Jnana Yajna 29
Year & Dates:
March 15, 1957 to April 04, 1957
Yajna Topic:
Vivekachudamani
Place:
Ernakulam, India.
To a Realized Sage, the whole world is home. Still, His birthplace is significant because of the associated glory. Such is the honor of Ernakulam, the home of Balakrishna Menon who became the revered Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda. On March 15,1957, when the 29th Jnana Yajna commenced in Ernakulam, the audience was filled with joyful pride about their cherished son of the soil. That yajna on Vivekachudamani was the first yajna of Pujya Gurudev’s in Ernakulam. Adi Shankara’s crest-jewel text was going to be taught in a royal setting, on the grounds of the Ernakulam Residential Palace.
Doubly Blessed Backwaters
Excitement ran high inside and outside the splendidly decked Palace since His Highness, the Maharaja of Cochin was going to inaugurate the yajna. The meeting of Pujya Gurudev and the royal head moved and thrilled those who witnessed it; the simple and dignified Maharaja prostrated as soon as he saw Pujya Gurudev, and Pujya Gurudev too prostrated in utter humility. Their mutual love and regard for each other and for Vedanta overwhelmed everyone.
Before a beautiful portrait of Shree Adi Sankaracharya, Pujya Gurudev commenced the discourses on Vivekachudamani in that exemplary venue set amid the shimmering backwaters of the Arabian Sea on the West, the Palace on the East, and the swaying rows of coconut palm trees on the North and the South. He stressed on the importance of distinguishing between the permanent and the impermanent. He urged all seekers to transcend the hold of the body, mind, and intellect to recognize the Divine Essence within. To ensure that those who didn’t understand English could benefit from the great text, He arranged for a Malayalam translation on each day following His discourse.
An extraordinary aspect bridging the 28th and 29th Jnana Yajnas was the thoughtful cooperative effort of the two yajna committees. To enable the seekers to attend both the yajnas that were held during the same three weeks, a special motor boat was arranged to ferry them across the backwaters. From Vivekachudamani to Bhagavad Gita chapters 12 and 13, knowledge and devotion flowed seamlessly because of the generous, untiring Guru.
Photo Gallery
Satsang - the ultimate pick-me-up for the mind, body and soul!
I am Brahman; I am Atman; I am Consciousness!
Meet life as it reaches us; with or without the things our minds demand!
The havana - where the flames whisper secrets and the spiritual master translates them into wisdom!
"Laugh ever, and smile continuously in your within!" He said.
“Think,” Says Pujya Gurudev
The more we identify with the body, the more are our life’s botherations. Thus, holding onto an unreal thing becomes the essence of all bondage. This is the second definition of bondage. The first definition was in the previous verse where it was declared that considering the anatman to be the Self was bondage (v.137). Bondage is nothing other than the identification with the unreal, the perishable, the changeable, the variable, the mutable – together called the anatman, the not-Self.
From Vivekachudamani Book
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Constantly plagued by the timeless question that bewilders the human mind: which preceded the other, the tree or the seed? Is there a realm beyond this perplexity? Dive into the video to unveil the solution and contemplate the enigmatic depths of the cosmos.