A View of Santhigiri Ashram

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

Sunday, September 23, 2018

Sri Guru Gita - A Discourse between Siva and Parvati

Gurucharanam Saranam

Today is an auspicious day to listen to Sri Guru Gita, the discourse between Siva and Parvati that is said to have taken place on the beautiful mountain of Kailas probably on a moonlit night of Pournami, the full moon day. Among others who listened attentively to this sacred discourse were great sages and rishis. Surely, Sri Guru Gita contains the secret of all secrets for spiritual enlightenment leading to God realisation.

First let us begin with a prayer to the Guru:

Paramaachaarya Padapraaptam, Paramaatma Swaruupakam
Karunaakara Gurum Vande, Bhavaroga Bhishagwaram

(My obeisance to Sri Karunakara Guru, who has attained the seat of Supreme Guru-hood and who is the embodiment of the Absolute Truth and is the healer of the affliction that is life on the earth plane!)

This mantra is an invocation to the Guru seeking his blessings. It is an ancient practice that when we commence a work, first we pray to Guru. All our actions and thoughts, both good and bad, are to be submitted at the divine feet of the Guru. Guru, while talking about daily routine of a devotee advised that we should try to recollect all our thoughts and actions of the day before going to bed so that we can analyse them in our mental screen and make subjective amendments. It is a subjective process that will help internal harmony or the mind-soul integration. The residues of conflicts in life work subjectively and create ripples of disharmony in the mind and body leading to ailments in the form of worry, tension and so on.

We must understand that GURU is a spiritual phenomenon that is one with the Universal Consciousness. Such a Guru will be a Trikala Jnani, i.e. the one who knows the past, present and future. Guru is the projection of the unknowable, immeasurable, nameless ocean of Light, i.e. God. Every phenomenon in the universe is nourished, harmonised and ultimately evolved in this universal consciousness called Guru. The afflictions arising out of the binaries of existence can be harmonised only on this plane of Absolute Truth.

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

The Spiritual Significance of Kumbha Mela

The Spiritual Significance of Kumbha Mela Being Celebrated tomorrow (20 September, 2018) in Santhigiri Ashram:

The human race is facing a great crisis today. Great preceptors like Sri Krishna, Sri Buddha, Mahavir, Moses, Zarathustra, Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammad and Guru Nanak appeared for the spiritual renewal of humanity during historic intervals. However, their mission remains incomplete necessitating another epoch of spiritual renewal by a world teacher.
The spiritual vision of the great Indian rishis reveals how a soul can achieve absolute freedom from all imperfections and attain perfect peace.
There is only one Almighty God, Parabrahman. His light pervades in everything and everyone.
From that indescribable light of God emerges Manu, the nucleus of creation. He is the first born of God, the Adam of human race.
A solar system is the creation of Manu in association with saptarshis, the seven planetary spirits.
The Indian rishis calculated the age of the universe in terms of Manvantaras after the name of Manu.
Through the concept of Manu and Manu cycles India gives the world a perfect idea about creation and evolution of souls through the guidance of great mahatmas.
This is the basic concept of Sanatana Dharma, the eternal spiritual culture. Sanatana dharma is the culture of great mahatmas.
In the present cycle of Vaivaswata Manu an error occurred in the Sanatana Dharma.
A preceptor mistook himself as Brahman at the summit of God realization.
He pronounced ‘Aham Brahmasmi’, i.e. I am God.
A curse fell upon the human race as a result of this utterance against God.
After this curse, four chaturyugas went in darkness.
For a long age, the human race lost track of the true path and fell into degrading practices like sorcery, spirit worship, atheism, and so on.
God sent 2444 mahatmas from the beginning of this kali yuga, to guide the human race towards the path of true dharma.
However, the fallen souls known as Yoga bhrashtas, Satan and Jinnis opposed these mahatmas and persecuted them defeating their mission.
Several mahatmas and sages prayed to God Almighty so that the human race, which has lost track, may be guided to the right path.
Many great souls and prophets like Moses, Sri Buddha, Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed prophesied that the world will be guided to the true path through a great Soul.
Before the passing away of the Buddha, Ananda the principal disciple of the Buddha, asked the blessed one suppressing his tears,
“Who will teach us when you are gone?”
The blessed one replied,
“I am not the first Buddha who came upon the Earth, nor shall I be the last. In due time, another Buddha will arise in the World, a holy one, a supremely enlightened one, endowed with wisdom in conduct, auspicious, knowing the Universe, an incomparable leader of men, a master of angels and mortals.
“He will reveal to you the same Eternal Truth which I have taught you. He will preach his religion, glorious in its origin, glorious at the climax and glorious at the goal in the spirit and in the letter.
“He will proclaim a religious life wholly perfect and pure, such as I now proclaim.” Then Ananda said “How shall we know him?” The blessed one said “He will be known as Mettayya (Maitreya), which means, he whose name is Karunakara, i.e. kindness. “
In the Bible’s book of John, Jesus promises to send a Comforter:
‘And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you forever; But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you’.
That great Soul in these prophecies is Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru.
It has been recorded by Maharshi Aurobindo Ghosh that he saw a Supramental Light, descending to the earth in the year 1926, accompanied by Sri Krishna.
Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru was born in the year 1927, after ten months of this incident.
Guru’s mother saw that several devi-devas, sages and prophets and their followers are offering obeisance to the divine child in her womb.
Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru was born on 1st Sept. 1927 in Chandiroor in Alapuzha district, as the son of Smt. Karthyani and Sri Govindan, who were ordinary peasants.
Guru’s life, full of sacrifices, began at the age of fourteen, from the ashram of Sri Narayana Guru, who fought against social inequalities and superstitions.
There was nobody to guide Guru in His quest for spiritual realization.
Guru felt that His spiritual path was blocked.
Once, Guru was living at the Aruvipuram branch ashram of Sivagiri Mutt as its in-charge.
One day, He decided to observe 41 days’ meditation climbing the top of Koditooki hill, nearby.
The meditation started and on the 40th day, a figure appeared before Him in an aura of light. It was Rishi Sai Baba.
This vision gave hope to Guru.
Within the next few days, Guru found his spiritual guide – a Sufi saint by the name Qureshia Fakir, who was popular as Pattani Swami.
The saint was living at Beema Masjid near the city of Thiruvananthapuram.
After the spiritual wanderings with Qureshia Fakir, Guru came to a deserted place at Pothencode in the year 1964 and set up Santhigiri Ashram.
Intimations from the Light of God began to be received about the great mission of Guru.
A revelation was received from the Divine Light, thus:
‘What I wished for ages has been fulfilled now’.
The Akhanta Na
ma or the Guru Mantra was received from the Supreme Light as the mantra of liberation, for this age.
The great Guru mantra led the devotees to peace and all types of goodness and welfare and a self-reliant community life.
A revelation followed after Guru’s spiritual fulfillment that Kumbhamela should be celebrated every year commemorating this occasion.
On this day, thousands of devotees with 11 days’ vritam (vows) take Kumbham (earthen pot filled with sacred concoctions) and circle the Ashram in a colorful procession with the accompaniment of percussion, panchavadyam, etc. chanting the Akhanta Nama.
It has been revealed that the Kumbha Mela of Santhigiri Guru Parampara will become a great festival in the world.
It has also been revealed that by taking Kumbhams for 12 years successively a devotee will be saved from all types of karma dosha and pitru dosha along with all related ailments both of the mind and body.
After laying down the foundation for a new spiritual order the great Guru left His physical body on 6th May, 1999.
His physical departure is referred as ‘Adi Sankalpam’.
Guru instilled spiritual wisdom and the knowledge of right karma and dharma and unified the people going beyond the barriers of race, religion, caste and class discrimination.
Guru had prophesied that at all times an enlightened spiritual master would lead the Guru Parampara.
This prophecy has been fulfilled through Her Holiness Sishya Poojita Amrita Jnana Tapaswini, the present spiritual Head of Santhigiri Guru Parampara.
Chronic diseases, unexpected calamities, problems of marriage, mental and physical deformities, suicide, drug addiction etc. are some of the problems that haunt man in the present.
Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru initiated two basic rituals for a solution to these problems. They are the Guru Pooja and the system of marriage in Santhigiri.
The families in the Guru Parampara are released from the karmic and ancestral curses through Guru Pooja or Pitru Suddhi.
A new generation of children with good fortune as well as the awareness of dharma is being born, through the marriages between the families that are thus freed from karma dosha and ancestral curses.
By participating in the prayers and rituals in the Ashram like kumbha mela, pournami vritam etc., the individuals and families are able to fulfill their wishes.
The spirituality of Santhigiri focuses on the family. Guru mentioned that a mother is the first teacher. The mother should be a spiritually knowledgeable soul. If a woman is thus spiritually enlightened, a family would become good. Only through such noble family life, the society can be transformed.
For this, the family life should be spiritually aligned with the Guru and the Ashram way of life.
Welcome to Santhigiri Ashram, the Abode of Peace!

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Why Hindu Unity is a Difficult Task?

A World Hindu Congress was concluded just now in USA. Obviously the main agenda was to unite Hindus. Can Hindus be really united? Hindu unity seems to be a difficult one. The reason is that some deviations have occurred in Sanatana Dharma after the time of Sri Krishna. What we call Hinduism today, it consists of many sects, important among them being Saiva, Vaishnava and Sakteya. These sects cannot be united because they have come up differently. No people can be united without spiritual unity. And spiritual unity can be achieved only through a unifying concept of God under a strong spiritual leadership. Only Sanatana Dharma can unite not only Hindus but the whole of humanity. There are some basic tenets that make Sanatana Dharma distinct from the present form of Hinduism or any other religion.. I present that basic view of Sanatana Dharma in the light of the teachings of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru, whose 92nd birth anniversary is being celebrated on 13 Thursday, Sept. 2018.
We have only one religion – the Religion of Liberation’, said Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru (1927-1999), the founder of Santhigiri Guru Parampara about the path of Dharma he founded. Guru Dharma deals with principles related to the spiritual scheme of time cycles (Yuga Dharma), wisdom transmission (Guru Dharma) and the laws concerning soul’s transmigratory journey for the fulfilling experience of non-dual consciousness. Guru revealed the way for experiencing the pure vision of non-dual Truth living in the duality of phenomenal existence.
We might take time cycles i.e. Yugas, Manvantaras, and Kalpa as some obscure concepts from an unknown past. Just like time in the form of day and night as well as year and season is bound to human destiny, Yugas and Manvantaras are the measurements of infinite time, related to the origin and evolution of life and consciousness in the solar system. The solar system has come into being with such matchless perfection by the Will of Brahman, the Transcendental Light (Brahma Prakasham).
How can the Absolute Nondual Truth create a world of plurality is a question that continues to perplex man. Existence cannot come into being from non-existence, declare the Upanishads (Chandogya Upanishad, VI.II.1). Although the Divine Light is non-dual primordial consciousness and also the basis for phenomenal existence, it creates the world of plurality with names, forms, qualities and different potencies by launching itself through a primordial kinetic urge (Adi Sankalpam).
Adi Sankalpam means the first thought or the Word of God as reflected in the Upanishads as ‘May I Be Many’, ‘May I Create the World’. (Chandogya Upanishad, VI.II.3, Aitareya Upanishad, I, Taitiriya Upanishad, II.vi.i). This primordial urge, the spontaneous self-expression of the nondual Truth creates the boundaries of time and space as well as the whole phenomena of existence, the cosmic plan.
Some religions are against anthropomorphizing God, as they argue that the Absolute Truth is arupi, i.e. formless. Advaita Vedanta even deny that the creation is only a mirage, an illusion. However, the argument is only partially true.
Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru said:
‘Although God is arupi (formless), there is swarupam (form). When we say the love of God, we should imagine a ‘swarupam’ (an embodiment) for God in mind, because God indeed is a ‘swarupam’. Saying that God is omnipresent and interpret in some other way, we would never be able to understand God’.
The pure absolute consciousness has to first transform itself into an entity for the purpose of creation, the scriptures reveal. The Brihadaranya Upanishad mentions: ‘In the beginning, this was but the Self in a form similar to that of a Man’. (Rig Veda, 10.90.2, Yajurveda 31:18, Aiteraya Upanishad, 1:1:3).
This progenitor is known as Manu in Indian cosmology. He is the first born of God, the Purusha or the Hiranyagarbha of the Vedas and Upanishads and the Logos in western theology. The Indian rishis calculated the age of the universe in terms of Manvantara after the name of Manu, the archetypal Guru, the primordial Purusha, through whose volition (sankalpa) every solar system comes into existence. Man has lost the awareness about this archetypal heavenly father. Therefore, Indian rishis calculated the age of the universe in terms of Manvantara, the age of a Manu.
Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru said:
‘Manu Parampara (lineage) is to provide God’s dharma to the world. It is a long time now since we have reached to this helpless state of not knowing about Manvantara, Chaturyuga, how many chaturyugas constitute a Manvantara…’
Nine heavenly bodies revolve around the sun creating the conditions for the origin, sustenance, and evolution of human life. The Rishis revealed that a Manvantara has seventy-one age-quartets or Chaturyugas (306,720,000 human years) consisting of Satya, Treta, Dwapara, and Kali, which cyclically evolve to a pre-determined goal of perfection. Then another solar system begins with the next Manu. Fourteen such archetypal Manus appear in an episode of creation called Kalpa.
‘When we talk about the origin of the universe, the yuga-cycles and dissolutions happen with such a long age. Manvantara comes at the transition to another yuga-cycle after dissolution’ (Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru).
This process of creation goes on infinitely, without a beginning and end, which explains the theory of an expanding universe with its billions of galaxies and the possible existence of countless solar systems. Therefore, the Indian name for God is Brahman, which means that which expands.
‘There is a measure of Brahma Prakasham (Divine Light) for the movement of the solar system’ said Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru. The universe moves on the wheel of time, therefore, the human race cannot move forward without the proper awareness of time. Time is the synonym for change. Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru said about it as avastha bhedam (change of nature or stage).
‘Evolving through each age, developing through centuries, we are crossing stages. When we say ‘avastha bhedam’, the stage from a base entity to a Deva is a unique stage (avastha) of ours’ (Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru).
When Darvin’s theory of evolution is taken further to ethereal planes (mandalas), the soul of man further evolves into the status of greater luminous bodies of a deva, Rishi, sanyasi and other higher levels of manifestation. The soul goes through ten spiritual stages of transformation, according to the Guru. The worlds mentioned in the Bhagavata Purana and other texts relate to these stages of soul evolution.
After the age of Kali, the Chaturyuga cycle again begins with Satya, Treta, Dwapara, and Kali. Satya Yuga is the age of perfection, when God realization is direct, according to the Rishis. While the perfected souls in Satya Yuga adorn the heavens as radiant entities and merge with Brahman (the absolute nondual state) at the end of a Kalpa, souls in the various states of evolution such as an animal, human, deva or a rishi also have to go through the long process of evolution through the cycle of ages. The soul might go down in the process of evolution when righteous dharma and karma are violated.
The present age is the Kali Yuga of 28th Chaturyuga, with 43 Chaturyugas to go, to complete this Manu cycle. Kali Yuga is a period of spiritual perfection. The spiritual order of Kali yuga requires that man attains necessary soul luminance to qualify for the all perfect Satya Yuga, rectifying the mistakes that might have happened in the karma and dharma of previous yuga cycles dwapara and treta. Sanatana Dharma is related to this eternal spiritual order.
However, the mediums of revelation, as well as the modes of application, change from time to time because of socio-environmental changes and human errors that trigger periodical civilizational changes. This change is continuous. Spiritual guides appear for various durations such as 1000, 2000, 3500 or 5000 in a yuga cycle.
‘When the Treta Yuga is completely traversed in the order of Yuga Dharma, an ideology cannot remain more than 5000 or 10000 years. With the passage of time, many failings come in those ideologies’ (Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru).
In view of the above, Yuga Dharma embodies the concept of age-specific renewal of the Dharmic order.
Karunakara Guru said: ‘Yuga Dharma is not only for any particular caste, religion or person. Yuga Dharma is for the whole world… we should know what is Yuga Dharma. There is no use taking up all the four without following what is to be followed in each Yuga. But, we have a tradition that has taken up all the four’.
The ways of worship and social laws of bygone ages (Treta and Dwapara) are practiced in Kali Yuga against the age-specific spiritual order of Sanatana Dharma. The regime of Mahatmas and their spiritual guidance pertaining to Kali Yuga according to the concept of yuga dharma are ignored. Sri Ram, the guru of Treta and Sri Krishna, the guru of Dwapara, whose spiritual incumbency belonged to their respective ages, as well as the rituals and the sacred chants of those yugas are followed in the Kali Yuga. The rights and wrongs of the past yugas are repeated arresting the age-related spiritual evolvement.
While the Vedic tradition portrayed Kali Yuga as an age of ruin, Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru said that Kali is the best age after Satya Yuga since it is an age of spiritual evolvement. The revelations of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru regarding the Dharmic order of Kali Yuga deserve serious attention:
*. We should make changes according to the time. Time will not step aside for us. Since this is the age of Kali, what is required is the propagation of Dharma suitable to Kali Yuga.
*. If the time of Deva in the Treta and Dwapara had been fulfilled through mantra and tantra, it has to be fulfilled through austerities and knowledge (tapas and jnana) in the age of Kali.
* Most jnanis have not been able to understand what the Dharmic order of Kali Yuga is.
* In order to implement Kali Yuga Dharma, a correction and a new path is required. The new path is to develop a good character among the people.
The effort for the transition to Kali Yuga Dharma had begun from Sri Krishna. After Sri Krishna, the Upanishad Rishis, Sri Buddha, Mahavir and other Mahatmas tried to rejuvenate the jnana tradition of India. However, their efforts remain unfulfilled because of spiritual distortions.
Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru referred to it as ‘the error that denied Guru Dharma in the name of Vedic dharma’. Guru said that there would be a change only when we accept the path opened by the Mahatmas:
‘What is required first is the removal of ignorance. That only will lead to victory. What is required for that? We should understand the vision of Mahatmas; should think about it and then try to actualize it. Thus, if we strive step by step, we can reach the desired shore…. Our destined karma is to knock at the door and find out the self-sacrifice of every great soul, that they did for our sake…Mahatmas are the means to love truth and to know the karma with discrimination.’
But the Mahatmas did not get the desired status in India. The Rishi tradition gave way to the Vedic tradition which tried to cement the Trimurti tradition, the worship of trinity gods (Siva, Vishnu and Goddess) and their large family of gods, divinities and gurus under it. The Hindus of India are thus divided into many sects and caste groups leading to their spiritual disunity. Therefore, the efforts to unite Hindus have always failed.
Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru said:
‘An effort has taken place to unite us through Vaishnava, Shaiva and Sakteya traditions. But people would not be united in that way because these three had come in three different ways. What is required for unifying is some awareness.’
The mistake prevailing in the world now is that the dharma of the fourth epoch (Kali Yuga) has not been implemented here. Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru said that the worship of One Almighty God has to be perfected in Kali Yuga. The doctrine of One Absolute God was put forward by India first. However, for the last few millenniums, Vedic tradition functioned without giving respect to the jnana tradition; therefore, Yuga dharma could not be established here.
The idea of One God worship was propagated by prophets such as Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad in West Asia, which has spread throughout the world. But in the prophetic religions, there is no clear concept about cosmic time order – about the Yugas and Manvantaras. They also do not accept the theory of spiritual evolution, reincarnation, etc.
Nature has an inherent character to evolve the soul to its Absolute status through a series of evolutionary incarnations. There exists, also a divine intervention that creates or directs this rhythmic evolution. The uniqueness of Indian spirituality is this idea of a divine intervention, in the form of a spiritual embodiment that exists as the ‘witnessing authority of all actions and knowledge (Karma-Dharma-Saakshi, i.e. Guru Incarnation). Indian spirituality considers the relationship between an enlightened Guru - who is the embodiment of absolute realization- and the souls who are struggling to attain freedom from the chains of imperfection as the fundamental dharma for the evolvement and fulfilment of all living beings.
The path of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru is the hope for the whole human race to unite spiritually. It is an opportunity for Hinduism and India to evolve with universal acceptance.

Mukundan P.R.