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SAUNDARYALAHARI - VERSE 3

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Wed, 23 May 2012 06:02:46 PDT

Saundaryalaharī verse 3

अविद्यानामन्तस्तिमिरमिहिरद्वीपनगरी¹

जडानां चैतन्यस्तबकमकरन्दस्रुतिझरी।

दरिद्राणां चिन्तामणिगुणनिका जन्मजलधौ

निमग्नानां दंष्ट्रा सुररिपुवराहस्य भवती²॥

avidyānāmantastimiramihiradvīpanagarī

jaḍānāṁ caitanyastabakamakarandasrutijharī |

daridrāṇāṁ cintāmaṇiguṇanikā janmajaladhau

nimagnānāṁ daṁṣṭrā suraripuvarāhasya bhavatī ||

Variations in texts:

1. nakarī नकरी

2. bhavati भवति

This verse is an extension of the previous verse, as it continues to discuss about the dust particles in Her lotus feet. This verse says that the dust particles remove the darkness of spiritual ignorance. They are compared to the sun which dispels darkness. The fragrance emanating from the dust or the nectar from the pollen grains causes spiritual enlightenment. For the poor, these dusts are like gems. For those who are deeply immersed in the ocean of the material world (saṁsāra or transmigration), She is like the tusk of Varāha, the third incarnation of Viṣṇu.

Śaṁkarācārya says that even the dust in Her feet can offer liberation or mokṣa. For the spiritual aspirants it is easier to visualize Her feet than Her whole form, which is described in detail through 59 verses in the second part of Saundaryalaharī. The aspirant who studies and understands the first part becomes perfectly fit to contemplate on Her entire form in the second part.

Advaita Vedānta says spiritual ignorance or nescience is known as avidya, caused by illusion known as Māyā. However, there is a difference between avidya and Māyā. Philosophically, avidya or illusion is known as ajñāna, which has two functions. One is concealment, known as āvaraṇa and the other is projection known as vikṣepa, the latter always follows the former. Āvaraṇa or concealment has five types of veils and they are ignorance, ego, attachment, hatred and tenacity. They can be removed only by negations as described in Upaniṣad-s and if one contemplates on Her lotus feet, one gets Her Grace so that he can negate them through his mind. Vikṣepa is the power of projection, projecting the Self as the material world due to the effects of Māyā. Oft cited example is wrongly identifying a rope as a snake in darkness. This is illusionary projection or deceptive projection. When the illusion is removed, truth is realized. In the same way, when one understands that the material world is nothing but the illusionary projection of Brahman, he realises the Self.

Māyā is not something that is considered as evil. Māyā is inherent in creation. It is also Brahman’s own power. Māyā can be removed only by spiritual knowledge and repeated affirmations. An aspirant has to negate māyā and only his own intellect can do that. Intellect is not our birth right. Intellect is to be acquired. One has to learn to negate the illusionary aspect of the Brahman in the form of māyā and go past it to realize Him. There is no other way the Brahman can be realized except by transcending His own projecting power of Māyā. When one wants to go past Māyā, the first thing that he should do is to get rid of attachments and bondage. These two make an aspirant to get engrossed in gross forms. When one is so attached to the gross forms, he gets deluded by the gross forms. We call them as our father, mother, wife, daughter, son, friend, foe, etc. They are the results of the projecting power of Māyā. Their real form, the Self is concealed from us. If one chooses to ignore the gross shapes and forms and look beyond for the inner Self, he is bound to transcend Māyā and at this stage, he has crossed the greatest hurdle in your spiritual path to become a Yogī. The final liberation for this Yogī is not far away from this point.

When one contemplates on Her sacred feet, such illusions are removed by Her Grace and the aspirant understands the Truth, which is nothing but Her pervasion throughout the universe. The whole universe, both sentient and insentient, reflects Her form. This is spiritual knowledge. Even a tiny pollen grain in Her feet is capable of endowing this knowledge to the aspirants. Minimum effort from the aspirant is only to contemplate on Her feet. The pollen grains in Her feet are compared to the sun, which dispels darkness. A perceivable comparison is drawn between Her feet and the sun. Though the sun shines only at Her command, to make the aspirant understand the sanctity and power of Her feet, Śaṁkarācārya uses this comparison. When the spiritual knowledge dawns spiritual ignorance fades away, thereby, making the aspirant to pursue the spiritual path with dedication and sincerity.

Material world is compared to the ocean, whose fathom is not known. When one gets attached to the material world, which is compared to the ocean, there is no escape for him from the pains and sufferings of transmigration. There is no escape for him from transmigration, as he goes on accumulating his karmas, both good and bad. As long as one has balance in karmic account, transmigration continues. For everyone, life is painful, but the intensity of the pain and suffering differs according to his or her karmic account. Karma ceases to accumulate only if one surrenders to Her through his or her mind.

She is compared to Varāha avatar of Viṣṇu. This comparison can be explained in two ways. Varāha lifts Mother Earth from the depths of ocean. This is an act of compassion. While rescuing the Earth, Varāha also kills a demon by name Hiraṇyākṣa. This is an act of destruction. Those who are immersed in the ocean of saṁsāra, She lifts them up from the depths of their ignorance and make them to pursue the spiritual path. Alternatively, She destroys those who are too deeply indulged in material life causing hindrance to others who follow the path of virtuousness. They are called demons and are invariably destroyed to uphold the universe.

By worshipping Her lotus feet, She gives what one desires. Those who seek material prosperity, She gives them material wealth. For those who seek liberation, She offers them liberation. Those who seek knowledge, She gives them spiritual knowledge. Those who seek material wealth have to undergo further transmigration. Those who seek liberation, subject to their karmic account, are freed from the pains of further transmigration.

This verse talks about four types of men - those with spiritual knowledge; spiritually ignorant men; poor men seeking material prosperity; and those who are totally immersed in the material world with no intention to get liberation. Since She is the most compassionate Mother, She helps them to attain liberation through different ways. A known comparison is a human mother meeting the demands and tastes of each of her children.

The next verse also speaks about the Supremacy of Her Sacred Feet.

VISHNU SAHASRANAMA 634 - 645

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Tue, 22 May 2012 00:36:14 PDT

634. Arcitaḥ अर्चितः

Arcita means worshipped. He is worshipped not merely by the humans but also by the gods and goddesses. In other words, He is worshipped by those, who are also worshipped by humans as gods and goddesses. For example, Indra, the chief of gods and goddesses worships Him. It can also be explained that the images of His incarnations such as Rāma and Kṛṣṇa are worshipped in the form of idols in the various places of worship.

635. Kumbhaḥ कुम्भः

Kumbha means a small water pot. This nāma says that He holds the universe in Him like a pot holding water within. The universe is compared to water within the pot. Universe is a tiny drop of water before Him. Universe is microcosmic in nature as against His macrocosmic Nature.

636. Viśuddhātmā विशुद्धात्मा

Viśuddha means cleansed or purified. Impurity arises only due to the three guṇa-s. Since Brahman is the embodiment of purity, He is without any guṇa-s, though all these guṇa-s originate from Him.

Guṇa-s can be interpreted as constituent qualities. There are three kinds of guṇa -s. They are sattva, rajas and tamas. Sattva guṇa means quality of purity and knowledge. Rajo guṇa means activity and passion. Tamo guṇa means inertia and ignorance. The Brahman is the embodiment of sattva guṇa, whereas the empirical souls are associated with more of other two guṇa-s. Prakṛtī is the primordial, unmanifested, and the most subtle metaphysical principle that has the potentiality to manifest into an enormous empirical universe. In the process of creation, the universe remains in a potential state within Prakṛtī, so long as the three guṇa-s remain undisturbed. When the equilibrium of the guṇa-s is disturbed, Prakṛtī begins to unfold Her metaphysical categories causing the process of creation.

637. Viśodhanaḥ विशोधनः

Viśoka means cessation of sorrow. When one sincerely contemplates on Him through meditation, He removes his sorrows. Every human being born on this earth has happiness and sorrow in alternate bouts; but the ratio differs from person to person depending upon his/her karmic account. When one surrenders unto Him, he does not experience either. When one contemplates on His form, he forgets about material things and his mind is pervaded by His thoughts alone, relegating all other thoughts. When one is able to perpetually remain in this state, all the dualities in his mind are disssolved and he begins to enter into a state of Bliss. This is called cessation of sorrow.

638. Aniruddhaḥ अनिरुद्धः

Repetitive nāma 185.

In nāma 185, it was said that He cannot be obstructed by anyone in performing His duties. This nāma talks about His fourth manifestation. His four manifestations are known as Vāsudeva, Saṃkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha. These four are known as viṣṇu tattva-s and Aniruddha is the Self within all the beings, which is hidden by gross, subtle and causal bodies.

639. Apratirathaḥ अप्रतिरथः

Apratirava means unobstructed. He cannot be obstructed in destroying enemies. This is the grosser meaning of this nāma. This can be explained subtly. Enemies mean the afflictions caused by mind, such as attachment to the material world comprising of desires, anger, hatred, etc. These are the subtle enemies for a spiritual aspirant. When an aspirant determines to seek Him, He showers His Grace and destroys all these subtle and powerful enemies, which are extremely difficult to conquer. His Grace alone can destroy the inner psychic apparatus comprising of mind, intellect and ego. Hence He is adored as Apratirathaḥ.

640. Pradyumnaḥ प्रद्युम्नः

This nāma is the continuation of nāma 638.

Pradyumna means pre-eminent. Nāma 638 said that as Aniruddha, He remains as the Soul within. This nāma says that the Soul is Self-illuminating.

It is also said that when Cupid was burnt by the third eye of Śiva, he was born to Kṛṣṇa and His consort Rukmini. This Pradyumna has nothing to do with this nāma.

641. Amitavikramaḥ अमितविक्रमः

Amitavikrama means unbounded valour. He is omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient. He is the embodiment of valour as there is no one beyond Him. He is the Ultimate. Valour contextually can be explained differently. Generally, it can be explained as the courage to win over the demons. Demons are nothing but perpetual sinners. They have to be destroyed to uphold virtuousness. Unless, virtues prevail over nefariousness, the universe cannot be sustained in the way as it should be. He ensures that all the perpetual sinners are destroyed; hence, He is spoken of as valorous.

It must also be remembered that sinners are also created by Him, on the basis of their karmas. Most of the Scriptures say that all these sinners surrender to Him at the time of their deaths. Viṣṇu, as an embodiment of compassion merge their souls with Him, however subject to their karmas.

642. Kālaneminihā कालनेमिनिहा

Kālanemi is the name of a demon, who was destroyed by Him.

Kālanemi also means the wheel of time (kālacakra कालचक्र), which is associated with spiritual ignorance and illusion. He destroys spiritual ignorance of His true devotees. True devotee is the one who worships Him through his mind. Unless spiritual ignorance is destroyed, Self cannot be realized.

643. Vīraḥ वीरः

Repetitive nāma-s 401 and 658.

He is courageous. Obviously, Brahman is the most courageous in the whole universe. This nāma does not mean the courage associated with humans. It is the exclusive courage of the Creator, who incarnates in the universe exclusively to annihilate those who have demonic qualities.

Kṛṣṇa explains demonic qualities in Bhagavad Gītā (XVI.4) thus: “Hypocrisy, arrogance, pride, anger, sternness and ignorance are the marks of him who is born with demonic nature.” In the next verse He says, “The divine qualities bestow liberation and demonic qualities lead to bondage.” Therefore, demons do not mean those who have terrifying superhuman bodies. Demons are those who have impaired minds.

Viṣṇu, as the compassionate Lord slain their afflicted mental states and make them follow virtuous paths. Hence He is Vīraḥ.

644. Śauriḥ शौरिः

Repetitive nāma 340.

This nāma refers to His lineage. He hails from Śūra clan, which comprises of Yādava, Kṛṣṇa’s grandfather, Vasudeva, father of Kṛṣṇa. All of them are valorous, hence their lineage is known as Śūra (warrior). Therefore He is adored as Śauriḥ. (Planet Saturn is also known as Śauri).

645. Śūrajaneśvaraḥ शूरजनेश्वरः

He is the Lord of all great powers, which includes gods and goddesses. Each god and goddesses has distinctive powers. All these powers are derived from Him.

GURUJI IN THE HORIZON - PART IX

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:15 PDT

This is part IX of “Guruji in the Horizon”, a spiritual novel consisting of many parts. To read the previous parts, please go to the labels on the right bar and click on this title or click on this link:Guruji in the Horizon

I went home. Jimmy also followed me. My mother was washing some vessels. She is now a completely transformed woman and is very active. Her cooking has a special aroma. This morning I could taste the aroma in her preparations. I kept the three plates meant for her, Jimmy and me. Suddenly, I remembered what guruji told this morning. My conscience did not permit me to ask Jimmy to take his food outside. Further, he never had his food alone. I was struggling with my conscience to get an answer. I recollected guruji’s stern words that I should follow his instructions without any deviation. I could win over my conscience and decided to serve dinner for Jimmy first outside our house. He takes only rice mixed with butter milk. We do not mix salt with his food as an old man once told us that salt should not be given to dogs. But the old man, who is no more, has versatile experience. He used to say all that is white in colour should be avoided as food. He used to refer to salt, curd and plain rice. He also used to say that one should take water after boiling, melt ghee and dilute butter milk before eating. Ghee is mixed with rice and dhal before consumption by many families. He has advised that I should take one glass of cool water half an hour before food. The consumption of water used to reduce the intake of food. One should take food only up to fifty percent of his requirement, leaving twenty five percent for water and another twenty five percent should be empty. I have been following his instructions meticulously and I never had health issues till this date.

For the first time, I took Jimmy’s plate with his food outside our home. He refused to come out and was sitting cross legged. Whenever I called him, he used to come running towards me. I called him several times, but he refused to come. He knows that I am going to serve him food outside our home. He is a very sensitive dog. I carried him on my shoulders to serve him food. But he refused to take his food. I thought there will be nothing wrong if he fasts for a day. I covered the plate with the food with a leaf, washed my hands and had my dinner with my mom. Daily, I used to help her in completing her house hold chores. Today she said that she does not need any help from me and asked me to go and persuade Jimmy to take his dinner. I struggled with him, but I failed again. I was very upset that Jimmy has not taken his food. I decided to sleep on my rocky bench. As usual, Jimmy lied down on the floor. I was feeling sorry for jimmy, but at the same time, I never wanted to disobey my guruji’s words. Jimmy was so upset which was evident in his face. I could see tears in the corner of his eyes. With Jimmy’s thought in mind, I went to sleep.

The chirp of the birds is becoming louder. Birds begin to chirp very early in the morning, about two hours before sun rise. The sound of chirp becomes louder as time passes and at the time of sun rise, all the birds begin to chirp at the same time. Generally, I wake up midway from the commencement of the birds’ chirp and the sun rise. It was my habit all these days. I woke up. Jimmy was still sleeping in the same posture. I walked to the river to wash my face. When I move towards the river, invariably, Jimmy used to follow me. Probably, upset with me, he did not turn up today. I was wondering how to tackle him, if he refused to take his lunch today. But, I was confident that my guruji would give me some solution for this. I heard some noise close by and I turned towards the side from where the noise came. My guruji was taking bath. I paid my obeisance to guruji.

“Shankaraaaa, where is Jimmy?” he asked me.

I told him what happened yesterday night and also sought a solution from him, if Jimmy still refuses to take his lunch also outside our home.

He did not reply. Then, I decided to take my bath.

“What are you going to do now?”

“I am going to bathe”

“Wait, you have some work. Later in the day, you can take bath.”

He came out from the river, but this time, he had not dried himself.

“Shankaraaaa, your Jimmy is dead”

I did not wait for his further words. I ran towards him and he is dead. I cried aloud. My conscience told me that I killed him. Hearing my cry, my mother was running towards me. On seeing Jimmy, she also broke down. She nurtured him like me. She is also very fond of him. I was upset with my guruji. It is only he who told me that Jimmy should eat outside our house. For a moment, I thought that I should not listen to my guruji in these matters.

“Shankaraaaa, Jimmy is dead not because of hunger. His time in this world is over. He would have died, even if he had taken his dinner with you. When a being is born in this earth, or even elsewhere, his time of death is fixed. This is not fixed unilaterally, but according to various permutations and combinations worked by Yama, the god of death and purely based on a soul’s past karmas. It is ultimately what you sow, so you reap theory. I have a feeling that this theory is undergoing some drastic change. Now-a-days I find that results of your actions are reaped in this life itself. Therefore, Shankaraaaa, the time has come for Jimmy to leave this earth and his death is fixed by his own actions during his past births. Embodying as domestic animals, certain souls undo its bad karmas. Having born in this world, they undergo sufferings and pains till their bad karmas are exhausted. You can observe that domestic animals’ life span is not as long as humans. Their existence here is like a sojourn, in literal sense.

“All of us have to die one day. Without wasting further time, you dispose his body. You dig a deep pit in your land near any of the big trees. Put some salt and turmeric and place the body in the pit and close the pit tightly. Do not feel sorry for him. His soul is already on its way to the world of Yama, who will take a final decision on the soul. Jimmy’s soul will be reborn in this earth and attain a human form. During that birth, his soul will become extremely pious and pursue a spiritual path. At the end of his life, he will be liberated and will not be reborn again. As I said that you will be the cause for his liberation. Do not delay any further. We should never allow a body to decompose and that is the respect we have to give to the body. After removing Jimmy’s body, please mix cow dung and water and sprinkle on the place where his body is lying. When the soul leaves the body, the body begins to decompose and becomes the source of infection. Cow dung mixed with water is the best antiseptic.”

I did what he said and when I lifted Jimmy for the last time, I cried uncontrollably. My guruji and mom were standing by my side, till I closed the pit. My mother was also sobbing. Guruji asked both of us to take to bath and asked me not to light the lamp at Ganapati temple as a matter of respect for Jimmy. Gururji and I moved towards the river to take bath, while my mother moved towards our home to take bath. After finishing our bath, guruji and I walked towards the rocky bench. He dried his clothes and I went home to change my dress. I was very badly upset. I was thinking only of Jimmy all the time and the time I had spent with him. He was my only friend all these days. He loved me so much as I loved him. Life without Jimmy appeared as a big vacuum to me. I was terribly distressed. This is the second death I have come across in my life, the first being my father. Even for my father’s death, I was not upset like this probably because I was younger at that time or I did not love my father as I loved Jimmy.

When I came out, I saw guruji sitting on the rocky bench and meditating. I felt that it is not his usual meditation, when he sits on a towel and meditate. Probably, he should be thinking about something else. I continued to stand at the entrance of my home, as I did not want to disturb him. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes and signaled me to come near him. When I went there, he asked me to sit.

“Shankaraaa, I am going to tell you about death. Generally people are scared to read about death, an inevitable event in anybody’s life. Nobody can predict the time of death, including astrologers. There are some saints who can surely say the time of death, but they will not disclose the time of death as it is considered as the divine secret. Divine secrets should never be revealed. If you recollect, I have told you that Jimmy is going to die shortly. I know that it is going to die this morning. You could have observed some yellow flowers near his body. When he was dying, I placed these flowers on his body praying that his soul should take a human birth and attain final liberation. Though I know that he is going to die today, I did not tell you that.

“Death is not an incident to regret about. On the contrary one should be happy about his impending death. His soul gets released and is ready to take another birth or merge with God, as the case may be. Now listen carefully while I explain to you about birth and death” he said.

“Both birth and death happens only due to one’s karma. Karma is a record of one’s thoughts and actions over several births. Thoughts are more powerful than actions and cause the accumulation of bad karmas. Good karmas give happy life and bad karmas give painful life. One generally does not do only good karmas. He may accumulate bad karmas even by thinking ill of others. If you think that somebody should suffer, he may suffer, provided your thought process is powerful. Irrespective of his suffering or not suffering, you accumulate huge bad karmas, which affect you very badly at some point of time in your life, either in this birth or in subsequent births. But, it is my personal experience that one begins to suffer for his bad karmas in the same birth. What you sow, you reap immediately. I think that karmic theory is undergoing significant changes. If you do any action with selfish motive, you accumulate karmas. Whether it is good or bad does not matter. The motive for action is an important factor in deciding your karma. Karma is a complex theory and I will explain to you in a simple language.

“Let us take two instances. In the first instance, you know that your enemy is becoming bankrupt. The one, who was sitting on huge wealth, is gradually losing everything due to unexpected happenings. Since he had disrespected or humiliated you when he was rich, you want him to become a complete pauper. In the second instance, you had thrown a stone on a street dog, while playing with your friends, which had hurt the dog badly in his leg. The dog was suffering in pain and began to limp all through his life time. In the first instance, you only thought ill about him and did not cause any body injury. In the second instance, you did not really mean to hurt the dog, but in the spur of the moment, you had caused a bodily injury, making him limp permanently. Now tell me, which is the worst karma between the two?”

I could not answer because I do not know. I thought this question is premature to me. In the first place, I do not have any knowledge about karma. How can I decide which is good karma and which is bad karma, I thought. I was keeping quiet and blinking. Probably, my guruji thought that he has to explain the concept of karma again for me. He knew what I have understood and what I have not.

“Shankara, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is the theory of karma. If you hit a ball on a wall, what will happen to the ball? Will it not come back to you? Suppose you had thrown the ball from east to west, the ball will come to you from west to east. Is it not?” he stopped to ensure that I am able to grasp.

“Now you replace the ball with either a thought or an action. Thought is that your enemy should become pauper. Action is that you injured the dog. The same ball that you had thrown on the wall comes to you, not a different ball. In the same way, the same thought that you had developed about your enemy comes back to you, to manifest. When you wanted him to become a pauper, whether he becomes a pauper or not, you become a pauper. You sent your thought process to him and the same thought process now returns to you, like the ball returning from the wall. Your thought of hurting your enemy is like throwing the ball towards the wall. Wall is your enemy. Your thought that had hit your enemy, returns back to you. After all, the ball always comes to you, when you throw it on the wall. Have you ever noticed that the ball comes with the same force as you throw? May be because of the friction with the wall, its force might have come down a little. But for the friction, the force is almost maintained. In the same way, the force with which you generate your thoughts, after hitting your enemy comes back to you and hits you. Hitting you back could happen in this birth or at some later birth, but it is bound to hit you. This is karma. That is why I said what you sow, so you reap.

“Instead of bad thoughts, if you are able to generate good thoughts about others, such thoughts will do a lot of good for you. This is the basic of karmic theory. Once you understand this properly, your mind will never think badly, as you now know the implications of bad thoughts. Since thought is the cause for an action, thought is more powerful than action. Without a thought, an action cannot happen. God has no role to play in this, as everyone creates his own destiny. Hence God is always said to be a witness.”

He completed and looked at me to find out whether I have understood what he had said. I could clearly follow him. I was surprised with my capacity to grasp.

(to be continued)

SAUNDARYALAHARI - SAUNDARYALAHARĪ - सौन्दर्यलहरी - verse 2

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Fri, 18 May 2012 23:46:18 PDT

Saundaryalaharī verse 2

तनीयांसं पांसुं तव चरण पङ्केरुहभवं

विरिञ्चिः संचिन्वन् विरचयति लोकानविकलम्।

वहत्येनं शौरिः कथमपि सहस्रेण शिरसां

हरः संक्षुद्यैनं भजति भसितोद्धूलनविधिम्॥

tanīyāṁsaṁ pāṁsuṁ tava caraṇa paṅkeruhabhavaṃ

viriñciḥ saṁcinvan viracayati lokānavikalam|

vahatyeanaṁ śauriḥ kathamapi sahasreṇa śirasāṁ

haraḥ saṁkṣudyainaṁ bhajati bhasitoddhūlanavidhim||

This verse further explains the Supremacy of Śaktī in upholding the universe, through various energies. Each of these energies is worshipped as gods and goddesses. For example, fire is worshipped as Agni, water is worshipped as Varuṇa, etc. All these energies function out of fear for Her. Kaṭha Upaniṣad (II.iii.2) says “The Brahman is like a thunderbolt (vajra) about to strike.” She strikes those who are delinquent in performing the prescribed duties. The sun shines fearing Her, the air blows fearing Her. Kaṭha Upaniṣad (II.iii.3) explains this; “From fear of Brahman, fire gives heat. Out of terror, the sun shines. Afraid of It, Indra, Vāyu and Yama rush to perform their respective duties.” Every action that happens in this universe is headed by a god or goddesses and when they do not perform their duties, as prescribed, She wields Her thunderbolt. This establishes Her supremacy.

These gods and goddesses perform their duties out of specific powers given by Her. For example, Varuṇa presides only over water and water bodies and he cannot control Agni or fire. Though She assigns duties to different gods and goddesses, She being omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient, knows what is happening around Her. Hence, She is feared for. No action in this universe can take place without Her knowledge. This is the exclusive quality of the Brahman.

This verse specifically adores Her feet. Her feet (caraṇa) are compared to a lotus flower. Generally eyes are compared to lotus. Here, Her sacred feet are compared to a lotus, not merely because of the beauty, but also for the rosy complexion of Her feet, which also means presaging good fortune. In Śrī Vidyā cult, great importance is attached to Her sacred feet. She is worshipped in the bindu of Śrīcakrā. Before reaching the central point of Śrīcakrā, which is the bindu, one has to worship different goddesses known as āvaraṇa devi-s. These devi-s’ feet are worshipped before reaching Her, who is worshipped as Parābhaṭṭārikā in the bindu as “śrīlalitā mahātripurasundari-parābhaṭṭārikā śrīpādukāṁ pūjayāmi tarpayāmi namaḥ श्रीललिता महात्रिपुरसुन्दरि-पराभट्टारिका श्रीपादुकां पूजयामि तर्पयामि नमः”

This verse is full of poetic parlance. Śaṁkarācārya while composing this verse probably was having Her direct vision, particularly Her sacred and radiant feet and would have overcome with Bliss. He says that the gods of creation, sustenance and destruction – Brahmā, Viṣṇu (Śauri) and Śiva collect the dust on Her feet. Here dust (pāṃsu) means pollen grains of the flowers She wears. She is fond of kadamba flowers, says Lalitā-Sahasranāma 323. {There are said to be five types of sacred trees and kadamba tree is one among them. These five sacred trees represent the four components of antaḥkaraṇa viz. mind, intellect, consciousness and ego and the fifth being the heart where the soul is said to reside (Some modern interpretations point out that the soul resides within the pineal gland, the gland of divinity). The aroma of these flowers is compared to the modifications of the mind.}

By collecting these dust particles, Brahmā creates fourteen worlds (seven upper and seven lower), Viṣṇu sustains the universe and Śiva causes death and destruction. Dust particles can also be explained as infinite individual souls, the cause for all that exists in the universe. Without soul a body cannot exist. Therefore, it is implied that these three God heads create, sustain and dissolve the beings by collecting the souls from Her feet. Further, Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva should not be taken as gods but as the symbols of the triads. She is present in all the triads. There are many triads - past, present and future; Brahma, Viṣṇu and Rudra; creation, sustenance and dissolution; the three letters of ॐ a, u and m; the three types of karma-s prārabdha, sañcita āgāmya or kriyamāṇa; three guṇa-s – sattva, rajas and tams; icchā, jñāna and kriyā śaktī-s, etc. Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (21.36 – 38) says “In You reside the three mātra-s of time (short, long and medium), O Goddess, all that exists and does not exist, the three worlds, the three Veda-s, the three sciences, the three fires, the three lights, three colours, the three qualities, the three sounds and the three āśrama-s, (house holder, anchorite and sannyās) the three times and the three states of life, the three types of pitṛ-s (Vasu, Rudra and Āditya), day-night and the rest. This trinity of standards in your form Oh! Goddess”

When the third person (nara or a human being), the second person (Śaktī) and the first person (Śiva) are used together, simultaneously there is the absorption of the lower into the higher because it is the higher that contains the truth of the lower. This means that Śiva aspect prevails in Śaktī aspect and Śaktī aspect prevails in nara aspect. Thus Śiva aspect prevails all over. Nara-rūpa (rūpa means form) first rises to Śaktī rūpa and then to Śiva rūpa. Nara rūpa cannot rise to Śiva rūpa, leaving aside the intervening Śaktī rūpa. This is the reason that Śiva always addresses Devi in the second person. This is known as Trika philosophy. Śiva is known as Prakāśa, Śaktī is known as Vimarśa and their sāmarasya (equipoise) is known as identity in difference, the living beings. This is the reason for adoring Her as the Supreme Mother.

All triads (tripura) are derived drom Ādi Śaktī. Ādi Śaktī is the sum total of all the energy forms, the cause of material creation. Time to time, this divine energy manifests itself in various forms and shapes that we are able to construe. The entire universe is filled either with matter or with energy. In other words, what we call as void is filled with gravitational force or electromagnetic fields. It has been proved scientifically, that the universe was much smaller than it appears today and will expand further leading to the complete collapse known as annihilation. The expansion of the universe stops at some point of time and the universe begins its contraction. When the contraction is complete, the universe reaches its original state of Big Bang. Śaktī as the kinetic energy and as the Supreme administrator causes the conception, expansion and contraction, the three primary acts of Śaktī, hence She is known as Tripura Sundarī). The kinetic energy is derived from the static energy or the original source of the Big Bang, known as Śiva.

To sum up, through this verse Śaṁkarācārya conveys the importance of triads that hold the universe together. All the triads are presided over by Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva. Śiva does not mean Her consort Paramaśiva, who passed on His unique and independent power of authority to Her. But for Paramaśiva, She Herself cannot exist. Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva contextually mean the three powers of creation, sustenance and dissolution and should not be taken as the Gods described in the Scriptures. However, these Gods control over all the triads and hold the universe as it stands today. Only because of their actions, the balance in the universe is maintained. When imbalance arises due to some destructive forces, the universe is annihilated by Paramaśiva, for which action, She alone stands as a witness. This is discussed in Saundaryalaharī verse 26. Lalitā-Sahasranāma 571 adores Her as Mahā-pralaya-sakṣiṇī महा-प्रलय-सक्षिणी.

VIṢṆU SAHASRANĀMA VISHNU SAHASRANAMA 624 - 633

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Thu, 17 May 2012 08:35:17 PDT

624. Udīrṇaḥ उदीर्णः

Because of His Self-illuminating nature, He is far superior to all others. This is the quality of the Brahman, from whom everything originates. Hence He is considered as superior.

625. Sarvataścakṣuḥ सर्वतश्चक्षुः

Sarvata means all sided and cakṣu means eyes. This nāma conveys His omnipresence. Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (III.3) says, viśvataścakṣuḥ which means all eyes are His. The same meaning is conveyed in Puruṣasūktam, “sahasraśīrṣā puruṣaḥ| sahasrākṣaḥ sahasrapāt| सहस्रशीर्षा पुरुषः। सहस्राक्षः सहस्रपात्।”. He has thousands of heads and eyes, where thousand stands for infinite.

626. Anīśaḥ अनीशः

Anīśa means no superior. Since Brahman controls every activity of the universe, there cannot be anyone to control Him.

Mahānārāyaṇa Upaniṣad (1.10) says, “na tasyeśe kaścana tasya nāma mahadhyaśaḥ न तस्येशे कश्चन तस्य नाम महध्यशः” which means ‘His name is great glory as no one limits His nature by definition.

627. Śāśvatasthiraḥ शाश्वतस्थिरः

Śāśvata means eternal, perpetual, etc and sthira means certainly and undoubtedly. This nāma can be explained in two ways.

Brahman does not undergo any changes or modifications. This is the unique quality of the Brahman. All other beings undergo changes and ultimately perish. His creation is the material world, which manifests through the power of His Māyā. A person born in this world, due to spiritual ignorance gets attached to the materialistic world through the power of His Māyā and in the process he fails to realize the Brahman within. Instead of searching Him within, an ignorant aspirant goes everywhere to find Him in vain. In spite of the modifications in the gross body of the aspirant, the Soul within does not change. Soul merely acts as a witness to all the actions of the gross body, which is guided by one’s mind, intellect and ego.

In dualistic philosophy, He always remains, without even undergoing a tiny change through trillions and trillions of years. When the balance between virtues and sins tilt towards sin, where sinners drive away the virtuous ones, He annihilates the entire universe by causing a deluge. Even while consuming entire cosmic water, He continues to be the same. He does not undergo any change.

The next three nāma-s begin with Bhū.

628. Bhūśayaḥ भूशयः

Bhūśaya means dwelling on the earth. This nāma refers to His various incarnations in the form of human beings like Rāma, Kṛṣṇa, etc.

By incarnating Himself in various forms, He has established the principles of virtuousness and auspiciousness as laid down by the precepts of dharma śāstra-s.

Dharma śāstra-s should be followed by everyone, till such time he gains advanced spiritual knowledge.

629. Bhūṣaṇaḥ भूषणः

Bhūṣaṇa means adorned or decorated with. His decorations are of two types. During His incarnations, He was adored with precious ornaments. But the intended meaning of this nāma is different form this gross interpretation.

Because of having Lakṣmī, who is the embodiment of all the wealth and auspiciousness, in His chest, He is adored as Bhūṣaṇa. Alternatively, it can be explained that all those who have merged into Him are described as ornaments.

Bhīṣma was a very knowledgeable and was lying on his death bed. He would have known that he would merge into Him and probably could have visualized his place in His body. Since Bhīṣma was completely over powered by devotion and he could have thought of this explanation which seems to be appropriate.

630. Bhūtiḥ भूतिः

Bhūti means welfare personified often refers to Lakṣmī. Viṣṇu is full of compassion and welfare for His devotees. With Lakṣmī in His chest, as discussed in the previous nāma, His compassion becomes multi fold, as She is worshipped as the Supreme Mother of the entire universe.

It also means the essence of everything. He is like a tiny seed of a huge banyan tree. Seed is the essence of the tree. Without the tiny seed, the huge tree cannot exist. In the same way, without His presence, nothing can exist in the universe. He is the core of everything and subtly dwells in everyone beyond gross, subtle and causal bodies as the Soul.

631. Viśokaḥ विशोकः

Viśoka means no traces of sorrow. Every being born in this earth has traces of sorrow at some point of time in their lives. However, the intensity varies from person to person or being to being, depending upon his/her karmic account. Accrual of karma ceases only if one surrenders to Him. However, the accrued karmas are to be spent through the gross body, as He governs the universe based on one single law, the Law of Karma.

He is said to be without sorrow because He is Pure Consciousness. When one’s mind is pervaded by His consciousness, he is called Yogī. For him there is no alternate state of mind. He always remains in the state of happiness and joy which is called Bliss. He does not have trace of sorrow.

632. Śakanāśanaḥ शकनाशनः

By remaining without traces of sorrow, He removes sorrows of His devotees, who perpetually contemplate Him. For such devotees, after their total surrender unto Him, He removes their sorrow the moment they think of Him.

Removal of sorrow by Him is directly related to the depth of one’s devotion for Him and is subjected to the Law of Karma.

633. Arciṣmān अर्चिष्मान्

Arci means effulgent rays. The One who gives Light to the universe is Arciṣmān. Brahman alone is Self-radiating. From Him alone, all the luminaries derive their source of Light. Brahman is always Prakāśa. He alone manifests as the universe.

VIṢṆU SAHASRANĀMA विष्णु सहस्रनाम VISHNU SAHASRANAMA 614 - 623

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:12:56 PDT

614. Lokatrayāśrayaḥ लोकत्रयाश्रयः

The three worlds rest on Him. A human has three states of consciousness – active, dream and deep sleep states. In all these states of consciousness, the body rests on Him.

These three states of consciousness are also referred in the famous Gayatri mantra. Gayatri mantra proper is preceded by ॐ and then by three vyāhṛti-s. Vyāhṛti-s represent the three types of worlds. (The names of the seven worlds are bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ, svaḥ, mahaḥ, janaḥ, tapaḥ, satyaṁ. The first three are called the great vyāhṛiti-s and recited after ॐ by many, before commencing their daily prayers and are personified as the daughters of Savitṛi and Pṛiśni.) Then follow the Gāyatrī mantra proper. ॐ or praṇava is the first manifestation of Śabda Brahman. Before ॐ could manifest into A, U and M, it was in the form of nāda-bindu (un-manifested form of sound), the creative power of the universe. Next to praṇava are three vyāhṛti-s bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ and svaḥ. These vyāhṛti-s represent further manifestation of OM and this manifestation is called origin of speech and said to represent the three worlds of this universe. These three worlds originated from the three letters A, U, M of OM or अ, उ म of ॐ. From these vyāhṛti-s , was derived the Gāyatrī mantra. Gāyatrī mantra is the origin of three Veda-s (Rig, yajur and Sama Veda-s). Three loka-s or worlds mean the three stages of consciousness. Bhūr means the lower level of consciousness and lower planes. Bhuvar means the ordinary or normal level of consciousness that is associated with our day to day activities. Svar means higher level of consciousness. Thus, the three vyāhṛti-s in fact mean the modifications in the level of consciousness. Three loka-s are also commonly enumerated, viz. heaven, earth, and the atmosphere or lower regions. Bhūr-loka, the earth; Bhuvar-loka the space between the earth and sun inhabited by sages and saints; Svar-loka, Indra's Heaven above the sun or between it and the polar star.

615. Svakṣaḥ स्वक्षः

He has perfect organs and this nāma particularly refers His eyes. His eyes are beautiful as they reflect His compassion of love for the beings.

His eyes are compared to the lotus petals with sharp curved corners.

616. Svaṅgaḥ स्वङ्गः

Svaṅga means properly shaped handsome body. His incomparable handsomeness is the reflection of His compassion and love towards His creations. His body attracts His devotees towards Him.

617. Śatānandaḥ शतानन्दः

Śatānanda means delighting many. It is also one of the names of Viṣṇu. This means that He is always in the state of Bliss and out of this Bliss, all other beings live.

Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (IV.iii.32) explains this. It says, “This is its supreme attainment, this is its supreme glory, this is its highest world, this is its Supreme Bliss. On a particle of this very Bliss, other beings live.”

Chāndogya Upaniṣad (VII.23) beautifully explains this further. “That which is Infinite is the source of happiness. There is no happiness in the finite.” This Infinite is Bliss, also known as Brahman.

This nāma reconfirms that Viṣṇu is Supreme.

618. Nandiḥ नन्दिः

Nandi means the happy one. (Nanda means delight, happiness, etc.) This subtly conveys the state of Bliss, as described in the Upaniṣad-s referred in the previous nāma.

Various nāma-s of this Sahasranāma repeatedly talk about Bliss. All the Upaniṣad-s also underline the importance of Bliss. Bliss is the mental state of a spiritual aspirant, where his mind is totally pervaded by the thoughts of Viṣṇu. He is no more called as an aspirant. He elevates himself into a Yogī. Yoga means union and in the state of Yogī, his individual consciousness always remains united with universal consciousness. A Yogī attains perfection only when he sees the world through the eyes of God. Only in this state of mind, Bliss of the Lord can be realized.

619. Jyotirgaṇeśvaraḥ ज्योतिर्गणेश्वरः

Jyotirgaṇa refers to all the heavenly bodies. Jyotis means sun, fire and other luminaries. Gaṇa means many. (Gaṇa also refers to demigods and Gaṇeśvara, who is their chief. Lord Gaṇeśa is so called because he is considered as the chief of demigods and goddesses.) These luminaries get their illumination only from Brahman, as He alone is Self-illuminating. Īśvara means Chief.

Kaṭha (कठ) Upaniṣad says (II.ii.15) “In the presence of Brahman the sun does not shine, nor the moon and stars, nor does the lightning, let alone this fire. When Brahman shines, everything else follows. By Its light all these are lighted”. This nāma also reaffirms Him as the Brahman.

The soul which is also known as jīva when placed in an empirical self, the divine transcendental Light ever shines within its glory, but unfortunately hidden from our perception because of our thought constructs. This Self-illuminating light is known as prakāśa form of the Brahman. This is also known as the Supreme Consciousness or Supreme Light of Consciousness. When there is a harmonious synthesis of Prakāśa form of Viṣṇu and Vimarśa form of His Māyā, manifestation of the universe takes place. Vimarśa form reflects the Self-illuminating light of Prakāśa form and the one without the other becomes incapable of causing manifestation.

Kṛṣṇa also confirms this in Bhagavad Gītā (XV.12), where He says, “The light in the sun that illuminates the entire universe and that which shines in the moon and that too which shines in the fire, know that light to be Mine.”

620. Vijitātmā विजितात्मा

Vijita means the one who has conquered. This is with particular reference to one’s mind. Only through the mind, one can subjugate sensory organs. As long as sensory organs are active and associated with mind, one’s consciousness cannot be purified, i.e. the awareness cannot be focused. Unless, one’s consciousness is focused on Him, he cannot enter the state of bliss. This nāma not merely adores Him with this quality, but also cites Him as an example how to refine one’s mind in order to attain Him, as He is the ultimate destination for all.

621. Avidheyātmā अविधेयात्मा

In some texts this nāma has been explained as Vidheyātmā.

Vidheya means procured or employed. The prefix ‘A’ negates the meaning of the word vidheya, which means, cannot be procured or cannot be employed, etc. Ātma refers to the Self. Therefore, this nāma means that He cannot be conquered, except through true devotion.

He can be attained only through perpetual contemplation and not by any other means. When He pervades the mind and body of a devotee, he becomes That, which means, the devotee attains all the qualities of Nārāyaṇa and ready to become one with Him. This process is called liberation.

622. Satkīrtiḥ सत्कीर्तिः

Satkīrti means good reputation. His reputation is not because of adoration. His reputation is inherent in Him, as from Him alone everything originates.

This nāma can be explained through the words of Arjuna in Bhagavad Gītā (XI.36, 37 & 38). Arjuna addresses Kṛṣṇa thus: “Lord, well, it is the universe exults and is filled with love by chanting Your names, virtues and glory.....You are the progenitor of Brahmā (god in charge of creation and is different from Brahman). O Infinite Lord of celestials, Abode of the universe, You are that which is existent, non-existent and beyond both. You are the Primal Deity, the most ancient Person. You are the ultimate resort of this universe....”

623. Chinnasaṁśayaḥ छिन्नसंशयः

Because of the qualities described in the previous nāma, He remains beyond doubts and confusions. Doubts arise only due to attachment to the material world. Attachment produce greed, desire, etc and when they are not attained, a person slips into a state of confusion. Confusion is a state where one has multiple and contradictory thoughts. When the mind has different thought processes contradicting each other, confusion is a natural epiphenomenon. As long as confusion prevails, liberation is not possible.

Arjuna addresses Kṛṣṇa towards the end of Bhagavad Gītā (XVIII.73), “By Your Grace, my delusion has fled and wisdom has been gained by me. I stand shorn of all doubts. I will do Your bidding.”

This is further explained in Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (II,ii.8), which says, “If an aspirant can realize Brahman as the cause and Brahman as the effect of his own Self, all the peculiarities of his character disappear and all his doubts are dispelled. The fruits of his work also get destroyed.”

GURUJI IN THE HORIZON - PART VIII

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Mon, 14 May 2012 04:39:03 PDT

This is part VIII of “Guruji in the Horizon”, a spiritual novel consisting of many parts. To read the previous parts, please go to the labels on the right bar and click on this title or click on this link: Guruji in the Horizon

When he finished, tears were rolling down my cheeks. I never thought of my life without Jimmy, as it has become part of my life. When he finished, my mother was entering the verandah. She saw me crying. Had she known the reason, I am sure, she too would have cried. She does not express anything and carries everything in her heart. By this time, the pericardium of her heart would have become a pachyderm. No further emotions can penetrate into her heart. Guruji asked her to sit down. She sat on the other side of the verandah.

“Amma, your food was very good. It is long time since I had such a scrumptious food. I do not take food cooked by others, except my mother. I am not married. Generally one should not take food in others’ place, as law of karma operates there. One can take food cooked by his mother and wife. Self cooking is fine. Similarly, I do not eat food which is older than six hours. I do not take food without having my bath, without doing my prayers, without offering the cooked food as oblation and without making at least one charity within my means. Even throwing a few rice grains is also a charity. When you do this, your stomach is filled with happiness and you will not take more food than what is required to maintain your body.

“God has sent me here to heal you. While I was healing you last night, I found lot of bad energy within you. Your heart is not as it should be. You are nursing many worries. I can assure you today that you need not worry about your son. I will surely take care of him. He has bright future. This house and your land is more than enough to take care of you. The place you live in, is peaceful and vibrant with lot of positive energy. This is a very ideal place for you to spend the rest of your life.

“You have suffered more that what you could withstand. By God’s grace, your ailments have been cured and will not recur. Spend rest of your time thinking about God. You will have peace.”

He stopped and asked for water. I went in and brought water in a vessel which he poured into his glass and drank.

“I used to take a nap after my meal. One should not take a nap immediately after lunch. At least one and half hour has to pass by, before taking a nap. Nap refreshes you to a great extent. Nap infuses a lot of energy for evening work. Voluntary actions are suspended during nap. I call nap as a quick rejuvenator.”

While saying this, he had already spread his towel on the floor, getting ready for a nap. I was recollecting the past pace of actions, unfolding in my life since yesterday. My life was almost sailing in the same lines without any major deviations. I do not move out of my hamlet unless it is absolutely essential. My major surprise was, how guruji had come into my life. I know that I am not a devout person. Only thing that I have done was to renovate Ganapati temple, light a lamp and offer something to eat for Ganapati. My attention was drawn to Ganapati temple after repeated hallucinations of playing with Ganapati. I went to my rocky bench. Jimmy followed me. The pain of losing him bothered me too much. He is my only honest friend. I really do not want to believe guruji’s words, though I know pretty well that he is not an ordinary person. I am surprised with his balanced way of life. On one side he lives a typical human life. On the other side, he has divine qualities. How a person can be so unassuming and humble though possessing divine qualities. This thought was repeatedly pervading my mind. I have decided that I cannot find an answer and I can know this only through him. I again tried to recollect the past twenty four hours or so. Though I was not sure about the purpose of guruji’s visit to my place, in the corner of mind I nurtured a thought that he should leave this place soon. In his presence, I had a feeling that I am being controlled unknowingly. I always loved solitude. When you are in solitude, your mind remains calm and composed. In a place like mine, I cannot have any worldly desires. You do not have newspapers, TVs, radios, festivals, visitors, not even a tea shop. There is no way I can gather information about what is happening around me. I like this way of living.

I thought that playing with Ganapati has determined my future life. There is no other way that anybody could interfere in my present life. I do not have even relatives whom I know. None visit our home. I have not seen any family functions, at least after my father’s death. I came to a conclusion that there has to be a connection between Ganapati and guruji. I have decided to ask guruji. I got up looked at the place where guruji was taking a nap. He has already gotten up and was walking towards me. Hardly could he have had a nap for forty five minutes. Jimmy got up and wagged his tail on seeing him. I also got up and moved towards him. He smiled at me and walked towards the river. He washed his face, feet and hands with the flowing water. He returned to the stone bench while drying his face and hands with his towel.

“Shankaraaaaa, whatever the yoga postures you were taught is not right. Yogic postures should correlate with breath, both inhalation and exhalation. Yogic postures enable the vital organs to function more effectively. It prevents stiffness in the body. Flexibility of body parts is important for a healthy living. In today’s hectic life, people do not sit on the floor and eat food. They do not have time and inclination. If body is not freely stretchable, there will be blockades in the free flow of prana. You should understand that prana is different from our breath. Breath is the inhalation of atmospheric air containing more of Nitrogen and less of Oxygen. The air we inhale goes only up to our lungs. We also inhale and exhale prana like we inhale and exhale air. Unlike air, prana enters through nervous system and creates a magnetic field inside the body, in the form certain chakras or wheels. They are called chakras because they rotate like a wheel due to the pranic force. Prana is also called life energy. Prana is as important as our breath. Ancient saints cured many men using their prana.

“Yoga should be learnt only from experienced teachers. A small mistake could cost your life. Let us start it all over again for you. Your mistakes need to be corrected. You should not be committing mistakes even in the initial stages of practice. First and most important thing that you should know is abdominal breathing. Generally if you observe that many of us push out our stomach while exhaling and constrict our stomach while we inhale. This is wrong. Inhalation should not be shallow. Inhalation has to be deep and the lungs have to expand. If we expand our diaphragm, the lungs will expand paving way for more air to go in. The air that we breathe in should reach the edges of the lungs, providing more oxygen to the body. In the same way, all the air that is inhaled should be expelled by constricting the lungs to the maximum extent possible. This is possible only if you pull up your diaphragm. Only pulling up the diaphragm will constrict your lungs. This type of breathing is called yogic breathing.”

He gave a lecture on breathing and asked me to do it. It took some time for me to perfect the yogic breathing. But, I realised that my body is getting rejuvenated. After having satisfied with my progress, he proceeded to the next exercise. I have developed great confidence in him by now. I know for sure, that he can show God one day.

“The yogic breathing is going to be the same. Now when you inhale, slightly push your head backwards. Hold your breath for a second or two. No more than two seconds. It is not about holding your breath. You are giving some flexibility to your neck. When you exhale, slowly release your breath by bending your head forwards. When you do this breathing for some time, you will realize some sensation in your spine and forehead. Do this breathing as many times as possible. But do not overdo this, as you could develop pain in your neck. Whenever you breathe in, your breathing should be deep and during exhalation, you should try to push all the air inside your lungs. Never resort to fast breathing. Always inhale and exhale slowly, but steadily.

“Though I know that you do not have knowledge about kundalini, it is my duty to caution you that the sensation in your forehead is not due to kundalini. It is due to the vibration of air and prana. These vibrations are normal when one knows how to breathe properly. Your life span is calculated on the number of breaths. Your karma is directly related to your breath and prana.

“Now it is time to have our evening bath. We will then go to Ganapati temple.” He started moving towards the river.

I was not able to calculate his age. He should be around seventy. The way, in which he walks and talks, he appears to be much younger than me. Probably, his ageing is directly related to his food habits and yoga. My yoga teacher once told me that perfect yoga can keep a person in his youth for years.

The water current in the river was not forceful now. He was enjoying his bath in this amazing river, where water is neither hot nor cold. I observed that whenever he takes his bath, he took water in both hands and by murmuring something he poured the water back in the river through his finger tips and later through the end of his palms. I wanted to ask him later about this. In the morning He did this facing east and in the evening I saw him doing this facing west. He finished his bath and returned to the banks. He washed his used clothes and took another set of clothes to wear. He declined to take my help to wash his clothes. My mother had told me once, that it is the duty of a disciple to do all sorts of service to his master. I was wondering why my guruji is not allowing me to do any service to him. He is in total contrast to new age gurus. I thought that I have not blossomed into a full-fledged disciple. Probably he is putting me to test. As usual he dried his clothes on the rocky bench and we walked towards the temple. I thought this is the right time to clarify my doubt about pouring water through his hands while taking bath in the river.

“Guruji, why do you pour water through your hands while taking bath in the river?”

“This is called tarpana. Tarpana means libation of water to gods and ancestors. We should always remember God and our ancestors. God is the creator, He is the sustainer and He is also the cause for death. When a person is born, his date with death is also fixed. Birth, pleasure and pain and death are determined by one’s own karma. I offer libation three times through the fingers of my hands. Gods reside in the tip of our fingers. God is the supreme and He does not have a form and you will realize this when you reach the summit of your spiritual pursuit. He is pure and blinding light. Even if you are away by millions of miles from him, if you happen to see Him you will be burnt to ashes. Planets like sun and moon derive light only from Him. My first libation is for the God as the Creator, second libation is for the same God for His act of sustenance and the last libation is also for the same God for His act of absorption into Him. Absorption into Him means liberation.

“You would have noticed libations though the end of my palms. They are meant for my ancestors. First libation is for my parents, but for whom, I would not have been born. Second libation is for my grandparents and the third libation is for my great grandparents. They are called ancestors. Our DNA is decided on our hereditary.

“This is my way of worshipping God and ancestors. Everyone should follow a particular way of worship. God is beyond religion. People are unfortunately fighting under different religious banners. Think for a moment. How can there by so many Gods. Different religions address God by different names. Though He has different names, He is One. Since it is difficult for everyone to conceive different methods, dharma shastras have been written by sages and saints, prescribing certain rules and regulations to be followed. They are called religious dictums. There are people who can always connect themselves to God at their will. They can offer worship in whatever manner they like. They receive cosmic commune and they go according to that. A close comparison is Vedas and their origin. Vedas were revealed to ancient sages during their trances known as Cosmic commune. There could be small differences between two great sages. The difference is due to the interpretation by the individual concerned and not in the commune itself. I am doing what I have been asked to do and I will teach you what I have learnt through my experience. That is why I have said earlier that personal experience is important for a guru. Because of the differences in experiences of two different individuals, different sects and cults have come into existence. Mainly it is their ego that is responsible for all these diversifications. Whenever there is divine commune, you have to keep it to yourself and should never reveal to others. Sometimes, disciples receive commune more often than the guru himself. But this does not mean that you can’t break away from your guru. Divine commune happens only during deep trances. If someone says that they are talking to God, do not believe that, unless he is a master in meditation and he has a good guru. A disciple is known only by his guru.”

I thought he has begun his ‘mission Shankara’. The Shankara of yesterday was different from Shankara of today. I am able to understand and grasp whatever he says. Probably he has transformed me before proceeding with his teachings. I do not know, but he knows for sure.

I lit the lamp in the Ganapati temple. I had cut two more bananas from my land for offering to Ganapati. My guruji was simply watching with a naughty smile on his face. He always smiles, probably revealing his happy mind. The sun vanished in the western sky. I have to have my dinner. I thought of offering these two bananas to my guruji, as he will not take anything for dinner. I offered him the two bananas and he took one of them and kept it on his lap. He wanted some water. This time I brought water in a jar. As usual he washed his face, feet and hands and wiped his face and hands dry. He took the banana, drank some water, gargled and wiped his face again. He prepared his bed and sat on the towel in the lotus posture and did some mantra chanting for about ten minutes. He smiled at me and then slept on the towel using his bag as his pillow.

VIṢṆU SAHASRANĀMA विष्णु सहस्रनाम 601 - 613

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Wed, 09 May 2012 01:19:28 PDT

601. Śrīvatsavakṣāḥ श्रीवत्सवक्षाः

Next twelve nāma-s (till 613) begin with Śrī.

Śrīvatsa is a mark in the chest of Viṣṇu, which is considered as very auspicious. Vakṣas means chest. It is also said that it is the place where His consort Lakṣmī resides. Though the Lord Himself is an embodiment of auspiciousness, the presence of Lakṣmī makes His form more auspicious. This is further explained in the next nāma.

602. Śrīvāsaḥ श्रीवासः

He is the abode of His consort Lakṣmī. Śrī always refers to Goddess Lakṣmī. She is full of auspiciousness, riches and grace.

603. Śrīpatiḥ श्रीपतिः

Lord is the Consort of Śrī, i.e. Lakṣmī. During the churning of the ocean, Śrī appeared from the ocean and chose Viṣṇu as Her Consort.

Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (VI.8) explains Śrī as the power of manifestation. It says, “parāsya śaktirvividhaiva śrūyate” referring to Parāśaktī, (referring to Śrī) the manifestation of the universe.

604. Śrīmatām-varaḥ श्रीमताम्-वरः

He is Supreme among gods and goddesses like Brahmā and others. This nāma underlines His status as the Brahman, who has no comparison.

Mata means considered and vara means most eminent. Based on this, it can be explained that He is the most eminent among those who have the riches of Vedas. Śruti says that the Vedas are the ultimate wealth of learned men.

Vara also means blessings and in this context, the nāma says that Lord Viṣṇu blesses all those who have the knowledge of Vedas, which are considered as the most auspicious wealth. All the Vedas are derived from the cosmos and in earlier times, Vedas were taught through guru-disciple relationship verbally. Vedas have both gross and subtle meanings.

605. Śrīdaḥ श्रीदः

He gives wealth to His devotees. He has many superior gifts as per nāma 603. There are two types of devotees. The first type is where His devotees get involved only in rituals and invoke His Grace for material well being. The other type is where His devotees desire to have a vision of His auspicious feet Paramapada. The subtle meaning of Paramapada is final liberation. He offers them liberation.

606. Śrīśaḥ श्रीशः

He is the Lord or the Consort of Śrī. Lakṣmī never leaves Viṣṇu. She resides in His own body as Śrīvatsa as per nāma 601.

Pārvatī is seated in the left lap of Śiva and Lakṣmī resides in the chest of Viṣṇu. Śiva gives His left half to His Consort Śaktī. They are setting examples of mutual understanding and respect in marital life.

607. Śrīnivāsaḥ श्रीनिवासः

Śrīnivāsa means the Abode of Śrī, which is Lord Viṣṇu Himself. Śrī also means prosperity, royal dignity, etc. He resides in those who are endowed with such attributes.

Good thoughts lead to a clean mind and a clean mind is the predominant domicile of Brahman. When the entire mind is pervaded by His thoughts alone, He offers the aspirant emancipation. There are several stages before final emancipation. First He uses these advanced aspirants to inculcate spiritual knowledge and declares them as Gurus. He heals other devotees through them by endowing them with divine powers. When they perform these duties without ego and selfishness, final liberation is offered to them. A number of aspirants fail during this testing period and are made to reborn.

608. Śrīnidhiḥ श्रीनिधिः

Śrīnidhi means receptacle of beauty, which is on three counts. One, Goddess Lakṣmī who resides in His chest is an embodiment of beauty. Two, Viṣṇu is the source of dharma śāstra-s and He meticulously follows them. Three, He is also the source of all Vedas, as Vedas originated from His breath. All this enhances His beauty hence, He is adored as Śrīnidhi. Bhīṣma, even in his death bed could see all these inherent qualities of Kṛṣṇa and adores Him as Śrīnidhi and sets an example of true devotion.

609. Śrīvibhāvanaḥ श्रीविभावनः

Vibhāvana means creation or causing to appear and Śrīvibhāvana means that He makes a person rich according to his karmic account. Her sustains the universe through the Law of Karma, which is also known as the Law of the Lord.

Impressions of good thoughts accrue as good karmas and impressions of negative thoughts accrue as bad karmas. These two types of karmas cannot be adjusted against each other. One has to undergo both the types of karmas separately. Karma is responsible for making a rich man pauper overnight and making a pauper rich in no time. Law of karma is different from devotion. Even great saints and sages are made to suffer because of Law of Karma. Accrual of karmas can cease only if one completely surrenders unto Him. Till then, Law of Karma operates in every human being.

This nāma says that He endows riches, both material and spiritual, depending upon one’s karmic account.

610. Śrīdharaḥ श्रीधरः

He is the holder of Śrī, Goddess Lakṣmī, who manifests in the form of the universe. This nāma subtly conveys that He holds the universe in Him. In other words, He pervades the entire beings as the soul, without which, existence is not possible for both animate and inanimate beings.

611. Śrīkaraḥ श्रीकरः

He is the bestower of auspiciousness.

In some places we visit, we find inexplicable happiness and we would like to stay in that place for a longer time. This is due to the presence of His Grace and auspiciousness. It does not mean that everyone in the place is highly devoted. But surely it means that those who are present do not have negative thoughts. When we visit some other places, we would not like to stay for long and a sort of inexplicable mental depression will set in. These are the places where only evil and negative thoughts and feelings prevail. Though He is omnipresent, He has not bestowed His Grace. Therefore, one should develop the habit of cultivating good thoughts, compassion and love for others. In other words, one should develop love for the universe as a whole. In such places, He showers His Grace without asking for it.

612. Śreyaḥ श्रेयः

This nāma deliberates further on the previous nāma-s. Śreyas means final emancipation. This does not come that easily. Mundane devotion does not offer final emancipation, which happens in successive stages, as discussed in the previous nāma-s. He is the One, who offers final liberation, subject to the condition that the aspirant becomes perfectly fit to have His Grace and to become one with Him.

613. Śrīmān श्रीमान्

Mān means to honour and Śrī is used here as honorific prefix.

Possible explanation: At this point, Bhīṣma became too emotional as he developed overwhelming love for Kṛṣṇa which made him to fumble for appropriate words and this made Him to adore Kṛṣṇa as Śrīmān, which means there is no word except this to glorify Him. This nāma is nothing but the verbal expression of true love.

GURUJI IN THE HORIZON - PART VII

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Tue, 08 May 2012 01:27:43 PDT

This is part VII of “Guruji in the Horizon”, a spiritual novel consisting of many parts. To read the previous parts, please go to the labels on the right bar and click on this title or click on this link:Guruji in the Horizon

He continued, “Mind is one of the amazing instruments of human life. Mind is endowed with the power of creativity and when manifested, the dualities of pain and pleasure are realized. The mind could be pure or impure depending upon the external influences. If the mind is not properly trained and tamed, it turns out to be a potential source of danger, dangerous than the calamitous nuclear war heads. That answers your question.

“God does not have a form. He is the source of all the energies in the universe. Note that I am using the word universe. Earth, in which we live, is only a tiny part of the galaxy. Universe comprises of many galaxies. Galaxy of our earth is known as Milky Way. Though it is not necessary for you to know all this, I am sharing this with you to make you understand, how big the universe is. I leave it to your imagination how powerful God would be, as He is solely managing the affairs of the universe.”

My head was reeling. I was happily enjoying my rustic life, working in our land, playing with my Jimmy and sleeping on the rocky bench. I could not understand about universe, galaxy, etc. I did not want to ask any questions to him, as he has clearly told me that I should be attentive. I was very much attentive, but I did not have the capacity to grasp the details he had told me. I thought that the best way to overcome this situation is to remain silent.

“I know it is difficult for you to understand as to what I have said.” I was shocked when he said this. I concluded that he can read anybody’s mind.

“Shankaraaaaa, you cannot continue to lead the kind of life that you are leading now. You are not born to while away your time like this. Your disinclination and laziness are your enemies. Man is born not only to take care of himself but also to help others.” He stopped for a moment and looked into my eyes. It appeared that he was not convinced about my attentiveness.

He continued, “You have to be more attentive and should evince interest in developing your knowledge. You do not know that there are two types of knowledge. One is the temporal knowledge and another spiritual knowledge.”

A sudden flash in my mind said that I should listen to him very attentively. He smiled at me and continued. His powerful eyes and his smile ignited a spark in me.

“Temporal knowledge is worldly knowledge. It is the knowledge about knowing perishable things. Take for instance, your Jimmy. You know what Jimmy likes and dislikes. Jimmy is not going to be with you perpetually. He has his own life span and you have your own life span. Nobody knows who is going to predecease the other. At the time of your birth, your death is also determined. Your birth and death are determined only by you. God does not interfere in day to day life. He has evolved a law that binds everything in the universe. God’s law is known as Law of the Lord.”

Now I begin to understand. I have heard stories about imbecile men composed verses on Gods. I now understand that he is not just another teacher. I am sure that he also knows that I am able to grasp his teaching now. I know it is only the flash that he has imbibed on me, that has transformed me.

He continued. “Not everyone is lucky to have a good spiritual master. The only qualification of a spiritual master is that he should have realised God. He has to teach through his own experience and from texts. Anyone with good memory power and good level of understanding can teach from texts. Teaching from texts alone does not make a spiritual man. Ultimately it is the experience alone that counts. Interaction between the master and his disciple should be one to one. The disciple should have the liberty to meet and discuss with his master at any time. They are only called as gurus. Those who address hundreds of men at the same time are not gurus. They can at the most be called as spiritual teachers. Gurus are different from spiritual teachers. Spiritual teachers speak from what they have read and memorized. They are good orators. They do not have direct experience. You may wonder why I say, that they do not have experience. If they have direct experience, they will not address a huge gathering. Gurus will select only a handful of disciples and teach them directly. They do not teach for money and in fact they do not even touch money. Their main intention is to share their hard earned knowledge to those who are really interested in spiritual process. They choose their disciples. You cannot make an unintelligent person to pursue a master’s degree.”

“Guruji, what is the difference between being religious and being spiritual?” I asked him without any hesitation. I also know that my question is relevant here. I do not want to proceed without thoroughly understanding each of his words.

“If you are religious, you are bound to become spiritual. There are lot of differences between a religious person and a spiritual person. A religious person has lots of duties, as Holy Scriptures dictate him to perform several duties. These duties are to remind a person about different forces through which God acts. Unfortunately, these are not understood in their proper perspective. Many say that God is omnipresent and hence rituals are not necessary. They are absolutely wrong. I would even call them as atheists. You have to perform all the prescribed rituals till you become God conscious. Once you realise the Self within, you don’t need to perform rituals. Rituals are meant to purify your mind. Understand that by performing certain rituals, you cannot get away with your sins. You have to undergo pains and miseries of your karma.” As he was speaking, his voice turned from being melodious to expression of perturbation.

“Spirituality does not arise all of a sudden. You can’t undergo spiritual transformation from your present level. You have to gain extensive knowledge. You cannot gain spiritual knowledge by whiling away your time. Interaction with spiritual masters is very important, if you really want to begin your spiritual journey. When I say spiritual masters, I refer to jivanmuktas. Jivanmukta is a person who has already realized God and continues to live till he exhausts all his karmas. Liberation is not possible unless you exhaust all the traces of your karmas, whether good or bad. This I will explain in detail later” he concluded.

My mother announced that lunch was ready. Guruji began to walk towards our house. The time should have been around 11:30. My mother was waiting with a vessel containing water and handed over to guruji. He first washed his feet, his face and finally his hands. He always hangs a towel over his left shoulder. He is in the habit of frequently washing his face and hands. After drying his face and hands, he waited for a few moments to get his feet dried. Meanwhile, my mother went in and was getting ready to serve lunch. She kept two freshly cut plantain leaves and asked guruji to take his seat. I was waiting for my guruji to take his seat.

I pushed my plank a little backwards and ensured that my leaf is one foot behind his leaf. My mother began to serve. He drank a glass full of water. When she finished serving rice, he took some rice in his hands and held it against his chest and murmured some words by closing his eyes. He then placed the rice back in the leaf.

“You should not speak while you are eating. Not even a single word” he told me. Looking at my mother he said, “Please do not serve any item, unless the previous serve is eaten by us. You should serve neither more nor less. If you serve more, excess quantity will be wasted. If you serve less, hunger will not be fully satisfied. If such a person curses you, there is a possibility that the curse could manifest. Generally, if a person’s hunger is fully satisfied, he always blesses you and your family. His blessings are bound to manifest. This is the basis for serving food for the needy. I am not here to say that everyone will curse you or bless you, but at the same time we should not take chances. Taking chances is always risky. Knowingly we should not take chances.”

My mother simply nodded her head. Taste of the food was extremely good and was totally different today. It is not my mother’s usual stuff.

“Why your Jimmy did not eat with you?” he asked.

I knew for sure that it is only because of guruji Jimmy did not take food with us.

“This is the first time, he had not taken his lunch with us” I said.

“God has created creatures assigning certain places for them in the earth. A fish can live only in water and if it is taken out of water, it will die. In the same way, a dog is meant to be a guard. A dog can listen to any sound that a man cannot hear. God has created every being with a specific purpose and such species should be used only for that purpose. Instead of a dog, if it were a pig, will you allow it to take his food along with you? I am sure you will not, as pigs are the source of several parasites and spread them to humans. You may not know that a dog can cause vision failure.

“One is born as a dog because of its karmas. You are trying to overrule the act of God. Any violation of Nature is punishable under law of karma. Jimmy is born here to undergo suffering. You have not used Jimmy for the purpose for which it is born. It is your mistake and not that of Jimmy. If someone gives you all the material comforts on earth, you will not work to make your living as everything you need is available to you. In the process you become lazy. God does not like anyone, who is lazy.

“A dog has to be a dog and a dog cannot be equated with a man. You have to serve food to a dog only after you finish eating and not before. A dog has to remain outside a house and not inside. You must understand the law of Nature. I also love animals. It is important that we should never torture animals. We have no right to torture anyone. Shankaraaaaa, your Jimmy’s life is coming to an end. It will have human birth next time and will join you as your disciple. You will pave for his liberation.”

(to be continued)

SAUNDARYALAHARĪ सौन्दर्यलहरी - VERSE 1

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Mon, 07 May 2012 04:47:06 PDT

Saundaryalaharī consisting one hundred verses was composed by Ādi Śaṁkarācārya in praise of Supreme Goddess Śaktī. Saundaryalaharī has two parts. The first part has 41 verses and this part is known as Ānandalaharī and the next part consisting of 59 verses is known as Saundaryalaharī. Ānandalaharī deals exhaustively with the Bliss attained while worshipping Her and the next 59 verses dwell on Her physical description that can be explained both grossly and subtly.

Verse 1.

Śivaḥ śaktyā yukto yadi bhavati śaktaḥ prabhavituṁ

na cedevaṁ devo na khalu kuśalaḥ spanditumapi|

Atastvāmārādhyāṁ hariharaviriñcādibhirapi

praṇantuṁ stotuṁ vā kathamakṛtapuṇyaḥ prabhavati||

शिवः शक्त्या युक्तो यदि भवति शक्तः प्रभवितुं

न चेदेवं देवो न खलु कुशलः स्पन्दितुमपि।

अतस्त्वामारध्यां हरिहरविरिञ्चादिभिरपि

प्रणन्तुं स्तोतुं वा कथमकृतपुण्यः प्रभवति॥

Śivaḥ - tāntric Śiva i.e. God Himself; yadi - if; yuktaḥ - joined with; Śaktyā – Śakti; bhavati – becomes; śaktaḥ - capable of; prabhavituṁ - manifesting; (but) ced – if; na - He is not; evam - thus (i.e. if He is not united with Śakti); devaḥ - Śiva; na khalu api - is certainly not even; kuśalaḥ - able; spanditum - to vibrate; Atas - For this reason; katham – how; akṛtapuṇyaḥ - is the one who has not accomplished meritorious acts; prabhavati - able to; praṇantuṁ - bow; vā – or; stotuṁ – praise; tvām - You; ārādhyām - who are to be worshiped; api – even; by hari -Viṣṇu; hara - purānic Śiva; viriñca – Brahmā; api – etc.

Meaning of this verse: Śiva becomes inert without Śaktī. When Śiva is not united with Śaktī, He cannot manifest the universe. Because of Her functional nature, Divine Mother becomes supremely important. Even gods and goddesses find it difficult to bow before Her and sing Her praise.

Śiva is Self-illuminating. Without His existence, the universe will be plunged into darkness. Śiva is present in prakāśa (illuminating) form. Prakāśa can be explained as visible, shining, universally noted, brightness, lustre, splendour, etc. Śaktī is His vimarśa form. Vimarśa can be explained as reasoning, knowledge, consideration, reflecting etc. In spite of Śiva being the grandeur amongst the cognized existences, He cannot realize His own incomparable splendour without something that is able to reflect His grandeur. This is like a human not able to see his own form without an object that is capable of reflecting his image. Śaktī acts like a reflecting mirror where Śiva is able to realise His Reality, like a mirror reflecting the image of a person who stands before it. Pure consciousness is Śiva and realizing the Pure Consciousness is Śaktī. If Śiva is not present, the consciousness itself does not exist. If Śaktī is not present, the presence of consciousness cannot be realised. In the state of prakāśa ‘I’ and ‘This’ stand united and in the vimarśa aspect ‘This’ is separated from ‘I’. Therefore prakāśa aspect is ‘I + This’ and vimarśa aspect is ‘This’ alone. ‘I’ is the origin of the universe and ‘This’ is the expansion of the universe. Śiva is cit and Śaktī is citi. Cit means foundational consciousness and citi means the consciousness that brings about cognitive operations. Śaktī segregates I and This. Without Śaktī this vital segregation cannot take place. Śiva causes the initial pulsation for creation that is carried forward by Śaktī. Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad describes this Supreme Consciousness as ekātmapratyayasāram and the worldly process as Prapañca.

Śaktī pushes forward the throb created by Śiva through different principles or tattva-s (thirty six, where Śiva is tattva one and Śaktī is tattva two) and sustains it through Her māyā or illusion. Māyā is the sole factor that separates a soul from the Brahman. She is the manifested conglutination of Śiva and Śaktī and therefore She is both the seed and the sprout. This also drives home the point that for creation, two objects are required. For example, a soul alone cannot be born on its own. It has to come into contact with prakṛti or Nature in order to manifest. Procreation is not possible without conjugation of masculine and feminine energies.

Moving on from the perceptible to subtle, a lot more is said about Their subtle conjugation. They are referred as two bindu-s (dots), white and red, denoting Śiva and Śaktī respectively. These two bindu-s in mutual conjunction expand and contract. When they expand, the creation takes place by means of vāc (word) and artha (lit. meaning). Vāc means the Śabda Brahman and artha means thirty six tattva-s or principles. These two bindu-s which enter one another are known as Kāma-Kāmeśvarī. Śiva, the Supreme is in the form of the first alphabet of Sanskrit A (अ), is the cause of all sounds of Veda-s. He attains the form of a bindu after having entered His own vimarśa form, Śaktī, in whom the entire universe is dissolved. Like prakāśa form of bindu entering the vimarśa form of bindu, vimarśa form of bindu also enters prakāśa form of bindu, which is already within it. As a result of this conjugation, a third bindu called as miśra bindu is born. Miśra means combined. Now there are three bindu-s, white, red and miśra. These three bindu-s form a triangle, red and miśra are below and the white bindu is placed above them causing a perfect triangle. The miśra bindu has all the tattva-s or principles within itself and is the cause for further creation. This is the innermost triangle of Śrīcakra. When these three dots are connected, the three connecting lines represent all the triads such as three guṇa-s, three stages of consciousness, icchā, jñāna and kriyā śaktī-s, etc. This triangle becomes the cause for creation beginning with Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Rudra. These three dots are also referred as sun (top), moon (right) and fire (left). There is an inverted triangle below the three dots. The three connecting lines of this lower triangle represent three kūṭa-s of Her Pañcadaśī mantra (nāmā 89).

Śiva and Śaktī together are known as Paramaśiva. Śiva alone has got independent power of autonomy, known as svātantraya śakti, which comprises of cit, ānanda, icchā, jñāna and kriyā śakti-s. These five śakti-s are known as Consciousness, Bliss, will, knowledge and action. Śiva transfers His exclusive and independent power of autonomy, comprising of these five powers to Śaktī. Śiva always prefers to remain alone in a state of Bliss. He carves out His svātantraya śakti and transfers it to Śaktī. As He has transferred His Power to Her, this verse says that He cannot act without Her. It must be remembered that whatever power She has, they represent the Powers of Śiva only. She acts on behalf of Śiva alone. There is nothing in this universe that is not Śiva. Therefore, unless one understands Śaktī, he or she cannot realize Śiva, the Ultimate. She alone can reveal Śiva, says Lalitā Sahasranāma 727, Śivajñānapradāyinī.

In the process of creation, there are so many energies in action. For example, creation is taken care of by Brahmā, sustenance by Viṣṇu and death is caused by Rudra. These three are only the primary acts of the Divine. There are many other innumerable energies and every such energy is represented by a deity, either a god or a goddess. For example, water is under the control of Varuṇa, fire by Agni, etc. All these acts are overseen by Śaktī. Without Her command, none of these gods and goddesses becomes active.

She is worshipped in Śrīcakra, where the Divine Couple, Śiva and Śaktī are seated in the central bindu (dot). Before worshipping Them in this bindu, all other gods and goddesses are worshipped in various coverings known as āvaraṇa-s. Only after obtaining the blessings of all other gods and goddesses, the Divine Couple can be worshipped. This concept is symbolically represented through Śrīcakra worship.

Lalitā Sahasranāma adores Her through 1000 nāma-s. This Supreme Sahasranāma was composed by eight Vāc Devi-s and these nāma-s highlight all Her activities. If one needs to understand Her, he or she should first understand the meaning of these nāma-s. For example the first nāma adores as the Supreme Mother and the last nāma reveals Her name as Lalitāmbikā. In between these nāma-s, She is adored for each of Her quality. Nāma 250 adores Her as pañca-brahma-svarūpiṇī. Pañca-brahma refers to Her five primary acts – creation, sustenance, death, annihilation and re-creation.

To sum up, this verse adores the Supreme Mother, who is ever compassionate, carrying out all the activities to sustain the universe. Those who have good karmas accrued over past births alone become capable of seeking Her through various forms of Her worship. When it is not easy for Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Purānic Śiva to worship Her, the kind of good karmas one needs to worship Her through Śrīvidyā Upāsana is subtly explained in this verse.

Viṣṇu Sahasranāma विष्णु सहस्रनाम 589 - 600

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Thu, 03 May 2012 00:57:44 PDT

589. Kumudaḥ कुमुदः

Ku means earth. Since He creates and sustains the earth, He derives happiness when people enjoy His materialistic creations. The material world is created by Him with a purpose. It is the testing ground for His devotees. The material world is called māyā because, it is deceptive in nature. Those who are able to overcome the effects of māyā move closer to Him. When an aspirant is able to transcend the effects of māyā, He is ready to offer him liberation.

This nāma says that He laughs on seeing those who are attached to the material world and make themselves susceptible to repeated transmigration. His laugh does not indicate His happiness, but His frustration. He is frustrated due to the fact the men are not able to utilize the opportunity of being born as human, where alone the liberation is possible.

590. Kuvaleśayaḥ कुवलेशयः

This is a noun for Lord Viṣṇu, which is found in Mahābhāgavata. Since the earth called “ku” is surrounded by water, it is called Kuvalaya. Kuvaleśayaḥ means the ruler of earth. Planet earth or Mother Earth is beautifully described in this nāma which also says that Viṣṇu is the ruler of Mother Earth. It is also said that Mother Earth is the consort of Lord Viṣṇu and this nāma can be explained this way also.

591. Gohitaḥ गोहितः

Go can be subtly explained as spiritual knowledge, though it can be grossly explained as cows, etc. Hita means set in motion. Therefore, this nāma can be subtly interpreted as the One, who sets in motion the spiritual knowledge for liberation.

On the grosser side, gohita means the One, who protects the cows. He protected the cows by lifting the mountain Govardhana during His incarnation as Kṛṣṇa.

592. Gopatiḥ गोपतिः

Repetitive nāma 495.

He is the ruler of the earth. Go means earth and pati means master or possessor. It also means husband. This nāma reconfirms the interpretation of the nāma 590.

Nāma 495 has been explained differently.

593. Goptā गोप्ता

Repetitive nāma 496.

He conceals His reality or true nature. He is in the form of Pure Consciousness. But He conceals His true identity from those who are associated with the materialistic world. He conceals His true identity through the effects of māyā, His own concealing Power. Brahman and Māyā are not different; Brahman’s concealing power known as Māyā forms a sheath around Him. Those who are able to transcend Māyā can realize Him. The process of transcending Māyā is known as sādhana or practice. Brahman cannot be realized without sādhana, in which an aspirant undergoes different spiritual experiences.

Nāma 496 has been interpreted differently.

594. Vṛṣabhākṣaḥ वृषभाक्षः

Vṛṣabha means most excellent or eminent and akṣa means religious knowledge. Religious knowledge is nothing but dharma śāstra, rules and regulations for leading a conscientious life. Therefore, this nāma can be interpreted to mean that Lord Viṣṇu holds dharma śāstra-s as very important and He expects His devotees to lead a life as per the precepts of dharma śāstra-s.

Dharma śāstra-s are very important for a spiritual aspirant. No one can turn spiritual overnight. A spiritual journey always begins with a rigorous religious life. Every religion tames an aspirant by prohibiting certain acts and permitting certain other acts. Dharma śāstra-s do not give any chance for manoeuvrability of the prescribed laws.

595. Vṛṣapriyaḥ वृषप्रियः

He loves all those who become eminent by strictly following the precepts of dharma śāstra-s. In fact, dharma śāstra-s are not different from Lord Viṣṇu. He is an embodiment of dharma śāstra-s and that is why He is in the form of Pure Consciousness.

596. Anivartī अनिवर्ती

Anivartin means steadfast. This is an extension of the previous two nāma-s. This nāma conclusively says that there is no question of abandoning dharma śāstra-s, as they form the life and breath of all spiritual aspirants. Those who abandon these dictums are punished through the law of karma.

A thief may become rich by stealing wealth from someone else. This wealth gives momentary happiness to the thief. But in the long run, he is bound to suffer due to the violation of the dictums of dharma śāstra-s. As a result, he accrues a huge amount of bad karmas, which may manifest either in this life itself or in subsequent lives. If the karmic impressions are too bad, many times, these karmas manifest in the same life. This is the case of a billionaire becoming a popper overnight. Law of Karma is very powerful and none can escape from this. This is also called Divine Law.

This nāma says that Lord Viṣṇu strictly follows dharma śāstra-s. He does not accept any violations.

597. Nivṛttātmā निवृत्तात्मा

Nivṛtta means cessation of mundane existence and Ātma refers to the Supreme Self, Nārāyaṇa. Though it is imperative that Self is beyond all the material existence, this nāma specifically says so to explain one particular quality of the Brahman. Brahman is an embodiment all the qualities, both good and bad; otherwise, the omnipresent nature of the Brahman will be oppugned. Every aspirant should become Nārāyaṇa Himself in order to become one with Him. This is eternal liberation or cessation of transmigration.

This nāma advises the aspirants to get detached from the materialistic world in order get liberated. Mind is the reason for all attachments and desires. If one is able to train the mind to become detached, the aspirant confidently begins his spiritual journey.

598. Samkṣeptā सम्क्षेप्ता

Saṃkṣepa has many interpretations such as throwing together, destruction, compression, comprehension, condensation, abridgment, etc. This word has been used in many Scriptures to mean different things. Contextually, it means the fourth act of the Brahman, the annihilation of the universe.

Brahman has five functions to perform. They are creation, sustenance, destruction, annihilation and compassion (also known as Grace). The five acts of the Brahman is a cyclic process. Creation here means the creation of the universe in the broader perspective. It does not mean the birth of an individual. Sustenance also means the sustenance of the universe as a whole. The birth and death of human beings as well as billions of other species is just a trivial part of the activities that happen in the universe. The first amongst the creations are the five basic elements viz. ākāś, air, fire, water and earth. Then the modifications of these elements take place gradually, which is called evolution. Such evolution happens both in physical and subtle planes. The highest known gross form of evolution is man and the highest form of subtle evolution is his mind.

The universe thus created is being administered by the Brahman Himself. In order to maintain a proper balance, creatures are allowed to shed their physical bodies. Souls make the physical bodies to function and hence soul is called kinetic energy. The souls originated from the hiraṇyagarbha or the golden egg. This is so called, as it is born from a golden egg, formed out of the seed deposited in the waters when they were produced as the first creation of the Self-existent. This seed became a golden egg, resplendent as the sun, in which the Self-existent Brahman was born as Brahmā the Creator, who is therefore regarded as a manifestation of the Self-existent. This is held as the fourth act of the Brahman, tirodhāna, or the great dissolution or the act of concealment. The difference between destruction and annihilation is significant. Destruction is the death of a single organism and annihilations is the Supreme act of the Brahman, wherein He makes the entire universe to dissolve and merge unto Himself. At this stage the universe becomes non-existent. There will be no continents, no mountains, no oceans, none of the basic elements (Pañca bhūta-s) exist. Such an act of the Brahman is called mahā-pralayā. This nāma refers to mahā-pralayā, which is caused by Him. The reverse modifications take place during annihilation and penultimately there exists only the five basic elements. Finally these five elements too, dissolve into the Brahman. Brahman is also very compassionate and has the intent to re-create the universe.

{Further reading on hiraṇyagarbha: Brahman has four distinctive states. They are avyakṭā, Iśvarā, hiraṇyagarbha also known as sūtrātma and virāṭ. The first state is avyakṭā, the unmanifest stage. This is also known as turya stage, beyond the three normal stages of consciousness. The next state is Iśvarā. This state is the cause of the universe and is associated with māyā. The third state is hiraṇyagarbha, which binds the universe together. The final state is virāṭ, where transfiguration of the divine happens that is visible to our eyes. The virāṭ is also known as vaiśvānarā, meaning relating or belonging to all men, omnipresent, known or worshipped, everywhere, universal, general, common, etc.}

599. Kṣemakṛt क्षेमकृत्

The beauty of the placement of this nāma is to be relished. Nāma 597 spoke about cleansing one’s mind in order to get liberated. The previous nāma spoke about great annihilation and this nāma talks about His act of sustenance. This implies that He not only liberates and annihilates, but also sustains all the beings. His act of sustenance is universal. There is no differentiation between devotee and non-devotee. All are equal to Him, as far as the act of sustenance is concerned. But His Grace is not available universally.

One has to be His true devotee to get His Grace, which Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad Gītā (IX.2). He says, “Those who always worship Me with mind steadfastly connected to Me and thinking nothing else, I always protect them and personally attend to all their needs.” A true devotee can be explained as the one who has surrendered unto Him, never asks for anything from the Lord, as the Lord Himself personally takes care of all the needs of his sincere devotees. For the Lord also, it is hard to find a true devotee.

This nāma says that though He sustains the universe without any discrimination, He showers His special attention to His true devotees and ensures their comfort.

600. Śivaḥ शिवः

Śiva means auspiciousness. His Grace on His devotees is auspicious, hence He is called Śiva. Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad (7) says that the sum total of all that is good is known as Śivam. Lord Viṣṇu is adored here as Śiva because He is the embodiment of all auspiciousness, which have been discussed through various nāma-s in this Sahasranāma. The Upaniṣad says, “prapañcopaśamaṁ śāntaṁ śivaṁ प्रपञ्चोपशमं शान्तं शिवं”. This means that the total cessation of the world as such, the embodiment of peace and the sum total of all that is good.

This nāma subtly conveys the way to realize Him, which is a prerequisite for liberation. As per the saying of this Upaniṣad, prapañcopaśamaṁ means prapañca + upaśamaṁ. Prapañca means the material world and upaśamaṁ means negation or elimination. Unless the material world is negated, one will not get śāntaṁ, which means mental peace. If one does not get śāntaṁ, he cannot receive His Grace, which is a prerequisite for mokṣa. Since mind is an exclusive gift to humankind, liberation is possible only during a human birth.

This is also endorsed by Mahānārāyaṇa Upaniṣad (21) which says, “May the Supreme, who is the ruler of all knowledge, controller of all created beings, the preserver of the Vedas be benign to me.” This Upaniṣad uses Śivam to mean benignancy.

This nāma can also be interpreted to mean that there is no difference between Viṣṇu and Śiva. They are the two different names of the Brahman. Names and forms are useful only in the initial stages of spiritual life, in order to contemplate on certain prescribed forms. In due course, the forms vanish, leading to the realization of the Divine Light.

Bālā Mantra Japa बाला मन्त्र जप Bala Mantra Japa

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:01:03 PDT

Bālāmantra Japa बालामन्त्र जप

(This is the simple way of doing Bālāmantra Japa)

Seating: While doing this mantra japa, one has to either face East or North. If one does not have a guru, contemplate on Lord Dkṣiṇāmūrti and mentally accept Him as Guru.

1. Curse removal mantra:

बालामन्त्रजपत्वेन शापविमोचनमन्त्रं करिष्ये।

bālāmantrajapatvena śāpavimocanamantraṁ kariṣye।

ह्सौं ह्स्क्ल्रीं ह्स्रौः hsauṁ hsklrīṁ hsrauḥ (to be recited 100 times before the commencement of daily japa. The recitation of this mantra can be dispensed with after reciting 100 times for the first few days.)

2. Ṛṣyādi nyāsaḥ ऋष्यादि न्यासः

अस्य श्री बालात्रिपुरसुन्दरी महा मन्त्रस्य। द्क्षिणामूर्ति ऋषिः। पङ्क्तिछन्दः। बालात्रिपुरसुन्दरी देवता॥

asya śrī bālātripurasundarī mahā mantrasya dkṣiṇāmūrti ṛṣiḥ|(open the right palm and touch the top of the forehead)| paṅktichandaḥ (right palm on the mouth)| bālātripurasundarī devatā(right palm on the heart chakra)॥

ऐं बीजं। सौः शक्तिः। क्लीं कीलकम्॥

श्री बालात्रिपुरसुन्दरी दर्शन भाषण सिद्ध्यर्थे जपे विनियोगः॥

aiṁ bījaṁ (right shoulder)| sauḥ śaktiḥ (left shoulder)| klīṁ kīlakam (on the navel)||

śrī bālātripurasundarī darśana bhāṣaṇa siddhyarthe jape viniyogaḥ (open both the palms and run them over all parts of the body; from head to feet)||

3. Karanyāsaḥ करन्यासः

ऐं - अङ्गुष्ठाभ्याम् नमः। aiṁ - aṅguṣṭhābhyām namaḥ| (use both the index fingers and run them on both the thumbs)

क्लीं - तर्जनीभ्यां नमः। klīṁ - tarjanībhyāṁ namaḥ| (use both the thumbs and run them on both the index fingers)

सौः- मध्यमाभ्यां नमः। sauḥ- madhyamābhyāṁ namaḥ| (both the thumbs on the middle fingers)

ऐं - अनामिकाभ्यां नमः। aiṁ - anāmikābhyāṁ namaḥ| (both the thumbs on the ring fingers)

क्लीं - कनिष्ठीकाभ्यां नमः। klīṁ - kaniṣṭhīkābhyāṁ namaḥ| (both the thumbs on the little fingers)

सौः - करतलकरपृष्ठाभ्यां नमः। sauḥ - karatalakarapṛṣṭhābhyāṁ namaḥ| (open both the palms; run the opened palms of the right hand on the front and back sides of the left palm and repeat the same for the other palm)

4. Hrdayādi nyāsaḥ ह्र्दयादि न्यासः

ऐं- ह्र्दयाय नमः। aiṁ - hrdayāya namaḥ| (open index, middle and ring fingers of the right hand and place them on the heart chakra)

क्लीं - शिरसे स्वाहा। klīṁ - śirase svāhā| (open middle and ring fingers of the right hand and touch the top of the forehead)

सौः - शिखायै वषट्। sauḥ - śikhāyai vaṣaṭ| (open the right thumb and touch the back of the head. This is the point where tuft is kept)

ऐं - कवचाय हुं। aiṁ - kavacāya huṁ| (cross both the hands and run the fully opened palms from shoulders to finger tips)

क्लीं - नेत्रत्रयाय वौषट्। klīṁ - netratrayāya vauṣaṭ| (open the index, middle and ring fingers of the right hand; touch both the eyes using index and ring fingers and touch the point between the two eyebrows (ājñā cakra) with the middle finger.

सौः - अस्त्राय फट्॥ sauḥ - astrāya phaṭ||

भूर्भुवस्सुवरोमिति दिग्बन्धः॥ bhūrbhuvassuvaromiti digbandhaḥ||

5. Dhyānam ध्यानम्

रक्तकलाम्बरां चन्द्रकलावतं सां समुद्यदादित्यनिभां त्रिनेत्रां।

विद्याक्षमालाभयदामहस्तां ध्यायामि बालामरुणाम्बुजस्थाम्॥

raktakalāmbarāṁ candrakalāvataṁ sāṁ samudyadādityanibhāṁ trinetrāṁ|

vidyākṣamālābhayadāmahastāṁ dhyāyāmi bālāmaruṇāmbujasthām||

(Meaning of dhyāna verse for easy contemplation of Her form: I meditate upon the Bālā Devi, clad in red garments whose forehead is decorated with a crescent moon, who has three eyes, whose brilliance is like that of the rising sun, who is seated on a red lotus and who holds in her four bands a sacred book, rosary, abhaya and varada mudras.)

6. Pañcapūjā पञ्चपूजा (follow as per Karanyāsa)

लं - पृथिव्यात्मिकायै गन्धं समर्पयामि।

हं - आकाशात्मिकायै पुष्पैः पूजयामि।

यं - वाय्वात्मिकायै धूपमाघ्रापयामि।

रं - अमृतात्मिकायै अमृतं महानैवेध्यं निवेदयामि।

सं - सर्वात्मिकायै सर्वोपचार पूजाम् समर्पयामि॥

laṁ - pṛthivyātmikāyai gandhaṁ samarpayāmi|

haṁ - ākāśātmikāyai puṣpaiḥ pūjayāmi|

yaṁ - vāyvātmikāyai dhūpamāghrāpayāmi|

raṁ - amṛtātmikāyai amṛtaṁ mahānaivedhyaṁ nivedayāmi|

saṁ - sarvātmikāyai sarvopacāra pūjām samarpayāmi||

7. Bālā mantraḥ बाला मन्त्रः

There are three types of Bālā mantra-s and they are known by different names. One has to choose any one of the following. Out of the three, Bālā navākṣarī mantra is very powerful and is the best mantra for recitation. It is capable of giving material comforts. The three syllable mantra is related to herbs. Those who make sacred herbal medicines should recite this mantra. The second six syllable mantra is capable of providing liberation from transmigration.

1. Bālā mantra consists of three bījākṣara-s – ॐ - ऐं - क्लीं – सौः (om - aiṁ - klīṁ - sauḥ)

2. Bālātripurasundarī mantra consists of six bījākṣara-s - ॐ - ऐं - क्लीं - सौः -- सौः - क्लीं – ऐं (om - aiṁ - klīṁ - sauḥ -- sauḥ - klīṁ - aiṁ)

3. Bālā navākṣarī mantra - ॐ - ऐं - क्लीं - सौः -- सौः - क्लीं - ऐं -- ऐं - क्लीं – सौः (om - aiṁ - klīṁ - sauḥ -- sauḥ - klīṁ - aiṁ -- aiṁ - klīṁ - sauḥ)

8. Hrdayādi nyāsaḥ ह्र्दयादि न्यासः

ऐं- ह्र्दयाय नमः। aiṁ - hrdayāya namaḥ|

क्लीं - शिरसे स्वाहा। klīṁ - śirase svāhā|

सौः - शिखायै वषट्। sauḥ - śikhāyai vaṣaṭ|

ऐं - कवचाय हुं। aiṁ - kavacāya huṁ|

क्लीं - नेत्रत्रयाय वौषट्। klīṁ - netratrayāya vauṣaṭ|

सौः - अस्त्राय फट्॥ sauḥ - astrāya phaṭ||

भूर्भुवस्सुवरोमिति दिग्विमोकः॥ bhūrbhuvassuvaromiti digvimokaḥ||

9. Dhyānam ध्यानम्

रक्तकलाम्बरां चन्द्रकलावतं सां समुद्यदादित्यनिभां त्रिनेत्रां।

विद्याक्षमालाभयदामहस्तां ध्यायामि बालामरुणाम्बुजस्थाम्॥

raktakalāmbarāṁ candrakalāvataṁ sāṁ samudyadādityanibhāṁ trinetrāṁ|

vidyākṣamālābhayadāmahastāṁ dhyāyāmi bālāmaruṇāmbujasthām||

10. Pañcapūjā पञ्चपूजा

लं - पृथिव्यात्मिकायै गन्धं समर्पयामि।

हं - आकाशात्मिकायै पुष्पैः पूजयामि।

यं - वाय्वात्मिकायै धूपमाघ्रापयामि।

रं - अमृतात्मिकायै अमृतं महानैवेध्यं निवेदयामि।

सं - सर्वात्मिकायै सर्वोपचार पूजाम् समर्पयामि॥

laṁ - pṛthivyātmikāyai gandhaṁ samarpayāmi|

haṁ - ākāśātmikāyai puṣpaiḥ pūjayāmi|

yaṁ - vāyvātmikāyai dhūpamāghrāpayāmi|

raṁ - amṛtātmikāyai amṛtaṁ mahānaivedhyaṁ nivedayāmi|

saṁ - sarvātmikāyai sarvopacāra pūjām samarpayāmi||

11. Samarpaṇam समर्पनम्

गुह्यातिगुह्यगोप्त्री त्वं गृहाणास्मात्कृतं जपम्।

सिद्धिर्भवतु मे देवि त्वत्प्रसादान्मयि स्तिरा॥

Guhyātiguhyagoptrī tvaṁ gṛhāṇāsmātkṛtaṁ japam|

Siddhirbhavatu me devi tvatprasādānmayi sthirā||

(Meaning: You sustain the secret of all secrets. Please accept this japa performed by me and bestow Your perpetual Grace on me.)

Click on this link for audio format of Bālāmantra --> Bālāmantra

GURUJI IN THE HORIZON - PART VI

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 23:38:37 PDT

This is part VI of “Guruji in the Horizon”, a spiritual novel consisting of many parts. To read the previous parts, please go to the labels on the right bar and click on this title or click on this link: Guruji in the Horizon

Someone touched me at my shoulders. I turned back and he was standing there. Involuntarily, I got up. My eyes were filled with tears, ready to roll down my cheeks. I looked at him. His entire structure was gleaming and shining. There was a bright shine around his whole body. His grey hair was shining like showcased silver vessels. Everything about him was strange.

“Shankaraaaaaaa! How is your mother now?” He asked. His voice was like music. I liked the way he calls my name. He stretches the last a in my name and call me Shankaraaaaaaaaa. I never knew that my name has such distinct musical notes. When he called me, my body was vibrating. Since I was so engrossed in his voice and the way in which he called me, I forgot to answer him.

“Shankaraaaaaaa” he called again.

“Sir, my mother is completely alright. All her ailments were cured. That is what she told me now. She is jumping like a little girl.” This time I answered promptly. Even though I have great respect for him, I had also developed an inexplicable fear towards him. Anybody in my place would have felt the same kind of fear. In spite of the fact that he appeared very soft and gentle, he commanded not only respect but also a sort of fear. If some God appears before you, what would you do? That type of fear I had, on seeing him.

“Can we go and see her now?”

“Yes sir” I began to walk towards my home without waiting for his reply. He walked brisker than me.

“Amma” I called my mother. She did not come. I again called her. Probably she would have heard me now. She came out.

Ananda asked, “How are you ma?” (Ma is the short form of mother)

“Swami, all my illness had gone. The God was kind to me by extending His help.” I was surprised when my mother said this. She never worshipped at home nor went to temples.”

“Sir, She..” I did not even finish when he stopped me by showing his hands.

“After sometime, you will have vomiting sensation. You vomit thoroughly when you have the sensation. You will feel very tired after vomiting. Do not take anything, till I tell you. Meanwhile, I will go and have my bath.” My mother was startled. Probably she would have thought about his prediction of vomiting.”

“Swami, I don’t feel like vomiting now…” She could not finish.

“I never said that you will vomit now, but after sometime” and he walked towards the river. I ran behind him. He turned back and on seeing me running, slowed down his pace.

“Where do you exercise?”

“I learnt yoga from a yoga master. He lives in the next village. Immediately on getting up, I wash my face and practice all the yogas taught by my master and I do it here.”

“Can you do your yoga now?”

I started trembling now. I know for sure that I have not learnt from my yoga master thoroughly. I continued to be disinterested in yoga also. Knowing my attitude, my yoga master did not take pains in properly training me.

“Yes sir. But I have not learnt thoroughly.”

“Don’t worry Shankaraaaaa. Do whatever you know” his voice was reassuring.

I always use father’s old dhoti as my seat. I ran towards my home and returned with the dhoti. Dhoti was unwashed and emitted the smell of my sweat. I felt very awkward while I spread the dhoti. I looked at him. He was keen to watch me doing yoga. He seems to have not bothered about appurtenance.

I mentally paid obeisance to my yoga master. Facing Ananda sir, I paid respects to him. Then I sat on padamasana (lotus posture). I erratically inhaled and exhaled. He was standing and observing me very carefully. His observation made me jittery. After exhalation, I bent my head to touch the ground and simultaneously taking my hands backwards and clasped both the palms together. Then I returned back to my original position by exhaling the remaining air within. When I went back to my lotus posture, I was gasping for breath. I looked at Anandan sir and continued to remain as before. Then I did few other postures and ended up with sarvanga asana. I would have taken about twenty minutes to do all postures. I had omitted some postures that I found difficult to perform.

“Shankaraaaaa, go and assist your mother now. She is about to vomit.” There was a tone of urgency in his voice.

I ran home and saw mother vomiting. I held her head firmly, so that she does not fall down. She vomited for about ten minutes and she was sweating profusely. When she finished vomiting, she gargled and wiped her face clean. With my support, she was able to get up easily. Except the strain of vomiting, I did not find anything wrong with her. After seating my mother in the verandah, I ran towards Anandan sir and told him that she had completed vomiting. Till my return, he was playing with Jimmy.

Without waiting for my report, he asked “Can we bathe now?”

“Yes sir” I said. Somehow, I did not like using sir to address him. But I used to address my yoga master as sir only.

He took a soap cake from his bag and washed the clothes. He walked towards my rocky bench beneath the banyan tree. Jimmy also walked with him. He spread his clothes and allowed them to dry. He came back to have his bath. He took water in both hands and by murmuring something he poured the water back into the river through his finger tips. This he did several times, which I did not count. Then he took the water again in the same fashion and again murmuring something, he poured the water back into the river, but this time through his palms. Probably he enjoyed his bath and hence stayed in the river for more time. He never uttered even a single word during his bath till he came out of the river. Subsequently I came to know that one should not speak while taking bath in sacred rivers.

“Shankaraaaaa, can we go to the temple?”

I was still in the river, watching his every movement.

I shouted, “Yes sir. I will join you in a minute”

I ran home and changed my dress. I did not bother to wash my clothes. I took some oil, a wick, picked some flowers and took bananas from one of my trees and walked towards him. He was waiting for me. I lit the lamp, removed the old flowers and placed new flowers and placed the bananas before him. I was standing with my hands folded together just below my chin. He was simply standing by my side and was observing me. I was wondering as to why he was observing me instead of praying. As I got tired of standing in that posture, I put down my hands and looked at him. He smiled, turned back and we started walking back.

We reached my house and sat on the verandah. My mother appeared very healthy and she had regained her confidence and grace. She brought diluted butter milk in a stainless steel jar with two glasses. She poured the butter milk in one of the glasses and offered it to Anandan. He looked at my mother and said “Please pour the butter milk in this vessel” by pulling out the copper glass from his bag. My mother transferred the butter milk to his glass. She gave me a glass of butter milk.

He held his glass with butter milk in front of his chest and murmured something and then drank the butter milk. He asked my mother for water to wash his glass. He politely refused the offer made by my mother and me and he himself washed the glass, dried it with a small towel kept in his bag and kept the glass back inside his bag.

“Swami, what would you like to have for lunch?” asked my mother.

“As you please” he replied.

“I will prepare lunch in an hour’s time” said my mother by collecting the glasses.

“Whatever you prepare for lunch, I would like to finish my lunch before noon. I do not take anything past noon” he said.

“Swami, I will serve lunch well before noon” said my mother going back into the house.

“Shankaraaaa” he called me with musical note and continued “can we go to the bench there?” he asked me by showing my rocky bench. We walked towards the bench. On reaching the bench, he collected his clothes, folded them and kept them in his bag. He sat on the bench.

“Sit by my side” he said looking at me.

“Why you are not like other boys of your age?”

“I do not know sir” I said.

“Don’t you think that you are wasting your time?”

There is no answer for his question. I kept quiet.

“Why can’t you speak Shankaraaaaa?”

Since I did not answer, he himself answered his own question on my behalf.

“Because you do not have any requirement, or ambition, it is difficult to see a boy like you.”

I was shocked for a moment. He exactly read my mind. I do not have aspirations in my life. I do not need anything. My life is limited to my mother, my house, my land and Jimmy. I work in my land throughout the day. I eat whatever my mother gives me. During leisure time, I sit on the bench and brood over. Sometimes, I play with Jimmy.

“Why can’t you meet God?”

I looked at him surprisingly.

“Is it possible?”

“I will arrange the meeting for you”

“Have you met God before?”

“Yes. Even now He is with me”

I thought this man is crazy.

“But I am not able to see Him with you”

After my question there was complete silence. He did not speak for two minutes.

“I will take you to see God. Your yoga is not perfect and is full of mistakes. That is not the way you should do yoga. You should synchronize your breath with body movements. Probably your yoga teacher had not taught you this.”

“Can we meet yoga master today or tomorrow” I asked.

“No need. He is wrong and I know that. We should never expose somebody’s ignorance unnecessarily. We should not hurt him.”

“How long you are going to stay with us?” I asked him, worried.

“As long as you like”

I smiled and he was happy.

“How do I address you, sir? I do not find sir is the right way of addressing you. Can I address you swami like my mother does?”

“I am going to be your first teacher. In Sanskrit, a teacher is known as guru. You address me as guruji where ji means respect. You should always respect your teachers, including your present yoga teacher.”

“Guruji” I addressed him once and I was happy with the word guruji.

“Shankaraaaaa, you are going to begin a new life. For seeing God, your way of life should change.”

“Yes guruji, I understand. But what if I do not see God?”

He looked at me surprisingly. “Seeing God is generally used as a jargon. God cannot be seen through your biological eyes and can be envisioned only through a Divine eye. He is extremely bright, several times brighter than the sun. I will explain to you later. To answer your question very simply, if you happen to see God, you are not reborn.”

In spite of his explanation, I was not clear about the difference between seeing God and realizing God.

He continued, “God is everywhere and He knows everything. Nothing goes unnoticed by Him. He can know even our thoughts. As far as He is concerned, there is no difference between your thoughts and your actions. Both your thoughts and actions originate from your mind. You have to learn to keep your mind clean, without any blemishes whatsoever.”

“But guruji, what is mind?”

“Just now I told you, your thoughts and actions originate from your mind. You should be more attentive. A good pupil should carefully listen to his master. If you lose your attention on what he says, the absorption of his teaching will lead to further confusion and dilemma because you would have skipped noticing a particular point. If your assimilation is not perfect, your practice becomes irrelevant. For example the teacher would have explained to you how to light a lamp. ‘Take an earthen lamp, pour some oil, place a wick and then light the wick with a match stick.’ Suppose you have failed to notice ‘place a wick’, then you will light the lamp without a wick and the light will never burn. Then you will go back to your master saying that lamp could not be lighted. By not listening to your master carefully, you will raise unnecessary doubts. By not being attentive to him, you not only waste your time, but also waste your master’s time. Some masters are extremely busy.” I thought that he is going to be tough as a teacher.

VIṢṆU SAHASRANĀMA विष्णु सहस्रनाम 581 - 588

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 06:32:30 PDT

581. Śamaḥ शमः

Śama means tranquility of the mind. Unless the mind is completely tranquil during intent stages of meditation, realization of the Self is not possible. Providing such a mind to sages and saints happens due to His Grace. In spiritual realization, His Grace is the most important factor. If His Grace is there, rest happens automatically out of fear for Him, as Brahman is all potent.

This nāma specifically talks about sages and saints and not about the aspirants. Aspirants have to cross several stages before they can long His Grace. These stages are categorised as sādhana, the practice of spiritual discipline. Without spiritual practice, realization of the Self is not possible. Therefore, His Grace is available to those who have gone through the practice of tough of spiritual discipline. When they have mastered sādhana, realization happens to them automatically, as His Grace and sādhana make them perfect. They are called sages and saints. Sages and saints are not recognised and respected by their attire, but by the knowledge of the Self.

582. Śāntaḥ शान्तः

Śānta means peace or tranquil. The previous nāma said that He causes tranquillity of the mind of sages and saints. This nāma says, how He causes tranquillity. The phenomenon of the Brahman is difficult to understand, hence there are many Scriptures that explain Him in different ways. Many of the realized sages and saints have explained sādhana in the way, they have realized Him. It is not necessary that all the aspirants have to reach the Goal in a specific way. There are different options available. For example, to reach a particular place, there could be many routes, many transport, etc. The choice is to be made by the aspirant’s Guru. That is why all these Scriptures underline the importance of Guru.

Brahman is an embodiment of every aspect of life in the universe, as everything originates from Him and tranquillity is one of such embodiments. What one has, can be given to others; and what one does not have, cannot be given to others. Based on this principle, Lord Viṣṇu gives tranquility to saints and sages as He is an embodiment of tranquility.

Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (VI.19) lists out the qualities of the Brahman:

niṣkalṁ niṣkriyaṁ śantaṁ niravadyaṁ nirañjanam|

amṛtasya paraṁ setuṁ dagdhendhanamivānalam||

निष्कल्ं निष्क्रियं शन्तं निरवद्यं निरञ्जनम्।

अमृतस्य परं सेतुं दग्धेन्धनमिवानलम्॥

niṣkalṁ - no form; niṣkriyaṁ - no action; śantaṁ (the present nāma) – no attachment or hatred leading to tranquillity; niravadyaṁ - above reproach; amṛtasya – liberation; paraṁ - higher; setum – bridge; dagdhendhanam analam – smokeless fire; iva – like.

{He has no form, no action, no attachment or hatred. He is above reproach and has no blemish. He is the best bridge to immortality. He is bright as a smokeless fire. (This is why I seek refuge in Him)}

This clearly explains that tranquility of mind is not that easy to attain. One has to understand this Reality.

583. Niṣṭhā निष्ठा

Niṣṭhā means the end point and contextually it refers to annihilation caused by deluge.

But this nāma can be explained in conjunction with the previous two nāma-s. Brahman is known as macrocosmic (omnipotence) form and an individual being is known as microcosmic (miniature or reflection of macrocosm) forms. The Self performs five acts – creation, sustenance, death, concealment and grace (pañcakṛtya-s). These five acts happen, both in macrocosm and in microcosm. At the macrocosmic level, everything is explained in gross form. This refers to the creation of the universe, sustenance of the universe, death or destruction of various objects in the universe in order to maintain the balance in the universe, annihilation of the universe where nothing is left and recreation of the universe, when out of compassion, He recreates beings.

At the microcosmic level or at the level of an individual, who forms a tiny part of macrocosm, the same five acts happen internally in the mind of the aspirant, leading to his final liberation. Here the fifth act, Grace is referred. When an aspirant becomes perfect, His Grace is showered on Him, paving way for his liberation. Therefore, niṣṭhā means the penultimate state of individual liberation, where the aspirant totally surrenders unto Him. If one surrenders to Him, the next state is His Grace. Grace is not easy to attain and one has to attain perfection in the previous four states. These four states may also refer to the four states of consciousness viz. active state, dream state, deep sleep state, turya state and the fifth one being turyātīta. The last state is where one does not perceive differences and the whole universe appears to him as the Self.

584. Śāntiḥ शान्तिः

Śāntaḥ (nāma 582) and Śānti (the present nāma) both mean the tranquility of mental state. Mental peace can be attained in two ways. One is by extreme devotion and another is through study of Scriptures, which removes spiritual ignorance leading to enlightenment. For both, His Grace is prerequisite. This nāma refers to the removal of spiritual ignorance, also known as removal of avidya.

585. Parāyaṇam परायणम्

Parāyaṇa means point of no return, the cessation of transmigration. When one attains perfection in spiritual practice, his level of consciousness gets purified with the intensity of practice. The Purest form of Consciousness is the Brahman. It is difficult for such a person to get back to worldly affairs after enjoying the state of Bliss.

Kṛṣṇa explains this in Bhagavad Gītā (XV.4), “Thereafter a man should diligently seek for that Supreme State, Brahman, having attained to which they return no more to this world…”

Further reading: These last few nāma-s are to be understood in the right perspective. The foremost thing in spirituality is His Grace. One begins to make spiritual progress only after He showers His Grace. From this point onwards, the aspirant makes spiritual ascension by resorting to tough sādhana. A few hours of meditation, reading a few pages of Scriptures and attending a few spiritual discourses do not tantamount to sādhana. Sādhana is to be practiced under the guidance of a learned and realized Guru. The concept of Guru is often overlooked. Guru here does not refer to the normal gurus who often initiate mantras, rituals, etc to an aspirant. Guru means the One, who can kindle the burning spiritual fire in the body of the aspirant. This Guru is capable of enlightening and initiating the Consciousness of the aspirant, by making him sit opposite to him. Spiritual advancement can be attained only through tranquilizing the mind. If the mind is made calm and composed by disconnecting it from the sensory influences, the mind gradually moves away from the matter and turns its attention to the Subject within. For a sincere and dedicated aspirant, it takes no time to align his consciousness with that of his Guru, whose consciousness is nothing but Pure Consciousness, the Brahman. In other words, there is no difference between a Guru and the Brahman.

586. Śubhāṅgaḥ शुभाङ्गः

Śubhāṅga means handsome. Lord Viṣṇu is handsome because of His three qualities. One, He upholds dharma; two, He looks at everyone equally; three, He voluntarily offers to the advanced spiritual aspirants by giving them His Grace. It is said that one’s mind is reflected through his body.

587. Śāntidaḥ शान्तिदः

He is the giver of peace that has been discussed in the previous nāma-s. When mind is in the state of peace, one can contemplate on Him. When the mind is crowded with too many thoughts, one’s awareness distracts. If the mind contemplates only on Him, mind is able to concentrate well, paving way for a fruitful meditation.

Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad Gītā (XIII.62), “Take shelter in Him (referring to Himself) with all your being Arjuna. By His mere Grace, you shall obtain supreme state with the eternal state.”

588. Sraṣṭā स्रष्टा

Repetitive nāma 990.

Sraṣṭa means the Creator. He is the Creator of not only the beings but the entire universe. He creates souls, He creates the materialistic world for the beings to enjoy, He creates the objects of enjoyments. He not only Creates good, but also Creates bad. Thus He is the Creator of everything. Depending upon one’s karmic account, one gets entangled in the material world. Since He is compassionate, He showers His grace on the deluded beings, and offer them liberation.

We wrongly take credit for whatever we do. Every action of ours is predetermined by our karmic account. Unless one chooses to surrender unto Him, he does not accrue further karmas. However, he has to undergo the pains and pleasures of his outstanding karmic account.

Hence, He has been aptly addressed as Sraṣṭā.

GURUJI IN THE HORIZON - PART V

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 04:42:36 PDT

This is part V of “Guruji in the Horizon”, a spiritual novel consisting of many parts. To read the previous parts, please go to the labels on the right bar and click on this title or click on this link: Guruji in the Horizon

I couldn’t answer properly as I was doing nothing. I wanted to stay in this place as long as my mother and Jimmy were alive. After their death, I do not know. May be I could go to an orphanage or continue to stay here. I firmly believe in God. Except my firm faith in God, I do not perform any rituals, not because I do not believe in rituals, but because nobody is there to teach me the right way.

“I take care of my land” I meekly replied.

“Did you buy that land?”

“No sir. It belongs to my father, who is no more”

“But you said your land” Just then I remembered his aversion to the word ‘my’.

I realised my mistake. “Sorry sir. It is my father’s.”

“Who else are with you?”

I was tensed to answer his question as I was in a dilemma whether to say my mother or simply mother. I thought for a moment and told him

“I stay with my mother and Jimmy”

I was happy that he did not object to the usage of my.

“Why do you call him as Jimmy?”

I have no answer. “I do not know, but I call him Jimmy”

All the three of us took our bath without any further conversation. He started walking towards the stone bench. He spread his wet clothes on the bench.

“Can I stay with you?” he asked.

Without hesitation I said “yes sir”.

“My mother is aged and not very healthy. She cooks once a day. We take only rice and diluted butter milk in the night.”

“But that is more than enough to satiate your hunger” he said.

“I am used to that and hence I do not feel the hunger. Would you mind sharing our food for the night?”

“No. I eat once a day. I do not eat in the night. Go and take your food.” He said sitting on the verandah of our house.

“Can I see your mother?”

I called my mother. She was half-asleep. She walked towards us. I do not how to introduce him to my mother.

“This is my mother”

He stood up and paid his respects to her. She should be elder to him, but I was not sure.

“I met your son here. I like him. Can I stay here for a few days?” he spoke to my mother.

My mother had no hesitation in saying yes. When any one looks at him, none can say no to him. He commands such a respect.

“Thank you. Do you have any health problem?” he posed this question to my mother.

“Yes sir. I have joint pain. I have problems with my vision. Doctors say that I have developed cataract. We do not have enough money to get operated. Further, I never wanted to get myself admitted in a hospital.” She finished with a big sigh.

“Do you have asthma trouble?” He asked.

She said, “Yes”.

“Do you have frequent headache?”

“Yes” my mother said.

He smiled at her and asked us to have our dinner. He smiled when I took my food along with Jimmy and shook his head side to side expressing his disapproval. After completing my dinner, I washed the vessels, cleaned the place and joined him at the verandah. I was very curious to know about him. But I was scared to ask him.

“You want to know about me, right?” When he asked this, I was little shaken.

I politely said “yes sir”. I was still standing before him.

“My full name is Prakashananda. Many pronounce it wrongly. Hence I ask them to call me as Ananda.”

“Have you come to this place before?”

“No” he said. “I do not visit any place for the second time except my gurus’ places.”

“What do you do and why you have come here?” at last I asked him what I wanted to ask.

“Sit here my son” he said showing his right side. He has got the knack of communicating through his eyes.

I was very pleased. I could read his concern and affection for me. I went to his side and sat down.

“What time you go to sleep?” he asked.

“No prescribed schedule sir. I do not know what time I sleep. We do not have a clock at home. We never felt the need for one. To a certain extent, I can tell the time based on the position of the sun.”

“Where do you sleep?” he asked me.

“Here, in the verandah or on the stone bench, which you had seen.”

“Do you feel sleepy now?” he asked.

“No sir”

“Can I sleep now and here?”

“Sir, as you wish”

“Do you need any bedding?”

“No, I do not use other’s clothes. I have everything in this bag.” He pulled out another towel. He spread it on the floor. He sat on the towel and muttered something and placed his bag as a pillow. He asked me to bring some water. I went inside and brought some water. He took a copper vessel from his bag and poured water into his copper vessel.

“Never bring water filled to the brim of the vessel. If you want to drink, the water will spill on you making you wet. You should never sleep without water by your side, especially in the night. Water should never be wasted. There are five elements and water is one among them. You should never disrespect water by pouring it on the ground.”

He drank water and kept the vessel near his bag and began to sleep. Somehow, I do not want to stand by his side, while he was asleep. I moved out to the stone bench along with Jimmy. I was thinking about the happenings after I lit the lamp before Ganapati. I could not understand what was unfurling, but was confident that something is happening to me. By rewinding the day, I also drifted into sleep.

I woke up as usual and looked at the place where Ananda was sleeping. He was not there. I saw my mother. She appeared very fresh. She walked very briskly. I have never seen my mother so active before. She was always nourishing some ailment or other in her body. I ran towards her.

“Shankara! All my ailments have gone. I have no joint pain. I am able to see very clearly. My asthma trouble has also gone. I am having perfect health Shankara!” My mother was shouting like a baby. She was so happy and even began to jump to prove that she has been cured.

Illness often causes mental depression. We never take preventive measures to avoid illness. If we take precautionary measures, we can avoid most of the ailments. Once the virus enters our body, they are not banished easily. Controlled food intake, more of vegetables and fruits and curd are good for health.

“Shankara! God is very kind to me! Look how God has helped me overnight!” She shouted. I know that she never had any faith in God nor she is an atheist. But mind told me that she got cured only because of Ananda. But he is not to be seen around. My intuition told me that he had not gone anywhere. He should be close to my place only. I ran towards the river. I looked at the river, but none was there. Jimmy also ran with me. From the river I looked at the land side. He was not to be seen. I was waiting totally disappointed. I had a feeling that I had lost something very precious in my life. My mind told me that I should not have let him go. I cursed myself for being so careless by sleeping like a hog. Generally, I wake up even if there is a small sound. Jimmy also barks if there is a new person entering our area. I have never seen him barking unnecessarily.

The bank of the river is bushy with grown up trees. Trees in the bank prevent land erosion when there are floods in the river. On a couple of occasions water has entered into our hamlet, but never caused any serious damage. I was confident that he is not going to be in those plushy bushes. My intuition told me to wait for him in river bed. I sat there, looking at the river. The flow of water, though remained the same, appeared to be different to me. I had a strange feeling that the flowing water appeared to be happy today.

(to be continued)

MAHĀṢODAŚĪ MANTRA महाषोदशी मन्त्र MAHA SHODASHI MANTRA

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 00:18:04 PDT

All mantra-s are considered secretive in nature and Ṣodaśī is not an exception. Recitation of Ṣodaśī leads to liberation. This mantra does not give any materialistic gains. It leads straight to the Brahman. Normally, one is not initiated into this mantra straight away. Guru decides the timing of initiation into this mantra. Generally one is first initiated into Bālā. Depending upon one’s progress, Pañcadaśī is initiated. If Guru considers that his disciple is fit for final liberation, he initiates him into Ṣodaśī. One should recite 900,000 times of this mantra followed by puraścaraṇa rituals to attain siddhi. Puraścaraṇa is only for 100,000 recitations. Then only liberation is possible. It is also said that initiation into Ṣodaśī depends upon one’s karmic account.

Ṣodaśī vidyā is considered as Brahma vidyā, knowledge of the Brahman. Brahman is revealed in the form of mantra-s in Ṣodaśī vidyā. Since Ṣodaśī reveals the Brahman in the form of mantra-s, it is treated as highly secretive in nature. But the important aspect of its secrecy is the replacement of second Om in this mantra with the aspirant’s ātma bīja. The third aspect of the secrecy is the worship of ninth āvaraṇa of Śrī Cakrā that deals with parā, parāpara and apara states (these states have been dealt with while discussing nāma-s). If one is able to reach the fourth stage of turya or turīya, he gets prepared to attain liberation in the next stage of turyātīta. Turya is reached without any difficulty when Ṣodaśī mantra is mentally recited regularly.

(Turya and turyātīta: Turya is the fourth state of consciousness, the other three being active, dream and deep sleep. Turya stage transcends all the above three stages by bundling them out. The level of consciousness at turya stage is very close to the stage of blissfulness, derived from experiment and observation rather than theory. Turyātīta is the stage where one’s consciousness transcends turya stage. In this stage of blissful consciousness, the Brahman is realised where one feels that “I am That” or aham brahmāsmi. The final stage of merging into the Brahman is kaivalya, when a soul ceases to transmigrate.}

In Pañcadaśī one can transcend the fourth state of consciousness, the turiya state. In Ṣodaśī one can merge with the Brahman, by reaching the fifth state of consciousness, turyātīta. There is nothing beyond this. What happens if one transcends turya state? The self is replaced by SELF. This transformative realization happens in a fraction of a second where near death-like situation is experienced. One is not the same person after that ‘second’.

Ṣoḍaśī mantra is superior to Pañcadaśī. Ṣoḍaśan means sixteen and ṣoḍaśaḥ means sixteenth. Ṣoḍaśī mantra is derived by adding one more bīja to Pañcadaśī mantra. In fact, Ṣoḍaśī mantra consists of twenty eight bīja-s and formed like this. The first Om is excluded for computation, as all the mantras begin with ॐ.

1. Om ॐ

2. śrīṁ - hrīṁ - klīṁ - aiṁ - sauḥ: श्रीं ह्रीं क्लीं ऐं सौः (5 bīja-s)

3. om - hrīṁ - śrīṁ ॐ ह्रीं श्रीं (3 bīja-s)

4. ka – e - ī – la- hrīṁ क ए ई ल ह्रीं (5 bīja-s)

5. ha - sa – ka – ha - la - hrīṁ ह स क ह ल ह्रीं (6 bīja-s)

6. sa – ka - la - hrīṁ स क ल ह्रीं (4 bīja-s)

7. sauḥ - aiṁ - klīṁ - hrīṁ - śrīṁ सौः ऐं क्लीं ह्रीं श्रीं (5 bīja-s)

If this mantra is observed, one can find lines 4, 5 and 6 are the Pañcadaśī mantra and each line representing one kūṭa of Pañcadaśī. If lines 2 and 7 are observed, the bīja-s contained in the 2^nd line are placed in the 7^th line in reversed order. For example, the last bīja in line two is sauḥ: and this is placed as the first bīja of the 7^th line. This is called saṃpuṭikaraṇa or encasing of a mantra so that the power of mantra remains within the practitioner.

This mantra is known as Ṣoḍaśī because of sixteen bīja-s, each kalā (kalā means a part) representing a kalā of moon. This is arrived at by adding Lakṣmī bīja śrīṁ (श्रीं) at the end of Pañcadaśī mantra. These sixteen bīja-s are arrived at by considering each kūṭa of Pañcadaśī mantra as one bīja. This way, lines 4, 5 and 6 are considered as one bīja each, thus forming three bīja-s. The sixteen bīja-s are arrived by adding 5+3+1+1+1+5 (from line 2 to 7). There are two ॐ in this mantra. The first ॐ is not considered for calculation. The second ॐ in line 3 is replaced by ātma bīja of the practitioner and this is decided by one’s guru. Such a decision can be made by a guru if he is conversant with mantra-s and bīja-s. A wrong bīja can destroy the practitioner.

Ṣoḍaśī mantra is meant exclusively for liberation and those who seek liberation alone should be initiated in this mantra. Ṣoḍaśī mantra is the ultimate of all mantra-s and there is no other mantra superior to this. Those who are initiated into this mantra are not supposed to prostrate before anyone except his guru. Śaktī is worshipped in ten different forms and this is known as daśa mahā vidyā and ṣoḍaśī is one among them. Ṣoḍaśī vidyā has too many prescribed rituals.

Like every mantra Ṣoḍaśī mantra also has curse removal mantra, also known as śāpavimocana mantra. All along this mantra is not revealed to all the aspirants. If curses on mantras are not removed, mantras will not fructify. Śāpavimocana mantra for Ṣoḍaśī mantra is given below for the benefit of sincere aspirants. However, one should obtain prior approval from one’s guru. Śāpavimocana mantra, which consists of three parts should be recited before the commencement of mantra japa. First part should be recited seven times, second part three times and the third part one time.

First Part – should be recited seven times:

ई ए क ल ह्रीं ī e ka la hrīṁ

ह स क ह ल ह्रीं ha sa ka ha la hrīṁ

स क ल ह्रीं sa ka la hrīṁ

Second Part – should be recited three times:

ह स क ह स क ह ल ह्रीं ha sa ka ha sa ka ha la hrīṁ

स क ल ह्रीं sa ka la hrīṁ

ई ए क ल ह्रीं ī e ka la hrīṁ

Third Part – should be recited one time.

ह ल भ भ भ भ भ अ ha la bha bha bha bha bha a

PAÑCADAŚĪ MANTRA - पञ्चदशी मन्त्र - PANCHADASHI MANTRA

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 07:15:37 PDT

The main mantra of Lalitāmbikā is Pañcadaśī which consists of fifteen bīja-s. A bīja need not be a single Sanskrit alphabet. It could be a combination of alphabets. For example, sa is a bīja and it is a single alphabet, whereas hṛīṃ is also a bīja but a combination of many alphabets. Each alphabet in Sanskrit has a meaning. If we take the first letter a in Sanskrit alphabet, it conveys many things. It is the origin of (OM); it also means unification, non-destruction, etc. The interpretation of meaning for such bīja-s mostly depends on the context in which it is used. Pañcadaśa means fifteen. Since this mantra has fifteen bīja-s, it is called as Pañcadaśī. Pañcadaśī mantra consists of three groups consisting of bīja-s and each line is called kūṭa or group. The three kūṭa-s are known as vāgbhava kūṭa, kāmarāja kūtā or madhya kūṭa and śakti kūtā. Vāgbhava kūṭa represents Lalitāmbikā’s face, kāmarāja kūṭa represents the portion between Her neck and hip and the last one śakti kūṭa represents the portion below Her hip. The whole form of Lalitāmbikā is made up of these three kūṭa-s. This is one of the reasons why Pañcadaśī is considered as very powerful. These three kūṭa-s are joined in such a way that an inverted triangle is formed which represents Her yoni, the source of the universe. This is why this mantra is considered as highly secretive. Vāgbhava kūṭa is the right side of this triangle, kāmarāja kūṭa the upper side and śakti kūṭa forms the left side of the triangle.

Vāgbhava kūṭa consists of five bīja-s viz. ka-e-ī-la-hrīṁ .

Madhya kūṭa consists of six bīja-s viz. ha-sa-ka-ha-la-hrīṁ .

śakti kūṭa consists of four bīja-s viz. sa-ka-la-hrīṁ.

Thus, we have fifteen bīja-s of Pañcadaśī. This mantra is not revealed by these bīja-s, but by the following verse in Sanskrit.

kāmo yoni: kamalā vajrapāṇirguhāhasā matariśvābhrāmindraḥ|

punarguhāsakala māyayā ca purucyeṣā viśvamātādividyā||

This is the verse where in the fifteen bīja-s of Pañcadaśī are hidden. This is a clear indication of the highly secretive nature of this mantra. From this verse, the fifteen bīja-s of Pañcadaśī are arrived thus. kāman (ka) yoni: (e) kamalā (ī)vajrapāniṛ (la)-guhā (hrīṃ) ha (ha) sā (sa) mathariśvā (ka) abram (ha) indraḥ (la)| punar (punar means again) guhā (hrīṃ) sakala (sa,ka,la) māyayā ca (hrīṃ) purucyeṣā viśvamātādividyā.

The first kūṭa has five bīja-s ka-e-ī -la- hrīṃ. The entire three kūṭa-s end with hrīṃ and this hrīṃ is called hṛllekha. A lot of importance is attached to this hṛllekha which is also called as māyā bīja. Vākbhava kūṭa is also known as agni khaṇḍa and indicates jñāna śakti of Lalitāmbikā. Ka means Brahma, the creator. e means Sarasvatī the goddess of jñāna. ī means Lakṣmī, la means Indra and hrīṃ means the merger of Śiva and Śaktī. The bīja ka is the root of kāma bīja klīṁ (क्लीं). ka also bestows peace and prosperity to the sādaka. The next bīja e prevents misfortunes to the sādaka. ī bestows wealth and all good things to sādaka. The bīja la gives victory to the sādaka. Thus, the first four bīja-s give peace, prosperity, prevention of misfortunes, auspiciousness and a status like Indra. This means victory to sādaka in every step he puts forward. (Indra is the chief of all gods and goddesses and is victorious in all the battles against demons).

hrīṁ is made up of twelve letters. H + r + ī + m and a bindu. Bindu is a dot on the letter m (ṁ). But this is not just a dot. This dot comprises of ardacandra, rodhinī, nāda, nādānta, śakti, vyāpikā, samanā and uṇmanī. Beginning from bindu and including these eight, is nāda (total nine). This nāda comprises of two V-s one above the other (each V has two lines and two V-s together have four lines) and four dots each at the open ends of V and one dot on the top these four dots. This is the combination of bīja hrīṁ. More than these V-s and dots, the pronunciation is important. There are specifications of length of timing for pronunciations of each bīja. The entire kūṭa should be pronounced in eleven mātrā-s (a mātrā is the time taken for a winking, possibly lesser than a second). There are guidelines for pronouncing the bīja-s. The pronunciation of Vākbhava kūṭa should commence from mūlādhāra cakra and end at anāhata cakra, contemplating the entire kūṭa as the fire.

The second kūṭa is kāmarāja kūṭa or madhya kūṭa is to be meditated upon Lalitāmbikā’s neck to hip. This kūṭa has the highest number of bīja-s, six. They are ha-sa-ka-ha-la- hrīṁ. Out of these, ka, la and hrīṁ have been discussed in the first kūṭa, leaving two new bīja-s in this kūṭa. Out of the new bīja-s, ha has been repeated twice. The first ha means Śiva; the second ha means ākāś element (Saundarya Laharī (verse 32) refers this second ha as the sun) and sa in this place means Viṣṇu. With reference to the five basic elements, sa means air element. The bīja ha is also known as eunuch bīja. Probably this is the reason why the bīja hrīṁ refers to the union of Śiva and Śaktī. In the first kūṭa, Brahma was mentioned, as the first kūṭa refers to creation. In this kūṭa of sustenance, Viṣṇu is mentioned as He is the lord of sustenance. This kūṭa should be pronounced in a time frame of 11.50 mātrā. This kūṭa is to be contemplated from anāhata cakra to ājñā cakra in the form brightness that is equivalent to millions of suns. This kūṭa is also called sūrya khaṇḍa and forms the second act of Brahman viz. the sustenance. Since it is associated with sustenance, desire is attached to this kūṭa.

The third and the last kūṭa which is called śaktī kūṭa, has only four bīja-s. This kūṭa is to be meditated upon the portion between hip and the feet of Lalitāmbikā. The four bīja-s are sa-ka-la- hrīṃ. The first kūṭa has five bīja-s, second kūṭa six bīja-s and the third has only four bīja-s. Possibly this could mean that sustenance is the most difficult act and dissolution is the easiest act. Vākbhava kūṭa refers to subtle intellect, kāmarāja kūṭa refers to preponderance of valour, wealth, fame, etc and the third kūṭa, the śakti kūṭa expands the conveyance of the previous two kūṭa-s. It can be noticed that two ha bīja-s in the madhya kūṭa is removed in this śaktī kūṭa. This kūṭa is to be pronounced in a time frame of eight and a half mātrā-s. The entire Pañcadaśī mantra should be pronounced in thirty one mātrā-s. In the case of continuous recitation of this mantra, without leaving time gap between the kūṭa only twenty nine mātrā-s are prescribed. But the time factor does not apply when the mantra is recited mentally. This kūṭa is to be contemplated from anāhata cakra to the middle of the forehead in the forms of brightness comparable to the millions of moons. There are nine stages from anāhata to the middle of the forehead. These nine stages are nothing but the nine components of nāda which was discussed under hrīṃ. This kūṭa is called chandra khaṇḍa and forms the third act of Brahman, the dissolution. The dissolution is represented by the bījā ‘la’ which means the destructive weaponries viz. vajra (thunder bolt), cakra (the wheel. Possibly meaning the Sudarśana cakra of Viṣṇu), triśūla or trident of Śiva and the gada of Viṣṇu. There are three hrīṃ-s in Pañcadaśī each representing creation, sustenance and dissolution.

Śaṃkarācārya also talks about the bīja-s of Pañcadaśī in a secretive manner in Saundarya Laharī (verse 32). In the second kūṭa out of the two ha bīja-s, Śaṃkarācārya means sun instead of ākāś element. The interpretations of the bīja-s differ from scholar to scholar. It is also pertinent to note that chanting of one round of Pañcadaśī mantra is equivalent to three rounds of recitation of pūrṇa Gāyatrī mantra. Pūrṇa Gāyatrī means an addition of paro rajase sāvadom as the last line in addition to the existing three lines.

BĀLĀ MANTRA - बाला मन्त्र - BALA MANTRA

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Wed, 09 May 2012 21:47:22 PDT

Śrī Bālātripurasundarī mantra is one of the most powerful mantras in Śrī Vidyā cult. As a rule, one is initiated by a guru only with this mantra when an aspirant expresses his desire to pursue Śaktī upāsana, which is also known as Śrī Vidyā upāsana. This mantra is commonly known as Bālā mantra.

There are three types of Bālā mantra-s and they are known by different names.

1. Bālā mantra consists of three bījākṣara-s – ॐ - ऐं - क्लीं – सौः (om - aiṁ - klīṁ - sauḥ)

The most powerful mantra of the three is Bālā navākṣarī mantra, because the reverse order of Bālā mantra is encased by Bālā mantra itself. Encasement is known as sampuṭīkaraṇa, where the power, vibration and energy of a mantra are encased between two bījākṣara-s. When a mantra is recited in the reverse order, the power of a mantra increases several folds. When a mantra is recited with absolute concentration, it generates intent energy within the body and gets diffused through the body. In order to prevent the diffusion of the energy and to hold the energy thus generated within the body, a mantra is encased between two bījākṣara-s. These bījākṣara-s are either in the same order, like the one in Bālā navākṣarī mantra or the beginning bījākṣara/s could be in the right order and the end bījākṣara/s could be in an inverted order as in the case of ṣoḍaśī mahā mantra.

The three bījākṣara-s of Bālā mantra are known by different names. Bīja ऐं (aiṁ) is known as vāgbhavabīja. This bīja helps in perfecting knowledge. The second bīja क्लीं (klīṁ) is known as kāmabīja. Kāma generally means desire and here it is the desire to attain Her feet. The third bīja is सौः (sauḥ). This is called seed mantra, also known as parabīja, or piṇḍanātha. This mantra is also known as mantra of Goddess Parāśaktī. This bīja gives power to the aspirant the full potency (known as mantravīrya) to realize the Self.

सौः (sauḥ) consists of three letters s + au + ḥ. S stands for the Being. au is the Powers of Will, Knowledge and Action.The last letter ḥ is known as visarga because it “inwardly” projects the universe through the letter au. सौः (sauḥ) also makes the kuṇḍalinī of a true spiritual aspirant to ascend and can be explained from tantric point of view. To attain sidhhi of this mantra, one has to recite 300,000 times.

There are four dhyāna verses for Bālā mantra and any one of them can be chosen. Normally, the guru who initiates this mantra decides, as to which is the suitable one, for an aspirant. All the mantras have curses and each of these mantras have different mantras for removing such curses. These curses are made by sages, gods, goddesses, etc. Bālā mantra too is cursed by Devi, which can be removed by reciting Tripura Bhairavi mantra 100 times.

Tripura Bhairavi mantra: हसैं हसकरीं हसैं hsaūṁ hsklrīṁ hsrauḥ.

SRI VIDYA ŚRĪ VIDYĀ श्री विद्या

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 10:50:00 PDT

Śrī Vidyā means auspicious knowledge. Everything concerned with Lalitāmbikā is auspicious. Knowledge about Her is passed on from a guru to his disciple by way of initiation. Guru initiates his disciple into a mantra japa called Pañcadaśī mantra or any other mantra of his choice. Normally the first initiation is Her younger form called Bālā (will be discussed next in this series). Based upon the disciple’s progress, Pañcadaśī mantra and ṣodaśī mantra are initiated. The supreme mantra japa of Lalitāmbikā is known as mahā- ṣodaśī, mantra, which leads the practitioner to emancipation. The relationship between a master and his Guru continues until the disciple is fully developed and becomes independent. There is a huge difference between “Guru” and ‘guru’. Upper case G refers to a Self realized person and the lower case g refers to a person who has merely studied tantra śāstra-s and deeply involved in rituals connected with it and stay with these rituals, thus proclaiming himself as an authority on Śrī Vidyā. The mantras thus initiated need to be recited a certain number of times. On completing such number of recitations, the disciple has to perform certain other rituals like fire oblations. Once the entire procedure is completed, the disciple should be able to establish commune with Her.

Apart from mantra japa-s, the ritual worship of Śrī Cakra is also taught by the guru to his disciple. The disciple is expected to recite a prescribed number of mūla mantra-s (like Pañcadaśī or ṣodaśī) daily and this should be followed by ritual worship of Śrī Cakra. This should be followed by meditation. The importance of Śrī Vidyā is the culture of guru-disciple relationship.

SRI CHAKRA - ŚRĪ CAKRA - श्री चक्रा

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 10:54:46 PDT

Śrī Cakra is the abode of Lalitāmbikā. Śrī Cakra is made up of four triangles known as Śiva cakra-s facing up and five triangles known as Śaktī cakra-s facing down. The total triangles formed out of the intersection of the nine triangles are forty four including the central dot or bindu. Instead of nine triangles, if we take only eight triangles, the resultant triangle becomes static, instead of its present dynamic form. Static is the quality of Śiva and dynamism is the quality of Śaktī. Hence, this cakra has been made dynamic as this is the abode of Lalitāmbikā. Śrī Cakra is also known as the cosmic cakra. A comparison can be drawn between Śrī Cakra and the nine cakra-s of kuṇḍalinī (six cakra-s + sahasrāra + kula sahasrāra + akula sahasrāra thus making it to nine). Śrī Cakra is also compared to a human body, upper cakra-s representing the portion above the navel and lower cakra-s representing the portion below the navel. Alternatively, this can be explained thus. Śaktī koṇa-s (triangles) represent skin, blood, brain, muscles and bones. Śiva koṇa-s represent soul, prāṇa, tejas and sperms or ova. Śaktī koṇa-s represent gross matters and Śiva koṇa-s represent subtle matters. A life comes into existence only if both gross and subtle matters conjoin. The five Śaktī angles also represent the five elements ākāś, air, fire, water and earth and its modifications like karmendriya-s (hands, feet, etc), jñānendriya-s (eyes, etc), tanmātra-s (taste, etc), whereas the four Śiva angles represent antaḥkaraṇa comprising of mind, intellect, individual consciousness and ego. According to some schools, consciousness is not included in antaḥkaraṇa.

Bindu also known as the dot is placed inside the centre triangle that faces downwards. This bindu is said to be the cause of creation of the universe. This can be compared to a tiny seed causing the growth of a huge tree. The place around this bindu is the cause for bliss and this is the reason for calling this cakra as sarva-ānanda-mayī (sarvānandamayī). The cause of the bliss is because Śiva and Śaktī stand united here (nāma 999). This place is meditated at sahasrāra in the form of a bindu. Not only Śiva-Śaktī form is meditated here, but also one’s iśṭa devatā and Guru are also meditated at sahasrāra. Worshiping Śrī Cakra is known as navāvaraṇa pūja. Nava means nine and āvaraṇa means roundabouts. Following is the number of goddesses worshipped in Śrī Cakra before reaching the central bindu. In the first āvaraṇa twenty eight goddesses, in the second āvaraṇa sixteen goddesses, in the third āvaraṇa eight goddesses, in the fourth āvaraṇa fourteen goddesses, in the fifth āvaraṇa ten goddesses, in the sixth āvaraṇa ten goddesses, in the seventh āvaraṇa eight goddesses and in the eighth āvaraṇa fifteen goddesses and four of Her weaponries (nāma-s 8 – 11). In the central triangle fifteen tithi nitya devi-s are worshipped, five on each side of the triangle. Lalitāmbikā is worshipped at the bindu. Apart from these goddesses, one’s guru lineage is also worshipped just above the central triangle. Śrī Cakra and Mahā Meru are the same. Mahā means great and meru means mountain. She lives at the top of Mahā Meru, (the vertical form of Śrī Cakra is known as Mahā Meru). Śrī Cakra is flat in formation and the bindu or the central dot is in the centre and in the case Mahā Meru, which is vertical in formation where the bindu is at the top. She is worshipped in bindu sthāna.

GURUJI IN THE HORIZON - PART IV

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:24:51 PDT

This is part IV of “Guruji in the Horizon”, a spiritual novel consisting of many parts. To read the previous parts, please go to the labels on the right bar and click on this title or click on this link: Guruji in the Horizon

All the three of us sat down for lunch. Jimmy also eats with us. He will not eat alone. He needs my company for eating too. My mother asked me why I was painting the wall of the temple. I merely told her that I simply wanted to do that. She asked me to apply gingelly oil on Ganapati continuously for a few days and it would regain its black colour. Somehow, I do not like people calling idols in the temple as ‘it’. According to me, every idol is full of life and exists with flesh and blood. When you do not think that the idol has life, then why should you worship at all? I did not like my mother calling Ganapati as ‘it’ instead of ‘him’, but I preferred not to correct my mother. I do not want her to get hurt even for trivial things. Both of us do not speak to each other on most of the days. We have nothing to share, except the deep love within. To express love no words are needed. In fact, true love cannot be bound by words. My father left behind an old edition of Bhagavad Gita. To my knowledge, he never touched that book, leave alone reading the book. The book remained in a highly dilapidated condition now. When my mother touched a few pages, several pages fell down. The entire book was infested with silverfish. My yoga master used to tell me that though Gita is a very sacred book, its precepts cannot be followed in today’s environment. I have not read that book, but I listened to my yoga master who used to refer to Gita quite often. Till my father died, I did not even know that he had Gita with him.

After finishing my lunch, I helped my mother to clean the place and organize the vessels containing food for our dinner. Then I went to the temple and I found the walls were bright and clean looking. A couple of men passed through the temple, but not bothered to even turn to have a look at the renovated temple. A sort of happiness started to flow within me. I felt as if I was fully energized and recharged. I removed the cloth around Ganapati, brought water from the river and poured over him and wiped him clean. All the dust around him was gone. I wiped him dry and applied gingelly oil around him. The oil was absorbed immediately. Again I applied the oil and I did this three times. During the third time, the oil was not fully absorbed. Now Ganapati looked very blackish now, like the idols in the temples. I was really happy and in the height of happiness I asked Jimmy how Ganapati is. He could not understand what I said, but waged his tail vigorously. I knew Jimmy is happy with what I have done. Jimmy and I returned to our rocky bench under the banyan tree. I lied down on the rock and Jimmy squatted on the ground. It was beginning to drizzle. My mother told me that raining is an auspicious omen. I wanted to do a few more things for the temple. I wanted to light a lamp daily for Ganapati, offer him food before I take our food and adore him with some flowers by procuring them from around my place.

The cool weather conditions coupled with physical work made me to take a nap for an hour. When I woke up, I went to my home and searched for an earthen lamp. I found a very old one and I cleaned it. I asked my mother how I should light a lamp for Ganapati. As I have just renovated the temple, she asked me to keep the earthen lamp on a piece of wood, wet the wick in gingelly oil and then light the lamp. I collected everything to light the lamp. I went around and procured some flowers. I also plucked papaya fruit from my land. Carrying everything, I went to the temple. First I lit the lamp. Then I placed flowers at the feet of Ganapati. Suddenly a thought appeared like a flash in my mind. I have forgotten to dress him. I rushed back to my house and searched for some new clothes. I could not find anything. I asked my mother. She opened her rusted trunk box and took out a new blouse piece. It should be at least ten years old. When she opened it, almost every piece of thread had come off. I could not use the blouse piece to adore my Ganapati. I decided to use one of my washed towels. I took a towel and rushed to the temple and tied the towel around Ganapati’s waist. I again placed the flowers at his feet and placed the papaya fruit before him. I moved away from the temple and looked at Ganapati and I could see him elegantly seated with a broad smile on his face. I was in a state of jubilation. Tears rolled down my eyes. I was standing in the same place for a while. Suddenly, I found something creeping up through my spine. I turned back and took my hand to drive away any insects that would have got into my shirt. I could not find anything. Still I felt the upward movement in my spine, which became stronger and stronger. I rushed to my seat beneath the banyan tree and sat down. Even then, the movement was continuing. My entire body became extremely warm. I was sweating profusely. Suddenly my body started trembling. Jimmy began to bark at me, which he had never done all these years. His bark became louder and louder. I could not tolerate the forceful movement in my spine. I rested my back on the bark of the tree. That was the last thing I know.

I felt the chillness on my face. I gradually regained my consciousness. I was lying on the rock. I felt very weak. But I could feel that something has changed me thoroughly. With great difficulty, I got up and sat down on the rocky bench. I saw an old man with a white dhoti, a long white towel on his shoulders, with white beard, a long and white flowing hair and a white bag on his shoulders. When I saw him, I involuntarily stood up. He smiled at me and I found that he smiled at me in the same way as my Ganapati smiled at me. I asked him to sit on my rocky bench. He smiled and sat on the rock. Jimmy barked a few times. He does not like anybody sitting on my rock. When the old man looked at Jimmy, he stopped barking and wagged his tail. I was still standing before him. I never wanted to sit by his side nor even on the floor. He asked me my name. His voice sounded melodious. I told him my name, “Shankaran.” On hearing my name, he again smiled and shook his head in an approving manner.

“Do you know what Shankaran Means?”

“No, I do not know.”

“Lord Shiva is known as Shankara.”

“I do not know who Lord Shiva is.”

“Do you know you?”

I did not understand this question at all. But still I replied, “I know me well.”

“Why did you add that ‘well’? You could have simply said ‘I know me’.”

“There is no one who knows me better than I. Hence I said well.”

“Do you know me?”

“No Sir. This is the first time I see you.”

“Yes, you wouldn’t have seen me earlier.” He suffixed his answer with a childish smile.

“Who is this?” he asked me, looking at my Jimmy.

“Jimmy, my dog”

“How do you say it is your dog?”

I could not answer this question. I remained quiet. I was cursing myself for having used the word ‘my’.

The old man again smiled at me approvingly. He asked me to sit by his side. Reluctantly I sat down, two feet away from him. He asked me to move closer to him.

“Shankara!” by calling my name, he placed his right hand on my head. My head started reeling. I began to sweat again profusely. He took off his hand. Within a minute, I regained normalcy. I knew at that time, that this man was not an ordinary person. This very thought made me to stand up. He looked at me again and showed his eyes to sit down. He had not uttered a single word. I sat down.

“Where do you live?”

“That is my house” I said pointing my right index finger at my home.

“You are living all alone?”

No sir, my mother lives with me”

“Then why did you say my house?”

I did not know how to reply. But I have decided that this man does not like the word ‘my’ and decided not to use the word ‘my’ in his presence. I was feeling exhausted. I sat on the ground. Jimmy also sat by my side. He smiled at me intriguingly. A sort of stillness prevailed. Only the sound of the river was audible and the occasional sound of the breeze. I looked at him. He was smiling to himself by closing his eyes. It was about to become dark. The lamp I lit before Ganapati was illuminating like a star in a dark night. I could see Ganapati also. The unusual silence continued to prevail. Normally this is the time to take my evening bath. But, I could not get up. He opened his eyes and told me that he wanted to take bath in a river nearby. I told him that river Cauvery flows nearby. He got up and all the three of us walked together towards Cauvery.

I was curious to know about him, but was scared to ask him anything. He commanded respect and his voice was very melodious and soft. There was not much difference between the whistling breeze and his voice. He appeared thin, with wheatish complexion. His attire and hair looked white. The only difference was that his hair was glowing. His attire was spotless. Had he worn saffron clothing, probably I would have identified him as a sage. But he was wearing spotless white. All along I was wondering how he had reached my place. I never saw him before. He certainly appeared new to this place. I was disappointed a little because even though he had seen the renovated Ganapati temple, he did not observe anything.

River Cauvery

On reaching the banks of Cauvery, he opened his bag and pulled out a white towel and spread it on the sand. He sat down on the towel and looked at the flowing river. He was muttering something, which was not audible at all. Due to the breeze, his hair was flowing on one side. He sat very erect, his hands joined together. I carefully observed him. His breath has slowed down. At one point of time, he looked like an erect wooden log. Jimmy and I were sitting far away from him. Jimmy appeared as though he is scared. I thought of going back home, skipping my evening bath. For the first time, I was unable to take a decision. It was horribly dark. The moon was just appearing on the east and stars begin to twinkle. I have great interest in gazing at stars. From my hamlet, stars are clearly visible, as there was no pollution at all. Villagers are healthy because they inhale pure air and do not eat junk food. They work hard in their field. These are the secrets of healthy villagers. They get up early and go to bed early. Most of the villagers finish their dinner before sun set, as they do not have electricity. In our hamlet we do not use any kind of pump set to water the field. Water flows from the Cauvery river. Our area is extremely fertile. But I knew for certain that one day our land would be used to construct a factory. My thoughts went astray. Suddenly I heard a melodious voice calling me Shankara. I turned to the side where he was sitting. He was still sitting in the same place, but his face slightly turned towards me. I ran towards him. He got up from the ground without any support. In the pitch darkness, his white dress and silver hair were distinctly visible.

“How deep is the river here?”

I knew the purpose for which he was asking for. I said, “I take bath here daily”

“Oh! Good. Do you know swimming?”

“Yes sir. I know swimming.”

“How long you can swim? Have you gone to the other side of the river?”

My reply was crisp. “No”

“Why?”

“No specific reason sir. I never wanted to do that. That is all.”

Cauvery is very broad in our area. Water always flows with force as our area is slightly low lying.

“What else you do?” He asked me.

(to be continued)

VISHNU SAHASRANAMA 571 - 580

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 07:15:02 PDT

571. Divaḥspṛk दिवःस्पृक्

Diva refers to heaven; spṛk is derived from spṛś meaning touch. Therefore, this nāma conveys His viśvarūpadarśana, as described in Bhagavad Gītā.

Kṛṣṇa acquaints Arjuna about His viśvarūpadarśana (Bhagavad Gītā XI. 5-8), as this cannot be seen with human eyes and He ensures that Arjuna is not hurt mentally while seeing His viśvarūpa. Kṛṣṇa says, “Arjuna, behold presently in hundreds and thousands, My multifarious divine forms, of various colours and shapes. Behold in Me, Arjuna, the twelve sons of Aditi¹, the eight Vasu-s², the eleven Rudra-s³, the two Aśvinīkumāra-s⁴ and the forty nine Marut-s⁵ and witness many more wonderful forms never seen before. Arjuna, behold as concentrated within this body of Mine, the entire creation consisting of both animate and inanimate beings and whatever else you desire to see. But surely you cannot see Me with your human eyes. Therefore, I vouchsafe to you the divine eye. With this you behold My divine power of Yoga.”

¹. Aditi has twelve sons. She is the daughter of Dakṣa and wife of Kaśyapa. There are two versions about the number of sons she had. One, she has twelve sons corresponding to the twelve months of a year and they are – Dhātā, Mitra, Aryamā, Indra, Varuṇa, Aṁśa, Bhaga, Vivasvān, Pūṣā, Savitā, Tvaṣtā and Viṣṇu. As per Vedas, sons of Aditi are known as Āditya-s and they are seven in number. They are - Varuṇa, Mitra, Aryaman, Bhaga, Dakṣa, Aṃśa and Sūrya or Savitṛi.

². Vasu-s are eight in number and generally known as aṣṭavasu-s and they are Āpa, Dhruva, Soma, Dhava, Anila, Anala, Pratyuśa and Prabhāsa. They signify different energies that are needed to sustain the world.

³. Rudra-s are said to be lower forms of Purāṇic Śiva. Rudra means praise worthy. It also means crying as per certain Purāṇa-s. They are said to be eleven in number and a few texts say they are thirty three in number. Eleven Rudra-s are Hara, Bahurūpa, Tryambaka, Aparājita, Vṛṣākapi, Śaṁbhu, Kapardī, Raivata, Mṛgavyādha, Śarva and Kapālī. Rudra is explained as “forcibly leading this creation upwards. He puts down all those who arrogantly obstruct His courses and kills the evil opponents. Though, terrible, he is beneficent and compassionate to the distressed.”

⁴. Aśvinīkumāra-s are two in number and they are known as physicians for gods and goddesses. They are said to be the two sons of the Sun.

⁵. Marut-s are known as wind gods and they are forty nine in number.

Though this nāma says that He touches the heaven, the subtle meaning conveyed is His omnipresence. He pervades the entire universe in the form of different energies.

572. Sarvadṛgvyāsaḥ सर्वदृग्व्यासः

Bhīṣma, even during his death bed remembers the great sage Vyāsa.

Sarvadṛg means omniscient. Therefore, this nāma can be interpreted in two ways. First, as reverence to the great sage Vyāsa. Second as a reference to Lord Viṣṇu, who is all knowing and full of wisdom.

As Kṛṣṇa has said in Bhagavad Gītā (X.37) that He is Vyāsa among the sages and therefore, this nāma could mean Lord Viṣṇu Himself.

573. Vācaspatirayonijaḥ वाचस्पतिरयोनिजः

Vācaspati means Lord of speech and ayonija means not born out of known sources of generation.

He is Lord of speech because, all the Vedas originated from Him. Speech in this context does not necessarily mean sound; it also means knowledge. Brahman is the embodiment of Knowledge and Bliss.

574. Trisāmā त्रिसामा

Tri means three and sāma refers to Sāma Veda in particular or all the four Vedas in general. Sāma also means a metrical hymn or song of praise. Here tri refers to three well known sāma-s – Bṛhat, Rathaṃtara and Vāmadevyam.

This nāma says that He is adored by singing these three Sāma verses. The Sāma-s are known by the names of the sage who has composed the hymn, by directly connecting to Cosmos.

575. Sāmagaḥ सामगः

This nāma says that He Himself is Sāma Veda. All the four Vedas originate from Him. Sāma Veda has special significance while performing major yajñā-s. Gods and goddesses are delighted when Sāma Veda is sung.

576. Sāma साम

This nāma reaffirms the saying of the previous nāma. Lord Viṣṇu is very fond of Sāma Veda. Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad Gītā (X.22), “वेदानां सामवेदोऽसिम् vedānāṁ sāmavedo'sim - Among Vedas, I am Sāma Veda”

577. Nirvāṇaṁ निर्वाणं

Nirvāṇa means Bliss and final liberation. He alone is capable of offering final liberation.

578. Bheṣajam भेषजम्

Bheṣaja means casting a spell of charm for curative purposes. Atharva Veda is subtly conveyed here. After having adored Him through the verses of Sāma Veda, He is being adored through Atharva Veda, which contains a number of healing verses.

This nāma could also mean that He cures His devotees from the ailment of transmigrations. In other words, He gives them liberation.

579. Bhiṣak भिषक्

Bhiṣak is derived from the world bhiṣaj, which means a healer. He heals the pains of transmigration by offering salvation.

Salvation can happen only through a human birth, as mind is associated only with humans. Mind is a powerful instrument made available to humans. If the mind is positively used to contemplate on Him, one gets liberation and this aspect of the Brahman is called bhiṣaj. On the contrary, if the mind is used to connect to the external world through sensory organs, one gets bound in saṃsāra.

580. Saṁnyāsakṛt संन्यासकृत्

He frees His true devotees from the afflictions of saṁsāra (transmigration) by offering them Saṁnyāsa, the worldly renunciation.

A man has to go through different stages to attain liberation, right from his birth to death and the penultimate state is renunciation. The final state is death. He leaves behind all the comforts, including his family and goes to an isolated place to always contemplate on Him. When the pang of death catches up with him, He offers him liberation. He is not born again.

This nāma explains His compassion. He is always ready to offer liberation to all His true devotees.

GURUJI IN THE HORIZON - PART III

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:24:01 PDT

Part 3:

I know money is going to be a major hindrance. In our land we have plantain trees. Interestingly plantain tree is the only tree where all its parts are used. Not only this, if you cut a bigger tree, another one will grow up in the same place. Unless one removes the tube below the earth, the plantain tree will continue to grow and will continue to yield. The stem of plantain tree is very good for health. It has the capacity to dissolve kidney stones. Banana fruits are so good for health and couple of fruits makes a complete filling. Leaves are used as plate. The outer stem of a plantain tree is used to carry those who are injured in fire accidents. Every part of the tree is used for different purpose. It is a selfless, soft and gentle tree. The growth of banana trees is often compared to one’s lineage like grandfather, father, son, etc. If one banana tree had yielded fruits, it is cut off and another tree grows without any human intervention.

I know that four of my plantain trees would have ripe fruits shortly. Fruits should be allowed to ripe in the tree itself. It is not advisable to cut the fruits before natural ripening. Such fruits will lose original taste and secondly will also partially lose their nutrient factors. Cutting the fruits before ripening is like performing a C-section instead of natural delivery. Performing C-sections for the convenience of the doctors is one of the worst sins, for which there are no remedial measures available, as they play with God’s exclusive act. I know a merchant, who regularly buys all the yields of my land. He is a nice guy and he procures yields from people like us and sells them to another person near the town. He gives me twenty five bucks for a bunch of banana and sells to the merchant in the town at thirty five bucks. The merchant in turn sells to a wholesaler who has several trucks shunting between major cities and this place and makes a profit of twenty bucks. The wholesaler buys at fifty five bucks from the merchant and sells to retailers at ninety bucks. Retailer sells one banana fruit for five bucks. A bunch normally consists of seventy fruits. One bunch which I sell at twenty five bucks is finally sold at five bucks per fruit. I used to wonder why the growers are not selling directly to the consumers. Every intermediary makes money except the farmer who really works hard to make his money and the consumer who struggles to meet both ends meet. If both of them are directly linked, consumer could save a lot of money and the farmer can make more money. Only hard work should be rewarded. He can invest this money to build infrastructure of the nation. People are not willing to think. If you think logically, you cannot make money. I feel sad only for the farmer and the consumer. The intermediaries simply make their money without hard work.

Providentially, the guy came next morning. I sold four bunches banana and collected one hundred bucks from him, went to the nearby town and purchased small quantities of cement, sand, paint, etc. The whole thing cost me eighty five bucks with only fifteen bucks left for me to return to my place. I procured all the materials, placed in a gunny bag and returned home. My mother looked at the gunny bag and of course did not ask any questions. For the first time, there was a mysterious happiness in me. May be because, I have not done anything seriously like this before. I have decided to renovate the temple and the idol of Ganapati, beginning tomorrow. I slept well that night. When I woke up, the sun was ready to rise. Normally, I would have taken my bath by this time. I saw my mother preparing food for the day. I could notice her ageing process. She does not walk without any hold. She knows that we do not have money to get treatment. I always thought that rich and poor should not live together, as the poor is bound to develop inferiority complex. She told me several times that I should not admit her in a hospital if she becomes sick. My father also died at home. I am seriously concerned about her. I am not in the habit of asking for favours from God. I always believe that God knows what to give and when. For the first time, I prayed to God to give my mother, a good health. Without my knowing, tears rolled down my cheeks. There are several firsts happening to me this time. I could realize that there is some subtle change happening within. There is always a sort of inexplicable happiness within.

Probably I should have woken up much earlier than my usual time of waking up. If I decide to wake up early, I tell my mind that I should get up at a particular time. I will get up exactly at that time which I have told my mind. I tested the capacity of my mind several times. When I tell my mind that Jimmy should not accompany me to the river for bath, he will not come with me. When I tell my mind that yoga teacher should not be there on a particular day, he will not be there, when I go to his place. With such experiments, I found that mind can do wonders, provided it is trained properly. I always keep my mind calm. Occasionally some thoughts might come and go, but they do not bother me. At times I used to feel for my disinterest in studies. However, I am not too concerned with my food. When I am hungry, I go the Cauvery River and drink water. Water is the best source not only to quench thirst, but also satiating your hunger. It is the best medicine to keep the body clean, healthy and trim.

After having my bath, I walked towards the Ganapati temple along with all the materials that I had procured yesterday. I was very upset that the temple has escaped my attention all these days. I looked at Ganapati, seated pathetically inside the temple. He remained uncared for with cobweb and dirt around him. When I looked at him with concern, I had a feeling that he smiled at me. My mother had told me lots of stories about Ganapati. He removes all obstacles and hence he is worshiped before starting any activities. Even other gods are worshipped only after worshipping him. He is called elephant god. There is a story about his elephant face. There was a fight between Ganapati and Shiva and in the fight Ganapati’s head was chopped off. At the request of his mother Parvati, his father Shiva fixed an elephant’s head. There are other stories also about his elephant head.

I felt ashamed for having ignored the temple. I cannot compare myself with other boys around, as they go to school in the next village. None of them speak to me or play with me. They all believe that I am uncultured, uneducated rustic boy. But I know most of these boys by name. They do not even take bath, get up late and go to school in a hurry. They do not have the knowledge I have gained over the years. I am of the opinion that education is nothing to do with one’s knowledge. I know that I am clean and tidy than these boys. Even the best of men with a lot of self-confidence sometimes are hurt when they are snubbed. I sorted out all things and prepared for painting the outer wall. I scrapped the outer wall and gave a first coat. The temple looked better now. I wanted to paint inside the temple. But the idol of Ganapati is there and if I paint, the paint could fall on him and his half black colour could become half white. I went to my home and collected old dhotis of my father and covered Ganapati idol and began painting inside. When I finished, the outer wall had absorbed all the paint. I repainted both the outer wall and inner wall again. Now the temple looked very bright. When I finished, it was time for my lunch. I make it a point to have my lunch with my mother after my father’s death. We cannot afford to have good meals on all days. It depends upon what we get from our land. I grow almost all vegetables for our use. I sell the surplus and keep cash for emergency. My main cultivation is paddy. When it is harvested, I keep couple of gunny bags of paddy for our use and sell the rest. I do not spend anything on myself. When I returned, I saw mother waiting for me outside our house and looked at me surprisingly. She could be wondering why I began painting the temple walls.

(to be continued)

VISHNU SAHASRANAMA MEANING 563 - 570

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 05:51:13 PDT

563. Ādityaḥ आदित्यः

Repetitive nāma 39.

It is one of the names of Lord Viṣṇu. In His incarnation as Vāmana, He was born to Kaśyapa and Aditi and hence known as Āditya.

Ṛg Veda (IX.114.3) refers to seven parameters of the world.

सप्त दिशो नानासूर्याः सप्त होतार ऋत्विजः।

देवा आदित्या ये सप्त तेभिः सोमाभि रक्ष न इन्द्रयेन्दो परि स्रव॥

sapta diśo nānāsūryāḥ sapta hotāra ṛitvijaḥ|

devā ādityā ye sapta tebhiḥ somābhi rakṣa na indrayendo pari srava||

Meaning of the above verse: Seven are the parameters of the world (six of space and one of time), with numerous suns; seven are ministrant priests, and seven are the divine sons of the mother Eternity. With all of them, O, Divine Elixir, may you protect us. O! Divine Bliss, may You continue to flow for the Self.

Generally, Varuṇa, Mitra, Aryaman, Bhaga, Dakṣa, Aṃśa, Sūrya or Savitṛi are considered as the seven Āditya-s. They represent energies of Lord Viṣṇu, through which He sustains the universe.

564. Jyotirādityaḥ ज्योतिरादित्यः

He is the brilliant sun.

Chāndogya Upaniṣad (I.6.6) explains this. It says, “There is a Deity within the orbit of the sun, who is seen by yogī-s. His whole body glitters like gold, even His toe nails. He has a bright golden beard and bright golden hair.”

This nāma subtly conveys the brilliance of the Self. Lord Viṣṇu is compared to the sun, because the world exists only due to energy of the sun. Such materialistic comparisons are made to make a spiritually ignorant persons to understand the Self illuminant Brahman. Sun, moon and other luminaries draw light only from the Brahman. In the same way all the beings exist only because of the Self.

565. Sahiṣṇuḥ सहिष्णुः

Sahiṣṇu means patiently enduring. The whole universe is made up of dyads like hot and cold, fire and water, active state and sleep state, etc. These dyads are in opposites. Brahman not only creates these opposites, but also endures them when they manifest as the material world. The material world is full of opposites. Gravitational force is a perfect example. All the planets are held in their respective places due go gravitational force. They are the countervailing forces in action, to sustain the world. If these energies are not countervailing in nature, the world cannot be sustained. For example, if there is fire, it can be doused by water. If the countervailing effect is not available, the world will be annihilated by fire.

This nāma highlights this aspect of the Brahman.

566. Gatisattamaḥ गतिसत्तमः

Gati refers to the course of the soul through numerous forms of life, transmigratory conditions of a person. In other words, it refers to rebirths of a soul. Sattama means most respectable and virtuous.

This nāma subtly conveys the final liberation of a soul from saṁsāra or transmigration. A soul is the replica of the Brahman which gets afflicted due to spiritual ignorance. It gets deluded by duality and illusion. At one point of time, a soul has to reach Brahman and merge with Him, from whom it originated. When one is able to transcend the effects of māyā, the Power of the Brahman, he gradually realizes preliminary states of the Brahman to ultimately become one with Him.

567. Sudhanvā सुधन्वा

Sudhanvan means excellent bow. Lord Viṣṇu holds a bow called Śārṅga and this is referred here as Sudhanva.

There is a reference to this bow in 108^th verse of this Sahasranāma. However 108^th verse does not form part of the 1000 names.

वनमाली गदी शाङ्गी चक्री च नन्दकी।

श्रीमान् नारायणो विष्णुर् वासुदेवोऽभिरक्षतु॥

vanamālī gadī śāṅgī cakrī ca nandakī|

śrīmān nārāyaṇo viṣṇur vāsudevo'bhirakṣatu||

It is also said that this bow represents sensory system of the body. If sensory organs are controlled, mind becomes quiet. Absence of multiple thoughts processes in the mind leads to a calm mind where the Self is realized. He helps His devotees to overcome sensory afflictions, in order to attain liberation.

568. Khaṇḍaparaśuḥ खण्डपरशुः

Khaṇḍaparaśu means destroying enemies with an axe.

In His incarnation as Parasurāma, He used this axe to conquer the enemies of mankind, the sensory afflictions. Mind gets corrupted only through sensory organs as long they are attuned with the material world. In order to pursue the spiritual path, one has to look within, where soul is placed, thereby disconnection the material world. Meditation is the ideal path to reach this goal. There are different types of meditation. The best practice is to perpetually contemplate on Him.

569. Dāruṇaḥ दारुणः

Dāruṇa means dreadful, frightful, etc. As the sustainer of the universe, He does hesitate to become dreadful to the wrongdoers, generally called demons. He incarnates when the balance between virtues and sins tilt towards the latter.

Enemies are of two types, external and internal. External enemies are those who violate the code of conduct prescribed by dharma śāstra-s. Internal enemies are desires, attachment, anger, etc. They induce the mind to get sunk into the depths of material world, which in turn cause huge karmic impressions. As a result, one continues to have transmigration. Understanding this is called spiritual knowledge.

570. Draviṇapradaḥ द्रविणप्रदः

This nāma is an extension of the previous nāma. The previous nāma said that He does not hesitate to destroy the sinners on the grosser side and evil thoughts on the subtler side. This nāma says that He bestows the desired wealth for His devotees. Desired wealth is nothing but the desire to attain liberation.

To explain this through dvaita or dualistic point of view, when a devotee moves towards Him by one step, He reaches out to the devotee by two steps. He always waits for the right kind of devotee, to offer him liberation. When a devotee in his deepest stretch of imagination opts to attain liberation, He immediately moves towards the devotee and on His own, grants him liberation. What the Lord needs is only the initial impetus by the devotee. This first step is a mere thought to attain liberation. After all, Lord Viṣṇu is an embodiment of compassion.

GURUJI IN THE HORIZON - PART II

noreply@blogger.com (Manblunder) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:24:27 PDT

Part 2

Yoga is interpreted in different contexts. There are many types of yogas such as Raja yoga, Hatha yoga, Ashtanga yoga of Patanjali, kundalini yoga, etc. Ancient sages and saints had authored valuable yogic treatises. For example, Patanjali authored yoga sutras (sutra means aphorism) where he dwelt on eight types of yogas which are generally called ashtanga yoga (ashtanga means eight limbs of yoga). Patanjali’s aphorisms are classified under Raja yoga. Raja yoga is also known as royal yoga and is considered as the supreme. It is called Raja yoga because, in God realisation, mind is considered as the supreme factor. Raja yoga deals more with the mind as opposed to Hatha yoga, which deals more with the body. The body postures are called asanas. However, all the yogas advocate certain body postures coupled with breath control to enable free flow of energy within the body. Ultimate aim of all yogas is to unite the individual self with the Supreme Self. Apart from Patanjali’s aphorisms there are classical yogic treatises by sage Nathamuni called Nathamuni Yoga Rahasya (Nathamuni’s yogic secrets) and Yoga Yajnavalkya Samhita by sage Yajnvalkya, etc. All this information I collected in later part of my life. My yoga teacher never taught me what these sacred scriptures taught. He never taught me to synchronize breathing with body postures, which I found out later, that it is the most important aspect of yoga.

After spending those days with my yoga master, I returned home and practiced for long hours on the rocky bench below the banyan tree. The more I performed those yogic postures, the more I could observe subtle changes happening within me. If you walk a few yards from my banyan tree, you can observe a road side temple of Ganapati. The idol there remained uncared for. The four feet wall was almost on the verge of collapse. When I was playing with Jimmy under my banyan tree, suddenly I felt as if am playing with that Ganapati. For a minute, I was dumbfounded. Again I started playing with Jimmy. Jimmy used to take all liberties with me. Whenever I go to my yoga master, he also used to accompany me. He will wait patiently till I finish my classes to accompany me, back home. He will eat food only if served by my mother or me. He is very sensitive. In the evening hours, at the time of dusk, both of us used to play. In the peak of happiness, he used to howl. I do not like his howling. He takes bath daily in Cauvery river, when I have my bath. I always make it a point to take bath in the river Cauvery twice daily. During my early school days, my teacher used to teach about the importance of keeping the body clean. She said that if body is clean, mind also becomes clean. She also said that clean mind is important to be a good boy. I always wanted to be a good boy and I remained so all the time.

My Jimmy becoming Ganapati happened more frequently. After playing for some time, Ganapati asked me food saying that he is hungry. My mother would have kept some rice mixed with water and butter milk for my dinner. In out hamlet, there is no electricity. We never felt the need for electricity. We rise when the sun rises and we cease all our activity when the sun had set. The breeze will have high moisture content due to the Cauvery River. When Ganapati was hungry and asked food, I used to dash into my house and bring the food kept for me. When I return, I see only my Jimmy and not Ganapati. I was pretty sure that Ganapti was there. He used to play with me hitting me with his trunk and will ask me to chase him. In spite of my best running ability, I could not reach anywhere near him. He had a very stout body, a big paunch and a broken tusk. I could not believe me when I could not chase him. I was pretty sure that he was finding it difficult to run with such a type of body. Still I could not catch up with him. I thought I had become a schizophrenic.

The next day, I decided to bring along with me the pot containing my night dinner. Since he vanishes when I enter my house, I formulated my master plan to catch hold of him and decided to give him my food. Sun began withdrawing his bright light gradually. I was waiting for Ganapati to appear from my Jimmy. I played with Jimmy more than I could. But Ganapati never appeared. I was terribly disappointed. Probably that was the first time when I was truly disappointed. I never had any desire and hence there was no disappointment for me. My yoga master used to tell me that desire and attachment are the two powerful enemies to mankind. He cited many instances where people were killed to acquire wealth. He told me several stories about kings winning battles at the cost of several lives. When my yoga teacher was disinclined to teach me yoga, he used to tell me short stories. But he will never allow me to go back immediately. He used to say that he feels happy in my presence. I used to blush whenever he says this. I never liked people saying me good or bad. I never interfere in their affairs and I was expecting the same from them. When my father was alive, his friends used to call me a useless boy. After his death, none came to our house, nor did we visit any of them. I liked my present way of living. All the three of us spend time together, my mother, Jimmy and I. My mother and I do not speak to each other much. My yoga master told me to speak less in order to develop higher level of concentration. I realised the truth in his adage.

I took my dinner to my rocky bench under the banyan tree. My Jimmy never transformed into Ganapati. I almost became hysterical, because I was damn sure about the presence of Ganapati. I could not discuss this with anyone else as they will choose to either ignore me or christen me as a schizophrenic patient. I ran up to my yoga master. Though I know that he cannot answer my question, I was confident that he will throw some light on this. I told him what had happened and how Ganapati and I played together. He listened to me patiently as he knew that I will never lie. As expected, he could not give a definite solution; still he agreed to visit my place. All the three of us, my yoga teacher, Jimmy and I walked casually towards my banyan tree. Normally no body sits on the rocky bench under the banyan tree, even my Jimmy does not sit there. I hold this seat as very sacred. Others do not use that as they think that they also will become useless like me. Yoga teacher looked around and he saw the roadside temple. He went there and saw the idol of Ganapati there. He immediately came to a conclusion. He advised me to consecrate the temple and he asked me to meet a priest in his village. I met the priest along with my yoga master and Jimmy. He said he would perform certain rituals to consecrate the temple and demanded 1000 bucks. I told him that I do not have that kind of money and he left the place.

For the first time in my life I realized the need for money. I slept on the rocky bench under the banyan tree. In the dead of the night someone told me near my ear that I should do the renovation of the roadside temple. I woke up with a shock and looked for someone. None was there. Jimmy was having a sound sleep. Probably he was feeling tired after a long walk to my yoga teacher’s place and back. I got up and sat on the bench. On hearing the sound of getting up, Jimmy also woke up and looked at me strangely. I decided to renovate the Ganapati temple myself.