Most of the diseases take their origin in over-eating, sexual excess and outbursts of anger and hatred. If the mind is kept cool and calm at all times, you will have wonderful health, strength and vitality.

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Yoga Sadhana: Yoga for Health

The essence of Sadhana.

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Sadhana: Essence of Sadhana

Karma Yoga is selfless service unto humanity. The important point is to serve humanity without any attachment or egoism. The central teaching of the Gita is non-attachment to work. Lord Krishna says: "Work incessantly. Your duty is to work but not expect the fruits thereof."

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Karma Yoga: Gist of Karma Yoga

Bhakti Yoga

Bhakti is the slender silken thread of Prema or Love that binds the heart of a devotee with the Lotus Feet of the Lord. Bhakti is intense devotion and supreme attachment to God. It is the spontaneous outpouring of love towards God. It is pure, unselfish, Divine Love or Suddha Prema. Bhakti is sacred, higher emotion with sublime sentiment that unites the devotee with the Lord. It has to be experienced by the Bhaktas.

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Bhakti Yoga: Bhakti Yoga Sadhana

Every aspirant in the spiritual path becomes a victim to the mood of depression in the beginning of the Sadhana period. You will have to overcome this mood through discrimination, reflection, Vichara, singing Hari's Name, prayer, etc. This mood is like a passing cloud. You should not be unnecessarily alarmed. It will pass off soon if you are vigilant.

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Sadhana: Pearl-drops of Prema

In the whirlpool of fleeting sensual pleasures you have forgotten the purpose of life and goal. You live more for the body than for the soul. In your pursuit after the phantom shows of worldly vanities, you have annihilated the spiritual instincts and longings of the soul. What a sad state! Mysterious is Maya! Mysterious is Moha! Open your eyes now. Wake up from the long slumber of ignorance. Realise the ultimate Reality and enjoy eternal bliss.

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Spiritual Growth: How to Spend Your Holidays

This is a good practice for retired people. After retiring from service you should live for one or two months in Prayag or Rishikesh or in a solitary place on the banks of the Narmada or the Ganga or Yamuna where you can get Satsanga of Mahatmas

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Spiritual Growth: Message to Retired People

'Atman or Self is one. There is one common consciousness in all beings. All Jivas are reflections of the one Supreme Soul or Paramatman. Just as one sun is reflected in all pots of water, so also the one Supreme Being is reflected in all human beings. One cannot become many. One appears as many. One is real. Many are illusory.

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Oneness:Yoga of Right Conduct - Ethical Discipline

All aspirants commit mistakes now in jumping to Samadhi and Dhyana all at once as soon as they leave their houses without caring a bit for ethical perfection. The mind remains in the same condition although they have practiced meditation for fifteen years. They have the same jealousy, hatred, idea of superiority, pride, egoism, etc. Meditation and Samadhi come by themselves when one has the ethical perfection.

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Ethics: Ethics is a Means to Yoga

A man, who has attached ethical perfection by the continued practice of right conduct or Yama and Niyama, has got a magnetic personality. He can influence millions. Character gives a strong personality to man. People respect a man who has good character. Moral people command respect everywhere. He who is honest, sincere, truthful, kind and liberal-hearted always commands respect and influence at the people.

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Sadachara: Glory of Sadachara

Mind is not only daily made, but hourly made. In every minute it changes its colour and shape like a chameleon. It is very wavering and unsteady (Chanchalam and Asthiram).

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Mind: Facts About Mind

When you sit for meditation thoughts of your friends and office work, memory of conversation that took place in the previous evening with your friends and relatives will disturb your mind and cause distraction. You will have to withdraw the mind again and again, cautiously from these extraneous worldly thoughts and fix it again and again in your Lakshya or point.

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Meditation: Meditation and Thought-culture

The mind is like a wheel which revolves endlessly with tremendous velocity. It generates new thoughts with every revolution. This wheel is set in motion by the vibration of psychic Prana or subtle Prana. The practice of Pranayama lessens the velocity of the mind and slows down the wheel gradually. Perfect control of Prana will bring the wheel to a standstill.

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Control of Thought: The Mind and Control of Thought

You must have a pure mind if you want to realise the Self. Unless the mind is set free and casts away all desires, cravings, worries, delusion, pride, lust, attachment, likes and dislikes, it cannot enter into the domain of Supreme Peace and unalloyed felicity of the Immortal Abode.

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Mind: Purification of Mind

The external objects are continuously acting upon the brain. The sense-impressions reach the brain through sense-avenues and produce mental stimuli. Now you are conscious of the external objects. Consciousness may be caused by an awakening either by external stimulus, i.e., stimulus from a sense-impression or an internal stimulus through memory.

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Mind: How to Steady the Mind

Many aspirants fail to enter into Samadhi or Brahmic Bliss on account of restlessness of any one of the Indriyas (senses). Control of Indriyas is indispensably requisite for spiritual Sadhana.

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Senses: Control of the Senses

The mind can be controlled by Abhyasa and Vairagya. Abhyasa is constant effort to fix the mind on God or Atman. Vairagya is dispassion or non-attachment to sensual objects.

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Mind: Conquest of Mind

The Hindu scriptures present the Sun as the most potent god. There are only five Puranic gods and the Sun is one of them but the images of the remaining four gods Ñ Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesh and Durga Ñ are also found in Him. In Surya Sahastranam several synonyms of the Sun are actually Vishnus names and at one place He is also called Jyotirlinga, representing Shiva. Mahakal is both the name of Shiva and the Sun.

Read more here: » Surya Sahastranam: Surya, The Eternal Healer

Over-dependence makes us feel directionless. Let us remind ourselves that over-dependence is a ÒcontrolÓ issue and itÕs time we discouraged exaggerations from making lifeÕs over-dependence addictive and insurmountable.

Read more here: » Over-dependence: Over-Dependence Makes Life Spiritless

If you want to be truly free, you will have to be aware. One kind of awareness is when you are consciously making the effort to be aware of everything that you are doing. But there is another kind of awareness that is more mysterious. And you will begin to discover this mysterious awareness as you surrender more and more to your own desire to be free.

If we are true to the desire to be free, we will find that we always are paying attention, even at times when, in our conscious experience, it appears to us that we are not.

Read more here: » Spiritual Awareness: First Awareness, Then Freedom

The life of a plant is hidden in the roots beneath the ground. If the roots are not taken care of, the flowers and the leaves will die no matter how much you care for them. By taking care of the roots, the flowers will get nourished automatically. For, the flowers come out of the roots, and not the other way round.

The head or the heart are perceived to be the most important parts of the human body. But the truth is that our roots are more important. Just as the plants have roots in the earth from which they draw their life-energy, in the human body, there are roots which draw life-energy from the soul. The day those roots become feeble, the body begins to die.

Read more here: » Spiritual Growth: Reach For Your Soul - Nurture Your Roots

The world is regulated by universal laws. One of the laws is constancy or eternality. Anything true is constant or eternal. The second law of the world is changeability or variability. Anything true is variable. The world has changed or transformed and will continue to change on the basis of this law. Therefore, something changes and something becomes the cause of change.

Read more here: » Universal Laws: The Universal Laws of Cosmos