Ravi S. Iyer: Spiritual

Last updated on 31st  Dec. 2020 2020 Tamil New Christmas Song | Meetpar Piranthullar... | Athisayam 12, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE793Z_KhAE , 3 min. 19 secs., published 15th Dec. 2020 by Vincey Productions. I very much enjoyed this song and I think it is a very sweet song that is full of faith in divinity of Lord Jesus Christ referred to in Tamil in this song as Yecu Meciya (Yesu Mesiya). Note that I am a Hindu who has great love and reverence for Lord Jesus Christ, and love and respect for the Christian faith in general. But I must also say that I view Lord Jesus Christ as one of the ways to God, and as divine (of God), but not the only way to God, which may not be in line with beliefs of some Christians. I view other deities of other religions also as being ways to God, and as divine (of God). The lyrics in Tamil script are available in the description field of the above youtube video-page. But the page does not have the lyrics in English/Latin letters and neither does i...

I had shared these song links on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7 ,  over the past two or three days. The Indian language songs are in languages that I either have decent understanding of, or have some limited understanding of - Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, Telugu and Malayalam.  The singer seems to be from Mumbai. Go Tell It - Sheldon Bangera | New English Christmas Song 2020 | Official Music Video [4K HD], https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrEtWwj7NUg , 2 min. 20 secs, premiered 16th Dec. 2020. [English] Dolly Parton - Go Tell It On The Mountain (Xmas Special), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nPFUh4j2OM , 2 min. 40 secs. New Hindi Christmas Song 2020 | Wo Dil Mein Aayega | Gopal Masih | Worship Warriors, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce5wk6N3RZA , published on 28th Nov. 2020. [Hindi] शांति का राजा | Christmas Song | Full Gospel Church Jabalpur, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQSQqUnQ4Bo , 5 min. 27 secs, published on 15th Dec. 2020. 2020 Latest Telugu Christmas S...

Last updated on 31st Jan. 2021 In a recent conversation on Christmas with a devout European Christian elder, Mr. Jan Baan, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Baan , he suggested to me, on topic of Christian music, to hear Handel's Messiah. I had heard about Handel's Messiah but had not read up on it or heard it. This conversation led me to read up and look up Handel's Messiah and I plan to watch and hear the two long Handel Messiah rendition videos given below, in parts, over the next few days and weeks. I thank Jan for his suggestion that has led me to start my enjoyable journey of listening to Handel's Messiah. About Handel's Messiah from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_(Handel) : Messiah (HWV 56)[1][n 1] is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible, and from the Coverdale Psalter, the version of the Psalms included with the Book of Common Prayer. It ...

Pope Francis starts his discourse at around 39 minutes and ends around 50 minutes in this video: 24 December 2020 Holy Mass of the Christmas Vigil Pope Francis, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuQKnKaS4Lc , published on 24th Dec. 2020 by Vatican News - English. I heard this discourse and found it to be inspiring. I have great admiration and reverence for Pope Francis. His actions and words strengthen my faith in a loving God. I could not find the full text of this discourse on the Internet and on Vatican News - English site. Perhaps it will be put up later.  But I found a lot of news reports on this discourse. I have given below extracts of Pope Francis' discourse, and little other background info. from some of these reports. Extracts from: At The Vatican, A Christmas Eve Mass Shaped By The Pandemic, https://www.npr.org/2020/12/24/950116293/at-the-vatican-a-christmas-eve-mass-shaped-by-the-pandemic , 24th Dec. 2020, are given below: The Mass was celebrated in a smaller rear section...

Last updated on 31st Jan. 2021 As per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_(name) , Jesus name is derived from Hebrew name Yeshua/Y'shua, meaning "to deliver; to rescue". So Jesus word is understood to be saviour. In some Indian languages like Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam (perhaps most, if not all, Indian languages), the word 'Yesu' or 'Yeshu' is used for Jesus which is closer to the Hebrew word for Jesus. Note that there has been lot of connect between India and Arabia since ancient times and so there is lot of language and culture connect between Jerusalem (Judea) of days of Jesus Christ, and India. So some of the Indian language Christian worship songs and prayers use words that are closer to Hebrew and possibly even Aramaic (language that Jesus and his disciples are said to have used) words associated with early Christianity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_(title)#Etymology tells us that Christ is the Greek translation for Hebrew ...

Faith Is Most Important - Sathya Sai Baba, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIAsyeoL014 , 4 min. 39 secs., Dec. 2016. The initial and end segments of the video mention about a global gayatri mantra chanting program (in 2016 context) - I do not know about that and am not endorsing it. I am sharing the video for the wonderful message of Bhagavan about the power of Namasmarna (remembrance of God through His name) which is a very appropriate spiritual/devotional path for Kali Yuga, and how Namasmarna should be done. A related Dec. 2014 blog post of mine: The power of Namasmarna (remembering name of the Lord) to keep the mind under control in today's busy world,  https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-power-of-namasmarna-remembering.html .

Lovely rendition of this Hindi bhajan : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rmnVXVHoHY , 5 mins. 55 secs. The youtube video does not show the singer and musicians (it has a set of pics with Shirdi Sai in it) nor does the description mention the lady singer's name or the names of the musicians.  I love the first two lines of this bhajan as they capture my feelings towards my beloved Lord Sai incarnated as Bhagavan Sri Shirdi Sai Baba and later as Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. The lines are: Hey anaath naath Sai tum ho antaryaami [English: O Lord of orphans (those who seek/need a beneficiant Lord), you are my inner Lord] Tum ho mere Bhagavan [English: You are my Lord (one who I adore, worship and pray to, seeking grace and protection)] I got first exposed to this bhajan in the 1990s in the Sathya Sai devotee community in Maharashtra. I do not know the origin of this song and whether it was first composed as a song of worship of Bhagavan Sri Shirdi Sai Baba. At that time, I had not yet d...

PUJYA GURUDEV SWAMI CHINMAYANANDA’S BIRTH CENTENARY - THE RELEASE OF COMMEMORATIVE COINS, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXM_sok_R7I , 15 mins. 54 secs, published on 16th May 2015 by ChinmayaChannel. This video has a very interesting speech (in Hindi, from around 4 mins. 9 secs) by PM Modi in 2015 on the birth centenary occasion of Swami Chinmayananda, noting the great contributions made by Swami Chinmayananda to spread Hindu ideals and faith among English speaking community ('elite' is the word PM Modi used), especially youngsters. PM Modi says that in his view, the biggest service done by Swami Chinamayanda was (in the situation where) due to period of "slavery" (Hindi:'ghulaami kaalkand'; rule by foreign powers/invaders), the elite class of the country were not only sad about our great culture and traditions but felt that associating with it would be a lowly thing to do (Hindi:'heen manta tha'). [Ravi: I think what PM Modi is saying is that such el...

I wrote the below paragraph (perhaps slightly edited) in a recent correspondence related to the question: Have I changed over the years?  There is a core divine consciousness/awareness aspect to my being/life that does not change and is eternal - it is a sort of changeless and divine witnessing aspect referred to as 'Atma' in Hindu scripture, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%80tman_(Hinduism) . This 'Atma' (sometimes translated in English as 'Self') does not die - only the body dies and some subtle aspects of the mind may be carried on to another birth (new physical body) at times, or there may not be any more births for that person (in which case the mind also gets finished / dies fully). The latter case of no more births is dependent on one fully earning the grace of the Divine (God) through devotion to Divine and/or wisdom about Atma (self-realization), and typically having finished one's Karma, thereby merging in the Divine Spirit (Parabrahman, https:/...