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THE DIVINE INDWELLING PRESENCE
His Holiness Swami Chidananda Saraswati
Let thy presence be everywhere. Thou who art within and without, above and below and all around us. Thou who interpenetrates every cell of our being. Thou who art the eye of our eye, ear of our ear, breath of our breath, heart of our heart, the very life of our life. Bless us God to be aware of thy presence here and now. This is all we ask of thee. All the beings of this world, in the east and west, north and south, may they all be aware of thy presence always. May peace and goodwill abide among individuals, among groups, communities and nations. This is our earnest prayer. Lokoah samastaah sukhino bhavantu. Om shaanti, shaanti, shaanti.
Peace, peace unto all beings in the universe and the radiant immortal souls assembled together here in the presence of God, in his invisible, all-pervading presence. Peace be unto you all. May there be peace of that being who dwells within you. Those who have experienced that being have declared themselves to be prashaantam, calm at all levels. The Lord has revealed his universal, all-pervading, transcendental form within the physical form of all beings. Lord Krishna says in the teachings of divine knowledge in the Gita, Gudakeshah sarva bhootashaya sthitah. In these words he declares this very fact. Our vedic tradition, which is also termed as Hinduism, derives its original source, its base, from the literature of the Vedas. The Vedas are an ocean of knowledge. These ideal teachings and methods of obtaining knowledge are our ancient heritage. The essence of all that knowledge is summarised in the form of the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita.
In that Gita, Lord Krishna has clearly preached that divinity is not a heavenly, far-spaced element, that it is nearer than the nearest, imperishable, immortal element present within you. In his blissful, divine speech he tells us, "O Arjuna, you are a special person, a yogi, a victor over Indra, the king of the gods. So, my friend, my beloved disciple, I tell you that I
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