A New Spiritual Movement to Save India

The sage tradition representing Sri Krishna, Sri Buddha and Mahavir endeavored to uplift the masses from the quagmire of tradition that continues to confine them within prehistoric cults, moral values and objects of worship belonging to former ages retarding and deforming them spiritually. Educating and civilizing such ‘savage’ and heathen races and converting them to their ‘superior’ monotheistic religion and culture formed ‘the white man’s burden’ and the excuse for colonialism in the past. However, the truth is far from that. The so called western culture has been hegemonic and exploitive of the poor nations and peoples and has produced a corrupt and hollow human civilization bringing degradation in all walks of life including culture and morality. It has never been able to resuscitate the human race spiritually in its true sense. The mere evangelic preaching of the self-sacrifice and love of a compassionate God or forcing one’s religion on others would not help humanity’s transition to a new age of spiritual transformation.

The Guru-Word seeks to liberate individuals from the spiritual morass of ages that continues to pollute life and vitiate the social fabric. Beliefs and practices when outlive their tenure and age-specific dynamism stifle human aspirations and arrest spiritual growth unless renewed and reinterpreted from time to time by the wisdom tradition represented by great sages and avatars. The significance of the Guru Vani, the spoken Word of Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru is immense in this age of socio-cultural turmoil. There is nothing beyond the Guru-Word for deliverance which has flowed down from Brahman, the Supreme Light. The Guru-Word sanctifies the pollution in our life and helps us to understand ourselves, our tradition and belief systems in a new age-specific perspective that is so liberating. For the same reason, the Guru said that His path is the Vimochana Matam, i.e. the Liberating Dharma.

The Guru-Word dusts away the dirt and pollution accumulated over the ages on the surface of tradition and beliefs of the forefathers and discovers for them the true basis of their ancient-most faith and culture, to which all forms of Gnostic and monotheistic beliefs in the world owe a debt. However, it might be a paradox to say so because of the long history of distortion and deviation the Indian spirituality is subjected to by its own votaries. The idea of a Single God and the Guru, the God in human form (as the medium between man and God) is central to Indian spirituality like any other monotheistic religions. The Guru Word re-affirms more emphatically what Sri Krishna said some five thousand years ago: 

Give me your whole heart,     

Love and adore me,   

Worship me always,

Bow to me only,

And you shall find me;

This is my promise,

Who love you dearly; 

Lay down all duties in me, your refuge,

Fear no longer, for I will save you

From sin and from bondage.                          

This is the assurance of the Guru to His followers. The very theme that underlines the corpus of Guru-Word is unmistakably the same. Follow the Guru-Word and the Guru Dharma that has been gifted to us as the invaluable gift of God for this age. Guru did not like to utter or act like a prophet who declares his prophet-hood himself, in keeping with the self-denial and self-effacing character of the age-old rishi tradition. However, the Almighty gave Guru’s disciples the divine eyes as it were to see for themselves the sameness of God in Guru through revelations and visions by which they realized beyond the clouds of doubt that in Guru was both the Will of God and the Word of God. 

Once an Islamic scholar from Delhi posed a question to the Guru; ‘Are you a Prophet? ‘I did not say so’, said the Guru to him. This scholar went away with the mistaken notion that Guru was like any other crowd-pulling god-men of India. Guru was not a messenger of God like Prophet Mohammad, he argued. It is true that Guru is not a prophet because with Prophet Mohammad, the prophetical tradition had come to an end, which Islam also asserts. In this age, the humanity needs to be guided by a Far-sighted Seer. Guru often talked about His role as a Far-Sighted Seer or Deergha Darshi, an Authority of Age, who is able to envision the genesis of the world and its sustenance through the course of long cosmic ages, its twists and turns and the rights and wrongs occurred in the spiritual and historical march of humanity. The final sublimation or liberation of human soul culminates in the truth of Guru. At the end of the tunnel of spiritual experience or spiritual realization is the Guru.

The Guru-Word reveals the cosmology of Manu and Manvantara, in which is found the original framework or the teleological foundation of monotheism. The far-reaching significance of the cosmology of Manu has never been comprehended by both monotheists and polytheists alike. God in the form of the Primordial Preceptor or Archetypal Guru - that is the raison d’être behind the concept of Manu. A solar system and human life originate from the sankalpam or creational intent of Manu in association with the Saptarshis, the guardians of the solar system. It is for this reason the cosmic ages are calculated in terms of Manu Ages or Manvantara cycles after Manu’s name. Reflecting the truth of Manu and the Guru-origin of the universe, the flow of wisdom or the system of spiritual guidance has been ordained through the medium of Preceptors who appear at specific ages as the spiritual authorities.

At the turn of every spiritual renewal, the appearance of a Guru is imminent. Everything has its ordained time and space and has to give place to the continuing stream of spiritual renewal. This is the basic foundation of Sanatana Dharma or the Eternal Dharma, which is behind the resilience and tolerant nature of Indian spirituality. The spiritual incumbency of the sages and prophets is not static in the course of long cosmic ages. In other words, there is no scope for a final prophet or an exclusive religion for salvation in the scheme of spiritual evolution. However, there is an exclusive spiritual path that links man to God. That is the path of a realized Guru who can sensitize us experientially about the eternal truth of God through direct experiences and spiritual visions nourished by a way of life based on universal love and compassion. India has been the land of this experiential spirituality from ancient times.

Although the original history of Manu has been lost to human race long ago, the mention of Manu is found in the scriptures in a passing way. A parallel is also seen in the Adam concept of Semitic religions, which must have found its way to Christianity originally from India. Here the Manu or the Adam is portrayed as the earliest human ancestor or preceptor in earthly terms. However, the reality of Manu is not so as explained earlier. God, the Formless One (Nirguna Brahman) projects the human universe through the medium of Manu, the Adi Guru who is said to be seated in a thousand-petalled Lotus presiding over the spiritual evolution of humanity. This idea of the Guru-origin of the world is found in the more ancient Saiva tradition (refer Maha Nirvana Tantra for example) as well as in the Rig Veda, which mentions that in the beginning there was only the Purusha or Hiranya Garbha, from whom originated  everything.  The Purusha, Hiranya Garbha and Isa in the Vedic and Puranic texts refer to Manu, the First Archetypal Guru.

However, over the long ages, this cosmology was distorted and presented through the sectarian lenses of spiritual cults like Saivism, Vaishnavism and Sakteyism and it developed into the system of soliciting help from the gods through priest-craft and yogic cults. The powerful league of priests replaced the position of sages from the center stage and instituted the worship of idols in temples. The priests became the spiritual mentors in the society claiming exclusive authority over spiritual functions and divine knowledge. It diluted the role of sages in the wisdom tradition or jnana path as ordained by Manu. The less fortunate in the society were left to live in gross ignorance and servitude in a high and low notion of caste hierarchy instituted by the priests. This has been the cause of the spiritual downfall and social disintegration of India.

A big array of inimical forces consisting of evangelists, jihadists, Maoists, Leftists and other victims of race politics are engaged in a pernicious war with India. Yes, they want to break India and its religion, which they perceive as a hegemonic social order of Brahmins and worship of mythical gods instead of the only God. What could not happen even during the Islamic and British rule is happening now. The Hindu civilization is crumbling. Unable to find an egalitarian and philanthropic spiritual leadership, vast sections of vulnerable Hindu population are falling in the trap of evangelists and leftist ideologies that would turn the nation into a dirty pig yard. India cannot forsake its wisdom tradition of the rishis and sages, which is in fact the backbone of all wisdom traditions in the world. A world without the saving wisdom of the sages is unimaginable. The mission of Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru is to restore this lost wisdom tradition to its original status. It is a new spiritual initiative by the Almighty to save India.

Only a realized Guru can guide a soul to liberation or mukti. The Liberating Dharma of Guru provides another God given opportunity for India to reclaim its Guru status and the long lost egalitarian guru-disciple wisdom or jnana path under a Deergha Darshi Guru and His Parampara. The Guru-Parampara founded by Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru transcends all differentiations of race, religion, caste, class and creed and proclaims the Oneness of God. Through this new initiative of God, the human race can evolve into an age of goodness and perfection, as envisioned and dreamt by several mahatmas and sages down the ages. 

Mukundan P.R.

The Words of Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru

 

Guru Tradition’s Sacred Offering to Brahman

There was a time when the world had no awareness about the Brahmic Will or the glory of God. It does not mean that this awareness is perfect even at present. Except that the opportunity to do the things as revealed from Brahman in the respective ages, the world had not been able to absorb that knowledge. It was during (the past) six Manu cycles (Manvantara) and in the three chaturyugas (the four-fold cosmic ages - satya, treta, dwapara and kali - of the present seventh Manu cycle) that the complete awareness about the Will of Brahman did exist. Satyatrana was the great soul who had come at the end of the third chaturyuga. Even though he knew that he was the heir to the Brahmic Will, he was not revealed the secret of his own life fully until the end. I am mentioning about the matter which has been revealed in my experience. I do not know whether there is something beyond.

A Manvantara is the sankalpam of the Saptarishis (seven primal rishis). In that sankalpam a solar system is being created. There are nine planets, which have form and are suitable for the principle of evolution. The quality of Rahu and Ketu has never been determined. These planets remaining as twelve constellations (raasi) give twelve effects. In that, it is not known what effects Rahu and Ketu give. However, for everything an ordained nature is mentioned. Some perfection is seen for these two. The Saptarishis gave the sankalpam for the creation of a solar system in the measure of 9 planets, 12 constellations and 27 stars. There are some people who describe it as seven mandalas scientifically as well as by some other experiences. These seven mandalas have form and characteristics. However, Rahu and Ketu, while they revolve, sometimes travel off the path. So we should not expect to receive their perfect result because the time difference during the revolution of a twelve-year cycle cannot be determined by anybody. That means their movement is not regular. They move in a rhythm that cannot be determined.

There is a measure of Brahmic Light in the rotation of the solar system. Its influence might have effect here and there, but it will not go beyond this mandala. If the difference of a moment occurs in this rotation, error will happen up to the yaama calculation. It cannot be determined perfectly. However, there are seconds, minutes, naazhika (24 minutes), vinaazhika (60/1 of a naazhika) and up to very minuscule truti in our measurements. Whatever calculations are there, no mistake should happen in the ‘magnificence’ born out of the sankalpam of the Saptarishis. That is the way of truth. That is the human life. There are sandhis (the transition time) in between Manvantaras, Chaturyugas, Yugas and Yaamas. Sandhya Vandanam (the prayers at morning, noon and evening) are being done in order to sanctify the yaama sandhis. There are people who remain awake in the three yaamas or maximum in the five yaamas. However, we have been given prayer times in all the eight yaama sandhis.

There is the calculation that there are five Gurus for a Yuga. These Gurus give us the calculation of Sandhya Vandanam and the awareness about the age. However, we cannot say how many mahatmas come in the Yuga sandhi. In the (cycle of) four yugas, what is made known to us is the Will of Brahman. If a mistake happens in the Yuga Dharma at any time, it is not possible to redeem it. A lot of effort is required for that. The lives of mahatmas and their words prove it.

In the awareness of Satyatrana who uttered the chaturvakyas (the four Vedic enunciations equating individual soul with Brahman, like Aham Bramasmi, Tatvamasi etc.) the pundits and ignorant fell down in the ditch in a manner that makes the identification of ages impossible. The truth that can be seen, if we evaluate the bygone twenty-five chaturyugas, is this. Our subject is the revelation about where the mistake occurred in this truth. As a proof that this error occurred, we have in front of us the lives that have come across thousands of obstacles - the life of a human, pitru, deva, rishi and sanyasi. Among these lives, understanding what is the life of a muni (sage), a rishi (seer) and a deva, understanding as well what is the life of a rishi who is below the deva - the path of guidance of the rishi who exists above the deva is the truth upheld through the expressions of the rishis. 

There was a time when I was unable to know anything about this truth. It was at Varkala the karma-kushalata (spiritual dexterity) was achieved by way of revelation that from which (mandala) this truth exists, higher than the Trimurti tradition. That period was a time of physical and mental persecutions. It is impossible to count and express it or say exhaustively what all types of persecution were there. I am indebted to the Will of Brahman that made me redeem this. The life of mahatmas was unable to establish what is right and what is wrong in the Manu Parampara and how to redeem it. 

Six Manvantaras have gone by. For every Manvantara there are 71 chaturyugas. That is the calculation. There are four yugas (satya, treta, dwapara and kali) in a chaturyuga. The reckoning is that there are five Gurus for the redemption for every yuga. The shortest among the yugas is the Kali Yuga. There are 432,000 years for this alone. Dwapara has double the years of Kali Yuga. A Dwapara and Kali Yuga add up to the duration of a Treta Yuga. Treta Yuga plus a Kali Yuga equals the time of Krita (or Satya) Yuga. According to the rate of reckoning that (there are) five Gurus for every Yuga, after how many millions of years, the epoch from the birth of Sri Rama to the birth of Sri Krishna has come! 

Prior to the beginning of the Kali Yuga, it was Sri Krishna who was born as a Mahatma, who knew perfectly the dharma of Kali Yuga. It has been determined by Manu that the fourth age Kali belongs to the Sudra class. That means Kali Yuga is the ordained age for the Sudra wherein he has the complete right to Brahmajnana (spiritual realization), understanding fully all subjects related to the administration (of the nation) and making others administer, in the fourth age (Kali Yuga). It is as an example that Krishna was born in the Yadava clan (a backward community).

The original sin (or error) occurred 25 chaturyugas ago. The rishi by the name Satyatrana, when he pondered  over the Truth in order to value it, and when he thought about himself and evaluated the fundamental Truth that has come by way of Manvantaras and Chaturyugas, a great slip occurred - and it was mentioned earlier that the saying ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ ( I am God) happened as a consequence of it. When this (error) was perfected by the Chaturvakyas in the subsequent ages, what came about was not conceptual perfection but lexical perfection. That is the mistake being perpetuated through the (past) 25 Chaturyugas. Gurukula Brahma Niveditam is a karma (path of action) for correcting that mistake and to bring about the conceptual perfection.  (Translated from the original Malayalam by Mukundan p.r.)

The Riddle of Manu, the Adam of Human Race

Gurucharanam Saranam

The Riddle of Manu, the Adam of Human Race

Mukundan P.R.

Manvantara Order and the Roots of Monotheism

   The fundamental principles of Hinduism could be seen resting on the concept of Manu and world teachers appearing in the epoch of Manu, which is known as Manu Parampara or Manvantara order. The sages in the Manvantara order believed that all human beings came from one source and they were created in the image of God. Man is constantly impelled to evolve to that divine status, for which, the soul incarnates innumerable times, the Divine in the form of an avatar, guru or prophet ever presiding over this spiritual evolution. The spiritual brotherhood of these masters is denoted here as Manvantara avatars or Manu Parampara. The dharma revealed by the sages in the Manu lineage is referred as Sanatana Dharma. Sanatana Dharma means the eternal or everlasting dharma guiding humanity. By its own definition Sanatana dharma is not confined to the religion of Hindus alone.

    The Manu in discussion here is not the writer of Manu Smriti, who, according to scholars like Sir Moneir Williams and Sir William Jones, lived around 500 BC or 1250 BC. The Manu of the manvantara order is considered as the first astral blueprint of human consciousness in a cosmic process by which the absolute impersonal Truth is ultimately transformed into a human medium in a physical universe.

   This ethereal human prototype in cosmic terms is named as ‘Purusha’ (The first form of Supreme Brahman is Purusha! - parasya brahmano ruupam purusha prathamam dvijah -Vishnu Purana, 2:15) from whose desire or cosmic brooding (sankalpam) the solar system, the local universe consisting of saptarshis (the seven patriarchs or planetary spirits) and all sentient and insentient beings in it including humans and angels took birth.

   Various worlds together with their guardian deities were formerly conceived in the limbs of Supreme Purusha - purushaavayamvaiiloke sapaalaaha puurvakalpitaah – Bhagavatam 2:9:11.

   The Rigveda mentions that ‘whatever exists here, that which is, and yet to be, is all verily the Purusha, the Supreme Being.( Purusha Evedam Sarva Yad Bhuutam Yaccha Bhavyam (Rigveda, 10:90:2).

   In the Yajurveda also manifestation of God is termed as a Purusha (Vedaahametma purusham mahaantam (Yajurveda 31:18).

According to Manu Smriti, the treatise on dharma, the creation of Manu, the First Born of God has been described thus:

This universe was enveloped in darkness- unperceived, undistinguishable, undiscoverable, unknowable, as it were, entirely sunk in sleep. The irresistible Self-existent Lord, undiscovered, creating this universe with the five elements and all other things was manifested dispelling the gloom. He who is beyond the cognizance of the senses, subtle, un-discernible, eternal, who is the essence of all things and inconceivable, himself shown forth. He desiring, seeking to produce various creatures from his own body, first created the waters, and deposited in them a seed. This (seed) became a golden egg resplendent as the sun, in which he himself was born as the progenitor of all worlds. The waters are called Narah, because they are the offspring of Nara; and since they were formerly the place of his movement (ayana), he is therefore called Narayana… That Lord having continued in the egg divided it into two parts (male and female) by his mere thought. Its (the egg’s) womb, vast as the mountains of Meru, was composed of the mountains and the mighty oceans were the waters, which filled its cavity. In that egg were the continents, seas and mountains, the planets and divisions of the universe; the gods, the demons and mankind. (Manusmriti, 1:9).

The Brihadaranya Upanishad mentions thus:

   In the beginning, this was but the Self in a form similar to that of a Man (Attmaivedamagra aasiit purushavidhah (Brihandaranyaka Upanishad 1:4:1).

The Bible echoes this idea of the First Born; ‘God created man in his own image, male and female he created them’ (Genesis:27)

The word Adam has derived from Adi, meaning the ‘first or beginning’ in Sanskrit, says Blavatsky, the Russian mystic and founder of Theosophical Society in her book ‘the Secret Doctrine’:

Even the name of the first man (Adam) in the Mosaic Bible had its origin in India… the words Ad and Adi mean in Sanskrit "the first"; in Aramæan, "One" (Ad-ad, "the only one"); in Assyrian, "father" whence Ak-Ad or "father-creator." And once the statement is found correct it becomes rather difficult to confine Adam to the Mosaic Bible alone, and to see therein simply a Jewish name. (The Secret Doctrine, Adam Adami, Page 44)

   The creation of Purusha alias Manu takes place astrally. In other words, it is the formation of the ethereal structure of the universe, from which proceeds the creation, like a tree from its seed. Therefore, the subsequent physical evolution of humans and other living beings on the earth is subject to the basic principles of evolution as expounded by Darwin.

   In contrast to this, trimurty tradition in Hinduism identifies itself with the exoteric teachings in the puranas and Vedas that extol the supremacy of gods and worship of deities through mantra and `tantra and a division of human society into four hierarchical caste groups in which the Brahmin is superior to all others.

   In the Padma Purana, for example, it has been mentioned that all Brahmins are noble, adorable always. Though filled with evils like stealing and bad conduct, the twice born Brahmins are noble and adorable, not a Sudra, even if he has attained control over the senses.

   Sarve api braahmanaah shreshtaah puujaniiyaah sadaiiva hi; Steyaadi doshataptaah ye braahmanaah braahmanothamaah anaachaaraah dwijaa puujyaah, na tu suudraa jitendriyaah (Padma Purana, Fifth Canto, Viyayoga Saara, Chapter 2:6:7)

   However, other schools of thought have not accepted the puranic version of Hinduism (trimurty tradition) because of its polytheism and caste based division of society. The birth of different spiritual movements in India like Buddhism, Jainism, Sikkism and sects and cults like Kabir Panth, Brahmo Samaj, Aryasamaj, Saivisim, Vaishnavism etc. and religious conversions of Hindus to Islam and Christianity as well as the birth of political and social movements inimical to Hindiusm such as Marxim, Maoism and others could be seen in the light of these differences and discrminations. Many Hindus forget these facts and try to wrongly interpret spiritual anarchy as religious freedom.

   According to the puranic version of Hinduism, the Supreme Being when manifest outwardly in association with three gunas (satva, raja, tamo) assumes the forms of Vishnu, Brahma, and Siva.

   That One Supreme assumes three forms, namely, Brahma, Visnu and Siva in association respectively with rajas sattva and tamas aspect of prakriti for creation, preservation and destruction of the universe. Out of these three forms, the manifold good of mankind accrues form Him whose form is sattvic and this is Visnu (Bhagavatam 1:2: 23).

   These forms are called as Gunavatars. However, the inner teachings of the Vedas and Upanishads (jnaana kaanda) and the six philosophical schools of Hinduism like Vedanta and Sankhya do not go by the trimurty concept of creation.

   God, in the conception of Vedas and Upanishads is Bliss (Aanando Brahmiiti Vyajanaat (Taittiriya Upanishad, 3:6) , which transcends prakriti of threefold gunas. It is termed as the pure white Radiance beyond all lights (Tat Shubhram Jyotishaaam Jyotih Tadhyadaatmavidho Viduh (Mudakopanishad, 2:2:9) - the ‘Ateeva Satyaprakasham worshipped by Santhigiri Guru Parampara.

   Monotheism, which is referred as ‘Jnaana tradition’ in Hinduism transcends the concept of Guna Avatars: The Vedas, Upanishads and also Puranas abound with the idea of monotheism:

Self-luminous is that Being, and formless. He dwells within all and without all. He is unborn, pure, and greater than the greatest, without breath, without mind says the Mundakopanishad. (Mundaka Upanishad, II, 1-4).

From God, who alone remains when all other perish, came out Rig, Sama, Chandas, Purana, Yajus and all the deities belonging to heaven (Atharva Veda 11:7:24).

The puranas also echo the idea of monotheism, when they do not overtly promote sectarian idea of God.

There was neither day nor night neither sky nor earth; neither darkness nor light nor anything else other than that only One Purusha, the Brahman, comprehending in Himself matter and its modification (Vishnupuranam, 1:2:23)

The various worlds together with their guardian deities were formerly conceived in the limbs of the Supreme Purusha (Bhagavatam 2: 9:11)

   When the attributeless Brahman becomes manifest, He is God, the Universal Father from whom emerges the Virat Purusha, the first Cosmic Person, who is denoted here as Manu. Brahman, the Supreme Being made Virat, which served as a city (puram) for Him and He reposing there, received the epithet of Purusha, says Bhagavatam.

Puram viraajam virajasya tasmin, svaashena vishtah purushabhidhaanamavaap (Bhagavatam 11,4,3)

   Thus the Purusha alias Manu becomes the authority of our solar system and the cycles of life in it. Brahman is equated to an ocean of Bliss, i.e. a plane wherein all ideas, forms and attributes have its ultimate consummation or riddance. In this way, Manu, the First Born of God, referred as Isvara alias Hiranyagarbha alias Virat Purusha mentioned in the Vedas became the Father of our universe and the epoch of a Manu came to be known as Manvantara, after his name.

   There is a series of fourteen such Manus in a cycle of creation referred as Kalpa.(Kalpa is Time-space continnum formed by billions of years (4,320,000,000 years), after which the created world meets with dissolution; the time period of one Manu is equal to 306,720,000 years constituting seventy one age-quartets, i.e. a cluster of satya, treta, dwapara and kali yugas).

   The spiritual authorities, who come in the lineage of Manu according to the partitions of ages are denoted as Manvantara Avatars. We can thus observe two distinct spiritual streams in Hinduism, namely, ‘trimurty tradition’ based on the polytheistic teachings and ‘Manu tradition’ based on monotheistic teachings of sages in the Manu Parampara. While the polytheistic teachings are based on the puranas, tantras and karmakanda found in the Vedas, the monotheistic teachings (jnaana kanda) are part of the Upanishads, the six philosophical systems (shad-darshanas) and Bhagavat Gita, Guru Gita etc.

The Forgotten History of Manu Parampara:

   Though Hindu religion is essentially based on monotheism, since the modification of puranas and interpolations by the scribes of different sects, much of its original character has been lost. Records containing the history of Manu parampara have also been lost to humanity. The Puranas record that Manu is the progenitor of humanity.

   The great sage Parasara reveals the details of past manvantaras and Manus in Vishnua Purana thus (Vishnu Purana, I.VII, Horace H. Wilson):

The first Manu was Swayambhuva, and then came Swarochisha, then Auttami, then Tamasa, then Raivata, then Chakshusha: these six Manus have passed away. The Manu who presides over the seventh manwantara, which is the present period, is Vaivaswata, the son of the Sun.

   The mention of Manu is also found in the Bhagavat Gita: ‘Vivasvaan Manave Praaha, Manurikshaakve Abraviit’, i.e. ‘Vivaswan (Sun god) revealed (this knowledge) to Manu and Manu to Ikshaaku’. In the scriptures, the Sun is equated to the eye of Brahman (Chakshoh Suuryo Ajaayata - Shukla Yajurveda, 31:12) which could then mean that Manu is the first born from the Brahman.

   The idea of Manu and the Saptarshis (the seven patriarchal rishis) can be found in Buddhism too. In the Tibetan Secret Book of Dzyan quoted by Blavatsky in her book ‘the Secret Doctrine’ it has been mentioned that:

The Lha (the great Spirit) which turns the Fourth (Globe, or our Earth) is servant to the Lha (s) of the Seven (the planetary Spirits or the saptarshis) (b), They who revolve, driving their chariots around their Lord, the One Eye (Loka-Chakshuh) of our world (Brahman), His breath gives life to the Seven (gives light to the planets). It gave life to the First (The Manu).

   Different from the sages and rishis coming under trimurty tradition, the manvantara avatars, do not go by the puranic version of creation, which postulates that from the navel of Vishnu, Brahma appeared and Brahma, desirous of creation, divided himself into two, i.e. Manu and Satarupa and from them came forth saptarshis and other beings (Bhagavata Purana, III:2:42-5)

   Here, the importance is shifted to trimurty from Manu. The Vedic Creator, as already mentioned, is described as Purusha or Hiranyagarbha, whose other name could be Manu and from whose sankalpam or desire the human universe of ours has evolved. That the age of our universe is calculated in terms of manvantara equivalent to the age of a Manu gives credence to this view. It would be understood from the differing concepts and myths that the idea of Brahma as the Creator is a later super imposition.

Manvantara Avatars – the Medium for God Realization:

   Much importance is assigned to Guru, who is a Manvantara avatar. The Katha Upanishad mentions that ‘taught by a teacher, who knows the Self and Brahman, a man leaves vain theory behind and attains to truth.’( Katha Upanishad, 1:ii:80).

   Words cannot reveal him. Mind is unable to reach him. The eyes do not see him. How then can he be comprehended save when taught by those seers who indeed have known him? says this Upanishad and gives this call to mankind:

Arise! Awake! Approach the feet of the Master and know ‘That’. Like the sharp edge of a razor, the sages say, is the path. Narrow it is, and difficult to tread.

  Mentioning that ‘the Guru who has realized his oneness with God is the true friend’, Srimad Bhagavatam says:

   'One who has conquered his senses, after realizmg that enjoyment of worldly pleasures ends only in sorrow, should become non-attached and approach a Guru, who is ever established in God consciousness and take refuge in him. His faith in Guru should be unshakable and he should be vigilant and should never find fault with him. He should serve Guru considering him as God himself till he attains the knowledge of Brahman.'

   Dukhodarkeshu kaameshu jaatanirveda aatmavaan, ajijnaasitamadharmo gurum munimupaavrijet, taavat paricharet bhaktah sradhaavaananasuuyakah, yaavat brahm vijaaniiyaat maameva gurumaadrutah: (Srimad Bhagavat Purana, XI:19)

   Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras advises meditation on the heart of an illuminated soul that is free from passion (Yoga Aphorisms, 1.37). Swami Vivekananda said that we cannot find any knowledge without teachers. Both Patanjali and Swami Vivekananda said that there is a teacher of all teachers, who is the infinite source of knowledge. Guru Gita, which is part of Skanda Puranam, mentioned that even the Trimurti gods become capable only through the grace of such a Supreme Guru:

Guroh Kripaa Prasaadena, Brahma Vishnu Maheswaraa

Saamarthyam Tatprasaadena, Kevalam Guru Sevayaa

Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara have attained their skills only through the grace of Guru which they have earned by serving Him (Sree Guru Gita, Page 53 (Santhigiri Publications)

Ancient History of Manvantara Avatars:

   The seven primordial rishis such as Vasishta, Kasyapa, Atri, Jamadagni, Gautama, Vishwamitra and Bharadwaja and their progeny are examples of sages coming under the category of Manvantara avatars.

   Sri Rama and Sri Krishna belong to the category of Yuga avatars in the Manu parampara. Sri Ram was the Yuga avatar in Tretayuga (the birth of Sri Rama is said to be eight lakh years ago at the end of Treta Yuga. The total duration of Treta yuga is 16 lakh years) who was superseded by Sri Krishna in Dwapara yuga, (The birth of Sri Krishna is said to be more than 5200 years ago at the end of Dwapara Yuga. The total duration of Dwapara Yuga is approx. 8 lakh years) as the yuga avatar. However, the truth of this spiritual transition occurring through the cycle of yugas has not been clearly perceived hy humanity.

   The great Yuga avatars of the manvantara order were brought under the umbrella of Guna avatars, namely Brahma, Vishna and Maheswara, in order to serve the interests of Brahminical Hinduism, which has been developed by the Vaidikas through temple institutions focusing on deity worship. The avatars have to be followed as occurring in the order of yugas: the spiritual intercession of Rama becomes irrelevant in the age of Sri Krishna in Dwaparayuga. Similarly, in the Kaliyuga, spiritual guidance comes through the yuga avatar pertaining to Kali yuga.

   The debacle of Hinduism is due to the ignorance of this yugadharma (spiritual transition). The Hindus, the ancient most custodians of spirituality, have deviated from yugadharma. Hinduism has refused to change largely because of the narrow selfish interests of the custodians of caste system. God had sent messengers to India from the beginning of this Kali yuga to correct this spiritual mistake through the medium of Sri Krishna, Buddha, Mahavir and others. But their opponents (the Vaidikas) either made them avatars of gods or distorted their teachings through myths and interpolation in the scriptures. When India did not heed the words of Krishna and Buddha, the Manvantara Avatars, God sent messengers to other parts of the world.

End of Time, not End of the World:

   The spiritual reformation of humanity can be seen occurring in wave-like cycles of time. After the age of Sri Krishna, Sri Buddha, Mahavir and Zarathustra, teachers such as Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed in the prophetical order are few monotheistic avatars relating to spiritual epochs of 2500, 2000 and 1500 years. In the measuring yard of the manvantaras, the ‘End of Times’ mentioned in the Semitic religions cannot refer to the end of time, but could mean only the end of a spiritual age with relation to the life of these prophets.

   The Divine in the form of a spiritual medium, as an avatar, guru or prophet appears at every crucial stage of human civilization for its spiritual growth. This process has been going on from the time of creation. Beginning from the microbial world to the stellar regions, everything pulsates under this law of evolution presided over by the Divine Will. As there is no finality to this divine process, no religion can overlook the truth of incarnations in the niches of eternal time nor claim that this or that prophet is the final prophet or the only way to humanity’s spiritual evolution.

The Decadence of Manu Parampara:

   The gradual loss of the importance of Manu and the Manu Parampara from the scriptures and the rise of trimurty gods is intriguing. The concept of Purusha and Brahman of the Vedas and Upanishads, which was the only one adorable Lord of the universe, slowly is replaced with the idea of ‘Atman’or ‘Self’. The Self of man began to be identified and equated with the Supreme Brahman. ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ (I am Brahman) - declares the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. (Brihadaaranyaka Upanishad, 1:IV:10)

   In the Chandogya Upanishad (xi-xv), Svetaketu is taught: ‘That which is the subtle essence – in that have all beings their existence. That is the truth. That is the Self. And that, O Svetaketu, That art Thou!

   The molecule of Brahman in the Self of man cannot be compared to Brahman. Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru said, ‘We should not say that we are Brahman, we are only part of it’.

   With the emergence of the concept of ‘Aham Brahmasmi’, deities and gods could be raised to the position of Brahman. For example, in the Padma Purana, Brahman - the instrument and first cause of creation is represented as Brahma, the trimurty God. The primeval, excellent, benefactor and Supreme Brahman in the form of Brahma and the rest, is the creation and the creator, preserves and is preserved, devours and is devoured, the first immaterial cause, being, as is common in the pantheism of the puranas, also the material cause and substance of the universe. (Padma Purna, Anaylsis of the Puranas, Horace Hayman Wilson, page 23-24.)

   In this way, the trimurti gods began to be identified and equated with Brahman in the puranic literature. The status of Manu, the First Born Purusha was lowered in order to accommodate the concept of creation, sustenance and dissolution by trimurtis and their grandeur over other deities.

   However, Brahma is not Brahman, if we go by the puranic literature, which states that trinity gods are Guna Avatars.

   The wrath of Almighty God followed, as Brahman, the Almighty God was mistaken as Brahma, Vishnu, Siva and other deities. Many civilizations lost their tracks in the spiritual cataclysm that followed when the manvantara order, the spiritual order did not work as willed by Almighty God. Successive deluges afflicted the earth and swallowed many continents. The lost continents of Lemuria or Atlantic remind us of the spiritual disorder, which is potent enough to cause more such catastrophes in future.

The Super Imposition of Brahma:

   With the development of trimurty system, a blurring occurred over the ages in the concept of Manu and Manvantara avatars. As already mentioned, Manu was replaced with Brahma as the first emanation from Brahman, contrary to the concept of ‘Purusha’ or the ‘Most High Seer’ clearly described in the Rigveda thus:

Darkness there was, and all at first was veiled in gloom profound – an ocean without light- the germ that still lay covered in the husk burst forth, one nature, from the fervent heat’… ‘Who knows the Secret? Who proclaimed it here, whence, whence this manifold creation sprang? The Gods themselves came later into being – who knows from whence this great creation sprang?’He from whom all this great creation came, whether His will created or was mute, the ‘Most High Seer’ that is in highest heaven, He knows it – or perchance even He knows not.(Rig Veda, X.129, translated by Max Muller).

Blavatsky, in her book ‘Secret Doctrine’ equates Brahma with the Manu, the First Born thus:

The Heavenly Man – Swayambhuva, who sprang from the Self Existent and Adam Kadmon of the Kabalist, and the Androgyne Man of Genesis Ch.1 are also identical. Manu-Swayambhuva is Brahma, or the Logos, and he is Adam Kadmon, who (Genesis iv.5) separates himself into two halves, male and female, thus becoming Jah-Hovah or Jehovah – Eve, as Manu Swayambhuva or Brahma separates himself to be one Brahma-Viraj and Vaach-Viraj male and female; Vaach is the daughter of Brahma and is named Satarupa, the hundred formed and Savitri, ‘generator’, the mother of the gods and of all living. She is identical with Eve, the mother of all gods and all living.

   According to Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru, the concept of Brahma was a later addition in the scriptures, when the memory of Manu and Manu tradition had been lost to humanity some twenty five chaturyugas ago (108,000,000 years). The concept of Brahma and Trimurty came into existence only in the seventh chaturyuga (30,240,000 years ago approx.) of the present manvantara, after a spiritual error in the Manu lineage as revealed by Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru in the following words:

The Sanatana religion means the culture of great souls who came from time to time. We find in history that cultures based on the worship of Sakti, Siva and Vishnu have tried to improve the quality of life. In between some preceptors have come up, following a religious parampara, but those who have emerged that way do not belong to the tradition of the primal Manu.

In the present manvantara, in the tradition of Vaivaswata Manu, at the end of the third chaturyuga to be exact, a preceptor called Satyatrana faltered in selfhood due to certain shortcomings, following which life deviated from the Cosmic Law given by the Almighty. Satyatrana’s concept was like a transformational ideology (parivarthanavadam).

Thereafter the trimurti tradition was brought in the seventh chaturyuga to actualize the Will of God….The Brahma of the trimurti tradition was misconceived as Brahman. Brahman is all pervading. Brahma is not so. Brahma relates only to the aspect of creation. Still it was made to believe that Brahma was above everything.

However, Brahma is not everything. The story of Brahma can be told only by Manu. As far as Manu is concerned, little is known. Thus a story was told that Manu, born of the Sun, gave it to Ikshwaku. In that history there was no place for Manvantara. Thus we fell into error. Vedic ritualism became dominant with the emergence of the four-fold caste division - Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra.

   Twenty eight chaturyuas ago (120,960,000 years) since the beginning of this manvantara of Vaivasvata Manu, when mankind lost the grace of God by the wrong perception of a preceptor in the manvantara order, when the world was lost in spiritual darkness there arose three spiritual authorities - Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. They were revered as gods and in the passage of long ages, they began to be equated with three aspects relating to creation, sustenance and dissolution.

   Trouble started when they were termed as Guna Avatars corresponding to three gunas, satva, rajas and tamas. The highest status was given to Vishnu, who is related to Satva Guna, followed by Brahma (Rajas) and Siva (Tamas). Tamas is equivalent to indolence and dark qualities. Siva, the god of Atlanteans was thus denigrated.

   Atlanteans were the inhabitants of the submerged Kumari continent (Lemuria) related to the ancient Dravidian civilization, the home of the last red root race. Douard Schure in his Secret History of World Religions mentions that ‘the four races which cover the globe at the present time are the offspring of different earth zones. Successive creations, slow elaborations of the earth in travail, the continents emerged from the seas at considerable intervals of time, which the ancient priests of India called antediluvian cycles (Manvantara) stretching over thousands of years, each continent gave birth to its own flora and fauna, crowned by a human race of different color. The Southern continent swalled up by the last great deluge was the cradle of primitive red race, of which the American Indians are merely the remnant, the offsring of troglodytes who comibed to the summits of the mountains when their continent crumbled to pieces. Africa is the mother of the black race, which the Greeks called Ethiopian. Asia brought forth the yellow race, represented by the Chinese. The latest arrival, the white race came from the forest of Europe…. In former cycles, red and black reigned successively in powerful civilizations, which have left traces both in Cyclopean constructions and in the architecture of Mexico. The temples of India and Egypt contained abridged traditions regarding these vanished civilizations. In the present cycle, the white is the predominating race, and, if the probable antiquity of Egypt and India be calculated, its preponderating influene will be found to date back seven or eight thousand years’. The Mayans and the American Indians are said to be the remnant the offsring of the lost Southern (Kumari) continent the cradle of the primate red root race, which was swallowed up by the last great deluge.

   A bitter struggle began between the ancient Dravidian root race and the Aryans to show the god of each sect in highest esteem. Brahma, who had been enthroned as a proxy to Manu, his head is said to have been cut away and his worship was stopped. There is only one or two temples in India dedicated to Brahma now (one among them is at Pushkar) whereas there are thousands of temples for Siva and Vishnu.

   In the battle for the supremacy of gods, the primordial spiritual order presided over by Manu and the Manu Parampara was sacrificed. Perhaps, in the Purusha Sukta of the Rigveda, wherein it is described that the ‘Purusha’, the first manifestation of Brahman with thousand heads etc, was sacrificed by gods and priests, might have some relationship with the history of the aforesaid curse of Almighty on the Manu Parampara. The said sacrifice has been mentioned in the Rig-Veda (X 90:7) thus:

'Taam yajnam barshishi proukshan, purusham jaatamagratah

tena devaah ayajantah saadhyaah rishayaschaye'

The devas, the priests and the wise, making the First Born Purusha a sacrificial animal, performed a sacrifice.

  The curse of God Almighty on humanity continues, so too the sacrifices of Manvantara avatars, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus and others who sacrificed their lives, resembling the sacrifice of ‘Purusha’ in the Vedas. The hidden secrets behind Creation and the history of ages could be revealed only by a Manvantara Avatar. The future course of humanity could rest securely only on the assimilation of this truth. The birth of Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru, the great Manvantara Avatar through whom these truths were revealed augurs well for the spiritual reformation of Hindus and the humanity as a whole.

   If Hindus are to survive as a glorious civilization, they have to recognize the deviations in their long spiritual history and follow the path of sages manifesting from time to time in the Manu lineage, who uphold the Oneness of God and equality of human beings, not in words but in practice. The Brahmin centered trimurty tradition must change. The root cause of the aversion to Hindutva in the present as well as in the past can be traced to Brahmanical Hinduism, which has fragmented Indian society and polluted its spiritual life. The faith of Hindus lies in the principles of Sanatana Dharma propounded by the great sages in the Manu lineage, which had always commanded respect in the past from all people in the world. If there is a universal and scientific concept of spirituality, that lies in the concept of Manvantara of Hindus.