Reflections on the Self Unfoldment Book by Swami Chinmayananda

Understanding balance in life is a key element of spiritual growth. Ultimately the key is to gain a steady state of mind when we work and interact with the outer world.  A steady state of mind allows us to consider problems holistically, and act -- not in short-term -- aggrandizement, but long-term good. This is only possible when we are able to sacrifice pleasures that don't do us any good, rather harm us. It is in this context, a balance in pushing for success in the material world (a great job, a wonderful business, or peak of being in one's procession), has to be tempered with the understanding of what is the right thing to do in such an environment. This is possible if we understand the concept of Preyas and Shreyas. I will relate these concepts to the way our mind functions. The path of preyas is the path of pleasant. Eating candies, can be considered Preyas -- pleasant -- since many of us enjoy it. However, that in itself does not make it good. For example, too m

In this chapter, we focus on the role of religion. First, lets start with some basics. As individuals, we should all strive for "complete knowledge" of everything. However complete knowledge is often elusive. The key to getting complete knowledge is to understand that everything consists of both the gross and the subtle. Lets understand this with a series of simple examples. A TV show you look at consists of the show that you see, and the quality of effort that went into the show. A complete appreciation of the TV show would require us to not just focus on the show itself, but the individuals but the coordination that went on to make the show. Many times, we have seen classic movies being produced. These movies often come with "how we made it" videos, to provide an individual complete knowledge. Similarly, we (as individuals) have both the gross body and the subtle body. There is am amazing array of medical science that has studied the response of the gross bod

Dussehra, or navaratri, is a festival of the victory of the good over evil. The word comes from dasa-hara, killing the ten. We celebrate the victory of good over evil. For a long time, I have wondered what to celebrate, when Ram killed Ravana. Yesterday was the first time, I realized the real import. The 10 days in the festival in reality stands for the 10 senses, -- five organs of action (mouth, hands, feet, anus, and genitals) and five organs of perception (skin, eyes, ears, tongue, and nose). A majority of our actions are driven through the ten sense organs. That’s why, Ravana had 10 heads (Dasamukha, the one who reveled in ten senses).   The general idea of the 10 days of Dussehra is to follow the pursuit of Bhramacharya towards the lord. The true meaning of Bhramacharya (it is actually moderation in everything, not bachelorhood), but controlling the senses. Control does not mean "not enjoying" or starving. The control is for the bondage and attachment we develop to t