New member introduction: Deepak Srikantiah

[elmec]

Hari Om,

Going through a collection of Sri Shankaracharya's stotras with meaning would
make a nice beginning. I find reading a book better than reading the same on a
computer screen. Reading them from a book in our mother tongue is more
appealing to me than reading it in English on comp screen. I tend to just scan
the screen and even skip words which are hard to read. You derive more pleasure
possessing a book and keeping it close to you, either on your study table or
near your bed and read whenever you find time. We must make a decision to read
atleast one or two shlokas everyday and understand their meaning. If any stotra
is very interesting and if I wish to learn it by heart, I always write it down
on a sheet of paper and stick it on the wall right in front of my kitchen
platform so that I can keep reading it whenever I stand there. This method
works so well that now I know so many stotras by heart and I will have the
advantage of singing it to myself even during work or while driving or while
taking a stroll or wherever I am  / and whenever I want. Learning the meaning
as we go thro the stotras makes it easier to memorise it and we can enjoy it
better when we sing it.

Subscribing to one or two Adhyatmic periodicals help a lot. Usually the
articles in them are written in simple language so that even a beginner can
understand the tattwa easily. But in our enthusiasm we start collecting so many
books that we can hardly go through and contemplate on the articles ! This
should not be.

One should not tire oneself attending too many discourses by too many speakers.
( Here in Bangalore, India, we have umpteen number of discourses everyday at so
many different venues. I have come across people who try their best to attend
most of them and who take pride in telling everyone how many lectures they
listen to ! )

Keeping a diary and making small notes of what we read / listen helps us to
recapitulate the matter at the end of the day.

None of the above match the effect of shravana of tattwa from a Guru's mouth.
This is the most efficacious of all the Sadhanas. Do you know the secret why ?
- because only here is the tattwa  transmitted by a chetana and received by a
chetana. All other modes of reading, listening to cassettes etc are all from an
achetana to chetana. How can the achetana deliver the chetana ?!

Regards,
Hari Om,
Latha Vidyaranya

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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