Why We Worship Only God's Auspicious Side

An early morning meditation talk given by Sri Swami Atmaswarupananda on December 28, 2015, at Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh (The Divine Life Society). Swamiji opens with the scriptural declaration that God is one without a second, and with Krishna's statement in the tenth chapter of the Gita that He indwells all things, then asks why only His auspicious side is worshipped while His so-called evil qualities are ignored. He cites Swami Chidananda's teaching that God manifests as both avidyamaya, which leads away from Him, and vidyamaya, which leads toward Him, and explains that scripture directs worship toward the auspicious because that is the path back to union, though ultimately dharma and adharma alike must be abandoned. Swamiji gives two further reasons: Chidananda's counsel that to become God one must become like God, and since most of us are already full of the inauspicious, it is the auspicious side needing cultivation; and that those who have realized God's oneness can only describe it in auspicious terms — love beyond opposition, truth without untruth, purity with nothing second. Until the opposites are transcended, as Krishna instructed Arjuna, Swamiji says we should keep striving toward dharma. Swami Atmaswarupananda was born in Canada in 1925. In 1974, he came to Sivanandashram at the suggestion of his Guru, His Holiness Swami Chidananda, the President of The Divine Life Society. After twenty years, spent primarily in a life of study and reflection, his Guru asked him to give a brief talk each morning at the conclusion of the early morning meditation gatherings. He offered these talks daily for many years. This channel preserves the portion that was captured between 2012 to 2016, along with his lectures at the Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy. A selection of his talks was published by the Divine Life Society as the book "Trust God." Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya Om Namo Bhagavate Chidanandaya