. It resides within us. The biggest temple on earth is our own body, because that is where God res...

Tejomoyee Ma says we should do a reality check on our identity when feeling overwhelmed with problems. It's so easy to get lost in grandiose ideas like: "I have a big business" or "I have a large family", or self denigrate oneself with ideas: "I am creating many problems for others," "How will I get this done and survive the situation?" But who are we really in this outside world? A mere speck compared to the large scale of the universe. Zoom out of your problems and you will see how tiny and insignificant your correction situation is. Behold this entire creation, the vastness of God; and the egoic idea of your current situation will naturally correct itself. Then joy will flow into you, loosening you from the problems' grip. "Think yourself that you are Brahman, and you are one with everything. Don't make your identity big from the outside, but think you are unlimited from inside." Biography of Tejomoyee Ma

Swami Sankarananda speaks about the existence of two worlds: 1. External world - What we see, feel and deal with in daily life. The outside objects, people, ideas, and pursuits. 2. Internal World - Something people only feel and discover at times, when for example a loved one dies, then all of a sudden we realize we feel sad inside. Then we begin to question whether the external world was all that real to begin with. But as time rolls on, we forget and move on with our lives until another shock in the future stops us. People are constantly running, we are always busy from morning to night. This run began ever since we learned to discriminate between what is good and what was better. Then we began to run after the better. But what is the goal? What do we really want?  Is it a profession? A livelihood? That cannot be it, because we need the livelihood to live, not live to get the livelihood. Actually we all want to enjoy, to be happy. But when we enter into the external world, ...

Swami Probbudhanda explains that Oneness is what allows us to love one another because we see ourselves in all and all in ourselves. The One who resides within is the same. Swamiji also cites Sri Sri Bhagavan: that the problem in the world today is not nuclear bombs, aids or cancer but a deficit of love in people’s hearts. This video was recorded on Swami's visit to Brazil in August 2018. Biography of Swami Probuddhananda

Swami Prahladananda explains that the great spiritual masters like Sri Sri Bhagavan do not insist on any particular spiritual path for their students. They fuse all the paths together - be it the path of devotion (bhakti yoga), the path of action (karma yoga), the path of knowledge (jnana yoga), or the path of yoga and meditation (raja yoga). The great masters try to bring their students to the light in a way that is best suited for the students. In IVS, Bhagavan teaches meditation, selfless service, discrimination, and devotion. An aspirant will find everything they need. Even musician devotees get to use their musical talents as a spiritual sadhana. The great thing about realization, Swami Prahladananda explains, is that when an aspirant attains it, no matter what path they originally took to get there, they will automatically come to know about all the other paths. They will get the knowledge about all of them. It all comes together at the end. Biography of Swami Prahladananda...

Tejomoyee Ma discusses the three phases of spiritual practice that purify the mind and help attain to the Supreme. 1. Shravan - the process of hearing about spiritual things. The teachings need to penetrate our being, we must let them into our heart and mind. How? By listening with apt attention. By connecting our mind to the 5 senses. Otherwise if we are distracted when listening then it won’t go into our hearts at all. 2. Manan - the process of contemplating on the subject. After we have heard the spiritual talk, the information must take time to be assimilated into our mind, to settle in and be made sense of. Hence we contemplate after about what was said and how it makes sense to us. In the beginning we may need to exert some intention to turn this wheel of the mind but then our mind will automatically begin to dwell and contemplate on the subjects because we will see their manifestations in our daily life. 3. Nididhyasana - Letting the new spiritual thoughts run through our mi...

Swami Sankarananda explains that people identify themselves with all kinds of beliefs about the world since childhood. This upbringing ingrains subconscious thought patterns into people’s minds that make them imagine their own versions of reality, and then act accordingly seeing difference and strife everywhere. To counteract this, we should teach children spirituality starting from a young age. Swami Sankarananda gives several great examples of this in the talk. The second example is particularly interesting. A man was walking with his donkeys through a forest when it began to get dark and he had to take shelter for the night. A forest monk dwelling nearby let the man stay in his cottage for the night. The man settled in but needed to tie his donkeys so they wouldn’t run away at night. But they had no rope. So the monk advised the man to act like he is tying the donkeys, i.e. to imitate what he does every day. It worked, the donkeys all stayed in one place thinking they were tie...

Every religion stands on the basis of realization. In Vedanta, this is the direct realization of God or the supreme Self. The lineage of Vedanta goes back to the sages in the ancient Upanishads, the brahmarishis . They first realized the Truth, and only then taught others. Not as an intellectual exercise or philosophical discussion, but an actual realization of Reality. Each successive disciple also realized it, and it got passed down in this way through generations , ultimately to Sri Sri Bhagavan today, and now to us. Vedanta proclaims the Oneness of our individual Self with the universal Self, the cosmic consciousness (otherwise referred to as Brahman, Atman, Jesus, Allah, Hashem, Krishna, etc.) This is a fact, a reality. But we have to realize it to know it. How? We need to hear about it again and again to counteract our lifelong learning and identification with only the individual self (especially in today’s modern culture). This video was recorded from Swami Sankarananda...

Swami Probuddhananda asks why is the human mind is so restless and so impatient? Because it is always looking for something, it is looking for peace and love. But we do not get this from the world, do we? Who is there that does? Such people are called the sages. We do not need to go away to the hermitages of India though to attain their state. We just need to learn to think like them. Ask yourself sincerely what you actually need and where to look for it. Swamiji says that he went to his guru, Sri Sri Bhagavan for this, and Bhagavan showed him that all peace and knowledge comes from within. All lies within you. This video was recorded at a lecture Swami Probuddhananda delivered at New York University, in April 2012. Biography of Swami Probbudhananda

Sri Sri Bhagavan narrates the early part of the Buddha's spiritual life, who upon coming out of His sheltered palace, for the first time saw the worldly realities of old age, illness and death. What made the Buddha different was that He wanted to find a way to overcome these sorrows, to put an end to them. Bhagavan explains that "Buddha" or "Bodha" means total knowledge. Bhagavan draws a comparison to our contemporary life, including His own, pointing out that these struggles are very much present in our lives today as well. We should become aware of them, and their inevitability; try not to shun them, but face them .

Bhagavan talks about why the great masters come to earth. The enlightened beings always say “Know Thy Self”, “Know the Truth”, obtain Knowledge. They are not saying go get money in the world. But what is knowledge? It is the way things actually are, not just how they appear. The masters have been sharing knowledge with us for our benefit. They want to help us become more perfect, get more peace. Bhagavan gives the example of the Buddha. He is loved by all people of the world. Why? Because of the love and knowledge he gave to all beings, including animals. Similarly, with International Vedanta Society , all the work we are doing are for the people. The people in turn should understand that the world is not just for them, but for all beings, including the animals.

Maharajji explains that the mind creates the multiplicity of the external world. However, underneath it is all one undivided and absolute reality, Brahman. Just like the wave that appears to have separated from the sea, it will fall down again and reemerge with the sea. Biography of Maharajji (Swami Keshavananda)

Maharajji explains that the mind receives its energy from the soul, but it does not know it!  The soul is like the root of the tree. Our original identity is this consciousness, but it gets superimposed by the instruments of the five sheaths ( koshas ). The instruments constantly go outside to the world, hence do not know they are being directed from within. In meditation we practice going back to the source. And although those instruments are ever changing, our soul on the contrary stays the same. It is our actual I, the Self. Spirituality is a natural process where we go back to our true Self. We are actually the embodiment of peace, knowledge, love, joy, existence, an the all-pervading consciousness. Free from birth and death. Once we realize this, the remaining mind will become the same as the soul, or Atman.

Swami Nirgunananda explains that Vedanta is taught to seekers who are serious about realizing the Self. And as long as seekers have doubts about the path, we do not teach from the scriptures. We first address and resolve the doubts. The intellect must be sanctified through spiritual practice, and satisfied through inquiry and discussion with realized teachers/guru . "You are Brahman, you are the Supreme Conscioussness , you are not just a human being." First this is understood merely through intellect. But with practice and exploration, the intellect begins to consider this as a possibility. The path becomes more open, and eventually realization happens, and this is discovered to be a fact. Bhagavan generally imparts knowledge in two ways: 1. That you are the consciousness, the Brahman, not a human being. 2. The characteristics of a spiritual person, and how to live in this world. After realization, no need to explain anything. You understand everything. Then teacher...