Navagraha Shani Temple Fort Myers, Florida: Every lesson or experience in life is towards upli...

Navagraha Shani Temple Fort Myers, Florida: Every lesson or experience in life is towards upli...: Every lesson or experience in life is towards uplifting your spirit, take it as it comes, making you more self secure, more cognizant in yo...

Meditation, chanting, the reading of sacred texts, offerings of food and water, and cleansing are part of the ritual. Just as you adorn your body your spiritual body also accepts the fragrances of incense, flowers. An altar created with the deity and its sacred geometry, the yantra, and mala beads that are used in chanting of mantras provides focus for the energy of the divine and a seat of our consciousness. Center yourself and release any stress you may feel, breathe in through your right nostril and out through the left. Repeat with the left nostril. Release all negativity and open your heart to the energies of the divine. Ringing of a bell and inviting the energies, chanting the mantras and the cleansing and dressing of the deity, we are creating a connection with the cosmic divinity.

Glory, glory to Mother Kundalini, who through Her Infinite Grace and Power, kindly leads the Sadhaka from Chakra to Chakra and illumines his intellect and makes him realise his identity with the Supreme Brahman' - Sri Swami Sivananda.

Puja is believed to harness cosmic energy to achieve material or spiritual goals. "If one offers me a simple leaf, fruit, or flower with love and devotion, I will accept it." - Bhagvad Gita. Simply puja is only meant as an external aid, and is not an end in itself.

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The Atman

When the body decays and dies, the atman is intact. The atman has no sense of sin, old age, death, sorrow, hunger or thirst. A king rules over his subjects. Like that , a person who does not know about the atman, is ruled over by the desire to savour the fruits of his action. Those who do not know about the atman during life, continue to be in bondage in the after-life. But those who know about the atman during life, become free in the after-life. 

The atman is like a bridge; it holds the worlds together. The atman knows no night or day, it knows not old age, death, misery, sorrow, righteousness and evil. Sins cannot touch the atman. 

Atman is a Personality

"The atman is an entity about which very few people know. Even if they are told about the atman, very few individuals can comprehend its nature. Extremely rare are individuals who can teach about the atman or learn about it. rare is the skilled teacher and rarer still the student who know about the atman."

"There are ignorant ones who think they can teach about the atman. They have not been able to comprehend the nature of the atman. The atman appears to them in different forms, the only learned instructor is one who knows no difference between the atman and the universe. He alone is capable of dispelling all doubt. The atman may be proved to be as small as an atom. But, in reality it is smaller still. The atman is actually beyond all debate."  

The Divine Soul

The Divine soul is unique and immobile. It is swifter than the mind. The senses cannot attain it. The divine soul never moves. And yet, it can overtake all those who are swift. It is because the divine soul is present that the wind blows and spurs all beings to action.

The divine soul moves. And yet it does not move. It is far. And yet it is near. It is inside this universe. And yet it is outside the universe.

He who is truly learned sees the divine soul (paramatman) in all objects and objects in the paramatman. Such a person rise above all fear and hatred.

(The word used for the divine soul in the verse is atman. But we have used the word paramatman to draw a distinction with the individual human soul or atman.)

He who realises the identity between all objects and the paramatman is truly learned. He knows no illusion or sorrow. Such sentiments become meaningless for him.

The divine soul is radiant and omnipresent. It has no form and cannot be harmed. It has no veins and is pure. It is not touched by sin and sees everything. It is the ruler of the mind. The paramatman is supreme, it created itself. The divine soul is always present. It is the paramatman who decreed the rules that the universe follows.

Brahman Happiness

The happiness that comes from knowing the Brahman can be described. Imagine a youthful person. Let that youthful person be happy. Let him also be learned and the best of rulers. Let his body be firm and strong. Let him possess the entire world with all its wealth. This is the best happiness that man can think of. Multiply this happiness a hundredfold.

"Upanishads"

The self is entangled with the material end, removing it from the equation, doing deeds selflessly, without expecting praise is the path to Brahman.