A View of Santhigiri Ashram

A View of Santhigiri Ashram
Lotus Parnasala and Sahakarana Mandiram , Santhigiri Ashram, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
Showing posts with label Siva Parvati Discourse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Siva Parvati Discourse. Show all posts

Saturday, December 22, 2018

A Conversation between Siva and Parvati on Guru Tatva - 10



Guru-budhyaatmano Naanyat Satyam Satyam Varaanane!
Tallaabhaarttham Prayatnastu Karthavyascha Maneeshibhih

Shiva said to Parvati:
(Nothing exists separate from the Soul. This verily is the truth, O beautiful One! Intelligent men should strive for its attainment as it is their duty. Guru wisdom lies in this).        

The world outside and our soul are not separate from each other. They are one like the two sides of a coin.  Let us see how. Everything is experienced through our subjective consciousness, the soul in us. If there is no soul or consciousness, there would be only a blank; we cannot even know that we exist. Only in the screen of consciousness we can perceive and experience life and the universe around us.

Sri Sankaracharya went a step further in his Vedantic discourse and said: ‘The world exists only within our consciousness just like a city seen reflected in a mirror’.  Spirituality is all about the discovery of this truth experientially.

Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru explained it differently:

‘What is called as God? It is a karma (actualization) that evolves out of the interplay of panchakosas (five sheaths) and panchendriyas (five senses) in synchronization with Jeevatma (individual soul) and Paramatma (Supreme Soul)”.  

So even the concept of God is evolved through our cognitive capacities. The Rishis explain that our body is like a multi-dimensional sphere in the inner cavity of which resides the soul.  Soul is enveloped or conditioned by five sheaths, viz.  Anandamaya Kosa (blissful sheath), vijnanamaya kosa (Intelligence sheath), Manomaya kosa (the mind sheath) pranamaya kosa (energy sheath) and the annamayakosa (physical body or food sheath).   

The soul is constantly struggling to expand by transcending the conditionings of five sheaths to experience the blissful state, the spark of the Divine in us. When the indefinable and unknowable Light of the universe becomes kinetic it becomes Paramatma, the Cosmic Soul, the First Born of the formless Truth.  He is the Aadi Guru – the Primal source of all power, ideation, knowledge, love and bliss.

As He is the embodiment of the Supreme Light, everything is pervaded by Him. We can never define or know the Supreme Light God, but we can definitely know his manifestation, the Adi Guru, the Cosmic Soul in the form of the Primordial Preceptor who designs the universe. For this reason, the Indian Rishis called Him Manu, the primordial human Ancestor.  From the Manu emerged both the blue print and the building blocks of the universe. Many such archetypal Manus and Preceptors in His lineage appear in the endless and timeless episodes of creation repeating the drama of life.

From the ideation (sankalpam) of Manu, the solar system was formed.  He formed Prakriti potentiated by three gunas (satva, rajas and tamas).  The scientists call them by the terms of electron, pluton and neutron.  From these gunas were born the subtle elements of sound, space, air, fire and water and from them the related senses and sense organs of sound, sight, touch, smell and taste. Subsequently, the work of the creation of life in a physical universe began.  

With the intent of creating the human universe, this Cosmic Person split himself into two, in the form of a man and woman - into Purusha and Prakriti.  He created out of himself the sun and the moon, twenty-seven stars, nine planets and the twelve zodiacs.  The sun represents the Purusha, the masculine principle, while the moon is the woman, the feminine principle. So the souls after death depart either by the path of the sun or the moon. Those who go by the path of the sun never returns while those in the path of the moon are reborn for further evolution, so mention the sages.

Life was born first in the waters of the earth from the interplay of cosmic radiances and energies from the sun and the moon. The warmth of the sun and the cool rays of the moon nurtured life. The life of man is thus inseparably related to the sun and the moon, the constellations, stars and planets. The ancient Rishis taught us to respect the universe around us for this reason. Those who pollute God’s creation will suffer.

The soul requires space to breath and to expand, hence the creation of the planetary system, revolving under which it evolves through many births, through many life forms, learning and self-evolving and finally attains beatitude in the Absolute Truth. Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru taught us that the guru-disciple bond is the elucidation of this cosmic truth. In his discourse to Parvati, Lord Siva informs that all intelligent people should tune life with this divine truth as it is the very meaning and purpose of life.

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.