प्रेम ही ईश्वर है Love is God. God is Love.

Yoga Principle >> System of Yoga >> Hearing (Shravan) Hearing (Hearing and study of scriptures) Hearing or Shravan means listening stories of God , yoga principles, scriptures by guru and self study of scriptures.  Devotee has to follow hearing, no matter he choose which way (Hath yoga, karma yoga, bhakti yoga, jnana yoga etc.), practicing with or without guru.  In first step of yoga system Initiation (Diksha), guru /god purifies the disciple and provides sacred holy books, scriptures as a means for self-study, and he also teaches him personally,  because meaning of initiation is to make disciple qualify to understand secrets related to God.  Now the second step is to reveal secrets of God to him.  If those secrets are not revealed to him how and what can he understand?  Therefore, he has to know these secrets either by self study or by listening from guru after initiation etc, until all illusions are cut-down.  Secrets of God means the viewpoints and the ideas by means of which illusion is cut-down and supreme-self is realized. In short, setting realization of supreme-self as a goal, self study of scriptures with the wish to meet God, by giving-up all desires, emotions, thoughts (i.e. telling lie, theft, violence, rape, conspiracy, laziness etc.) and taking resolution to not to do them again, and keeping faith and devotion in only God and listening stories of God by getting association of saints, is known as hearing or shravan. Aim of hearing or shravan is to inspire deep love in the lotus feet of God.  When this love is developed in the heart by listening stories of God and self-study of scriptures, then mind diverts from worldly things, and enjoyments, and devotee doesn't like them.  Qualities of Sattva Guna (purity and goodness) is developed in devotee by self study and hearing of scriptures with  practicing weakening of desires and necessities.  The qualities are speaking truth (satya), non-violence (ahimsa), not-stealing (asteya), celibacy (brahmacharya), possessionlessness (aparigraha), purity (shauch), satisfaction (santosh), penance (tapa), self study (swadhyaya), taking shelter of God (Ishwar Pranidhan).  All kind of devotees has to practice these qualities.  Each quality has its own specific power. Speaking Truth (Satya) : By speaking truth all the time our each and every word becomes true and we do not need to tell a lie. Non-Violence (Ahimsa) : By not giving physical, mental and vocal pain to anyone we get infallible power and surrounding area also becomes non-violent and peaceful. The place where it is practiced becomes so sacred that even natural enemies abandon their enmity at or near that place. Not-Stealing (Asteya) : By not stealing anything, all things of world automatically comes to us, even though we do not need them at all. Celibacy (Brahmacharya) : By giving up sexual desire from mind, body and speech and protecting semen, our physical, mental and intellectual abilities and potentialities increases to infinite, and great courage and divine force is produced in mind, body, intellect and senses. Possessionlessness (Aparigraha) : By doing effort only to accomplish minimum requirement to live, not-collecting money and other things unnecessarily, we can see our previous births, and mind diverts from outer world to inner world and the way of yoga practice opens swiftly. Purity (Shauch) : By keeping body, clothes, home, mind and thoughts pure and giving up attachment, hatred, jealousy, anger etc., we gets detachment from our own body parts and touch of other.  Detachment from body increases the speed of yoga practice very much. Satisfaction (Santosh) : By being satisfied in each and every situation, reducing desires to zero, not feeling jealous by seeing others prosperity, our mind stops wandering to and fro and mind becomes desire less.  By being desire less all desires are fulfilled. Penance (Tapa) : By accepting all physical and mental pains during yoga practice considering them wish of God, our sins are destroyed and virtues are increased and gets full control over body and senses. Self Study (Swadhyaya) : By study and reading scriptures which increases interest in yoga practice, make us realize our duties, and reveals secrets related to god, we see the God and the God shows right path to liberation and remove obstacles during yoga practice. Taking shelter of God (Ishwar Pranidhan) : By completely surrendering ourselves to God, considering only God as mother-father, guru, everything, giving up all desires, following orders of God and considering ourselves his servant and chanting the praises of God takes us to realization of supreme-self. Indian Rishis listed them as Yama and Niyama. Former five are known as yama and later five are known as niyama.  When a devotee/disciple practice these qualities, opposing thoughts arise to create obstacles in yoga practice, i.e. telling a lie, violence, stealing, no-celibacy or desire for sex, possession, impurity, non-satisfaction, non-penance, diversion of mind etc.  But he must stay firm on qualities of sattva guna by constantly thinki8ng about it, because these qualities are opposite to negative thoughts and hence have the power to conquer these obstacles.  By doing so, these obstacles are destroyed. Lord Krishna forced Arjun many times in Gita to listen, hear yoga principles : "Esha teabhihita samkhye buddhiyogam tvimam shrunu," || 2.39 || I described sankhya yoga and now listen to buddhiyoga. "Bhuya eva mahabaho shrunu me paramam vachaha" || 10.1 || O Arjun, listen to my sacred speech. "Param Bhuyah pravakshyami jnananam jnanamuttamam" || 14.1 || Listen, I reveal the best of the best knowledge of Brahma. "Hant te kathayishayami divyah hyatmavibhutayaha." || 10.19  || Listen I am telling you my divine majesty (personality). Lord Shiva, Kak Bhushundi, Sanatkumar, and all the saints always tells stories of God and devotees listen and hear it carefully, and gets realization of supreme-self. By practicing hearing and study, wisdom (viveka, discretion of true-false) is produced slowly in the mind of devotee/disciple.  Then he contemplate on True-False(satya-asatya), eternal-transient (nitya-anitya).  This contemplation is the third step of yoga system. What is Contemplation (Manan) ?

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