Leadership is often associated with power. Today, the term has acquired negative connotations, particularly in politics. One has come to question the relative importance of being recognised as a "leader" when what we sorely need are individuals who both lead by their service and example and follow the universally accepted principles of responsible living.

We are beginning to see that traditional autocratic and hierarchical models of leadership are slowly yielding to a newer model. This model - of leaders as servants - will simultaneously enhance the personal growth of the led and improve the quality of our many institutions through a combination of individual and community teamwork in decision-making infused with ethical and caring behaviour.

(See also: Leadership , Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Leadership: Inverting the Pyramid - Leaders as Servants  

Dream Poetry.

A spiritual view on dreams and the meaning of dreams by Sri Swami Sivananda, an authority in the vedic sciences and traditions.

Read more here: » Philosophy of Dreams XII: Waking Experience Has Relative Reality

A Theosophical definition of Ethics :

Ethics

The theosophical teachings are essentially and wholly ethical. It is impossible to understand the sublime wisdom of the gods, the archaic wisdom-religion of the ancients, without the keenest realization of the fact that ethics run like golden threads throughout the entire system or fabric of doctrine and thought of the esoteric philosophy. Genuine occultism, divorced from ethics, is simply unthinkable because impossible. There is no genuine occultism which does not include the loftiest ethics that the moral sense of mankind can comprehend, and one cannot weigh with too strong an emphasis upon this great fact.

Ethics in the theosophical philosophy are not merely the products of human thought existing as a formulation of conventional rules proper for human conduct. They are founded on the very structure and character of the universe itself. The heart of the universe is wisdom-love, and these are intrinsically ethical, for there can be no wisdom without ethics, nor can love be without ethics, nor can there be ethics deprived of either love or wisdom.

The philosophic reason why the ancients set so much store by what was commonly known as virtus among the Latins, from which we have our modern word "virtue," is because by means of the teaching originating in the great Mystery schools, they knew that virtues, ethics, were the offspring of the moral instinct in human beings, who derived them in their turn from the heart of the universe  - from the kosmic harmony. It is high time that the Occidental world should cast forever into the limbo of exploded superstitions the idea that ethics is merely conventional morality, a convenience invented by man to smooth the asperities and dangers of human intercourse.

Of course every scholar knows that the words morals and ethics come from the Latin and Greek respectively, as signifying the customs or habits which it is proper to follow in civilized communities. But this fact itself, which is unquestionable, is in a sense disgraceful, for it would almost seem that we had not yet brought forth a word adequately describing the instinct for right and truth and troth and justice and honor and wisdom and love which we today so feebly express by the words ethics or morals. "Theosophist is who Theosophy does," wrote H. P. Blavatsky, and wiser and nobler words she never wrote. No one can be a theosophist who does not feel ethic-ally and think ethically and live ethically in the real sense that is hereinbefore described. (See also Morals)

See also: Ethics , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

For more dictionary entries, see » Virtues Dictionary

Limited availability of resources and their limited potential is everybody's concern. But the Self within a human being has unlimited potential. That's why the concept of self-management is of utmost importance.

Self-management improves efficiency; it bestows peace, cheer and equanimity and equips us to handle the many complexities of life well. Jainism advocates overcoming pesky vices like krodha or anger, mada or vanity, kama or sex and lobha or greed. Jainism recommends the practice of five principal virtues: Ahimsa or non-violence, satya or truth, achaurya or non-covetousness, Brahma-charya or celibacy and aparigraha or non-possession.

(See also: Life and Death, Life and Beyond, Death and Dying, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Life and Death: The Art of Self-Management

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

Virtues: Magical properties of objects like herbs, stones, and creatures as was assigned to them during their divine creation.

(See also: Virtues , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

For more dictionary entries, see » Virtues Dictionary

In India, the day begins with worship. People pray, bow and meditate. Members of the Jain community all over India bathe, put on new clothes and walk barefoot to their local temple. They embark on their daily pilgrimage with no possessions and with high aspirations. Some of them carry a cloth mask which they wear when inside the temple. From the moment they walk into the temple, all worldly concerns are set aside to facilitate meditation. Their focus is on the Tirthankaras , the teachers who conquered their own vices to teach the world about compassion and salvation through example. The recitation of the Namokar Mahamantra encourages them to salute the achievements of all divine souls who attained salvation.

(See also: Jainism Worship , God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Jainism Worship: Sincere Prayer for Peace and Harmony  

Death is only a change of form. Death is only separation of the astral body from the physical body.
Birth follows death just as waking follows sleep. You will again resume the work that was left off by you in your previous life. Therefore, do not be afraid of death.

This is an excerpt from the book What Becomes Of The Soul After Death by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Conquest Of Death: What Is Death And How To Conquer It

The passage of the self from the body varies according to the number of good actions done by the Jiva and the knowledge gained by him. If he has a good store of virtuous deeds and relative knowledge that would take him to the Sun, the self leaves the body through the eye. It leaves through the head if he is entitled to the world of Hiranyagarbha. It leaves through other passages according to its past work and knowledge.

The death and dying and the life after death has always fascinated man. This is an excerpt from the book What Becomes Of The Soul After Death by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Soul’s Journey After Death: How The Self Departs

All are terribly afraid of death. No one wants to die. Even intellectual persons who have grasped the idea that the Soul is Immortal and is distinct from the body are also awfully afraid of death. Yoga is actually a way of conquering Death!

The death and dying and the life after death has always fascinated man. This is an excerpt from the book What Becomes Of The Soul After Death by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Conquest Of Death: How Yoga is a way of conquering Death

Ten Precepts

Include an expanded version of the Five Precepts of body and mouth (not to kill, steal, engage in illicit sex, lie, or take intoxicants) with the addition of the virtues of the mind (elimination of greed, anger and delusion).

See also "Five Precepts," "Ten Evil Acts."

 (See also: Ten Precepts , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

For more dictionary entries, see » Virtues Dictionary

Purify

Spirituality means growing into the form of Divine Ideal. It is the transformation of your nature from human to Divine. This is brought about by Abhyasa, i.e., spiritual practice or Sadhana and Vairagya leading to renunciation.

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

Read more here: » Spiritual Practice: Spiritual Practice of Sadhana

The main principle is that when awakened, Kundalini Sakti, either Herself or Her eject, ceases to be a static Power which sustains the world-consciousness, the content of which is held only so long as She sleeps; and when once set in movement is drawn to that other static centre in the Thousand-petalled Lotus (Sahasrara) which is Herself in union with the Siva-consciousness or the consciousness of ecstasy beyond the world of form. When Kundalini sleeps, man is awake to this world. When She wakes, he sleeps—that is, loses all consciousness of the world and enters his causal body. In Yoga, he passes beyond to formless Consciousness.

Excerpt from the book Kundalini Yoga by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Kundalini Yoga: Essence Of Kundalini Yoga

Selfishness Making the gratification of the personal self or ego the paramount aim in conduct; a disregard of the interests of others. While individualism is a necessary stage in evolution, yet humanity on the upward arc of evolution is on the road towards realization of the essential unity of all selves. Hence selfishness is our greatest obstacle in spiritual unfolding or development.

It is not its grosser manifestations that are most harmful, but the subtler forms in which it may wear the mask of the virtues. It is overcome by aspiration towards the source of our being, by recognizing the barrenness and futility of self-seeking and its destructive results, and by the cultivation of that primal instinct of altruism which is at the heart of every being.

What is here called selfishness corresponds in the minds of Buddhist philosophers and scholars to the ideas they disputed grouped about the word atman. They never intended to deny the fundamental meaning of atman or selfhood, and yet this misconception of ancient Buddhist teaching has brought about the false idea that Gautama Buddha and his followers taught that man has no essential self or selfhood. Because selfishness was popularly considered the permanent soulhood in man, the doctrine of anatma (in Pali, anatta) was strongly and continuously taught.

The deduction shows clearly that even in India at the time of the Buddha, selfhood in its popular sense of concentration on the lower self and its interests was as popular and widespread as today. It is a paradox that in selflessness is found the noblest and highest emanation of self-expression of the atman or spiritual self in man.

(See also: Selfishness , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

For more dictionary entries, see » Virtues Dictionary

A yogic dictionary including desriptions of Matsyasana, Paschimottanasana, Halasana, Sarvangasana, Oordhva-Padmasana, Sirshasana, Siddhasana and Padmasana.

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

Read more here: » Yogic Exercises: Asanas and Yogic Exercises

Jainism continues to be a living faith in India, with adherents living in nearly every state, but concentrated mainly in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Jainism has practically no following outside the country of its birth. The core of Jaina ethics is the doctrine of ahimsa or non-injury to any living creature. Jainism does not espouse belief in a creator but divides the universe into two independent, eternal categories: Jiva (life) and ajiva (non-life).

Read more here: » Jainism: Renewing Oneself Through Confession

In the stampede at the Nashik Kumbh Mela, many pilgrims were injured and several died. Some others drowned in the Godavari while taking the holy dip and a few were victims of the bomb blasts in Mumbai where they had made a brief stopover.

Pilgrims are aware of the various hardships they have to endure, of the risks involved - landslides, stampedes, floods, terrorist attacks, fires - but they carry on, undeterred, motivated by the desire to acquire punya or spiritual merit.

(See also: Kumbh Mela , Indian Festivals, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Kumbh Mela: Pilgrims Undeterred By Perils  

An academic can be a spiritualist, if he realises the limitations of the intellectual realm. As Jiddu Krishnamurti says, mind and thought are the source of evil. T S Eliot, inspired by the Gita, celebrates stillness amidst movement, fixity amidst fluidity, silence amidst music. The throbbing of the mind is the origin of alienation from life - the intellectual tends to divorce mind from body, but unity can be achieved through the pursuit of yoga and meditative techniques.

(See also: Life and Death, Life and Beyond, Death and Dying, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Life and Death: The Spiritual Type You Think You Are

A guru shows the path of enlightenment to seekers. The guru is both a formal teacher and a spiritual preceptor. He is a storehouse of spiritual energy, which he can transmit to others. He helps the aspirant to polish his inner self till it reflects the light of truth. In the Shirdi Sai Satcharita a seeker asks Shirdi Baba: "Where to go?" Baba replies: "High up". The seeker then asks: "How to go there?" Baba answers: "Take a guide, he will take you straight and make you avoid the ditches and wild beasts in the jungle". Even avatars like Rama and Krishna subjected themselves to the tutelage of worthy gurus like Vashishta and Sandipani.

(See also: Advantage of Guru , Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Advantage of Guru: The Guru Shows The Path  

Simply put, happiness is satisfaction of mind. However, different individuals have different perceptions of how to achieve happiness. For some, happiness lies in wealth; for others, it is in rank and position; yet others find happiness in fame and name. Commonly, happiness is measured by achievement in terms of money, property, other material possessions, power, name, fame, education, lifestyle, position and social status.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Mantra for Happiness - Loving Detachment

dharma: (Sanskrit) "Righteousness." From dhri, "to sustain; carry, hold."

Hence dharma is "that which contains or upholds the cosmos." Dharma, religion, is a complex and all-inclusive term with many meanings, including: divine law, law of being, way of righteousness, religion, ethics, duty, responsibility, virtue, justice, goodness and truth. Essentially, dharma is the orderly fulfillment of an inherent nature or destiny. Relating to the soul, it is the mode of conduct most conducive to spiritual advancement, the right and righteous path.

(See also: Dharma , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

For more dictionary entries, see » Virtues Dictionary

Virtues

Positive magickal properties of objects like herbs, stones, and creatures

(See also: Virtues , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

For more dictionary entries, see » Virtues Dictionary