Fragrance of a Great Spiritual Renaissance

Gurucharanam Saranam

Why there is so much anarchy and moral degradation today?  Why does man forsake moral uprightness, qualities of love, truth, compassion and self sacrifice? He is only worried about the society, which values material possessions above everything else, even above God.  So he has become part of the demonic system with its absolute dependence on worldly challenges and a false sense of success in life. Indeed he has selected a path that drills holes into the soul.  He has selected a path that demonizes his soul and drains off all punya or virtuousness of the soul. 

Punya is the hard earned result of the sacred deeds performed by an individual and his ancestors through many lives.  Punya is the measure of divine aura or virtue in the soul, from which springs up every success and every ray of happiness. A person can be guided to the path of earning punya only through a trikala jnani Guru, i.e. an all knowing Guru who has attained certain spiritual stage. What happens to a person who has no punya in him? A man without punya sinks like a leaky boat and loses his battle in life.  Satan grinds his soul like wheat grains between his teeth. Most of us do not have the vigilance and masculinity to uphold right values and truth. The ugly result is in front of everyone. We live like the tiny creatures of a fearful world without any glow of Godly love, human warmth and compassion.

What should we do to liberate ourselves from this disturbing situation? We need few material comforts indeed, but that should not be at the cost of our soul, the very essence of life. We should think about the harmful consequences that would ultimately wound and desecrate our soul because of our misdeeds and ignorance. Although we all know what is right and wrong, we throw to winds all precautions at the suggestions of a little worldly gain and the tickling of sense buds. We are unable to withstand the temptations or we are drawn back by the desire for self-protection. But we cannot protect ourselves when our world is perishing - when our culture, the nation and the future of our children are in peril. We should think deeply. Nothing happens without a proper cause, which most of the time is hidden in the selfsame seed of the problem. However human tendency is to find extraneous reasons. Blaming others is one such thing.   

The sages of our land taught us about life and its intricacies. We have abandoned their teachings and most of the time talk rubbish, observe obsolete rituals and watch cricket and the glamour of the rich and the shamelessly clad models and actresses. People are stupefied by the gloss of these celebrities, who are the demigods of a sensuous world. Instead of becoming nation builders, our girls and youth are getting misled by this glamorous world, which ultimately drains their virtue. 

The destiny of a nation depends upon the collective punya or the sacred deeds of its people. When you as a nation are not virtuous, the base culture that develops as a result will ruin everything. This great country of sages and rishis, of great kings and social reformers has come to be ruled by all types of filthy people and corrupt politicians who loot and cheat the people. This can happen only when there is a serious spiritual degradation. 

Talking about Veda, Vedanta, Maya and Karma would not solve this civilizational crisis. Hindus should forsake all suicidal regional, caste and sectarian pride. There should be One Mantra, One God and One Caste for Hindus. They should open their prayer halls to all people, irrespective of their religious identity. What happened the other day in the Jagannath Temple at Puri to a foreign celebrity, who is a worshipper of Krishna? She was manhandled by the temple attendants over the bribe money for seeing the deity little closer. People enter a prayer hall not for desecration but for prayer. Those who are holy need not go into a temple. People go to a temple for getting purified. Sri L.K. Advani said once when he visited Santhigiri Ashram, the abode of Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru: 

‘We politicians live in a polluted world. When we visit Ashrams like this, we are trying to de-pollute ourselves’. 

If the entry of devotees is viewed as polluting, what divine help would be available from such places? This priestly ignorance, arrogance, superstition and exclusivist agenda should end. These are some of the ills of Hinduism which are tearing away the Hindu civilization, bit by bit. When would the Hindu leadership awaken to these truths? Perhaps never! Even if they do, it would not be possible for them to bring about this spiritual renaissance and unity. So many great souls of our motherland sacrificed their life for this. However, they could not have success, because there is spiritual disunity behind our spirituality. One should not think that only the Hindu religion is affected with this perversion. All other religions have come to the

brink of a spiritual stagnation and it is time for a world spiritual regeneration.

Our thoughts and actions have a subtle connection with dharma. If the source of a person’s faith is contaminated, his thoughts and actions would also be so. The horrible incidents of rape and murders and the problem of corruption, murders and bombings that take place in the name of jihad and all such violent ideologies are influenced by evil spirits. Evil spirits take control when weak humans succumb to greed, ignorance and superstition. The source of jihadist terror is Satan, a powerful super evil spirit, which will wipe out Islam from the face of the earth because God does not want to reform the world the Jihadist way. 

Only a Seer who has surpassed all sectarian ideologies can unite not only the Hindus, but the entire humanity under one spiritual roof. God has already blessed India with such a spiritual leadership. God’s Own Country, the land of Adi Sankaracharya has given birth to another great Mahatma, a great Manvantara Avatar to reestablish the true essence of Hinduism (Sanatana Dharma). He came and went unknown to the world, but the sacred fire He lit is radiating the hope and fragrance of a great spiritual renaissance. O’ Nation, hither turn to for guidance!

Mukundan P.R.

Spirituall Aspects behind Marriage and Childbirth

The painful conflicts in the families, the breakdown of marriages, incidents of physical as well as mental deformities and the delinquent behaviour of children are caused by the thoughtless marriages performed by ignorant parents, who have neither understood the path of spiritual guidance from a wise seer nor its positive effects in life. Sensual gratification rather than spiritual fulfillment is guiding the man-woman relationship. The increasing trend of abortions, the culture of contractual marriages and divorces reflect this moral degradation.

Humankind has reached this ruinous state because our society has long ago deviated from the guidance of omniscient sages who can reveal the true secrets of life. Man has become more religious than spiritual. He has been unable to grasp the depth of important life-cycle ceremonies like marriage, birth and death, the spiritual aspect of man-woman relationship etc. These life-cycle ceremonies and relationships are divine in nature because they are related to one’s spiritual evolution and that of the family stock or gotra. The breakdown of the institution of family seen in the advanced Western countries is owing to this spiritual ignorance about the depth of family life. 

Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru said that if a woman could be led to spiritual enlightenment that family would become blessed and through such uplifted families, the society and the nation would evolve to a healthy future. A woman through her virtuousness can guide her family to a positive direction. However, she needs spiritual guidance for the nourishment of her family. We can receive spiritual guidance only from an elevated seer. Not knowing the true character of an elevated seer, a few women fall in the trap of fake swamis, fakirs, padiris, tantriks and jyotishis and are cheated, which brings a bad name to the brotherhood of elevated spiritual masters, authentic ashrams and spiritual institutions.

We should not confuse the tantriks, jyotishis, evangelists, priests and the like with the true guru concept. Because of such bogus and questionable spiritual practices and beliefs and because of their own ignorance about true spirituality, both the learned and the uneducated generally view ashrams and gurus with suspicion. It would be beneficial to go through the Sree Gurugita published by Santhigiri Ashram, which mentions about the different types of gurus and the characteristics of a true Guru. 

We must realize that without a true preceptor, we cannot improve spiritually and materially. Some rich communities in India such as Marwaris, Sindhis, Punjabis and Gujaratis became prosperous because they lived respecting and serving their gurus and accepting their guidance. Recently somebody reported that Kerala spends approx. Rs.10, 000 billion per annum on rituals in temples, which is a sign that people are getting more and more ritualistic than spiritual. Different from this crowd of favour seekers at the doors of temples and darghas, for the people in the sagely path, spirituality is a meritorious way of life that would transform them for the better both spiritually and materially.

A successful and enduring marriage is fundamental to the health of a family, which is possible only when the couples are united spiritually. Therefore, a Guru gives the nod for marriage only after looking into the spiritual, cultural and ancestral background of couples. A mismatch in any of these aspects would adversely affect their family life including the life of their children. However, this need not be on the basis of one’s birth, caste, community and religion. It is purely a spiritual alignment of couples under the All-knowing Guru. With this type of marriage a pristine gotra or Guru Parampara is born.

Guru cleanses the harmful astral and ancestral aspects of the marriageable couple for the birth of a pure lineage free from cultural and genetic drawbacks. After marriage, Guru gives the couple necessary guidance on how to live as husband and wife. He advises about the prayers, sankalpam and other sacred deeds including the auspicious time for the birth of a virtuous child. The followers of Guru perform certain rituals and prayers, especially during the seventh month, which helps the developing baby in the womb. Thus, the life of the couple becomes spiritually oriented. 

Bringing up a child too is as important as the regimen and rituals required for the birth of a fortunate child, free of genetic and cultural drawbacks. The habits of a child are moulded during its early years and adolescence. Good and bad children are born from a mother. The mother should pray and do sankalpam for getting rid of the bad traits in children. The mother should try to change the bad characteristics through loving and painful prayer. Like food, which is important for the body, prayer is as much important for the soul. 

The women in the path of Guru are weaned away from decadent and meritless religious beliefs and rituals and atheistic beliefs of some people who neglect spiritual aspects altogether. They are guided to a healthy spiritual vision based on eternal values and verities based on the sage tradition of India. In the final count, we can say that a true social transformation can take place only through spiritually sensitized women and families in the society. 

Spiritual masters and prophets were innumerable in human history, but their followers seem to have given only a cursory importance to the astral aspects behind marriage and childbirth including the spiritual mentoring of women. The guidance initiated by Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru is a correction in this regard.

Mukundan PR