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YOGASON
The
ethical discipline® |

Internal
equilibrium is the basis and the ground for the higher illumination..1
Life
on earth is the means of self-perfection..2 |
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“I
LOVE INDIA, not because I cultivate the idolatry of geography, not
because I have had the chance to be born in her soil, but because she
had saved through tumultuous ages the living words that have issued from
the illuminated consciousness of her great sons…”
Written
by Rabindranath
Tagore, greatest writer in modern Indian literature, who
won Nobel Prize for literature in 1913.(1)
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It
is not that every Indian all the time was a philosopher or a man of spirit.
But there seems to be something in her very soil and air which makes a
man at some stage or other in his life realize the futility of finite
ends and seek for righteousness and therethrough release from finitude.
(1)
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Prof.
Max Müller, the great German Sanskrit scholar wrote – “If I were to
ask myself from what literature, we here in Europe, we who have been
nurtured almost exclusively on the thoughts of Greeks and Romans...... may
draw that corrective, which is most wanted, in order to make our inner
life more perfect, more comprehensive, more universal, in fact more
truly human, a life, not for this life only, but a transfigured and
eternal life – again, I should point to India”.
(2)
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©Nick
Eakins

©Nick
Eakins |
In
India, nature was free with her gifts and every prospect was pleasing.
The Himalayas, (Himalya - a Sanskrit word meaning "the Abode of
Snow") with their immense range and elevation on one side and
the sea on the others, helped to keep India free from invasion for a
long time… (2)
Click
each photo for full-size
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Present
map of India
(Source=
cia.gov)
©Nick
Eakins |
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"
the above three beautiful photographs of the Himalayas and some below were
taken
by Nick Eakins, a professional photographer specializing in South and
South East Asia.
To
see more of his wonderful photos visit his website by clicking on
the
following
link www.photographs-asia.com
"
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The
Indians never felt that the world was a field of battle where men
struggled for power, wealth and domination. When we do not need to waste
our energies on problems of life on earth, exploiting nature and
controlling the forces of the world, we begin to think of the higher
life, how to live more perfectly in the spirit…
(2)
The
huge forests with their wide leafy avenues afforded great opportunities
for the devout soul to wander peacefully through them, dream strange
dreams and burst forth into joyous songs…
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Philosophy
in India is essentially spiritual. It is the intense spirituality of
India, and not any great political structure or social organisation that
it has developed, that has enabled it to resist the ravages of time and
accidents of history.
External invasion and internal dissensions came
very near crushing its civilization many times in its history. The
history of Indian thought illustrates the endless quest of the mind,
ever old, ever new. (2)
(Photo:
Source: www.peakware.com Photo
Credit: Jussi Isoaho) |
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It
was in the asramas (the word asrama derived from the root meaning “to
toil” – the Indians realized that suffering was incidental to all
progress) and
tapovanas
or forest hermitages that the thinking men of India meditated on the
deeper problems of existence.
Photo:
Source: www.peakware.com Photo
Credit: Phillip Noth)
The security of
life, the wealth of natural resources, the freedom from
worry,
the
detachment from the cares of existence, and the absence of a tyrannous
practical interest, stimulated the higher life of India, with the result
that we find from the beginnings of history an impatience of spirit, a
love of wisdom and a passion for the saner pursuits of the mind. (2)
(Photo:
Source: www.peakware.com Photo
Credit: Dean Lofquist)
Indian
mind always wanted to know the inner truth and the law of all sides of
human activity. (2)
Indian
thinkers meditated on the deeper problems of existence. They were struck
by the immensity of the universe and the inexhaustible mystery of life.
They kept asking themselves:
Who
is it that by knowing it you will know the unknown? (2)
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FURTHER
INFORMATION WILL FOLLOW SOON
COPYRIGHT
© AMIT RAY 2002-2003
E-MAIL:
amit.ray@freesurf.ch
TRADEMARK
REGISTERED IN SWITZERLAND |
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1.The cultural Heritage of India (Vol.
I) - published by The Ramakrishna
Mission Institute of Culture, Kolkata, India
2.
Indian Philosophy - by Radhakrishnan
3.
Bhagavadgita - by Radhakrishnan
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