Reordering Hinduism: A Workable Guruparampara

Gurucharanam Saranam



Reordering Hinduism: A Workable Guruparampara

(From the Teachings of Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru)




Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru said that in the re-ordering of Hinduism, the role of Santhigiri Ashram differs from other Ashrams. Other Ashrams have all followed the trodden path of their predeces­sors. That is what is going on even now. All this has to be re­ordered, not partially, but totally. In other words, today we are in possession of three traditions of worship in the Hindu system. A single comprehensive system is to be evolved in the place of these three. For this first of all we have to have the right understanding of the new principle and have full faith in it. The first step is to understand. Only then can it be translated into action. Most people have the old worship tradition in their blood, flesh and marrow: it is part of their very being.



Guru said that once a person’s faith is firm in the new way, the next step is a cleansing of his pitrus and the devas they had worshipped. All these entities as well as the powers he worships now are to be offered up to the Radiance of the Brahman. In their place faith in the Guru has to be established. This faith should be based on the conviction as to what Guru really is. God is to be worshipped in the image of the Guru. This is the ancient Hindu principle. Hence ‘gururbrahma’- that is the Guru is Brahman. And lastly he is ‘saakashaat parabrahman’ - the Absolute Itself. This has to be realized first, to reach it to the people at large. The qualities of such a Guru who has evolved and attained the state of Parabrahman also should be realized.

Guru further said:

"The Parabrahma Guru treats the good and the bad alike. The Guru would try to bring a wicked person to the path of goodness through making him struggle and suffer in life. The good person also is treated the same way. There is only a slight difference. This is the difference: The wicked man’s activities will have a high degree of faults and still the Guru will forgive and show lenience towards him. On the other hand a good person will be disciplined severely. If he is not responsive the Guru might even turn him out. The Guru would not discipline him further.



Why is this so? If the good man goes astray—even if it is just a step amiss— it will amount to a fatal flaw in his life’s dharma. Such a fault cannot be corrected in his lifetime. That is why sometimes gurus are found to reject disciples. It does not matter, let him go, is what the guru would think. If the man stays on and errs further a situation could develop where he can harm himself irreparably.



In the case of the wicked person the guru would go out of his way to give him a chance for reform. That is why in a conscious relation­ship between guru and disciple, the disciple strives to follow the guru’s words with utmost vigilance. The gurus who thus try to guide people will have numerous difficulties to face. It is because the guru’s word—however righteous or good—will not be in keeping with what people are used to. Look back and you will see the turbulence unleashed by each past attempt to change an existing norm.



Consider the recent religions—Christianity, Islam, Jainism, Bud­dhism and the Arya Samaj. It is enough to have a look at the history of these religions to have an idea of the enormity of suffering gone through by the founders and their followers. It is this suffering that has given value to their sacrifice. In the context of our times we have to adopt a more forceful and rational path. Otherwise apart from failing to guide people, our road in all likelihood might take a turn for the worse. We might regress immeasurably before we return to the right path again.



Therefore each one in this path should be firm of intent and have confidence in his own strength and reason to carry out his task. The travelers on this path—whatever be their particular way of life— should align themselves to the way of the Guru. We should com­pletely absorb the idea behind it. Only then can we serve the cause and establish norms based on precedence. Otherwise we might break away from the path, impelled by desire or base anger.



It is for this that we need to acquire a complete understanding of this first and be able to glory in it. We should thereafter perceptively make restrained efforts towards progress. Each individual must necessar­ily be able to exercise reasonable tolerance. He must radiate love and be ready for sacrifice. Only paramparas consisting of such individu­als have been able to progress.



All who embrace gurumargam should be courageous, loving and capable. Then all of us can realize the future ordained by God. This is how our guruparampara should set its goal and move forward. It is the house­holders who should take particular initiative and come to the forefront to propagate the ideal. Men and women should, in the mechanics of living, act only on the basis of mutual respect and affection. The family has unity and wholeness then. Such love fosters genera­tions of good children! It will be easier for such children to acquire the vital knowledge for living. To transmit that knowledge to future generations, two or three other means also have to be adopted.



Firstly there should be no consideration of caste, creed or ethnic divisions in the guruparampara. All should function in unity. This unity will foster togetherness like that of a closely-knit family. Through this, work can be found and done together. Such co-operative efforts can be instrumental in lightening the struggle of life.



Education should evolve in accordance with the values of the parampara and its cultural traditions. Organizational ability and learning combine to develop a sense of unity. In this preparation, we have to be specially mindful of one fact. The guru has to be a person who has accumulated all the powers natural to the devas. It is not for following the path of the devas. But a guru who has not known the path of the devas cannot remedy the errors in that path, to lead humanity.



The guru should fully discover the paths of devas and rishis who were our predecessors and free them from faults. He should have also realized the stages of Devendra and Ganapati. He should have evolved further through the stages of Iswara, Daivam and the Brahmam. Only a Guru of such evolvement can bring about and establish this truth in its entirety".

Spiritual Experience - Sri P.D. Pradeep

Gurucharanam Saranam

Santhigiri Ashram: A Labour of Love

P. D. Pradeep, Idukki


Great souls go through difficulties so that everyone should realize about God’s love. Guru wanted everyone to have a mind to work hard and face difficulties for the prosperity of the world. Guru insisted that everyone live for others and work hard for others. Everyone should give importance to the welfare of others. By doing so we are serving God and earning merit. We should lead a life without jealousy; have a pure heart and an open mind. Guru planted the seeds of goodness and these are now flourishing in Santhigiri Ashram.



I was 14 years when I first came to Guru. I have understood from Guru’s life that when one stands for the Truth and tries to actualise it in one’s life, a lot of hardships have to be faced. I have experienced Guru’s love and compassion. I have heard Guru’s advice, suggestions and arguments and received his punishments. I have also seen and understood Guru’s patience, perseverance, tolerance, divine will, will power, generosity and determination. I have seen his ability to withstand any crisis as strong and stable as a mountain. The love, concern, compassion, sincerity and knowledge that Guru gave to the world, is a known truth and an inspiration for every person’s life and growth. Guru’s words have influenced and brought changes to their lives. Those who have listened to Guru’s advice have been ashore. Those who disobeyed and went against his way have had their own difficulties. The proof of this fact lies in our lives.


Guru gave us love, respect and goodness so that we have a better life. Our goodness and the world’s prosperity were his aims and he worked for them. He wished goodness for all those who came before him and whoever he had seen. Guru made them realize the deficiency in their soul and their mistakes through his good deeds and not through scholarly books like the Vedas or Puranas or through stories. Guru showed the deficit in our soul, behaviour and knowledge and he did this by being an open book and sharing his personal experiences. Guru didn’t have anything to hide from us. Guru lived as one amongst us. Guru laughed, had food, and did his duties, with us. He enjoyed our fancies but also scolded us if we ever crossed any limit. Guru loved us more than our parents, family and friends. In fact, he immersed us in his never ending love and became a permanent idol of love in our hearts. Our bond with Guru, and his with us, became inseparable.



It did hurt Guru when we made mistakes. Guru got upset when we lied, became uncomfortable when we disobeyed. Our sorrows became his sorrows, and our happiness was his happiness. Guru did not have any happiness or sorrow different from ours. In fact, we ourselves were his happiness and sadness. When our ingrained traits come to the fore, Guru rectifies them. If we do not get corrected, Guru gets hurt. This has happened more than once in my case itself, though it was never deliberate. I felt an unexplainable love and affection towards Guru. I lived in a very rough and rustic manner. I was born and brought up in a high range place known as Thannypaara, in Idukki, about ten kilometers south of Kallaar and closer to Tamil Nadu. I worked hard, ate, cut wood and sold ash (made out of burnt wood) to Tamil Nadu and earned money.


My mother had an illness. Her nose used to bleed all the time. We did treatment and conjurations but nothing changed the situation. One day, my grandfather (known to everyone in the Ashram as Bhanu uncle) brought Guru, who had come to Kallaar, to our house. At that time, we lived in a grass thatched hut. Guru got down at Kambham and walked about 20 km down the hill to come to our house. Other than my grandfather, Suma (now Sathwika Janani) and Babu Swami (who used to be with Guru before) came along with Guru. By the time Guru reached our house, he was tired. Guru had tapioca curry and black tea, made by my mother. When Guru heard about my mother’s illness, he said, “I can’t do much about it right now. I will call later. It’s the sin of the land that you live in.” While Guru was sitting on the porch he had seen my mother washing the vessels. Guru corrected her and advised her to wash them a bit aside. We only had that much knowledge and manners at that time. I was studying in third or fourth standard then.


Later, mother and I went to meet Guru at Kallaar. My father did not come with us because he did not approve of Guru. Later on, my father accepted Guru and became a good devotee. Guru was at the house of my uncle Vijayadas. Even though it was a small house with little comforts, it never mattered to Guru. Guru’s will power, perseverance and readiness to face hardships were that strong. I came to know that Guru often stayed with them. He received us and other children with utmost love and affection. He filled our hands with fruits and sweets. We used to be enthusiastic to get sweets and hence we visited Guru often with our parents. Since we started praying to Guru, my mother’s illness reduced and later it got cured completely. This is how my father accepted Guru.



During vacations, I used to go to Pothencode to meet Guru. That is when I got closer to Guru and came to know more about him. There were only a few people at the ashram then. They slept either on the floor of the prayer hall (Prarthanalayam), that was waxed with cow dung, in the kitchen or where the food was served. The morning bell would ring at 4 a.m. The elders would wake up and get busy with various duties. We (children) also would wake up somewhat early. Guru would wake up those who were lazy. There were times when Guru would poke us and then hide behind the door. We used to wonder who did it and murmur. Suddenly we would hear someone humming. On turning around, we would find Guru!


We would panic, get anxious with fear and devotion and run away taking our mattresses along. That day, we would tremble while going near Guru. “What if Guru questions or scolds us?” But Guru would say nothing. In fact, he would show us extreme love and affection. At other times, when we did some jobs well, we would go to meet Guru thinking he will approve of us. However, just the opposite would happen. Guru would become angry and scold, making us anxious and baffled about what was happening. Guru’s concern, affection, anger and punishment were all born out of his love for us and those were the moments when we experienced it. When we used to play, Guru would come near us and ask, “Can I join you,” and smile. When we got frightened, Guru would give us his token of blessing.


I was young when I came to stay with Guru, and had no idea about devotion. I was just thrilled about making the journey from the high range to the Ashram all by myself. On the way, I would stop to watch movies. On one occasion, when I reached the ashram, it was close to noon and I felt hungry. I thought of going to the kitchen to eat something. But then I asked myself how to eat without doing some work. People bring items, as a token of their dedication to Guru. After prayers, these very items are used to cook food at the ashram. These items would have other people’s meditations and prayers in them and if we eat the food made out of these, would we partake in those prayers and ‘sankalpams’ too, I wondered. If we do not earn the right to eat the food by doing some work dedicated to Guru, would not those prayers affect us too, I thought. I saw Satyan uncle doing some digging work next to the prayer hall. I joined him and dug sand, after which I washed my hands and legs, and had food.


During those days, Guru spoke to people for hours. Guru would sit on the small mats that were available for sitting. Being limited in number, mats were given to those who came first and the rest had to sit on the floor. However, they did not have any problem sitting on the cow dung daubed floor. There was a strong bond of love between the people and Guru. Later on, Guru sat on a chair when it became difficult for him to sit on the floor and then a table was put in front.



Guru shared his experiences with us, his hardships and sorrows, and spoke about the difficulties of other great souls, their sacrifices and the torments they faced. Why did they go through these difficulties? It is for the prosperity of the world and goodness of the human beings. They suffered so that everyone should realize about God’s love. Guru wanted everyone to have a mind to work hard and face difficulties for the prosperity of the world. Guru insisted that everyone live for others and work hard for others. Everyone should give importance to the goodness of others and by doing so serve God and earn merit. We should lead a life without jealousy; have a pure heart and an open mind. Guru planted the seeds of goodness and these are flourishing today at Santhigiri Ashram, testifying to the hardships taken by Guru for this purpose.


I had gone to the Ashram after my 9th standard final exams. At the end of my visit, I went to meet Guru to seek his permission to leave. He said, “Leave by 6 a.m. When you reach Kallaar, go straight to the ashram. Don’t go here and there. After visiting the ashram, go straight home.” Guru gave the oil and medications for my mother, sweets and holy ash (Bhasmam, made from the camphor used during prayers). Being ignorant and young, I disobeyed all that Guru advised. It was 6:30-6:45 a.m. by the time I left the Ashram. I pre-calculated that I needed to go to Kambham and watch two or three movies. I knew every single place in Kambham and most people from there knew my parents. When I reached Kumili, instead of going through Kallaar, I went to Kambham. It was a Saturday and the bus was more crowded than usual. The route was through forests and hills and we could see animals roaming around. I was standing two to three seats behind the driver’s seat. I had a gut feeling that the bus might fall over and an accident might occur. I prayed, “Guru, please do keep me safe”. Within moments, the brakes failed and the driver found it difficult to stop the bus. On one side was an abyss and on the other a dense forest. If the bus fell into the abyss, then nothing much would be left. I prayed with all my heart, “Oh God! Oh Guru! ” The bus was out of control. The driver hit the bus onto a granite cutting and due to the impact the bus skidded and then stopped. I was watching all this as if it were a scene on television. The commotion was horrible. People were crying, moaning, and struggling for their life. I removed the seat cushions that had fallen on top of me and tried to get out of the bus, but I could not find the doors since that side was underneath. I broke through the glass and got out. I could see that most of the passengers were struggling with pain and some were under the wheels of the bus. I did not have even a scratch on my body. I searched for Guru’s token of blessing, the sweet he had given me, and finally found it. I lost one of the shoes while getting out of the bus, but later found that as well, and started walking.



I later came to know that 12 people were killed in that accident, several were seriously injured. I wrote a letter to Guru, describing what all had happened. This was Guru’s reply, “These are the ways we experience God’s love towards us- your own Swami.” This incident made me feel closer to Guru. I wanted to be with Guru more and see him more often. I was sure that I would fail in my tenth standard exams, and if that did happen, how would I face the people, I wondered. Prompted by feelings of shame on the one hand and devotion to the Guru on the other, I came to the ashram right after my exams and that was the starting point of my life at the ashram.


The amenities at ashram were minimal at that time. The well at the ashram provided sufficient water only for Guru’s needs and for pooja. For other needs, we had to carry water from another well which was half a kilometer away from the ashram. We used to fill tin cans with water, tie them on both sides of a bamboo stem and carry them all the way to the ashram. We had to go some distance to perform our daily ablutions and wash clothes. It used to be more difficult at the time of Kumbha Mela and other festivities. To make arrangements for the people who came from distant places was even more difficult. Money was the biggest problem. A lot of work needed to be done and there were never sufficient funds. We used to get more upset on seeing Guru worried. What else could we do other than work hard? I have seen a lot of situations that used to upset Guru. I remember an incident.


It was the initial stage of the Santhigiri Vidhyabhavan. Children had just started to come to stay over. We had to arrange for their basic needs. We needed to cast a closet on a slab. There was enough sand, metal and cement but not even a single iron bar. There was no money to buy the bars and we had already exhausted all the sources from where we could borrow. We were worried wondering what we could do and Guru got upset seeing us in such a situation. Guru called us near him and asked, “Are there any bamboo stems available?” “Yes there are,” we replied. “Then cut and join them as iron bars and cast them. These will remain for a while.” We got a new insight from what Guru told us to do. We did accordingly and the slab lasted for a while. At the time of the concreting of the building where the provisions store is functioning at present, Guru said, “This would be the smallest building in Santhigiri”. How true!


I was talking about the festivity days. Guru was concerned that the basic needs of the guests and devotees, who arrived for the functions, should be met. Guru would call each one of us and assign various duties. He would oversee carefully that everything was done properly. He would be around us so that the things would not go wrong. Coconut thatched sheds would be made and covered with white cloth. We would carry tables and chairs on our heads from nearby places so that people coming from other countries could relax. There were no big vessels at the ashram then. We would borrow these from outside. People brought vessels from their homes. These were dipped in water and then washed a couple of times and used at the ashram. Guru took special care that food was served according to the people’s taste, especially for those who were coming from outside Kerala. Guru was attentive about each and every thing.


During festival days and special events, scarcity of water would become a big issue. Four or five of us would fetch water and get little sleep or rest during those days. Only a few of us were there and we had to do almost everything. The most important among all the duties was to keep the surroundings neat and clean. Velayudhan (Velayudhan Chettiar who works at the Ayurveda center) was the best person to do this job. He would set out with a spade and clean everywhere. Guru appreciated his work a lot and he always assigned Velayudhan for this job. During one of the Kumbha Melas, we had an idea. We thought of connecting a motor to the well and pumping water to a big brass cauldron and then using a diesel pump to supply water everywhere. Everyone liked the idea. Under Narayanan Sir’s (Dharmananda Swami today) leadership, we started work to implement it. Even though we worked hard for three or four days, through day and night, there was no result. At times the pipe would break or the motor would fail. On the fourth day, everyone got fed up. While three or four of us kept on working on this, the others got engaged in other work. The night before the Kumbha Mela, we got tired and slept off. I could not get any sleep as I was upset that the work we had set out to do did not turn out well. I was hungry on top of that. None of us had had much food.


I woke up at the first light of dawn. So what if the motor did not work? We still needed to pump water. I woke up the rest. One person got upset with this and started a fight. Even I got angry. We continued arguing for a while. Then we realized the seriousness of the situation and tried to figure out a solution for it. We got dressed up and when we were about to set out for work, we saw Guru in front of the Parnasala. He had been watching us as we were standing there wondering what to do. He looked at us with a smile filled with love and called us towards him. When we reached near him, he went inside the Parnasala and brought out a bunch of bananas. He gave it to us and smiled at us with all his heart. We cried literally, in front of his love. While we were sobbing, Guru said to us, “Children, we are working for goodness and when we do such a thing, there would be difficulties. No one would see this and there will be people to find mistakes and make comments. But God sees everything and His love is above all.”



On listening to Guru, there was this light that filled our souls and minds. Our hearts were filled with joy. Guru stood in front of us with a smile that never faded. How can I forget this? The love of Guru! This love should belong to the entire world; this is my prayer to Guru - the God of the entire world.


(Translated from the original Malayalam by Miss Anjana, USA)

The Emergence of the New Light

Gurucharanam Saranam



The Emergence of the New Light

Mukundan P.R.


‘Within 300 years now on, India will regain its lost glory and unparalleled spiritual leadership in the world’.




For a people mentally, physically and intellectually conditioned by age-old traditions, customs and faith, the belief system of Santhigiri Ashram presents both a riddle and also shock. Riddle, because they have difficulty in understanding such concepts as Manus, Manvantara, Yugadharma, Spiritual Error, Spiritual Vision, Karmic and Ancestral cleansing, Guru Margam etc. Shock, because they are exhorted to expunge the outdated, meritless spiritual practices and beliefs, which are thought to be incontrovertible, in favor of a spiritualism, which is universal and essentially rooted in Sanatana Dharma but with a new unheard of perspective.




A majority of the people are unable to connect life experiences – the ups and downs, fortune and misfortune, success and failure, both at the individual and the societal level – to the spiritual practices they follow, which might be misplaced in the context of the age or social reality. It was at such intervals of cultural and spiritual standstill and degeneration the sages and preceptors have manifested in the world.




As different from most other ashrams and sages who continue to live behind the old traditions and belief systems, Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru’s ideology calls for a fundamental shift in our understanding of Sanatana Dharma and the harmful risks and consequences we earn from misconceived spiritual practices. The universality of Guru’s message is unmistakable; it brings to our cognizance the true nature of Sanatana Dharma – the cosmic science of human existence and evolution guided by 14 Manus in creation and the Guru lineage under the Manus through the cyclical transition of yugas. Our period belongs to the 7th Manu. We must remember that the word ‘Manushya’ or ‘Manav’ in Indian languages and ‘Man’ in European languages originated from the Manus, the primordial human ancestors.




A basic error seems to have happened in the ageless tradition of Sanatana Dharma, according to the revelations made known to the disciples of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru from the Light of Brahman, the Supreme Almighty, in the year 1973, during the spiritual ascension of the Guru. Those revelations are:




i) A great preceptor in the Manu lineage committed an error of equating himself to the Brahman, the Almighty by uttering ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ (I am the God) which was against the Will of God. (An individual evolute may realize Brahman but cannot equate himself to Brahman. Can a drop of water claim itself as or become the great ocean, though it is originated from it? The mistake had egoistic origin).




ii) This above said error happened in the 3rd chaturyuga of the present Vaivaswata Manvantara.
(A Manvanatra has 71 chaturyugas; the present is the 28th chaturyuga. A chaturyuga is a composite of four yugas – satya, treta, dwapara and kali. We are in the kaliyuga of this 28th chaturyuga. The duration of kaliyuga is 4,32,000 human years. Kaliyuga began after the lifetime of Krishna approximately 5200 years ago, therefore kaliyuga is not at its peak (as some people misunderstand), but only in its dawn).




iii) As a consequence to this error, a curse ensued from Brahman and the awareness about the Manus, the original preceptors of mankind was lost to mankind in the subsequent ages.




iv) A dark age of spiritual eclipse followed in the world after this curse (from the 3rd chaturyuga to 7th chaturyuga).




v) In the 7th chaturyuga, Brahman initiated a correction through three spiritual entities – Siva, Vishnu and Brahma, which is known as the Trimurty system and it was perfected in the world by 12th chaturyuga.




vi) The same error - which happened to a preceptor in the Manu lineage - gets repeated in the Trimurty tradition also.




vii) A preceptor in the Trimurti tradition charts the cosmic time order of Manus as subservient to Brahma, the god of creation in Trimurti. Trimurti is erroneously equated with the supreme Brahman through mythological treatise.




viii) The Will of God is violated by humans. Interpolations take place in the scriptures - Vedas and Upanishads, epics, mythology etc.




ix) The Vedic priests (Vaidikas) promote a system of ritualistic worship abandoning the jnana portion (Jnana Kanda) of the Vedas.




x) Santana Dharma gets another blow by its dissection into many sects on the basis of Saiva, Sakteya and Vaishnava, each sect claiming superiority over the other.




xi) The concept of ‘Varna’ in the Vedas is changed into caste system by greedy priests. People are divided on the basis of birth.




xii) The spiritual leadership of the sages and gurus (under the Manu Parampara) is ignored. A system of worship based on the propitiation of Devi-Devas and Trimurty gains strength in which priests became the ecclesiastical authority - the custodian of dharma.





xiii) The fall of Santana Dharma is complete. India loses its leadership role, both spiritually and economically.




xiv) When Santana Dharma continued to suffer in India, the spiritual nerve-centre of the world, despite the efforts of great avatars like Krishna and Buddha and various other sages, Brahman sends messengers and prophets in different parts of the world such as Moses, Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammed and others.




xv) It has been revealed that 2444 Gurus have taken birth in India and other parts of the world for this purpose since the beginning of this Kaliyuga.




xvi) The prophets and messengers of God are persecuted by powerful demonic powers in the subtle and these Guru lineages are affected. The Will of Brahman remains unfulfilled and humanity suffers again without true spiritual guidance of the Manu Parampara.




xvii) September 1st, 1927 – the birth of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru at Chandiroor in Alapuzha, Kerala. Brahman initiates a long awaited correction. Revelations are made to the Guru from the Supreme Light of Brahman about the heretofore unknown chronicle of spiritual setbacks occurred to the Sanatana Dharma, the spiritual fountainhead of humanity.




xviii) One of the revelations from the Supreme Light is about the impending rise of India. Within 300 years, India will regain its lost glory and unparalleled spiritual leadership in the world.





Word is Truth

Truth is Guru

Guru is God

The Soul's Journey to the Core of Truth

By K.T. Sreekumar, Kottarakara


Man learns to become a self-sacrificing social being; he grounds himself on the foundations of justice, law, culture, community living and develops methods of governance. Incessant actions threading through many lives bring transformation in his thoughts; actions in life purify and refine the soul of man and a stage is set for his flight to the ultimate evolutionary perfection - ‘Anandamaya Kosha’ or the ‘blissful sheath’. Such a soul loses self-identity after passing through the states of annamaya, pranamaya, manomaya and vijnanamaya koshas and finds its eternal rest and fulfillment in the blissful state, which is the core of its being.

A soul’s journey to the core of Truth transcends the point at which Darwin concludes his theory of evolution: it is a pilgrimage to the climax of creational perfection, emerging from an evolutionary process which moves through water and land and culminates in the wholesome creation - man. But, a question remains. While an imperceptible power through its own mutative stirs has reached up to a state of perfection as represented by man - What next? Whither? Herein lies the relevance of a Guru; it is here how a seer becomes a guide.

Darwin’s hypothesis that life appeared first in water had been formulated in India in antiquity. For example, in Manu Smriti, it has been mentioned that in the beginning there was the sky; from the sky emerged air; from the air was produced fire; from the fire came forth water; the waters yielded earth and from the earth were born all living beings.

In the myth associated with the ten incarnations of God, it has been said that the first incarnation took place in water. According to Taitireeya Upanishad, owing to the creational vibrations in the Cosmic Consciousness, first the sound-impregnated sky was manifested. In that aural sky, there appeared water which is tactual - that can be experienced by touch. From the waters emerged the earth which is the abode of all sensory qualities – tactual, visual, aural, gustatory and olfactory as represented by touch, sight, sound, taste and smell respectively. From the earth came forth herbs; and from herbs food was produced; from food is produced essence (soul effulgence); and from that essence man.

For procreation, man and woman are the two fundamental aspects. Not dissimilar is the case with Cosmic Creation, which presupposes the interplay of a Cosmic Mind and a Cosmic Nature (Purusha & Prakriti). Both are reflections of Brahman itself. The binary of Prakriti and Purusha remains dormant in the Supreme Consciousness. At the time of Creation, Purusha and Prakriti become vibrant and manifest themselves. Along with Purusha and Prakriti, there emerges a third principle – Time. Time is a relative phenomenon; it becomes self apparent at the time of creation and disintegrates along with cosmic dissolution. The Indian philosophy avers that creation takes place when Prakriti, Purusha and the third element ‘Time’ converge in a creational axis.

After Vedic time, documentary proof is unavailable to establish that the genesis of man is from Manu, the primordial human ancestor. Modern science could also not formulate any conceptions in this regard. According to Bible, Jehova, the God, created all sentient and insentient beings, except Man, within the five initial days of creation. On the sixth day, God created Man to rule over them. He made the figure of man out of dust and water upon the earth and blew life into its nostrils. The first man born thus was named Adam. Next, taking a side bone out of him, God created a Woman for him - Havva. Let myth be myth; but the underlining concept is that all living beings were created from the elemental world consisting of air, water, earth, fire and space.

The Rigveda explains about the origin of life in a different way. The moon has a synonym – Soma. There is a subtle dust on the lunar surface named as Soma, because of which the synonym soma. This lunar dust, owing to the gravitational pull, falls on the earth; it is further compressed into a life molecule with the blending of powerful cosmic rays from the sun, other planets, stars and constellations. Thus, according to the Rigveda, life originates from the copulation of luminuous lunar light molecules and the vaporous dust on the earth. Time is another element that interlinks the origin of life to the union with cosmic rays.

Modern science hypothesizes the ‘big bang’ theory of creation. This theory is based on pivotal scientific principles such as the Theory of Relativity; the gravitational pulls between atomic particles; the simulations and permutations that create certain fundamental matter-molecules and gaseous energies; all these lead us to the theory that the origin of life is from the interplay of cosmic substances and energies diversely inherent in the astral world – the sun, moon, earth, stars and constellations. The soul of man inescapably pulsates in synchronization with the cosmic rays percolating down the solar system, 27 stars (nakshatram) and 12 zodiacs in the track of which spins everything. It is verily the manifest and unmanifest universe in the form of God; one with attributes (Saguna Brahman) and another attributeless (Nirguna Brahman).

The northern and southern transits of the sun cause uttarayanam, dakshinayanam and vishuvat. Likewise, the lunar swings cause alternate periods of light and darkness and also changes in the moods of nature. The moon represents the creative energy in living beings. The swings and tides due to the embrace of light-molecules of the earth and moon produce vibrations or currents of biological and physical propensities and emotional fermentations in the soul of man. In what state were we before birth and what do we become after death? An enquiry in this direction can begin only when we realize that man is an inseparable part of the cosmos.
What is the outer most crust or sheath of the Jeeva (soul)? It is the ‘Annamaya Kosha’ – the solidified soul energy or ‘food sheath’. This may be taken as the first insentient physical manifestation of the jeeva unencumbered with thoughts and emotions, as represented in the physicality of a sedentary plant kingdom entrenched in the earth with the help of roots and stumps. Certain microbial life cells in water also belong to this category.

The second evolutionary stage of the Jeeva developing from the Annamaya kosha is the ‘Pranamaya Kosha’ or the ‘energy sheath’. In this state, the Jeeva develops distinct qualities and shapes different from the plant kingdom. It develops into a creature with a head and starts breathing. It tries to move with the help of tails and wings, first in water, and then on land. The Jeeva has outlived its state of immobility rooted to the earth or confined to water.

By and by all sensory perceptions are accentuated – touch, sight, hearing, taste and smell. Now begins the evolution of the Jeeva to the ‘Manomaya Kosha’ or the ‘mind sheath’ from the state of creatures and animals. Now the Pranamaya kosha is filled with the Manomaya kosha. The animal kingdom, as against the plant kingdom, has freedom in its course of evolution and procreation; and due to biological and sensory pulls and pushes, variations take place in the process of multiplication of species. In this state, collective living of species with identical characterstics begins; for example the human family. In the humans, the soul, from the limitations of sensory existence, is raised to experience knowledge or existential awareness. This is the evolution of the soul to the ‘Jnanamaya Kosha’ or the ‘Knowledge sheath’. The soul becomes self conscious. From this self awareness, the thoughs of ‘I’ and ‘Mine’ are born. Man begins to think about his existence and security. Herein is the genesis of human thoughts. Thoughts haunt man and ultimately he fumbles upon existential questions; who am I? What am I?

Man learns to become a self-sacrificing social being; he grounds himself on the foundations of justice, law, culture, community living and develops methods of governance. Incessant actions threading through many lives bring transformation in his thoughts; actions in life purify and refine the soul of man and a stage is set for his flight to the ultimate evolutionary perfection - ‘Anandamaya Kosha’ or the ‘blissful sheath’. Such a soul loses self-identity after passing through the states of annamaya, pranamaya, manomaya and vijnanamaya koshas and finds its eternal rest and fulfillment in the blissful state, which is the core of its being.

While annamaya kosha is the gross physical body, the other sheaths consisting of prana, mana, vijnana and ananda (with all karmic appurtenances) constitute the subtle body of a person. What is physically perceptible is the annamaya kosha which, after separation from the soul, goes back to the five fundamental elements from which it was formed.

Our pilgrimage thus goes beyond Darwinism to the evolution of the invisible soul through the five elements and five life-sheaths to its core to behold the Supreme Truth, the Brahman, and to merge with it. It is this effort through the five elements, five senses and five life-sheaths that Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru draw our attention to.

(Translated from the original Malayalam by Mukundan P.R.)

Petals of Sacrifice - Swami Vandanarupan Jnana Tapaswi

By Mukundan P.R.

Gurucharanam Saranam


Sri Devadas was a youth with robust health and a strong mind. Whatever others may talk, he had his independent decision concerning matters in life. He was engaged in contract work in his native town, Palakkad. It was in 1992. He went to Olassery, near Palakkad as he had heard that bricks were cheaper there. When he reached Olassery, he saw a group of white clad men and women moving along holding colorful parasols. ‘Have Christians come here too’, he murmured to himself. When he enquired what it was all about, somebody in the group said that their Guru was coming and they were waiting to welcome the Guru.

After sometime, the Guru came. Devadas watched. He saw Guru. The things were not as he imagined. Devadas’ heart began to beat a different tune. He did not know why. He was attracted to Guru’s figure immensely. The experience pounded his heart and pulled him to Guru. He was getting transported to a divine and joyful plane by the sight of Guru and the chanting of devotees.

In the subsequent time he began to visit the Ashram at Thiruvananthapuram and got an opportunity to be associated with the activities of the branch ashram at Palakkad. However, it took him some more years to accept and assimilate the ideology of Guru. The change of mind came through the monthly prayers at the branch ashram, which gave him an avenue of peace and realization. It dawned on him that it was the truthful way of life in harmony – harmony with home, harmony with community, harmony with Guru and God and harmony with himself.

The soul of Devaduttan was in readiness to receive Guru, the Light of life. But he never knew about Guru before. He neither knew about his own struggles for truth and light in past births. But Guru knew and spontaneously drew him to Him at appropriate time and place. After the Adisankalpam of Guru, when Sishyapoojita, as per Guru’s command, asked him to lead the life of a brahmachari, he obeyed like an obedient child. When Sishyapoojita, as per Guru’s command, asked him to renounce all worldly desires, he obeyed that too innocently and became a sanyasi – Swami Vandanarupan Jnana Tapaswi, a sanyasi with strong verve, looking after the building activities of the Ashram, under Aroodda Suddhi, as its in-charge.

My Experience of the Unimaginable Glory of Guru

Mukundan P.R.



I was a picture of despair, confusion and instability before I met Guru. I feel endless gratitude to Guru, for He has given me an inner calm and filled my heart with rare spiritual satisfaction. Born to a Havildar Major in the Indian Army as the third son out of seven children, my childhood was scarred with domestic tension arising out of poverty, sickness and parental fights. A good setting for God realization! At the age of 17-18, I wandered alone in the lonely hills and temple yards in my village in Thrissur district of Kerala. There was a long forgotten rock cave only a few yards away from my house in Mullassery, near the big Parambanthally Siva temple. I sat there in the evenings on the black level rock that gave a feeling of bygone ages, staring at the western sky, watching the colours and curious pictures that the setting sun used to draw on the horizon. What I specially cherished in my deepest heart were the full moon nights with their soft and milky rays inspiring a celestial joy and the star studded sky which had an unusual depth and calm.

My first spiritual experience occurred during one such twilight sitting under the lively divine celebration that was the sky above, with stars shining like bright diamonds and the moon wafting rays of celestial joy. It was a momentary experience and realization. A flash of the divine that struck me so suddenly and deeply, that I became overwhelmed by its spurting joy. I became a little imbalanced after this experience. Now, some 34 years later, I would say that it was like a meteor hitting on my consciousness screen. If my memory is correct, it happened in the year 1973, the year of the spiritual completion of Guru. It is not that I had known about Santhigiri Ashram or Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru when it happened. In fact I heard about Guru and Santhigiri Ashram for the first time only in the year 1994 from Sahadevan, an office colleague in Bangalore. The experience in 1973, which I got sitting on the rocky ground gazing at the sky, was perhaps an inner inkling of the Brahman, the Supreme. It had nothing to do with any clairvision, clairvoyance or the like. It was an inner feeling of sudden enlightenment about the truth of God before which the significance of all worldly pursuits and struggles paled.

I was on a swing of joy after this experience and did not consider anything greater than it. However, it also marked the beginning of a long period of tribulation in my life. My heart thirsted for that ‘experience’ again. I walked as if in a dream to get reconnected to that experience. My soul wandered and it took me off to the 'ghats' and temples of Varanasi from my life in Mumbai. I was drifting alone aimlessly. I watched the flow of the Ganges umpteen times. The river seemed to flow down from a cave in another world, spitting dead bodies in its long course. I watched the pyres on the 'ghats', the fiery flames devouring hundreds of human bodies incessantly. The spirit world is strongly licking the human mind in Varanasi. Once I watched dawn break over the Ganges. I could virtually see celestial beings descend on its banks from the heavens. It was a hazy picture and might have been a hallucination. Whatever it may be, yet my hunger, my thirst, never was satiated, for, the big ‘experience’ never returned and I felt disturbed and a misfit in the world in which I lived. Then I faltered, rather it would be correct to say that I was caught up by my 'karma'. The karma of a life lived carelessly. It was through Guru that I later realized about the 'karmic baggage' and the role played by inseparable ancestral bonds. This knot of karmic dirt in fact is the cause of my birth in this fashion. I had erred thus in several births, I suppose, distancing myself from that Light – Guru. I had disgracefully fallen from the protection and guidance of Guru due to bad karmic and spiritual practices.

Without having a chance to know the truth, I suffered. Somewhere in a lonely and murky alley of life, I was wed to a woman, whom I had never known or met before. A child was born to us. After nearly 10 years of life in Varanasi, in a sudden twist of fate divine, I came back to my parents’ house, now with two extra mouths to feed. By the time, I felt like a man with a millstone around my neck. I then moved to Bangalore and settled down in a most boring vocation. But my prayers never stopped. The meditations, the silent thoughts and questions ever remained agile in the mind. My soul and heart silently sobbed for the experience of the divine light.

It was in the year 1994, in Bangalore, that I first met a disciple of Navajyothisree Karunkara Guru. His name is Sahadevan. I was working in a steel plant and Sahadevan happened to be my colleague. The opportunity to begin a spiritual conversation with him came once after he came back from a vacation in Kerala. I asked him casually about his holidays. To my pleasant surprise, he said that he visited his Guru in Santhigiri Ashram. I was curious and happy to hear about a Guru and an Ashram after all my days in Varanasi. I could not imagine then that this conversation was going to lead me to that LIGHT for which my heart thirsted always and that I was going to be reconnected to the ‘SOURCE’, the intuition of which I had experienced in my adolescence. But that comes later. I became very close to Sahadevan. While in office, we had plenty of opportunities to meet and talk, though he was in a different section. Once I noted that Sahadevan did not partake of ‘prasadham’ – the offerings made to gods worshipped by Hindus and people of other faiths too. I thought he was a bit foolish and lacked depth in spirituality. I was then a Vedantin and followed a pantheist view of religion. A Vedantin believes that only Brahman exists. But it is a matter of great contradiction how a Vedantin becomes an idolator, a worshipper of deities. I did not even think about this contradiction in those days. The deities for me were different aspects and attributes of the one Supreme Brahman and I believed there was nothing wrong in it. The great exponent of Vedanta Sri Sankaracharya composed hymns in praise of deities.

I had been initiated into mantra chanting by a monk-turned Sanskrit scholar in Varanasi, who had been initiated into sanyasa by a direct disciple of Swami Vivekananda in Sri Ramakrishna Mission. Apart from the mantra he gave me, I started experimenting with other mantras too like Lakshmi Gayatri, Surya Gayatri etc. I felt some pleasure chanting those mantras – nothing more, nothing less, by way of any spiritual experiences.

One day I asked Sahadevan whether his Guru had any mantra. To my pleasant surprise he said yes and gave me an Ashram monthly containing two lines of the mantra of Guru. I began chanting this along with my regular mantras and meditation. On the third day, during my evening prayers, I saw an apparition. It was a broad smiling face. I tried to process this face in my memory but could not come up with anything conclusively. It connected me to a world of masters in some unknown zone and era. While I sat there thus, a few more faces appeared before me. It was a kind of visionary experience, the first ever in my life. With a mind roused with curiosity, I asked Sahadevan for a description of his Guru for I thought the experience I had had something to do with his Guru. Sahadevan just smiled. He said that I should go to the Ashram and see Guru for myself.

It was somewhere in the middle of 1994, within three months of my visionary experience, that I reached Santhigiri Ashram. It was an evening well before sunset. I saw Guru in his thatched hut, which had a small hall attached to it for visitors to have 'darsan' of Guru. Guru, clad in pure white, with a broad smiling face, sat there emitting a tremendous radiance of love, devotion and a feeling of oneness. His form went into the depth of my mind. The experience in Bangalore reconnected me to this form, now a live figure. I announced my experience to some in the Ashram on coming out after meeting Guru.

After my first visit to the Ashram, I felt that I was put back on the spiritual track. With roused enthusiasm, I quickly prepared for another trip to the Ashram. This time Shri R.C. Saraf, a colleague who belonged to Kolkata, (now in London working for the Mittals) also joined me. Both of us reached the ashram travelling by bus from Bangalore. We waited for an audience with Guru. In the meantime, I helped Saraf to prepare a list of questions in Malayalam which he wanted to ask Guru. No philosophical questions, but domestic ones. I had no questions at that time in my mind. My soul only wanted to 'experience'.

Soon someone came and announced that Guru was waiting for us. A current went through me. We went to the small building (kettidam) where Guru was seated on a small wooden couch. There was with Guru a young bright sanyasini in orange clothes. Her face and eyes were bright with spiritual aura. This was Janani Amritha Jnana Thapaswini, the Revered Shishyapoojitha now. We bowed and touched our foreheads on the floor in front of Guru. I felt like an insect before that Divine Presence. I do not know what Saraf had felt. Doubtlessly there was more dirt in me.

Guru looked at me and asked, ‘What for have you come?’

My heart probably stopped for a moment. I could not speak immediately. I struggled to answer.

''I have taken passport and am trying to go abroad. Can I go?''

I felt very silly. No big questions about spirituality or philosophy fit for discussion with a sage.
Like a foolish person curious only to know the future, I asked that embodiment of Supreme Consciousness this inane question. However, this apparently foolish question was to have a deep ramification in my life afterwards. It was a question which fixed that I be with Guru than in a different place. It was my moment of initiation. The answer which Guru immediately gave was, ''If you go, you will neither be here nor there.'' I listened. How intimate were the words of Guru.

I sat there, ironically, like a numb mountain of questions. Guru further said that my life was influenced by the tradition of Devi worship in our family as well as by the good and bad karma of the ancestors and of my own self. I listened but could not decipher the depth of His words then. Now on reflection, I know that His answer had meant that, ''O disciple! You be with me. Why do you want to waste another life? Work out your salvation here and now.''

Prostrations O’ Guru! I could not realize your nectarine kindness. But like an obedient child I had listened to your words then. I feel greatly blessed by that. O Saviour of my life, O Supreme Guru! My turn was over and now Guru turned to Saraf. I do not remember what all things he asked Guru, though I was the one who translated his queries. While I sat there in the holy presence of Guru, I could feel a divine fragrance wafting in the room. My heart throbbed and soon a strong spiritual vibration hit my soul. A blissful current possessed my heart transporting me to a transcendental state of consciousness and tranquility.

I sat there wondering, ''Guru, who are you? I cannot understand anything. You are indeed a great Rishi.'' I did not know then that Guru could be God. So my infant spiritual mind pictured Him as a great Rishi exuding Brahmic bliss and joy. The meeting ended and we came out from that unforgettable Divine Presence, Guru.

Once out of that Presence, ignorance returned to me in the form of a doubt. How can a human be God? My idea of God was something formless; it was an internal thought, a consciousness of something unimaginable. I had not known that my concept of God would be proved wrong in the next few years I spent with Guru.

After stepping away from Guru’s presence, I stood a few yards away from the building where Guru sat. My mind was torn and the dark cloud of doubt suffocated me. It was a moment of torment. Then suddenly my eyes fell on a Light above the building where Guru sat. A White Light was getting formed above the building. It became very vivid to my eyes and looked like a big hemisphere, like an umbrella. As I concentrated on the Light, I wondered where it was emanating from. In a flash, the form of Guru appeared in a state of yogic sleep. The White Light was emerging from the Guru's navel; a thin thread like a lotus stem at the beginning and then spreading above like a vast umbrella of light. The sand under my feet began to loosen. I was losing balance as the vision gripped my being. I wanted now to wriggle my mind out of this strange experience. I slowly walked away from the place where I stood and a few moments later, the vision ceased, leaving me with an inward silence. I did not know then that I was entering a different dimension in spirituality. How can that grace be explained?

Though I experienced spiritual visions and the divinity of Guru many times over, sometimes I would try to think rationally. Once when my mind was thus clouded, I approached Guru and said, ''Guru, my mind gets disturbed sometimes by doubts''. Guru looked at me and then replied. ''You only should think over it.'' And I thought. I thought hard about my experiences with Guru and the visions that clearly showed the supremacy of Guru, in whom all living beings and the universe merged. Now I wanted to experience the Godliness of Guru in its truest measure. If Guru indeed were God, I should have that experience. My desire grew stronger and stronger. But how could I express my desire to Guru!

Guru was once giving darsan to devotees in the ashram. Occasionally he smeared vibhuti on the forehead of devotees. I too eagerly waited for my chance for the touch of vibhuti by Guru. When my turn came, He touched my forehead with vibhuti. I felt the softness of Guru’s finger. I came out and stood awhile. Suddenly I felt the whole world whirling. The planets, the stars, and the sky, everything was in a whirl. For the first time, I experienced everything merging together in a different dimension of experience. I was unable to stand this. I cried out to Guru in prayer that I should be brought back to my normal state. Within moments, the experience stopped, but I was in a dazed state and was unable to speak. An inner sense of bliss and quiet continued till I returned to Bangalore. I thought how foolish I was to hope for the experience of God. Even a fraction of that experience, I was unable to endure. How can human beings ever experience God with their body-mind mechanism? What they can hope to experience is only a minutest ray of the Unimaginable Light of God. Anyway, after this, I abandoned my desire to experience God anymore, at least for the time being. I only wanted to surrender to Him and His Unimaginable Glory.

A Mystical Trail to My Guru

Nikhil, Santhigiri Ashram

There was a time when I viewed spirituality derisively. The years of my adolescence and youth! My native place is Manjapra near Kaladi in Ernakulam district. Those days I took asylum mostly in the reading room of the Grama Kshemam Library. There were thousands of books: I had read almost all of them by the time I turned 25. I did not know English, so I tried to get translated works from other languages. I also read the maximum number of contemporary publications. On looking back, I now realize that I was searching for myself in books, and through my writings. I searched for myself everywhere and opened out to one and all. I quarreled too and fumed, wept and laughed; felt happy and light hearted. I wandered day and night like one intoxicated.

Several people nurtured me with food, clothes and shelter. What not was given thus? There were many who filled me with love. A few, countable by fingers, hurt me too. Nonetheless, I did not feel for anybody. I felt a sort of detachment. A general feeling of disenchantment and despondency prevailed with a sense of helplessness capping it all. Even today, this sense of helplessness follows me. There is always an uncertainty as everything happens unbidden. Experiences march by as though in a reverie. Today, to a small extent, I can fathom their meaning. I also realise that more than what has been known, there is yet much to know. The depth of my helplessness deepens when I tread the path in between nescience and wisdom. The question is oft’ repeated: how did I become like this?

At that time, spirituality did not occupy any place in my life. I loved people, especially those who were in distress, sickly or helpless. The empathy I felt for such people might be because I felt one among them. Pathos inspired me to work for the liberation of the whole mankind. How could the human society be liberated from suffering?

The words of Bertolt Brecht influenced me a lot. “O, hungry man! Take up a book in your hand. That is a weapon.” These words made me wade through books. Books filled my dreams. I saw in my dreams books and word clusters. I wanted to write. And I wrote. A bevy of friends, who were like my own brothers, gave me inspiration. They helped me with paper and pen. I wrote for them dramas, big and small. They performed these in theaters and got numerous laurels. Nevertheless, all this did not make me happy. In fact it made me restless. What I needed was peace, I felt. When I began my journey to find peace, I encountered a flood of disquiet. I even suspected that I would be deluged and lost.

Simultaneously, I was welling up with another type of experience. That was the awareness about my self. It sprang from my experiences of reveries. What all were those reveries? Mist, rain, daylight, mountains, streams, the ocean, the sky, clouds, the stars and planets, fire, serpents, many hues of light, downpour of fire, rustic faces, figures of ascetics, elephants and so on. My days and nights were haunted by the rising and falling tides of such reveries. It would be rather correct to say that the dreams owned me and I became their possession. I had the awareness that something was happening in the backyard of my consciousness; but I did not know what it was.

I was a cause of concern for my family. I did not study; I did not go to work. I brought ten-fold loss when entrusted with business. What for should I study, I wondered. For me education was not required, neither were wealth, vocation, assets, house, comforts, name, fame and recognition. I did not know what was required either. Futile wanderings! It hurt the people in my family. Though they were poor, they loved me. I could say that they took a lot of hardships in enduring me. When I ate the food affectionately served by them, my eyes got tearful.

I could not give them the love they deserved, not even a good word. What I gave them was pain, instead. A few people asked me why I did not love the family, my own blood. My mind whispered that they were not mine. Nevertheless, I never expressed this thought in front of others. But occasionally, I expressed my anguish in front of my father. Poor man, I was much distanced from him emotionally. My mother, I do not remember seeing as she had already died before I was able to toddle.

A few of my friends would ask, “Why don’t you refer to your house as “my home’’? “I have no house of my own,” I answered them. For me, the house where I lived belonged to my relatives (father’s younger and elder brothers) or the houses of several other people who gave me shelter. My uncles and their families fed me and nurtured me. Their love towards me had a tinge of adoration. When I was five years old, my father had remarried and begun to stay separately. The people in that house too loved me.

From the very childhood, I had a desire to forsake everything and go somewhere. Whenever I felt a small displeasure, I used to leave the house. I would come back after wandering a while somewhere. Nonetheless, nobody in the family questioned me then. However, my grandmother would mutter with a shade of sorrow, “why are you like this, dear son?” Even to that maternal love, my response would be a dour retort. At the same time, I felt guilty and thought, “Why am I like this?” I used to ponder over the existential question: “who am I or what am I.”

As time went by, the feeling that it would not be proper to continue like this, got stronger. During this period, a friend of mine, who was a painter, mentioned about some visions he was experiencing in dream. (I came to know that he died recently). With the thoughts of Sigmund Freud, Jung and others in my mind, I ridiculed them all as fantasies. Nevertheless, I began to think and listen to his experiences. I felt that there was some truth in them. One day, during this period, I visited a famous Devi temple along with some of my friends. The experiences I got there, direct and intuitional, gave me peace and as much disquiet. I did not know whether I could call it as bhakti – love of god, because bhakti was always alien to me. My bhakti was love. Even today it is so.

With that experience the bud of spiritual contemplation began flowering in me. One evening, I lit a lamp in a corner of my house and began to pray. I ignored the stunned look in the eyes of my family members. They murmured among themselves as to what had come over me. However, it did not continue for long and I returned to my old ways of meaningless wanderings. After some time, there was a change. I again began to spend time mostly in prayers and spiritual contemplation. I began to get experiences. I shall briefly narrate only one such experience here, which left a deep impact on me.

Those days I resided in a room in the upper floor of a bungalow. There were other tenants in the adjacent room and downstairs. One day, they had all gone to work at the break of dawn. As I was alone, I stepped down to the ground floor and locked the main door. Keeping the key in its pre-arranged place, I entered the house through the back door. I fastened the latch and went upstairs. Sitting down in my room, I began to pray. With eyes shut, arms stretched out and palms cupped, I prayed. It was a prayer in supplication. The prayer, which started around 6 a.m., continued uninterrupted. When it was 9 a.m., suddenly, like the sprinkling of holy water, some water trickled down in my cupped palms.

I opened my eyes and looked in turn at my hands, on the roof and sideways. It was a hot summer day. The terrace was dry. I went out to look around. There was nobody. The house was a solitary one in the middle of four or five acres of land. Hardly anyone stepped inside. Then whence the appearance of water! I came back to the room, and taking a chair, sat down to think. Rational thoughts clogged the mind and it refused to yield to illogical conclusions. When days passed, I realized that it was the tender fondling of God. Several experiences followed. When their depth and expanse increased, my isolation became complete. The old group of friends had withered away. Nonetheless, a few people gave me food and also some money.

Those days, it was a boy named Ramesh who gave me food almost daily. His house was somewhere near Perumbavoor. He drilled rock with jack and hammer for a living. He lived in the room adjacent to mine. He would bring me dinner parceled from some hotel. He got piqued when I discouraged him. “Why do you feed me every day?” I repeated this question to him. His answer was, “My mind urges me to give you food. And I feel happy doing that”.

He took me along to many temples. I was not particularly inclined to do so, but for his satisfaction, I used to accompany him. What I liked was to sit down with closed eyes or lie down somewhere. When I sat or lay down thus, I saw several pictures passing through my mind’s eye. These visions made me exceedingly happy. I desired to see them repeatedly. It was later when I came to the abode of Guru that I understood these experiences as ‘darshanam’ – mystical visions. In between those visions, I got some words too from the atmosphere. I had an inner light to discern what was right and wrong in this. Looking back, I realize that I was being led to receive the grace of God. I had also been experiencing a few aspects of mystical experience, some trivial, some important.

As per one such ethereal vision and revelatory words, I undertook a trip to an ashram in the northern direction, accompanied by a friend. On seeing the swami there, I asked him piously, “Swami, What am I destined to do?” He questioned me back why I asked so. I told him about the experiences I got. He then said, “You are receiving these experiences without the help of others. Spend some more time praying deeply. Then there would be deeper experiences and a situation would arise when you would be unable to go further without the help of a Guru. At that time you come to me.” Later, the need never arose to go to him.

As the frequency and impact of the visions increased, so did the exasperation and bitterness born out of disownment, loneliness, helplessness and uncertainty. Those who had been intimate and helpful earlier now turned hostile. It deeply hurt me. Also the untimely death of a close friend at that time was a great blow. This friend had deeply loved me and prayed for me.

One day, I had an early dawn experience at 3 a.m. It occurred in the same bungalow where I stayed. I was reclining on the floor on my left side. Suddenly, I became aware of a wind which was blowing from the bottom of my spinal chord (mooladharam). The wind swirled and filled the whole room with great speed and strength like a hurricane. The room along with me was lifted up. When I tried to shift my body, somebody pressed me down. When I was thus being lifted, two serpents from the bottom of my feet, sneaked past quickly to either side. Up and up I went, beyond the clouds and skies and reached a luminous sphere. There was seen sitting cross legged on a rocky plateau, an ascetic of unmatched brilliance and perfection. Immediately below him sat seven or nine crossed legged ascetics. At the bottom of the hillock was a serene lake. In the lake were several small and big elephants and ascetics blissfully swimming and bathing. I was also bathing there in that joyous group. The baby elephants were playing mischief on me. The ascetic who sat on the hillock was seen talking something. But it was not fully audible. However, it could be discerned that he was talking about things from the beginning of creation. The mind welled up with unexplainable joy. After some time passed, the way it all went up, so it came down with me. I lay there motionless. At that time I was experiencing a tremendous energy circuit in my body. When I opened the eyes, the time was 3.20 a.m.

The next morning, I was sitting idle in my room. A young acquaintance, who was the friend of a friend of mine, walked in. We talked about several matters relating to life and society. At about noon, he took me to his house on a bicycle. I stepped inside the house along with him after the customary face, leg and hand wash. It was a small house but clean. He took me straight into their pooja room. His brother knew astrology and performed rites and rituals for others. The moment I entered the prayer room, a cat sitting nearby jumped across and the idol fell. I felt very odd at this. The face of my acquaintance also showed signs of uneasiness. I told him to take it easy and keep the idol back on its place. After this he led me to the dining room and served food. After lunch, a bed was arranged for me for a siesta. I spent four or five days with him thus. One day his astrologer brother took stock of my stars and said, “Brother, you are destined to be a sanyasi. It is seen as unavoidable.” I laughed at once when he said this. He also laughed. The question hidden in my laughter was how I should become one.

My difficulties increased by the day and one day I decided that unless I got the answers to some of my questions, I would not eat. “Who am I? What is my life? What for I am living? What should I do? Where should I go? Whom shall I meet? For seven days I took only water and a little quantity of boiled beans. On the seventh day morning at about 9 a.m., there was a word: “It will be revealed to you.” That was the word. I understood that this word was different from the earlier ones. I ate food. Days passed by. The house owner informed me that he desired to demolish the building and sell the property. Where would I go, I wearied myself with this thought. “There was no place for me to go. There was no house of my own to take shelter, wailed my soul. I had already left my house and the family sometime before.

One night I went to sleep with such searing thoughts. That night I experienced a vision. I was taken in front of a huge bungalow and was ushered in. “This is your house,” somebody spoke. Before I could survey the inner chambers, the vision broke. “Would I be able to own such a house?’ I had not desired for one such.” Therefore, I decided that it was not mine. It was a false vision, I thought. However, I came to know from Guru (through the revered Guru Apparent, Shishyapoojitha Janani) that it was not so and it related to a previous birth. Just two days before vacating the rented room, I got news that one of my close relatives had died. Therefore, I was compelled to go there. After fixedly looking at my people awhile, I left the place quickly along with the friend who had accompanied me.

When I left my native place, I had no clear idea as to where I should go. I had some vague information about (Navajyothisree Karunakara) Guru through whatever little was written and heard about him. I decided that as a last resort, I should visit Guru. On my way to see him, I stayed for two days at another ashram. Once earlier I had stayed there and received certain mystical experiences. When I reached there, it was past noon. A yagna was taking place and presently the offerings of the yagna were being distributed to the assembly. Somebody said that the person who came in just now also had an entitlement to the yagna. I was therefore asked to recite the mantra that they chanted for me, which I did. They also gave me some prasadham.
On the second day of my stay there, at about 6 a.m., there was an experience of vision and an instruction. It was a vision with naked eyes. What I saw was the ashram of Guru and the prayers here. The word was an instruction to proceed to the ashram. But I understood these things only after reaching here. Till then, I did not have an idea which place was signified in the vision. When I met Guru face to face, he asked me what I had seen. I told him a few things that immediately came to my mind. Along with that I began expressing my woes. Guru cut short my dialogue and said succinctly, “Poor thing! May you leave all that! What you have experienced are some big aspects. You may stay here. About what you ought to do here, you will get to know yourself.” When I thus began to stay at the ashram, an instruction was received that I should go to work in the dairy. I worked there for sometime. Subsequently, I came to the Publication Division. It was after this that a word was received to be by the side of Guru and do the work I perform presently. This revelatory instruction was received in the manner of ‘Prathyakshavaham Dharmam’ (the self apparent dharma). However, I did not get an opportunity to inform this to Guru. Nevertheless it happened on its own. It is a testimony to the truthfulness of ‘Word is Truth, Truth is Guru, Guru is God’. Like this there are several experiences in my life.

When I began to be by the side of Guru, I did not suffer any unfamiliarity, anxiety, fear or doubt whatsoever. It was just like continuing with a work already begun. I only knew that I was obeying Guru. I keenly listened to Guru’s conversations. All subjects under the heavens found a reciprocal reference in Guru’s talks. It surprised me greatly and opened before me a new world of knowledge. Each word of Guru made me realize that it was the truth. It was part of my character that I believed something only if it convinced my conscience.

After Guru’s merger with the Adisankalpam - the primordial plane of consciousness - I was overcome with a gnawing sense of emptiness. The doors of life, which had opened to me, would they get shut? “Now who will own me like Guru did? Who is able to do that here?” I was in a quagmire. One afternoon, the revered Shishyapoojitha Janani, the Guru Apparent, said to me in the hall of Guru. “You are living for this. Then why are you not taking it up?” Saying this, she immediately went out of the hall. My eyes were flooded with tears and I knelt down. That moment, a word of Guru came to my mind. ‘Dear Son, this disownment…….’ The sentence which Guru did not complete then was presently finished by the revered Shishyapoojitha Janani. That moment was my realization that the revered Janani is the continuation of Guru, nay, Guru Himself. More experiences occurred which confirmed that realization. In fact, I knew Guru through the revered Janani. It was the revered Janani who made me realize the truth of Guru. By the same manner, it was Guru who made me realize the truth of Shishyapoojitha Janani. It is experience! Each moment that I am with the revered Janani, I get convinced of the truth of Guru. But my Karmagati (karmic proclivity) holds me back from doing many a good thing. There are still limitations in me. I pray that all these shortcomings be wiped out and I be able to fulfil this in the right manner. I submit my words, thoughts and myself at the feet of Guru and conclude this presently.

Speech Delivered by Sri ONV Kurup at Santhigiri Ashram

Become Virtuous by Following Guru’s Words

O.N.V. Kurup

This wide auditorium and this enlightened assembly in Santhigiri Ashram are not new to me. I had come here many times earlier. I won’t fail to repeat a thought that I used to mention on those occasions. You reverently utter a hymn before stepping into this good place. You touch this earth on to your forehead. I say this because of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru. I don’t need to explain to the disciples of Guru that how Guru, due to a divine restlessness and inspired by a insuppressible desire to seek some elusive truth came from Cherthala Taluk, north of old Travancore and settled down south in this Ashram ambiance. When Guru took abode here, he had three things in his mind. First is serving of food, second curing the sick and the third spiritual awakening. Based on these three principles, the ashram is established here. Human society requires these three always, everywhere. But many institutions that are in existence today to fulfill this aim have limited themselves to small circles.

There are big healthcare centers here. There are multi-specialty hospitals where any types of disease could be diagnosed and treated. But the common man stands outside its reach. A few years back, when I was standing in the company of a Bengali poet friend in front of the now partially gutted Mumbai’s Taj Hotel, due to the recent attack by terrorists, we saw few chickens hedged in under nylon net behind the hotel lawn. They are clucking, pecking, hackling and cruising across engaged in petty fights and recreation. They are unaware of the fate that awaits them. They do not know what will happen to them tomorrow. While standing thus watching them, my Bengali poet friend said. “Chick, you are fortunate! Tomorrow uniformed men will present you in silver tray on the roof top of this hotel. Then we will stand here down this street”. When I heard this I said. ‘I have two lines to add to it’. “When you go high up, you will be in the form of food that fills the appetite of somebody; but poor we are though, we will stand down as ourselves”. There lies the difference. What would you choose? Do you require that you are carried in silver platter by beautifully uniformed men to appease the hunger of someone or do you want to stand as yourselves, although poor and troubled? We will choose the second.

It is a question of freedom, the freedom of the soul. It is this freedom we have to first protect. We should not hypothecate this freedom to anyone. It is because of this, world famous poet Sri Ravindranath Tagore appended one song in Gitanjali among mystic verses about freedom, giving it a beautiful definition. ‘Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high’…writing few things thus he prays; ‘Unto that heaven of freedom, O’ My Lord, let my country awake and arise.’ Outwardly it’s a prayer but in its depth it defines the meaning of freedom for us. Freedom is a state wherein mind is fearless and our head is held high. While we introspect ourselves whether we have achieved that state even after six decades of freedom, we could realize that ‘we have miles to go and miles to go’, those lines of Robert Frost, Nehru had written in his last days. We have so many miles to go. Here arises a question Quo Vadis, 'where are you going?'. When this question, having reached a cul-de-sac without an answer, we implore the infinity of a way. Then a Guru should be there to disclose it. It is that Guru who becomes the benevolence in the form of food in front of the hungry, medicine and healing at the time of sickness. We should try to seek God thus.

That is what Guru said. God may be worshiped with a symbolic form for the convenience of the devotee. Some people can worship only through such symbols. Most people are unable to conceive an abstract concept. Make the abstract a concrete symbol. Once an Englishman asked Chattambi Swami why the Hindus worship idols, why a portrait is worshiped as God, why the necessity of an image etc. The Englishman did not have the inner wisdom even if an explanation was given. Therefore, Chattambi Swami remained silent. There was a framed portrait of the Englishman’s family. He was a little child and stood with his father and mother in the portrait. Chattambi Swami picked up the portrait and dropped it down. Then the Englishman asked. ‘Hey! What are you doing? This is my father and mother’. Then the swami said, “O’ I didn’t know it was your father and mother. But isn’t it just a piece of paper, just a portrait? If a portrait can remind you of your father and mother, an ordinary man can similarly remember God through a portrait. Thus it was in a practical way the doubt of the Englishman was clarified. There is no use talking to them Vedanta. They would not understand the hymns and prayers in Sanskrit, Latin or Arabic. When the glass-framed portrait was dropped down, the Englishman felt that his father and mother were being insulted. That means the portrait is symbolic. Similarly when a lotus is seen with an Aumkar inside, we are reminded that it represents something. We get the revelation that the primal sound of creation took place in the symbolic thousand petaled-lotus. Bible gives the same revelation – that the hungry man at your door begging food is god; the one begging for clothes is god, but whom you do not recognize. When you are asked to recognize that the hungry man at your doorstep is god or the man standing naked in front of you without clothes is god that gives you the ultimate meaning of Annadanam (serving of free food) and Atmabodhanam (spiritual mentoring).

In the hospitals I mentioned, multi-speciality healthcare facilities are available only to a small segment. The healthcare Guru envisioned was for everyone. Wherever man is affected with disease, medicine should be available to all sick people. There is a vision behind this. I had mentioned it in the Siddha College here on a previous occasion. I have to repeat it again. What is an idealistic life? There are three types of nature. This also is an ancient Indian concept. First there is plant life beginning from shrubs, creepers and grass to the giant sylvan tree. Guru cultivated a herbal garden which resembles a thick forest. It is the beautiful home of herbs and flora. The second nature is of animals which includes birds and other animals. Third is the human world. We are with many temperaments as it is in human nature. A plant or a creeper angles toward light. Man also does the same. There can be men who love darkness, like some plants that grow under the shade of trees. So an idealistic life is the most appropriate harmony or concordance of vegetable, animal and human natures. This was the vision of Guru, as I have understood it.

It is because of this a herb stands there silently speaking to us, “use me, press and extract out my essence and give to the sick man”. It may be njavara or a tulasi or some other herbs Guru finds out in his eagerness to cure. When a person is tested less Hemoglobin, the Tazhutama is found which silently agrees to be the concoction for providing relief to that person. There is somebody with swelling in his liver or suffering from yellow fever. There is the poor Keezharnelli in the house yard which beseech you to make it a medicine and give to the suffering man. This is what the plant life gives us. There are villains also among them. There is a tree known us cheru maram. If you stand with your back on this, the whole body will itch. If you get itched like this, there stands another tree beckoning you to embrace it to give you relief from itching. The Allopath would say that when you embrace that tree what occurs is a phenomenon called antihistamines. It is true. It is antihistamines what is given as a cure for allergy. Thus when the biological world opens its bosom to us, a new science is born in the area of health care. It is based on this science of India the college is established here. Siddha medicine depends more on animal nature while Ayurveda draws more from plant life. Guru has discovered both of this and established colleges for it.

There is a question that by doing only Annadanam and Aturasevanam would you be a human? No. With only this, one cannot become human. In the camps of terrorists also food is served. Plenty of food is given. When they become sick they have their own hospitals for treatment. But in the matter of humanism they stand four neighborhoods away. It is because they have no self knowledge. Why a terrorist does not have this? He is trying to change the world as per his own perspective, but he does not have self- knowledge. One may have some dreams, desires or expectation based on some concepts that my country should be in this way or that. But he is a fascist who is deluded into thinking that what he thinks is the sole and indivisible truth.

Swastika is a symbol that had gone from India. Hitler committed heinous genocide imprinting swastika on his hand. He sacrificed human beings in gas chambers. The values for which India stood were not even in the neighborhood of his conscience, because he was a fascist. What ultimately is self consciousness? When I sit in meditation with closed eyes, I do not know any others except myself. My subtle nerve awakens. When I sit like this people may think that I know myself, but this is not true self knowledge. What we say as Atman is the whole universe. I find my self when the sorrow of Palestine, the sorrow of Sri Lanka and of the children and mothers who were driven out as refuges, the sorrow of innocent people being burnt by terrorists and the sorrow of all people enter my mind as my own sorrow. My self knowledge becomes actualized only when I realize the sorrow of the world and find a solution to it.

It is driven by sorrow of the self, a man who was born in Kapilavasthu long ago, forsook his beautiful wife and newborn baby looking at them for a last time. It was the place where Buddha spent his time (vihar) came to be known as Bihar today. He received enlightenment sitting under a sylvan tree there. That self illumination came from a Guru two thousand five hundred years ago while searching for a solution to the distress of the world. It is in the same Guru lineage, after five centuries, another man was born in the land beside the Sea of Galilee. He satiated the hunger of poor people with five loafs of bred and a fish. He transformed water into wine when there was no wine at a marriage. This is not magic. A European poet explained it thus beautifully. When the creator looked upon this water, seeing the face of the creator, water blushed. When little children see people their cheeks become blushed, isn’t it? Like wise, when water saw in it the reflected face of its creator, it became absolutely excited. That is how it became wine. There is a flame of subtle truth in this metaphor.

It was after five centuries of Buddha another Guru was born – Christ. The symbol of that culture today is the cross in which he was crucified. I have not put it on my chest or pinned it on my shirt. But it should be there in my soul. Thrust on a cross, every nerve torn by unbearable pain, a man was suffering great pain for the sake of whole humanity. Death was creeping in every atom of his body, inch by inch, as torture. The Christ who thus died through torture and endurance has not died in me. He lives in you and in me though crucified umpteen times. That is what is known us self illumination. There is a song of African people sung by Paul Robson. “Our Christ is a black, black, black old man”. Christ is a Jew. Jews are white like milk. For a Negro, the Christ who dwells in his heart, the Christ who struggled on the cross for his liberation from sorrow, could only be a black Christ. He envisioned a Christ who is Negro. Then he exclaims and jumps in joy. “Yesterday that Christ was crucified by somebody but he woke up this morning, he woke up this morning”. That Christ was one among them for the Negro. A Christ with iron nail- wounds in his hands. Almost like their Mandela. It was in Africa, Gandhiji had first commenced the training for the struggle for freedom, much before he became the symbol of freedom in India. His initiation in the liberation struggle in Africa was by his two front teeth. That happens because of self awareness.

What we could see in politics are only the parties and party manifestos and their pitched battle. It is all normal in politics. I am not detesting or deriding them, however. Beyond all this, remaining in whatever party they are, they should become knowledgeable about the Self. That self knowledge is nothing else but the realization that God stands in front of my gate hungry and naked. It has been said that “concern for the other person is the starting point of civilization”. When do I become civilized? I don’t become civilized if I wear beautiful shirt and dhoti and spray perfume. Becoming civilized is not like companies such as Raymond declare “feel great with Raymond”, displaying the image of some well dressed people.

What makes me civilized is the concern, attention and anxiety that I have for the other person in the world outside of me. So it is not by dress or perfume. Now there are beauty shops. Men also go there and get their hair styled. He does not become civilized by this also. Here the other person is a multitude - the hungry for food and the sick without a means for treatment. Do you not read in newspapers about uncared people who have nobody to take them home from the cancer ward or from Ward No. 9 of the General Hospital? Several aged people, sleeping naked on the floor. Then there are children employed in America who send 100 dollars for the cremation expenses of their parents. These people are not civilized.

It is for this illness treatment is required. The Aturasevanam meant by Guru is that. What is mentioned here is not just for recording it down. But the disciples of Guru should understand its inner and in-depth meaning and should impart it to others. When you go to tell this, somebody may oppose. Long back, when the disciples went to convey the teachings of Buddha, they were driven out by some twice borns, the Brahmanas, wearing sacred thread. The disciples then went back to Buddha and said; “when we were talking about your ideology sitting down in the lawn of that temple, they drove us out and beat us. What should we do?” Then Buddha said. “You can sit down wherever there is earth. You can talk to all men who are there as men. But you should speak in the language that they understand’. Therefore, know that Christ, Gandhi and Vivekananda are all from this great Guru linage of Buddha, who instructed to talk to all men that are men, sitting down wherever there is earth, but speak only the language they understand. India is like a great pyramid. If you want to see that great pyramid fully, you should illuminate it. A lamp would be lit at every corner. When all the lamps are lit you could see the structure in its full view. There are many such lamps that had lit up the great spire called India beyond the horizon of this world. The Gurus are those lamps.

We should propagate the concept of Guru in a language that would be understood. What does it mean by understandable language? Now nobody understands if it is said in Malayalam. There are some people who teach lot of treachery and stratagem. I will tell you an example. We go home and ask our mother; “Mother, I am hungry. Is there something to eat?” When you ask thus, “Son, there is nothing here’ or ‘I will prepare something for you fast’, or ‘you sit down, there is some rice left which I will give you’. These are all straight forward answers. It is said as truthful musings of truth. That is truthful language. On the contrary, suppose a mother speaks the language of some literary critique or political speech: “Hunger is a global phenomenon. How this global phenomenon has affected us, it will be analyzed and an expert opinion sought. Necessary arrangements would be made after examining the issue’. This is what is said as teaching language falsehood.

You should understand that Gurus do not teach falsehood to language. Political leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Lenin and Washington did not teach language any falsehood. That is why Buddha said you should speak to all men that are men and at all lands whatever is land, but in the language they understand. Sri Narayana Guru was a great Sanskrit scholar. One may read his work Daiva Dasakam. It is in a language mixed with old Tamil and Malayalam. You know when he said ‘aaraayukil’, the meaning is ‘if you enquire’. You should speak in a language that could be understood. If it is asked whether there is God, I would say that I do not know. Once, a saint by the name St. Augustine gave a reply like this; “If you ask me whether there is (God) I do not know. If you do not ask, I know”. So how do we answer if it is asked whether there is God or not. If you ask me thus, I do not know. I cannot prove the existence of God going into a laboratory, pouring something in the test tube. All people are like this.

When the sorrow of all people becomes the sorrow in ones mind, when that sorrow becomes his own, it is that person who is civilized. When I visited Rajghat last time, I saw in the Gandhi Museum the blood stained cloths of Mahatma Gandhi which he wore when he was shot dead. He was running a newspaper by the name Young India. This was an answer given by him to the questions of some young men. ‘Your mind falls into an unreasonable pensive mood. You ask me that we should do in such occasion. This is what we call as one type of existential sorrow. When you are caught with such type of intellectual sadness, you remember the face of the most pathetic and saddest man you have seen on the street you traveled that day. You introspect yourself whether you have done anything for him. Your sorrow will disappear.

People talk about some loneliness–depression related sickness. If we want to remove this sickness, we must remember the face of the most depressed and saddest person we have seen on the roadside. In Tamil they say ‘sabhai arinthu pesh’. You speak after realizing who is the people you are talking to and where do they stand. Then in relation to India, the time for a renaissance is late. It is a matter of pride that we still have democracy. There are two countries like two ears of India, to its east and west, which gained freedom along with India. One is Bangladesh and the other is Pakistan. These two are not secular. There all citizens are not alike. The important citizens are only people belonging to a particular religion, the rest are secondary citizens. Taslima Nazreen wrote that the life of a woman is shameful in such a Bangladesh. And today she is hunted down by many without having a place to reside. She said that she should be shameful for being born as a women living in Bangladesh. During the time of Indira Gandhi, we shed much blood to free this Bangladesh. But when Mukthi Bahini had won, they turned against India. We should remember that while there is no democracy in these two countries, it is both the greatness of India and its entire people that democracy still exists in India.
We should feel proud of India in this respect. If it is asked why it is so, it is because there were great souls in the bosom of India whom I mentioned earlier such as Buddha, Christ, Mahatma Gandhi, Vivekananda and also some great people who respected work utmost. What for Vivekananda swam over to that rock? It was not for exhibiting his health. Swimming across to that rock and sitting there, he saw stretched in front the great land that is India. It is said that a great multitude was seen as expanding from a point. Try to figure out mentally how seen from Kanyakumari India diverges rising from a point.

It is thus internally visualizing India he said, ‘Awake, Arise and Stop Not until the Goal is achieved’. We should protect the light given by such a Guru linage. There is no relevance here for the discussion whether it is idealism or materialism. On the contrary, perhaps one factor both the materialists and the atheists could agree upon is the inner unity in the heart of this people. Thus you are ever conscious to assimilate and work for the concept of Guru through Annadanam, Aturasevanam and Atmabodhanam in its true depth and meaning and become a glorious people. You are duty bound to do this. I conclude my weak sounding words reminding you of this duty.

(Speech delivered by ONV Kurup, famous Malayalam poet and writer, at Santhigiri Ashram, 'Thiruvananthapuram,  translated from the original Malayalam by Mukundan P.R.)

Gurupooja - A Unique Experience

Gurucharanam Saranam

Guru is My Life
Chidambaran Harippad (Dy.Director of Education, Govt.of Kerala, Retd.)

Thirty one years ago Guru came to my maternal home and got the noble Guru Pooja done with the aid of a disciple (a small girl) having the power of darsan. This was performed through meditation and sankalpa (divine mental conceptualization) by the disciple and the troublesome spiritual powers, deities and serpents we worshipped for generations were removed without any rite or ritual. We tested and were convinced of the effectiveness of this karma in the presence of Guru employing the astrologer who had suggested homas, rites and rituals for a solution. Thereafter, the temples of worship and serpent grove were removed under my leadership. The old house could be renovated. I am happy to say that we do not have any trouble now from the serpents or the spirits that troubled us a lot. In the beginning, I had no belief in it. Then I got the Guru Pooja conducted as a research work and test case as the idea and method were quite strange to the known spiritual realm.

In fact we were quite ignorant of the greatness of this noble act then. We mistook it only as a substitute for homas and rituals. Guru told us that Rishis would take birth in our family in future. But we didn’t understand any thing then. Now we realize that Guru was clearing the ground and laying the foundation stone for a pure lineage in our family. I am glad to state that my children, who are post graduates, are ardent followers of Guru.

It is to be mentioned that the Guru Pooja performed in the ashram now is many times more powerful than that performed in my home. It is a wonderful phenomenon not found anywhere else that, since the merger of Guru with the Almighty, becoming a Navajyothi, Guru has been giving more powerful darsan through the principal disciple, the Revered Sishya Poojitha Janani Amritha Jnana Tapaswini, controlling all the activities of the Ashram and giving guidance to devotees and lineage as per the direction of God.

The gist of Guru Pooja performed in Santhigiri is as follows: The spirits of our ancestors and the spiritual powers we and our ancestors worshipped will have great influence on our life, virtue and fortune. If they are at a mean position or in an adverse situation, our children will be born under mean and unfavorable star positions with a jiva deficient in virtue, fortune and ability. This will adversely affect our activities and those of our children and will ultimately result in failure in action, miseries due to diseases, and experiences contrary to our expectations leading to perpetual worry and grief. The offerings and oblations and the rites and rituals we generally do for a solution will not produce the expected result. They will provide only a temporary relief like a first-aid given when met with a serious accident. Still we believe they are effective. But the misfortune will continue. The Guru Pooja in Santhigiri is done for a permanent solution to this problem.

Brahmam empowers and entrusts an Eternal Guru to purify the spirits of our ancestors, devi-devas and the other spiritual powers we and our ancestors worshipped, making them eligible for rebirth leading to liberation. Nava Jyothi Sree Karunakara Guru is the first Eternal Guru who got permission from Brahmam to perform such purification. Guru, who has reached the zenith of divine wisdom, sees the virtues and sins of a person and his family for generations through his divine transcendental knowledge and purifies the manes and the spiritual powers we and our ancestors worshipped as per the direction of Brahman, without performing any rite or ritual. These spiritual powers are brought to the divine light of Guru by a disciple having. The power of darsan and purified by the spiritual brilliance of Guru. They are then placed at appropriate planes, after liberating those worthy of liberation, if any, and annihilating those deserving annihilation or destruction. The purified souls kept apart will be given birth through the union of well-matched couples having harmony in Jiva (not star) selected by Guru. The children so born will grow as a new pure lineage blessed with punya, fortune and ability for action free from the thoughts of hatred, malice, caste, creed and religion.

Guru informs us that in seven generations this pure lineage will spread throughout the world bringing peace, happiness and harmony. It is to be noted that Guru Pooja is done not for gaining any immediate material benefit for a person or his family, but for the rebirth, growth and spiritual uplift of our ancestors and the spiritual powers we have worshipped. Guru will remove the obstacles from the path of our karma and show the right path. It is our duty to do karma and gain virtue (punya) and fortune. The uniqueness of this Guru Margam is that activities performed strictly following the directions of Guru help to gain virtue and fortune, by blending materialism and spirituality, fulfilling the duties of family life.

What are the requisites for getting good crops from our cultivation? - Suitable land, high - yielding seeds, tilling or ploughing, sowing the seeds, watering and manuring. These factors are essential for a good yield. Similar is the case for getting good offspring. Here Guru will provide us with high-yielding seeds (purified jivathma through Guru Pooja) and will select and show suitable land for cultivation (matching couples). It is our duty to till the land, sow the seed at the right time, and give water and manure properly. That is, to pray and do karma as per the direction of Guru. We are fortunate in seeing and hearing such a great soul in person, who could remove the obstacles in the subtle plane and clear the way for human race to gain liberation.

Now, human race is blessed with the golden opportunity for rectifying and getting rid of the evil effects of its past karma through Guru Pooja or pithrusudhi in Santhigiri and by following Guru Margam. An ardent follower of this Guru Margam, who prays and acts with full dedication and surrender, after facing a lot of obstacles, is sure to get protection from miseries, relief from diseases that and also guidance and help in all activities by the grace and blessings of Guru. This self experience is the secret of the firm faith, deep devotion and self discipline found in the followers of Santhigiri Guru Margam. I do experience it myself in all my activities and feel the bliss of the grace and blessing of Guru. I have also the bitter experience of failure and loss due to non-compliance with the guidance and caution from Guru.

(Courtesy Santhigiri International Conference Souvenir)