Let That Golden Vessel be Broken

Janani Satvika Jnana Thapaswini & Janani Amala Jnana Thapaswini

Hiranmayena Patrena Satyasya Apihitam Mugham - the face of truth is hidden by a golden vessel. Several sages tried to open that golden vessel undertaking great pain and suffering and disappeared behind the veil of time. Although we have known about such souls from Guru, it was when we witnessed the wailing soul of a great Rishi, the magnitude of that pain twirled and seized the chords of heart.

A dry morning in the month of Makaram (Malayalam Era 1161): We were on a pilgrimage to Kanyakumari along with Guru and the children of Santhigiri Vidyabhavan. The long-held desire of these children who were fortunate to receive Gurukula education - the lost tradition of modern India - was getting fulfilled. They were chanting the Guru Gita verses, which they had memorized, with an unknown passion during the trip. The atmosphere reverberated with the mantras glorifying Guru, which were denied and unapproachable to their ancestors. Let these echo shaking all living beings that are unaware of this truth because of the selfish motive of the priestly class and its willful treachery.

We reached the precincts of Sucheendram temple around twelve. In all the traveled paths, the ancestral souls of different characters, traits and tendencies were screaming and running behind us, understanding the presence of Guru. Some of them ran away and hid themselves. Some of them danced with joy. Some of them cried for liberation, while some were annihilated. They were souls wandering for many ages seeking salvation through the dust fallen from the feet of a mahatma. Those who sought refuge attained peace. At our arrival, the population of such spirits surrounding the temple increased than the normal. The deities appeared in front of us even before we could enter the temple. There were great rishis, devas and celestials among them. There were Atri Maharshi and Anasuya in front. The great Rishi ran up to Guru and prostrated offering flowers.

We entered the temple. Normally, Guru does not enter any temple. There is a reason. If it were worship time, the deities there would beseech us to tell Guru not to enter then because it was the worship time. ‘If Guru comes inside, we have to get up. And when we receive worship, we are unable to do so’. Therefore, at this place too, Guru waited outside the temple courtyard. Sitting inside the temple, we meditated on Guru. The kundalni was aroused.

The origin, existence and dissolution aspects of the temple flashed before our mind’s eye. The sacrificial life of Atri Maharshi, his soul effulgence and its status could be known. Then the ethereal figure of Guru became manifest with the radiance of a billion suns. The Maharshi touched the feet of Guru and said with tears: ‘I have one submission before You; the people should know the reality, truth and prominence of this place. Your grace should be there for that. It was the heart-rending cry of a soul of self-sacrifice - the cry of a Mahatma who did penance without even a spare cloth and whose hunger had to be satisfied with a morsel of food by begging, and who, suffering mist, sun, rain and wind, left the frame reaching the heights of spiritual realization.

It is that power of penance, which is maintaining the greatness of that place in reality. That truth is hidden with the golden vessel. The name Sucheendram is so known because Indra was purified in that place. The people do not know the Soul who was capable of sanctifying. In his place, the priestly class is worshipping Indra, Trimurti, Sri Ram, Sita and Hanuman. Pity, the poor people offer garlands of vada to Hanuman, who is installed on the Maharshi’s samadhi. When the holy water from the Maharshi’s feet was sprinkled, the Trimurti gods were turned into infants - that is the story. That story is sculpted on the walls too. Ironically, however, the worship is to the Trimurti.

In the history of which temple has the truth not been concealed? Were the Devi temples not established on the blood of Buddha Bhikshus? Even if it is the samadhi of a mahatma, a devi or deva would be installed there and people will be misled. With the passage of time, the number of devas and devis would increase according to the desire of tantrics. Some irrational myths also would be created. The sacrificial lives of mahatmas who had come until now were covered by myths related to the worldly drama of devas.

Is there no escape for these mahatmas? Generations that had blindly believed in all these. Is there no escape for them too? There is now the modern generation, which does not believe in these myths, denying them with rationality and intelligence. Just by denial, you are not going to get salvation. The ancestral souls of your family are entwined with the deities and gods, and they are after you wielding their swords. You have to seek a Guru for their liberation. Break the golden vessel that hides truth and relish the truth.

The Soul of that Mahatma who is painfully trying to show you the golden vessel - that pain has been submitted at the right place, at the feet of a Jnani, who has known the depth of that pain. It has been submitted at the feet of the medium that Brahman has deputed to lead humanity to Satya Yuga, redeeming it from all deviations. Have Your eyes also moistened from the reflection of that submission! You raised him up with compassion as if he were your own soul and consoled him.  ‘Let twelve years pass away! Then there will be an occasion’.

These words made the Maharshi full of joy. However, the pain of the Maharshi still stirs the mind. Pity the people who do not know this. O’ God! If you had given the ethereal vision to all to observe these things happening in the subtle! I declare loudly to the liberationists, compassionately avoiding the rationalists who ridicule this as mental delusion. What is the way for you to know the actual truth of this kind of experiences? If there are Jnanis, let them experience it. Otherwise, there is only the help of astrology. Let them clarify it with astrolabes. 

(Santhigiri Malayalam Adhyatmika Masika, September, 1986, translated into English by Mukundan P.R.)

The True Light of God

Gurucharanam Saranam

Mukundan P.R.

The man with the power of clairvoyance slowly opened his eyes and said: ‘When I observe your life, I see a bright light, which is very rare. It is the true light of God. I am able to see the essence of all souls who come to me. But I have never seen such a Blessed Light with any other people’. Shaji and his wife looked at each other in amazement when the clairvoyant said this.

The clairvoyant’s wife also was sitting with him in the small room with portraits of gods and goddesses. The couple had gained the power of clairvoyance after returning from a long pilgrimage to the famous Palani Hills, the temple town connected with Lord Subramanya. Apparently, during their long spiritual wanderings, the husband and wife had met some spiritual masters or had become possessed by spiritual entities who gave them the power of reading the minds of other people and their soul imprints. They performed their meditations and conveyed the extra sensory perceptions to the occasional visitors who came to them seeking special information or guidance for resolving perplexing problems. The middle-aged couple belonged to a farmer community and led a rustic life in a village near Kottayam in Kerala.

Shaji and his wife had made a few visits to this clairvoyant couple with the puzzling questions of their life. The couple would sit in the small prayer room and reveal everything about a family, its problems, the past and present and suggest suitable remedies and rituals. Shaji was a devotee of Subramanya, known also as Karthikeya, the son of Lord Siva. A chemical engineer, Shaji lived in Kottayam with his wife and small daughter. His brush with spirituality came when he was in service at Kozhikode.

One day Mata Amritanandamayi came to the city. Shaji joined hundreds of other people who went to see her. She hugged the assembled people and he also got a hug from her. He felt the spiritual vibration of the hug. At that time, spiritual curiosity was only in a budding state in him. So he had not taken to spirituality as a passion in life. However, a change occurred when an acquaintance brought him a few publications of Santhigiri Ashram. Normally, he would have just stashed them up somewhere. But these books caught his mind. He felt attracted to them. He read them again and again and felt a wish to visit Santhigiri Ashram at Thiruvananthapuram.

It was the calling of his spirit. Soon the opportunity came and he went to Santhigiri Ashram. His wife along with their little daughter accompanied him. His wife had delivered the child with an agonizing medical problem. She had the problem of fibrosis. The delivery took place after a nine-month medical confinement with the fear of risk factors. Somehow, the delivery took place and the doctors categorically ruled out the possibility of another child and advised removal of the uterus. The visit to Santhigiri Ashram had coincided with this period of trauma. Though Shaji was very inclined to follow the rituals and prayers at the ashram, his wife stayed back from all this. She refused to enter the Prayer Hall and just stared at him while he did his prayers. She said that she was not willing to take a human being as God.

In the meantime, arrangements were being made for the hysterectomy (operation to remove the uterus). Just when the date for the operation was being confirmed, Shaji mulled over the possibility of an Ayurvedic cure for fibrosis. He had heard that Ayurveda was effective for curing some diseases. So he decided to stall the operation and seek an Ayurvedic remedy. The desire for sons and daughters is an incurable problem with worldly people. Marriage is not an arrangement for mutual convenience in life, as it has become in Western societies and lately among married couples in India. In the frenzy of making the insecure life secure, for most of the working couples, the birth of a child has become the last priority. However, the trend is slowly reversing. People have begun to realize that they want children to inherit their hard-earned wealth and possessions. This is only a material aspect. Very few are really aware of the spiritual aspects behind the necessity of having progeny. A child birth is some sort of a bridge between the living souls and the dead, in the sense that it is linked with the genetic chain and astral fields of the living in the fulfillment of the life mission and aspirations of the chain of souls in a genetic tree.

Shaji was not prepared for a never-again situation about childbirth and therefore did not want his wife to undergo the operation as advised by doctors. He thought of undertaking another visit to the
Ashram. As usual, his wife sat outside the Prayer Hall while he prayed. Her mind was in a dilemma. It is the duty of a wife to follow the ways of the husband. It is her dharma to be of support to the husband in all his auspicious endeavors! But how could she compromise on her faith and rational beliefs?

After a few months of their return from the Ashram, Shaji’s wife conceived again. This time, she did not experience the problems associated with fibrosis. She felt normal throughout the pregnancy and in due course delivered a boy child. It was a stunning experience for the couple in view of the prognosis of the doctors and the traumatic experiences during the previous pregnancy.

Now the family visited the Ashram with the newborn. Shaji’s wife for the first time entered the Prayer Hall and prayed with her husband. There was piousness and sincerity in her approach. She prayed in front of the Guru – in the main Prayer Hall, in the Parnasala of Guru and in front of the only portrait of Guru at Sahakarana Mandiram kept for public worship in the Ashram. She bowed reverently in front of the Sishyapoojitha, the Gurusthaneeya (Guru Apparent), and sought her blessings for the newborn.

Shaji noticed the change in his wife. He thought it was probably due to her happiness at the birth of a boy, that too without any traumatic troubles like the last time. However, the truth was not that simple, as disclosed by his wife later. During their visit to the Ashram just before she conceived for the second time, his wife had made a prayerful resolve sitting outside the Prayer Hall. She had taken an oath on that day that if she could get a second child, a son, she would accept Guru as God and worship Him as the Supreme. The Almighty Guru heard her prayers and granted her desire, not to reveal His power of miracle or divinity, but to save a family from spiritual waywardness and guide it to a new faith fragrant with love and spiritual experience.

The Conversion of a Christian Marxist

Gurucharanam Saranam

The Conversion of a Christian Marxist

Mukundan P.R.

Even a hardcore Marxist has a thirsting space in his heart for God. A heretic may not have a place among the believing flock, but certainly God has a door for him too in his kind kingdom. Sri Andrews was a hardcore Marxist and a heretic. He never went to a church when be became conscious of its institutional character. He objected to all forms of institutionalized religion. But I do not think it was a rebellion against God. In his heart of heart he might have yearned for the light of God, for he searched for Truth around him and in the lap of nature. He broke all conventions of the society, traditions and beliefs. Though an orthodox Christian of higher caste origin, he opted for a backward caste Hindu woman as his life partner. The history of his ancestors, as far as I could understand, goes back to the first century of Christ, when one of Christ’s apostles, St. Thomas arrived in Kerala and converted the Nambudiri Brahmins at Palayoor, a place near Guruvayur temple. St. Thomas outwitted the Brahmins by performing a miracle. Even now the remains of their temple and pond are to be found here alongside the Church. Today, these Christians are a prosperous group in Kerala, well educated and controlling most of the business. Some of these Christians display a heretic and eccentric character and hold Hindu customs and beliefs in good esteem. As if an atonement for their ancestors’ deed, a few of them had done commendable service for the promotion of Sanskrit and Vedic studies in Kerala.

Now coming back to the story of Sri Andrews, he showed exemplary qualities in his child hood. He was brilliant in his studies and was liked by his family and friends because of his socializing nature. He always took up leadership when there was a crisis. There was a temple just in front of his house at Karamukku, near Trichur. The temple was a famous one because Sri Narayana Guru, the well known spirito-social reformer of Kerala himself had lighted the lamp in the temple. Andrews and his friends, mostly belonging to the Ezhava community in the locality spent their leisure in the temple precincts, exchanging jokes. They vied with each other for receiving prasadam from the temple, mostly boiled chana, during prayer times. Good old times, when the religious bug did not shatter peace in the community. Even now, unlike many other societies, the Hindus, Christians and Muslims in Kerala live like a close knit family. Their roots are so much twined together. Jihadists and religious fundamentalists are like murky evil spirits out to spoil the peace of humanity.

Sri Andrews was strongly influenced by Marxian ideology. and has a Masters degree in Arts. He joined government service and became a Joint Secretary in the Kerala Secretariat. He encountered corruption, official lethargy and a general moral decadence in the society. His utopia about a socialist society soon crumbled. It left him with bitterness. Having lost his bed of ideology, be began to wander aimlessly. He tried to find tranquility by drinking heavily. In those days he came across some books on spirituality. He found flashes of wisdom in the books of Jiddu Krishnamurthi and Ramana Maharshi. Once he went to Sivagiri Mutt at Varkala. His wife was his constant companion in his wanders. A steadfast wife, both in sorrow and happiness, is an asset in one’s life.

On the way there to the Mutt, he felt repulsed by the brewing industry flourishing in the area. He had been a mild boozer himself, so he could feel the cursed air which did not blend well with the precinct of a sage. He continued to visit some more ashrams. He was not, however, satisfied. His derailed life continued without any hope of peace. There was now the shortage of money. Wealth deserts one whose coffers of virtue are empty. The search of Andrews was for the key to the coffers of virtue and peace.

He had two little sons and he occasionally visited Santhigiri Ayurveda Hospital which belonged to Santhigiri Ashram at Pothencode, for consultation. One day the doctor, a devotee of the Guru, invited him to visit the Ashram. So he went to see the Guru with the company of his wife. For him, the Guru looked like a respected elder in a joint family. Sri Andrews did not show any spiritual mannerisms nor did he enter the prayer hall, for he disliked religious rituals, not only of his own religion but of others too.

When they were about to leave, a woman ascetic of the Guru called his wife aside and talked to her for a few moments. He waited a few yards away. When she joined him, he enquired what the yellow clad sanyasini had been talking to her. Her revelation presently astonished him. The sanyasini had revealed that some close relative in his family had a sad death and the influence of that soul was weighing down on him heavily and that he had to do something about it. This was startling information for him, because he had a sister who committed suicide, while she was just about to enter the order of nuns in a Christian Mission.

The revelation of the sanyasini about his life made him serious. There is some peculiarity in this Ashram, he thought. However, being a rational man, he began to think and find out in what all ways the soul of his sister was influencing him. He found quite a few things which proved the influence. Important among them was the special feeling he had towards nuns, whenever he met one. Whenever any nun came to the Secretariat for any job, he would go out of his way to get their work done. He almost became a maniac those moments. Having now convinced of the influence, he tried to banish the affinity towards nuns and all other things related to his sister. At the same time, he repeated his visit to the Ashram.

Now for the first time, he began to listen whenever Guru spoke to the assembled people. The words of Guru, like liquid light, flooded the dark interiors of his soul, revealing beyond a world of pure spiritual joy and brilliance. He was so much magnetized by the baptizing words of Guru that he often took leave from the office to listen to Guru in the Ashram. It continued until the cloak of ignorance was slowly lifted up from his soul. His inside now was illumined and enthused with the wisdom of a rare kind.

One day, as usual, he came to the Ashram straight from the office. Since he was late, he thought that Guru would have begun his talk. He had wished to join the Guru from the start. When he entered the Ashram, the place looked deserted. All must have gone to attend Guru’s talk, he thought. He wanted a white dhoti to go to Guru’s hall. He was in trousers and normally people never went to Guru’s room in western dress. So he waited there with distress, hoping that somebody would come there soon for his rescue. After a few moments, Sri Rajan Varghese (now Swami Guru Nishchaya Jnana Tapaswi, another Christian convert to Gurumargam) came in front of Sri Andrews. He said that Guru had sent him saying that somebody was waiting here for a dhoti. When he saw Sri Andrews standing there, he understood, who Guru had meant.

Sri Rajan Varghese brought the dhoti and Sri Andrews quickly went inside. Guru had not begun speaking. He began only when Andrews came in and joined the group. With moistened eyes, Sri Andrews bowed in front of the Guru. The unfailing grace of the all knowing Guru melted the heart of the hardcore Marxist. An unending stream of faith and love now began flowing from the sluices of his starved heart. He became a dove in the kingdom of God, winging its way above the marvelous ocean of spiritual bliss. Andrews’s conversion was total, not with swords, nor with miracles, nor with the promise of heaven or the threats of last judgment. True conversion takes place through the experience of love. Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru did not convert people, but only their hearts.

Soul’s Separation from its Primal Source

Gurucharanam Saranam

Soul’s Separation from its Primal Source

Mukundan P.R.

Sri Shivashankaran’s mother-in-law eyed him with a frown. ‘Touch the feet of the Swami’, she ordered. Shivashankaran was not familiar with such customs. He had visited temples and bowed in front of deities there. But this was a human being that too not attired like the swamis he had seen and heard about. Also the unpleasant comments from the people he came across on their way bothered him. It was in the late sixties. Shivashankaran, a tall healthy man, whose family lived near Pothencode, was a bus conductor with KSRTC. While he was on duty for long hours, his wife and mother-in-law along with his children used to visit a Swami at Pothencode. They never informed him about this virtuous ‘misconduct’ fearing that he would raise objections.

Most of the people at Pothencode disliked swamis and ashrams those days. In Marxian Kerala, ashrams and swamis have a disdainful existence rather than a proud and respectful one. The public looks at them with a suspicious eye. Shivashankaran’s brother and relatives were no exception to this. However, Shivashankaran had an open mind and would not mind meeting a swami and listening to some ancient tales from the puranas - it would be a good riddance from his cumbersome job as a bus conductor. So he decided to go along with his mother-in-law when one day she asked him to accompany her to the Ashram. However, doubt and apprehension kept creeping up in his mind because some people at Pothencode made some unsavory comments about the Swami while they were on their way to the Ashram. His mother-in-law gave him courage saying that the comments were about some other people. He swallowed both her comments and that of the public and decided to follow her.

The slender track to the spot where the Swami had set up his Ashram was less travelled by people. Pothencode itself had very few shops those days. A very isolated and feared area was it surrounded by forests and wild animals. Human habitation was scarce. On this track to the Ashram, they encountered few jackals prying in the area. But when they reached near the Ashram, suddenly the air became calm and serene. The mother-in-law had carried with her a small parcel of raw rice for the Swami. Her family ran a provision shop. Every time she visited the Swami, she took something or the other from the shop for the Swami as a token of her devotion.

Shivashankaran saw nobody in the Ashram as they entered. A small hut made of mud and bamboo stood there. It was the prayer place. Adjacent to it was another small thatched shed. The ground was full of sharp stones and they pierced the feet of Shivashankaran. He groaned at every step as he moved forward. Suddenly a man came out from the hut. Shivashankaran stayed rooted to his feet for a few moments, because the man was unusually beautiful. His body shone like the sun. Such brilliance he had never observed in any human being before. The mother-in-law said to him that this was the Swami as she walked towards him. She handed over the parcel to Shivashankaran for a moment to touch her head at the feet of the Swami. She stood up and asked him to do the same. He folded his hands and handed over the parcel to the Swami. He was little reluctant to do what his mother-in-law did - touch his head at Swami’s feet. The Swami understood his mind and said, ‘it is enough you do it standing’. But mother-in-law insisted. So he stood on his knees and touched the feet of the Swami. As though electrified, he gripped the Swami’s feet tightly. He now felt the expanse of a tranquil ocean and a lotus in it. In the lotus was the figure of the Swami. His grip became stronger at the feet. His mother-in-law said it was enough. But he could not take his hand out from the Swami’s feet and remained there. At last the Swami asked him to get up. He got up and looked. A huge celestial figure was standing in front of him touching the vault of heaven. Completely baffled Shivashankaran trembled and began to cry. Uncontrollable tears welled up in his eyes and flowed down the cheeks. His heart was pounding with spasms of joy with an under current of sorrow, for it was the moment of soul’s realization of its long separation from its primal source.

He and his mother-in-law were led away from the presence of Guru by a sole person present in the Ashram that time with the Swami. As time went by, the disciples and devotees of the Swami began to address him as Guru. Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru was not just a swami, people realized. The person who attended Shivashankaran and his mother-in-law brought a piece of boiled tapioca as Prasadam. He told them with visible regret that there was nothing else in the Ashram to eat for the day. One piece was kept for the Swami’ and the other piece, three of them shared. That was their lunch that day. While narrating this to me, Sri Shivashankaran suddenly broke down and began to sob. Obviously, old memories of Guru flooded him. Today Santhigiri Ashram serves square meals to thousands of people three times daily. Behind it is the sacrifice Guru underwent in life. After retirement, now Shivashankaran serves in the Ashram dedicating his soul to the Guru and the mission which Guru began for the spiritual renaissance of India as well as of the whole world.