The Science and Adventure of God

D R E A M S 🕊

2026-05-31T09:58:21.685-07:00

I have had some remarkable dreams through life.. from Divine visitations, to vivid experience of other realms, to extraordinary tactile human experiences. Each left a mark on my journey.

A few nights back I had a unique dream experience, which I felt was worth sharing.

The dream was an experience that I am sure was meant to help me realise and awaken.

Now to describe what transpired in detail, I am at a loss. The dream occurred to me during the Brahmamuhurat hour. When the alarm rang, I realised that I am in a dream state and about to wake up, so I desperately gathered all I could from the fleeting dream experience.

As I awakened, the details of the dream that I was living just a few seconds back, was mostly erased. The only thing I was able to carry back with me was an overwhelming impression of:

A sense of Freedom.

From that feeling of freedom, I could recall faint impressions of what the dream had been.

I was in the company of some strangers, a lady primarily amongst them, who are fully aware of me, my nature, my burdens, my limitations and we interact with such completeness and lightness of being that it felt profoundly liberating, I felt freed from myself.

The experience was simple, of causeless joy, the exuberance of being - pure, free, unburdened. We did ordinary human things, yet everything felt meaningful, playful, alive in a whole new way. Freedom, such as I have never imagined possible.

Just before waking, I recall us playing an outlandish game in the waters with such joyous participation as if we were little children. Swami says, “Life is a game, play it.” They were helping me experience what it means to really live. Their presence dissolved my bindings and conditionings that limit me.

The alarm rang and sadly I woke to our reality.

Upon awakening the first thing I do is to bow to my Gurus and Divine Mother and in that moment, a realisation dawned that perhaps this dream was how it was suppose to be for all of us, but we collectively messed it up.

Perhaps this is what is meant by 'fall from the Garden of Eden.'

In my life, living through spiritual circles and the film industry, I have known many people who are rich, powerful, famous, beautiful, intelligent, people to who life is extremely generous in many ways. But I cannot recall anyone who possesses that freedom. The joy and happiness most people carry is painfully conditional and terribly fragile.

While a few people come to mind who perhaps express an iota of that freedom, the only Being I have personally witnessed embodying such freedom in its fullness is Swami.

A realisation dawned that I too have lived my life in some form of self bondage - karmic, psychological, emotional, societal. And while it fulfils a karmic debt, it hasn't served me evolve.

The words of Sadhguru came to mind -

“What happens in the outside world, you cannot always control. But what happens to this one (Yourself), you can fully control. If you have control over yourself, would you choose to be miserable or pleasant?”

This simple statement hit a new depth in me.

Most of us are not living this way at all.

Not because it is impossible.

Not because it is impractical.

But because we have surrendered our inner freedom and subscribed to the endless opinions, expectations, and noise of the world.

That is the fundamental Human tragedy.

I prayed for the blessing that what life I have left, I strive to reclaim that freedom or die trying.

The Vedic Middle-Earth : How Tolkien’s World Echoes Hindu Cosmology!

2025-03-07T05:02:00.000-08:00

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion share striking parallels with Hindu philosophy, especially regarding creation and the cosmic order. His legendarium beautifully echoes the structure of Hindu cosmology in a way that feels both familiar and profound.

At the heart of it all is Eru Ilúvatar, the supreme creator, like ParaBrahman, the absolute, formless divine source from which all existence flows. From Eru arise the Ainur, the holy ones, who resemble the Trimurti - Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the Preserver), and Maheshwara (Shiva, the Transformer). Just as the Trimurti shape the universe through their divine will, the Ainur sing reality into existence under Eru’s guidance.

Descending from the Ainur, we have the Valar, each governing a force of nature - sky, sea, earth, death - similar to the Devas of Hinduism, like Indra, Agni, and Varuna, who maintain cosmic balance. Melkor, the rebel Ainur who turns against Eru, can be compared to Asuric forces like Hiranyakashipu or Ravana—mighty but led astray by pride.

Then come the Elves, the firstborn of Eru, luminous and wise, much like the celestial beings (Devas, Gandharvas, or Rishis) of Hindu texts. They possess great knowledge and a deep connection with the divine but are destined to fade from life only as the time moves forward. Humans are the later-born, caught in the web of karma and free will, shaping their own destiny in an ever-changing world.

Valinor

The ages of Tolkien’s Middle-earth also bear resemblance to Hindu time cycles:

The First Age mirrors Satya Yuga, the age of purity, where the Valar still walk among the world, and heroes perform godlike feats.
The Second Age, like Treta Yuga, sees the rise of great civilizations, akin to Ayodhya or Lanka, and their eventual fall due to ego and ambition (Numenor’s downfall).
The Third Age, resembling Dwapara Yuga, is an age of decline where divine presence is rare, chaos reigns and good unites to face evil or adharma as in the fellowship against the mighty army of Sauron, akin to the Mahabharata war.
Finally, the Fourth Age, the Age of Men, reflects Kali Yuga, where magic wanes, gods withdraw, and men rule with more uncertainty than wisdom.

High Elves war with Morgoth

Both cosmologies feature different realms of existence (lokas in Hinduism; Arda, Valinor, Halls of Mandos, etc., in Tolkien)

The creation of the world through music in Tolkien's Ainulindalë has been compared to the cosmic vibration concept (Nada Brahma) in Hindu philosophy

The One Ring is an objective echo of Maya (illusion) in Hindu thought—an object of immense power that blinds beings with desire and corrupts even the noblest hearts, much like how attachment to the material world entraps the soul.

What is particularly noteworthy is that Tolkien’s mythology does not mirror Christianity’s idea of creation or original sin. There is no Adam and Eve, no concept of inherited sin, and no singular moment of divine judgment. Instead, Tolkien’s world follows a more cyclical and evolving structure, much like Hindu cosmology, where time flows in vast ages, and the divine is ever-present yet distant, shaping destiny without direct interference.

Tolkien’s world isn’t just a fantasy epic—it’s a grand, spiritual tapestry, woven with deep mythic truths. While it wasn’t directly inspired by Hindu philosophy, its essence resonates beautifully with the cycles, deities, and cosmic struggle that Hinduism describes. Perhaps, in some forgotten song of the Ainur, the wisdom of the Vedas still lingers.

Notes on Dreams

2023-08-19T09:56:00.015-07:00

A compilation of notes I had written sometime in the past

DREAMS ~ In a recent group discussion, a yogi shed light on some amazing details of our Consciousness from what we experience daily but don’t pay much attention to.

@letsgetlost_ai

Our subconscious state has many layers. In sleep state we are accessing the astral and causal layers of our being. The quality of experience during sleep in each of these layers changes as the body and its chemical constitution change due to varying moods of the individual. Sleep ranges from the very light sleep (bordering on insomnia) to dreamless sleep which is ideal. There are deeper states that aren’t accessible to normal humans in our current state of evolution.

Dreams take place when we are traversing one of such layer of the subconscious. The dream state itself is multi layered. So you can have dreams which make no sense to dreams which are profound. Anytime you have a dream which is very impactful or revealing specially in the spiritual sense, you will find that such a dream occurs mostly during 3:30 to 5:30 am. At this time the frequency in the environment is suitable in revealing the subtle and is also why yogis prefer this time to meditate.

When we wake and remember our dream, we will notice that the length of the dream is not the same as the length of our sleep. Let’s say we sleep 7 hours. Have you seen a 90 mins movie and how much info it contains, so how long should the 7 hour dream be? But it isn’t. Most of our dreams seem from 10- 20 mins long yet they dominate our memory of sleep. While our sleeping body is governed by time, that part of our subconscious mind which is active in sleep is not operating in any time frame. This is part of the reason our dream experiences seem a little weird or distorted, and then a few minutes of dream can seem like a whole life story.

@letsgetlost_ai

One of the layers of our subconscious is a state where we can fully or semi control parts of our dreams. This enables a vivid, life-like experience of the events of the dream. Most of us at some point or another will have experienced this. It is a very fascinating, hard to forget experience, specially tactilely and emotionally the experience is very vivid.

Because of their amazing control over their awareness, yogi's know how to access this state and make use of it to finish a past karma, specially those related to other people. These could include pleasant to unpleasant experiences.

A well known yogi from the 70’s once shared with his disciple that he had a pending karma with one soul who was currently born in France. It seemed improbable to interact and finish that karma with her in this life and since he did not intend to come back again, he interacted with her in the dream state and finished the karma, which was one of intimacy.

People can misunderstand and judge such things without considering that every spiritual seeker has had many normal past lives from which many karmas may still be pending. They have every right to finish a karma, specially if they have the ability and wisdom to do it, and which would anyways have manifested in time. Keen to evolve to higher states of existence, a yogi can thus use this option to clear a karma which may be holding him. In such cases the soul on the other side also receives a similar experience in their dream state.

@letsgetlost_ai

I also know of a case where a Master revealed to his bachelor disciple that he would soon be entering into a relationship. The young disciple bluntly refused this suggestion and was very resistant and agitated by the idea. 6 years later this boy met a girl and immediately recognized her as someone from the past. But he keeps his distance. Destiny had other plans. The girl also saw him and initiated a relation. For the next few years this boy and the girl were together and they would have vivid dreams where - they had an elaborate marriage, she becomes pregnant, they are blessed with a baby, they bring it to the Master, the Master names him, in various dreams the Master affirms to him that she is the one for him. Then one day in a dream the Master tells him to cease and move away from this relation as trust would be a factor going ahead. Sure enough girl goes abroad for studies, finds a new friend and suddenly breaks her relation with this boy and begins a new relation with her new friend. The boy falls into a dark space for 4 years, before the Master helps him realise that this was a pending karma which could have taken a lifetime of its own, but the Master helped him live it now while he was living in His presence. A life long karma was exhausted in 6 years of their relation and their dreams.

Yogi's have great control over the subconscious states. They can be asleep and remain fully conscious as well, just like they can be alive but cease their heartbeats. For them entering certain layers of subconscious can be a clear an experience as going to a room and retrieving something from it. Thus can they use this dream state to their advantage. Dreams can also be a connecting point of transferring some higher wisdom by masters to their disciples, irrespective of whether the master is himself living or existing in the beyond. But most of us humans are unable to access these subtle layers of dreams consciously. This is because mostly our sleep is an escape for a body that is in dire need of rest. If we treated sleep more purposefully our experience of it can open new vistas.

@letsgetlost_ai

The Inner story of Sri Ganesha

2020-08-22T01:38:00.007-07:00

Today is Ganesh Chaturthi,

The story goes that Goddess Parvati creates a young boy out of her being, and asks him to stand guard as she takes a bath. The boy follows the command implicitly. When Lord Shiva comes he is prevented by him from meeting Goddess Parvati. Lord Shiva reasons, but the boy is unwilling to listen. A terrible fight ensues, at the end of which Shiva cuts off his head. When Goddess Parvati learns of the situation, she clarifies the truth. Thereupon, Lord Shiva revitalizes the dead child, replacing his head with an elephant head, and so we have Lord Ganesha, who now understands the truth, and they live happily ever after!

This story of Ganesha is well know, but not well understood. Most devotees accept the story form as is; the ignorant make fun of it; the wise, who understand the deeper significance of what the story represents, are the ones who make optimal use of it. Rishis, who composed or rather codified the puranas, humanized these stories, which are full of spiritual significance, to enable humanity to understand it.

On this day while we celebrate this festival, let us understand the inner significance of the occasion to make optimal use of it.

Goddess Parvati is Shakti - whose energy is the source of all creation, creates the boy who represents an individual soul - the ego. Her taking a bath and making him stand guard is symbolic of empowering the ego energy of protecting and sustaining her leisure time, her leela. Lord Shiva represents the ultimate truth, the supreme reality. Shiva and Shakti belong together. When Lord Shiva arrives, the boy - Ego, does not recognize him and prevents him from disturbing Shakti from her leisure time. The inner meaning of this is - when the higher truth dawns on man, his ego prevents him from disturbing the process of illusion that the individual is engaged in.

This has to be seen from a yogic perspective. Goddess Parvati represents Shakti in form of the sacred Kundalini force residing in the muladhara chakra of a man. According to the yogic science, Lord Ganesha is the Lord of the muladhara chakra. Lord Shiva, the highest spiritual truth, comes home to Shakti, since they belong together. The boy, representing the individual ego in a state of delusion, does his duty from place of ignorance. The fight between Truth and ignorance ensues, represents the spiritual battle that each sadhaka undergoes until Lord Shiva using his trident and slays the Ego/limitations of the individual. When Shiva and Shakti meet, truth emerges, and Lord Shiva replaces the head of the boy with an elephants head, (wisdom).

The elephants large head is again symbolic of vaster understanding. The boy is now Sri Ganesha, embodiment of wisdom, who acknowledges the reality of Shiva Shakti, as his own source, his father and mother. Since Lord Ganesha resides in the muladhara chakra from where the spiritual journey begins, He is the first to be worshipped, and in that sense he is also a Guru - one who shows light. Lord Ganesha’s awakening happens fully, at a cosmic level (not partial). He becomes aware of all truths at once, and so can help any person through any obstacles because he is all knowing. Hence He is blessed to be a vighna vinashaka, remover of obstacles. But does he remove only spiritual obstacles as against the thousands of prayers that humans send him each day to alleviate them from 'worldly' burdens? The desires of the world are also spiritual desires except in a crude and sleeping form. Lord Ganesha removes these obstacles not so that a human can life a happy life in the world for eternity but rather so that having a desire fulfilled man can see that worldly desires cannot give lasting joys as presumed and this encourages man to finally undertake his spiritual journey, the key purpose of his life.

Today the world celebrates the Ganesh Chaturthi, ignorant of the Ganesha principle. Many focus on outer show, flouting all rules regarding rupa principles of Ganesha, the materials to be used in making the murti, and complete disregard for water and noise pollution that always accompany this sacred festival. We have come a long way from the times when devotees would lovingly create small murtis from the clay at the river bank and at the end of the festival depot the clay back into the river.

So what does Ganesha chaturthi symbolise in simple terms? Just as on a dark cloudy day the sun may suddenly shine through parted clouds and illuminate the whole earth; similarly on this sacred occasion energy of Ganesha becomes available to humanity a thousand fold from normal times. A human, pursuing ultimate success in his evolution, can “attune” with this energy of Sri Ganesha by sincere inner Sadhana and seek aid in removal of obstacles and blessings at all levels of existence.

Om Eka-dantaya Vidmahe,

Vakratundaya Dheemahi,

Tanoh Dantih Prachodayat.

I am now aware of the single tusked One

And meditate upon the Lord with the curved tusk

May the Tusked One illuminate me.

SIMPLIFYING MEDITATION

2020-06-08T01:33:00.004-07:00

I have written 3 blogs on meditation previously (links below), assuming they will address everything a first timer needs to know about how to meditate. I get many questions on Quora and Fb asking me about meditation. When I send them these 3 links, I find there are still questions at the most basic level. Conversation with a few helped me see that they are sincere yet utterly untuned to this idea. So I wondered if the idea of meditation could be broken down further. Here goes -

Painting - Akash Bhisikar

I read the Autobiography of a Yogi when I was about 16. Reading about yogis who stepped back from the world so that they could meditate for upto 18 hours a day, I was inspired to meditate. But it was not easy to go deep into meditation immediately and I recall how I would pep-talk myself to sit in the inner darkness of meditation for only 5 mins.

When I closed my eyes and glimpsed into the darkness and nothingness, my mind would come storming with a flood of restless complaints and I would somehow force myself to retain the “meditative” state for 5 mins. When the 5 mins ended, I would open my eyes and breathe as if I did not have any oxygen during meditation. So back then, the struggle was just to enter the doorway of meditation by sitting quiet in the apparent darkness, not knowing what to do. It took me about 6 months of consistent practise to get used to the idea and then move ahead to deal with the other challenges awaiting me.

THE NEW WORLD -

Let's understand the above with an example.

Imagine traveling to a new country. You don’t know much about it and naturally feel a bit lost. But still, you find many things that make you feel at home. The people may look or speak differently, but they’re still human—eating, sleeping, walking, talking just like us. The sky above is the same. The food, though unfamiliar, is often made with vegetables we know. They live in houses, sleep in beds, just like we do—though the style may be different. So, even in a new place, there's a lot we can relate to.

Meditation is like traveling to a new world—
But this world is different. When you first enter, all you see is darkness. There’s nothing familiar. Nothing for the mind to hold on to. It’s a completely new dimension of existence.

"WHAT DO YOU DO IN MEDITATION?"

Looking back, I see that my struggle then was not against the darkness, but my own mind. My mind which had dominated me for incarnations, was not willing to do what I expected it to. This is the struggle most people have. Even if they close their eyes and sit, their minds, pops up and asks - what am I suppose to do now? And so the most common question asked is - “What do you really do in meditation?”

Here’s what you need to understand.
In meditation you are entering an uncharted territory where the role of the mind is not as much as the role of your Conscious Awareness. You are less of a doer and more of a witness.

“Witness what??” you may think.. “Its all dark out there!”

Have you ever stayed out in the bright sun for so long that when you enter your own room, all you see is darkness? It takes a good 30 seconds sometimes to adjust your eyes to the light inside the room. It is the same with meditation. You have lived in the outer world through your senses not just for years of your current life, but many previous incarnations. When you go within, to your own inner world, naturally you see darkness, because to see the inner world you need inner eyes, inner ears, inner senses and they are all asleep. The mind has been dominating the show, hijacking your attention with outer panorama. You never needed the inner senses and so they fell asleep, much like a physical part which if you do not use much, grows weak.

So what do we do? ….. ‘do?’

Darkness is only a phase of transition from the outer world to the inner world.

SITTING IN SILENCE IS NOT NOTHING

Like different stages in human growth, there are stages in our inner growth as well. Initially we must get use to the darkness and inner silence. This requires you to silence and still the mind. This is where 99% of the meditators struggle. The mind scoffs at the idea of doing “Nothing” and sitting in “futile silence”. But this sitting in silence is not nothing.

Before cooking tandoori paneer, we marinate the paneer in the spices for many hours, so that the paneer takes on the flavour of the spices as its own. So also, when the restless mind is kept in the silent darkness within, it is like marinating the mind in silence and stillness. When silence and stillness permeates our being, the inherent inner intuitive faculties slowly begin waking up. Now this is a preciously important step and takes a good amount of time, so one must have utmost patience and perseverance. My Guruji said “Do not be like a person who sows a seed and digs it everyday to see how much it has grown. Be like a wise farmer who patiently waters and nourishes the seed and waits for its stems to shoot out. He further nurtures the sapling until it grows into a plant and then a tree bearing fruits. Remember - sincere meditation Always bears fruits."
So meditation is not a fast-food type, quick fix exercise. This is a game of long innings and therein lies its challenge, grace and beauty and the key is patience and perseverance.

RESTLESS THOUGHTS

With continued practice, different challenges arise. The mind eventually gets comfortable with the inner darkness and begins to bring outer thoughts into the inner world. Which means when you are meditating, much of your attention is occupied in thinking of mundane thoughts or issues. This becomes stronger when we are facing challenging issues in real life. Those thoughts intrude and takeover our inner space. Recognizing this helps us to grow by cultivating inner discipline to manage unwanted thoughts by increasing the intensity of our Awareness. We learn the virtue of being in now and to be true to ourselves in the moment. This also teaches us to work along with the universe, recognizing and accepting the universal intelligence all around us and relinquishing the control the mind wants to exercise in every situation. In this way evolution takes place in the inner world at every stage.

Just like when going abroad, it is wonderful to have a local host who knows everything about the new place and can give you access to any part of the new world, similarly blessed are those who have a inner host who is the master of the inner world, - a Guru, whose grace can take you to the pinnacles of human consciousness. But true Guru’s are rare to find and equally rare are worthy disciples. The teachings of a Guru are like a detailed map which will help negotiate the inner pathways of awareness, and a Guru’s primary objective is to help you enter and rise in higher states of consciousness, until you meet the highest version of your Self.

But this does not mean you stall you journey until a Guru comes along. Begin meditation sincerely.

Your sincerity and perseverance will attract the right teacher at the right time.

Those who are not willing to make the effort but wait for a Guru to make it easy for themselves, either don’t grow at all or worse often find a lesser teacher who may be more of an obstruction than help. Remember any sincere efforts put in your meditation will Always bear fruits.

An Atheist meets God

2020-05-06T00:28:00.001-07:00

A few days back I had a conversation with a family friend, who I haven't met in a very long time. She had read a blog I had written, and called to discuss an issue which she felt I could throw some light on. I listened to what she said and at the end asked her if I could share this interesting conversation with others in a blog form, without revealing any names. She consented.

Presenting it here from her perspective.

I am an atheist. My family members are god loving people, but they are open enough to allow me my perspective. As luck would have it, I got married into a family which was even more devoted, as was my husband. My husband is a very gentle soul. Despite his busy career, he is a practising vaishnavaite and takes his spiritual duties seriously. I asked him once - why he agreed to marry me? Taking a deep breath, he replied that no one told him that I was an atheist, or else he would have escaped his fate. Then he begins laughing. Thats his sense of humour.

Like all couples we have our differences over little things. Sometimes things go out of hand. Sometimes they cross a limit. Usually at such times I take the lead and the feminist fire in me does all the talking. He, on the other hand goes silent after a certain point, and will continue doing his work acting as if the fight didn’t happen, but I can tell that it is affecting him.

Somewhere in the last week of March we had one such fight and I, as usual, give him a piece of my mind and after a certain point he went quiet. Usually we step out to go do our work and by the time we return things simmer down a bit. Since we were in a lockdown period, and in each others space, there was no respite.

A few nights after our fight, I had a dream. I saw a huge figure of the diety Narsimha, who my husband worships. He wordlessly asked me - why I fight N****(my husband) and why do I pain him? I am at a loss and do not know how to reply, and He disappears. I woke up; it was around 5 in the morning, so I went back to sleep.

Again, in normal circumstances I would have stepped out for work and would have forgotten this dream. The next day I was sitting in my balcony when from nowhere the memory of this dream came to me with a force and drew my attention to a few remarkable things that had skipped my attention before.

In theory I know that Narsimha is the avatar of Lord Vishnu. I would have dismissed his presence in my dream as just another dream or just another creation of the subconscious. I have seen some photos of this deity; there’s a small one in our home mandir. But the deity I saw in my dream was different. For one he was alive and vivid in a literal sense. His presence was detailed in a way that I was previously unaware of. I can dismiss the remarkable image I saw, but am unable to dismiss the presence I felt - tangibly powerful, radiant and divine. His form seemed to be composed of glowing light.

I emphasise this because these ideas are alien to my thought process. So if dreams are a reflection of our reality, I am sure I have nothing in my life which would lend itself as ingredients to create such a powerful idea in my mind. And yet in the dream I accepted him as divine simply because I could experience his divinity; a fierce yet benign energy emitting from him. Even now when I am awake, if I were to describe him honestly, I would have to say that it was divine, there is no other way to describe it.

Over the days, another aspect of this dream began bothering me. My husband is deeply devoted, but I have never heard him speak about god or Krishna in a personal manner. He speaks reverentially but keeps them on a devotional pedestal. However in the dream I recall how the deity Narsimha refers to N**** as his own, as his parent would or best friend would speak protectively on his behalf. It seemed like he belonged more to him than to me.

I was surprised to feel a tinge of jealousy. Let’s say that there is a God. If God has made everyone, then we are all his creation, his children and logically we are all equal to him. But in the dream I found the deity speaking on his behalf and asking me why I pained him. To be fair, my husband is a sweet person and I do get mean sometimes, but I was troubled as to why the deity was speaking on his behalf. Why wasn’t he speaking on my behalf as well (though I am an atheist)? Was he being partial to my husband because he worships him and I don’t?

I spent most of April thinking about this. I thought of sharing my dream with my husband, but a gut feeling told me that I could not share this with anyone close to me lest they begin entertaining ideas and that don’t intend to commit to. I often though of dismissing the whole thing. But if I am to be honest with myself then I cannot ignore what I experienced. What power could orchestrate such a powerful presence in my most personal space? Yet I did not feel intruded upon.

I wanted to share this with someone to get a feedback. So I called you. What do you make of this?

I told her that my ideas on this should not matter, because she had done very well to be honest with herself and to go as deep as she did, accept and face what she saw rather than ignore it. The only advice I could give was asking her to consider sharing it with her husband and see what he says, given that he was also a part of the dream.

As we were saying our goodbyes, I asked her what would she say now if I ask her - “Is there a God?”. She was quiet for a bit and then said “Previously my answer would be a hard no… but now I would say - Maybe there is”.

The Real Religion and Evil

2020-04-21T22:09:00.000-07:00

Long time ago, 3 people living in 3 different continents, set out in search of the ocean. No one had ever seen an ocean and many thought it didn’t exist. Most people scorned and scoffed at the idea, making fun of those who spoke of an ocean existing. But these 3 left in search. The journey was difficult with many hardships and setbacks, through mountains and deserts and plains they travelled, often losing hope but setting out again with the dawning sun.

Then one day it was there. The vast beautiful ocean. They looked in awe, overwhelmed and thrilled at finally finding what they had sought for so long. But something troubled them deep within. They thought of those left behind and how ignorant they were about the ocean. So out of love for them, the 3 decided to go back and carry a little bit of the ocean water with them. They searched for something to carry it in.

The first found a beautiful green color triangular shaped glass container. Delighted, he used it to carry the ocean water with him.

The second found a white squarish glass container and carried the ocean water in it.

The third found a beautiful blue circular glass container and carried the ocean in it, travelling back to reveal to their societies the truth of the ocean.

When they reached home, they saw that most people didn’t care about them or the water.. they were too busy living and enjoying life; too much in a comfort zone to be bothered or disturbed. So the 3 of them searched for suitable people to who they could share the knowledge of existence of the ocean. They found some people who were sincerely curious to know about the Ocean. To such ones, the travelers revealed all truths and secrets of the way to the ocean and then one day they showed them the ocean water in the containers and allows some to taste and touch it to experience a part of what the ocean is.

In time the 3 travellers were on the verge of death and they told their followers that they should tell their world about ocean; that the ocean he mentioned was the real ocean. Above all his path was the real path to the ocean.

When the travellers die, their followers go into the world and reveal their truth. Many are more likely to believe them now that the travellers are dead. Many follow him to repent for their ignorance and they accept the truth of the ocean with immense zeal. The students emphasise how they tasted the water and how it was in a certain color and shape. How the only path to the ocean is the one the traveller took and how any one claims of a different path to the ocean is false and that those people are wrong and are defying the reality. In time the students also die. Now the society has many followers, but the knowledge of the ocean has undergone certain transformation and loss of translation going from one to another. The water has long evaporated.. the containers now broken and lost with a rare little piece found here and there with some sincere follower.

Thus life goes on. Now people travel from one continent to the other. They exchange goods and exchange ideas. One time one person states that they know about the ocean which is the real ocean.. it is green in color and triangular in shape. The other person says you are wrong - We know the real ocean and its white in color and square in shape. The 3rd says you are both wrong - the real ocean is known only to us and anyone else who dares to say the ocean is any different and the path to it any different is pure evil because he is destroying truth. At first this topic is a debate.. it heats up into an argument.. soon fights break out.. on one occasion a few people are killed.. and before long wars break out over this. Each side thinks they are being loyal and honouring the traveller who they now love and respect and whose words they are trying to protect. However no one, instead of fighting the other, ever makes the effort of following the travellers words and journey themselves to the ocean. They are happy fighting and in this way many years pass. The wars have stopped, life has progressed, but the inner fight and animosity remains as years pass by which shows up every now and then to demonstrate its ugliness amidst portions of peaceful life.

The above is the reality of our world today -

The 3 travellers are the Masters who journeyed into spiritual depths and found the Ocean - God. Each travelled his own spiritual way to Him and each did find Him. But He is infinite. They choose to understand and represent Him coloured from their point of view.. one had green color, one had white and one had blue.. and they used words differently to convey the truth of His existence. One truth form is triangular, one squares and one circular. The traveller shared it with their disciples, they helped them experience a bit of God as well, and the disciples with such experience get the faith and genuine strength to preach His truth. spread it in the world. They also teach that theirs is the only way, and any other way is false.

When followers of the Master meet, each claims to know God and His being the only way, and their path the only path,, and how their book says - green color vs white color vs blue color.. and how the reality of God is triangular or squarish or circular.. debates lead to arguments and conflicts, and soon wars like crusades and jihads are fought.

Everyone is willing to fight in the name of God, but no one ever thinks of following the Masters path to find God. If they did so they would find that there is but one God and there are different pathways to Him. We have fought wars in the past, we may have progressed and now try to live together, though with traces of hatred and distrust in the hearts of many.

Thus is our reality!

Religions are many, God is One! - Sai Sathya Sai Baba

God is One, though the paths to Him are many. Countless are the ways in which He can be described. - Sri Paramahansa Yogananda

An Invitation to an Inner Journey

2020-03-23T00:49:00.000-07:00

What if you got a secret map to a magical exotic place where mysteries of the past lay buried along with mans most desired treasures. Wouldn’t it be exciting to undertake that adventure? That’s what we love about Indiana Jones movies, right?

But what if you could undertake such a journey sitting at home....in the Inner world.. the adventure referred to as Meditation.

Some people are wary of the idea of meditation.. ‘too difficult’ they think.
Just as magical places are always hidden deep and far in remote parts of the earth, so also the magical places in meditation are hidden deep and far within. This is why most early birds who try to meditate, struggle and fail and are utterly put off. They reject it because they are absolutely unable to understand it. But their giving up is only their loss.. the adventure still lies to be explored.

Why is meditation such a tough mystery.. why are only some people able to make it through?

The answer is simple.. we know it only too well. In Patanjali’s 8 step guide most ignore the first 2 steps - Yama and Niyama - the do’s and dont’s. These are steps we have to follow to purify ourselves by accumulating merit/ punya that is the inner fuel we need to travel ahead. This Punya can be earned by following higher values of living. Such values are taught to us time and again in form of divine teachings by great saints across time - Love all, serve all, Help ever, Hurt never, the Ten Commandments of Moses, love thy neighbour and so on. But we don’t think much of these teachings, we rather take them with a pinch of salt. Know why?

In the human world the secrets of the path to the magical place are hidden/encoded in complex and often difficult theories. So also the secrets of the path to the divine world are similarly coded but in extremely Simple language. Most teachings the great Ones give us look too simple; whereas we are looking for the exciting and complex, to get us interested.

When we practice meditation deeply we realise that the inner world is a lybrynth of subtle inner pathways - first of seeming nothingness and over a period of time - of the subtle world of light known as the astral world. Do you know that when you sleep or rather when your body is sleeping, your awareness becomes dormant, but it exists or dwells in the subtle world. All our dreams occur at the astral level.

Those who have meditated deep and long can access the light kingdoms of the higher astral worlds known as lokas . These lokas are like the 5 star hotels of our world,where only few can afford to go. The currency here is merit. Just like you find celebrities and famous people in many 5 star hotels, similarly many higher beings of repute are found or reside in such lokas.

On a personal level astral world is also the dimension where exists our thoughts, emotions and deep inner feelings . When we go deep often we find our past memories emerge suddenly in full force because they are lying buried there. ( These may be mostly painful events which we buried within, in the past, cause of our inability to deal with it. They are a barrier crossing which we can move ahead in our journey. ) Compassion, forgiveness and gratitude - are the keys to move ahead.

Meditating deeper still, a sincere yogi can ascend to the vaster almost infinite- causal world, the world of ideas, awareness ~ consciousness. Finally the inner journey of meditation can take us to the Supremest place of Enlightement, where we are awaken to the Ultimate Truth of our Self. Needless to say that this can be achieved with deep, unwavering, disciplined effort over a great period of ones lifetime.

Here’s an interesting info -
When someone tries to meditate sincerely and real hard, but is getting nowhere - what he may not realise is that He is at the moment in the same place as advanced meditators are... except just like blind people cannot see our world, but they are here.. similarly those sincere mediators are in the higher world, but cannot see it (perceive it).. Sadly many of them give up.

So how does one get eyes (of subtle perception)? Again the secret lies in practicing virtues that raise our purity and reawaken are inherent divinity. Just like in a video game, we need to collect coins to build a castle, similarly in this game we need to collect the merit of purity to fuel our journey and equip us with inner eyes, inner ears , inner perceptions. Some people who have nearly enough of this merit sometimes see hazy lights in meditation. When a person has more than enough of such merit, then while meditating deep he may suddenly pierce the veil and glimpse the divine light of the higher worlds. This is a level of enlightenment.

Do you know that there are humans who literally co exist in outer and inner worlds. We know them as sages or saints. When you go and seek help from certain sages they will close their eyes and go into the inner world from where they get to perceive the roots of all problems from the higher perspective and come up with solutions for the same. The greater the sage the clearer the inner sight.

The reason that this kind of inner secret is being shared now is - its time for humanity to move higher. Our current world is undergoing changes.. rather rapidly. Corona is one of the transformative parts of it. Humans can escape Corona’s reach by raising their consciousness higher. It is really that simple (while still using practical discipline in the outer world). One need not fear it but rather raise themselves to a higher frequency of existence.
Such events are sent to break the ages old mold that has grown and has bound us to this material world. These events are like a sharp chisel, hurting but shaping.

Now some may dismiss the above truths as mere mental ideas with no substance. But the proof is in the tasting. If any of them were to try sincerely they would prove its validity to themselves. But since the discipline required is of a very high order, most are not willing or not capable of putting the necessary effort, they find it convenient to invalidate it. But you should know that there are many across earth at any given point of time who travel the inner world. They are unconcerned about what these people think as such ignorance is suitable to them. Ignorance is nature’s organic checkpost to prevent the unworthy or those not ready from venturing into the higher regions. When such people through personal efforts inform and enlighten themselves fully, then new vistas of existence unlock themselves and make their presence felt to help that soul further his journey.

Your current isolation is a good opportunity to make efforts to becomes aware of yourself. Try meditation. Some of you will be surprised how easily you take to it.

In the beginning you can take any general type of meditation- Jyoti meditation, Aum Meditation. Take any one which enables you to plunge in the translucent pool of silence and float in alive stillness and active nothingness. . Your Patience and persistence is the key - Shradhha Saburi.

Side Note :
Shraddha and saburi seem like the key teaching of Shirdi Sai, but He could teach us much more.. This is not represent His highest teaching. He taught us this only because we were lacking even in such basic understanding which we needed first to move ahead in our path of evolution. When we follow and succeed in it, these great Ones come visit us in our inner world to take us further ahead on the path with higher teachings.

Understanding Meditation - 3 THE RESTLESS MIND

2019-03-30T04:14:00.003-07:00

Forgetting to merge one's attention/ awareness with external things is the very first step in

spirituality, for we can remember the Infinite only to the extent that we have forgotten everything else.

- Aghora.

The feedback on my two blogs on Understanding meditation Part 1 and Part 2, is that although one understood and appreciated the ideas in theory, they still find it difficult to meditate owing to the restless mind and invading thoughts. So in this blog we deal with - mind and thoughts.

In this world, achieving anything of value requires a price to be paid. For a student to earn a Master's degree, they must invest years of hard work and dedication throughout their schooling and college journey. Similarly, for an athlete to win a medal, they must commit to relentless effort, discipline, and rigorous practice to attain the level of excellence required for victory. This principle holds true across all pursuits—whether in the realms of art, business, science, or even spirituality

For humans to reach the spiritual heights of self-awareness, they must pay the price of purifying and stilling the mind. Many seekers, inspired by the writings of spiritual masters, embark on practices with the hope of quickly attaining the profound experiences described in such books. However, when these experiences do not materialize despite their efforts, many become disheartened and are tempted to abandon their journey altogether.

Spiritual realization is a journey comprising two distinct phases. Much like a child progressing through years of study to eventually earn a Master's degree, a seeker must first discipline the mind through sustained effort to purify and still it. This constitutes the foundational phase. The second phase begins when the spiritual dimension unfolds, revealing new realms to explore and ascend.

However, between these two phases lies a significant void—a period of waiting and uncertainty. Despite dedicated efforts to purify the mind, the awakening of the spiritual dimension occurs at an unpredictable time. This process resembles a mother hen patiently incubating her egg; she persists, trusting the natural unfolding, until one day the egg hatches unexpectedly.

The spiritual journey, therefore, is one of patience and perseverance. It all starts with embracing practices like meditation and Japa, which purify the mind and set the stage for this transformative adventure.

MIND -

The mind is a powerful instrument, capable of leading a person to profound understanding and success in various fields. Yet, it has its own inherent nature—it thrives on restlessness and seeks motion over stillness. It feels alive by continuously generating thoughts, emotions, and feelings, rarely at peace.

A human being is composed of a body, a mind, and consciousness. Due to ignorance, consciousness—our true essence—begins to identify itself with the body and the personality associated with it. The mind reinforces this illusion by crafting an individuality defined by attributes like name, age, nationality, class, and religion, thereby constructing the pseudo-identity we call the ego.

Just as the body is sustained by breath, the ego is sustained by the mind. In this dynamic, the mind can be seen as a powerful minister to the King—Consciousness—who, in a state of forgetfulness, has allowed the minister to dominate and rule the kingdom of the body and mind, perpetuating this illusion through countless lifetimes.

The mind sustains the ego’s individuality through traits such as selfishness, separateness, desires, and indulgence, keeping a person constantly preoccupied and enslaved from birth to death. This ceaseless activity prevents one from discovering their true identity as Soul Consciousness. In nurturing the ego, often through comparisons, the mind cultivates negative traits like jealousy, anger, discontent, and hatred, all of which serve to fortify the ego. The relentless demands of the mind create an undercurrent of stress that most people carry unconsciously, leading them to seek the elusive "peace of mind."

The mind has programmed us to believe that we must always be "doing" something to validate our existence. Even in the most serene settings, the mind engages us in a flurry of thoughts. Instead of simply being present in the beauty, we find ourselves doing thinking.

This is why sleep is so rejuvenating and healing. It’s not merely the resting of the body and limbs; even a day spent lying on a bed won’t bring the same peace as true sleep. In sleep, the mind shifts into a subconscious state and becomes inactive, allowing real rest. During this state, one is free from the burdens of identity—name, age, class, nationality, religion, and all the constructs of individuality. In sleep, a person doesn’t even perceive themselves as male or female; they simply Are.

This state of restfulness allows the intelligent body to heal itself more effectively, as the mind’s negativity no longer obstructs the natural processes of rejuvenation. Sleep offers a glimpse into the state of being, unburdened by the mind’s constant demands and the ego’s endless narratives.

MEDITATION -

So in light of the above, lets view meditation. Meditation is the inner laboratory of stillness where we turn our attention inward to explore and understand our true nature.

True meditation is a state of pure Awareness—a state where the restless mind has been consciously quietened. Imagine this state: the mind is silent, yet Awareness is vivid and present. Such a state opens the door to new possibilities, leading to transformative spiritual experiences.

In our wakeful state, the mind is marked by restlessness, constantly flitting between thoughts and emotions. In contrast, the meditative state thrives in silence and stillness. By creating this inner stillness, we cultivate the perfect atmosphere to reconnect with our true essence. In such an environment, the ego cannot survive, for the mind, stripped of its habitual thoughts, can no longer sustain the illusion of individuality.

When Consciousness becomes aware of its own true nature, a profound transformation begins to unfold within. This self-awareness ignites a journey of inner magic, where the more a being identifies with itself as Consciousness, the greater its evolution and expansion. Such a realization empowers one to transcend the limitations of our familiar reality and step into higher-dimensional realms of existence.

As this inner awakening deepens, the Being begins to uncover the essence of pure joy, pure love, and pure wisdom—qualities that are intrinsic to its true nature. It realizes that the happiness the mind once pursued in the external world was an illusion. The joys it sought outside were always within, waiting to be discovered.

This is the profound truth Christ revealed when he declared, "The Kingdom of God is within."

But when a person sits to meditate, the mind resists stillness and attempts to hijack their attention with a cascade of thoughts to maintain its dominance. Over two decades of meditation practice, I’ve observed that the mind employs four types of thoughts to distract us during meditation:

Mediocre thoughts: Trivial matters that we would usually dismiss during our wakeful state suddenly appear important, demanding our attention.
Important thoughts: Genuine concerns or tasks that require attention during the day are brought to the forefront.
Anxious thoughts: Worries and fears about the future, designed to create unease and pull us away from stillness.
Guilt-driven thoughts: Reflections on past failures or unfulfilled duties, aimed at controlling us through guilt and self-criticism.

The mind employs these strategies to engage and scatter our attention. Yet, our Attention is a unique and powerful resource; where we direct it determines what flourishes in our lives.

When the mind is active and focused, it is a valuable tool for achieving success in the material world. When the same mind becomes still and silent through meditation it can lead us to the ultimate victory in the inner, spiritual world.

RESOLVING THE CONFLICT -

The mind thrives only when you feed it with your attention. Withdraw your attention, and the mind naturally becomes quiet. Easier said than done. For most people, the mind is extremely powerful, having wielded control over lifetimes, and it resists surrender. Yet, with perseverance, it is not impossible to overcome its dominance.

Consider your mobile phone. Owning one doesn’t mean you are obliged to answer every call. You have the freedom to ignore, mute, or disconnect calls that aren’t necessary, attending only to those that matter. Similarly, during meditation, you can "mute" your mind—refusing to entertain unnecessary thoughts—and focus your attention instead on simply Being in silent stillness.

A common question people ask is, "What does one 'do' during meditation?" This question itself reveals a misunderstanding. Meditation is not about doing; it’s about Being. In yogic science, Being is considered the highest form of action—the supreme Karm and the ultimate Kriya. It is the state of profound presence, where you let go of all doing and rest in the essence of who you truly are.

However to achieve the state of pure stillness, Masters have given us disciplines such as pranayama, japa, mantra meditation which is a form of doing, but through which the mind becomes still rather than restless. More of this is discussed in Understanding Meditation - 2.

So meditation is the right environment to practice that Being. How? Simply by creating pockets of silence between thoughts and being keenly Aware.

Take a moment and think about it!

Creating pockets of silence between thoughts, and ensuring that these pockets keep increasing in time. You need not fight your thoughts or push them away, just do not acknowledge them. Do not feed them your attention.

Some may find this hard still.

Please understand that the mind is simply a tool, much like the eye, which helps us perceive the world around us.

The eye is incredibly important. Right now, you are reading this blog with the help of your eyes, and your mind is processing the information. Notice how well you control your eyes. Even though there are millions of things around you to see, you have focused your vision solely on this blog, deliberately ignoring everything else. This is how effectively you can control the eye. Similarly, the mind is a tool. You can learn to control it in the same way—by giving it attention only when necessary. When you don't need it, stop feeding it with unnecessary thoughts and simply be.

This is the secret shared by all saints: they use the mind only when required. Otherwise, they dwell in their own inner bliss, free from the distractions and noise of the mind. When we control the mind as we do the eye, we discover a deeper peace and a higher state of being.

Another Yogic secret to subdue the mind is the Breath. Try this - when your mind is restless, consciously and slowly take 3 deep breaths and let go of the breath completely. You will notice the mind go quieter then before.

So next time you sit to meditate-

Begin by taking deep breaths and let go of the mind.
Create pockets of silence and keenly dwell in BEING
Make these pockets of silence larger over time.

Other factors that play a crucial role in calming the mind are the way you live your daily life. Your environment, the company you keep, and the food you consume— not just through your mouth, but also through your eyes and ears— all feed the mind. These influences fuel the mind, and by controlling them, you can begin to control the mind itself. This is why spiritual Masters advocate simple, moderate, and Sattvic living for those aspiring to meditate.

Achieving lasting change in overcoming the mind requires consistent effort and patience. But know that it IS POSSIBLE! One of the greatest Yogi's of the 18th century Sri Sri Lahiri Mahasaya use to encourage his meditating disciples by saying "Banat banat ban jaye" simply translated "Striving, striving, one day you achieve!"

(Images - Bahaduri Mahasaya, The levitating Saint, Autobiography of a Yogi & Image drawn by Pascal Campion)

The Feminine & Masculine Principles

2019-03-08T05:10:00.001-08:00

When you read about the feminine principle and feminism, there is some confusion.

Females are the physical form. Feminism is a movement led by the female form and Feminine principle is an intelligent energy embodied by all creatures of the earth, females and males, animals and even the flora and fauna, in different degrees. This principle represents Love, beauty, creativity, healing, compassion. The primary custodians of the feminine energy are females. The feminine principle is not the opposite of the masculine principle, but rather they co-nourish life on earth. The Goddesses of various cultures are beings who purely embody various aspects of the feminine principles in their being. The Gods are pure representations of the Masculine energy.

Since ages, the powerful has oppressed the weak. Anything powerful tends to dominate anything weak. This would include - women, men, children, animals and mute nature. Such abuse continues today wherein we plunder nature and make animal life extinct through our reckless greed. This is not masculine energy itself.. rather it is the abuse of masculine energy to gain more power and to get illicit control over gifts of the feminine energy - things beautiful and precious in sheer misuse of personal power.

Feminist movement began to support females and their place in the society and not so much to protect and nourish the Feminine principle. In their efforts to find equality for females in the society, the masculine principles of power and aggression were adapted as it suited their purposes better. Females in their efforts to be at par with men, became men-like in their approach to life. So as feminism grew and the place of females in the society grew better, the role and influence of the Feminine principle in society kept decreasing.

Today Masculine energy is in vogue. Both males and females seek it to posses power, success, money to serve their ends. Humans no longer create beauty by or through themselves, but shell out money to possess such beauty in any form.. through art, music, painting, nature, even temporary associations with the members of the opposite sex lured by the attraction of wealth and power. Beauty is not created, it is simple purchased.

In ideal societies, men and women honour and nourish the two principles because they are cultured, unselfish and seeking expansion and evolution in wholesome and inclusive ways. Thus both males and females become ideal representatives of both the principles.

The imbalances in the two principles occur when a society is corrupted in the mind, and selfish in their approach.

If you look into the life of the saints, most of them played a vital role in nourishing the feminine principle in a society. In the past when humanity lived closer to perfection, a divine incarnate would showcase the highest potential of both the principles. Think of Lord Rama and Lord Krishna. They were embodiments of the best of masculine and feminine; of strength and wisdom combined with beauty, compassion and grace. In the darker ages, when many divine incarnates came to earth, they focussed more on repairing the depleted feminine energy through their life's example. Buddha, Nanak, Chaitanya, Christ, Anandamayi Ma, Meera and many others, their lives are proof of the same. The world remembers them more for their superhuman display of love and compassion as much as for their wisdom. The feminine principle shone like a blazing sun through Christ when bleeding on the crucifix He uttered the words of compassion - "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." With those words a tsunami, an avalanche of healing feminine energy swept the erring humanity.

Today, unknown to many, a great shift of consciousness is taking place. Many wise beings have observed that this will lead to the rise in the feminine principle. There will be a transformation in the way women and men lead their lives. The focus will shift from need to posses power to the need to give Love. In doing so the Masculine and Feminine will find the much needed balance resulting in a Golden Age.

This video to me is the best explanation of the Divine Feminine Principle embodied by women -

Meeting Mahavatar Babaji

2018-08-26T09:04:00.001-07:00

The Sacred Himalayas

157 years ago, a remarkable event took place in the deeps of the Himalayas, an event that would go on to leave an indelible mark on the course of humanity.

An accountant stationed in Ranikhet took a walk in the sacred mountains one evening and lost his way. As he struggled to find his way back in the dark, to his utter astonishment he heard a distant voice calling out his name.

Not too sure, the 33 year old accountant of the Military Engineering Department of the British Raj, began walking towards the distant voice, although it seemed to lead him deeper into the mountains.

Sri Lahiri Mahasaya

Finally he came to a small clearing near a cave, where stood on a rocky ledge, a smiling young man with copper coloured hair. “Tu aa Gaya, Lahiri!” (Lahiri you have come!) said the saintly figure to the astonished accountant.

This young saintly figure, a rare spiritual being, would be known throughout the world as the revered Mahavataar Babaji, the deathless Master, through the spiritual classic - Autobiography of a Yogi, and the young accountant was destined to be His leading disciple, Sri Lahiri Mahashaya, the one chosen to bring back the sacred science of Kriya to the world.

Sri Paramahansa Yogananda, the author of Autobiography of a Yogi, was chosen by Babaji to reveal to mankind of His presence on Earth and His mission herein.

Sri Yoganandaji says - “Babaji has been chosen by God to remain in His body for the duration of this particular world cycle. Ages shall come and go, still the deathless Master, beholding the drama of centuries, shall be present in this stage terrestrial.”

The experience of encountering Babaji is the rarest of the rare blessings which can take place solely through His will. Sri Paramahansaji said that since Babaji’s mission is for the ages, He may not reveal Himself to humanity of a certain age although He will ever been known to those attuned to Him. Lahiri Mahashay affirmed - “Those who take with reverence the name of Babaji, attract an instant spiritual blessing.”

One of my most cherished moments in life is a dream I had in which I met Babaji in the Himalayas. I have learnt that to even dream of any Avataar is not a random coincidence. But a few years before, I had an experience which I still find hard to believe.

A certain saintly gentleman came to my house, accompanied by a common friend. He knew of my path and thus came to share with me some stories of his incredible experiences in the Himalayas which culminated with his brief meeting with Babaji near Mansarovar. The story was truly extraordinary, as if I was seeing a fantastic movie. And yet the narration was so sincere, that it could come by only if such experiences had truly transpired.

In any case we were enjoying the silence after the story, reliving that experience in our minds, when I felt inspired to share something with the little group even though it was of little consequence.

I told them of my visit to Allahabad to the Maha Kumbha mela of 2001. Well aware that Babaji always visits the Kumbha mela incognito to share His blessings with the masses, I inwardly made a sincere prayer, pleading with Him that even though I may be unworthy to meet Him, He ensure that my eyes fall on Him atleast once, even if I do not recognize Him as Babaji. And that’s it. I went around the mela for the 4-5 days I was there and came back, not knowing if I did see Babaji.

The Allahabad Maha Kumbha Mela

This saintly gentleman who was listening almost meditatively spontaneously replied -
“You did see Him.”

“I do not know that” - I replied.

“The morning you were returning from the Shahi snan (sacred bath) with your group, in the crowd a young sadhu offered you a puri as prasad, you refused it and went ahead. That was Babaji.”

Now here’s the thing, I was not inclined to believe this as I had no immediate memory of the same; but I was unable to dismiss his words as the scenario he described was actual - I did attend the kumbh during a shahi snan day, we did bathe early in the morning, we did go back in a group after the holy bath and I do faintly remember a young sadhu in the crowd tapping me and offering me prasad, something like a puri with some sweet in it and me ignoring it without even refusing it, as it was so sudden and he was a stranger. Perhaps subconsiously I was aware of the constant warnings of the police to not touch any stray luggage or accept any thing to eat from strangers.

But I struggled to come to terms with this information. The calmness and surety with which he kept affirming this began overwhelming my skepticism. In any case, since I was not sure of it, I stated emphatically that I may not have seen Babaji at all, when suddenly - Boom!

A loud sound startled our gentle conversation taking place in the mandir room of our house. One picture out of the many had fallen. It had never happened so before, it had no reason to create such a loud startling sound, as there was a thin mattress below it. Of all the photos kept on my alter, it was the photograph of Babaji that had fallen. The photo fell with a huge thud just when I was refusing the possibility of my having seen His form at the Kumbha.

I can’t say what the reader may feel reading this, but this was too much for me. Tears welled up my eyes and a feeling of remorse came upon me recalling that day when I refused the prasad that He had offered me. The gentleman and the friend both tried to calm me, telling me that I didn’t mean to insult but was refusing to take something from someone unknown and that Babaji would not be offended. But it took me sometime to get over it.

This gentleman was convinced, but I felt unsure, only because Babaji to me is such a revered figure, I felt it impossible that someone like me could have seen Him.

But I know my prayers were sincere, and His love infinite.

The Ageless Master - Mahavataar Babaji

Agni ~ The Purifying & Sati Pratha

2018-06-01T23:56:00.000-07:00

This was a blog written to explain what really the much maligned Sati pratha was. Why was it done and by who it could be done and what was the sacred science behind it, and also why this custom should never have come down to this lower Kali age. The blog was supported with quotes from the texts and stories and anecdotes to support how various mystics and yogis from time immemorial have had a sacred relation with the element Fire.

Unfortunately and bizarrely, one day I found the text in this blog had vanished and replaced by text from another blog though the title remained the same. I found it very odd, but considered it a sign that this information is not to be shared (atleast by me)

I thought of deleting the blog, but recalling the effort and the lucidity with which that information came to me, I have retained this space in its memory.

Mythological Games in Switzerland

2017-08-23T04:08:00.002-07:00

The Chudamani

Switzerland, July 2004-

Being the only assistant in the small crew, I was overwhelmed with work of different departments on this outdoor shoot. On this day we had wrapped early. When I entered the dining area of the hotel where everyone gathered to relax after the days shoot, I found a group in the right corner engaged in some board game and playing it with a great enthusiasm. On one side was Shahrukh and on the other side was Farah Khan. There was Pam Aunty, Payal, Vaibhavi Merchant, Anil Mehta sir and some other top names of the industry playing the game. They were playing in a fun spirit and yet by their comments one could sense the competition between them.

The questions being asked covered various fields of science, entertainment, sports, religion and mythology. At one point Farah asked a mythological question which seemed like a complete bouncer and no one was expected to know the answer. So to get things going she asked "Kisi ko aata hai jawab ya points le lein?" before she could discard the question, I called out - "Daksha". All eyes turned on me. After a few seconds Farah said in her usual dry tone - "Achha guess kiya ,... sahi jawab hai!". I moved on and sat on another table to make the call sheets.

After that round of game was over, they began making new teams. As I was working against time to finish my work, I heard my name called out. Shahrukh had chosen me in his team. I wanted to opt out there was much to do. Srk saw my reluctance and said "Arre call sheet jaane de, ek din nahi diya to chalega.." Farah said dryly "Waise bhi tu kaunsa time pe aata hai.." To which Yashji sitting on another side began laughing.

Giving one answer was fine.. but I wasn't sure I knew all the answers to questions on mythology or religion despite my deep interest in it.

The game began. I sensed the competition and will to win despite outer niceties. Srk is very intelligent in quiz games and the team went along well until Farah asked the question "Which avatar of Vishnu existed during both the Ramayana and Mahabharata periods?" Unlike other questions this one was met with a muted response. I quickly scanned my memory and said "Parashuram," to which Srk immediately repeated 'Parashuram' as if he knew it too. Farah's look, which was one of - 'this ones in the bag', changed, and she said - "Correct!"

The game progressed further with a lot of tiffs and arguments till things became a bit tense. At another critical point she asked another mythological question - "What did Sita give to Hanuman to show Lord Rama as proof of meeting her.?" Immediately Shahrukh said - "Her ring," which the rest of the team agreed to. Farah was about to give the verdict, when I said to Srk that this may be incorrect. Lord Rama gave the ring but Sitaji is said to have given an ornament she wore on her hair. I do not know what that ornament is called, but on it was studded the gem famously called - the Chudamani.

Srk wasn't sure about this, he felt it was the ring. The team agreed with him. I was feeling pressured as Farah wanted us to answer quickly with a time limit decided in our last argument. Srk said - "Pakka maloom hai tujhe.." Some other person confidently emphasised that "it was her ring,.. just answer that!" But I looked at Srk and repeated what what I knew. Srk changed his answer to Chudamani! To which Farah said - "Wrong answer!" I wanted to bury myself. Srk asked for the right answer to which she said - "Shikhamani!"

Srk said that this is what he said that its the ornament of the hair! I explained that Shikhamani maybe an assumed name, but it was called the Chudamani and began to describe it -"It is about this big in size, a bit oval and honey coloured, not exactly honey coloured but a bit like...."

They were all curiously looking at me and Farah put their look into words saying "Tu aise bol raha hai jaise tune khud dekha hai?" I withdrew my point, as the game came to an end.

I cannot recall who won but that night as I tried finishing my work my mind kept going to the summer just a few months back that I had spent in Brindavan.

Swami had come to Brindavan as He usually does and I had the opportunity of serving at His residence - Trayee. One evening after the bhajans at the Trayee sessions, I was alone sitting guarding the interview door which was open, while all other boys were sitting at the main door attending the Trayee session. I could hear the laughs, claps and occasional sounds of awe from within the house. At one point the energy changed.. I sensed a great deal of excitement almost flooding out from the house. When I looked up at the sevadal boys, they had all gone on their knees trying to see something in great excitement.

I wanted to rush over, but couldn't leave my place out of a sense of duty. Then I looked at my leader Harish, who in excitement motioned me to come over. In a nano second I was there. Swami was walking amongst the boys, the staff and VIPs showing something.. and such was my good fortune that I reached there just at the time Swami was closest to us. I saw with my own eyes a glittering jewel, smooth, almost emanating a glow from within. To my eyes it seemed honey coloured, but it could also be because I saw Swami's palm through it. Having seen the created I switched my attention to the creator who was still moving around showing the jewel to the other boys looking at it curiously.

When Swami sat back on the jhoola, the gentleman who was speaking said in awe and with folded hands that "We all have been privileged to see the Chudamani which Ma Sita had given to Hanuman to show to Lord Ramachandra as proof of having met her!"

The Chudamani

Of Dreams and Divine visions

2017-05-02T06:17:00.002-07:00

May 27th, 2017

This morning while having a conversation with my sister, she shared a dream that she had a couple of days after Navratri.

“I saw a dream of Divine Mother. It was a majestic vision of Her sitting on a rock with one leg folded and the other down. Behind her sat an enormous lion.

I approached and sat at Her feet, taking it in my hands and pressing them as I looked at Her beautiful presence. In my mind a thought occurred that I should ask Her about my daughter T. But before I could ask, She read my mind and said “She is my daughter.. I always look after her.”

I replied “Mother have I brought her up well?”

She smiled and gestured with Her hand and nod of Her head that I have done well.

I then asked “Mother what should we teach children to make them good human beings?”

Mother replied in chaste Hindi-

“Do not lie.

Without faith, worship and prayers are meaningless.

Avoid bad company.

Do not rejoice at others sufferings, be happy at others happiness.

Do not complain always. Believe that whatever I do for you will be for your good.

Take care of your elders; to give them peace is your duty.

Whatever you do today, do with the awareness that you will reap the fruits of your action soon. Keep an eye on your own karmas.

You will always receive fruits of your earnest efforts.

Patience makes life easier. Patience during sorrows keeps the mind peaceful. Patience during good times will prevent rise of ego/arrogance. Patience is great strength.

Always remember that I keep an eye on My children at all times. Listen carefully always to your inner voice emanating from your conscience.”

As a parting note She said “No matter what, I will surely give T the fruits of her labour. Have faith in my words.”

As the dream ended I woke up feeling very clear. It was 5:45 am in the morning.

Curious to know more, I asked my sister to describe the appearance of Divine Mother.

“Her presence was absolutely radiant, indescribable. No artist, no poet, could ever capture Her beauty. It transcends all imagination.” She continued, “She wore rich red robes, and Her jewelry gleamed with a divine brilliance. Her tejas (radiance) was as bright as the sun, yet soothing and gentle. When She raised Her hands in blessing, I noticed how small and delicate they were. Her words, spoken in shuddh (pure) Hindi.”

Intrigued, I asked for an example. My sister shared one of Mother's statements: “Bina vishwas ke prarthna, pooja nirarthak hai” (Without faith, prayers and worship are meaningless).

She further shared that what truly captured her attention was the majestic lion seated behind the Divine Mother. “He was a striking figure—regal, fierce, yet utterly tranquil, as if guarding Her with quiet devotion. His eyes..” she said, “glowed with an almost otherworldly brilliance.”

The purpose of sharing this story isn't simply to recount a dream; rather, it is to highlight a mystical interaction between the Divine and an ordinary person. We often think of God as distant, elusive, but through my studies of spiritual phenomena, I've encountered many accounts where the Divine reaches out to humans in deeply personal ways.

Naturally, I wondered why such a vision had come to her.

When I asked my sister if she had done anything to invoke this blessing, she admitted that for many years now, she experiences a special darshan (divine vision) after Navratri. Usually, it is Swami who appears, but this time it was the Divine Mother. Interestingly, she confessed that she doesn't follow the traditional Navratri rituals as closely as others in our family. She once prayed to Swami, asking not to observe rituals just for the sake of it but only when she felt truly inspired. As a result, she was uncertain why this grace was bestowed upon her.

She went on to mention that her daughter, T (my niece), while not particularly religious or spiritual, yet has a profound and personal connection with Lord Shiva and Ma Parvati. Every Monday, without prompting from anyone in the family, she makes it a point to visit a nearby Shiva temple to offer her prayers.

She shared another incident.

When T was little, she fell gravely ill, suffering from a jaundice-related ailment that left her weak and unable to keep any food or water down. Her stomach was in constant pain, and sleep was nearly impossible. The doctors were concerned and advised my sister to take great care. One night, as my sister was tending to her, my niece asked her mother to rest, promising to wake her if she needed anything. Reluctantly, my sister fell asleep.

Late at night, my niece awakened needing to go to the restroom, but she didn’t want to disturb her mother. As she turned to get up, she was astonished to see a regal woman, whom she instantly recognized as Mata (Divine Mother), sitting by her bedside in a red saree, gently massaging her stomach. Thinking her illness was playing tricks on her mind, she made her way to the restroom, drank some water, and returned to the room, still leaning against the walls for support due to her weakness. To her astonishment, the Mother was still there, sitting in the same place. Too tired to process what she was seeing, she thought of lying down first and then gazing at Mothers form. Remarkably, the moment her head touched the pillow, she fell into a deep, peaceful sleep; for the first time in days.

It is natural to question the authenticity of such experiences— but the test of such an event lies in its effect. My sister’s dream wasn’t just about seeing the Divine Mother; it was about the wisdom imparted. What was shared with her resonates deeply with the teachings of our scriptures. My sister, ever self-reflective, admits that the insights she received were not something she had previously considered or meditated on herself, and she experienced the deep wisdom of those words even as Mother spoke them.

A sevadal friend, Santosh, once shared an intriguing experience with me. He had been asked to escort a sadhu for darshan at Ramesh Hall in Brindavan. After the darshan, Santosh found the Sadhu looking perplexed. Sensing something was amiss, Santosh inquired if all was well? The sadhu, with a tone of awe, replied that he could not see the Her clearly during the darshan. Curious, Santosh inquired further, and the sadhu explained that the Divine Mother’s jewelry shone with such overwhelming brilliance that it obscured Her form from him.

Now thoroughly confused, Santosh asked, “But did you see Swami?” The sadhu pointed to a nearby photograph of Swami and asked, “Is this the form you see when you have darshan?”

“Of course,” Santosh replied, “What did you see?”

The sadhu, with quiet reverence, responded, “I saw Ma Bhagwati walking among us. Her presence - beyond majestic, Her aabhushans (ornaments) gleaming with such intensity, as if each one held the light of many suns.”

This statement compliments the narrative of the above dream.

Another similar case is from my own childhood. I was studying in a boarding school in Panchgani, when one night I had the most memorable dream.

I found myself in a mystical environment what seemed like a time beyond night and day. Before me lay Lord Vishnu in His reclining form, resting on the Ksheer Sagar (the Ocean of Milk). His feet were close to me and His head away from me. His body was beautiful blue and He appeared to be in a state of deep repose, His eyes closed and a soft smile playing on His lips.

What distracted me from gazing at His appealing form was Adishesha. As I was at the feet of Lord Vishnu, Adishesha's hood was nearly over me as well. It was a beautiful yet frightening spectacle. Its hood of many faces was bejeweled and shone with many colors. Though not menacing, the sheer size and presence of the serpent filled me with awe and a touch of fear. I remember covering my eyes from it and trying to see Lord Vishnu though my fingers. A radiant light emanated from His chest, and while I didn’t know why at the time, I somehow knew it was coming from a jewel He wore. The scene felt otherworldly, as if I was no longer on Earth but in a divine realm beyond the grasp of ordinary reality.

As the dream got over it caused me to wake up spontaneously. I found all the other children sleeping in my dorm and I realised it is still very early morning.

One might dismiss this as a child’s imagination, but here’s the intriguing part: I was only in the first grade at the time. I knew of Lord Vishnu, but not Adishesha, or the Ksheer Sagar or Vaikuntha. It was not within my understanding to conjure such vivid imagery, yet as I grew older, I realized that the details I had seen matched the descriptions of Lord Vishnu reclining on the serpent in the cosmic ocean. Even the radiant jewel on His chest, which I later learned was the Kaustubha, was exactly as I had seen it in the dream—so bright it almost obscured His face.

Dreams are a strange phenomenon. Often we have dreams which just reflect back to us our everyday life events. But every now and then we somehow access deeper realms and experience something uncommon. While our physical body rests, our astral bodies can take our dim awareness to various subtle regions, sometimes even penetrating the causal worlds where Divine realms exist.

My Guru often said that whenever we sincerely think of God, it elicits a response from Him in some way. Swami once taught that the amount of time we spend in sincere connection with God during our waking hours is the same amount of time God spends with us in our deep, subconscious moments, whether or not we are fully aware of it when we awaken.

It makes one wonder: Is God truly distant from us, or is this distance merely an illusion of our own making? The divine realm may be much closer to us than we think. Nor is it exclusive to the saintly class . The everyday people are after all God’s children too.

In the Heart - 2

2016-08-12T07:28:00.006-07:00

Mt Kailash ~ Majestic and Shy

Continued from In the Heart - 1

As if the endless walk towards the base was not enough, the heavens opened up pouring hail from the sky which was followed by an intense but thankfully brief spell of shower. The air suddenly turned chilly. I felt grateful for the waterproof clothes and the thermals within.

Sabu, my cameraman friend, our sherpa and I resumed our journey to the base. My mind was occupied with what took place at the Dolmo la pass. “He is Shiva”, “She is Shakti” - I kept repeating this to myself as I crossed any male or female. I felt a sense of awe at the revelation though I knew well that unless I could translate this experience to an everyday approach with people known and close to me in my world, it would be of little use.

Walking along, at one point I found myself alone. There was no human presence in front or behind me as far as the eyes could see. Am I on the right path? Did I lose my way? Our guides, during a presentation in our hotel in Nepal mentioned to us that they have witnessed during the numerous koras that if a devotee finds himself alone and is overwhelmed or fearful of having lost their way, a mountain dog will fall in step with the devotee and give him company till some other human comes in sight. I was in for a surprise.

Somewhere along my path, a beautiful, fluffy and rather large rabbit hopped out of the grassy greens onto the path and began hopping in front of me. Its luxurious fur was brown and pure white in colour. The funny thing is it acted curious as well as cautious of me and would hop in front and then stop at a distance, look behind, wait for me to catch up and then hop again as if I was trying to catch it. This drama was very enjoyable. I marvelled at how and why this little creature choose to give me company. Soon it left as abruptly as it had appeared. When I looked in the distance, sure enough I saw my sherpa sitting on a distant rock waiting for me.

The never-ending journey continued and finally - Home Base! Or so I thought finding two of our sherpas sitting casually conversing with one another. But they informed me that our base was yet 30 mins away. They had been sent with some tea to serve us as refreshment knowing that we were walking and shooting our film at the same time and would be exhausted. I was deeply touched at the gesture and relished the 2 teas - a masala chai and a ginger flavour, much favoured by most in our group. We shared the tea with other few pilgrims - the Shivas and the Shaktis, as they crossed us by. Our journey resumed. It was getting dark. A few laborious steps more and we were finally Home!

I was completely drained. A friend called out my name. I could see the bright smile on her face as she greeted me with an embrace knowing I had done the arduous second day of the Kora on foot. So numb was I that I was hardly conscious of my body or the embrace but became aware of something else.

Even in that fatigued state, I felt a warm tingly sensation at the heart region. Almost like a low voltage current flowing into my heart from her heart like a gushing stream of light. It was such an astonishing experience. At first I thought that it had something to do with her and that she must be an elevated soul to be able to do this. But after her around 7-8 more friends and fellow Kailash pilgrims embraced me and the feeling of this stream of light flowing to and fro my heart kept growing. I realised the scriptural truth behind the science of an embrace. The purpose of an embrace is to connect the heart chakras of two souls. It is spiritually the highest form of gesture to show love. Thus it is that when Sri Rama wanted to show His love for Hanuman, He embraced Him. Perhaps my numb state of body permitted me to recognise this subtle exchange which is otherwise lost to us in our gross body awareness. In the region of Kailash such experiences and awareness was effortlessly possible.

Connecting the heart Chakra - Hugging Mohanji @ Mansarovar

The leader of our group, a saintly figure - Mohanji, who had been keeping us spiritually oriented on this journey, asked for us. We greeted him as he kindly spoke to us and blessed us for our efforts. Skipping dinner, I crashed upon the first bed available, set up in a humble and rustic cowshed. A friend came over and kindly massaged my head, given the constant headache one feels in the high altitude. I fell asleep immediately and then had the experience which was the crowning glory of my trip.

Just a night before we had had the privilege of sleeping very close to the most visible part of Mt Kailash, the north face. This night in my dreams I had a visitation of the embodiment of Shiva Shakti. As I slept, I found Baba appear in my dream, in a very young and handsome form looking intently at me with a smile on his face which seemed to say “So, you did it!” I hurriedly approach Him to greet Him and He loving patted my cheeks as He use to in my days with Him in Trayee Brindavan. I woke up the next day still feeling the gentle sting of His pat on my cheek. The dream soared my spirits as I readied my tired body for the last days trek.

Before I began, I realised that this was the last day of this journey around Kailash. In my attempt to overcome the obstacles of the journey, I (and i guess most of us) had forgotten to enjoy the journey itself. So this day I decided to take it easy as the last day was an easy walk compared to other days.

I walked my path more in awareness of the mountains, streams, the flora and fauna, the beautiful blue skies and nature around me. I stopped every now and then and lay on the grassy mound looking at the sky, feeling the sun, closing my eyes, breathing the air, listening to the awesome silence. The beauty around me was breathtaking. The thought of leaving this paradise was depressing; going back to the chaotic world seemed like entering darkness.

Sitting on the grounds, soaking in Kailash - 3rd day of Kora

I walked even slower fearing the end would come soon. At this stage the Kailash was no longer visible to the eye, though its presence was strongly felt. Knowing the end to be near, I stopped and faced the sacred mountain, went on my knees and tried to connect with the same divine energy which had so generously made itself available yesterday. I prayed deeply asking it to keep me here with it, that this felt like home. The thought of the world with all its agendas seemed repulsive. I pleaded like a child.

In an instant that energy in all its strength was there once again. In a fatherly way it declared -

“Why fear the darkness of the world, for now each of you carry the light of Kailash within. Know that light to be within you always and spread it to all until you realise not else but the light that you truly are!”

Once again the image of a golden Kailash seemed to impress upon my consciousness. I understood that geography had no bearing on the truth. That the truth was within me and it was for me to realise it wherever divine providence had placed me. Deeply uplifted I walked along reaching the end of my most blessed journey.

At the end of my sacred adventure,, with 86 other Gods and Goddesses

Truth be told, a small part of me doubted my experiences. I wondered if the high mountain airs and my tiredness caused me to hallucinate. I did not share any of these experiences with anyone, holding it deep within me revisiting it again and again to see if its impact on me lost its power with time. But even with passing time, I still felt the awe recalling what I had experienced, and never could shrug it off as my imagination. Eventually my everyday life overwhelmed my mind and I lost awareness of the sacred message... until the mountains drew me to them and gave me this message yet again; this time in …

Badrinath Temple, July 2015

A temple is a mirror reflecting God within each one of us..

As I sat at the foot of the sanctum sanctorum, absorbing the wisdom that I was graced with, I decided to put things to one final test.

Throughout this journey I was carrying prayer requests on behalf of acquaintances who were suffering various challenges in life. In all my prayers I was not able to successfully let go and surrender these requests to God. They would remain with me, worry me and bear heavy on my being. So, I thought, if my experience in this temple was true, then I should be able to pray on behalf of all those people and at the end get up feeling light and relieved, convinced that my prayers were heard and that all those people would be taken care of.

With that, I closed my eyes and one by one remembered those in need, putting their prayers forward to the divine presence that I could tangibly feel. Unlike other times, this time I did receive a response.

As I visualised the person I prayed for, surrendering him or her to God, I saw a bright light emerging from their heart, expanding and overwhelming their being to an extent that the person himself was lost in its sea of brightness. This pure light was full of strength, wisdom, love and optimism. No amount of doubts could shrug off this image from my mind. It was a very encouraging and heartening sight. I tried to see where the problems of the person were in face of this light. To my surprise, I could see they still existed, even though in a very minuscule form, although it was easy to know that the light could overwhelm the darkness easily.. yet it remained. I realised that the problems and issues in form of this darkness, had its place and karmic purpose in the lives of those peoples.

The Light ~ around you, within you, is you..

Yet again an inner voice explained -

“This is the true state of every being in this world. Darkness co-exists with light. Humans focus only on the little darkness that they have invited into their lives; whereas Saints, who are awaken to truth, focus solely on the light which is their true nature. It is for this reason that Saints can cross through this difficult world unconcerned with all the troubles and obstacles that confront them. They choose to live in awareness of the truth that they were, are and ever will be sustained and protected by the light of God which is ever within them around them and is them. This is your truth too and of all the people you pray for.”

I opened my eyes and looked into the sanctum sanctorum. This time to my joy I felt relieved of the burden that I had been carrying around with me. I felt my prayers had been heard and all those people would be taken care of in a way which was for their highest good. I quickly bowed to the alter, made a small offering and got up in order to give way to others in the vast crowds behind me.

The Unexpected Grace - The Tulsi garland

“Hey Boy”, a voice called me from behind. As I turned, the priest from within the sanctum flung something at me which I had seen him remove from the idol of Sri Badrinath. I caught it and found it was a garland of tulsi leaves which until sometime ago was adorning the handsome form of the idol. Considering this unexpected grace and most precious of prasad as a further proof of the inner communion of the day, I left the temple.

From that day, I tried not to focus on physical darshan of the sacred vigraha in the temple. Sometimes when it was crowded, I sat outside by the side of the temple, meditating upon the Badri form within me. At other times I found myself accompanying those guests who were privileged to receive an invitation to witness the early morning abhishekam within the temple.

Thats me in the corner - Finding my religion

I knew well that this experience was not the end, but a beginning. The real challenge would now be to live it daily. If maya confronts me with its charms would I be able to remember the presence of the light within me?

A year has now passed and I have fallen and risen many times. Its been nearly 11 months since I wrote the first part of this blog. Frankly, this blog has not revealed anything new under the sun. I am convinced that many souls visiting this sacred realm have experienced such grace in greater measures. And yet I was unsure if I should reveal these experiences at all.. but I have, knowing it to be the truth.

God is around you, within you, is you, here and now, if you choose to accept this reality as your own. This truth and blessing belongs to everyone. And so I write these words sharing them with you, while sitting at the sacred Mt. Kailash and Badrinath…. The Kailash and Badri in the Heart!

Post Script ~

A few days after my writing this post, I chanced upon the following extracts from a book of spiritual experiences that I was reading. Quote -

"..during meditations, I started receiving very clear messages in form of thoughts. Initially I had great difficulty describing my experience. Since I was not hearing a voice through my ears and I was not seeing a person talking I couldn't tell exactly what was happening where the information was coming from. After several attempts I was able to describe it as a thought in my own mind, but it definitely was not my own thought because some of the things I heard I can hardly comprehend leave out being able to think about them on my own. Though it was not a voice that is normally heard by ears but it gave a voice like feeling. I was able to tell the gender of the voice. from the fluctuations in the tone I could also tell whether it sounded happy, serious or joking etc."

On Healing - " God is in every person. God does not suffer. There is no suffering of the Atman. It is the mind and body when not controlled that goes through sufferings. Sufferings are also due to Prarabdha Karma."

It seemed as if this was brought to my attention to confirm my own experiences, since I was very hesitant to bring it out in the blog.

In the Heart - 1

2015-09-23T07:16:00.002-07:00

It began with a call I received late one night.

“Do you think you can come to Badrinath? By Swami’s grace we are conducting an Athi Rudra Maha yagna there.. It will be an event worth capturing.”

A month later I found myself yet again in the deeps and highs of my beloved Himalayas.

Badrinath, 10170 ft, Himalayas

The sacredness, purity and cool airs of the mighty mountains took me back a year when I found myself at the feet of Lord Shiva at Kailash. This year it was Sri Vishnu who had summoned me to His abode to celebrate a Rudra yagna.

Like all grand sacred events, this one too welcomed us with a shower of rain. A fall of a drop and the temperature sinks to freezing cold. The Yagna fire caused warmth in the heart for more than one reason. Listening to the Rudra mantras and moving amongst heat generated by the 11 yagnakundas can cause the consciousness to elevate beyond measure as the mind becomes a mute spectator, bedazzled by the purity of the occasion.

And yet there was something which caused me deep concern. I had not come alone, but was carrying with me various prayer requests to be offered to the Lord on behalf of various friends and people known to me closely, who were assailed by numerous problems- the sickness of a child, a wife concerned about her husbands health, a sweet lady bearing numerous pains in her failing body, a beautiful couple distraught at the state of their handsome little son considered abnormal by societal standards, friends carrying social/marital problems and others. Thinking about these issue bore heavy on my state of being. The high state of consciousness experienced in the yagna shala during the day was offset by the low feeling of gloom that I felt in the evening as I pondered over these issues.

I tried to surrender these urgent requests during my meditations but they returned and would always loom on my mind. With problems like these, the world seemed a heavy place to live in. I just couldn't let go of these thoughts. A state of semi-depression persisted.

Part of the Yagna blessings was that the temple authorities of Badrinath had graciously permitted us to chant the Sri Vishnusahasranama in the temple precincts.

On one such evening after the chanting and the deep meditation that followed, I entered the temple to have my first glimpse of Lord Badri Vishal as He is referred to in those regions. Like all major temples of India this one too was over crowded with people. Each person was trying his/her best to get a glimpse of the presiding deity. Naturally there was a degree of pushing and shoving and unfair tactics at play. Any state of calm, gathered in the meditation was lost as I tried my best to crane and stretch and steal a glimpse of the Vigraha. It suddenly occurred to me as to how we were behaving. I wondered what use there is of travelling thousands of miles to these remote regions and then to jostle and push through crowds to see the divine? Where is the devotion, the discipline? To what end do I wish to see the form of the Lord given the chaos in my mind?

Perhaps if I removed myself from the temple, the others would find at least some more space to enjoy the darshan. With this thought I mentally bowed before Lord Badri, and began making my way out through the crowd towards the exit.

The Divine had other plans.

One of our chief priests, Sri Sekhar who was within the barricades guiding and explaining the devotees the history of the temple, saw me and motioned me to come within. Not too sure, I decided to go with the flow and made my way in. There was no crowd here. I could sit at the boundary of the door to the inner sanctum, the closest one could get, with an uninterrupted view of the divine figure.

I held my gaze one pointedly on the diamond eyes of the Lord, and continued thinking that to what end do we come to these temples? If God is within me why do I travel distances to see Him in numerous forms? Is this a delusion too?

Amidst these troubling thoughts, I suddenly found the presence of a clear light within, coming from the sanctum sanctorum in form of an intuitive understanding. An unspoken voice expressed:

“Temples such as these have a role to play in the divine human drama. These temples act as mirrors. When a devotee stands humbly before the altar, it reflects back the divinity within each of us. It shows the devotee the presence of the divine in the sanctum sanctorum of his heart, for that is where God has always truly been. But man has forgotten. The temples remind him. Is this not the reason why when a devotee after travelling miles, comes to a temple and beholding the idol with his eyes, he then closes them and journeys within?

“In a temple, more than darshans of the divine with the eyes, one should have an inner attunement with the heart. Attune with devotion. Why worry about the crowds? Maya has its role to play, even in a temple. It disturbs your attention with crowds of people in the outer world and crowds of restless thoughts in the inner world. Be undisturbed, be even. Since ages humans have come to this temple to learn the truth that the real Badri is within.. in each and every one of you. If you understand this simple truth, then know your journey to be blessed and fulfilled!”

As I grasped what I received, I had goosebumps. This was not the first time I was hearing these words. I had heard them before, in similar circumstances, at the same time - one year back, from the same source - at Mt. Kailash.

Day 2, Dolmo La Pass, 18471 ft, Mt Kailash

All my preparations at the physical and mental level had lead me to this hour. And it had failed me.

Sheer fatigue overwhelmed my being as I climbed the seemingly unclimbable Dolmo la pass. I began regretting wanting to do the whole pradakshina on foot. I began regretting not taking the allopathic medicines to attune to the altitude. Summoning my last reserve of energy I finally climbed the top. After taking deep breaths of the low oxygen air I asked my sherpa “So this is it!” He looked at me pitifully and turning his head right he pointed towards the sky. I looked at the direction to see a peak and an ant like formation of humans who were laboriously climbing it. That was my destination.

View en-route the Dolmo La Pass

I choose not to elaborate the battle I fought with every step I took. For the first time in my life my body had failed me. My sense of devotion was gone. I was no longer chanting the mantra that I had received in my meditations* to be chanted during the kora. I was angry at Shiva (Auspiciousness) and Shakti (Divine Energy) for I was convinced they had forsaken me. There were others like me who were struggling on foot. But the locals were indefatigable. Old, almost ancient tibetan women in their 60’s and 70’s passed me by carrying children on their back, giving me their wrinkly smiles of encouragement. Some patted me on my back, some said words of encouragement in their dialect, others dug into their bag and gave me herbs which they said would help me.

One step after the other, I finally reached the summit of my journey - The Dolmo la Pass, 18471 ft above sea level. As I crashed upon the nearby inviting rock, I closed my eyes and let go of my body and mind and became nothingness. Let me state in no uncertain words that I was not meditating or praying. I was purely tired.

Moments passed and then it happened.

In the quietness of my being, I felt an unmistakable presence of a pure energy. Like a sharp ray of light in a dark cave, I heard its intuitive message of light beam into my being uninvited, and its unspoken message became part of my deeper understanding.

It conveyed to the effect:

“You have been summoned, thousands of miles away from your home to these parts to impress upon you a single truth. The Kailash you always sought, is within you. The Shiva and Shakti principle is within you, and within every single human you encounter in life. If you assimilate and make this truth your own, then know that you have received from Kailash the highest one can receive and know your journey to be a success.”

The vision of a golden Kailash flashed in my inner being and impressed itself on me.

I opened my eyes. My tiredness prevented any elation. I became withdrawn as I got up and continued my descent from the peak into the second part of my journey. No longer did I focus on my tired limbs and walked robot like one step after the other in what seemed like an endless journey towards my base. My mind went over and over what I had experienced as I checked and rechecked if I had been hallucinating. But my mind seemed to be in a coma and refused to think let alone create such a profound experience. Above all I had felt the presence within. It was vibrating in my being.

Any trace of doubts that I had, would be removed that night when I was blessed with a vision of Shiva - Shakti.

To be continued..

*Note : Prior to my kora I was dwelling on what mantra to chant through the kora - the sacred - Om Namah Shivaya, or the shorter - Shivoham, both of which carried the same meaning. In one of my meditations, in my hotel room in Nepal I surrendered this query to God hoping I will receive His will in some sign or form. To my surprise, I received an instant reply. It wasnt either of the mantras, it was a third mantra - Samastha Loka Sukhino Bhavantu. This was what I was suppose to chant during the kora.

I wasn't up for it.. i protested that this was my first trip to Kailash. "Let this trip be about You and me, lets keep the lokas out of it. I can chant that anytime else." But the clarity with which this mantra persisted told me that this was divine will. An understanding came that God, the lokas and I were not separate. Let my blessing be a blessing for all and so I gratefully accepted this as my mantra for the Pradakshina.

An Encounter at Neelkanth

2015-07-25T06:16:00.000-07:00

The Majestic Neelkanth

Whilst returning from an excursion to the Neelkanth mountain, I met a sadhu on the way. I offered my pranams (salutations) which he returned with a smile. He had a small piece of papad in his hand. He said "Son will you accept this papad?" I replied "Maharaj will you accept a chocolate". He smiled and agreed and we made our exchange.

"Come to yonder house for a cup of tea," he said pointing to a humble dwelling amidst the breathtaking setting. His mannerism was friendly as if he were a close acquaintance. My two companions and I could not refuse and we made our way towards his house.

The outer walls to his house was a mere formality for a boundary. In a setting of beautiful wild flowers carelessly growing in the empty spaces on all three sides of his house, we sat on rustic makeshift chairs.

As we conversed he gave us a highlight of his life prior to coming to these parts of the Himalayas.
"I was from Rajasthan. Without a Guru, purely through Aakashwani (Inner guidance) have I been led through my spiritual life. The voice has led me through many extraordinary experiences both good and bad yet each benefitting me on my path."

"Please tell us about the Masters one hears about in these regions!" I asked.

"Masters indeed there are many, but they shy away from human gaze. Often it is more for the comfort of people then their own love of solitude that Masters will remain hidden from sight."

"Yet to those that dwell in these rarified regions, coming across such beings who often take the form of light, is not that difficult."

"A few days back a family known to me, came to my house with the intent to serve me. Many days passed when they complained - 'Sir, we have been serving you for so long, how is it that we have not been able to witness some divine sights known to be amply present in these regions. 'I laughed and replied - 'Dear Ones, I can say the same that since your arrival, I too have been bereft of visitation of Masters.'

"'That cannot be,' they protested.. 'We are here undertaking a holy cause of serving you. As per the scriptures, by virtue of this act alone we should be considered worthy of Divine grace.'

"'Look, what is that ..' one of them suddenly exclaimed. I looked out to
witness 2 celestial lights traveling in the air at very close quarters to us in the chill of the night. One light disappeared and the other descended at a distance of about 200 meters from my house. This is the closest I had seen such a light coming towards my dwelling place.

"'Wait here,' I commanded them, as I carried a lantern and made my way through the bitter winds of the Himalayan night, much to their protest. Walking along I came to the cliff where the light had descended and was pleasantly surprised to see there a young monk in white clothes. I enquired 'Maharaj, who are you and what are you doing here so late in the night?'

"The mendicant replied in a distant tone 'Greetings Maharaj, I am a seeker who came to the Neelkanth mountain many days ago. As I sat in a meditative state, I slipped in a deep state of consciousness and have only emerged out of it now - many days later.'

"'Sir, you must be famished. Kindly come to my house a few steps away, where I can serve you some rotis made tonight along with a dal made this afternoon. I will heat it and serve you quickly.'

"'You need not heat the food, what you offer will suffice,' replied the mendicant as the two made their way to the house."

"After I served him the meal, he insisted on leaving immediately and stepped out. I came after him to show him some light but watched him take a light form himself and he vanished through the air."

The sadhu then spoke in general. "We are all seekers at the end of the day - you are seeking God to as much as I; only I have decided to give my quest more time then perhaps you can."

"Tell me Maharaj," I asked "How easy it is to control the restless mind, while living in these pristine regions. Surely your efforts bear richer fruits here."

The sadhu smiled frankly "I assure you, maya has its ways of keeping the mind engaged, though I must agree that these circumstances are far favorable to what one faces in the world. I am able to go deep every now and then and find divine grace more generous then at my efforts in the plains."

Ati Rudra at Badri

"Maharaj, a great Ati Rudra yagna is being conducted down by the temple. Tomorrow is the Poornahooti day. Please join us in partaking the prasad." We requested.

"Your invitation is enough. I prefer not to travel for food as the good Lord provides amply for my little needs and as a rule we try to avoid places with great crowds. But if He wills I shall come."

We offered our pranams to him, as we made our way back in the late evening to our yagnashala. We could not have the tea that he offered, but found other stories from him which warmed our soul.

A Hackers guide to Self Realisation.

2015-06-04T05:43:00.000-07:00

Lets begin with some basic facts - We live.. In a body.. On Earth.

From the beginning of human history, man has been driven on one hand by the demands of the body causing him to seek sustenance through hunting and agriculture; on the other hand the human mind has sought answers to the mystery of life. These two pursuits went hand in hand, until at some point in history the former overwhelmed the later and man began to live purely in mad pursuit of seeking satisfaction for the desires of the body and ego.

Yet man did pursue truths. Some sought to understand this world they lived in. So they investigated Earth - its flora and fauna, the land and seas, the elements and space and thus grew science as we know it today.

But there were others who felt that before they understood the world, they must first understand themselves, and they began an inquiry within, leading to exploration of Spirituality as we know it.

The scientists of the spirit were the first to find their goal. They were referred to by the world as the Enlightened Ones, the Sages. The scientists of the world to this day pursue their goals, ever changing and updating their theories.

The reason of this contrasting result stems from the fact that the universe a scientist studies, is an ever changing one and its understanding is dependent on how every individual perceives it. The Sages on the other hand explored the inner world, the soul which is in Oneness with everything in existence and in knowing the soul Self, a Sage becomes aware of the roots of all creation

Sages of all climes and times, brought forward the fruits of their labor to man through words and scriptures - encouraging man to find the joy and bliss that every man has been seeking since the beginning of time, within Himself, by understanding the Self. They revealed that the one supreme query worth pursuing above all others is not what is life, nor who made creation, nor who is God - but Who am I?

In the answer to this one question - Who am I, lies every possible answer. What's more, the Sages then revealed the answer to this Supreme Question. The answer being - Aham Brahmasmi! - I am Brahman. I am the Supreme truth. I am God.

So, coming back to reality... Are you God?... am I God? Don't seem like it. If God is all love, all joy, all power, all wisdom, above and beyond life and death, then I certainly don't feel like God. If you ask me who I am, I would unhesitatingly describe myself as a male, Hindu, Indian with such and such name, family background, education and social status.

So where is the disconnect? The enlightened Sages call me God, and I call myself a limited, error prone human personality subject to life and death! At this point it is apt to mention another intelligent entity that is deeply related to each of us and whose influence on our lives is immense.

The Sages explained that when God created this creation, the creation would soon sink back in God's divine energy, much as if the ocean spewed gems and precious minerals on its surface, they would all sink back into the ocean. So God created a counter intelligent energy whose sole purpose would be to keep creation in its place, preventing any aspect of creation to go back to its source in God.

The Sages referred to this counteracting intelligent energy as Maya. Maya is the force that works to keep creation as is. It is the cause of all cosmic illusion. It makes this creation seem real and as the only reality. It covers and hides in all ways possible the Divine truths and prevents mankind from recognising its true self as children of the Supreme God. Christ referred to Maya as the devil that tempts. Maya is that against which the true Jihad must be fought, as implied in Islam.

99.999% of all humanity are under full control of Maya. It makes them feel like a human personality and keeps them bound and limited to personal goals and objectives of this world. Maya has its allies in the human mind, senses and the ego. It lures and tempts the senses through sight, sound, taste and touch and keeps man bound to desires and temptations of the body.

Maya - Cosmic Illlusion

Every human has Awareness within him through which he can cognise truth. This awareness has been completely hijacked and imprisoned by the mind. Through incarnations of wrong living, human awareness has been hypnotised into believing that it is a body, a name, a personality with needs and desires, a personality with a status in the society that it must ever keep upgrading to earn the respect of fellow personalities.

Thus from birth Maya ensnares a child with toys and candies, a youth with clothes, gadgets and temptations, an adult with jobs and life partner for a family. It controls a family man with requirements of his family and children till his old age where it keeps him tied to the body and its problems until comes death and everything that a man has earned through life drops away to nothingness. His name, fame, money, achievements are all left behind.

And yet.... As much as a human seeks happiness, he also seeks with the same passion all ways to avoid sorrow. Though living in Maya does offer temporary happiness, it is usually followed by arrival of sorrow. Men soon realised that living in Maya is living in duality. That sorrow will always follow happiness just as night will always follow the day; loss will always follow victory as death will always follow life. So man sought to find a permanent solution. When his seeking becomes sincere and deep, the enlightened Sages make themselves available to him and give him solutions to fight Maya and free his awareness from the limitations of the ego.

Thus man learns that to avoid sorrow and gain permanent happiness he must first know his true Self. He can know his true Self only when he can realise that he is not the ego self. This can be achieved by disciplining the senses and conquering the mind. Christ said "Be still and know that I am God". This was a secret revealed to man that he must first still the restless mind and free his awareness with the help of which he can then become aware of his true self. This stillness refers to the science of meditation which leads to constant integrated Awareness.

In meditation one keeps the body in a relaxed state and turns all the senses inwards. The body and senses may be in ones control but the mind can still run about causing restlessness by umpteen ceaseless thoughts.

Many find meditation to be difficult, controlling mind impossible. It only requires patience and perseverance to slowly and steadily bring the mind to rest using the disciplined senses and controlled breathing for aid.

Take for example a fan. When the fan is in full speed and you switch it off, it does not become still immediately, but continues revolving till at some point it comes to a full rest (provided you do not switch it on again). So it is with patience and persevering efforts that mind can be brought under control.
Another example, when you are in the bright sunlight and suddenly enter a room, everything appears dark. It takes some time till the eyes can get used to the lowlight conditions of the room and begin seeing things within it. But this will not be possible if you keep stepping out in sunlight and stepping in the room.

Similarly when one meditates he leaves the restless world of Maya/mind and enters the inner world of Spirit, all may at first appear dark. If one with patience and perseverance stills the restlessness within, he will soon free his Awareness from the clutches of the lower mind and become aware of the light of God.

Finding the Self means finding the end of all sorrows. Then no longer is man dictated by the ego and its limitations. He becomes aware of the majesty of his true, divine Self. He becomes love and distributes love freely. He becomes joy and distributes joy freely. He becomes wisdom and distributes wisdom freely. He becomes aware of his Oneness with all. He realises for Himself that the answer to the eternal query - Who am I is Aham Brahmasmi!

An Encounter..

2015-04-15T01:26:00.001-07:00

"By what name do people call you"

"Many names" was the answer.

"Then I shall call you Sir"

"As you like."

I asked him something to determine his age.

"I am ageless, neither birth nor death touch me."

"A tree is rooted Sir, How old are your roots?"

"That is not to be known" He gently reproved me.

"Tell me then Sir, the secret of your youth."

"Well, well, if there isn't my old friend!" He suddenly exclaimed

When I looked for his friend my breath stopped and my teeth chattered. His friend was a huge tiger! To my eyes she looked as large as a horse. Noting my terror my friend assured me that I was in no danger.

"Do you mean this fearsome beast is your friend?"

"Why not?"

"Who are you?" I asked in awe!

"Thyself!" His voice was gentleness itself.

Hardly believing my eyes, I saw him approach the tiger and fondly stroke its fur and the beast responded by every show of returned affection. "Come, come.. meet my friend" He beckoned me.

Tremblingly I ventured forward.

"See how sweet she is" he said, "such a good mother. She has a baby and two of her sisters who passed away. Show us the babies, will you?"

Obediently, the tiger stalked along before us and I silently followed. Since my courage had deserted me I couldn't question, though my thoughts were many. Half a mile we were led by the tiger to a wooded hill thickly overgrown with brush. There is a deep ditch frolicked three tiger cubs, one about a month old and two older ones.

The cubs were harmless enough and very loveable in their rounded furriness. I asked permission to play with them. The youngest was a bit frightened, but soon warmed up and played along. A little later my comrade bade me come away from the cubs as we resumed our journey to the cave.

" You are a Master," I asserted, " I am sure of it."

"Why?"

"Because the tiger did not harm us."

"That is nothing. They attack only those who desire to kill them. If you have love in your heart for them and no fear, they won't harm you. Love in your heart for everyone brings love in return."

"Master, will you explain the secret of making a tiger like you?"

"If man will relinquish the idea of killing, the love of every creature will be his."

" How long will it take to do this?"

He answered that if in twelve years the hand, eyes and tongue have not harmed anyone, the power will be gained. many who do not destroy with the hands, do so with their eyes and words. Neither beast nor man will ever attack such a one, nor will opposition of any kind be presented.

"Must one, Master, do anything else except abstain from killing any living creature?"

"Yes, my son, he should have love in his heart for everyone, but he should not fix his affection on any particular one, holding all in love. Nor should he fear death at anytime, realising that he is not bound by the narrow walls of flesh and bones, but is soul or spirit, of all and in all. His song should be ~

There is no jealousy, no fear.

I am the dearest of the dear;

No rival, no foe,

No injury, no woe,

Om, Om, Om!

Nothing can harm me,

Nothing alarm me,

The soul of all,

The nectar falls,

Om, Om, Om!

The heavens and stars,

Worlds near and far

Are hung and strung

On the songs I sung,

Om, Om, Om!

: Great Masters of the Himalayas

20 Questions for every Spiritual Seeker

2015-04-07T07:17:00.000-07:00

Came across this Q&A list in the Awakening times website. Thought provoking as they are, I thought I would attempt to answer them. If you wish to try this too, you can copy paste the questions from awakeningtimes.com, and answer them on your blog or FB page.

20 Questions -

1. Why is there poverty and suffering in the world?

2. What is the relationship between science and religion?

3. Why are so many people depressed?

4. What are we all so afraid of?

5. When is war justifiable?

6. How would God want us to respond to aggression and terrorism?

7. How does one obtain true peace?

8. What does it mean to live in the present moment?

9. What is our greatest distraction?

10. Is current religion serving its purpose?

11. What happens to you after you die?

12. Describe heaven and how to get there.

13. What is the meaning of life?

14. Describe God.

15. What is the greatest quality humans possess?

16. What is it that prevents people from living to their full potential?

17. Noverbally, by motion or gesture only, act out what you believe to be the current condition of the world.

18. What is your one wish for the world?

19. What is wisdom and how do we gain it?

20. Are we all one?

MY UNDERSTANDING ~

1. Why is there poverty and suffering in the world?

A - For the same reason as there is joy and plenty in this world.

This is a world whose nature is duality and thrives in opposites. For good there is bad, for joy there is sorrow, for sickness there is health, for ignorance there is wisdom. What comes your way is decided solely by your actions which you reap as your karma in this lifetime or the next. No action or intent, no matter how small, goes unnoticed by the cosmic intelligence.

In many cases poverty and suffering may also come due to wrong choices made in this lifetime.

2. What is the relationship between science and religion?

A - Science, is an ever growing body of knowledge that studies our outer physical world (and to some extent our mental world).

Religion is the science of the inner - spiritual and mental world. It is much vaster in nature then physical science.

Religion begins where science ends, Spirituality begins where religion ends. Religion includes science, but science may not include religion.

The principles of religion are rooted in Spirit, hence they are eternal in nature.

The principles of science are rooted in a changing universe, hence they are changing and ever upgrading.

Spirit is the sole truth, hence religion is true and liberating.
The Universe is a dream of the Spirit, hence its science is also a dream and transcend-able by those who realise it as a dream. We call this miracles.

3. Why are so many people depressed?

A - The root answer is Ignorance - of their lives and their Selves.

The practical answer is the working of the law of karma. Joy or sorrow, whatever we are reaping at any point in time is what we have sown in the past, though we are utterly unaware of it.

4. What are we all so afraid of?

A -The unknown (Ignorance)

5. When is war justifiable?

A - When it is protecting Dharma (Universal Righteousness)

6. How would God want us to respond to aggression and terrorism?

A - Be strongly and fairly resistant with the actions of the body… Be loving, healing and understanding in the mind. Much as we would with an insane violent child.

7. How does one obtain true peace?

A - By being aware of the Self.

8. What does it mean to live in the present moment?

A - To stop living, start Being.

9. What is our greatest distraction?

A - Our fickle mind with its ever increasing desires.

10. Is current religion serving its purpose?

A - True religion is never current or former; it is eternal. Every religion can serve its purpose provided its followers follow it in honesty and sincerity. The harvest is plenty but the labourers are few.

11. What happens to you after you die?

A - You are born to a different reality.

In sleep, sometimes called little death, you close to one reality and awaken to another in the mental dreamworld. Soon the dream world ends and you awaken to this reality. Death is no different. It is sleeping to one reality and awakening in another.

Neither realities are real. The only reality is You, the witness.

12. Describe heaven and how to get there.

A - There are two heavens - That which exists in the higher Astral worlds deemed heavenly because of the existence of supernal joys and lack of pain and sorrow; and the other heaven is a state of mind.

The former heaven can be reached either after death and if you have lived a righteous life or by raising and purifying your awareness and reaching there astrally, while still living in the body.

The later can be attained by right living, detachment and wisdom, sometimes even by karma - for e.g. a mother giving birth to her child may inwardly be in heavenly joy upon seeing her child.

13. What is the meaning of life?

A - It is a game of hide and seek where you begin you journey having lost your Self and the journey ends when you have found your Self.

14. Describe God.

A - That which transcends description.

15. What is the greatest quality humans possess?

A - The power to discriminate right from wrong and using it to reach Self Realisation.

16. What is it that prevents people from living to their full potential?

A - Ignorance - of their Selves, their Lives and their purpose.

17. Nonverbally, by motion or gesture only, act out what you believe to be the current condition of the world.

A -

18. What is your one wish for the world?

A - Samastha Loka Sukhino Bhavantu - May All the beings in All the world be Happy.

19. What is wisdom and how do we gain it?

A - Self Awareness is the highest wisdom. You gain it by inwardly inquiring - ' Who am I?' and living a life discovering that 'I'.

20. Are we all one?

A - As much as all waves in an ocean are one despite their apparent differences in shapes and size.

The Inner Ramayana

2015-03-27T22:49:00.002-07:00

(This blog has been written with the assumption that the reader knows the story of Ramayana and various vedic terminologies.)

Truth, considered single faceted by humans, is in fact multidimensional in nature, just like a diamond with many facets. The light of divinity when passing through this diamond emits myriad reflections of colors and rays.

Divine epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata cannot be viewed as mere moral stories conveying assorted virtues as displayed in the lives of it's characters. There is more to it than meets the eye. Mahabharata may be considered the story of the virtuous Pandavas who with the help of Krishna emerge victorious in the battle against the Kauravas to regain their rightful inheritance of Hastinapur and Indraprasth. But at another level Mahabharata is also the story of an ideal devotee (Arjuna/Pandavas) guided by the inner Guru (Krishna) in the battlefield of life (Kurukshetra) against the Ego guided samskaras and desires (Kauravas) to attain Moksha (Hastinapur).

And Ramayana?

Dasharatha is the king of Ayodhya, ruling along with his three wives Kausalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi.
Dashratha is the Mind, custodian of the 10 senses – five inner five outer (Dasha - ten, Ratha – chariot of 10 horses or senses).
His three queens are the three gunas which guide the mind –
Kausalya representing Sattwa (Pure),
Sumitra representing Rajas (Activating),
Kaikeyi representing Tamas (Dull or impure).

So,

Dashratha (Mind) and Kausalya (Sattwa) give birth to Rama – Soul Awareness.

Dashratha and Kaikeyi (Tamas), give birth to Bharat – Body consciousness.

Dashratha and Sumitra (Rajas) give birth to twins ~
Lakshmana – Disciplined, Pure concentration always serving the Soul (Rama) and
Shatrughana – Karma Shakti or the power of action, always serving the body (Bharata).

RAMA AND THE THREE WOMEN

The story goes that Rajarishi Vishwamitra takes Rama and Lakshmana to his ashram for the protection of his Yagna. During this journey Sri Rama (Divinity incarnate) encounters three women and demonstrates how Divinity deals with different devotees or beings.

But first let us understand what a woman means. A woman here does not refer to females. In Sanskrit a women is referred to as 'Stri'. Stri is any individual (I) under the influence of the three gunas – Sattwa, Tamas, Rajas. Hence the I of a being is dominated by S,T,R and it becomes a Stri. When the three gunas leave, all that is left is the pure I – the only male or Purusha beyond gunas, hence purely divine.

Coming back to the story, the first woman Sri Rama encounters is Taraka, the demoness. Taraka is pure tamas and so Rama destroys her.

The second woman is Ahalya. Ahalya though virtuous in nature was found guilty of inner impurity. She gave into the charms of Indra who came to her in guise of her husband even though she inwardly suspected this was Indra. Her husband Sage Gautama on knowing her impure thoughts through divine insight, cursed her to become a stone until Sri Rama blesses her. Sri Rama blesses her by the touch of his feet and the stone becomes a pure Ahalya again. Ahalya is Rajas and Sri Rama transmutes her.

The third woman is Sita. Sita is the embodiment of purity and virtues. She is Sattwa and so Rama embraces her and makes her his own.

Thus Divine grace destroys Tamas, transmutes Rajas and embraces Sattwa.

THE BANISHMENT

Queen Kaikeyi (Tamas), who loves Rama as much as her Bharata, under the influence of the crooked Manthara (evil thought or temptation) seeks to influence King Dashartha (Mind) towards banishing Rama (Soul consciousness) in favor of Bharata (Body consciousness). This is in line with the biblical story of Adam and Eve where the serpent tempts the Feeling energy of Eve to influence the Reasoning energy Adam leading to fall from paradise. And so Rama leaves Ayodhya banished for 14 years, accompanied by Lakshmana and Sita. Dasharatha suffers immensely due to parting with Rama leading to his death. The mind suffers immensely when under the influence of tamasic qualities it banishes our divine consciousness within.

THE 14 YEARS

The banishment of 14 years has deep esoteric meaning. In a human body are 7 chakras. The top most is Sahasrara (Ayodhya) and the bottom most is the Muladhara (Lanka- filled with pleasure of the senses). 14 is 7+7. The 14 year banishment is the journey of the Divine Atma descending from the highest chakra to the lowest chakra and finally by supreme self effort of spiritual discipline (the war at Lanka) reclaiming Sita (kundalini) and ascending from the lowest chakra to the highest.
This is a banishment every single embodied soul faces. Thus we are all Ramas (individual Atmas) trying to make our way back to our kingdom of Ayodhya (Self Realisation).

BHARATA’S SORROW

When Bharata (Awakened Body Consciousness) comes to know of the banishment of his dear brother, he immediately renounces his mother (tamas) and father (influenced mind) and sets out to seek Sri Rama to return and surrender over the bodily kingdom. Sri Rama lovingly asks Bharata to be a good king of Ayodhya. But Bharata refuses and taking the sandals of Sri Rama and rules Ayodhya in proxy. This signifies that in an advanced state the awakened body consciousness gives up its claim on the body and senses knowing it to belong to divinity and rules the body on behalf of the soul while it waits for complete enlightenment (Sri Rama’s return). Bharata also represents the basic discipline every true seeker must have in preserving the body and keeping it sacred and pure.

4 YUGAS IN THE FOREST

Sri Rama, Sita and Lakshmana live in the forest during their years of banishment. Sri Rama here is God or the Divine Consciousness. Sita here represents an ideal devotee and Lakshmana represents one-pointed devotion . Thus a devotee lives with pure devotion in divine consciousness. They dwell in Chitrakoot in joy and simplicity in company of Sages, the beautiful flora and fauna and birds and beasts. This signifies the Golden Age or the Satya Yuga.

When the demon takes the guise of the golden deer it appeals to the mind of Sita (devotee) and a desire arises within her. Due to her desire for the illusive golden deer, Sri Rama (divine consciousness) leaves her to pursue the deer.

This is descending to the Silver Age or the Treta Yuga, marked by the arrival of desire and the departure of Divine consciousness.

Sri Rama in pursuing the illusive Golden deer, eventually shoots it to death. All desires are like the deer that appears golden but is a demon within, promising joy but leading to sorrow. Sri Rama though having the capability of catching the deer (desire) destroys it knowing it's illusory nature.

Back in the hut, now remain Sita (devotee) and Lakshmana (one-pointed devotion). This is the state of the Dwapara Yuga or the Bronze age, a state where pure devotion exists but Divine consciousness is lacking. The presence of this one-pointed devotion is what gives the devotee complete protection.
However things change when Sita getting anxious for Rama, tries to send Lakshmana away. Sri Lakshmana refuses to leave keeping in mind his promise to his Brother to protect Sita at all costs. But in a state of delusion Sita (devotee) accuses Lakshmana (devotion) of being impure and forcing him to leave.

How do we understand this? Devotion to God is a devotee's greatest protection. Often a devotee who has been following spiritual practices for long, may find no effect or instant fruits of his efforts. When temptations come and try to lure him away, the devotee may give up what little discipline (Lakshmana) he may be following, thereby losing all connection with the divinity within and becoming vulnerable to be taken over by deep consuming delusion, Maya.

Here then comes the final state of existence. Lakshmana, pressured by Sita agrees to leave. Before leaving Lakshmana using his powers, draws a boundary around the hut, beseeching Sita to remain at all times and at all costs within the boundary for protection, until they return. Saying thus, a reluctant Lakshmana leaves Sita behind all by herself. This is the Kali or the Iron/Dark age, wherein a devotee is left all by him/herself with only the Lakshmana rekha as his/her protection.

THE LAKSHMANA REKHA

The Lakshmana rekha drawn to protect Sita, has deep significance. Sita here represents both a human and a woman. It is interesting to note that at no point before in the story (in any other age) was any boundary drawn for protection. A human (Sita) is free as long as it has Divine consciousness and/or one-pointed devotion as its company. The need for the boundary comes in place where Sita is alone (Kali age) meaning where a devotee or a human is bereft of any spiritual consciousness for its protection.

What does the Lakshman rekha represent?

The Lakshmana Rekha are the moral and social codes of conduct that humans should strictly adhere to in the Kali age if they are to safe guard and protect themselves. These do’s and don’ts seen as restrictive and unwanted by modern society, play a role in protecting the inner sanctity of the soul which the ignorant humanity is utterly unaware of.

To be under restriction is not a state appreciated by humans and rightly so as it stands against our inner idea of freedom.. However just as a little baby is put in a crib for its protection; just as you build a fence around a young plant, so also you put these codes around humans in the kali age who are spiritually vulnerable or in a baby state, to protect them from the ever active maya temptations (Ravana) that can cause their downfall spiritually. Once the baby grows into a full fledged human (becomes God conscious) or when the plant grows into a strong tree, neither need a fence to protect it.

Humanity today has long breached this Lakshmana rekha. Man and even women, considered the custodians of virtue, have long renounced these codes and volunteered themselves to be held captive by baser thoughts and feelings, all in the name of freedom and liberation.

Because humanity does not understand the use of the moral codes, they often use it in wrong ways or to suppress others. Codes of virtue then become weapons of suppression. Yet even then they cannot and should not be discarded. What is needed is wisdom of understanding.

These codes are true for every religion. It is interesting to note that while the teachings of the higher ages were so deep and profound these moral codes seem like child's babble before them. The insightful Vedas and Upanishads came to us in the Satya and Treta age.. The pure wisdom of the Gita came to us in the Dwapara age. And what came to us in the Kali age? Codes like the ten commandments – Thou shall not steal, shall not lie, shall not … These simple codes do not reflect on any lesser understanding of Moses; it simply is catering to a level of humanity that has lost its connection with higher understanding. The profound made way for the basic and simple. Yet we struggle to live up to these codes and fail them again and again. And what are the consequences?
It is best learned from the Ramayana.

CROSSING THE BOUNDARY

The demon king Ravana (representing the lower mind) yearns to capture the vulnerable Sita (devotee). Taking the guise of a Sadhu he tries to lure Sita away from the boundary so that she can be captured. This should teach us that no teacher, who is true, will ever lure you away from what is good for your soul. In the modern age even God and religion is sold under false pretext to lure people under its fold for political and financial reasons.

Sita though not tempted in any way, purely out of good intent and respect for the disguised sadhu makes the mistake of crossing the boundary with dire consequences. This teaches us that no matter how good the reason one must not go against what our Dharma or conscience prohibits us from.. Never give in to the lower mind, no matter what the temptations.

SITA CAPTURED

As Sita crosses the boundary, Ravan the lower mind, captures her and takes her away to his kingdom where she is held captive, lost to the knowledge of Rama and Lakshmana (Divinity and devotion). One desire leads Sita from the presence of Sri Rama to being the captive of the evil Ravana. From here enormous efforts have to be made to bring Sita back, leading to an all out war where thousands are killed on both sides. Even victory cannot bring things to their pristine state, as Sita is first made to undergo the fire test to prove her purity. Despite her success in proving herself, Sita eventually is sent away from the kingdom when a subject doubts her purity and raises question on Rama the king.

This also has meaning at the mystical level where Sita represents the Kundalini shakti as well as a devotee and a woman. The Kundalini Shakti is found coiled in the muladhara chakra (Lanka). When the Kundalini rises it has to pass through the fire chakra - manipura before it can ascend to the highest chakra of Sahasrara (Ayodhya). This signifies that each devotee who has lived on earth being captive to the lower mind has to pass through severe tests to prove their purity and worthiness to reclaim their pure divine nature.

Sita was captured for a period of 9 months. During this time Ravana used many lures, tricks and threats to bring her into his fold. But Sita, one-pointed in her thought of Rama, never gave in. All of humanity is Sita. Captured by our base mind we face lures and temptations, fears and deceits in life, but we must at all times be take shelter in the God within to protect our inner sanctity and purity.

THE VANARA SENA

On their return and finding their hut empty, Sri Rama and Lakshmana seek out Sita. This represents the state of the early seeker on the spiritual path (a Rama in ignorance) who is keen to find something which its soul deeply seeks but he has no understanding of what it is and where and how to find it.

It is here that Sri Rama meets Hanuman, Sugriva and the Vanara sena.

Monkeys are restless in nature. The Vanara sena represents the controlled Prana shakti which in a worldly man runs hither and tither with no direction or control making him restless. Hanuman (Vayu shakti – son of Wind God) is primary of these prana shaktis which through supreme will power (Yoga sadhana) has brought itself in control and dedicated itself to the seeking soul consciousness or Rama. Sugriva literally means Su – good, Griva – throat. The throat is the most important body part while performing Yoga sadhana in order to control and keeping the prana in check. Hence Sugriva is the king of the vanaras.

The Vanara sena (prana shakti) now forms an alliance with Sri Rama and helps to seek out Sita (the Kundalini Shakti) in its war against the demons of the lower mind.

HANUMAN SEEKS SITA

Hanuman, the mighty vanara hero, the ideal devotee, sets out on a mission to seek Sita. Here Hanuman represents the will power that initiates man in his search for emancipation. In his approach to Lanka, Hanuman leaps over the ocean. As Lanka is the Muladhara chakra, the ocean is the Swadhistan chakra (Element wise the Swadhistan chakra represents water.) It also is the chakra of the sex organ. Hanuman, a pure celibate, thus never puts even a foot on the ocean to rest.

Entering Lanka, Hanuman seeks out Mother Sita through the opulent city. This again is the state of an early seeker on the spiritual path who seeks eternal truth through the myriad temptations and attractions of the world.
Upon finding Mother Sita, Hanuman is delighted as Sita sheds tears of joy. When a sincere spiritual aspirant finds the truth of his Self, there is much inner rejoicing and elation upon discovering our Divine nature even if in theory.
Thereupon Hanuman challenges the demons and ends up burning the city of Lanka. Here the devotee in wanting to pursue the spiritual path to achieve absolute freedom, throws a challenge at the lower self and sees through (Burns) all the illusory attractions that the lower self has to offer thereby revealing its reality.

At one point Hanuman offers to free Mother Sita by himself and take her back to Sri Rama, but Sita refuses this offer. Here again Sita represents Kundalini Shakti. By affirming to Hanuman that only Sri Rama should come and free her, Sitaji is saying that the Kundalini Shakti should not be attempted to be raised for any reason other than God realization alone. Many sadhaks seek to awaken the kundalini for the wrong reasons using various mystical techniques. Awakening the Kundalini may lead to siddhis which at best will delude and delay a devotee. The Kundalini must therefore be awakened by Rama, for Rama and towards Rama. When devotion towards God is pure the Kundalini raises itself naturally without any need to prompt it.

THE WAR BEGINS

The war of Ramayana is an inner war. The warriors of both sides are within us. Ravana is the Rajas within that dominates and activates our lower self. The mighty Kumbhakaran is Tamas that loves to procrastinate any spiritual efforts. Vibhishana is the Sattwa quality within, representing the good within the lower mind that knows its flaws and weaknesses and brings it forward to help the aspirant defeat the lower self.

Rama is the inner Guru or light that leads the aspirant in the war (spiritual sadhana) with the help of concentration (Lakshmana) devotion and will power (Hanuman) and disciplined prana shakti (Vanara sena).

The various demons aiding Ravana are the various weaknesses and desires that cause the downfall of man. Meghanada is a powerful general who can single handedly cause havoc. Megha means cloud or cloudy. Meghanada represents a clouded, confused, chaotic restless mind that prevents any sincere devotee from meditating on truth. Meghanada thus is the natural foe of Lakshmana (One-pointed concentration), and Rama uses Lakshmana to counter Meghanad.

During the battle however Meghanada uses the Naag paash weapons and manages to bind both brothers leading them to near death state. One of the common lure of the restless mind is the lust thought or temptations (Naag – Snake weapon). Thoughts of lust can easily break concentration and take one away from Divine consciousness. It is a potent weapon used by the lower mind in its battle against the freedom seeking sadhak. Interesting to note is the fact that even in the biblical story of Adam and Eve, it was a serpent that came to lure Eve and Adam into lust consciousness.

Snakes crawl on earth and live in holes underneath the earth. Sex temptations keep an aspirant down and deep within worldly consciousness. During the war it is Garuda the celestial bird, that comes to aid and frees the brothers from the snake weapon. Birds fly high in the sky, away from earth. Garuda is divine thoughts and lofty inspiration that can help the aspirant regain concentration and Divine consciousness (Lakshmana and Rama).

Meghanada in his final attempt to destroy Sri Rama’s army, plans to initiate a yagna performing which he will become invincible in the war. It is Vibhishana, the good side of the lower self which brings to fore this information urging Sri Rama to act immediately. The yagna which is performed to appease the darker aspect of Shakti energy, signifies that the lower restless mind attempting to commit the aspirant to the sensations of lust which when fully awakened pulls the consciousness down making spiritual sadhana impossible.

Vibhishana urges Rama to act immediately before the yagna begins and not wait to engage Meghanada post the yagna which will then be too late. This is best explained by a advice that Sri Paramahansa Yogananda would give His disciples - "whenever temptation comes in any form, – Say No! and get out of that place immediately and reason later. If you try to reason or deal with the temptation on the spot, you will most likely fail." Thus Sri Rama sends Hanumana and Lakshmana (will power and concentration) to foil the plans of the restless mind. Finally it is Lakshmana who after intense battle manages to slay Meghanada. This should inspire all aspirants that no matter how restless one’s mind, it is deep and one-pointed concentration that is more powerful and can take you through all difficulties on the spiritual path.

THE RETURN

Finally Sri Rama defeats Ravana and Sita is freed. With the lower self defeated, the kundalini raises in order to ascend back to soul consciousness at the highest chakra Sahasrara (Ayodhya). This is Moksha, the ultimate freedom that every soul seeks.

In truth, Sri Rama and Ravana co-exist in an average human whose life is a constant war to reclaim the pure inner Sita lying captured as the dormant Kundalini at the Muladhara. This war wages not through a life, but through several lifetimes and incarnations. Smaller victories can be claimed by the Soul self or the Lower self at the end of each incarnation, however the battle continues as the fortunes of war change depending on the individuals effort. Until finally, when through supreme effort the sadhak through divine devotion, concentration and will power overcomes the lower self and frees the Kundalini reuniting it with the Purusha at the higher centers which results in enlightenment within. This enlightenment is celebrated as the festival of lights - Diwali when Sri Ramachandra returns to Ayodhya along with Sita and Lakshmana.

May we all awaken to the Rama within and find victory in the battlefield of life.

Related Posts ~

- Meeting Mahavatar Babaji

- Understanding Meditation - 3 The Restless Mind

- An Atheist meets God

- The Real Religion and Evil

- An Invitation to an Inner Journey

Beyond Life ~ "Through the Light"

2014-11-15T05:15:00.000-08:00

(I feel very proud to share this fantastic article. I wanted its light to be part of this Blog. The credits of the blog is to the link given below)

In 1982 I died from terminal cancer. My condition was non-operable.

I chose not to have chemotherapy. I was given six to eight months to live. Before this time, I had become increasingly despondent over the nuclear crisis, the ecology crisis, and so forth.

I came to believe that nature had made a mistake - that we were probably a cancerous organism on the planet. And that is what eventually killed me. Before my death, I tried all sorts of alternative healing methods. None helped.

So I determined that this was between me and God. I had never really considered God. Neither was I into any kind of spirituality, but my approaching death sent me on a quest for more information about spirituality and alternative healing. I read various religions and philosophies. They gave hope that there was something on the other side.

I had no medical insurance, so my life savings went overnight on tests. Unwilling to drag my family into this, I determined to handle this myself. I ended up in hospice care and was blessed with an angel for my hospice caretaker, whom I will call "Anne." She stayed with me through all that was to follow. It lasted about eighteen months.

THE LIGHT OF GOD

I woke up about 4:30 am and I knew that this was it. I was going to die. I called a few friends and said good-bye. I woke up Anne and made her promise that my dead body would remain undisturbed for six hours, since I had read that all kinds of interesting things happen when you die. I went back to sleep.

The next thing I remember, I was fully aware and standing up. Yet my body was lying in the bed. I seemed to be surrounded by darkness, yet I could see every room in the house, and the roof, and even under the house.

A Light shone; I turned toward it, and was aware of its similarity to what others have described in near-death experiences. It was magnificent and tangible, alluring. I wanted to go towards that Light like I might want to go into my ideal mother's or father's arms. As I moved towards the Light, I knew that if I went into the Light, I would be dead. So I said/felt, "Please wait. I would like to talk to you before I go."

The entire experience halted. I discovered that I was in control of the entire experience. My request was honoured. I had conversations with the Light. That's the best way I can describe it. The Light changed into different figures, like Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, mandalas, archetypal images and signs. I asked in a kind of telepathy, "What is going on here?"

The information transmitted was that our beliefs shape the kind of feedback we receive: If you are a Buddhist or Catholic or Fundamentalist, you get a feedback loop of your own images. I became aware of a Higher Self matrix, a conduit to the Source. We all have a Higher Self, or an oversoul part of our being, a conduit. All Higher Selves are connected as one being, all humans are connected as one being. We are literally the same being. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It was like all the love you've every wanted, and it was the kind of love that cures, heals, regenerates.

I was ready to go at that time. I said "I am ready, take me." Then the Light turned into the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen: a mandala of human souls on this planet. I saw that we are the most beautiful creations - elegant, exotic . . .everything. I just cannot say enough about how it changed my opinion of human beings in an instant.

I said/thought/felt, "Oh, God, I didn't realize." I was astonished to find that there was no evil in any soul. People may do terrible things out of ignorance and lack, but no soul is evil. What all people seek, what sustains them, is love, the Light told me. What distorts people is a lack of love.

The revelations went on and on. I asked, "Does this mean that humankind will be saved?" Like a trumpet blast with a shower of spiraling lights, the Light "spoke," saying, "You save, redeem and heal yourself. You always have and always will. You were created with the power to do so from before the beginning of the world."

In that instant I realized that WE HAVE ALREADY BEEN SAVED; this is what the "Second Coming" is about. I thanked the Light of God with all my heart. The best thing I could come up with was: "Oh dear God, dear Universe, dear Great Self, I love my Life."

The Light seemed to breathe me in even more deeply, absorbing me. I entered into another realm more profound than the last, and was aware of an enormous stream of Light, vast and full, deep. I asked what it was.

The Light answered, "This is the RIVER OF LIFE. Drink of this manna water to your heart's content." I drank deeply, in ecstasy.

THE VOID OF NOTHINGNESS

Suddenly I seemed to be rocketing away from the planet on this stream of Life. I saw the earth fly away. The solar system, whizzed by and disappeared. I flew through the center of the galaxy, absorbing more knowledge as I went. I learned that this galaxy, and all of the Universe, is bursting with many different varieties of life. I saw many worlds. We are not alone in this Universe.

It seemed as if all the creations in the Universe soared past me and vanished in a speck of Light. Almost immediately, a second Light appeared. As I passed into the second Light, I could perceive forever, beyond Infinity. I was in the Void, pre-Creation, the beginning of time, the first Word or vibration. I rested in the Eye of Creation and it seemed that I touched the Face of God. It was not a religious feeling. I was simply at One with Absolute Life and Consciousness.

It would take me years to assimilate the Void experience. It was less than nothing yet greater than anything. Creation is God exploring God's Self through every way imaginable. Through every piece of hair on your head, through every leaf on every tree, through every atom, God is exploring God's Self. I saw everything as the Self of all. God is here. That's what it is all about.

Everything is made of light; everything is alive.

THE LIGHT OF LOVE

I rode the stream directly into the center of the Light. I felt embraced by the Light as it took me in with its breath again. And the truth was obvious that there is no death; that nothing is born and nothing dies; that we are immortal beings, part of a natural living system that recycles itself endlessly. I was never told that I had to come back. I just knew that I would. It was only natural, from what I had seen.

As I began my return to the life cycle, it never crossed my mind, nor was I told, that I would return to the same body. It did not matter. I had complete trust in the Light and the Life process. As the stream merged with the great Light, I asked never to forget the revelations and the feelings of what I had learned on the other side.

I thought of myself as a human again and I was happy to be that. From what I have seen, I would be happy to be an atom in this universe. An atom. So to be the human part of God ... this is the most fantastic blessing. It is a blessing beyond our wildest estimation of what blessing can be. For each and every one of us to be the human part of this experience is awesome, and magnificent. Each and every one of us, no matter where we are, screwed up or not, is a blessing to the planet, right where we are.

So I went through the reincarnation process expecting to be a baby somewhere. But I reincarnated back into this body. I was so surprised when I opened my eyes, to be back in this body, back in my room with someone looking over me, crying her eyes out. It was "Anne," my hospice caretaker. She had found me dead thirty minutes before.

We do not know how long I was dead, only that she found me thirty minutes before. She had honoured my wish to have my newly-dead body left alone. She can verify that I really was dead. It was not a near-death experience. I believe I probably experienced death itself for at least an hour and a half. When I awakened and saw the light outside. Confused, I tried to get up to go to it, but I fell out of the bed. She heard a loud "clunk", ran in and found me on the floor.

When I recovered, I was surprised and awed about what had happened, I had no memory at first of the experience. I kept slipping out of this world and kept asking, "Am I alive?" This world seemed more like a dream than that one. Within three days, I was feeling normal again, clearer, yet different than ever before. My memories of the journey came back later. But from my return I could find nothing wrong with any human being I had ever seen. Previous to my death I was judgmental, believing that people were really screwed up. Everyone but me.

About three months later a friend said I should get tested for the cancer, so I got the scans and so forth. I felt healthy. I still remember the doctor at the clinic looking at the "before" and "after" scans. He said, "I can find no sign of cancer now."

"A miracle?" I asked.

"No," he answered. These things happen . . . spontaneous remission." He seemed unimpressed. But I was impressed, and knew it was a miracle.

LESSONS LEARNED

The Great Mystery of life has little to do with intelligence. The universe is not an intellectual process. The intellect is helpful; but our hearts are the wiser part of ourselves.

Since my return I have experienced the Light spontaneously, and I have learned how to get to that space almost any time in my meditation. You can also do this. You do not have to die first. You are wired for it already.

The body is the most magnificent Light being there is. The body is a universe of incredible Light. Spirit is not pushing us to dissolve this body. We don't need to commune with God; God is communing with us in every moment.

I asked God: "What is the best religion on the planet? Which one is right?"

God said with great love: "I don't care."

What an incredible grace. It does not matter what religion we are. Religions come and they go, they change. Buddhism has not been here forever, Catholicism has not been here forever, and they are all about to become more enlightened. More light is coming into all systems now.

Many will resist and fight about it, one religion against the next, believing that only they are right. When Godhead said, "I don't care," I understood that it is for us to care about, because we are the caring beings. The Source does not care if you are Protestant, Buddhist, or Jew. Each is a reflection, a facet of the whole. I wish that all religions would realize it and let each other be. It is not the end of separate religions, but live and let live. Each has a different view. And it all adds up to the big picture.

I went over to the other side with a lot of fears about toxic waste, nuclear missiles, the population explosion, the rain forest. I came back loving every single problem. I love nuclear waste. I love the mushroom cloud; this is the holiest mandala that we have manifested to date, as an archetype. More than any religion or philosophy on earth, that terrible, wonderful cloud brought us together all of a sudden, to a new level of consciousness.

Knowing that maybe we can blow up the planet fifty times, or 500 times, we finally realize that maybe we are all here together now. For a period they had to keep setting off more bombs to get it in to us.Then we started saying, "we do not need this any more." Now we are actually in a safer world than we have ever been in, and it is going to get safer. So I came back loving toxic waste, because it brought us together.

These things are so big.

Clearing of the rain forest will slow down, and in fifty years there will be more trees on the planet than in a long time. If you are into ecology, go for it; you are that part of the system that is becoming aware. Go for it with all your might, but do not be depressed or disheartened. Earth is in the process of domesticating itself and we are cells on that Body.

Population increase is getting very close to the optimal range of energy to cause a shift in consciousness. That shift in consciousness will change politics, money, energy.

What happens when we dream? We are multi-dimensional beings. We can access that through lucid dreaming. In fact, this universe is God's dream. One of the things that I saw is that we humans are a speck on a planet that is a speck in a galaxy that is a speck. Those are giant systems out there, and we are in sort of an average system. But human beings are already legendary throughout the cosmos of consciousness.

The little bitty human being of Earth/Gaia is legendary. One of the things that we are legendary for is dreaming. We are legendary dreamers. In fact, the whole cosmos has been looking for the meaning of life, the meaning of it all. And it was the little dreamer who came up with the best answer ever. We dreamed it up. So dreams are important.

After dying and coming back, I really respect life and death. In our DNA experiments we may have opened the door to a great secret. Soon we will be able to live as long as we want to live in this body. After living 150 years or so, there will be an intuitive soul sense that you will want to change channels. Living forever in one body is not as creative as reincarnation, as transferring energy in this fantastic vortex of energy that we are in. We are actually going to see the wisdom of life and death, and enjoy it. As it is now, we have already been alive forever.

Here's to life! Here's to death! Here's to it all!

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In His Presence..

2014-11-12T22:21:00.001-08:00

Our scriptures declare, that to be born in a human form is a great blessing.

Having received a human form it is a greater blessing when that human desires to know God or the Self.

But the greatest blessing that a human can receive while living is when He comes in contact with a Master, One who is all knowing, One who is awakened in the Self.

As a young boy, I came in contact with an enigmatic figure with a halo of curly hair, known to the world as Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Curious, yet with a heart full of doubts, I ventured to understand Him, to verify Him, to test Him. I acknowledge with deep gratitude that He stood by and encouraged my childish efforts to measure Him. My learning graduated from thinking Him to be a Saint, to a great Mahatma, to a Divine personality, until finally I came to the understanding that He is beyond any understanding.

What I share in this note is not from viewing Him as a Divine Figure, but I simply state what I naturally felt in the presence of His human form.

Every time I was in the presence of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, I noticed a remarkable change in my whole state of being. My consciousness would be heightened beyond expectations. The mind would go calm as if it ceased to exist. Never before did I feel such acute awareness of that Now moment as then. And underneath it all I could feel overwhelmingly a stream of pure joy and peace flowing within me. I questioned that joy! What caused it? I have never known joy to be without a cause. It is not that Swami said anything or did anything. Merely by being in His presence that state of causeless joy would permeate my being. In no other humans’ presence do I recall feeling remotely close to the state of joyous awareness that I felt in Baba’s presence. If I could sum it all up in a single statement, I felt as if I was existing in a sea of Pure enlightening Love.

My understanding of Him was limited back then. It took me some time to notice that after my first meeting with Him, I would yearn to be close to Him always. I wasn’t the only one; every single person who knew Swami would yearn for that. I know myself and my sense of devotion, and I couldn’t credit my devotion for being responsible for such an altered state of awareness.

The kind of natural respect and loving reverence His august presence would command is beyond compare to any other beings that I have seen. During special occasions when various world renowned dignitaries or celebrities would gather near Him, their aura of being special would simply pale away to insignificance in His presence. I would greatly delight in watching the reactions of people amongst who Swami moved. All of the thousand’s gathered would quietly and one pointedly be absorbed in Him till He left. And once He left, the vibes changed, people would become their own selves, but carrying within some energy that kept them positively abuzz.

Keeping in view the awe most naturally felt in His presence, Swami would go out of His way to make people feel at ease, with some endearing remark or perhaps something humorous. Yet every word He uttered would hold some special message or significance. When He spoke to anyone, He would give that person His fullest attention. For those few seconds you would feel that He existed just for you. I guess that is why the few seconds transformed into eternity, whereas when it was time to leave even if we spent an hour with Him it would feel like minutes. He was/is Timeless. Every ordinary conversation with Him remained etched in one’s memory simply because it would convey such love that it wasn’t out of place to feel emotional and teary.

And yet for someone with such a Himalayan personality, when I recall His demeanor, His words and actions, they were so sweet, so humble, so childlike. He is perfect combination of Supreme Power and Divine Pure Love, Shiva and Shakti.

Seldom have masters uttered the words ‘I Love you’ as easily as we ordinary folks do. Yet they reveal unfathomable love in all their simple actions.

One evening, the boys doing duty at Swami’s residence had vacated their positions to seek blessings from Him. This gave the other boys a bonus opportunity to do that duty and be close to Swami. Through great fortune I got the best place outside His door from where He was bound to pass. As I was congratulating myself on my good fortune, a certain incident I was involved in a few days back sprung to mind. Deep guilt overwhelmed me. I had done something I was not proud of, and I didn’t think in my heart that I deserved to be standing there in that auspicious position. So I thought of exchanging my place with any of the other, more deserving boys standing there, who would each jump at this opportunity. But to my surprise, try as I may, I couldn’t get the attention of any of them.

And then Swami emerged. There was nothing I could do now. I just didn’t know how to face Him. He blessed the waiting boys and began making His way towards the door. At some distance I noticed Him taking a letter of a devotee from His lap and He began reading it. ‘Perfect’, I thought. It is almost that He was acknowledging my predicament and by focusing on the letter, was preventing eye contact with me, while I could look upon Him at close range. As Swami’s chair was pushed closer, at one point, He suddenly looked up and of all the directions He could look at, His eyes rested directly and deeply into my own. He had the most beautiful smile I have ever seen in this world. I heard a voice resound deep within me that said ‘You see your flaws; I see who you truly are.’ Unknown to me, tears streamed down my eyes, as I could not contain the avalanche of silent love that poured from His motherly gaze. I instantly felt cleansed and pure.

When amongst the many, I observed Swami would be like a little reserved and solemnly, dutifully taking care of all His children.
When amongst a few, He would be personal and loving.
When we were by ourselves, He would be like a dear friend - divine, funny, wise and caring.
His relation with each soul was unique. Every story of personal experience that I heard from those who interacted with Him, shed light on some unique sweetness or endearing quality that momentarily revealed an aspect of His cosmic Love.

I recall some rare moments that I got to spent alone with Him; He would then be like an extension of you. I felt that He and I were not separate, that He was mirroring my own higher Self back to me. It was the safest, purest, most loving place I have ever been in. It was heaven on earth. At that moment He uplifted us to His level. Our consciousness would soar high. The ego would be deflated, enjoying being in the presence of the true 'I'. I couldn't see Him as someone in His 70's talking to a boy in His early 20's. He became the same as me, and spoke as an eternal friend! During those moments the direst problem plaguing our lives would seem like child’s play; you wouldn’t care to mention it. But Swami Himself would bring them forward and with such ease and simplicity give solutions by materializing something or making a healing statement like “Don’t worry, cancer is cancelled!” You couldn’t doubt it. You knew it was done. Those miracles He performed or dictums he so simply uttered wouldn’t shock you then. In His presence everything seemed possible.

His humor was beyond compare. Many devotees will bear testimony to this truth. I remember an incident. There was a time when Swami would call me by a certain Telugu name. Once while returning from darshan, He asked me “Do you know what this word means?”

“Yes Swami!” I replied

“Well, what does it mean?” He asked me curiously.

When I gave Him the reply, He shook with laughter.

A few days later we were standing in a disciplined order, as Swami was to emerge for darshan. Some important state level political personalities were waiting for Swami to emerge. When He came out they immediately started walking behind Him and briefing Him on some urgent matter. While walking Swami looked up briefly towards me and mouthed some words. I couldn’t understand and had a confused look on my face, so He made another attempt and more clearly mouthed those words. It was the same Telugu word that He would tease me with. Considering the solemnity of the occasion, I couldn’t take this childlike yet silent play of Swami and burst out laughing.. Swami too had a merry look in His eyes as He laughed like a little child looking at our direction. A few moments later He was giving a discourse to the thousands gathered revealing the most complex Vedic truths in the simplest manner.

Amongst children He was a sweet child,
amongst women He was a loving mother,
amongst men - a dear father
and in a crowd – He was Purely Divine.

I recall another incident that stands out in memory. There were times during evening darshans as Swami walked past us boys; He would briefly look at me for perhaps a second or two before we opened the door for Him to the darshan hall. Through that gaze, such a torrent of intense power would enter my being that upon the door closing I would staggeringly make my way to some place where I could sit down. As I was given to introspection and being a self witness, I noticed to my great distress that many long forgotten negative feelings, incidents and traits from the distant past would resurface and cause me great discomfort. I would naturally feel guilty and restless and there was an urgent desire to cleanse those traits and memories away. So I would urgently pray for the same.

This continued for a few days. One day I revealed it all to my mother and said that the next time Swami came, I would close my eyes cause I couldn’t take that immense power and then bear the emerging thoughts and yet face Him or His devotees standing close, who all felt like the embodiments of purity compared to my miserable self. My mother simply said ‘Don’t do so, He is cleansing you.’

The next day this happened again. As I sat down after His leaving, I didn’t resist but let it happen and inwardly remembered a prayer my Guru had taught us “Divine Mother, naughty or good, I am Thy child.” I surrendered and felt at peace within. Another boy from a village standing next to me during darshan also came close and sat. After a few minutes He said to me in His broken English “Brother, don’t you feel that when Swami looks into our eyes, sparks fly from His eyes into us.” I looked at him in surprise and realized that I wasn’t the only one who was receiving this cleansing. There were others too who received the ‘sparks’ of His grace.

I realized over time that most of those past negative memories left me for good, leaving behind a deep resolve to never entertain weaknesses but work always towards inner perfection. Neither did we receive the grace of the sparks again. From then on Swami’s look was the same as before, one of love, smiles and humour.

Conversing with Swami during Trayee duty

Over the years I noticed that not many were permitted by Him to be around His physical presence for long. He would eventually send His close devotees away from Him for some reason or another. We were three friends who always enjoyed and looked forward to being in His presence. He send one away to Australia, the other to Casablanca and me to Mumbai. It took me years to realize His reason behind this. He wanted us to stop relating with Him through His form and start seeking His true presence within. He would often say to us “I am in you, with you, around you always.”

My last interaction with Him took place in an interview room in 2006. But I found His presence growing deep within. The need to meet His form or write letters to Him began decreasing, as His inner voice grew stronger. I no longer rushed to Puttaparthi to seek succor but would spontaneously close my eyes and connect with His unseen presence.

And then in 2011, He gave up His form. I knew He had left but He never let me feel or succumb to the grief of His absence. I realized by and by that His sending me away was His way of preparing me for His earthly departure. Today, when I lovingly bow to His Samadhi, to that sacred form which held His essence for 85 years, I feel His living presence all along.

As I write this note, I keep looking within to seek His approval and find Him constantly smiling at me in return.

Yet sometimes, when old memories resurface and I pine for those days, pat comes His inner voice reminding me 'Seek Innerview, not interview.' Having come down in a human form, He worked on us tirelessly reminding us to connect with our own divinity. Now He has returned to His omnipresence, waiting eagerly to see who amongst us will heed His voice and look for Him deep within.

Remember, His Mahasamadhi is not the end, it is the beginning!

On entering the 90th year of the Avataric Mission

The Akashic records of my facebook wall

2014-10-04T04:15:00.002-07:00

The following are status posts that I put up on my fb wall over the years:

Unless ones heart has become a little pure, one cannot even believe in the existence of God. ~ Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa

Have no desires to place before God. Whatever He does with you, however He treats you, is the gift that He likes best to give you. ~ Baba

We come on earth not merely to become Engineers, Doctors, Businessmen and the likes...

The 'University of Earth' is specifically designed for the evolution of the human soul.

Speak to Me and then listen, and surely you will hear My voice. Do not listen with your monkey mind for then you will say 'I cannot hear Your voice Baba' and will become anxious. Listen always with your Heart. PRACTICE listening and You Will hear My voice. ~ Baba

Those anticipating a Golden age need to constantly ask themselves what they are doing to contribute to this change. We have not come here only to witness the Golden age, but infact to facilitate it.

Realise this privilege.

The Light that the Earth needs from the divine to bring about this change, will be channeled through us by our constant right and loving thoughts, words and actions ..

Know in your hearts that I give you EXACTLY what is the best possible, for the outcome of Your spiritual quest ~ Baba

The 3 greatest blessings a soul can have is:

1. To receive a Human body

2. Having received a Human body - to have desire for God

3. Having such desire - to have the guidance of a God realised Guru.

Only then comes the final blessing:

-When you bless yourself - by putting to practice the sacred teachings thus received from the Guru, in your daily life.

By being in fear you feed your energy to the very source which is causing you fear. Dont look at the shadows, Turn Around and look at the bright sun that is shining upon you. You may say where is the sun? It is there inside you.. IT IS YOU.

Ask yourself 'What lesson am i expected to learn from these experiences causing me fear?' Perchance it will point to some flaw which you need to work on or some weakness within that you need to heal and strengthen.

The world is your Playground. Your are the invincible hero, the Atma. Play with Joy, with Love, with peace because at the end your victory is assured!

Cherokee Indian Proverb "A woman's highest calling is to lead a man to his soul..., so as to unite him with Source; her lowest calling is to seduce, separating man from soul and leave him aimlessly wandering. A man's highest calling is to protect woman, so she is free to walk the earth unharmed. Man's lowest calling is to ambush and force his way into the life of a woman."

"A life without troubles and vicissitudes is tasteless, insipid. Troubles come, let them come, they will be your stepping stones for your upward climb" ~ Sri Paramahansa Yogananda

Two men looked out of the window bars - one saw dust, the other saw stars.

The worldly mind is easily drawn towards the negatives of everything, a Saintly mind on the other hand chooses to see only good. As a Saint said "Only by seeing the good in everything have I laughed and preserved my sanity, for gravitating to negatives in life can drive you crazy!" Whats your choice these days?

A man becomes liberated even in this life when he knows that God is the doer of All things. ~ Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa

These are special times. On one hand we are being made aware of evils and wrongs all around us and we are expected to stand against it; on the other hand we are expected to be embodiments of Love and Peace. I have a new found respect for Mahatma Gandhi!

Being in a state of Gratitude / Appreciation creates a vibratory field that by its very nature protects your emotional and spiritual essence. ~ Tom Kenyon / Hathors

Simply reside in the feelings of appreciation or gratitude, without any reason to do so. That is - you are not looking to something in your environment or your life to feel appreciation or gratitude for- you just choose to be so. Doing so brings tremendous beneficial changes in your body, mind, heart, moods and consciousness. Your ability to deal with all of life's problems receives a great boost.

A Harvard university research called the Psychology of happiness has revealed that people who are happy - choose to experience appreciation about things in their life and express appreciation to others!

Scientific research says that when you are in a state of Appreciation and / or Gratitude - You are more creative, your ability to solve problem goes up and you are more intelligent.

Reason is a bad guide in spiritual matters unless it is rinsed of any tinge of ego : Baba

Puranic Mythology - Truth or Fiction?

2014-09-17T21:14:00.000-07:00

No credence can be given to Puraanas, because they contain matters beyond the realm of known natural phenomena, is the modern view.

That the Devas freely roamed the earth and granted boons to men, is dismissed as fantasy because such things do not happen today. "A woman was cursed and she turned into stone, the stone was blessed and it turned back into a woman - the sun was stopped in its diurnal orbit" - such incidents which are totally outside our capabilities lend support to the view that these incidents must indeed be fictitious and products of imagination.

 That certain things do not happen today or cannot happen does not prove that such things could not have happened in the past or cannot happen in the future. Every great epic of the past bears ample testimony to the powers of Veda mantras - high penance and exalted Yogic discipline which was not uncommon in the past.

 So long as these powers prevailed, it was possible for people of this world to easily draw on the supernatural resources. Just as where there is light, there is also darkness, the forces of evil represented by asuras and raakshasas also co-existed with the good influences. Even now, the conflict between good and bad - between devas and asuras - is in progress although not visible to the human eye. In those days, it was possible, due to powers derived from deep penance to actually see these good and evil forces. 

Modern scientists say that all sound or light waves cannot be detected by the human eye or ear. Some scientists, who have reached higher levels, have done research in occult (super-worldly) science and have discovered the existence of heavenly bodies, both good and bad. Even now there are quite a few yogis and siddhas (mystics). Their bodies are unaffected by exposure to extreme cold or heat. They cause rain to fall and even stop the falling rain. Thus, men with supernatural powers do exist. Only our belief is shaky. We suspect all things.

Since, in the olden days, many more persons than today possessed these powers, it appears that Puraanas contain a long list of miracles. If a miracle figures in the narrative the story cannot be rejected as not being proper history. 

It does not speak well for English education if it rejects as fiction all that science cannot prove. In fact, what science could not perceive a few years ago, is being perceived by scientists now. Even today archaeologists discover human skeletons measuring ten to twelve feet and those of mammoth animals are extinct today but whose existence is mentioned in the Puraanas. 

From these, it appears that raakshasas as tall as coconut or palm trees and having bodies like a lion and trunks like an elephant might have existed in the past. In Iceland discoveries have disclosed a human skeleton whose shin bone alone measures sixteen feet and the back bone of an animal whose size must have been ten times that of an elephant. These are hailed with great fanfare as archaeological finds. Combining geology with archaeology, these are claimed to have existed many hundred thousand of years ago.  If mythology is super-imposed on this, then the Puraanic stories will all become credible and true. 

Once as tall as a palm tree, now six feet tall, and in years to come hardly a thumbkin-these are the ravages which time imposes on creatures and species. These changes are also mentioned by the Puraanas. 

The Puraanas are ridiculed for talking of vaanaras - man-monkeys, the body of an animal with the face of a man, people with two heads or ten heads -- all these are said to be going too far away from truth. Those who do not indulge in such open criticism give it their own explanation viz. that these are symbolic and the story is an allegorical representation. 

It is true that moral lessons are taught through the medium of fables. But, on this score, the entire Puraanic stories cannot be dubbed as untrue or mere fables. Even now, we come across news items about the birth of a child with two heads and four hands. It is neither a man nor an animal. It is a freak. When nature which, by its definition is faultless, gets a little faulty, the freak results. Such freaks might have been deliberately engineered in the past on a large scale. Since the ancient men had supernatural powers (powers over nature) much more than we have, such conditioning of nature might have been a simple matter. That is why we should not affirm that "what is knowable is known to us and that there could have been nothing different from what we know." 

To label what is not known to us or what is not knowable as a lie is illogical. What had been rejected as unbelievable in the Puraanas is coming to pass now and then during modern days, such wonders as recollection of events from an earlier birth are reported in the press. I feel that such news items are on the increase.  

This is the stage to which we have come: if an item appears in the press, however improbable it may seem, we are prone to accept it as true. But the very mention of Puraana makes us disdainful.

Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati,

 Kanchi Kamakoti Peetha 

The Mystical lines between reality and fantasy

Connecting fantasy and Reality - A Puranic account

The Origin of Shambala

Amaravani

The Mysterious Sciences

Meeting Ganesha on the Inner plane