Vedanta Sandesh - June 2019 by Vedanta Mission

Vedanta Sandesh

Monthly eMagazine of the International Vedanta Mission

Year - 24

June 2019

Issue 12

Cover Page

The cover pages of the June 2019 issue of Vedanta Sandesh is of a beautiful creation of God - the graceful Sarus Crane. Poojya Guruji clicked this awesome photo at Samda Wetlands on the outskirts of Ayodhya on 23rd Mar 2019. The Sarus Crane (Antigone antigone) is a large non-migratory crane found in parts of the Indian Subcontinent and tallest of the flying birds of India. It is the Iconic Jewel of Open Wetlands. The sarus crane is easily distinguished from other cranes in the region by the overall grey colour and the contrasting red head and upper neck. They forage on marshes and shallow wetlands for roots, tubers, insects, crustaceans and small vertebrate prey. Like other cranes, they form long-lasting pair-bonds and maintain territories within which they perform territorial and courtship displays that include loud trumpeting, leaps and dance-like movements. In India, they are considered symbols of marital fidelity, believed to mate for life and pine the loss of their mates even to the point of starving to death. Om Tat Sat

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CONTENTS

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Vedanta Sandesh June 2019 1.

Shloka 5

Message of P. Guruji

Tattva Bodha 9-12

Letter 13-14

Gita Reflections 15-20

The Art of Man Making

Jivanmukta 26-28

Story Section 29-31

Mission / Ashram News

7-8

21-25

32-48

10.

Forthcoming Progs 49

11.

Internat News 50-51

12.

Links 54 3

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Monthly eMagazine of the International Vedanta Mission June 2019 : Year 24 / Issue 12

Published by

International Vedanta Mission Vedanta Ashram, E/2948, Sudama Nagar, Indore-452009 (M.P.) India http://www.vmission.org.in / vmission@gmail.com

Editor:

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Swamini Samatananda Saraswati

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rRoLo:ikuqHkokr~ mRiUua KkueUtlkA vga eesfr pkKkua ck/krs fnx~Hkzekfnor~AA

The knowledge produced by the realization of the true nature of reality destroys immediately the ignorance characterised by the notions of “I” and ‘Mine,” as the sun the mistake regarding one’s direction. Atma Bodha - 46

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Message from Poojya Guruji

Satyamev Jayati, Nanrutam Satyameva Jayati, Nanrutam - says the Mundakopanishad. Truth alone shall win, never the falsehood. This is not only a very famous statement but also a very fundamental & big one. Let it be in any walks of life, this alone is seen as the final realization.

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Truthfulness basically means to speak what we know. It implies being transparent. Whatever is inside alone is outside. Whatever the prompting factor for resorting to falsehood, is kept aside. At no cost one resorts to speaking lies. Speaking falsehood means to present a fact differently than what we know it to be. When we speak lies, then we have two faces. One which we present outside, and the other inside, which we obviously wish to hide, for whatever reasons. There are various negative consequences of this bad habit. One, the person loses reliability the moment it is realized that this person was speaking lies. Trust is the basis of relationshipns, whether personal or business. No one ever likes to relate with a liar. Howsoever much we try to hide, the truth is exposed and we live in perpetual fear and even pray that this truth is not revealed. A person living in fear, is obviously not a formula for successful living.

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The most terrible consequence of speaking lies is to create a split personality. A split personality is one in which one part of our mind is like a ruling party which wishes to respond in one way and the other part of our own mind is like the opposition party which wishes to respond to the same situation in a different way altogether. In effect there are as though two people with different values & motivations in one mind. This split is a recipe for disquiet, upheaval and subsequent disaster. Our time & energy is wasted in indecision and disoriented responses. When the karma is not holistic & efficient, the results too are never good. All the anxiety was for some specific results and that alone is compromised terribly. Only those people who instead of having a split mind we rather have an integrated mind in which there are no dharma-sankat and we act with clarity, dedication & firmness. Speaking truth makes a drastic difference in such personality make-up. No wonder, all those people who have gone into the details of such values, unequivocally declare that truth alone shall lead us to well-being & victory, and never the falsehood.

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TATTVA BODHA

Videha Mukti

Swamini Samatananda

Tattva Bodha

o far in the last section of Tattva Bodha we

saw how a Jivanmukta transcends all karmas and redeems from all grief. This statement concludes the subject matter of Tattva Bodha. Now the Acharya finally concludes the text of Tattva Bodha by describing Videha mukti of a realized soul showing the insignificance of time and place as to where and when a Jivanmukta, a man of self-realization leaves his mortal coil.

ruqa R;trq ok dk';ka 'oipL; x`gs·FkokA KkulEizkfIr le;s eqDrks·lkS foxrk'k;%AA bfr Le`rs'pA “Let the body of a man of knowledge, be left in a sacred place like Kashi, or let it be dropped in the house of a very low, uncultured person, if someone is an enlightened person, it does not make any difference to him whatsoever. So say the Smriti grantha’s too.” In Hindu culture it is considered very auspicious and signifi-

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cant to caste off the gross body in Kashi. Therefore one sees a

Tattva Bodha number of old people voluntarily retiring from their family & homes and going to Kashi so that they breathe their last there. But this does not matter to a man of Self-Realization. As we saw that a Brahma Gyani sees himself beyond all sense of doership and enjoyership, sees himself beyond all gunas, and also knows himself to be beyond all limitations of time and place. Therefore it is immaterial to him as to where he castes off his mortal dress. The Acharya specifies here that it does not matter to him wheather he will shed off his body in Kashi or even in the home of some uncultured person. The significance of leaving the body in Kashi is only to benefit from the religeous and spiritual ambience of the place. Just as the significance of a temple lies in making the existence of God felt very clearly and intimately so also the vibrations and atmosphere in a holy place like Kashi helps in invoking and retaining the awareness of the existence of God and also reminds a person of the ultimate and divine goal of life. Thus for an extrovert person right time and place is important for everything he does, Be it puja, japa, meditation, study or rituals. Similarly it is of great importance as to where he casts off his body and what are his last thoughts, but a man of spiritual realization revells in his divine nature of fulfillment uncondi-

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tionally and at all times, wheather he is in Kashi or elsewhere.

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Tattva Bodha He is contented and happy inspite of any situation and not because of some situation, time and place. This is affirmed by the Smriti Granthas too. In fact the glory and beauty of a Gyani is such that where ever he stays and where ever he casts off his physical body that place alone will become holy and pious with his presence. With this the section of Jivanmukta comes to an end.

bfr rÙocks/k izdj.ka lekIre~AA

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“Thus end the text called Tattva Bodha.”

Mail from Poojya Guruji Will Modi be able to make India great again Hari om !

Well, the rulers do have a big role to play to set things right at policy level. With their dedication & integrity they also set proper example and assure proper implementation of various policies, however the very thought that it is some people sitting somewhere alone help make our lives good - is a baseless presumption. One, nation-builidng is not a job of some powerful people sitting somewhere, but is a joint responsibility of all the people of the country.

This â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;My Baapâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; mentality of just passing on the responsibility to someone else is not a proper thing. We do have power to elect someone, but that is not the end of our responsibility. We have to now contribute too in this nation-building exercise. Nation-building is a cooperative endeavor, and will be possible when we rather ask that what can we do to facilitate the process of nation-building. Even Ramji in his Purujan Gita invites the

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masses to contribute with proper virtues to make our lives, families and society better. A leader is one who leads and then we follow. He cannot be the sole doer, and we all just the benefactors. That will be an unfair

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expectation. To consider the King alone as the Karta, and we remain a Bhokta is not a right perception. We all are Karta in democracy. We all need to contribute in our own fields and in our own ways. Let us take the example of Swacch Bharat Yojana. Can we expect some leader sitting in Delhi to come and clean our streets, villages and cities, or, we all have to roll up our sleeves and clean up our own dirt. Yes, we need help in our own efforts, and that alone is the role of central government. It is just a facilitator. In democrary it is the rule of the people and by the people.

Yes, unfortunately in the earlier dispensation, they were busy in self-aggrandization and self-gratification, and therefore they were not sensitive to the needs & aspirations of people. The great mandate which people have given to the present dispensation is just an indicator that they will be sensitive to the aspirations of people and become proper & genuine facilitators. We require that alone alone. No other chamatkars.

Lots of love & om

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Gita Reflections

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eqDrlaxks vugaoknh /k`R;qRlkg lefUor%A fl)~;fl)~;ksfuZfoZdkj% drkZ lkfRod mP;rsAA (Gita 18/26) 15

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Lakshanas of being Sattwic (eqDrlaxks

vugaoknh------)

Swamini Samatananda

The performer is said to be a Saatvik performer, when he or she is free from egotism and attachment, endowed with enthusiasm and determination, and equipoised in V edanta Sandes h

success and failure. (Gita : Ch-18 / Sh-26) 16

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Gita Reflections

very action has three aspects to it. The doer or performer, the knowledge of the action and the action itself. In this context too the Lord is revealing the nature of these aspects in the light of the three ‘Guna’s-Saatvik, Raajasik and Taamasik Gunas. So far Bhagwan Sri Krishna has spoken about the knowledge of action and the action itself in the light of the three gunas. Now from this sloka onwards Bhagwan begins to reveal the three types of a ‘karta’ Saatvik, Raajasik and Taamasik. In this sloka the Lord is painting the picture of a Saatvik Karta’ (Saatvik Performer). We all are doers. As we are seeing this sense of doership is also of three different types amongst which the saatvik doer is pure and divine-one eligible for self-knowledge. In that case it is our responsibility to invoke a saatvik doer in us. Now who is a sattvik karta? Bhagwan Sri Krishna shares with us some divine qualities of a saatvik doer.

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Dhriti utsaah samanvitah: ‘Dhriti’ is a quality of having a firm resolve. A Saatvik performer is one who has a firm resolve. This implies that such a performer does not give up in case of obstacles. When persuing any action there is a firm resolve, there is energy, a bubbling enthusiasm and at the same time there is also patience,

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Gita Reflections in case of any obstacles that come in the way. It is very rare that an action is free of any challenges or so called obstacles, so this being inevitable one either has a choice to give up, breakdown or press the pause button, re-think, wait and then move on again. Just as we may experien the traffic lights on the road while driving. There is a red light to stop, yellow to refresh and green to pick up speed. So also the road of life brings to us such ups and downs where we require to be sometimes enthusiastic and sometimes patient. Like in Ramayan in Vibheeshan Geeta Bhagwan Ram describes that chariot which leads us to victory where in he says-â&#x20AC;&#x2122;Sauraj dheeraj tehi rath chaakaa-enthusiasm and patience are like the two wheels of a chariot. We need both enthusiasm and patience. If there is no alternative in the present moment we may also choose to leave it for a while and go back to it when the right time comes. But will never say die.

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Mukta sangaha: A sattvik performer is never inpired by individual ego satisfaction or for any personal desires. He will do that which is right in a situation. This is one of the most important qualities to work objectively and yet lovingly and dynamically. It allows us to be completely focused on our work because there is no personal loss at stake that may induce any kind of fear or insecurity. A Sattvik karta is selfless yet works dynamically

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Gita Reflections for the benefit and joy of others. Anaham vaadi: Not carrying the burden of fulfilling any action on the individual self. Any sensitive person will be able to see that no task however small it may be can be completed without the involvement of innumerable factors around us. We can not take the credit for anything. To complete one thing the whole creation gives its contribution, even negative forces. Our sense organs our blessed by their repective Devata, there is a devata of the mind, then family, society, inactivity of terrorists, nature, everyone is directly or indirectly blessing us. It is said that we need the whole cosmos to grow even one apple. Even a blade of grass has a role to play. So where do we stand in the universe. How can we be arrogant so as to say that I have done something. I may just have a wee bit of contribution of my purushartha but that is just enough to make us humble. So a devotee of the Lord a saatvik doer is anaham vaadi.

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Sidhyasiddho nirvikaarah Success and failure are two sides of a coin. Both are inevitable and both are complimentary to each other. There is no value of success if there is no failure. All that is required is a right attitude towards success and also failures. Success comes to us to reveal the blessings of God and everything in the cosmos

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Gita Reflections that has blessed us with the pottential and convenience to fulfill a task. On the other hand failure is the best teacher in life. It not only teaches us different alternatives but it gives us a return gift of strength, dedication, perceverance, and faith towards God. Thus one who does not get disturbed by success and failure is a saatvik person.

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Karta saatvik uchyate: A person with such divine qualities is a saatvik karta. Being a saatvik karta is the most important and inevitable phase of our spiritual journey. Without this journey it is impossible to enter the portals of non-doership, that is seeing the self beyond the jiva who is the enjoyer and doer and also going beyond the three gunas. In fact such is the glory of being a saatvik doer that one almost enjoys the spirit of moksha. It is this purification of the mind that makes the mind glide into the state of non-doership and gunaateet as duck takes to water. On the other hand any sadhaka who gains knowledge without having purified the antahkarana the nowledge of the Self becomes like gold laden on a donkeys back which can even become dangerous for the self and others.

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The Art Of Man Making

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Reviewing life Afresh

P.P. Gurudev Swami Chinmayanandaji 21

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The Art of Man Making

n the last talk we touched upon the mys-

itc reeducation of our understanding of the world of happenings around us. Apart from these, there are also scientific and secular thoughts which when imbibed by us can change our attitude towards things and cure many of our false values in life. Supposing, as healthy, extrovert personalities, we do not believe in the existence of a permanent and eternal reality behind the ever changing play of life, Krishna is not forcing this belief down our throats there are other scientific facts and worldly considerations by which it becomes imperative that we should never try to run away from our problems, that we must face them all, with courage and heroism. Let us assume that as materialist, we believe life is an unbroken stream of constant birth and death, even then, Arjuna you need not grieve as you do now. If life is considered as a ‘sad story of constant decay ‘, or as a ‘continuous stream of birds’. Then also you need not worry-you must do your duty and face the world. Why this melancholy, this dejection, young man?-Why? According to the material’ standpoint, then, **That which is born must necessarily die; and that which is dead must be born again. Then over the unavoidable, the inevitable, you should not grieve. Life is a series of births and deaths, it becomes an V edanta Sandes h

irresistible whirl that we are caught up in. The last moment

The Art of Man Making dies only to be born as a present moment; and that which is born as the present must die again to be born as the future. One wave dies and yields it’s place for another one to swell and rise up. Today dies to bring forth tomorrow. Why then this sense of frustration, young man, why that dejection?-Why? All right-you have no faith in the living presence of an Immutable Reality behind the parade of changes, nor have you, let us say, the necessary scientific knowledge to appreciate the world phenomena as part of an ever changing procession of impermanent happenings. Even as an ordinary man of the world, you perhaps understand the world as a phenomenon where in *It was unmanifest before, it has now become manifest, it goes back into the unmanifest again....what then is there in it to grieve about? From the unknown we all come-accepted. We play here for some time-and then to the unknown we return.Why then worry? Life, according to some, is but ‘a dart from darkness, fluttering through light, going back again into darkness,’ we know not where we were before-now we know we are here-and after death where we will go, we know not. So death is but a trip ‘back home’ from where we had come. Then

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why this despair, young man? Why this frustration?-Why?

The Art of Man Making Apart from these salient, scientific and rational views, each one of us, occupying as we do out our own status in the community, we have our duties to perform. Arjuna is a kshatriya, now called upon by the community of his times to command and lead the Pandava forces. He is duty-bound to enter the war and direct its destinies. To those who have war-vasanas-and so are born and trained as Kshatriyas. There is nothing more conducive than a righteous battle-field. **This is indeed a war thrust upon you, and not started by your own cruel initiative. True warriors are happy at such a responsibility calling upon their shoulders. Why then this dejection, young man-this deluding grief-Why? Again, in case you do not act now, the world will never understand your great compassion for mankind, your tenderness towards life. It will laugh at your folly and even attribute your hesitancy to act as supreme cowardice ***They will consider that you ran away from the battle array because because of your fear to die. They who had a great opinion about you will now esteem you lightly. They will scorn your prowess, laugh at your inefficiency, sliegh your intelligence and ridicule your valour, what a tragic disillusionment this will be for them all! How in-

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sulting it will be to you! Why this dejection young man?-Why?

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The Art of Man Making In war there can only be two alternatives-either you die or you survive *If you die fighting, you win the highest acclaim in heaven, as you die fighting for a righteous cause. If you survive, you live a victorious life of power and riches, glory and fulfillment. Therefore, get up-determined to fight. In action suicidal ‘It is death’. The problem facing us may be great ‘but the glory of life consists in meeting the problem. Success or achievement is not the final goal ‘it is the spirit in which you act that puts the seal of beauty upon your life. Then why this incapacitating dejection, young man?-Why? Act, act and act. That alone is the remedy.-Elese you will drown into a deadly sense of frustration and sink into the benumbing accesses of sorrow. Thus reviewing life and it’s challenges, the young should be ready to shoulder its responsibilities and smilingly come forward to employ their rugged hands to set right the problems facing the world. Tighten your belts-gird of your loins-roll up your sleeves. Smilingly strive to do your duty by the community and the nation. There is no other way to reach the fullest unfoldment of your personality than serving the world around

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you with a selfless spirit of service.

Jivanmukta Wandering In Himalayas

78 Trilokeenath

Excerpts from the Travel Memoirs of Param Poojya Swami Tapovanji Maharaj

Jivanmukta F

or a long time, our ancestors, the Aryan

Rishis, were preoccupied with the worship of Indra, Surya, Agni and other Gods of nature, singing hymns of praise to them, making them offerings of soma juice, henkering after heaven as a reward but at last, rising above all such perishable, though pleasant, things, their minds turned towards that one and only object of perfect bliss which transcends all attributes and actions and which is limited by neither time nor space. Then they realized, by thought as well as by direct experience that there can be no two truths, and truth is necessarily and always one. God, whose from is the Vedas revealed that truth to their uncontaminated minds. It is the deep, personal experience of such great Rishis that finds utterence through Vedic dicta such as: Brahman is that which is Truth-knowledge-infinite. One without the second alone is Truth that which has no sound, that cannot be touched, that which has no form, unmanifest. That Truth proclaimed by the Aryan Rishis become the heaven of all subsequent thinkers. Realizing this supreme goal, seekers of liberation (moksha) used to attend unsurpassed peace and supreme satisfaction. We cannot be committing a mistake if we include our historically famous Buddha amongst such great men V edanta Sandes h

who had directly realized the principles of Brahman which is the

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Jivanmukta subject of Vedas and the refuge of peace for thinkers. Even if Lord Buddha a Kshatriya by birth and by education a profound scholar in the Vedas and in Vedanta, has used the language of negation inreffering to Brahman, it cannot be taken as a denial of the existence of Brahman. Several modern historians now hold the view that Lord Buddha fully believed in the Brahman of the Upanishads-the Brahman who may be said to be existent or non-existent or different form either, or who may be described as altogether indescribable by words. It is the image of that Buddha who knew Brahman, who taught about Brahman, who was himself Brahman and who was the benefactor of the universe, that is worshipped at the temple of Trilokeenath. Sadhus had told me that Trilokeenath, like Badrinath, is a Vishnu temple and that it is Lord Vishnu who is worshipped there. So I was a little surprised when I found an image of Buddha in the temple. Ofcourse, there is nothing wrong if Buddha, whom Hindus consider an incarnation of Vishnu is worshipped as Vishnu himself. Be it as it may we

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worshipped Trilokeenath with deep devotion.

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STORY Section 29

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Kashi Vishwanath Jyotirlinga Sri Vishweshwara:

amed as the Place of Devas that was

founded by Bhagavan Shiva Himself some thousand years ago, Kasi the confluence of Rivers Varana and Asi, has a hoary legend with world-wide reputation, referred to in Rig Veda and Puranas. This was the spot where Bhagavan Vishweshvara manifested as Avimukta Jyotirlinga. Brahma was stated to have made such extraordinary Tapasya to such an extent that Vishnu moved his head across so fast in disbelief and his ear-ring fell on the banks of the River Ganges and continued his search there and the Sacred Spot was named ‘Manikarnika’ ever since. As Brahma recited Vedas in praise of Maha Deva once, the latter was annoyed as Brahma’s wrong and misleading stanza was recited and Shiva sliced one of Brahma’s ‘Pancha Mukhas’ or Five Faces in great exaspration; the sliced head found a lasting Place as Brahmakund. Varanasi is also reputed as one of the Shakti Peethaas where Sati Devi’s ear-rings fell where Devi Vishalakshi’s shrine stands now. The Shrine of Devi Annapurna exists where during a long spell of famine broke in Kasi and Devi Bhagavati herself served ‘Anna’ or cooked rice food to one and all daily and Maha Deva too was a beneficiary as a beggar of the charity of food so received into the Brahma Kapala of the sliced head of Brahma since the BrahV edanta Sandes h

ma Hatya sin haunted Shiva till his Vimochana! The illustrious Harischandra Ghat where King Harischandra was posted as a

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Kashi Vishwanath Jyotirlinga Sri Vishweshwara: Slave at Smashana or burial ground continues its operations of despatching the Souls of dead bodies to Kailasa! Ranging from Kings and Queens, Foreign Plunderers, Saints like Adi Shankara, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Vivekananda, Dayananda, Tulasi Das, and Guru Nanak, non-Hindu Followers and even athiests have been attracted to this Unique Kasi and

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Lord Vishweswara blesses them all!

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Mission & Ashram News

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Bringing Love & Light in the lives of all with the Knowledge of Self

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Ashram News Hanuman Chalisa Satsang: May 2019

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19th May 2019

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Ashram News Hanuman Chalisa Satsang: May 2019

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19th May 2019

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Ashram News Hanuman Chalisa Satsang: Mar 2019

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19th May 2019

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Ashram News Hanuman Chalisa Satsang: May 2019

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19th May 2019

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Ashram News Hanuman Chalisa Satsang: May 2019

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Prasad for All

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Ashram News Hanuman Chalisa Satsang: May 2019

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Prasad for All

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Ashram News Sankarachaarya Jayanti Celeb

Procession to & Puja at Sankaracharya Dwar

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