Inner Journey
Spiritual Activities-- the easy way
Inner Journey
Friends! Welcome Aboard
for Inner Journey!!
This website is devoted to serious accounts, instructions and meaningful discussion on spiritual topics, along Indian/Hindu traditions such as:
--- Yoga - Bhakti, Karma, Jnana, Raja
--- Vedanta -The Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads,
some puranas too
--- Spiritual practices---compassion [Daya], Charity, Japa
[Chanting], Worship [Pooja] and Meditation [Dhyana]
--- Spiritually charged centres [pilgrimage sites] in
India, especially in the South Indian peninsula
--- Lives of saints and sages [not living now, so that I dont
get drawn into controversies and calumny] - both Hindu
and of other faiths.
You can meet me at Bangalore or Palo Alto,CA subject to availability of time.
Bangalore
5th Feb 2008
P S : Please give your opinions/feedback/comments
to the email Id: nksrinivasan@hotmail.com
---N K Srinivasan
Note: Please see my other website also:---
Lord's Promise
to these ever steadfast devotees, I secure safety and supply all their needs [carry their burden]
--- The Bhagavad Gita [9:22]
In whatever way men worship Me, in the same way I fulfill their desires[accept and bless them]. O Arjuna, in every way men follow my path.
--- The Bhagavad Gita [4-11]
Page Contents
By way of Introduction to my web pages:
-- several yoga techniques, mainly focusing on JAPA and MEDITATION--Why?--because they are easy to practice for modern folks.
--places of pilgrimage ,especially in South India, with its magnificent temples and traditional ways of worship,temple rituals- .. a few travel tips.
----A page devoted to Shirdi Sai Baba
---Books--classics and profound ones by great masters of 19th/20th centuries as well as modern books
---Saints and sages of 19th/20th centuries about whom authentic information is available and who have influenced the last few generations --that is my father's and my generation . Most often the information and books available are too vast--One has to be selective.
---brief instruction on the Bhagavad Gita-- 'Gita Snippets" and Upanishads to whet your interests/curiosity and to provide brief instruction.
---ashrams of these great ones where you can stay for a few days/weeks to recoup your spiritual moorings,recharge your spiritual batteries, and to benefit from satsangha.
----Brief notes on Advaita-Nonduality
---Some notes for Westerners on Vedanta and Gurudom...
--.You will quickly perceive that I am not enamoured of or attracted to modern day,self-styled gurus who claim 'self-realization' as a matter of course, who build their empires with media coverage and corporate-style organizations with advertisements and who charge fees for their short, elementary stuff.
If you also feel that way, you will find much useful information in these pages.
Om Sai Sri Sai Jai Jai Sai
In (Shirdi) Sai Smaran
N K Srinivasan
Hierarchy of Spiritual Practices
--- Worship [Upasana --- with or without form or image]
--- Prayer [spoken, silent, hymns]
--- Chanting [Japa of mantras, names]
--- Meditation [of different kinds, with or without breath control/pranayama]
--- Samadhi [ Savikalpa, Nirvikalpa/Sahaja [Jivan mukthi state], Bhava mukha, in this order]
--- Merging with the Supreme, as Light, Jyotir-maya --[Equivalent of E = m x c x c in spiritual plane]
[Saints and sages pass through these stages with slight differences and detours...Formal religions and popular sects emphasize the first two --- they build temples, churches, synagogues, Gurudwaras and so on.
Japa and meditation can be done anywhere --- but, quiet places are conducive --- hence ashrams & retreats.
Samadhi states are fruits of these efforts, allowed by the Guru/God/Self as Divine Grace. The last stage is merging with the Lord/Self eternally. In Hindu tradition we say that the person has become a Star in the Firmament --- a symbolic way of telling that It is eternal.]
Self -Enquiry
Seeking the ego,that is its source, the ego disappears.What is left over is the Self.This method is the direct one.
------ Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi
Responses & Contact
CONTACT
Dear Friends,
I have moved back to Bangalore ,India and available at my small apartment in Malleswaram, Bangalore.You can contact me through email and visit me whenever possible.email ID: nksrinivasan at hotmail dot com.
- --In Sai Smaran,
N K Srinivasan
Bangalore
16th April 2009
Dear One,
It is more than a year since this website was created.Visitors from various countries, big and small,have seen this website.Most of them are focused on these pages: 'Books','Three Great mystics',Goddess Worship' and 'Shirdi Sai Baba'...Many are interested to know more about Hindu traditions and also books on these.Among these topics, Shirdi Sai Baba information has been the maximum page viewed.Needless to say,Shirdi Sai devotions have been expanding throughout the world.I am a frequent visitor to Shirdi.I also report on new Sai temples.
Another topic of great interest is "Goddess Worship".In western societies,worship of God in the form of a female goddess is not easily appreciated or accepted while in India and China ,Goddess worship is a common mode.The western mind had always pictured God as 'Father in heaven', partly due to early Chrisitian theologians and St Paul's doctrines.Female priests were accepted only recently in certain Christian churches.The Goddess worship,highly developed and stylized in the Hindu tradition, is drawing lot of attention world-wide.You will find some useful info in these pages.
In a month, about 1200 visitors see these pages---some may be visiting several times..Please do send your feedback by emails!
I intend to add a few paragraphs about comparative religion , mainly to bring out the common 'bottom line' of all major religions---the thread of Jnana [knowledge] and Bhakti [devotion] running though these religions.As a first step,I am including several books in that aspect in the web-page on 'books' ---Please see that page to keep updated. ---
In Sai Smaran,
N K Srinivasan
2nd Feb 2009
Donate for "Aid for Blind Children" --a trust operated by the author for Visually challenged in India [See 'My Profile' page.]
Please visit: Click here__> Mathru School
Religions Unite!
Friends, I have been planning to write on comparative religion ,in a practical sense, not in purely academic spirit,fot the past two years....Almost all religions have elements of self-enquiry or meditations, mystic perceptions and above all-devotion. In each religion ,there are sects or groups which lay greater emphasis on deotion or mysticism or enuiry or contemplation...what is more, if you take one's life, one may move from devotion to meditation and so on as one ages and absorbs more from the world of experiences....Many focus on worship of some form or other,with more or less rituals---to a personal God or God-like figure [say Christ or Krishna or Lord Buddha and so on] calling him/her as messengeer,teacher ,guru and so on....If you consider this way, almost all religions are quite similar,except for some dogmas and doctrines created by philosophers.
Between Hinduism and Christianity,ther are many similarities;saintly teachers like Paramahansa Yogananda and his Guru, Sri Yukteswar, sought to explain this in their works...
There is one fundamental doctrinal difference however.Christianity proposes that 'Only through Christ you can attain salvation and you have to accept Jesus Christ as the saviour and accept him as Son of God"..This may not be accepted by other people and hence all the conflict...A Hindu may propose Lord Rama or Lord Krishna as their saviour or redeemer...Well ----each one has his or her favorite god.! While Christians would call God as"Father in Heaven" ,Hindus will talk of Mother Goddess too... All these differences arise because of our human mental constitution with its limitations...after all , we humans can conceive and feel love for father figure or mother figure.....In the Ultimate sense, the worshipful God is beyond thought,mind ,intellect and any form---in the mystic sense or in vedantic concepts...but these are ,for most of us, theoretical concepts and not easy to live with! hence we need churches, temples,places of worship to focus on the divine in our own child-like ways.!
Religions cover a spectrum of approaches--One end of the spectrum is that of spiritual enquiry or Jnana with contemplation and mysticism...the other end is that of devotion [;Bhakti] in various hues and forms,leading to 'surrender' to a higher power.Almost all religions have shades of these colors of the spectrum...some emphasize certain colors---suited to a particular time in history.Whether we are attracted to the teachings and the way of Lord Buddha, or Adi Shankara or St Paul or St Augustine or Sri Ramakrishna---it all depends on 'our' mental framework and the times and society we live in.There is no absolute truth or meaning inthese approaches...there is no ONE WAY...but different paths...It is like reaching the top of a mountain...One may go by a winding road, another may fly with a helicopter;another climbs by using stone steps;another does rock climbing like a professional mountaineer...
Religious men and women fight and quarrel because of their narrow vision and dogmatic beleifs and feel sure of their own ways and means.With the passage of 20th century---after bitter struggles between different communities,after the holocaust and after World War II and the explosion of atom bombs---the human society seem to be wiser and moving towards an eclectic society..this is ,indeed, my view..Am I just optimistic and hoping for a better, more peaceful world?--- Only time will tell.Meanwhile let us spread the message of better understanding of religions and spirituality.
