Gurucharanam
Saranam
Proposal
for a Global Spiritual Rebuilding
The
Cosmic Spiritual Order
The life
of man is painted on the cosmic fabric. Without this universal screen, there is
never the possibility of life. The ancient seers understood this divine truth
and adored nature. According
to Satapata Brahmana, the sacred text
of India, there are eight divinities that make the world inhabitable - they are
the fire, the earth, the air, the space, the sun, the sky, the moon and the
stars. The Vedas stipulate that a man should purify these cosmic
powers by observing his spiritual duties.
Spirituality is the bond of man with
himself and the cosmos; it is not simply limited to a particular faith.
Spirituality touches the whole edifice of the universe, the units of which are
mutually connected. The seers of India describe the origin of the universe
thus:
‘Only
God existed in the beginning. He thought let me become many. He created the
worlds. The sun and the moon He created. He created the earth, mountains,
oceans, and all living beings in it. When He created all the worlds, He wanted
to create a Protector for this world. With this intention, He divided Himself
into a Male and Female. The Male was known as Manu and the female Satarupa’.
The
concept of Prakriti and Purusha originates from this cosmic division. Purusha represents the presiding eternal God
Consciousness, which expresses itself through the medium of Prakriti, the
manifest Nature. Therefore, God and manifested nature are one inseparable
entity. Right spirituality is that which understands and sustains this cosmic unity.
Our
solar system has come into being from the sankalpam (conception) of Manu, the
First Born of God, comparable to the Adam of Christians. Manu is the progenitor
of human race, who has many aliases such as the Purusha, Hiranya Garbha, Virat
Purusha, Iswara, Adi Guru Etc. It is for this reason cosmic time is calculated
in terms of Manvantara (after the name of Manu), which is the period of a Manu.
Within the times of fourteen such Manus, the purpose of creation is fulfilled.
No other religion has recorded the process of creation as scientifically as the
sages of India.
However,
with the passage of time, the importance of Manu was lost in Indian
spirituality. Manu, the progenitor of
human universe was brought under Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, the trimurti gods in
order to elevate their spiritual status.
It was a major deviation from the spiritual order of Manu. As per the
Manvantara order, spiritual guidance comes through the seers and sages in the
Manu lineage who manifest in accordance with the cycle of yugas and whose
spiritual vision rests on the monotheistic concept of God.
Navajyotisri
Karunakara Guru informs that the trimurty system was instituted in later ages to
initiate a correction when a spiritual error occurred in the Manu order. This
error occured in the third chaturyuga of the present Manvantara of Vaivasvata
Manu. (Chaturyuga means an age quartet consisting epochs of satya, treta, dwapara
and kali). The trimurty system came into force in the seventh chaturyuga. We
are now in the Kaliyuga of twenty-eighth chaturyuga, which means that twenty-one
chaturyugas comprising several millions of years have gone by since this
spiritual deviation. This information is not available in any scriptures. This
has been revealed to Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru from the Light of Supreme
Brahman during His struggle to find out the truth behind humanity’s spiritual
fragmentation.
The
Present Spiritual Scenario
What was
once the glorious Sanatana Dharma became degenerated into the worship of thirty
three billion gods ranging from all types of evil spirits to several brilliant
gods, angels and deities in the heaven. Religion now became heaven oriented and
not evolution oriented. God has not created human life for enjoyment of
heavenly pleasures. The purpose of life is evolution of the soul or liberation.
That is the Will of God in nature. After the spiritual disorder in the Manu
lineage, people became oriented towards terrestrial pleasure lured by the boons
from the deities.
Apart
from the innumerable deities, now the people had one more deity for veneration
- the priests. This new temple oriented religion dictated caste rules and
instituted separate rituals for different sects. Tantra, mantra, exorcism and
performance of miracles (siddhi) became the order of the day. With the appearance
of Trimurty system, Hindu religion was split into three major sects– Vaishnavism,
Saivism and Sakteyism.
Thousands
of other mutually conflicting sects followed. There were different gods for
different castes and sects. Strict punishment used to be meted out for the
violation of caste rules. The door of spiritual enlightenment was shut before
the majority. The spiritual fragmentation of India was complete. The soul of
India was mutilated with the dividing ideologies.
Generally,
this is the status of other religions too in the present period. There are any
number of sects in Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. A spiritual stagnation has
set in. The ‘Jnana’ path (the wisdom path of the sages) has been neglected and
so too the voice of the sages who came in the world from time to time. Mythical
tales were fabricated to show great spiritual masters, such as Krishna, Buddha
and Mahavira, who opposed the ritualistic religion, as avatars of trimurty. We
must understand that today’s disunity and corruption in the psyche of Indians
is the result of this deviant and mangled spiritual past. In the subsequent
ages, a spiritually and politically fragmented India lost its freedom to
outsiders.
Spirituality,
therefore, influences the destiny of a nation and its people. Spirituality is
the root of a nation. Today if India has become culturally and spiritually
rootless, it is because India has neglected its spiritual inheritance. The rise
and fall of civilizations, even their total disappearance is caused by such
spiritual deviations and cataclysms.
How
Spiritual Practices Affect Nature and Environment
Navajyoti
Sri Karunakara Guru said that when the injustices and the corruption of humans
become unbearable to nature, the divine law of karma causes havoc in nature.
‘Do not
forget that the world is established in Truth’, Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru
said.
The
present disturbances, violence and disorder in the world along with the
problems of climate-change, earthquakes and other natural calamities are only the
outer manifestation of spiritual stagnation. It is the time for the thinking
community to recognize the spiritual structure of the universe and the impact
of spirituality on man’s life in the society.
The
ancient sages say that this is the time of seventh Manu, which means we are in
the middle of the present world cycle. There is half more to go. We should
believe that there is any number of solar systems. A hundred and four solar
systems have been seen in vision in Santhigiri Ashram. Navajyotisri Karunakara
Guru informs that ours is a moderate system among these and there are also
constellations to be seen among them. Constellations are realms where souls of
great merit reside. God has created each solar system with a specific nature to
it.
Guru
informs that there are many other solar systems bigger and more powerful. There
are solar systems very different from ours. Each has a different nature. Ten
such solar systems make up one unit. A solar system is controlled by many
constellations. It may be construed that the constellations are watching over
all these. Like the field of attraction between the earth and other planets of
this system, there are fields of attraction among these constellations also.
Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru says that the merits and demerits of a specific
solar system decide the attraction among planets and between planets and
constellations.
Influence
of Karma and Dharma on Nature
According
to Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru, ‘sin and beneficence are the only content of
karma (action). The residue of action – of both types – accrues in the world in
the collective. According to the preponderance of either, the earth’s
attraction towards malefic or beneficent heavenly bodies varies. This
attraction could result in either destruction or sustenance. If the attraction
is negative it is possible that the atmospheric tension itself can cause conflagration
and create havoc in the earth system. Or else freezing temperatures might
result and life thus might be exterminated. There may be some upheavals and
destruction. If the attraction is towards a beneficent constellation on the
other hand, there might be initial disasters but eventually a better way of
life’.
Therefore,
we should understand the unalterable and eternal relation of God with nature,
and along with that, the consequence of our actions – karma and dharma. The
ancient sages worshipped nature as the very physical body of God. Whatever
exists here, living or non-living, is pervaded by God, says the Isavasyo
Upanishad. (Isa Vasya Midam Sarvam, yat
kinchit sa chara charam)
Dharma
is the Will of God ingrained in nature, as a seed in the fruit. It is Dharma,
which propels the souls to live righteously and evolve spiritually. Every soul
thus evolves to its divine status expanding through different spiritual
dimensions and in the end reaches the imperishable source of Creation, i.e.
God. This wisdom relating to the soul is known through the Gurus, who come as
spiritual authorities from time to time. This was the ancient spiritual method
of India, which was known as Sanatana Dharma.
Another
aspect of Indian spirituality is the concept of yuga dharma. Every yuga has a
unique focus and method in the matter of spiritual evolution. In the Satya
yuga, the spiritual method was dhyana (meditation),
in Treta, it was yajna (sacrifice),
in Dwapara it was archana (offerings)
while in Kali yuga it is naama samkirtanam
(chanting the name of God).
Owing to
the evolutionary progression of yugas, it is not chanting the names of gods and
goddesses of earlier ages what is effective and what is envisioned here. In the
Kali yuga, mankind can evolve to higher spiritual possibilities beyond the
deities and experience spiritual bliss of a higher nature. It is possible
through the glorification of the name of the spiritual authority that manifests
in this age. That spiritual authority will have surpassed all heaven oriented
ideologies and worship pattern related to the past ages.
There
are different evolutionary spiritual skies (akasa) related to humans, ancestors,
deities, seers, sages, and of the Supreme Light. Spirituality in the world
especially that of India has not progressed beyond the level of deity worship
causing general spiritual stagnation and backwardness. This has caused
decadence in the spiritual evolution of souls and that of ancestral spirits.
Such spiritual retardation affects not only our life, but the planetary system
too.
We
should remember that great souls like Krishna, Buddha, Mahavir, Jesus Christ or
Prophet Mohammed tried to lift humanity from this spiritual fall by showing
that only the Supreme Almighty God is qualified for our reverence and worship.
When human souls are associated with lower spiritual entities and evil spirits
they manifest equivalent evil qualities and lesser capabilities. The physical
debilities and deformities and the poverty of majority of people and the
general moral decadence are the result of misplaced spirituality, not lack of
spirituality.
Three
Spiritual Errors of India
Out of
the three major spiritual errors of India, one is the reverence of deities
including evil spirits, which is wrongly interpreted as equivalent to the
worship of Supreme God Almighty. It is often said quoting Bhagavat Gita that
just as all rivers join the ocean at the end all worships reach the One Supreme
God. However, in the same Bhagavat Gita Krishna has mentioned that the souls of
those who worship the deities go below the deities, those who worship the evil
spirits go below them and only those who worship Me, come to Me, the Supreme Lord
of the Universe.
The Second
error is the Vedantic teaching that everything is ‘illusion’ (maya) and the
‘Self’ of man is the Supreme God, as expressed by the saying ‘Aham Brahmasmi (
I am God), which causes misunderstanding among the common people. It is wrong
to equate the individual soul with the Supreme, as we are only part of the
Supreme, said Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru.
Thirdly,
the caste system, which treats few people higher than the rest. This ideology,
based on the hierarchy of high and low people, has given birth to a society of
people without self- respect and a straight character. These practices and
concepts are against the will of God. If
these errors continue, it would lead the society to further spiritual disintegration
and social disunity, causing peril to life on earth.
Proposal
for a Global Spiritual Rebuilding
Navajyotisri
Karunakara Guru said that only through the creation of a global Organization
that works beyond the confines of caste, class and religion and which is
established in human love and righteousness, the world can be rightly guided.
Such an organization should function under the guidance of an Omniscient Guru
from whom the rights and wrongs in spiritual practices could be ascertained,
including guidance in all matters of governance and social life. Such a Guru
only can guide humanity to spiritual uplift as per the evolutionary requirement
of yuga dharma, with the belief in One Supreme Almighty God.
Santhigiri
is the source of such a spiritual guidance. Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru is
that Omniscient Guru, whom the Supreme Almighty has entrusted with this
mission. By aligning with the ideology of Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru, India along
with the rest of the world can resurrect itself from these spiritual wrongs and
become the rightful heir to a world spiritual renaissance.
