Live Vedanta

It's so easy to get wrapped up in the external battle of life. The expectations we have can rob us from becoming fearless (abhaya). We want to control life as much as we can because we think it will make us happy, when really being an observer (saksi) would really help us take control of our internal self. This internal feeling of joy can only come when one can surrender (saranagati).

On this season of Live Vedanta, entitled Stairway to Serenity, we'll be exploring 100 words at the heart of our self-development. The more we understand these words, the more we can live by them. Want to catch up? Start from the beginning or listen to the last episode.

For those on the journey of self-development, Chinmaya Mission Niagara provides a community forum to listen, reflect, and contemplate. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more updates about upcoming live workshops, courses, and more!

Chinmaya Mission is an international non-profit organization working to transform individuals through the knowledge of Vedanta. Live Vedanta is produced by Nina Bhattacharya, Deepal Shanmugam, and Sudarshan Atmavilas.

All of us want to be happy and we do whatever it takes to feel joyous. The problem is we think we can create happiness so we end up going on an emotional roller coaster. This roller coaster can slow down when we increase our inquiry (vichara) and decrease projection. The more we inquire the more we realize the relative is not the absolute which cultivates oneness (advaita) and leads to meditation (dhyana), realization (samadhi), and finally renunciation (sannyasa).

On this season of Live Vedanta, entitled Stairway to Serenity, we'll be exploring 100 words at the heart of our self-development. The more we understand these words, the more we can live by them. Want to catch up? Start from the beginning or listen to the last episode.

For those on the journey of self-development, Chinmaya Mission Niagara provides a community forum to listen, reflect, and contemplate. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more updates about upcoming live workshops, courses, and more!

Chinmaya Mission is an international non-profit organization working to transform individuals through the knowledge of Vedanta. Live Vedanta is produced by Nina Bhattacharya, Deepal Shanmugam, and Sudarshan Atmavilas.

Most of us are following life’s default script -- wake, eat, work, sleep, repeat. But is this working? We receive lots of advice (upadesha) from those we respect on how to be great, but are we actually following? The greatest revelations (mahavakya) of visionaries are accessible to us, but do we trust in them? There are so many opportunities for receiving inspiration (shravana), for reflection (manana) to have faith in those teachings, and for contemplation (nidhidhyasana) to allow those ideas to soak into who we are -- do we take advantage of them? So really, are we alive, or are we living?

On this season of Live Vedanta, entitled Stairway to Serenity, we'll be exploring 100 words at the heart of our self-development. The more we understand these words, the more we can live by them. Want to catch up? Start from the beginning or listen to the last episode.

For those on the journey of self-development, Chinmaya Mission Niagara provides a community forum to listen, reflect, and contemplate. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more updates about upcoming live workshops, courses, and more!

Chinmaya Mission is an international non-profit organization working to transform individuals through the knowledge of Vedanta. Live Vedanta is produced by Nina Bhattacharya, Deepal Shanmugam, and Sudarshan Atmavilas.

Life is a trek through a dark forest. It takes lots of endurance (titiksha) to keep up the energy despite all the discomforts and pinpricks. It takes loads of faith (shraddha) to hold onto what you know is ahead, but can’t yet see. It takes boatloads of absorption (samadhana) to stay focused on the path without succumbing to imaginary fears. And it takes tons of desire, need, yearning (mumukshutva), to pull out the will needed to finish the journey. Only when we have these, and the ability to release (tyaga) ourselves from our own false expectations, can we reach that light at the end of the tunnel -- and merge with that Light. Are you ready to make the trek, beyond all logic?

On this season of Live Vedanta, entitled Stairway to Serenity, we'll be exploring 100 words at the heart of our self-development. The more we understand these words, the more we can live by them. Want to catch up? Start from the beginning or listen to the last episode.

For those on the journey of self-development, Chinmaya Mission Niagara provides a community forum to listen, reflect, and contemplate. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more updates about upcoming live workshops, courses, and more!

Chinmaya Mission is an international non-profit organization working to transform individuals through the knowledge of Vedanta. Live Vedanta is produced by Nina Bhattacharya, Deepal Shanmugam, and Sudarshan Atmavilas.

We're revisiting another Freedom Talk, one of our bite-sized episodes with Vivekji featuring questions from seekers across the world. In this episode, we ask the questions: What is the difference in reflection and inquiry? What is the difference between contemplation and inquiry? How should a seeker transition from one keystone to the next in their journey of self-development?

For those on the journey of self-development, Chinmaya Mission Niagara provides a community forum to listen, reflect, and contemplate. This podcast is produced by young adults of Chinmaya Mission, an international non-profit organization working to transform individuals through the knowledge of Vedanta.

In this next mini episode from our series of Freedom Talks, we ask the questions: How should we handle people who always misinterpret our actions in a negative connotation even though we have good intentions? What to do when we are taken advantage of by others? Can we align our goals with our guide? And if yes, how? How can an introvert handle the expectations of family and friends? Is bhakti a path to become one with the Supreme Self? How do we apply shreyas when we need to make life decisions?

For those on the journey of self-development, Chinmaya Mission Niagara provides a community forum to listen, reflect, and contemplate. This podcast is produced by young adults of Chinmaya Mission, an international non-profit organization working to transform individuals through the knowledge of Vedanta.

 Many of us probably have probably at some point felt we have/had a  reactive personality, we felt distracted, or dull. How can one develop a calmness of body (dama), quietude of mind (sama), and understanding (uparama) so that one can have a more balanced inner world?

On this season of Live Vedanta, entitled Stairway to Serenity, we'll be exploring 100 words at the heart of our self-development. The more we understand these words, the more we can live by them. Want to catch up? Start from the beginning or listen to the last episode.

For those on the journey of self-development, Chinmaya Mission Niagara provides a community forum to listen, reflect, and contemplate. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more updates about upcoming live workshops, courses, and more!

Chinmaya Mission is an international non-profit organization working to transform individuals through the knowledge of Vedanta. Live Vedanta is produced by Nina Bhattacharya, Deepal Shanmugam, and Sudarshan Atmavilas.

We all feel we can create joy but that only leads to disappointment. When we have guidance in our lives we realize that joy cannot be created. How can one go from acting (karma), to depending (bhakti), to having insight (jnana), to prioritizing (viveka) to independence (vairagya)? How does one step lead to the next on this journey to joy?

On this season of Live Vedanta, entitled Stairway to Serenity, we'll be exploring 100 words at the heart of our self-development. The more we understand these words, the more we can live by them. Want to catch up? Start from the beginning or listen to the last episode.

For those on the journey of self-development, Chinmaya Mission Niagara provides a community forum to listen, reflect, and contemplate. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more updates about upcoming live workshops, courses, and more!

Chinmaya Mission is an international non-profit organization working to transform individuals through the knowledge of Vedanta. Live Vedanta is produced by Nina Bhattacharya, Deepal Shanmugam, and Sudarshan Atmavilas.

Our mind is like a river -- sometimes it’s dashing and splashing with a never-ending flow of uncontrollable tides, and other times it’s calm and serene, slowly passing by like a lazy river. How do we tame this mind, so that we can use it for our own Higher purpose, rather than be controlled by its instinctive, impulsive, lightning-fast strikes? How can we best use the teachings (mantra) of the Scriptures, so that we have a chance of practicing them in daily life? And before that, how do we even remember (japa) these teachings as we attempt to captain our humble boat among the rapids of our minds?

On this season of Live Vedanta, entitled Stairway to Serenity, we'll be exploring 100 words at the heart of our self-development. The more we understand these words, the more we can live by them. Want to catch up? Start from the beginning or listen to the last episode.

For those on the journey of self-development, Chinmaya Mission Niagara provides a community forum to listen, reflect, and contemplate. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more updates about upcoming live workshops, courses, and more!

Chinmaya Mission is an international non-profit organization working to transform individuals through the knowledge of Vedanta. Live Vedanta is produced by Nina Bhattacharya, Deepal Shanmugam, and Sudarshan Atmavilas.

 In life we have many ups and downs. Why do we feel moments of happiness and other times moments of sadness or anger? What can we do to always have this feeling of completeness no matter the situation? In this episode Vivekji talks about how our sense of individuality (jiva) leads to attachment or incompleteness and how this cycle continues because of our relationship with the multiverse (jagat) and creator (Ishwara).

On this season of Live Vedanta, entitled Stairway to Serenity, we'll be exploring 100 words at the heart of our self-development. The more we understand these words, the more we can live by them. Want to catch up? Start from the beginning or listen to the last episode.

For those on the journey of self-development, Chinmaya Mission Niagara provides a community forum to listen, reflect, and contemplate. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more updates about upcoming live workshops, courses, and more!

Chinmaya Mission is an international non-profit organization working to transform individuals through the knowledge of Vedanta. Live Vedanta is produced by Nina Bhattacharya, Deepal Shanmugam, and Sudarshan Atmavilas.