What Makes This Guruparampara Different?

What makes Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru and Santhigiri Ashram different from other gurus and ashrams is a question often asked. While talking about the tenets of Gurumargam, Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru once mentioned that His path is the Vimochana Matam, i.e. the Liberating Dharma. Gurumargam is the way of devotion to the Guru who has been commissioned by God for the spiritual transformation and deliverance of humanity independent of all religious dogma. Guru is God’s medium to actualize the Will of God. As one scholar put it, at one level, God is the Guru; at another, Guru is the divinely commissioned Guru. The human Guru is equal to God but has in him an element of divinity due to his commission. This office is passed on to his successors who remain one with him. Guruship does not end with the physical departure of the founder Guru. The office is one and continuous. What the successors say and do is legitimized by virtue of their office. 

A few aspects that make Santhigiri Guruparampara different from other sage traditions may be surmised thus:

For the Guru, God is Parabrahman, the Supreme Truthful Light. There is no second God. His light pervades in everything and everyone. God is known only through his Creation. One should live in accordance with the divine order accepting the Will of God. Guidance comes from God through the medium of Guru, and liberation comes through Guru’s grace. For the Guru parampara the words of Guru or Guruvani are sacred.  It serves as the sole Holy Scripture for the followers. The word of Guru is equated with Truth, Truth with Guru and Guru with God.

A seeker cannot evolve spiritually without a Guru. Self-effort in the form of yoga, meditation, visit to temples and other holy places does not elevate the soul spiritually if one is without Guru. Guru, however, accepted the existence of all spiritual entities including ghosts, goblins, evil spirits, ancestral spirits, devi-devas, angels etc. which inhabit the subtle universe. However, they are not to be worshipped as they themselves seek birth and liberation in Kaliyuga through the medium of Guru. Only through a human embodiment and karma dharma, the souls can evolve to higher spiritual realms. Therefore, Guru rejects the worship of traditional deities and religious lore promoting such sectarian concepts of God. Neither did Guru favor the concept of maya or illusion and rejected the equation of individual soul with Brahman, the main feature of Vedanta.

Guru shed light on the secret of Creation by reiterating that the solar system including the human world was created by the sankalpam of Manu, who is the Primordial Purusha or the First Born of God. (This Manu, however, is different from the author of Manusmriti with the same name). Guru, therefore, rejected the puranic myth that Brahma is the Creator. For Guru, the trimurti gods were gurus of bygone cosmic ages who came for the spiritual correction of humanity. However, their spiritual incumbency in this age is disowned. Today the world is a theatre of pathetic religious discord. Every sect claims that theirs is the only way to God or the true path, which produces discord and violent conflicts among the religious followers. Guru says that behind these apparent contradictions, there is a thread of spiritual unity. 

Numerous gurus, seers and prophets of different caliber come for different duration such as 500, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500 or 5000 years according to the spiritual condition of the age. Great souls like Ram, Krishna, Buddha, Mahavir, Moses, Zarathustra, Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammad, Guru Nanak and others were preceptors who appeared for the spiritual renewal of humanity during historical intervals. This process of spiritual renovation goes on until the end of a cosmic age. In the light of this, no prophet or guru can claim to be the final messenger of God or the only way to God. It is this spiritual culture or character of Sanatana dharma which makes it eternally relevant, vibrant and tolerant to other religions. Although not subscribing to the tenets of established religions, Guru’s Liberating Dharma teaches a follower to respect all world teachers and their sacrifices in a deserving manner since they belong to the brotherhood of mahatmas who came for the spiritual reformation of humanity at various historical intervals. However, their mission remains incomplete necessitating another epoch of spiritual renewal by a world teacher. 

Guru disapproved the hierarchical caste system and opened the path of spiritual redemption for all people, especially the downtrodden and women. The followers of Guru belonged to all castes and occupations. The majority came from the backward castes, scheduled castes along with Brahmin, Nair, Christian and even Muslim communities. While repudiating caste system, Guru, however, said that varna concept is the classification of human instincts based on the quality of thoughts and actions. Varna of a person cannot be determined based on birth in a particular family or community. Sometime, in the same family itself one can find all varna types. 

There are no formal rituals for initiation into the faith of Guru. Anyone with faith in Guru, irrespective of religious and caste status, can join the faith. The only ritual formula for all spiritual performances and lifecycle ceremonies is the chanting of the divine name of the Guru revealed and potentiated by God. Verses and mantras from texts like Guru Gita extolling the glory of Guru is also recited for the purpose of worship. All Vedic rituals superintend by Brahmins and tantra and mantra and worship of devi-devas are rejected in favour of direct guidance from Guru or through the anointed preceptors in the Guru parampara after the founder Guru’s physical departure.

Remembrance of God through the guidance of embodied Guru, chanting His name and leading ethical life as householders helping each other is the path of karma and dharma suggested for the householders. Guru established a self-reliant model of commune life, where all believers lived under one roof engaged in different occupations so that it reduced the burden and tensions of life by way of cooperative living. The sanyasis are required to live in accordance with God’s will as socially responsible persons, not as recluses who live detached from the community life. The Ashram of Guru is regarded as the sacred place of pilgrimage. To live in accordance with the guidance of Guru is more important. To make willing sacrifice for the protection and perpetuation of Guru paramapara is an essential ingredient of the faith. 

Guru wanted that the society, the politics and government of the country be guided through the wisdom of an all-knowing Sage who functions by the sole of Will of God. Guru was concerned about the wrong direction of the society, of the painful conflicts, social disintegration and deprivation. Guru believed that only through the spiritual upliftment of householders, especially women, the desired spiritual renaissance can take place in the world. Guru gave much importance to bhakti and self-surrender for the divine cause in order to change both the quality and structure of social life. The basis for social regeneration advocated by Guru is essentially spiritual, ethical and family oriented. Guru personally guided all householders in every area of life including marriage, education, occupation, birth and death.

A new guru parampara is born with a divinely commissioned Guru to guide its social and religious life. Guru’s message is not merely of liberation but also of social action. Although there is a group of sanyasis and brahmacharis belonging to both genders in the Ashram, He did not want that sanyasis wander aimlessly as mendicants. He was opposed to such meaningless renunciation. His ideal is self-reliance through community life. The sanyasis of Guru supervise the community life. The members of the commune engage in self-sustaining enterprises with a vision to help the community and the society with exemplary products and services. 

Guru initiated a unique spiritual performance known as Gurupooja or Pitrupooja by which the devotee is freed from all inauspicious karma, i.e. deeds and debts of past and present lives and also from the consequences of erroneous ways of God worship handed down by the ancestors. After a few generations, several mahatmas and other high souls waiting for rebirth in the kaliyuga shall be born in the families thus spiritually purified. With that, the spiritual renovation of humanity would be complete. These noble souls are unable to take birth now because of the spiritual decadence and unqualified parentage.

The organizational basis of the Guru Parampara has been provided by Guru Himself in the form of Annadanam, Aturasevanam and Atmabodhanam, i.e. providing food to the needy, caring for people’s health and their spiritual uplift. 

Mukundan P.R.

The Vision and Mission of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru

Gurucharanam Saranam

The Vision and Mission of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru

Introduction

Santhigiri Ashram was founded by Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru in the year 1968 at Pothencode, 21 KMs away from Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala. It is emerging as the global capital of spirituality where people belonging to all walks of life despite religious, racial, gender and ideological differences arrive attracted by the new doctrine and path gifted by Guru to humanity. Guru was a seer of unparalleled wisdom and spiritual realization and was able to foresee the past, present and future course of development of our life and society. Guru did not subscribe to any orthodox religious beliefs. Revelations from the Supreme Light and the rare insights and experiences of His life of sacrifice spanning 72 years became the basis of Gurumargam, the new spiritual path founded by Guru.

History

Navajyotisree Guru was born on 1st September, 1927, at Chandirur, Alapuzha district in Kerala. The birth of Guru was marked by incidents associated with divine births. After birth, Guru became aware of a unique spiritual experience. There was a ‘Radiance’ inside Him until the age of nine, which Guru identified as the visage of Sri Krishna. When He became 14 years old, Guru left home in search of spiritual realization. He led the life of an ascetic in the Ashram founded by Sri Narayana Guru, well known spiritual and social reformer of Kerala who said ‘One Caste, One Religion, One God for humanity’.

During His search for truth, Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru met Khureshia Fakir, a Sufi sage, who lived near Beema Masjid at Thiruvananthapuram. The ancestors of Khureshia Fakir belonged to Pathan tribe of Afghanistan, hence he was also known as Pattani Swami. This Sufi master was instrumental in awakening rare mystical experiences present in Guru. After few years’ association with Khureshia Fakir, Guru established Santhigiri Ashram near Pothencode. In the year 1973, after a series of spiritual experiences and fulfillments, Guru’s supreme spiritual status and extra ordinary divine mission was revealed to the disciples by the Radiance of God. On 6th May, 1999, Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru merged with the eternal Light of God. The present head of Santhigiri Ashram is Her Holiness Sishyapoojita Amritajnana Tapaswini, who is empowered by the Guru to spiritually lead the Guruparampara.

Vision

Guru founded a universal spiritual path based on the faith in the oneness of God and humanity in fulfillment of the wishes of great rishis, sages and prophets who came in the past. The teachings of Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru deal with revelatory and visionary spiritual experiences. It deals with the questions of spiritual evolution, spiritual hierarchies, cosmic time order, astral pollution, soul transmigration, karma, and most importantly the possibility of spiritual intervention from time to time in the evolution of human civilization. The path of Guru can be referred as Jnana Margam - the experiential path of spiritual realization to help humanity evolve spiritually founded on the esoteric principles of Sanatana Dharma.

Mission of Peace

As per the teachings of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru, salvation is possible only by lifting oneself to higher spiritual planes above the hierarchies of spirits, celestials, angels, gods and goddesses. The astral planes up to heaven are related to pleasure and pain, name and form. By their worship and spiritual practices, the souls get connected to these lower astral planes, which produce only dual experiences of happiness and misery. So long as the soul is subject to the lower astral planes, there will be imbalances and variations in the karmic and spiritual earnings affecting the measure of soul’s virtue and evolutionary growth. The disturbances in nature, the moral degradation of humanity and the consequent trail of meaningless violence and sorrow are directly or indirectly related with man’s association with lower spiritual planes.

Achievements

Enduring health, peace and prosperity is the result of tranquility arising from soul’s composure in higher spiritual planes where all dualities disappear and soul remains in its state of purity and positive spiritual emanations. It is the plane where Oneness of God and Oneness of Humanity become an actual experience. This spiritual transition is the basis for a healthy society and which is necessary to achieve lasting peace, enduring health and progress. Before embarking on this path of higher spiritual transition, one has to get rid of the karmic, ancestral and spiritual baggage by rightly establishing oneself in the path of such a spiritual master, who has transcended the lower astral planes and realized the Will of God. Sri Aravind Ghosh referred to this spiritual transition as the Supra-mental evolution. The life fulfillment of Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru was that He was able to make this spiritual transition a reality among a big community of people, which is now spreading to the entire world, irrespective of caste, religion, class and other differentiations. That Santhigiri Ashram receives ‘revealed words’ from the Supreme Light adds great importance to this theme.

Community Initiatives

Guru recognizes family as the basic unit of the society. The family envisaged by Guru is well founded in Dharma, fulfilling its duties towards society. There is an Association of house-holders, Grihasthasrama Sangham in the Ashram and the members meet from time to time to discuss issues related to familial relations and the duties of the family to society. Viswa Samskarika Navodhana Kendram (V.S.N.K) is the Ashram’s cultural wing that seeks to propagate the message of Guru for a spiritual and cultural renaissance in the world. Santhimahima is the wing of boys and young men under the auspicious of the Ashram and is dedicated to the spreading awareness of dharma among the youth. It aims at instilling values in young people and preparing them for a meaningful and responsible life as citizens of the world. Gurukanti is a centre to make children between the age of 5 to 13 aware of the values of love, truth and compassion and to bring out their talents and skills.

Women empowerment

Gurumahima is an organization for the character formation of women based on the values and teachings of Guru. Mathrumandalam is a women’s organization under the auspices of the Ashram and is concerned with the empowerment of women. There are various women oriented enterprises managed by the Ashram - a weaving centre, cutting and stitching centre, curry powder unit, printing press, dairy farm and flower gardens, agricultural division, coir factory and oil mill. According to Guru the material and spiritual well-being of women are the foundation for a good society and a good world.

Sustainable Development Activities

Ashram has taken up bold initiatives in promoting a sustainable pattern of development that may contribute to do away with the negative impact of human activities on earth. The life pattern and life culture of the Santhigiri community is an enduring example the world community can learn from. Santhigiri disseminates and teaches that the objective of human life is not material accumulation alone. Life becomes meaningful and peaceful when material pursuit is supplemented by spiritual pursuit. The fundamental focus of Guru’s teaching, the spiritual practices and material activities that Guru initiated are with a view to nurture and nourish a life culture and life style agreeable to natural environment and positive human development.

Life Style Changes

Guru’s teaching and the path laid down for its actualization provides guidance in day today life in reorienting life towards higher planes of virtues. This orientation towards the need of nourishing virtues in life, transforms one’s life vision and gradually changes take place in lifestyle. When discriminative understanding grows, one becomes conscious of the positive and negative impact of unbridled and mindless growth of science, technology and material conditions in life.

Green Movement

The members of Santhigiri community are more conscious of the harmful effects of global warming and climate change and use of pesticides and artificial methods employed in different areas of food processing , agriculture, time saving devices which dissuades him not to indulge in physical exertions. The simplicity of life and a natural way of living, loving and caring of nature and the eco-friendly development of the physical environment speak a lot of Ashram’s significance and contribution in guiding society in a new path of development. Ashram for the last 30 years has followed the methods of bio-farming in agriculture. Only natural manure is used in farming .plants are preserved and while cutting even the branch of a tree, permission of the tree is sought in spiritual way. In such sanctity vegetations are preserved and a culture that cares and preserve environment is promoted. The dairy in the Ashram provides the raw materials for biogas. The vegetable and other bio- wastes that runs into tones along with cow dung is the raw material for the bio-manure manufactured in the Ashram.

Community Health

In the field of health care and medical treatment Santhigiri has made commendable and substantial contribution and guidance to the world. The Ashram runs hospitals and panchakarma centers in and outside the state. There is a pharmaceutical centre that produces around five hundred medicines both classical and proprietary. Part of the raw materials required, come from the herbal gardens of Santhigiri at Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad. The Ashram had launched several free mass healthcare programs such and ‘Karunyam’ and adoption of a village which benefitted lakhs of people. Santhigiri also operates Mobile clinics that reach medical assistance to the doorsteps of the poor in the villages as well as in the cities.

Education and Research

Santhigiri Ashram runs prestigious schools and medical colleges (Ayurveda and Siddha). The Ashram is also engaged in social and scientific research and has been recognized by the Ministry of Science &Technology Govt. of India and exempted under Income tax rule 35(i), (ii) & (iii). Santhigiri Research Journal is a new journal of spirituality and Science published by Santhigiri Ashram. The Ashram publishing house brings out a spiritual monthly Santhigiri Adhyatmika Masika and an occasional news paper Umminithankam. Several books on spirituality have been brought out by this wing. The health care division brings out a health magazine, Arogyapadmam and an online Newsletter, Siddhavani.

An Appeal to All Blessed Souls

Gurucharanam Saranam

An Appeal to All Blessed Souls

Mukundan P.R.


Great preceptors (rishis) impart the guidelines of dharma in each age - the cosmic scheme behind life and the duty of man according to the aeonic changes. The Rishis are considered the guiding authorities on dharma, justice and duty owing to their omniscience, life of self-abnegation and spiritual elevation. But due to our ignorance, we still follow rituals and traditions that create divisiveness and disharmony in the society. The ‘sudra’ represents the ignorant and downtrodden class in the world whose spiritual and materialistic elevation is destined to be actualized in this age. But for its realization, they require the guidance of an omniscient seer, who could show them the path of liberation.

The Brahmic Will to be self responsible for the divine dispensation for god realization existed from the beginning of creation itself and continues incessantly. It is the same godly will that manifests as the Subtle Being, Godhead, as a Deva, Sanyasi (sage) or a Rishi and accepts worship through these mediums in the course of ages. But there is a concept known as Yuga Dharma. Different aeons like Krita, Treta and Dwapara had their characteristic dharmic dispensation, which in the present age – Kaliyuga undergoes significant changes. These changes in the dharmic code (Yuga Dharma) are brought about by great seers of transcendental knowledge, who manifest as the embodiment of enlightenment and divine abstraction as willed by God.

Even during the ages of Treta and Dwapara that were oriented for polytheistic worship of Devi-Deva (gods and goddesses), the words of Rishis, the enlightened seers were depended upon as the guiding principles. At the time of Maharaja Janak, the judgments in regard to dispensation of justice were taken by the wives of Yagnavalkya, the great rishi of that age. They had the divine insight to decide on matters of justice without even seeing the contestants, the accused or the accuser. The blind folded goddess of wisdom has been accepted as the symbol of justice even today. Despite differences in rituals, in the matters of justice, the words of a seer (jnani) are taken as authoritative. The uniqueness of the Indian spirituality or Sanatana Dharma is this tradition.

We are ignorant about the differences in the result (virtue, punya) earned from the observance of customs, rituals and worship followed by us at the present time. Due to the moral degeneration and lack of virtue in conduct, majority of people have become ‘Sudra’. The word Sudra here includes people from all castes – Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudra. All ignorant and fallen people irrespective of caste, color, nationality and religious denominations are termed as Sudra, a qualitative term. As per the four fold caste system, the present age Kaliyuga belongs to the Sudra class for their uplift and enlightenment. The term ‘Sudra’ used here, as already mentioned, is a qualitative term used in a universal sense and includes Christians, Muslims, Budhists, Jains etc. and also the spokesmen of the modern computer age and the apostles of various ideologies and concepts. Therefore the word ‘Sudra’ embraces both the potentialities and also its limitations. The limitation of the Sudra is that he has no wisdom to dive deep into the spiritual light hidden in the historical past and apply it in life in the present age so as to enhance and enrich the glitter of his or her soul through a noble and righteous path of action.
According to Manu, the ancient law giver, this fourth age of Kali is earmarked for the Sudra for his liberation and enlightenment. But we should not think lightly of our lack of awareness and inability to understand the demerits in the customs, rituals and worship we follow at the present age, which are incapable either to liberate us from our (negative) karmic mould or to give us the blissful evolutionary soul experience. We might see the observance of caste system as insignificant which created the evils of social barriers and discriminations; we might ignore too the ignorance that termed spiritual consciousness as communalism. But how do we evaluate the corruption in the path of eternal dharma proclaimed by the Rishis in accordance with the Will of Brahman? How do we see the vested interests that disturbed the harmony at home causing motherly and fatherly curse and sorrow?

How can you justify the horrendous actions by which sinners who are useless for their home as well as the society, performing evil actions and accumulating great burden of sin, at last adorn the clothes of a Sanyasi, get elevated in the society with the support of caste or religion? How can you justify the wicked action of those men who castigated and belittled the sages, the embodiment of sacrifice and divine enlightenment and from whose mind, the pearls of wisdom churned out of the ocean of transcendental truth emerge; of those who raise the men of letters (mere scholars) to the pedestal of seers thus destroying the divine tenderness of dharma? The Sudra, the fourth in the caste hierarchy has got the right by divine decree to earn the karmic and ancestral purity required for the birth of noble souls and experience godly realization in this age. He has also got the luck to safeguard the oneness of mankind till the end of creation. But in whom does the karmic virtue exists to lead him to this goal – in the depth of the heart of a Seer or in some tantric rituals?

The Tantric and Vedic rituals and chants which were reverberating in the last century have almost come to a stop. Sri Marthanda Verma, the Travancore Maharaja used to feed thousands of Brahmins and give away handfuls of gift to them in expiation of sins, but for the last forty years the ceremony has become lifeless; the noble minded give importance to ‘Sadhu Pooja’ – the worship of sages than to the feeding of Brahmins. Who are the Sadhus or the Sanyasis? Is he a lowly beggar who has lost all hopes in life due to penury and lack of virtue or are they the ones who get afflicted by incurable diseases owing to their vices and sin and as a last resort adorn the clothes of a Sanyasi? No, on the contrary, as mentioned before, the seers are great souls who have sacrificed their life, body and mind for the cause of dharma. We should expect the fulfilling action that would be venerated by the ensuing generation, not only in our land but all over the world, only from such seers. The purity of their heart symbolizes the weighing scale of dharma and adharma. They are the divine personification of sacrifice and austerity.
What the world searches today with a longing heart is for such a seer of sacrifice through whom the grand unfoldment, development and fulfillment of Yuga Dharma is to take place. Do we respect that Universal Guru seated in the hearts of Krishna, Buddha, and Christ, Prophet Mohammed, Janaka, Vishwamitra, Maitreyi and Gargi imparting eternal, transcendental enlightenment? If we are waiting for the coming of that great Soul, the leading Light of the five-fold Gurus, the protector and elucidator of the concept of Yuga Dharma, why do we open ‘Bala Gokulams’ all along the roadside? Would we have been celebrating Krishna Leela which reminds us of the ‘Deva Dasi’ system rooted in base sensual enjoyment instead of the noble thoughts on God? Would we ever try to portray Lord Krishna who for the first time blew his Panchajanya for the establishment of Yuga Dharma as the lustful, sensual ‘Gopala Krishna’ through texts like Gita Govindam - creations out of great ignorance? Whatever it is, we are also the inheritors of that pernicious tragedy.

It may be due to the fact that we are also part of that sinful tradition we could not well understand Guru (Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru) and the Santhigiri Guru parampara. Nevertheless, Santhigiri Guru Parampara has reached the penultimate peak of luck. We have discovered the deposits of transcendental truth in the boundaries of Guru Parampara, born from the sacrifices of Guru. Through this medium God has prepared for us, in the form of Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru, we have become the possessors of Cosmic Mind. Like Gargis and Maitreyi, the Jananis (Sanyasinis in Santhigiri Ashram) blessed with transcendental vision ennoble this Guru lineage through the worship of Guru.

This Guru Parampara which receives revealed words from Brahman, the Supreme Light of God promises the certitude of the divine birth of great seers, the initiators of great concepts, like Janaka and Vishwamitra in the coming ages. (It refers to the performance of ‘Guru Pooja’ in Santhigiri Ashram, by which Guru cleanses the ancestral and spiritual impurities and debilities and through which a generation with mental and physical prowess would take birth in the families thus purified by Guru).

In the divine experience of great souls, they see Guru as the illumination of all godly abstractions and the ever lasting, sublime light of love. We consider this glory as the ultimate path of refuge for all people and the entire creation. Lo, through that path of protection, we first walk, nearer and nearer. O Guru, you are enthroned as all Godly abstractions and divine consecrations. You exist as the Cosmic Will and the glorious abode of our veneration.

Submitting our prostrations at your holy feet, we purify the flaws in our ancestry, spiritual practices and customs and also find a solution to the familial curses and sorrows of our mothers and fathers. We have become singers of the glory of the universal path of liberation. We have fulfilled through this the prayer of great sages, the result of their penance of several ages. This path of purity is the fulfillment of God’s wish from the inception of creation itself.

We, the Santhigiri parampara, submit this in front of the whole world with a prayer for the mercifulness of Guru.

(Excerpts from ‘India O’ Rise’ published by Santhigiri Ashram, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala)

Gods Own Hermitage

Gurucharanam Saranam

Gods Own Hermitage

Mukundan P.R.


A great Light appeared on the spiritual sky of India on 1st September, 1927 at Chandiroor in the Alappuzha district of Kerala. It was a Thursday. Sri Krishna, whom the world venerates as a great Avatar, was born in a dark prison cell. Jesus Christ, whom the humanity worships as a Savior, was born on a bed of hay beside a cattle shed. Though the great prince Siddhartha of Kapilavasthu was born in a palace, he chose to reside in the rustic hermitages of wandering ascetics.

The great Luminance that appeared on the spiritual sky of India on 1st September, 1927 at Chandiroor was born in a decrepit hut made of mud and thatched with coconut fronds. The simplicity of truth and the immense magnanimity of the Divine is the mark of such divine manifestations. The great Light which descended upon earth at Chandiroor is none other than Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru.

God realization has nothing to do with religious identities and rituals. The great Guru realized this truth and did not hesitate to accept a Sufi fakir as His spiritual mentor in the initial years of search for truth. Today Santhigiri Ashram is home for all people seeking spiritual solace and guidance - irrespective of caste, creed and religious differences. A secular model, which aims to unite people, has great relevance in this troubled times of religious fundamentalism and extremist violence.

Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru, after tortuous experiences in life and wanderings without food and shelter and undergoing painful trials and crossing of spiritual stages, came to this place at Pothencode, in the year 1968, making it His permanent abode. It was as per a divine intimation.

A small hut was made with bamboo sticks and coconut leaves in the wild environment which at that time was surrounded by thorny bushes, wild animals and serpents. This was the nascent beginning of the great monument – the Parnasala, which stands before us today in all splendors.

The Parnasala – originally meaning a hermitage made of leaves has, apart from its meaning of simplicity and spiritual significance, an additional meaning, symbolized by its lotus shape. It is a meaning which takes us to the sublime experience of beauty, tranquility and divine joy, which is implicit in the concept of Lotus and into which experience, the Parnasala lifts up our soul.

Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru spent His life discoursing about the epistemological change required in this unprecedented age of transformation, which unless heeded can lead humanity to a civilizational cul-de-sac or a rupture in the march of humanity towards peace and progress.

Guru took great risk as well as pain to separate the clutches of religion from the pure joy and freedom of spiritual experience. The Secular Spirituality propounded by Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru is based on this separation of religion from the truth of spiritual experience.

Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru struggled to guide the downtrodden people to the knowledge of life-principles vital for soul enrichment and social progress – a knowledge that had been denied to them for several centuries in the name of tradition and culture. The Guru guided them and lifted them up to an astounding level of spiritual understanding in order to unite them, to build up and nourish their families and the society to which they belonged through life supporting charitable activities and enterprises.

Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru tried to lighten the struggle of life by initiating a way of life – a community-living on which the members of the community can depend on to find the means of living together without any discriminative boundaries of caste, religion, class and gender differences. This model of living and growth which Guru envisioned based on the belief in the Oneness of God and mankind is a perfect model for the ailing civilization of our times.

The Parnasala of Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru represents all that is good in human endeavor to build up a unified world. It is one of the rarest monuments in the world and will be a land mark of great spiritual significance in the coming years. In addition to its status as ‘Gods Own Country’, Kerala will now become famous for the Parnasala; one might call the Parnasala as ‘Gods Own Hermitage’ or Home.

Let the bright light emanating from this most graceful edifice embrace the whole world and unite the heart of human beings in love and mutual respect, based on divine truths in nature. Navajayoti Sree Karunakara Guru has left behind the legacy of a Guru-Disciple order, the splendid gem of which is Her Holiness Sishyapoojita Amrita Jnana Tapaswini, who guides Santhigiri Ashram as its spiritual head and whose tireless prayers and conception for the last ten years have born fruit in this blossoming of the Parnasala into a magnificent divine structure of global importance.