Live Vedanta Chinmaya Mission Niagara

All of us want to be happy and we do whatever it takes to feel joyous. The problem is we think we can create happiness so we end up going on an emotional roller coaster. This roller coaster can slow down when we increase our inquiry (vichara) and decrease projection. The more we inquire the more we realize the relative is not the absolute which cultivates oneness (advaita) and leads to meditation (dhyana), realization (samadhi), and finally renunciation (sannyasa).

Most of us are following life’s default script -- wake, eat, work, sleep, repeat. But is this working? We receive lots of advice (upadesha) from those we respect on how to be great, but are we actually following? The greatest revelations (mahavakya) of visionaries are accessible to us, but do we trust in them? There are so many opportunities for receiving inspiration (shravana), for reflection (manana) to have faith in those teachings, and for contemplation (nidhidhyasana) to allow those ideas to soak into who we are -- do we take advantage of them? So really, are we alive, or are we living?

Life is a trek through a dark forest. It takes lots of endurance (titiksha) to keep up the energy despite all the discomforts and pinpricks. It takes loads of faith (shraddha) to hold onto what you know is ahead, but can’t yet see. It takes boatloads of absorption (samadhana) to stay focused on the path without succumbing to imaginary fears. And it takes tons of desire, need, yearning (mumukshutva), to pull out the will needed to finish the journey. Only when we have these, and the ability to release (tyaga) ourselves from our own false expectations, can we reach that light at the end of the tunnel -- and merge with that Light. Are you ready to make the trek, beyond all logic?

We're revisiting another Freedom Talk, one of our bite-sized episodes with Vivekji featuring questions from seekers across the world. In this episode, we ask the questions: What is the difference in reflection and inquiry? What is the difference between contemplation and inquiry? How should a seeker transition from one keystone to the next in their journey of self-development?

We are revisiting one of our old Freedom Talks, our series of bite-sized episodes with Vivekji! In this next mini episode, we ask the questions: How should we handle people who always misinterpret our actions in a negative connotation even though we have good intentions? What to do when we are taken advantage of by others? Can we align our goals with our guide? And if yes, how? How can an introvert handle the expectations of family and friends? Is bhakti a path to become one with the Supreme Self? How do we apply shreyas when we need to make life decisions?

Many of us probably have probably at some point felt we have/had a reactive personality, we felt distracted, or dull. How can one develop a calmness of body (dama), quietude of mind (sama), and understanding (uparama) so that one can have a more balanced inner world?