WALK THE TALK WITH GOD- PART V

The human was terribly scared. He wanted to take the God out of the temple. But he could not go anywhere near the God. Everyone in the temple was rushing out, in order to save their lives. The situation was noticed by Shakthi (wife of God). She descended from the sky. Skathi is always cool. That is why She is always compared to Moon. In breathing exercises, ida and pingala nadies are compared to the Sun and the Moon. On seeing His Vimarsha, His Shakthi, His better half, God has cooled down. God started walking out of the temple along with His Shakthi. Both of them were visible only to the human’s eyes. God: (addressing to human) What is happening in your world? The priest who performed the archana was talking to somebody over phone. How he could do this? He has to say all my 108 names. (Archana is a procedure by which the priest chants 108 names of the God by placing 108 flowers at His feet). The first mistake was speaking over phone. The second mistake was he did not recite all my 108 names. After all, chanting 108 of my names will not take more than five minutes. Can he not spend at least that much time before me? Shakthi: My lord, this is what is happening here? Except a very few, nobody in this universe honestly think about you. There are a number of centers, where in they teach how to realise You. In fact, what they teach is nothing. These centers are only trying to make money using your name. Most of the humans are in trouble in someway or other, because of their karmas. These institutes utilize this opportunity and enroll these poor humans and make them still poorer. God: Devi! How do you know all these things? Shakthi: My lord, I am discharging my duties faithfully. You only handed over all these duties to me. I know for certain that you will burn me, if I fail in my duties. That is why; I closely monitor the situation here. Poor humans, they are not aware that they are being watched by me. God: But, you have too many temples. To get your blessings they even walk on the fire. Why you are not blessing them? Shakthi: My Lord, you know better. I never asked them to walk on fire. I never asked them to build so many temples for me. Only thing I wanted was that they should understand that YOU reside in their conscience. I do not count their trips to temples. But, I certainly count the good and bad deeds done by them. Most of them speak one thing and do exactly the opposite. God: What you are going to do to set things right? Shakthi: My lord! I have already planed what I should do. I am going to use this human standing before us, as a tool. I do not how far I will succeed in my endeavour. I am also noticing a person who is regularly writing about self realisation. But nobody takes his writings seriously. Most of them do not even look into what he has written. God: Possibly, people may not have time to read that. Human: Mataji! (Mother of a person is addressed as mataji. Goddess is also addressed as Mataji, as they are placed on par with one’s own mother) where I can find his writings? Shakthi: There is one blog site called www.manblunder.blogspot.com. Visit that site and you will find all the details there. To be continued.

WALK THE TALK WITH GOD - PART IV

On entering the temple God looked around the temple. He saw a stall selling eatable items. God: Why they are selling eatable items in a temple? Temples are built only to worship me! Human: Yes, of course. This stall is selling your “Prasad”. God: My Prasad! What is Prasad? Human: Prasad are the eatables offered to your idol, for you to take. God: What? Who said I am hungry? I think you humans are treating me very badly. I am God. I am above everything. I only provide you food and all that stuff. How is that you are feeding me? Human: After you are done with, the left over is sold here. That is why these items command a premium. Beyond this I do not know. If you want further clarification on this, we can ask the priest. God: I would certainly like to know. Please ask the priest to come here. Human: He will not come here. We will go there. God: (Looking at the human) as you please. Both human and the God went closer to the priest. God asked the human to clarify with the priest. Human: Swamiji!! Can you tell me the importance of Prasad being sold in that shop? Priest: These are the eatable items made out of pure ghee. These items are offered to God. The left over is given to that shop to enable the devotees to enjoy the food offered to God. Do you want to go near the God inside and seek his blessings? Human looked at God. God nods his head. Human: Yes! I would love to have a closer darshan!! Priest: It will cost you 100 bucks. Human: Okay. Priest: Do you want an archana to be performed? Human: Yes!! What is the cost of the archana? Priest: Another 50 bucks. Human: Fine. Take these 250 bucks. Entry for both of us 200 bucks: archana 50 bucks. A surprised priest looked at the human. He could see only the human. God is invisible to all except to that particular human. Priest did not bother to ask the human about this. He took the human through a special entrance, where lots of devotees were waiting in a queue holding special darshan tickets of 500 bucks. The human was made to stand very close to the idol. God was standing next to him. Priest started his archana. Half way through the archana, priest’s mobile phone started ringing. He stopped the archana midway and started talking over the phone. He was talking over the mobile phone for more than ten minutes. He was talking so loudly, everyone inside were getting annoyed. A few were cursing the priest. Others were saying that God would not stay in these temples, as even in the places of worship, people were mainly after money. God was hearing all this. God was terribly annoyed and started leaving that place. The human got tensed and told the priest to continue the archana. Priest immediately disconnected the phone and performed arathi, saying that archana is over. God was terribly annoyed and fuming with anger. Terrible heat waves were emanating from Him. Everyone was sweating profusely. To be continued.

FINDING GOD - IX

In the other school of thought, it is opined that Vimarsha has also to go, to realise Prakasha. This school of thought appears to be right because of the following arguments. The first thing is that Vimarsha was created out of the will of Prakasha. Two, Prakasha directs Vimarsha to perform the creation etc of the universe. Third Prakasha is self illuminating and Viamrsha gets light for its acts only from Prakasha. Fourth, it is always said that Prakasha in the form of Brahman is just witnessing the acts of Shakthi or Vimarsha and it does not act at all. Hence, it is argued that Prakasha is the Supreme Self and hence for realisation, we have to seek Prakasha which is also called Brahman or Atman. For realizing Atman, we have to go past Shakthi. The fact remains that Shakthi is pure manifestation of maya. That is why it was said earlier ‘vimarsha maha maya swarupini”. The shakthi in the form of maya is certainly to be passed through, to seek the divine Brahman. But, to attain this penultimate stage, only shakthi has to help the seeker. Unless the seeker fully understands the maya, he cannot seek the ever shining Brahman. We have discussed all these, only to understand maya. Maya is complicated to understand. To enable us to understand maya, this has been divided into tatwas or principles. A seeker of inner Self should have the blessings of Shakthi. Blessings here mean, understanding maya through the tatwas and remove one tatwa after another. If all these tatwas are removed, we can have the hazy vision of Prakahsa through a transparent veil of Vimarsha or Shakthi. At this point we are able to realise partially about the Brahman. From this stage onwards, deep meditation is necessary to realise the Brahman within. Only by sincere and dedicated meditation, we can fully realise the Brahman. But this Brahman within, is again sitting as a witness. The kriya or action of the seeker is being carried out by Shakthi only. Again the action of the Sahakthi depends upon the good or bad karmas done by the seeker over several births. Let us also understand that both Prakasha and Vimarsha in their independent forms also are not pernicious. We have come to the concluding part. How do we realise the Brahman within? In the first place we have to understand that we should never seek the Brahman outside our physical body. The Brahman as atma is within us. He is covered by the above tatwas. The tatwas are in the form of our physical body. The physical body carries out the instructions of maya or shakthi. By understanding and thereafter removing the tatwas one by one, we can ultimately reach the Brahman within. What is his form? He does not have a form. How does he appear? He appears in the form of light. What type of light? Several million times powerful than the Sun. The Brahman who resides within us also resides in every living being. That is why we should not harm other living beings, as this would tantamount to hurting the Brahman himself. Let us commence this exercise right now.

FINDING GOD - VIII

Removing the maya is not that easy. Suppose, we rear a pet dog and the dog looks great. It is very affectionate to us. We go on saying that the dog is ours. Is it really ours? We are only rearing the dog and it does not belong to us. Like us, it is also the creation of Vimarsha. What we are trying to realise is that the Supreme Self is within us. The same Supreme Self is within the dog also. The first step towards this is to realise that the object is not mine. If we think this way, our ego is destroyed. ‘I’ concept is destroyed. Next stage is to destroy ‘this’ concept. Nothing belongs to us, as everything is the creation of vimarsha or shakthi. If ‘I’ and ‘this’ concepts are destroyed, we can remove the 24 tatwas which we had discussed earlier. Because at this stage our mind, intellect, consciousness, and ego understand that a particular object (this) does not belong to us. We now conclude that we do not have any ownership. Everything belongs to shakthi. Subjective manifestation is removed at this stage. The objective manifestation is “I am this”. This is called prakrthi. It has three gunas namely satwa, rajas and tamas. They originate from three shakthies namely iccha, jnana and kriya. When we do not possess anything, where is the question of any object? When there is no object where is the question of ‘this’? At this stage both subject and object are removed. When ‘subject’ and ‘object’ no longer exists, where is the question of will, or three shakthies namely, iccha, jnana and kriya. Here, out of the 36 tatwas 34 are destroyed. By simply understanding that nothing belongs to us, we are able to remove the 34 tatwas that were preventing us to identify ourselves with the Supreme Self. Now we have only two tatwas remaining. They are Prakasha and Vimarsha. All these 34 tatwas were created and controlled by Vimarsha only. Since Vimarsha is the sole reason for maya, we can call Vimarsha as “Vimarsha maha maya swarupini.” Why maha and swarupini. Maha means great. Maya is the greatest thing that we can think of removing. So maha is added. Why Swarupini? Swarupini means form. Vimarsha is shakthi, the feminine gender. Why shakthis is considered as feminine gender? Because, she not only creates the universe, but also nurtures it. We are now realising the “maha maya swarupini”. The next stage is to realise “Prakasha”, which is self illuminating. To realise “Prakasha” is our ultimate goal. We have seen earlier that Vimarsha is the only creation of Prakasha. Prakasha has given all powers to Vimarsha to create, sustain, delude, conceive and bless the universe. Without Vimarsha, Prakasha cannot do these acts. Prakasha is always alone and it does not have a second. It is ‘athi’ and ‘anathi’. This means, the first and all alone. We always need a second one for creation. One alone cannot create. Same is the principle here. When Viamrsha identifies itself with Prakasha it is called the Absolute. We can call Vimarsha at this stage as “Prakasha Vimarsha maha maya Swarupini”. Here Vimarsha is still with Prakasha. This is called “the Absolute”. It is generally said that we have to go through the shakthi to realise the Brahman. Here it is argued that Shakthi alone, in the form of Vimarsha or citi, can lead to realizing Brahman. It is also considered that Shakthi as feminine gender and Brahman as the masculine gender. Shakthi cannot function without Brahman and Brahman also cannot function without Shakthi. Both are interdependent. Therefore, when Shakthi stays with the Brahman, it is called or the Absolute. This series is concluded in the next part.

FINDING GOD - VII

Let us start with Prakahsa. Prakasha is cit and is self illuminating. It does not require the second for creation. I t has created by its own will Vimarsha or shakthi or citi. Prakasha and Vimarsha combine is called the Absolute. Prakasha is just witnessing the activities of Viamrsha. But without Prakasha the creation of this universe is not possible, as its creation Vimarsha alone causes further creation. This universe is not possible without these two. That is why both put together is called the Absolute. To understand Prakasha we have to first understand the Vimarsha. As said earlier, Vimarsha causes further creation of this universe. Vimarsha creates the universe with maya. Maya is the combination of energies, or otherwise called shakthies. From vimarsha maya takes over. We have discussed earlier about maya’s five components namely saadaakyam to prakrthi. Maya is illusion. Maya makes us not to understand the Absolute. It covers the Absolute. By its attractive covering, we are deceived. Instead of understanding the Self inside, our attention gets distracted to various earthly activities, instead of divine activities. At this stage, we do not have time or inclination to seek our inner Self. Purusha and prakrthi joining together induces the 24 tatwas. Out of this 24, anthakkaranam is important. As we know, anthakkaranam is made up of four namely manas, buddhi, chitam and ahankaram. That is mind, intellect, consciousness and ego. This has been discussed in self realisation. These cause attachment to the worldly objects. The net result is that we continue to have ego that is ‘I’ and ‘this’. For example we say the car is mine. We continue to be ignorant about the Self within. Instead, we spend more time with worldly things. We go to movies, watch TV or we get worried about our sons or daughters or parents, etc. We fall in love and develop sentiments. We never realise that all these will cease to exist later. Today the car is there, tomorrow the car may not be there due to various reasons. The car is mine today and tomorrow it may not be mine. Whatever is not permanent today, we feel that they are permanent. Anthakkaranam plays a major role here. How anthakkaranam acts? It acts through the other 20 tatwas. These 20 tatwas was discussed under Self Realisation postings. Let us take the example of the car. Seeing another car is the starting point of buying a car for ourselves. Seeing is the job jnanaenthriam. Eyes are aiding us to see the car. We open the door of the car and touch the steering, gear, etc. Then we talk about the car to our family members and friends to have their view on a particular brand. The activities like seeing, touching, talking and hearing etc are the result of panchabhudas. Except Prakasha, everything is controlled by maya only. The maya makes us to identify ourselves with ‘this’. In other words ‘I’ is identifying the ‘this’. Subject is identifying the object that is perishable, or which may not exist at a later date. Maya is the embodiment of diversity around us. Maya never identifies itself with bliss or ananda. This is the reason for distraction from the Supreme Self. Moreover, to identify with the Supreme Self, we have to see internally. But maya makes us to identify with external objects. We rejoice with the external objects. In our happiness, we do not see within. When we identify ourselves with external objects, happiness and sorrow are the result. The whole thing is the work of maya. In order to identify ourselves with the Supreme Self, we have to first remove the maya. Let us see how?

FINDING GOD - VI

Out of the 12 tatwas we have discusses in Part III, we have already discussed about 10. The remaining two are Purusha and Prakrthi. Purusha: We have already seen that inner Self or atman is covered by maya. This is the right place to refer to “Thirukural”. In 360th verse of the Thirukural, saint Valluvar has said that by destroying the very names of lust, anger and delusion, there will be no rebirth. Maya is responsible for this three. That is why it is said that we have to get rid of maya. This stage of atman that is covered by maya is called purusha. We have already seen that Brahman is also covered by maya. This stage is the subjective manifestation. Purusha is the end result of “I am this”. Prakrthi: This is the objective manifestation of “I am this”. Prakrthi has three gunas namely satwa, rajas and tamas. These three gunas originate from the three shakthies namely, Iccha, jnana and kriya. The existence prakrthi is based on the three gunas and the three shakthies. If purusha is the subject, then prakrthi is the object. If purusha is knowledge, then prakrthi is the knower of knowledge. Thus we have discussed about the 36 tatwas. Now let us understand how these 36 tatwas help us to understand the Brahman or realizing the Self inside. It can well be argued why we should learn these 36 tatwas? Can we not realise God within by just manifesting the God inside. No, it is difficult to manifest like this. We cannot obtain a doctorate without passing out from a school and a college. We have to learn numeric 1 to 9 first, and then only we can learn a higher numeric. We have to first learn the alphabets, before understanding words. After learning words, we can learn forming sentences. The same principle is applicable here also. We will conclude this topic in our subsequent postings.

FINDING GOD - V

Maya consists of five tatwas viz. Kalaa, Vidyaa, Raaga, kaalaa, and niyatthi. These five are the products of maya. 1 .Kalaa: The ego covers the three shakthies viz iccha, jnana and kriya of the Self. We have already seen that the Self or the Brahman is witnessing the activities around it and it does not act by itself. The creative activity of the Self consisting of these three shakthies is covered by ego. This state of atman or Self covered by ego is called Kalaa tatwa. This tatwa marginally removes the ego and kindles the kriya shakthi. 2. Vidyaa: This tatwa emerges from Kalaa tatwa, which we have discussed above. It also acts in the same way like Kalaa tatwa. This also marginally removes the ego and kindles the jnana shakthi. 3. Ragga: This emerges from Vidyaa tatwa. This marginally removes the ego and kindles Iccha shakthi. 4. Kaalaa: This is the past, present and future of time. For every action there should be a reason. Without reason no action takes place. This time factor is applicable only to those who are under the influence of time. The creations of the Absolute are controlled by time. The Absolute is beyond time. So, this tatwa is applicable only to the creation and not to the creator. 5. Niyathi: This is responsible for the effects of good and bad deeds. This emerges from Kaalaa tatwa. Kaalaa tatwa makes a person to perform good or bad deeds. Niyathi gives results of those deeds. The above five tatwas together make maya, the illusion. For every act there are three stages. They are Iccha, the desire to do the act. For doing any act there should be a goal. Only to achieve that goal, the act is done. In the first stage of achieving the goal, desire is important. The goal is the object. The next stage to understand the goal, that is knowing the object. This is jnana shakthi. Unless we have the complete knowledge about the object or unless we understand the object well, we cannot achieve the goal. After acquiring complete knowledge of the object, we act to get the object. This is kriya shakthi. The example of a car has already been cited. For acquiring the object we need time. The time in this place can be interpreted as past, present and future. The desire to obtain the object was past. We have already conceived the idea. This is the first stage of obtaining the object. Only after crossing that stage the next stage can be achieved. Therefore it is past. The next stage is present stage. We are acquiring knowledge from various sources. We read news papers, talk to our friends etc. This is the act we do before proceeding to buy the object. Therefore this is present. The third stage is waiting for us. We are yet to get that object. It is going to happen in future. The act we are going to do may be good or bad. This is the broad interpretation of maya tatwa consisting of the above five tatwas. Will be continued in further postings.

FINDING GOD - IV

3. Saadaakhya tatwa: In this “will” is predominant. In other words, Iccha shakthi is predominant here. We desire to have something. Let us say that we desire to have “this”, which has been referred in the beginning of part II of this subject. You have still attachment to the worldly things at this stage. You are still attached with “this”. You still say “I”. For example, you still say that ‘this’ car belongs to ‘me’. Here the emphasis is more on ‘I’ than ‘this’. Why ‘I’ is predominant? It is Iccha sahkthi that is predominant here. Only ‘I’ can have desires or iccha. “This” is the object and “I” is the subject. Subject desires to have some object. For example you desire to have a car. Here ‘you’ (that is I) is the subject and car is the object. This stage of desire or will or Iccha leads to the next stage. 4. Aishwarya tatwa: In the saadaakhya tatwa you had desire or will to create some thing that is to possess some object. In the above stage you did not have the specific idea about a car. At that time you did not finalize which brand of car you have to buy. In this stage of Aishwarya tatwa jnana shakthi is predominant. Jnana means knowledge. The “I”, the subject gains better knowledge about the object “this”. So ‘this’ being clearly defined here. You get to understand the different brands of cars. Having obtained the knowledge of the object, you move to the next stage. 5. Suddhavidya tatwa: Here kriya shakthi is predominant. Let us see how. In this stage ‘I’ and ‘this’ are equally realised. ‘I’ the subject defines clearly the object which is ‘this’. You (‘I’) have decided to buy a car. You have not decided on the brand of the car in the earlier stage. In this stage, after gaining sufficient knowledge about the cars, you proceed to finalise the brand of the car. Let us say you have decided on the brand ABC. Your idea of buying a car is being decided. The subject finalises the object. “I” finalises “this”. Before proceeding further, let us review what we have discussed so for. In the above three tatwas are directly related to the three shakthies viz Iccha, jnana, and kriya which have been discussed in part III. We have also seen that Saadaakhya tatwa is ‘I’ is predominant. In Aishwarya tatwa ‘this’ is predominant and in Suddhavidya tatwa both ‘I’ and ‘this’ are equal. The will of the ‘I’ leads to knowledge about ‘this’ and the ‘I’ decided to act to get the ‘this’. The next five tatwas are grouped under “maya” or illusion. Understanding maya is very important. Understanding maya as illusion alone leads to self realisation, which we have discussed in the earlier postings. Only maya leads to Brahman and without understanding maya’s importance, we can never have emancipation. Maya always conceals the Brahman residing within us. Whatever we are discussing is only to understand maya. If maya goes away, we can always identify the inner Self. Maya is the covering on the Self. It is like ‘kavacham’ or covering made up of gold and fixed on an idol in a temple. We are happy on seeing idol with gold covering and we fail to understand that the idol inside is responsible for this covering. We are deceived by the glittering gold. Let us take another example. The banyan tree has grown from a tiny seed. On seeing the lush green tree, we forget the tiny seed that was responsible for this huge tree. Seed is the inner Self and the foliage is maya. We will discuss more about maya and other tatwas in the subsequent parts.

WALK THE TALK WITH GOD - III

Human: God! You are also forming committees. God: Why? Why are you surprised? Human: We do not get result out of committees. In case our king is not able to find a solution for any sensitive issue, he forms a committee. First there will be deadline for the committee to submit its report. The time given to the committee will be extended several times. Initial extensions will be given for a period of six months. After three or four such extensions, another set of extensions will be given each for a period of three months. After six or seven years, the committee will submit its report. By then, the king would have died. The new king will simply receive the report and will give it to his minister. God: What the minister will do with that? Will he go through that and take a decision? Human: The minister will give it to his assistant. The assistant will keep it along with several thousand such reports. At this time God’s mobile phone started ringing. God: Excuse me for minute. I am getting a call from Indra. Lord Indra called the God and briefed Him about the report he has received from the committee which was formed to find out whether any divine secrets are being passed to the humans. Indra told God that divine secrets are not being passed on the humans. God appeared tense. Human: God! Is there any problem? You are appearing tensed. God: Indra told me that divine secrets have never been passed on to humans. I was just wondering, about the kundalini. Alright, can both of us attend some kundalini class? Human: Of course we can. But why do you want to attend a class? God: I just want to find out what they are teaching in the class. Human: Alright. We will join here (pointing at a name board of a yoga centre) tomorrow. God, normally we first go to a temple before starting anything new. Can we go to that temple (showing a temple) now. God smiled for a moment. God decided that these humans will never change. He was taking pity on the human by his side. Knowing fully well that He is by his side, the human still wanted to go to a temple. God: Alright, let us go. Both God and human entered a temple.

FINDING GOD.III

Let us now look into the 36 tatwas of Shkthi. We have so for seen that cit is prakasha and citi is shakthi and is called vimarsha. Prakasha and vimarsha together is called the Absolute. Cit is static and citi is energy of cit and is the cause of creation. We have already seen about the 24 tatwas in Part I and Part II of Self Realisation already posted in this blog. We have also seen in the last posting that Cit created citi. Apart from the creation of citi, cit also shines as the Supreme Self, its own self revelation. Next concept of cit is “ananda”, which is called the “Absolute Bliss”. This absolute bliss acts independently. This can be interpreted as follows. The Cit not only created Citi or shakthi, but also self revealing. It acts independently without the help of the second. Citi is not second as it was created by cit only. That is why cit without citi is not called the Absolute. Citi with out cit is not possible because without cit, citi cannot exist. Since citi or shakthi or vimarsha has basically three qualities. Iccha, jnana and kriya shakthies. Iccha shakthi is the desire to act. Jnana shakthi is the will to know. Kriya shakthi is the determination to act. We desire to have something. The desire arises only if we know about something. Finally, we act with determination to get that thing which we have desired to get. These are basically the activities of citi. Apart from the 24 tatwas already discussed, following are the other twelve tatwas: 1.Prakasha 2.Vimarsha 3.Saadaakhya, 4. Aishwarya, 5. Suddhavidya, 6. Kala, 7. Vidhya, 8. Raaga, 9. Kaala, 10.Niyathi, 11.Purusha and 12. Prakathi. The five tatwas viz. Kala, Vidhya, Raaga, Kaala and Niyathi together are called “Maya” Prakasha tatwa: This is the creative aspect of cit. Cit has created only Citi. That is. Cit has created the initial created of the universe, called shakthi or citi. As seen earlier, citi is the energy of cit or prakasha. Vimarsha tatwa: This is the energy of Prakasha or cit and is called shakthi. Shakthi in this tatwa removes “this” feeling. This is probably is the first step towards renunciation. In this stage only “this” feeling alone is removed and “I” concept remains. When “this” concept is removed, this means the object is removed. Please refer the earlier posting on “this” and “I”. When object is removed there is void in the place of object. It may be noted that in cit ‘this’ and ‘I’ are indistinguishable. In this tatwa bliss ananda is predominant. Will be continued in the next posting.

WALK THE TALK WITH GOD II

Human: Thank you God. We have at last crossed ‘Z’ security zone. God: Where we are going now? Human: We are presently passing through a famous temple. You can see that serpentine queue. They are all waiting to have a darshan of God. God: It is good to know that people are patiently waiting to see me. But what is that second queue? Human: That is special darshan queue. God: What is special darshan? After all, I consider everybody one and the same. Human: Special queue is for rich and famous. They pay money and buy special tickets. Majority of us do not have enough money to buy tickets to have your darshan. God: It is very sad. Human: But it is your mistake. You have not given everybody enough money. You are also partial in your attitude. God: How you can say that? Every person created in this world is born with his karmas. So being rich or poor depends upon their karmas. So, you should learn to do good karmas. Human: What is karma? Can you explain that? God: Did you not see manblunder blog regarding karmas? If not, why can’t you read the blog? Human: I do not have time to read that!! A friend of mine has told me that he does not understand anything written there. God: What is there to understand? The blog says that I reside in every living being. This is a simple concept. What is there that you do not understand? Human: There are a number of spiritual preachers. Their lectures are well attended. Some of them raise kundalini in a day or two. God: What? Raising kundalini in days! Do you know anything about kundalini? Human: No God. But, everybody is saying that you are kundalini. God: Yes, I am the kundalini energy. No body can raise your kundalini. There are certain procedures by which one can raise kundalini over a period of time. Since my wife was very keen to know, I have only told her. Human: But how that is every alternate person is talking about kundalini? God: I think I will form a committee to find out whether there was any leakage of secrets from my world to your world.

FINDING GOD. II

We have seen that Prakasha and Vimarsha combined together is called the Absolute. This Absolute is full of energy and power. The universe is created out of the manifested energy of the Absolute. Ancient scriptures say that if the Absolute did not manifest, then the Absolute will be all alone and there will be none to call the Absolute, as the Absolute. This situation is like a pot with out water. Prakasha can be called “I” concept and Vimarsha can be called “this” concept. In the state of Absolute, Praskasha and vimarsha are united to make the Absolute a single entity. Vimarsha is the heart and will of Prakasha. Learned scholars make a comparison of this stage to a banyan tree. The prakasha is compared to the minuscule size seed of a banyan tree. Seed is the cause of creation of the banyan tree. Its seed is small, but it grows as a big tree. The growth of the tree is compared to vimarsha. The shakthi or vimarsha functions independently of the prakasha. The duty of the seed stopped immediately after its germination. But such a huge banyan tree cannot grow with out a seed. So the seed has become the root cause for the banyan tree. The seed is prakasha and its growth as a big tree is vimarsha. We have already seen that consciousness is called as ‘cit’ in Sanskrit. Shakthi is referred to as ‘citi’ in Sanskrit. The shakthi of the supreme is called ‘citi’ and the Supreme is called ‘cit’. Cit is static and citi acts by the mere will of the cit. We have seen in earlier postings that the entire creation works on 24 tatwas. Tatwas means citi. Cit do not have tatwas. Cit does not do anything. Every act is done only by citi. Cit shines all alone and self illuminating. Citi does not shine all alone and not self illuminating. It gets light from cit. This can be compared to Sun and Moon. Sun does not need any other object for illumination and it is self illuminating. The moon can shine only with the light of the sun. Moon cannot shine independently. Cit can be compared to Sun and citi to moon. That is why shakthi is compared to moon. These tatwas can be divided broadly into two. One is tatwa of cit or prakasha. Another is tatwas of shakthi or citi or vimarsha. Tatwa of cit is the creation of citi alone, the initial creation, whereas the tatwas of citi are 24 or 36 or whatever. Tatwas of citi is the energy. In the next posting we will discuss about the 36 tatwas of shakthi who is also called as citi or vimarsha.

FINDING GOD

There are various steps to become a yogi. To become a yogi we need guidance from another yogi, who is called spiritual Guru. We have discussed certain things in my earlier postings like Self Realisation. Now, we will go a little deep into this subject. First step is to understand consciousness thoroughly. This plays an important role in various stages of meditation. The consciousness can be defined as “understanding the subject and the object”. The consciousness cannot be defined with a relative term. This can also be interpreted as “knowing your self”. In Sanskrit, consciousness is referred as “cit”. The word “cit” can be defined as ‘self knowing self’. Giving a proper explanation or understanding the explanation is difficult. But without understanding this, we cannot proceed further. ‘Knowing your self’ and ‘self knowing self’ is one and the same. Here the second usage of self means Atman. Consciousness is not Atman. Consciousness or cit is trying to know the atman. How is that Self appearing? It is ‘prakasha’. Prakasha means light. So, the consciousness or cit is trying to know the Self which is in the form of light. It is just not another light. This light is self illuminating and also illuminates things around it. Does it not sound like our electrical lights? When a bulb is burning, we see the burning bulb and also the things around that bulb, because of the light from the bulb. With our eyes we see both, the subject and object, whereas the Self or atman is only the subject and there is no object to see here. This is what Kato Upanishad also says. Whatever we see around us is due to the illuminating inner Self or atman. The illuminating atman cannot be seen with our physical eyes. We can see this only with our consciousness. With consciousness we can see the illuminating atman. But, how we can understand it? In order to derive complete knowledge about some thing, we have to thoroughly understand it. Atman is not only prakasha, it is also vimarsha. Vimarsha means knowing by experience. The vimarsha is responsible for jnana (wisdom) and kriya (deeds). It is also responsible srishti (creation), sthithi (maintenance), and dissolution. I am not inclined to use the word ‘samhara’ (destruction) instead of dissolution, as the samhara means complete destruction, after which there will be, no rebirth. Prakasha is just illuminating. Vimarsha gains jnana from prakasha and acts as per its instructions. In other words, prakasha does not act and is static. Only vimarsha acts. Prakasha is the ultimate reality and vimarsha is the energy. Without energy none can act. Prakasha is the God and vimarsha is the Goddess or shakthi. Prakasha and vimarsha combine is the highest reality or the Absolute. It may be difficult to understand the above, but repeated readings will certainly help. Unless we understand this first step, going into further steps, which are going to be discussed later will be futile.

WALK THE TALK WITH GOD - PART I

One human was meditating very seriously. Suddenly, the God appeared before him. Following is the conversation between the human and the God. Human: Godji, thank you very much for appearing before me. God: Why you are adding ji after God. Human: You are the God. You know everything. At least that is what people say. But still you do not know about this suffix. God: Really I do not know. Things are changing very fast in your world. Yesterday I appeared before an American. They never used this ji while addressing me. Human: Oh God! You travel so fast. God: I do not travel. I am everywhere. But you are not answering my question. Human: Godji God: Please do not address me ji. Human: We are used to addressing leaders like this. It is slip of the tongue. But our people always like addressing them like this. If some name is suffixed with ji, it indicates that the person is respectful. God: When I was born as Rama , Krishna, Jesus and Allah I was not addressed with ji. Am I to understand that my above incarnations were not respected? Human: It does not mean that. We are making money using those names. There is a liquor brand called Rama wines. Krishna cigarette is a famous brand in cigarettes. God: What is wine and what is cigarette? I heard that humans now-a-days do not consider my existence. But Narada told me that everybody is talking about yoga and meditation in order to visualize me. Why this contradiction? Human: God! Please do not believe in what Narada says. You know very well that he always creates confusion and chaos. We have seen Narada in a lot of movies and we know about him well. God: You have Narada in movies? What is movie? Is it another world? How another world can exist without my knowledge? Human: You do not know about cinema world!! This is the most important world for us. This is the richest world. God: You are giving me too many surprises. This is the first time I am hearing about cinema world. I think I have to learn so many things from your world. Human: Would you like to visit a cinema house? You can meet a lot of people. But I do not want other people to see you. That is why I am hesitating. God: On seeing me they will also be blessed. Is it not good for them? Human: It is good for them. That is why I am hesitating. I only did the penance for such a long time. You have appeared before me, because of my penance. Why should others be benefited out my dedicated penance? Human saw God shedding tears. God did not speak for a long time. Human got worried, as he has not yet asked for boons from God so far. Human: Please forgive me if had said anything wrong. Why you are crying and not speaking to me anything? God: I pity myself. I never thought that you would so selfish. Human: You have not visited us for a long time. You were born as Krishna, Rama, Jesus and Allah. All these incarnations were long time ago. Our world had undergone a huge change after those incarnations. Those times kings were there. Their administration was good. Now-a-days, administrators have no time for their citizens. They have no time even to administer their own assets and cash and bank balances. God: I do not understand what you say. You told me that you would take me to a cinema hall. But you are now taking me through these palaces. Human: We are going to a cinema hall only. These are not palaces, as we do not have kings now. These are called houses. Top administrators live here. God: Even I do not have such huge buildings. How did they get such palaces? Human: I have already told you that these are not palaces. These are simple houses. They have such houses because they have income from different sources. God: How a person can have income from different sources? You know, Narada has made a proverb ‘one work at a time’. Is it not applicable to them? Human: Do not speak in a loud voice. Some security guard might be hearing what you are saying. God became angry. God: Lots of people are waiting for years to hear my speech. You are now saying that I should not talk loud. Human: God, please do not shout. If you shout, you will be arrested and along with you I will also be arrested. You have not yet given me boons. If you are arrested, then how I will get my boons? These places are categorized as ‘Z’ security zones. In these zones, you should not speak in a loud voice. You should not carry bags like what you carry. God: Why? Human: The people living here do a lot of service to the humanity. So, they expect threats for their lives. These guards in black dress are there to protect their lives. God: Protecting their lives! I only decide about birth and death. Who are these black dressed people to protect their lives? Human: God, please do not shout. You should not have bought such a big bag for you. If the black dressed people see your bag, they will start searching it. God: Why they should search my bag? There is a book in my bag which contains the dates of various events to take place in the universe. I will not show my bag to anybody. Human was praying with folded hands looking at the sky forgetting that the God is by his side. God: What did you at the sky with your hands folded? Human: I was praying to God. For a moment I had forgotten that you are by my side. When in fear we always think about you. This has become a habit for all of us. Please forgive me. God: Every second I am forgiving somebody or other. (continued in part II)

WHERE IS GOD - AN IMAGINATION

I was in need of some urgent money. So, I decided to call a few of my friends and relatives. First I thought I should ask my relatives. I sent an e-mail to one of relatives explaining my problems. He immediately called me over phone and spoke to me for 40 minutes. He sought all the details such as the list of creditors and how I got into this problem. Then he started explaining what I should do and what I should not do. He said he would call me after a few days to find a solution. I was so happy. I thought my financial difficulties would come to an end. However, my intuition told me, that I should talk to my friends also. Therefore I have decided to call a few of my friends. First, I dialed a friend. With great hesitation, I told him that I need some money urgently. He would not have expected such a request from me. He said “You know very well my position. I wish I have enough money to help you. But certainly, I will to pray to God to give me enough money to help you in future”. I was surprised not because he has not offered me help but because he said that he will pray to God to give ‘him’ enough money to help me. He also knows that I too pray every day. He could have told me that he would pray that God gives me money. I chose to spoke to another friend of mine. I know for sure, that he does not have enough money even for his living. Still, I chose to ask him. He told me jovially that I had dialed a wrong number for money. After a couple of days, he came all the way to my place and gave me a few higher denomination currency notes. I was shocked. I asked him how he got this kind of money. He said that he got paid for his services. He is a hard worker. Sometimes, he may not have money even to travel by a bus. My eyes became wet on seeing his gesture. I refused to take any money from him, though I continued to have financial crunch. He was very adamant that I should take that cash from him. To satisfy him I took only one currency note. I asked another family friend of mine. He was very upset on hearing my difficulties. He said he would look into the matter immediately. I did not get any response from him. I decided to call him. He did not respond properly. I was pinning my hopes on him only. Indications were that he may not also help. This friend gives a lot in charity. But nobody knows where and how he helps the needy. But he ensures that he helps only the needy. I was praying to God that He should send somebody to help me out. As usual God did not respond. That evening this friend came home. Normally he does not come home frequently. We were discussing about so many things. He was about to leave. Just before that he handed over a cover to me and asked to me open the cover after he left. After seeing him off, I opened the cover. There was cash inside the cover. This cash was just enough to settle all my major commitments. I did not get up from my seat for a long time, with tears rolling down my eyes. I called to thank him and wanted to know when and how I should repay the money. He said the repayment will be decided by God. What else I can say? Having settled the majority portion of my commitments, I was confident of settling all my commitments with the help of my relative, who has promised to call me after a few days. I thought he would have forgotten about my request. So I called him again. He said that he was busy with his work and that he would certainly call me later in that week. I was waiting to hear from him for weeks. At last, he sent me a check for a tiny portion of my requirement. The letter contained only advises, such as what I should do and what I should not do and all that stuff. Finally he mentioned that the money would spoil the relationships and he wished that should not happen to us. I visit a place of worship daily. I always find that the place is full of positive vibrations. One day when I was there inside that place of worship, I could not feel any vibration at all. I was searching for the God inside. No, I could not find him. God is always kind enough to talk to me and answer my questions. But for answering my questions, he will not give anything!! I asked Him where he had gone. God replied “You fool! You know very well where I am now. I am sitting with the person, who had given you money to get you out of trouble. I was listening to the conversation between both of you. I was impressed when he said that I as God should decide the repayment of what he had given you. Only at that time, I found out a person in your world with whom I can stay forever. If you want to meet me, please go and see him. Within him I will always reside.” I was astonished with the words of God. Only at that time I understood where God resides.

THE THIRD EYE

The third eye is normally associated with Kundalini yoga. The present day kundalini meditations do not teach anything about raising of Kundalini. I have already written about this in this blog. Kundalini cannot be raised in a matter of few days. It can be raised by sheer practice under the guidance of a highly advanced Guru, who had attained siddhi in kundalini yoga. It is said that raising kundalini energy from the base chakra to the top head chakra takes somewhere between six to 12 years of practice. Without the guidance of a proper Guru, self practice will lead to disaster. The third eye is situated between the two eye brows. As all of us know, it is called ajna chakra. The third eye represents one’s spiritual Guru. Ajna also means directions or orders of the Guru. His orders are received through this chakra. Scientifically the third eye is Pineal gland. This is located deep inside the brain. This is also called spiritual eye or mystical eye. This gives inner spiritual vision. The size of the pineal gland is said to be the size of a pea nut. It is situated behind our eyes and behind the root of the nose. Otherwise dormant, pineal gland can be activated by light. This pineal gland is associated with hypothalamus gland. These two together control our ageing process. Once the third eye or ajna chakra is activated the ageing process will slow down. By yoga and meditation, the pineal gland can be activated. If activated, we will feel the pressure at the back of the head. Incidentally, the back head chakra will also be activated. Back head chakra is situated just behind the ajna chakra. An activated pineal gland connects physical body to the higher frequencies. The pineal gland secretes melanin. Normally this is secreted while we are resting and during deep meditation. During deep meditation, divine energy enters through the crown chakra and reaches the pineal gland. By proper practice, the astral body can be raised. Astral body can be separated from the physical body, if the pineal gland is properly activated. This is the basis of astral travel undertaken by our ancient saints. The third eye can be activated only if pineal gland and pituitary gland pulsate at the same time. The pituitary gland is situated just below the pineal gland. Only if both these glands are activated the ‘light’ can be seen. In other words, pineal gland is our physical self and the pituitary gland is divine atma. When both these glands work jointly, a magnetic field is created. This is the cause for vibrations seen near highly evolved souls. Visualization is very important for activating the pineal and pituitary glands. When both these glands vibrate together, kundalini energy passes through the ajna chakra to the crown chakra or sahasraram. Once the third eye is activated, our karmas will get reduced. Finally we become spiritually evolved souls, with no rebirths. To achieve this regular practice is important.

KARMAS

There are a number of Tantras. Normally it is said that there are 64 tantras. Tantras are in the form of verses which have been told to Goddess Parvathi by Lord Shiva. Most of the tantras talk about rituals. A few of the tantric texts talk about Karmas. Now let us understand about “Karmas”. Karma in literal sense means action. No body in this universe can live without karma. Even somebody choose to ignore karma, he cannot and he will be overpowered by karma. Karma can be good or bad. Happiness and sufferings are due to karma only. If the karmas are bad, it gives only miseries. That is why; religious practices and spiritual exercises are prescribed which gives a positive impact on the weak minded men and clean their wicked tendencies. It is not that people suffer from miseries because of their bad deeds over several births; those who do good deeds with a desire to reap the benefits of the karma also suffer. Therefore, if a person wants to acquire good karmas, he should never do anything for the benefit of his self. He should always perform good deeds and surrender the benefits to God. As long as a man does not acquire true knowledge, so long he does not attain emancipation; even if he does good deeds he also undergoes miseries. One, a man has to be very pure in his mind and second he should identify himself with God. He has to understand the difference between maya and Brahman. According to Vedantists everything in this universe is maya and only the Brahman is real. A person may do a number of poojas, japas, homas, fastings, etc but all these do not lead to emancipation. If a man understands the great spiritual truth that Atman is without second and is the God, only then he attains liberation. Newton’s third law states that for every action, there will be an equal and opposite reaction. Same is the principle applied to the law of karmas. Karmas are divided to four categories. They are Sanchitam, Prarabdham, Kriyamanam and Agamyam. Sanchitha karmas refer to our previous actions. We do not know about the actions done in our previous births. Prarabdha karma is a portion of the Sanchitha karma which will explode in our present life. These two karmas are to be experienced by us at any cost. There is only one exception to this rule. If our Kriyamana karmas (the karmas we do in this life) are exceptionally good and our vision of our Agamya karams should be positive. The Agamya karma is arrived thus. Sanchita karmas + or- Prarabdha karmas + or – kriyamana karmas = agamya karmas. Agamya karma is for our future births. Depending upon the first three, agamya karma may be zero also. This means, there will no rebirth. There is a definite path by which karmas are stored, to manifest in the subsequent janmas. This is again based on the good or bad deeds we performed in the earlier janmas. These are stored as samskaras. Samskaras are the traces of net karams of earlier births. These samskaras produce vasanas or impressions. These vasanas if bad create more and more karmas which in turn lead to more and more births to enable us to undergo the sufferings. If vasanas are good, rebirth will not take place and we merge with God. So, it is to be remembered that our sufferings or otherwise purely depends on the acts we do, in this birth.

VEDAS. PART III

4. Ashwins: Ashwins are two in numbers. They are said to be the two sons of the Sun. Ashwa means horse. The Ashwins are said to be the physicians of the Gods. They are endowed with youth and beauty. The interests of the human souls are 1. Thought and its final illuminations. 2. Action and its last supreme all achieving puissance and 3. Enjoyment and its highest spiritual ecstasies. For this, our thought actions have to be divinized first. These Ashwins work on pranamaya kosha. Ashwins are the powers of truth, intelligent action and right of enjoyment. They are the givers of divine energy and carries man beyond darkness. 5. Visvedevah: In literal term it means all devatas. They are the universal Gods, protectors and supporters of men, bestowers of rewards and come to the libation of the worshipper. Generally, it is assumed that those Gods who have not been referred to in Vedas are categorized as Visvedevah. 6. Saraswathi: The Goddess of speech. The name also refers to one of ancient rivers in India. But, generally she is referred as the Goddess of speech. She is also referred to as the goddess of flowing moments (here it refers the river and inspiration (goddess of speech). In the modern day context, Saraswathi can be referred as the truth of consciousness. Light in Vedas is a symbol of knowledge or spiritual illumination. Other names such as Ila, Bharati, and Mahi are associated with Saraswathi. 7. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva (Rudra)- a comparison: Brahma is referred as the creator of the Universe. He is also called Brahmanspati. Some learned scholars refer Brahmanspati as the Lord Ganapathi. Brahma, as the creator calls light and visible cosmos out of the darkness of the Inconscient Ocean and speeds the formation of conscious being upward to their supreme goal. This is how the conception of Brahma as the creator arose. For the upward movement of Brahma’s formations, Rudra (Shiva) supplies the force. He leads the upward evolution of the conscious being. He is intolerant to any mistakes. Even Vedic rishis are afraid of only the Rudra. He is also the supreme healer himself. But this violent and mighty Rudra breaks down all the defective formations of outward and inward lives of everyone. At the same time he is the final peace and joy. Rudra means one who removes the misery that causes crying or pain. For the actions of Rudra’s force, Vishnu supplies necessary static elements, space, the ordered movements of the worlds, the ascending levels etc. The supreme step of Vishnu is called paramam padam. It is this highest seat of Vishnu that is the goal of Vedic journey. Vedic Vishnu is the natural precursor and sufficient origin of Puranic Narayana, the preserver. There are many other Gods and Goddesses mentioned in the Vedas. At this point, it is not necessary to go into these details. Further discussion on Vedas will be posted subsequently.

VEDAS. PART II

The Vedas, at the highest level, stands for the concept of supramental consciousness which leads the devotee to immortality and beatitude, but at lower levels, it wishes the individual to get the first hand acquaintance with the ever changing dynamic world in which the soul has been placed in an ever changing and highly complex corporeal system of sheaths (annamaya, pranamaya, manomaya, vijnanamaya and anandamaya). Let us first take Yajur Veda. Yajur Veda has two major divisions viz. Krishna Yajur Veda and Shukla Yajur Veda. The difference between the two is that Shukla Yajur Veda is not mixed with brahmana texts. This has 2000 mantras placed in 40 chapters, the last chapter being the famour Ishavasya Upanishad. Out of this 2000 mantras, almost about half of them find place in Krishna Yajur Veda, whereas the Krishan Yajur Veda has seven kandas. These kandas are again divided into several prapathakas and then into 651 anuvakas. Pandits call Krishna Yajur veda as polluted and Shukla Yajur Veda is unpolluted. They cite two reasons for this. One is that names of rishis who have the revelation of the mantras do not find a place in the text. Scondly, insertion of brahmana passages in the original text. Such discussions are still going on and this is not the subject of our discussions here. Now, let us briefly look into the various devatas referred to in Vedas. The devatas can be interpreted in two ways. First, they can be interpreted with external meaning and another is deeper inner meaning. As far as possible our discussions will be based on the deeper meaning of the deity concerned. The inner meanings are given by Aurobindo. Agni: This is frequently used in all the Vedas. The inner meaning can be interpreted this way. The divine will perfectly inspired by divine wisdom. It is the active power of the truth consciousness. Agni is called satya. It is compared to the shining sun and gives enlightenment. It is also the cosmic energy. In ritualistic sense, Agni is termed as the carrier of the mantras while performing Havana. Varuna: Varuna in association with Mitra gives water to the mother earth. Agni, Mitra and Varuna are called triads. Mitra and Varuna when used together are called dyads. The inner meaning of Varuna can be defined as the one who selects out, chooses and thus favours them only who are virtuous and deserving to follow the path to freedom from bondage. He chooses selected souls who are dedicated and make them virtuous and spiritual. Indra: One who possessed with highest glory. A lot is said about Indra in Vedas. He is described as the eldest of maruts. Indra along with Varuna send down the rains. In one of the verses of Rik Veda, Indras says to Agasthya rishi “It is not now, nor is it tomorrow. Who knows that which is Supreme and wonderful. It has motion and action in consciousness of another, but when It is approached by the thought, It vanishes. Agasthya rishi replies and it goes on like this. I am mentioning here about this conversation because Agasthya rishi hails from Southern part of India. At that time southern part of India, had a number of highly evolved souls. Here maruts represent the progressive illumination of human mentality, until from the first obscure movements of mind which only just emerge out of darkness of subconscient , they are tansformed into an image of luminous consciousness of which Indra is the purusha , the representative being. Maruts are the purushas of the separate thought energies, while Indra, the purusha of all thought energy. Further discussions on Vedas are being continued in the subsequent postings.

VEDAS

The word “VEDA” means divine language. Its origin is also divine. The Vedas have resisted the ravages of time, and in the present day context have given rise to philosophical thoughts. The Vedas come down to us through oral tradition, basically because to prevent any distortion. Of course, today, all the Vedas are available in print. Vedas talk about ethical values. God created the universe and made his creation purposeful. He created man, the highest evolved being in His creation. Ethical values are not necessarily a result of social values. They emanate with all their purposefulness from divine nature of the self and in the case of man this has reached a sort of complex. Truth is supposed to be the highest virtue. There are eight virtues quoted by Vedas which sustain the world. They are truth, vastness, right attitude, formidability, consecration, austerity of penance, aptitude of learning and dedication and lastly service or sacrifice. Various verses in Vedas talk about this eight virtues. Vedas talks about a number of concepts. 1) Existence of the Supreme. 2) Supreme is the creator. 3) Acceptance of God as a concept. 4) God is the source of knowledge. 5) God himself is the highest source of ethical values. 5) God knows about his creation and awards them, the fruits of their actions, depending on the merits and demerits of the acts. The Vedas have inherent authority in as much as being the word of God, who is omniscient and omnipresent. The Vedas do not loose their authority even if they are opposed to other books because they are self-authoritative, and other books depend for their authority on them. The mantra or the samhita portion of the four Vedas is self authoritative. The brahmanas being only the commentaries on the Vedas are authoritative only in so far as they are in agreement with them. Upanishads also follow what the Vedas preach. Generally Vedas are divided into four parts. They are Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka, and Upanishads. This is based on the subject matter and medium of expression. Samhita and brahmana are also called karma kanda and Aranyaka and Upanishads are called jnana kanda. Particularly brahmana focus on on external rituals. Vedas are not the creations of temporal minds. They are mystical composition of ancient seers. They got the wordings from God by the power of their sheer meditation. Modern pandits argue that Vedas are hidden gems of wisdom. They point out that external rituals are only symbolic and what matters is internal. The rituals, when performed internally lead to self realisation. The Rig Veda mantras propound all the speech or all the ideas and thoughts leading to all-sided perfection. The Yajur Veda develops the mind which is the source of all actions. The Sama Veda makes us fully develop of life energies or prana for completely developing our potential. The Atharva Veda gives the methods of perfection of our body and senses like eyes or hearing. For the followers of Vedanta, Upanishads are authorities. For Upanishads only Vedas are the authority. Upanishads concentrate more on Vedanta and not on the rituals. But the teachings of Upanishads strictly follow what the Vedas preach. We do not accept anything which is said in contrary to Vedas. Further discussion on Vedas will be continued in subsequent postings.

MANTRAS - FINAL PART

The disciple who wants to have initiation into mantras should approach a Guru. He can very well make enquiries about his proposed Guru, before going to him. Then, Guru will test his proposed disciple. No Guru will initiate mantras on the first day. He will watch the qualities of his disciple. Once he is satisfied, Guru will decide which mantra will be initiated to his disciple. They both will have discussion on the mantra. Then an auspicious day will be fixed. Rohini, Ardhra, Punarvasu, Pushya, Magha, Jyeshta, Mula, Utharashada, Shravana, Sravishta, Utharabadhrapadha and Revathi are considered as the best asterisms. Chathurthi, Ashtami and New moon (amavasya) days to be avoided. Tuesdays should be avoided. At the time of initiation, the lagna should be in movable sign. 8th house from lagna should be vacant. Pithur masas like ashada, Badhrapadha, margasira and maga months should be avoided. The disciple’s birth star, 10th and 19th from his birth star are auspicious. Sun’s transit from one rasi to another rasi is very auspicious. Wednesdays and Thursdays are good. Having thus fixed the day of initiation, the disciple will go to the place of his Guru with fruits, flowers etc. well before the appointed time. The process will start with prayers to Mahaganapathi. Most of the learned Gurus first initiate a Ganapathi mantra. Only then other mantras are initiated. After prayers to Mahaganapathi, prayers are offered to ashtadik balagas and navagrahas. Then Guru will perform punyakavachanam by invoking lord varuna and this water is sprinked on the disciple. Then Guru will give a small talk about the deity, whose mantra is to be initiated. Then the disciple will asked to sit facing the eastern direction and the Guru will sit facing the northern direction. Nobody will be allowed anywhere near the place where Guru and his disciple are sitting. Then Guru will start saying the mantra very slowly asking the disciple to repeat. Thus Guru says the mantra three times and the disciple also repeats three times. After this process Guru also informs his disciple, about his (Guru) guru from whom he got his initiation. This lineage is called Guru parampara. Then other details of the mantra like dyana sloka, nyasa etc are taught. Then the disciple should pay respects to his Guru and please him dakshina etc. The disciple should go to his Guru on the next day for repeation of the mantra by Guru. This process is called dwithiam. Incase of any mistakes that could have happened on the first day inadvertently, will be rectified during this process. The After this process, the disciple should start doing japa daily, both in the morning and evening. The counts should be fixed and should not vary, at least should not be reduced. The number of japas of each mantra has been fixed by ancient rishis. Let us say that some has got 2,00,000 japas. Once, that much amount of japa is done, Guru is to be informed. After his permission and as per his directions, puracharana is to be performed. This consists of 10% of the japa as Havana and 10% of Havana as tarpana and 10% of tarpana as marjana and 10% of marjana as bhojana. For 2,00,000 japas, ahuthis of Havana will be 20,000, tarpana will 2,000, marjana will be 200 and bhojana to 20 people. After performing this, the disciple will attain siddhi in the mantra. Whether mantra siddhi is attained or not can be said only by the Guru who has initiated the mantra. This is the concluding part of the mantras.

top- akathaha chakra: bottom -janana yantra

FRUCTIFICATION OF MANTRAS. PART II

In continuation of my earlier post on Mantras, let us now examine in detail the samsakaras (rituals) for the mantras. It is not a complicated process. !.Janana (birth ritual of mantra) There may be several bijas in a mantra. These bijas are to be chosen from a triangle shaped janana chakra.which contains 49 aksharas of Sanskrit alphabets. This yantra is worshiped whenever a Guru initiates his disciple. This yantra is called “matruka akshara bija chakra”. First, the matruka devi is worshiped. From this chakra, one by one all the bijas of a particular mantra is written in a palm leaf or a copper sheet. This process is called janana of a mantra. Once all the letters are written on the palm leaf or copper plate, according to the convenience. Then apply sandol and kumkum to this leaf. The mantra is born. 2. Dipana (kindling) The mantra thus born as described above will herel be called “moola mantra”. For example, let take Bala mantra “Aim, Kleem, Sow:” This consists of three aksharas 1. Aim, 2. Kleem and 3.Sow: For kindling this mantra, Hamsa mantra should be place before and after this mantra. Hamsa mantra is as follow: Hamsa and soham. For example while kindling Bala mantra, hamsa mantra will be placed like this. “Hamsa Aim Kleem Sow: Soham”. If a mantra has pranava, then pranava should be placed after Hamsa. This way the moola mantra should be chanted 1000 times. 3. Bodhana (awakening) Here, the moola mantra should be recited 5000 times prefixing and suffixing “hroom”. Example “Hroom Aim Klim Sow: Hroom”. 4. Tadana (striking). Here the moola mantra should be placed in between two astra bijas. Astra bija is “phat”. Here “Phat Aim Kleem Sow: Phat” This is be chanted 1000 times. 5. Abhiseka (Ablution). The palm leaf or the copper sheet should be abluted with water, consecrated with the following mantra “Aim, hamsaha, aum” recited 1000 times. Ablution should be performed with ashwatha leaves. 6. Vimalikarana (Purification). The moola mantra should be chanted 1000 times with prefixing and suffixing with the following bijas. “Aum, trom, vashat”. Example “aum trom vashat aim kleem sow: vashat trom aum”. 7. Jivana (Resuscitation). The mool mantra should be chanted 1000 times with “svadha vashat” in the beginning and the same is reversed at the end. Example Svadha vashat Aim Kleem Sow: vashat svadha”. 8. Tarpana (propitiation) Take water, milk and ghee mixed together. Take the palm leaf or copper sheet in which the moola mantra is written. Take this water etc on your left hand and pour over your right hand with fingers facing the palm leaf, so that water etc falls on the palm leaf. Chant the moola mantra while doing so. 9. Gopana. (Concealment) Chant the moola mantra 1000 times by prefixing and affixing with maya bijam. Example “Hrim Aim Kleem Sow: Hrim”. 10. Apyayana (Infusion of fullness) Chant the moola mantra 1000 times by prefixing and affixing with the bija “hsauh”. Example “Hsaugh Aim Kleem Sow: Hasugh” These are the ten rituals to be performed under the direct guidance of his Guru by a disciple while getting any mantra initiated. In the next posting, we will discuss some more rituals about mantras.

FRUCTIFICATION OF MANTRAS. PART I

Now-a-days, we find that many spiritual seekers are complaining that they are not able to get the fructification of the mantras they chant. Why this is so? There are very many reasons. Most of the problems are with the so called “Gurus”. There are well laid procedures while initiating a disciple into various mantras. Secondly, the disciples do not practice in the manner specified. Now let us find out how one can attain siddhi in mantras. The Guru who is going to initiate the mantra should find out whether a particular mantra will fructify for the disciple. The suitability is tested taking into account the first letter in name of the disciple (only in Sanskrit) and the first akshara(letter) of the mantra. As far as mantra is concerned the initial “om” should not be included. The placement of these two letters is checked in “akathaha chakra” a chart consisting of Sanskrit alphabets in 16 blocks. Counting from the first letter of the disciple to the first letter of the mantra, the results can be arrived as Siddha, Sadhya, Susiddha, Ari. Likewise, counting from the first letter of the mantra to the first letter of the disciple be done and the result arrived. The result may be a combination of any two of the above Siddha-Sadhya or Siddha-Susiddha or Siddha-Ari or even Siddha-Siddha. Like this, there will be 16 combinations. Each combination has got its own effect. Let us assume that there is a combination of Sadhya-Ari. If a disciple is initiated with this combination, his entire family will die. A combination of Susiddha-Susiddha will fructify by mere initiation by the Guru. If this suitability of mantra is not tested and a mantra initiated, any number of times of chanting of the manta will not be of any use to the disciple. There are other types of testing the mantras. However, this method is considered as the best. Even after the above testing, a suitable mantra is not obtained, then Guru can decide to prefix certain bijas(letters) before the mantra. Normally, maya, kama and sri bijas are prefixed. But, the learned Gurus normally infuse a bija called “atma bija” to his disciples. This bija is to be prefixed to all the mantras infused to a disciple. The Guru would have tested this atma bija for all his disciples. If a disciple chants any mantra initiated by his Guru, with his atma bija, the mantra will fructify soon. At the time of initiation of a mantra, Guru will ask his disciple to perform ten samskaras (rituals) to the mantra. These rituals are necessary to infuse life to the mantra. Without these samskaras, the mantra will not fructify. These rituals are: 1.Janana: (giving birth). 2. Dipana (kindling the mantra) 3.Bodhana (awakening) 4.Tadana (striking) 5.Abhiseka (ablution) 6.Vimalikarana (Purification) 7.Jivana (Resuscitation) 8.Tarpana (Propitiation) 9.Gopana (concealment) and 10.Apyayana (infusion of power). Let us look into these details in the next part of this posting. Each mantra, for fructification, is to be recited prescribed number of times. There are rituals called “purascharana” to be done after completing the number of times of japa mentioned for each mantra. All these will be dealt with in the next posting.