A View of Santhigiri Ashram

A View of Santhigiri Ashram
Lotus Parnasala and Sahakarana Mandiram , Santhigiri Ashram, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

The Forgotten History of Manu Parampara




What is the basis of Hinduism? Is it based on Manu Parampara or Trimurty System? This was the question asked by Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru, whose life mission was to enlighten not only the Hindus but also the whole humanity about the existence of a spiritual governance that is God’s alone. The Puranic tradition or the Trimurty tradition mentions that Brahma, Vishnu and Siva are the authorities of creation. The Vaishnavites claim that Vishnu is the Creator; the Saivites say it is Siva while the Sakteyas say it is the Goddess. There are yet others like Ganapathyas and Sauravas who assign Ganapati and Surya as the source of creation. There is also the cult of Krishna, which finds the origin of creation from Krishna. Either all of them are correct or all of them are wrong. Let us respect all of them. Our inquiry is to know whether there is a universally acceptable view in Hinduism about the origin of man and the universe. 

A cow is born from a cow, an elephant from an elephant. Then from whom did the first human originate? It must obviously be from a self-same archetype. That human archetype is Manu, the first projection of God from whom evolved the concept of the solar system and the human life in it. Therefore, Manu is the Creator of the human universe, the first Preceptor, the Adi Guru, the Adam of humanity. All human beings are the self-same image of Manu, the cosmic human archetype. The scriptures have also mentioned that Manu is our ancient most Father. There is no doubt that the name ‘Manushya’, ‘Manav’ and ‘Man’ in English originated from Manu. The origin of the Guru concept is also from Manu. It has been mentioned in the Vedas and Puranas that God’s foremost creation was the sages, from whom the tradition of Guru-Sishya parampara originated.   

All religions in the world originated from the work and sankalpam of gurus and sages. Therefore, the spiritual administration of the world is in the hands of the gurus in the Manuparamapara. That was the original spiritual administration in the world. Then man sinned against God. In the third chaturyuga (chaturyuga is a cluster of satya, treta, dwapara and kali ages) of the present Vaivaswata Manu, an error happened to a great preceptor in the Manu parampara, who declared that ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ – I am God. As a result, a curse fell from Brahman. ‘May the memory of Manu be lost to humanity.’ 

The world was sunk into darkness as a result of this curse. The memory of Manu was erased and the spiritual administration of the Manu Parampara did not work any longer. Long ages passed without the radiance of Brahman. Then the sages prayed for light sitting in solitary forests and mountain caves. The knowledge they received was codified as the Vedas. Compassionate to the earnest prayers of the sages, Brahman initiated a correction for another spiritual medium for the sake of humanity. He empowered three spiritual entities - Brahma, Vishnu and Siva as the medium of spiritual realization to compensate for the eclipse of Manu Parampara. This happened in the seventh chaturyuga. Subsequently, for long ages, the trimurty system prevailed in the world. The tradition of worshipping gods and goddesses prevailed not only in India but also in all other civilizations. The mythology of gods in ancient civilizations like Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greek, Roman, etc. is a proof for this. 

Trimurty system worked well from the seventh to twelfth chaturyuga. Now we are in the Kaliyuga of the 28th chaturyuga of this Manu cycle. There are 71 chaturyugas in a Manu cycle. This is the seventh Manu cycle in the Manvantara order. The time of fourteen Manus constitutes a kalpa, a cosmic age of the Supreme, after which the created world is dissolved and a fresh one starts. In each yuga there would be four kaalanthara gurus and a sandhi guru (example Krishna, who came in between dwapara and kali yuga) for the spiritual guidance of mankind. Various other gurus come under these kaalanthara gurus for different durations like 5000, 2500, 1500, 1000 or 500 years. This is the spiritual administration of the Manvantara order or Manu Parampara. 

The Trimurty system repeated the same mistake that had happened earlier to the Manu Parampara, i.e. equating what God created as God Himself, of equating the Trimurty gods with Brahman. Nothing is equal to Brahman, as everything is only a part of it, said Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru. Brahman has once again initiated a correction in this Kali yuga in order to bring back the lost spiritual regime of the Manu Parampara through the medium of Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru. The history of Santhigiri Ashram constitutes these divine revelations. From the commencement of this Kaliyuga, God had sent 2444 mahatmas to initiate this spiritual process. However, these truths had not been made known to them as they had been sent only to prepare the ground for the arrival of the great Mahatma, Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru for initiating a great spiritual awakening. It is the commencement of a new spiritual age.  These truths about the Manu Parampara have never been revealed to anybody before. Therefore, it is a new beginning. 

We have not yet transcended the mythical hangovers of bygone eras and evolved into the dharma of Kali yuga. We are not yet ready to evaluate the rights and wrongs in our long spiritual history. One should not blame anyone for this, because we are only in the dawn of a new yuga. The darkness of the previous ages is still lingering in the air. If we examine the history of our country after the time of Sri Krishna and Sri Buddha, we can observe that we have not been physically and spiritually uplifted. We can see the picture of a glorious nation tumbling down to the pits of disgrace, disintegration, dishonor and penury.  It is the time for India to resurrect itself and to lead the world spiritually. The Brahmic Will to restore the spiritual administration of the Manu Parampara has to be fulfilled. Let no man dishonor it. All people irrespective of caste, religion, language and region have a place in it.  


Mukundan P.R.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

The Spiritual Governance of India



The problem of corruption and lack of sincerity and truthfulness in public life has reached a situation of social turmoil. People are distressed, disappointed and angry. The time for a great social and spiritual renaissance has come. We cannot move forward without a philosophy of peace and spiritual values. Although India is rich in resources, the majority of our people, especially those in the villages remain poor and unhappy. More than six decades of democratic and socialistic rule has not been helpful to bring the fruits of development to the doorsteps of the poor, which shows the lacuna in a political system, which is cut off from India’s spiritual character. 

We have several honest politicians, but a good number of politicians are involved in corruption. Most of them see politics as a means for making money and gaining access to power and status. They forget that they are accountable to the nation and the people. Some Scams reveal huge losses to the exchequer. Influenced by bribe and pressure from the political bosses as well as big Corporations inside and outside the country, they compromise not only the interests of the nation but also the question of national security. 

India is a nation of great sages and rishis. They built up the culture of India on truth and dharma. In the olden times, the realized rishis and sages gave guidance to the rulers. However, there is no scope for spiritual intervention in a democratic set up in the name of secularism. In the absence of a spiritual authority to evaluate the rights and wrongs of the rulers, the democratic system has given shelter to a breed of most corrupt politicians and bureaucracy. 

Today, like most other countries, India is guided by the principles of capitalism and socialism. There is no place for dharma or spiritual values in these political ideologies which we have blindly swallowed aping the West. Of course, these ideologies promote freedom and the rights of individuals and the idea of nationhood. However, they have failed to generate peace, spiritual values and equality in the society. 

The lesson we learn from this is that no ideology without a spiritual base can lead humanity towards peace and prosperity. We need to nurture an alternative spiritual model of governance based on the tolerant spiritual vision of the rishis. The politicians as well as others always invoke the tolerant character of India without acknowledging and respecting its source, the Sanatana Dharma, which the rishis and the sages of this country and the people of India cultivated from time immemorial. 

However, the spiritual vision of the rishis needs to be rediscovered and reinterpreted. Just like we separate grain from the chaff, it has to be separated from the ritualistic tradition that promotes the plurality of gods and a caste based society through the puranic literature. Only then, the idea of an all-inclusive, socially and spiritually unifying system of spiritual governance can become a reality. 

 Mukundan P.R.