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)
A View of Santhigiri Ashram
Lotus Parnasala and Sahakarana Mandiram , Santhigiri Ashram, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
Showing posts with label World Peace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World Peace. Show all posts
Saturday, June 12, 2010
The Compassion of Guru for all Creatures
A Living Memory of Guru’s Compassion for all Creatures
Janardhana Menon, Santhigiri Ashram
However, there were uninvited guests too - pigeons. Perhaps, they too had a right. After all, the compassion of Guru is available not only to human beings but to animals and birds also. The pigeons had their nests all over the thatched roof of the dining hall. And, they had the detestable habit of perching on top and dirtying the place with their droppings. Perhaps, that was the birds’ way of establishing their right of possession. Those who served the food had an additional duty of walking the length and breadth of the dining hall with a long bamboo stick raised to chase away the birds lest they foul up the place during meals.
We all know how the epic Ramayana was born. The seer Valmiki happened to see the wanton destruction of a beautiful product of nature, a pigeon, that too in the presence of its mate. The agonized mind of the seer perhaps travelled back to the atrocities perpetrated on the weak by the strong. The powerful, ten-headed Ravana perhaps is a symbolic representation: he possessed 10 times more strength than Sri Rama - the victim suffering separation from his mate (like the bereaved pigeon). Was the story of Ramayana then a wishful exercise on the part of the saint, portraying the triumph of truth in the face of brute strength?
We see yet another character - the Emperor Shibi. He was at his wits’ end because he wanted to protect, again a pigeon, from the clutches of a vulture. The vulture was preying on the pigeon, which sought protection from the king and was promptly granted asylum. But the vulture too sought justice from the emperor: It was hungry. It could prey only on small birds and animals and it was definitely within its rights to eat the pigeon. The emperor should look after its interest too. The confused emperor, who wanted to be fair to both creatures, offered his own flesh equal to the weight of the pigeon. Surprisingly, the pigeon was heavier than he anticipated. The emperor had to offer his whole body to equal the weight of the pigeon.
I had wondered many times whether justice was done in both cases. Of course, I knew that these were tales glorifying the tests faced by the righteous, but I could never quite see the need for an all-knowing Almighty to conduct a test to confirm the integrity of King Shibi. I kept brooding: what was the retribution for the crime? In both cases, did anyone, as a Brahmajnani should, ever do something to prevent a recurrence and enact retribution too? For that matter, is there anyone who can do both things at one go? I could get the answers only after witnessing an incident at Santhigiri Ashram. I am narrating it below.
It will be difficult for any newcomer to imagine the Santhigiri Ashram of the early 1980s. It was spread over only five acres then. Roughly 15 meters south of the present dining hall and kitchen was a makeshift cooking and dining area at that time. It had a thatched roof and cow dung smeared mud floors, but was kept scrupulously clean. All the inmates used aluminium plates and tumblers, seated on the floor on mats.
However, there were uninvited guests too - pigeons. Perhaps, they too had a right. After all, the compassion of Guru is available not only to human beings but to animals and birds also. The pigeons had their nests all over the thatched roof of the dining hall. And, they had the detestable habit of perching on top and dirtying the place with their droppings. Perhaps, that was the birds’ way of establishing their right of possession. Those who served the food (I was a willing volunteer at lunch time) had an additional duty. They had to walk the length and breadth of the dining hall with a long bamboo stick raised to chase away the birds lest they foul up the place during meals.
One boy, however, had had enough - none but Guruchith, who looks after electrical maintenance now. He managed to get a ladder from somewhere, fixed it in the dining hall and removed one of the nests. Inadvertently, the nest fell with a small pigeon in it. From seemingly nowhere, a cat jumped in, picked up the fallen pigeon and ran away - all in a jiffy. Right then, Guru stepped in. He had witnessed the entire episode.
Everyone was dumbfounded on seeing Guru, who was seething with anger. He shouted at Guruchith and scolded him severely. After a while, all left and forgot the incident – all but Guru. He called Ramanan, the only carpenter in the Ashram in those days. He gave him pointed and precise instructions. About what -- we did not know then.
Two days later, just behind the present Sahakarana Mandiram, we found a nest had been built which could house a lot of pigeons. Curiously, we walked towards it. It was meticulously designed to prevent cats from climbing up. Ramanan said that he had got detailed directions from Guru on how to build the nest.
However, to attract the pigeons to their new abode was another story. At first, they would not come anywhere near it. People tried luring them with food grains and water but to no avail. Then all of a sudden, we found that they flocked there. It appeared that the birds migrated en bloc to the new colony.
Sahakarana Mandiram came up and the pigeons again had to make way. Now this very nest is located in between the Ashram and the guest house—a living memory of the Guru’s compassion for all forms of life.
There is something called a stimulus. Here the stimulus was the death of a pigeon. It was due to an inadvertent mistake committed by one who had no ill will towards the birds. All might have had heartfelt sympathy for the dead bird. But only Guru put His compassion into practical application. At one stroke, He removed the problems of the pigeons and the diners and also provided expiation for a mistake. A lesson not only for the youngster but for all.
Janardhana Menon, Santhigiri Ashram
However, there were uninvited guests too - pigeons. Perhaps, they too had a right. After all, the compassion of Guru is available not only to human beings but to animals and birds also. The pigeons had their nests all over the thatched roof of the dining hall. And, they had the detestable habit of perching on top and dirtying the place with their droppings. Perhaps, that was the birds’ way of establishing their right of possession. Those who served the food had an additional duty of walking the length and breadth of the dining hall with a long bamboo stick raised to chase away the birds lest they foul up the place during meals.
We all know how the epic Ramayana was born. The seer Valmiki happened to see the wanton destruction of a beautiful product of nature, a pigeon, that too in the presence of its mate. The agonized mind of the seer perhaps travelled back to the atrocities perpetrated on the weak by the strong. The powerful, ten-headed Ravana perhaps is a symbolic representation: he possessed 10 times more strength than Sri Rama - the victim suffering separation from his mate (like the bereaved pigeon). Was the story of Ramayana then a wishful exercise on the part of the saint, portraying the triumph of truth in the face of brute strength?
We see yet another character - the Emperor Shibi. He was at his wits’ end because he wanted to protect, again a pigeon, from the clutches of a vulture. The vulture was preying on the pigeon, which sought protection from the king and was promptly granted asylum. But the vulture too sought justice from the emperor: It was hungry. It could prey only on small birds and animals and it was definitely within its rights to eat the pigeon. The emperor should look after its interest too. The confused emperor, who wanted to be fair to both creatures, offered his own flesh equal to the weight of the pigeon. Surprisingly, the pigeon was heavier than he anticipated. The emperor had to offer his whole body to equal the weight of the pigeon.
I had wondered many times whether justice was done in both cases. Of course, I knew that these were tales glorifying the tests faced by the righteous, but I could never quite see the need for an all-knowing Almighty to conduct a test to confirm the integrity of King Shibi. I kept brooding: what was the retribution for the crime? In both cases, did anyone, as a Brahmajnani should, ever do something to prevent a recurrence and enact retribution too? For that matter, is there anyone who can do both things at one go? I could get the answers only after witnessing an incident at Santhigiri Ashram. I am narrating it below.
It will be difficult for any newcomer to imagine the Santhigiri Ashram of the early 1980s. It was spread over only five acres then. Roughly 15 meters south of the present dining hall and kitchen was a makeshift cooking and dining area at that time. It had a thatched roof and cow dung smeared mud floors, but was kept scrupulously clean. All the inmates used aluminium plates and tumblers, seated on the floor on mats.
However, there were uninvited guests too - pigeons. Perhaps, they too had a right. After all, the compassion of Guru is available not only to human beings but to animals and birds also. The pigeons had their nests all over the thatched roof of the dining hall. And, they had the detestable habit of perching on top and dirtying the place with their droppings. Perhaps, that was the birds’ way of establishing their right of possession. Those who served the food (I was a willing volunteer at lunch time) had an additional duty. They had to walk the length and breadth of the dining hall with a long bamboo stick raised to chase away the birds lest they foul up the place during meals.
One boy, however, had had enough - none but Guruchith, who looks after electrical maintenance now. He managed to get a ladder from somewhere, fixed it in the dining hall and removed one of the nests. Inadvertently, the nest fell with a small pigeon in it. From seemingly nowhere, a cat jumped in, picked up the fallen pigeon and ran away - all in a jiffy. Right then, Guru stepped in. He had witnessed the entire episode.
Everyone was dumbfounded on seeing Guru, who was seething with anger. He shouted at Guruchith and scolded him severely. After a while, all left and forgot the incident – all but Guru. He called Ramanan, the only carpenter in the Ashram in those days. He gave him pointed and precise instructions. About what -- we did not know then.
Two days later, just behind the present Sahakarana Mandiram, we found a nest had been built which could house a lot of pigeons. Curiously, we walked towards it. It was meticulously designed to prevent cats from climbing up. Ramanan said that he had got detailed directions from Guru on how to build the nest.
However, to attract the pigeons to their new abode was another story. At first, they would not come anywhere near it. People tried luring them with food grains and water but to no avail. Then all of a sudden, we found that they flocked there. It appeared that the birds migrated en bloc to the new colony.
Sahakarana Mandiram came up and the pigeons again had to make way. Now this very nest is located in between the Ashram and the guest house—a living memory of the Guru’s compassion for all forms of life.
There is something called a stimulus. Here the stimulus was the death of a pigeon. It was due to an inadvertent mistake committed by one who had no ill will towards the birds. All might have had heartfelt sympathy for the dead bird. But only Guru put His compassion into practical application. At one stroke, He removed the problems of the pigeons and the diners and also provided expiation for a mistake. A lesson not only for the youngster but for all.
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 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
Hindu Dharma – Has it come through Manu or Trimurti
Gurucharanam Saranam
Hindu Dharma – Has it come through Manu or Trimurti
Professor (Dr) K. Gopinathan Pillai
About 30 years back Santhigiri Publications brought out a booklet authored by Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru titled 'Hindu Dharma, has it come through Manu or Trimurti?‘ (Haindava Dharmam-Manuvilkudiyo Trimurtikalil Kudiyo’).
By this question Guru wanted to draw the attention of the people of this country to the basic causations of poverty, social disintegration and cultural degeneration of this great land and civilization despite her unique spiritual legacy. Even today an average Hindu is incapable to answer the question posed by the Guru. In the heterogeneous and complex character of Hinduism, truth is veiled by untruth, myth and legends eclipse reality and distortions are legitimized.
Therefore, an ordinary Hindu lives in the midst of religious ritualism and spiritual ignorance unable to discriminate between Sanatana Dharma and Trimurty system. This incapacitated them to recognize and accept divine masters like Sree Krishna, Sree Buddha, Mahavir, Gurunanak and others who took birth to guide them to the right path. Guru’s revelation that the unabated sufferings and sorrows of humanity, despite the sacrifice of great souls, have resulted from the deviation in Yuga Dharma and distorted forms of worship, is an eye-opener to all God believing people. A proper understanding of Guru’s revelation is possible only when one understands Sanatana Dharma, its eclipse due to a spiritual error in the past and the advent of Trimurty system and the resultant degradation in karma and dharma leading to astral pollution, human sufferings and miseries of all sorts.
Sanatana Dharma
If we are to evaluate the worth of India, it becomes necessary to understand the purpose of Manusmriti - the perennial law of Manu which constitutes the basis of Sanatana Dharma, Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru said. But the name of the first Guru, Manu, and the dharma he gifted to humanity and the truth that Manu Dharma is the basis of Sanatana Dharma have all vanished from human memory and never taught. Interestingly Manu, the first Law Giver is characterized as the most reactionary and conservative whose laws were responsible for the rise of caste system and denial of liberty, especially to women. The basic reasons that contributed to the demise of Sanatana Dharma were first revealed by Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru. Guru pointed out that a small book that is circulated today as Manu Smriti is a distorted version of the original Manu Smriti, which was long lost and has nothing to do with the present one.
Manu was a fully realized Guru through whom the Supreme or Brahman revealed to humanity the divine design of cosmic time, dharma and evolutionary process in the nature. That is why Sanatana Dharma is also called as Manu Dharma. It encompassed the principles to be followed in each and every aspect of spiritual and material pursuit of human life. Those principles were considered eternal because they were given by Trikala Jnanis or realized Guru’s who could discern in spiritual vision the cause-effect relationship of all material and metaphysical phenomena.
The time scale given by Manu Smriti and the concept of Yuga Dharma forms the basis of Manu Dharma or Sanatana Dharma. According to this, the creation, existence and dissolution of the world occur in a time span of one Kalpa. One Kalpa is composed of 14 Manwantaras and one Manwantara consists of 72 Chaturyugas and one Chaturyuga consists of four Yugas, namely, Krita (Satya), Treta, Dwapara and Kali. An important fact to be noticed is that each Yuga has its own karma, dharma and worship system. In each Yuga great seers or Kalantara Gurus would take birth to impart to humanity the dharma and karma of each age. It is in this context an observation of Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru holds significance. Guru pointed out that the greatest mistake occurred to Hindu society is that it still follows the Yuga Dharma of Treta and Dwapara in the present Kali Yuga which has caused the loss of material as well as spiritual progress.
Upanishads exemplifies the depth and the intuitive power of Jnanis in unraveling cosmic laws and astral secrets that influence spiritual and material realms of human life. Rishis lived in the midst of people teaching them how to live properly. In the Jnana Marga there was no distinction based on caste, religion or any such man made inequalities. At a particular point of time Sanatana Dharma was weakened and slowly got eclipsed and sidelined. Thereafter the previous messengers of God could not fulfill their mission of guiding humanity in consonance with Yuga Dharma. It was the time of the advent of Trimurty system in Indian history. Guru has rightly said that we have deviated from the principles of Sanatana Dharma and observe customs, rituals and worship contrary to it.
Trimurty system
With the decadence of Sanatana Dharma, the Trimurty system gradually emerged. The most important shortcoming of this system was the absence of jnana path. Many aspects of Sanatana Dharma were incorporated into Trimurty system. While the time scale of Manu was accepted in the Trimurty system, the Jnana Margam of Sanatana Dharma was discarded. The ennobled concept of God or the Supreme Light in Indian spirituality is Brahman which the Vedas and Upanishads characterize as the only Truth. The exponents of Trimurty system covered the truths of Sanatana Dharma with mythical stories and interpolations. They characterized Vishnu, Maheswara and Brahma as the ultimate gods to be worshipped and all worship and spiritual practices were dedicated to Trimurties. Evolution of the soul to the Ultimate Truth was thus blocked as the Trimurties were recognized as the Ultimate. The decay of Indian society and social disintegration start from this point of time.
Manipulating and twisting the concept of Varnashrama Dharma, the priestly class in the Trimurty tradition created caste system. Varnashrama Dharma was based on the eternal law of the inherent quality of one’s jeeva, i.e., an individuals worth is determined on the basis of the dominant ‘colour’ of his soul. Thus the degree of brightness (punya) of one’s Jeeva, decides whether one is a Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya or Sudra. Thus Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra are born to parents in each family. This natural law was misinterpreted to suit the interests of the priestly class with the sidelining of Sanatana Dharma. The Caste system was legitimized by interpolations in scriptures. Majority of the people were included in the Sudra caste and the jobs that were allotted to them were also considered lower ones. Hard and fast rules were prescribed for each caste and vast majority of the Sudras were denied access to knowledge. The cruelest thing done to the Sudras was that they were denied the worship of the Trimurty and other deities that the higher castes worshipped. They were given evil spirits for worship or deities with ‘tamasic’ qualities. Thus majority of the Hindus had lost the opportunity for intellectual and spiritual pursuit and became ignorant and Sudra in the real sense.
Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru’s life is marked by incidents, events and developments of unprecedented character. Guru passed through uncertainties at each phase of his life. It was only at the time of His spiritual fulfillment in 1973, the mission of Guru was revealed from the Supreme that He was brought up by Brahman to shed light into unanswered and unresolved puzzles in spiritually. It was revealed on the occasion of Guru’s spiritual fulfillment that the mission of Guru is the restoration of Yuga Dharma and thus fulfilling the unfinished mission of previous messengers of God to guide humanity to the Truth.
It was revealed further that the past preceptors could not transform human nature and nourish virtues by eradicating the inherent bad instincts in soul because of the deviation in Yuga Dharma and the resultant practice of dharma and karma contrary to it. The previous seers despite their sacrifice could not get revealed this deviation in Yuga Dharma and how it occurred. That is why in spite of the best efforts of great Rishis, Gurus and Prophets and religions founded in their names, cruelty, violence, disquiet and scientific inventions that destroy the nature continue.
(The Author is Professor in Political Science, Govt. Arts College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala)
Hindu Dharma – Has it come through Manu or Trimurti
Professor (Dr) K. Gopinathan Pillai
About 30 years back Santhigiri Publications brought out a booklet authored by Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru titled 'Hindu Dharma, has it come through Manu or Trimurti?‘ (Haindava Dharmam-Manuvilkudiyo Trimurtikalil Kudiyo’).
By this question Guru wanted to draw the attention of the people of this country to the basic causations of poverty, social disintegration and cultural degeneration of this great land and civilization despite her unique spiritual legacy. Even today an average Hindu is incapable to answer the question posed by the Guru. In the heterogeneous and complex character of Hinduism, truth is veiled by untruth, myth and legends eclipse reality and distortions are legitimized.
Therefore, an ordinary Hindu lives in the midst of religious ritualism and spiritual ignorance unable to discriminate between Sanatana Dharma and Trimurty system. This incapacitated them to recognize and accept divine masters like Sree Krishna, Sree Buddha, Mahavir, Gurunanak and others who took birth to guide them to the right path. Guru’s revelation that the unabated sufferings and sorrows of humanity, despite the sacrifice of great souls, have resulted from the deviation in Yuga Dharma and distorted forms of worship, is an eye-opener to all God believing people. A proper understanding of Guru’s revelation is possible only when one understands Sanatana Dharma, its eclipse due to a spiritual error in the past and the advent of Trimurty system and the resultant degradation in karma and dharma leading to astral pollution, human sufferings and miseries of all sorts.
Sanatana Dharma
If we are to evaluate the worth of India, it becomes necessary to understand the purpose of Manusmriti - the perennial law of Manu which constitutes the basis of Sanatana Dharma, Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru said. But the name of the first Guru, Manu, and the dharma he gifted to humanity and the truth that Manu Dharma is the basis of Sanatana Dharma have all vanished from human memory and never taught. Interestingly Manu, the first Law Giver is characterized as the most reactionary and conservative whose laws were responsible for the rise of caste system and denial of liberty, especially to women. The basic reasons that contributed to the demise of Sanatana Dharma were first revealed by Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru. Guru pointed out that a small book that is circulated today as Manu Smriti is a distorted version of the original Manu Smriti, which was long lost and has nothing to do with the present one.
Manu was a fully realized Guru through whom the Supreme or Brahman revealed to humanity the divine design of cosmic time, dharma and evolutionary process in the nature. That is why Sanatana Dharma is also called as Manu Dharma. It encompassed the principles to be followed in each and every aspect of spiritual and material pursuit of human life. Those principles were considered eternal because they were given by Trikala Jnanis or realized Guru’s who could discern in spiritual vision the cause-effect relationship of all material and metaphysical phenomena.
The time scale given by Manu Smriti and the concept of Yuga Dharma forms the basis of Manu Dharma or Sanatana Dharma. According to this, the creation, existence and dissolution of the world occur in a time span of one Kalpa. One Kalpa is composed of 14 Manwantaras and one Manwantara consists of 72 Chaturyugas and one Chaturyuga consists of four Yugas, namely, Krita (Satya), Treta, Dwapara and Kali. An important fact to be noticed is that each Yuga has its own karma, dharma and worship system. In each Yuga great seers or Kalantara Gurus would take birth to impart to humanity the dharma and karma of each age. It is in this context an observation of Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru holds significance. Guru pointed out that the greatest mistake occurred to Hindu society is that it still follows the Yuga Dharma of Treta and Dwapara in the present Kali Yuga which has caused the loss of material as well as spiritual progress.
Upanishads exemplifies the depth and the intuitive power of Jnanis in unraveling cosmic laws and astral secrets that influence spiritual and material realms of human life. Rishis lived in the midst of people teaching them how to live properly. In the Jnana Marga there was no distinction based on caste, religion or any such man made inequalities. At a particular point of time Sanatana Dharma was weakened and slowly got eclipsed and sidelined. Thereafter the previous messengers of God could not fulfill their mission of guiding humanity in consonance with Yuga Dharma. It was the time of the advent of Trimurty system in Indian history. Guru has rightly said that we have deviated from the principles of Sanatana Dharma and observe customs, rituals and worship contrary to it.
Trimurty system
With the decadence of Sanatana Dharma, the Trimurty system gradually emerged. The most important shortcoming of this system was the absence of jnana path. Many aspects of Sanatana Dharma were incorporated into Trimurty system. While the time scale of Manu was accepted in the Trimurty system, the Jnana Margam of Sanatana Dharma was discarded. The ennobled concept of God or the Supreme Light in Indian spirituality is Brahman which the Vedas and Upanishads characterize as the only Truth. The exponents of Trimurty system covered the truths of Sanatana Dharma with mythical stories and interpolations. They characterized Vishnu, Maheswara and Brahma as the ultimate gods to be worshipped and all worship and spiritual practices were dedicated to Trimurties. Evolution of the soul to the Ultimate Truth was thus blocked as the Trimurties were recognized as the Ultimate. The decay of Indian society and social disintegration start from this point of time.
Manipulating and twisting the concept of Varnashrama Dharma, the priestly class in the Trimurty tradition created caste system. Varnashrama Dharma was based on the eternal law of the inherent quality of one’s jeeva, i.e., an individuals worth is determined on the basis of the dominant ‘colour’ of his soul. Thus the degree of brightness (punya) of one’s Jeeva, decides whether one is a Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya or Sudra. Thus Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra are born to parents in each family. This natural law was misinterpreted to suit the interests of the priestly class with the sidelining of Sanatana Dharma. The Caste system was legitimized by interpolations in scriptures. Majority of the people were included in the Sudra caste and the jobs that were allotted to them were also considered lower ones. Hard and fast rules were prescribed for each caste and vast majority of the Sudras were denied access to knowledge. The cruelest thing done to the Sudras was that they were denied the worship of the Trimurty and other deities that the higher castes worshipped. They were given evil spirits for worship or deities with ‘tamasic’ qualities. Thus majority of the Hindus had lost the opportunity for intellectual and spiritual pursuit and became ignorant and Sudra in the real sense.
Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru’s life is marked by incidents, events and developments of unprecedented character. Guru passed through uncertainties at each phase of his life. It was only at the time of His spiritual fulfillment in 1973, the mission of Guru was revealed from the Supreme that He was brought up by Brahman to shed light into unanswered and unresolved puzzles in spiritually. It was revealed on the occasion of Guru’s spiritual fulfillment that the mission of Guru is the restoration of Yuga Dharma and thus fulfilling the unfinished mission of previous messengers of God to guide humanity to the Truth.
It was revealed further that the past preceptors could not transform human nature and nourish virtues by eradicating the inherent bad instincts in soul because of the deviation in Yuga Dharma and the resultant practice of dharma and karma contrary to it. The previous seers despite their sacrifice could not get revealed this deviation in Yuga Dharma and how it occurred. That is why in spite of the best efforts of great Rishis, Gurus and Prophets and religions founded in their names, cruelty, violence, disquiet and scientific inventions that destroy the nature continue.
(The Author is Professor in Political Science, Govt. Arts College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala)
Thursday, April 29, 2010
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.)
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.)
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
101 Sacred Sayings of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru
Gurucharanam Saranam
GURUVANI
1. The very truth, the method and medium of Santhigiri Ashram is to enable people (to) reach the goal of oneness of humanity, forgetting caste and religion.
2. What is taking place in Santhigiri is an effort to realize after evaluating everything that has happened until now, getting rid of its shortcomings and ordering it as required of the age to bring it forward to shape the future state of affairs. This is the revelation of Brahman given to us.
3. The ideology of Santhigiri is not religious law. It is an effort to reveal and correct the mistakes that had occurred in the midst of the society in order to make the people come up.
4. Let all the old remain in its place. Let us absorb the virtues thereof without destroying it. But, that which is evil will indeed be destroyed. This is our spirituality.
5. The truth of Guru is that which reveals or realizes and fulfils each aspect of knowledge. The greatness of this soul is such a truth, in which knowledge and life experiences are in harmony.
6. The religion I believe is of Friendship, Brotherhood and Truth.
7. Word is Truth; when that Truth becomes our experience that is Guru; when it is experienced still more profoundly, it becomes God.
8. Strive to gain purity in these three: thought, word and deed. By this, you will have love for God and God will have love for you.
9. Work without positions of power and achieve through self-sacrifice. It is this sacrifice that saves you.
10. What is taking place in the name of Gurupooja at Santhigiri is in fact Rishipooja – the worship of the sage, who is a Kalantharaguru (the Guru of authority for ages).
11. God is not particular about being worshipped. If you worship, do not distort it.
12. It is better to bring up your children endowed with ‘karmaseshi’ (capacity to perform life’s duty) than saving money for them.
13. Beginning from a grain of sand, for all things in the world that take birth and perish, there is a wholeness (or indestructibility) of its own.
14. The purificatory ways (karmasuddhi) shown to us by God are ‘griha suddhi’ (cleansing of the family line), ‘deva suddhi’ (cleansing of deities-soul’s celestial links), ‘pithrusuddhi’ (cleansing of ancestral souls). Fulfilling these three, entrust to Guru the fourth one (cleansing of one’s soul). This is the essence of Sanatana Dharma.
15. Guru is an unique entity that acts from the perception of the changing epochal processes as well as the traditions pertaining to each age.
16. Can you reach the abode described as ‘Self-Illumined’ (Brahman) just by talking about it? One must strive for it. Only by the strength of endeavour that abode can be reached.
17. We might have to go through some difficulties before certain goodness is achieved. Whatever happens, I would suffer anything for the sake of my generation. I will undergo any sacrifice to bring up the generation.
18. There is no need for self-sacrifice to bow down anywhere. All virtues are submissive to self-sacrifice. Even without any extraordinary feats or miraculous performances, the words of a renouncer will generate bliss in the heart.
19. If there is spiritual endowment in you, you will get it actualized. All the powers that had been the object of your worship will manifest before you.
20. The greatness of creation is that in all living beings the glory of God is manifest. Everything in Nature has been endowed with love, respect, devotion, humbleness and wisdom of its own.
21. God exists where science ends.
22. You should be as noble as an emperor and as humble as a servant.
23. To you who are of virtuous birth and fearless action, I am citing my own example to give courage to you. May you be convinced!
24. There is something to learn even from a small creature. Learning from everything, entertain a persistent desire that with your action you will improve at least one person.
25. The householder should cultivate a method (or wisdom) and effort, while leading an orderly life himself, in order to give the best upbringing to his children. You should take up the responsibilities (karmakanda) related to worldly life; otherwise, there is no use wasting time by wandering here and there.
26. Householders are not meant to live low. With their life, they should earn wealth, knowledge and riches and if necessary even the responsibility of governing the nations of the world.
27. The mind of a father should be as clear as the sky. And the mother should be one who utters profound words.
28. After making us aware of how to refine food and clothing and how to evolve a way of life, the Almighty today is guiding our intellect to the reflection on the Self, leading us to that path in which the soul gets entitled for liberation.
29. Joy and jealousy in excess are to be feared; therefore beware of them, for these will estrange you from God.
30. Do prayers to the One Almighty God and not to the deities and demigods, if you are not to wander for drinking water and food.
31. The law and justice evolved by human intellect are inadequate to sustain the laws of life -dharma of the human being. It does not occur to people why in the name of devotion, they should sway and dance in frenzy.
32. The ideology of Santhigiri is not Vedanta or something likewise. All people should have fulfilment in life.
33. You can attain all goodness and luck through your action. If unable to do anything good, there should be a thought not to perpetuate evil.
34. Do not commit sin for the sake of material gains.
35. It is better to practise self-sacrifice oneself than propagating it.
36. One’s propensities (Vasana) is the accumulation of the vices and virtues at one’s birth. The unique qualities in the soul become virtues and vices at birth.
37. We are not prepared to adopt the goodness shown to us by our ancestors through a life of self-sacrifice. What we see today is the light of their hardships of many ages.
38. The men and women who grow up here are the ones to decide on the course of the world. It is with this awareness of Dharma that we should become great. Our persistent prayer should be to get wisdom, experience and aptitude to act as per the call of time to correct all the mistakes that have happened down the tradition not only in relation to this solar system, but other solar systems too, establishing ourselves in this Dharma.
39. God does not sit where a few rationalists, liberationists, scholars and intellectuals debate together and establish Him.
40. We are all hurrying to take up the lowliest fulfilment in life because of our ignorance, lack of experience and wisdom.
41. The place of the bhakta (devotee) is on the lap of Guru and that of Guru in the heart of the devotee.
42. Be like a deaf, blind, dumb and ignorant person but with the vigilance to know everything. Then only one can gain whatever knowledge.
43. From where does the human life begin? Where do we end? What should we earn by human life, or in other words, after reaching to what extent of wisdom, have we commenced this life? To what extent we have reached today? First get this knowledge by contemplation. If not or if you are unable to do it, find a person (Guru) who is thus capable and following Him, perceive, experience and realize it.
44. Guru, the mother; Guru, the father; Guru, who has realized God; Guru who is God; Thus knowing from one’s birth and climbing up the steps of highest wisdom, seek peace. That indeed is the aim. That indeed is liberation. The human birth is for that indeed.
45. Gurupooja at Santhigiri is a fundamental spiritual performance based on the faith in the One Absolute God which unwinds the knots of accumulated karma of several births by cleansing the ancestral souls.
46. The Gurupooja at Santhigiri is a unique spiritual act that reveals the true aspects of the benign as well as malefic powers, including the deities (devas), manes (pithrus), sages (rishis) and renunciates (sanyasins), worshipped by the ancestors.
47. Gurupooja at Santhigiri is a spiritual act that imparts the knowledge about the (next) Age of Truth (Satyayuga) and the stages of the process leading to it, after completely removing the decadence of devotion due to (lack of awareness of the) shift in Yugadharma and showing the (path of) righteous devotion and wisdom.
48. Gurupooja at Santhigiri is an act ordained by the Absolute wherein the karmic entanglements of several births are perceived, disentangled and changed, lifting the souls to the levels of a deity (deva) or sage (rishi).
49. Is it possible for us to retrieve a good moment wasted by a distorted life?
50. Everyone has Love. But only through perpetual vigilance one can fulfil it to its fullest cognizance.
51. We, who live in this world, need a ‘One’ - an Absolute - for us to survive together. Remaining in that One spread out to everything. That One which embraces everything is the Truth.
52. How much have I done for the sake of my family, the nation, and if necessary, for the world. Each one of you should ask this to yourself.
53. None of us would wish to do an action harmful to ourselves. Then how come we have come to possess so much vice?
54. Each of us should be the possessors of the karma (action) that would (enable us to) go beyond everything that has been coming up (by way of development), contributing towards our happiness, convenience of living, be of advantage to society and become helpful to the whole world and every living being.
55. Realize through Gurudharma (Law of Guru) what was revealed in the past, what is put into practice today and what is to happen tomorrow.
56. Guru is a ‘deerghadarshi’ (far-sighted seer) who perceives and ordains what is needed and what is not needed for a yuga. Guru acts for the transformation of society at a particular point of time.
57. The reality of Guru manifests in the world in the Kaliyuga in its fullness and brilliance. Guru is the perceiver of times – the Trikalajna, who knows the past, present and future. Only a Guru, the beholder of three-fold time, can save you. The Trikalajna Guru is Perfectly Fulfilled.
58. When the evil deeds in the world becomes unbearable to Nature, God transforms these sins into wars, earthquakes and other natural calamities.
59. Do not forget that this world is established in Truth. Therefore, abandon the modes of worship contrary to the Yugadharma as well as sinful actions.
60. If humility leads to Truth, Truth will lead to Guru; and Guru to God. All of you should wish and also strive to become the servers of Truth.
61. The noble course is to comprehend the rights and wrongs that have come in the world until now - be it physical or spiritual - and to find out the reasons behind those rights and wrongs.
62. If you look a little deeply into this atmosphere, countless particles can be seen twinkling and disappearing even within the circle of a one rupee coin. Think that we are only one among such countless atoms.
63. Take up yourself the good and bad of others. It is like this: we should imbibe in our life whatever is good in a person. When you absorb the good in that person, the bad in him should also be taken up as yours. You should then tell him with love that there is such an error in him and that he should get rid of it. And when he gets rid of the bad, a certain vice in our soul also will have gone. If you feel that this person would not heed your words, pray for him everyday for three minutes. Then a God-given occasion will come to you to have an involvement with him. It would be the result of your prayer. Utilise this opportunity in a good way and tell him; he would have followed it certainly. That way we can remove a deficiency in our own soul.
64. This body is the layers (physical encasement) of a soul’s evolution formed through thousands of births. The lack of virtue (punyam) in the soul manifests in the form of different diseases in the body. Such karmic diseases are eradicated by the dharmic path that earns virtue through right action.
65. On getting up in the morning, reflect seated on the bed itself: ‘into what should I develop my home today?’ After attending to the day-to-day affairs at home, live aiming for the betterment of the organization, wasting not even a minute.
66. Life is the synonym of bliss concealed in the chronicle of the present, full of hardships.
67. The sense of ego will veil (block) the grace of God. We are actually nobody and nothing. We should have only this submission that we will pray to the best of our ability.
68. The benevolence of this path of dharma is the performance of Guru and disciple which enables a scholar as well as the ignorant to enquire about the dharma of the age after discerning the differences in the cycles of time – Satya, Treta, Dwapara and Kali.
69. We can distinguish our thoughts and emotions just like separating the different shades of one color, little by little. It is you (oneself) alone who can decide what shall be the path of your action (karmagati) and dharma. It would not do, if someone else decides it.
70. If you can perceive regarding Light, its Avrithi (different manifestations) as also how the Light dissolves, you will be able to know about your karmic propensity (karmagati).
71. Knowing all sorrows, behave with love and bring it in the ambit of your experience and identify yourself with it. Then you will know that the seat of sorrows and happiness is oneself.
72. It is the purity of action (karmasuddhi) in married life that creates the circumstances for the birth of a child useful to the family and society. Are you living in a manner befitting the justice of God? Ask yourself.
73. This atmosphere has in it layers of influence from any number of past yugadharmas (the code of living for an Age) and the five elements.
74. What you need to get is the benefit (virtue) of your actions. You should get that first from God. It is not for the sake of God that you worship God. You should think that it is for your own sake.
75. Prayer can bring goodness to us, our society and to the entire creation (living beings). It should be done as the ‘sankalpam’ of God (God’s Will).
76. You shed tears when there is pain. Even through those tears, pray to God that you should be able to perform His Will.
77. Even if (one is) able to do only a moment’s work, it should be done in the right manner. What is required is the mind and wisdom to work throughout our life with dedication, correcting the shortcomings in the soul.
78. God has given a place for anyone of you to come and assemble. The life of every man begins from the residue of the totality of action and will (sankalpa karma swaroopam), derived from his propensities. What exists embedded in a soul is the truth of interplanetary influences.
79. That the physical and spiritual have been separately considered, does not mean that they are separate. It is just for facilitating the knowledge of certain things. The physical body itself is the basis for spirituality.
80. Kali is the fourth quarter of a ‘Chaturyuga’. It has been taught to us and written down that Kali is bad as well as ruinous. The information that those who take birth in Kaliyuga are possessed by the passion of anger (kali) is not correct. We do not want such (mistaken ) farsightedness.
81. Earn virtue through Karma. Through that virtue, earn good fortune. That good fortune shall become the base for everything. The discipline of Santhigiri is the fulfilment of such action.
82. The fulfilment of monotheism is necessary in Kaliyuga (present era). Because, Kali is the epoch for soul’s liberation (mukti) and for Sudra, God realization.
83. It is in Kaliyuga, the Chaturyuga reaches its fulfilment. With 71 Chaturyugas, a Manvantara gets fulfilled. One cannot talk about the long range of Kali without respecting the epoch of Kali.
84. The long ranges of Kali (present era) need to be perceived transcending the faculties of intellect and thought. Kali is the time favourable – to the day, hour and second - to know the potential of the soul to endeavor with the help of the physical body (which is) experienced in the states of wakefulness (jagrat), dream (swapna) and deep sleep (sushupti). That is the science of the Kali Age.
85. Kali is the age of synchronization of the lives lived in the past, the present and those to come. If one is entrapped in the deviated contemporary ideologies, this synchronization will not be possible.
86. It could be because of the virtue of some past lives, we have got a human birth. We have had innumerable such human incarnations in the past. Even so, we are ruining our destiny ourselves committing numerous errors, unable to cut off from the tradition.
87. As per our faith, the gods and goddesses we have been praying to, as the objects of worship, are our Gods. The legacy of this is entrenched in the ferocious actions beginning from (and belonging to) the ‘satanic’ forces upto the domain of vetala (the state of extreme spiritual bewilderment). This is the greatest blunder we have inherited from our old tradition.
88. The path of Santhigiri is that of the wisdom that brings into our vision and understanding the mistakes of the bygone ages.
89. We have become degenerated with the concepts such as having a separate ‘god’ for each small caste. We can behold the history of long bygone ages, even while supporting the soul suitably in this body, the seat of our accumulated karma.
90. The message of Santhigiri works in accordance with the Will of Almighty. This message will exist always, in all ages, as a Dharma, like a sunrise of abounding blessedness. That is the aim of Santhigiri.
91. What is ingrained in a soul is the history and truth of nine planets. It is not possible to shed light on it with the power of knowledge that measures intellectually. Space Self-illumined: transcending thousands of such planes of illumination and traversing them with the cyclic aeons, the Guru who can determine the suitability of the dharmic path, which sheds light on several earthly planes, and the disciple who has internalised the dharma of that Guru - only can illuminate that (truth).
92. Jnani is the great sage who incarnates after traversing through several aeons in the pathway of the wisdom of changing ages (kaladharma). The Soul of that great Sage - whose austerities, ascending the wheel of time, in obediance to Yugadharma (law of the age), and who emerges sinless - is set apart by the Almighty’s Will. It is this Soul which is used for the voyage of time through many ages.
93. What can be done with those ‘valiant of action’ who bet in the name of great souls? They bring about intellectual ruin, turning the people into lifeless spectators and pushing them under the veil of ignorance. Hatred arising out of the rifts of caste, religion and class has grown among them to such an extent that even if God proceeds to pardon them, it is impossible to resolve these (animosities).
94. Can the field of action (karmabhumi) be gained if the karma (object) to be fulfilled by life is sung, narrated, written off and spoiled? Is there anything else in this other than the mind that obeys or makes others obey through laws? Seen in the world are the theaters of amusement of vices and virtues where God’s words are ‘sung’ (extolled) through one’s intelligence.
95. It would be appropriate if a small hint is given here of my experience for thinking people. I have not been able to find an explanation for my experience, in the tradition of knowledge including (the great text) Brahma Sutra. It is through intellectual exercise verses are written down and explanations attempted. The majesty of the Trimurti (Brahma, Vishnu and Siva) tradition perfected in the Puranas, is an intellectual creation with words and images.
96. The great sages (Mamunis) extol what is seen in the present. The Mamuni is a seer of farsightedness. Mamuni is a great divine abstraction (Atma Sakti) at least in the category of an epochal Guru(Kalanthara Guru). Mamuni is the authority of a minimum seven solar systems.
97. Good things do not grow in all parts of the earth. Likewise, good water will collect only at certain places. When the lunar dust, with the contact of the sun’s rays and the even pressure of the atmosphere, falls down on earth, those dust particles are cultured by the turns of day and night, full moon and black moon and the characteristics of stars. The Soul that transcends all this, one by one, is the life codified in the concept of Guru. Living such a life, the Guru comes as the Word, as the Medium about whose sacred sayings it is said thus - Word is Truth, Truth is Guru, Guru is God.
98. The foremost education gained from the Ashram, is to correct through our wisdom, endeavour, self-sacrifice and action, whatever shortcomings we have in the family. It is not sanyasa (renunciation). Coming to the Ashram, having faith or living in the Ashram is not for adopting sanyasa. It is to learn through one’s life.
99. Sanatana Dharma (Eternal Law of God) has not prevailed here. What is said as Sanatana is confined in the framework of Manu Smriti (the book of sacred laws). Kaliyuga is not ruinous. The four varnas (classes of humans based on soul temperament) exist always. In the Kaliyuga also it is there as in the other yugas. I wish to see that all human beings work for the Light of Truth.
100. Aravind Maharshi has said that Sri Krishna is the Over-Mind who accompanied the Supramental Light to the earth. The Guru-manifestation has been brought by Krishna with the esteem it deserves. Aravind Maharshi was beholding through transcendental vision what Krishna, who was the Guru of Dwapara Yuga, did for the age of Kali, standing in the subtle.
101. I am not away from you. I exist in all of you, as everything. You will get relief from all diseases and attain all sorts of peace, abundance and goodness by your prayers to Me! (This particular Guruvani was received from Guru’s Light by His foremost disciple Sishyapoojitha Amritha Jnana Thapaswini after Guru left the body.)
GURUVANI
1. The very truth, the method and medium of Santhigiri Ashram is to enable people (to) reach the goal of oneness of humanity, forgetting caste and religion.
2. What is taking place in Santhigiri is an effort to realize after evaluating everything that has happened until now, getting rid of its shortcomings and ordering it as required of the age to bring it forward to shape the future state of affairs. This is the revelation of Brahman given to us.
3. The ideology of Santhigiri is not religious law. It is an effort to reveal and correct the mistakes that had occurred in the midst of the society in order to make the people come up.
4. Let all the old remain in its place. Let us absorb the virtues thereof without destroying it. But, that which is evil will indeed be destroyed. This is our spirituality.
5. The truth of Guru is that which reveals or realizes and fulfils each aspect of knowledge. The greatness of this soul is such a truth, in which knowledge and life experiences are in harmony.
6. The religion I believe is of Friendship, Brotherhood and Truth.
7. Word is Truth; when that Truth becomes our experience that is Guru; when it is experienced still more profoundly, it becomes God.
8. Strive to gain purity in these three: thought, word and deed. By this, you will have love for God and God will have love for you.
9. Work without positions of power and achieve through self-sacrifice. It is this sacrifice that saves you.
10. What is taking place in the name of Gurupooja at Santhigiri is in fact Rishipooja – the worship of the sage, who is a Kalantharaguru (the Guru of authority for ages).
11. God is not particular about being worshipped. If you worship, do not distort it.
12. It is better to bring up your children endowed with ‘karmaseshi’ (capacity to perform life’s duty) than saving money for them.
13. Beginning from a grain of sand, for all things in the world that take birth and perish, there is a wholeness (or indestructibility) of its own.
14. The purificatory ways (karmasuddhi) shown to us by God are ‘griha suddhi’ (cleansing of the family line), ‘deva suddhi’ (cleansing of deities-soul’s celestial links), ‘pithrusuddhi’ (cleansing of ancestral souls). Fulfilling these three, entrust to Guru the fourth one (cleansing of one’s soul). This is the essence of Sanatana Dharma.
15. Guru is an unique entity that acts from the perception of the changing epochal processes as well as the traditions pertaining to each age.
16. Can you reach the abode described as ‘Self-Illumined’ (Brahman) just by talking about it? One must strive for it. Only by the strength of endeavour that abode can be reached.
17. We might have to go through some difficulties before certain goodness is achieved. Whatever happens, I would suffer anything for the sake of my generation. I will undergo any sacrifice to bring up the generation.
18. There is no need for self-sacrifice to bow down anywhere. All virtues are submissive to self-sacrifice. Even without any extraordinary feats or miraculous performances, the words of a renouncer will generate bliss in the heart.
19. If there is spiritual endowment in you, you will get it actualized. All the powers that had been the object of your worship will manifest before you.
20. The greatness of creation is that in all living beings the glory of God is manifest. Everything in Nature has been endowed with love, respect, devotion, humbleness and wisdom of its own.
21. God exists where science ends.
22. You should be as noble as an emperor and as humble as a servant.
23. To you who are of virtuous birth and fearless action, I am citing my own example to give courage to you. May you be convinced!
24. There is something to learn even from a small creature. Learning from everything, entertain a persistent desire that with your action you will improve at least one person.
25. The householder should cultivate a method (or wisdom) and effort, while leading an orderly life himself, in order to give the best upbringing to his children. You should take up the responsibilities (karmakanda) related to worldly life; otherwise, there is no use wasting time by wandering here and there.
26. Householders are not meant to live low. With their life, they should earn wealth, knowledge and riches and if necessary even the responsibility of governing the nations of the world.
27. The mind of a father should be as clear as the sky. And the mother should be one who utters profound words.
28. After making us aware of how to refine food and clothing and how to evolve a way of life, the Almighty today is guiding our intellect to the reflection on the Self, leading us to that path in which the soul gets entitled for liberation.
29. Joy and jealousy in excess are to be feared; therefore beware of them, for these will estrange you from God.
30. Do prayers to the One Almighty God and not to the deities and demigods, if you are not to wander for drinking water and food.
31. The law and justice evolved by human intellect are inadequate to sustain the laws of life -dharma of the human being. It does not occur to people why in the name of devotion, they should sway and dance in frenzy.
32. The ideology of Santhigiri is not Vedanta or something likewise. All people should have fulfilment in life.
33. You can attain all goodness and luck through your action. If unable to do anything good, there should be a thought not to perpetuate evil.
34. Do not commit sin for the sake of material gains.
35. It is better to practise self-sacrifice oneself than propagating it.
36. One’s propensities (Vasana) is the accumulation of the vices and virtues at one’s birth. The unique qualities in the soul become virtues and vices at birth.
37. We are not prepared to adopt the goodness shown to us by our ancestors through a life of self-sacrifice. What we see today is the light of their hardships of many ages.
38. The men and women who grow up here are the ones to decide on the course of the world. It is with this awareness of Dharma that we should become great. Our persistent prayer should be to get wisdom, experience and aptitude to act as per the call of time to correct all the mistakes that have happened down the tradition not only in relation to this solar system, but other solar systems too, establishing ourselves in this Dharma.
39. God does not sit where a few rationalists, liberationists, scholars and intellectuals debate together and establish Him.
40. We are all hurrying to take up the lowliest fulfilment in life because of our ignorance, lack of experience and wisdom.
41. The place of the bhakta (devotee) is on the lap of Guru and that of Guru in the heart of the devotee.
42. Be like a deaf, blind, dumb and ignorant person but with the vigilance to know everything. Then only one can gain whatever knowledge.
43. From where does the human life begin? Where do we end? What should we earn by human life, or in other words, after reaching to what extent of wisdom, have we commenced this life? To what extent we have reached today? First get this knowledge by contemplation. If not or if you are unable to do it, find a person (Guru) who is thus capable and following Him, perceive, experience and realize it.
44. Guru, the mother; Guru, the father; Guru, who has realized God; Guru who is God; Thus knowing from one’s birth and climbing up the steps of highest wisdom, seek peace. That indeed is the aim. That indeed is liberation. The human birth is for that indeed.
45. Gurupooja at Santhigiri is a fundamental spiritual performance based on the faith in the One Absolute God which unwinds the knots of accumulated karma of several births by cleansing the ancestral souls.
46. The Gurupooja at Santhigiri is a unique spiritual act that reveals the true aspects of the benign as well as malefic powers, including the deities (devas), manes (pithrus), sages (rishis) and renunciates (sanyasins), worshipped by the ancestors.
47. Gurupooja at Santhigiri is a spiritual act that imparts the knowledge about the (next) Age of Truth (Satyayuga) and the stages of the process leading to it, after completely removing the decadence of devotion due to (lack of awareness of the) shift in Yugadharma and showing the (path of) righteous devotion and wisdom.
48. Gurupooja at Santhigiri is an act ordained by the Absolute wherein the karmic entanglements of several births are perceived, disentangled and changed, lifting the souls to the levels of a deity (deva) or sage (rishi).
49. Is it possible for us to retrieve a good moment wasted by a distorted life?
50. Everyone has Love. But only through perpetual vigilance one can fulfil it to its fullest cognizance.
51. We, who live in this world, need a ‘One’ - an Absolute - for us to survive together. Remaining in that One spread out to everything. That One which embraces everything is the Truth.
52. How much have I done for the sake of my family, the nation, and if necessary, for the world. Each one of you should ask this to yourself.
53. None of us would wish to do an action harmful to ourselves. Then how come we have come to possess so much vice?
54. Each of us should be the possessors of the karma (action) that would (enable us to) go beyond everything that has been coming up (by way of development), contributing towards our happiness, convenience of living, be of advantage to society and become helpful to the whole world and every living being.
55. Realize through Gurudharma (Law of Guru) what was revealed in the past, what is put into practice today and what is to happen tomorrow.
56. Guru is a ‘deerghadarshi’ (far-sighted seer) who perceives and ordains what is needed and what is not needed for a yuga. Guru acts for the transformation of society at a particular point of time.
57. The reality of Guru manifests in the world in the Kaliyuga in its fullness and brilliance. Guru is the perceiver of times – the Trikalajna, who knows the past, present and future. Only a Guru, the beholder of three-fold time, can save you. The Trikalajna Guru is Perfectly Fulfilled.
58. When the evil deeds in the world becomes unbearable to Nature, God transforms these sins into wars, earthquakes and other natural calamities.
59. Do not forget that this world is established in Truth. Therefore, abandon the modes of worship contrary to the Yugadharma as well as sinful actions.
60. If humility leads to Truth, Truth will lead to Guru; and Guru to God. All of you should wish and also strive to become the servers of Truth.
61. The noble course is to comprehend the rights and wrongs that have come in the world until now - be it physical or spiritual - and to find out the reasons behind those rights and wrongs.
62. If you look a little deeply into this atmosphere, countless particles can be seen twinkling and disappearing even within the circle of a one rupee coin. Think that we are only one among such countless atoms.
63. Take up yourself the good and bad of others. It is like this: we should imbibe in our life whatever is good in a person. When you absorb the good in that person, the bad in him should also be taken up as yours. You should then tell him with love that there is such an error in him and that he should get rid of it. And when he gets rid of the bad, a certain vice in our soul also will have gone. If you feel that this person would not heed your words, pray for him everyday for three minutes. Then a God-given occasion will come to you to have an involvement with him. It would be the result of your prayer. Utilise this opportunity in a good way and tell him; he would have followed it certainly. That way we can remove a deficiency in our own soul.
64. This body is the layers (physical encasement) of a soul’s evolution formed through thousands of births. The lack of virtue (punyam) in the soul manifests in the form of different diseases in the body. Such karmic diseases are eradicated by the dharmic path that earns virtue through right action.
65. On getting up in the morning, reflect seated on the bed itself: ‘into what should I develop my home today?’ After attending to the day-to-day affairs at home, live aiming for the betterment of the organization, wasting not even a minute.
66. Life is the synonym of bliss concealed in the chronicle of the present, full of hardships.
67. The sense of ego will veil (block) the grace of God. We are actually nobody and nothing. We should have only this submission that we will pray to the best of our ability.
68. The benevolence of this path of dharma is the performance of Guru and disciple which enables a scholar as well as the ignorant to enquire about the dharma of the age after discerning the differences in the cycles of time – Satya, Treta, Dwapara and Kali.
69. We can distinguish our thoughts and emotions just like separating the different shades of one color, little by little. It is you (oneself) alone who can decide what shall be the path of your action (karmagati) and dharma. It would not do, if someone else decides it.
70. If you can perceive regarding Light, its Avrithi (different manifestations) as also how the Light dissolves, you will be able to know about your karmic propensity (karmagati).
71. Knowing all sorrows, behave with love and bring it in the ambit of your experience and identify yourself with it. Then you will know that the seat of sorrows and happiness is oneself.
72. It is the purity of action (karmasuddhi) in married life that creates the circumstances for the birth of a child useful to the family and society. Are you living in a manner befitting the justice of God? Ask yourself.
73. This atmosphere has in it layers of influence from any number of past yugadharmas (the code of living for an Age) and the five elements.
74. What you need to get is the benefit (virtue) of your actions. You should get that first from God. It is not for the sake of God that you worship God. You should think that it is for your own sake.
75. Prayer can bring goodness to us, our society and to the entire creation (living beings). It should be done as the ‘sankalpam’ of God (God’s Will).
76. You shed tears when there is pain. Even through those tears, pray to God that you should be able to perform His Will.
77. Even if (one is) able to do only a moment’s work, it should be done in the right manner. What is required is the mind and wisdom to work throughout our life with dedication, correcting the shortcomings in the soul.
78. God has given a place for anyone of you to come and assemble. The life of every man begins from the residue of the totality of action and will (sankalpa karma swaroopam), derived from his propensities. What exists embedded in a soul is the truth of interplanetary influences.
79. That the physical and spiritual have been separately considered, does not mean that they are separate. It is just for facilitating the knowledge of certain things. The physical body itself is the basis for spirituality.
80. Kali is the fourth quarter of a ‘Chaturyuga’. It has been taught to us and written down that Kali is bad as well as ruinous. The information that those who take birth in Kaliyuga are possessed by the passion of anger (kali) is not correct. We do not want such (mistaken ) farsightedness.
81. Earn virtue through Karma. Through that virtue, earn good fortune. That good fortune shall become the base for everything. The discipline of Santhigiri is the fulfilment of such action.
82. The fulfilment of monotheism is necessary in Kaliyuga (present era). Because, Kali is the epoch for soul’s liberation (mukti) and for Sudra, God realization.
83. It is in Kaliyuga, the Chaturyuga reaches its fulfilment. With 71 Chaturyugas, a Manvantara gets fulfilled. One cannot talk about the long range of Kali without respecting the epoch of Kali.
84. The long ranges of Kali (present era) need to be perceived transcending the faculties of intellect and thought. Kali is the time favourable – to the day, hour and second - to know the potential of the soul to endeavor with the help of the physical body (which is) experienced in the states of wakefulness (jagrat), dream (swapna) and deep sleep (sushupti). That is the science of the Kali Age.
85. Kali is the age of synchronization of the lives lived in the past, the present and those to come. If one is entrapped in the deviated contemporary ideologies, this synchronization will not be possible.
86. It could be because of the virtue of some past lives, we have got a human birth. We have had innumerable such human incarnations in the past. Even so, we are ruining our destiny ourselves committing numerous errors, unable to cut off from the tradition.
87. As per our faith, the gods and goddesses we have been praying to, as the objects of worship, are our Gods. The legacy of this is entrenched in the ferocious actions beginning from (and belonging to) the ‘satanic’ forces upto the domain of vetala (the state of extreme spiritual bewilderment). This is the greatest blunder we have inherited from our old tradition.
88. The path of Santhigiri is that of the wisdom that brings into our vision and understanding the mistakes of the bygone ages.
89. We have become degenerated with the concepts such as having a separate ‘god’ for each small caste. We can behold the history of long bygone ages, even while supporting the soul suitably in this body, the seat of our accumulated karma.
90. The message of Santhigiri works in accordance with the Will of Almighty. This message will exist always, in all ages, as a Dharma, like a sunrise of abounding blessedness. That is the aim of Santhigiri.
91. What is ingrained in a soul is the history and truth of nine planets. It is not possible to shed light on it with the power of knowledge that measures intellectually. Space Self-illumined: transcending thousands of such planes of illumination and traversing them with the cyclic aeons, the Guru who can determine the suitability of the dharmic path, which sheds light on several earthly planes, and the disciple who has internalised the dharma of that Guru - only can illuminate that (truth).
92. Jnani is the great sage who incarnates after traversing through several aeons in the pathway of the wisdom of changing ages (kaladharma). The Soul of that great Sage - whose austerities, ascending the wheel of time, in obediance to Yugadharma (law of the age), and who emerges sinless - is set apart by the Almighty’s Will. It is this Soul which is used for the voyage of time through many ages.
93. What can be done with those ‘valiant of action’ who bet in the name of great souls? They bring about intellectual ruin, turning the people into lifeless spectators and pushing them under the veil of ignorance. Hatred arising out of the rifts of caste, religion and class has grown among them to such an extent that even if God proceeds to pardon them, it is impossible to resolve these (animosities).
94. Can the field of action (karmabhumi) be gained if the karma (object) to be fulfilled by life is sung, narrated, written off and spoiled? Is there anything else in this other than the mind that obeys or makes others obey through laws? Seen in the world are the theaters of amusement of vices and virtues where God’s words are ‘sung’ (extolled) through one’s intelligence.
95. It would be appropriate if a small hint is given here of my experience for thinking people. I have not been able to find an explanation for my experience, in the tradition of knowledge including (the great text) Brahma Sutra. It is through intellectual exercise verses are written down and explanations attempted. The majesty of the Trimurti (Brahma, Vishnu and Siva) tradition perfected in the Puranas, is an intellectual creation with words and images.
96. The great sages (Mamunis) extol what is seen in the present. The Mamuni is a seer of farsightedness. Mamuni is a great divine abstraction (Atma Sakti) at least in the category of an epochal Guru(Kalanthara Guru). Mamuni is the authority of a minimum seven solar systems.
97. Good things do not grow in all parts of the earth. Likewise, good water will collect only at certain places. When the lunar dust, with the contact of the sun’s rays and the even pressure of the atmosphere, falls down on earth, those dust particles are cultured by the turns of day and night, full moon and black moon and the characteristics of stars. The Soul that transcends all this, one by one, is the life codified in the concept of Guru. Living such a life, the Guru comes as the Word, as the Medium about whose sacred sayings it is said thus - Word is Truth, Truth is Guru, Guru is God.
98. The foremost education gained from the Ashram, is to correct through our wisdom, endeavour, self-sacrifice and action, whatever shortcomings we have in the family. It is not sanyasa (renunciation). Coming to the Ashram, having faith or living in the Ashram is not for adopting sanyasa. It is to learn through one’s life.
99. Sanatana Dharma (Eternal Law of God) has not prevailed here. What is said as Sanatana is confined in the framework of Manu Smriti (the book of sacred laws). Kaliyuga is not ruinous. The four varnas (classes of humans based on soul temperament) exist always. In the Kaliyuga also it is there as in the other yugas. I wish to see that all human beings work for the Light of Truth.
100. Aravind Maharshi has said that Sri Krishna is the Over-Mind who accompanied the Supramental Light to the earth. The Guru-manifestation has been brought by Krishna with the esteem it deserves. Aravind Maharshi was beholding through transcendental vision what Krishna, who was the Guru of Dwapara Yuga, did for the age of Kali, standing in the subtle.
101. I am not away from you. I exist in all of you, as everything. You will get relief from all diseases and attain all sorts of peace, abundance and goodness by your prayers to Me! (This particular Guruvani was received from Guru’s Light by His foremost disciple Sishyapoojitha Amritha Jnana Thapaswini after Guru left the body.)
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Santhigiri Ashram - Invitation for Parnasala Dedication
Gurucharanam Saranam
Santhigiri Ashram
Dedication of Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru’s Parnasala
At Santhigiri Ashram
September 12, 2010
Invitation and Message to Households
Priya Atmabandho,
Respectful Pranams
The construction work of the beautiful ‘Parnasala’ (mausoleum) of Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru at Santhigiri Ashram is nearing completion. Way back in 1968, the Parnasala was a small hut put up by Guru when he established Santhigiri Ashram at Pothencode, near Thiruvananthapuram. Today, it has developed into the tallest lotus-shaped mausoleum in the world built in pristine white Makrana marble. The ‘Parnasala’ is the holy abode where the sacred physical remains of Guru and His Soul Effulgence exist, emitting the vibrations of peace and spiritual joy. Guru through his 72 years of life filled with sacrifice rectified the ‘dharmic’ foundation of society which has degenerated due to a spiritual error in the evolution of man. The Supreme Light informed Guru through revelatory visions certain aspects related to this error. These constitute the ideological foundation of Santhigiri Ashram. On September 12, 2010, the ‘Parnasala’ of Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru is being dedicated to humanity, which will herald a new era of spiritual realization.
The occasion of the dedication of the Guru’s ‘Parnasala’ is most auspicious and forms part of the fulfillment of a glorious mission in the spiritual history of man. Cooperation and participation in the dedication activities mean getting blessed by the love and grace of God. Through this grace of the Supreme, we would be getting ourselves filled by the most valued ambrosial drops from the Supreme Universal Light. We are getting the Guru as our permanent refuge and solace in the life journey. The words from the Supreme Light are ever-memorable that by praying to the Guru, one would get relief from all difficulties and diseases and also will gain all sorts of grace, peace, and luck in life.
We invite you and your family with love and prayers to Santhigiri Ashram, Thiruvananthapuram, on the sacred occasion of the Guru’s ‘Parnasala Dedication’ on September 12, 2010.
With Prayers,
General Secretary
Santhigiri Ashram
PARNASALA
The ‘Parnasala’ of Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru at Santhigiri Ashram is the fulfillment of the work and dedication of countless devotees. The self-surrender of thousands of people has bloomed in the form of the lotus in white marble – the Parnasala. This mausoleum in the form of a full-bloomed lotus excels all modern engineering techniques. It had no existing model for its construction. The ‘Parnasala’ of Guru symbolizes universal peace and spirituality beyond all discrimination of caste and religion. Its gates are open to all people in the world for prayer and worship.
Santhigiri Ashram had a modest beginning in a small hut. It was in this hut that Guru lived and this is where the physical remains of Guru were interred after Guru merged with the Supreme Light on May 6, 1999. It was the Will of God that the ‘Parnasala’ of Guru be built in the form of a white lotus. This has been fulfilled by the tireless dedication of the devotees under the spiritual guidance of Sishyapoojitha Amritha Jnana Thapaswini, the present spiritual head of the Ashram.
The Graceful Abode of Dharma
The ‘Parnasala’ of Guru is the symbol of the invaluable self-surrender, prayers, and sacrifices of countless devotees. Each and every disciple of Guru, the devotees, and their families have contributed to the construction and dedication of the ‘Parnasala’. They readily came forward without the consideration of money or other comforts. The materials for the construction were brought by the devotees to the Ashram with heartfelt prayers. This sense of fraternity, which has no parallel, declares the greatness of Guru’s ideology. During the full moon days, the devotees performed prayers and offerings with the observance of vows (vritam) for the sake of the completion of the ‘Parnasala’.
Guru created a society of people without the differences between high and low or discrimination based on caste, color, and religion. This benevolent model foretells the arrival of good times in the world.
Santhigiri is the abode of spirituality beyond religion. While declaring the purpose behind the dedication of ‘Sahakarana Mandiram’ or the ‘Shrine of Togetherness’ in the Ashram in March 1999, Guru said that “a Guru comes in the world after accomplishing ‘dharma’ through the course of many lives in many ages. He should be able to impart the ‘Dharma’ relevant to the Age. Those who are disposed to this ideology should also understand it.” He further said that “Sahakarana Mandiram is the place where this cooperation is established through the Guru-Disciple Order. There is no place for caste and religion here. This is Dharma - the righteous way of life.”
Santhigiri – the Abode of Dharma! The Eternal Supreme Light embodied in Guru is experienced here through the bliss of spiritual experiences and transcendental visions. Those who love Guru get the vessels of their hearts filled with the ambrosia of Godly love. This is an experienced truth. Santhigiri Ashram works with the aim of guiding humanity through spiritual and physical purity for the progress of mankind and is engaged in life-saving activities such as ‘Annadanam’ (providing free food), ‘Athurasevanam’ (caring for the sick) and ‘Athmabodhanam’ (spiritual emancipation).
The cause-effect principle in Nature is complementary in the spiritual and material growth of man. The mission of Santhigiri Ashram is to enquire into the meaning of spirituality beyond religion founded on the purity of thought and ‘karma’. It is a sacred journey to the unseen dimension of universal peace. It is the ‘mantra’ and nourishing ideology for the deliverance of humanity.
The Aims of Santhigiri Ashram
Facilitate and sustain blossoming of spiritual illumination in children and adults alike, guiding and leading them in the Right Path of Salvation.
Nurture and sustain Divine Grace in people, diffusing the radiance for the benefit of the entire world. Among these love plays the most dominant role.
Cultivate compassion for all beings - humans, animals, and all others alike – fostering divine virtues: selflessness, generosity, fellow feeling, tolerance, and serenity. Thus you love yourselves and God as well.
Strive for absolute purity of mind, word, and deed. Thus you become both a lover and a beloved of the Almighty.
Beware of uncontrolled jubilation or jealousy; both will keep you away from God.
Treat the entire world as your own home; be un-swayed in glory or humiliation, friendship or enmity, praise, or contempt.
Dedicate yourself to compassionate service, care, and charity.
Always regard and give value to the World Teachers and their words.
Hold on to all these in your everyday life. These revelations made here are as destined by the Almighty that always there will be a realized Guru in this lineage.
‘Gurupooja’ at Santhigiri
The ‘Gurupooja’ at Santhigiri Ashram is based on the faith in One Supreme God. It is a spiritual intercession to purify the subtle karmic and ancestral soul entanglements. If the genetic pool of the ancestors is impure and unhealthy, the actions and ‘dharmic’ values of the living become vitiated, which leads to failures and misery in life. The ‘Gurupooja’ of Santhigiri Ashram is a contemplative spiritual intercession (‘Sankalpa karma’) to remove ancestral or genetic impurities that result from meritless and distorted worship. Through this gracious spiritual path founded by the Guru, a new human generation of children will emerge in the world which values righteousness in thoughts and actions. The redemption of humanity in this manner could be done only by Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru, the founder of a new Guru Parampara in the world.
Marriages at Santhigiri Ashram
A society can be healthy only when the people are united in their hearts. Indian society is highly fragmented owing to the division of people on the lines of caste, creed, and religion. These barriers can be removed only when people live together and marry as one community. Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru has created such a model community without the bindings of caste, creed, and religion. The marriages conducted at Santhigiri Ashram are integrating the society by bringing together couples of different castes and religions under the enlightening guidance of Guru. Marriages of matching couples are conducted with the consent of the parents after looking into the soul intricacies (vice and virtue in the soul and in the ancestry) of the couple and the families concerned through extrasensory spiritual perception (darsanam) available from the Light of Guru.
Annadanam at Santhigiri Ashram (Providing Free Food)
Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru was particular that all those who came to visit him should not go back hungry. Even while Guru greatly suffered unable to find the means even for a meal, He was particular to share with others whatever was available. The ceaseless ‘Annadanam’ (three times a day) at Santhigiri Ashram for the past four decades is the result of this endless grace of Guru. Free food is served daily to thousands of people who visit Santhigiri Ashram, and its branch ashrams, from different parts of the world.
Athurasevanam (Caring for the Sick)
‘Athurasevanam’ is one of the fundamental services of Santhigiri Ashram. It is guided by the ‘Nava Arogya Dharma Siddhantam’ or ‘New Doctrine of Healthcare’ expounded by Guru, which takes into consideration the subtle karmic, spiritual and ancestral influences that affect human health adversely. The treatment method promoted by Guru integrates all healthcare concepts prevalent in the world. Santhigiri Ashram produces more than 500 Ayurveda and Siddha medicines in a certified quality and production environment, which makes Santhigiri medicines most sought after. The Healthcare Division of Santhigiri Ashram runs two medical colleges in Kerala (One Ayurveda and one Siddha), hospitals, a Paramedical Institute, Ayurveda and Panchakarma centers and mobile clinics in different parts of the country. The activities of Santhigiri Ashram in the field of Ayurveda and Siddha have contributed to a great extent to the promotion of the Indian indigenous systems of medicine.
Santhigiri Research Foundation
(Recognized by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt. of India &
Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India)
Donations to Santhigiri Research Foundation are exempted under Income Tax Rule 35(I)(ii) & 35(I)
Branches of Santhigiri Ashram
Kerala
Alappuzha
‘Janmagriham’, Chandiroor P.O, Alappuzha District, Ph 0148-2876267
Eranakulam
Santhigiri Ashram, Palarivattam P.O, Kottayam District, Ph. 0481-2552950
Pathanamthitta
Santhigiri Ashram, Near Forest Office, Konni, Pathanamthitta District, Ph. 0468-2245294
Idukki
Kallar Santhigiri Ashram, KP Colony, Kallar P.O, Idukki District, Ph. 04868-236172
Kumili Santhigiri Ashram, Amaravathi P.O, 2nd Mile, Kumily, Iduki District, Ph. 04869-223937
Palakkad
Santhigiri Ashram, Olassery P.O, Kudumbu Via, Palakkad District,
Ph.0491-2802526, 0491-2574556
Wayanad
Santhgiri Ashram, Nambiarkunnu P.O,Cheeral, Sulthanbathery, Wayanad District
Ph.04936262692, 263494, 236494
Kozhikode
Santhigiri Ashram, Aravukunnu, Kizhakkemuri P.O, Kakkodi, Kozhikode
Ph-0495 2673611, 9744101907
Kannur
Santhigiri Ashram, Chendayad P.O, Thalassery, Kannur District,
Ph 0490 2550648
Tamil Nadu
Kanyakumari
Santhigiri Ashram, Leepuram P.O, Vijayanarayanpuram, Kanyakumari, Ph-04652 246464
Madurai
Santhigiri Ashram, Viragannur, Madakuanai, North Bank, Andarkottam P.O,
Madurai District Ph. 0452 6540752
Karnataka
Bangalore
Santhigiri Ashram, PB.No.344, Carmalaram P.O, Sarjapur Road, Kodathi Village,
Bangalore-560 035, Ph.080 28441144
New Delhi
Santhigiri Ashram, Sector VI, Pushp Vihar, Saket, New Delhi
Ph.011 29563718, 011 39529718
Santhigiri Regional Offices
Delhi (Zonal Office)
C-89, Shivalik, Geethanjali Marg, Near Malviya Nagar, New Delhi (South) – 110 017,
Ph- (011)32421077, 26681940, E Mail: santhigirinewdelhi@gmail.com
Guwahati
House No.10, MRD Road, Opp.Assa Eng. Institute Play Ground, Bhamuni Maidan P.O, Guwhati, Assam 781 021, Ph. (0361) 2657536, 2656918, Fax: (0361) 265 7536,
E-mail santhigirighty@gmail.com
Ahmedabad
G-13, The Grand Monarch Near Sheema Hall, 100ft, Anand Nagar Road, Satelite Area, Ahmedabad 380 015, Ph: (079) 26760480, 32991679, 40060489 Fax (079) 26932048,
E-mail: santhigiriahmd@gmail.com
Hyderabad
House No.4, Pavani vilas, Dwarakapuri Colony, Panjagutta, Hyderabad 500 082
Ph: (040) 23323373, 23323387 Fax (040) 30685559.
E.mail: hyd2_savhyd@sancharnet.in
Thiruvananthapuram
Top floor of Santhigiri Bhagini Nikethan Building, No.15/341, SSMC Complex, Pin-695 589
Ph-9287252501, 0471 -271 6279 E-mail: tvmro.santhigiri@gmail.com
Eranakulam
Santhigiri Building, 36/2625 A, Karanakodam, Thammanam, Ernakulam-682 032
Ph-0484-2344918, Fax: 0484-2344918,
E-mail: santhigiriekm@sifi.com, santhigiriekm@gmail.com
Kozhikode
Door No.EP/18/242, Arsons Complex, NH47, Kannur Road, Elathur P.O, Kozhikode 673 303
Ph: 0495-3204666, 2461347, 9287204666, Fax: 0495-2461347,
Email: santhigirikkd@gmail.com
Chennai
No.1458, H Block, 16th Street, 16th Main Road, Anna Nagar West, Chennai-40
Mob:9962055641, E mail: chennaisanthigiri.assh@gmail.com
Madurai
28,Opp.Appolo Hospital, Deputy Collectors Colony, Behind Chitramahal, (IInd Street), K.K.Nagar, MADURAI-625020, E.mail: santhigirimadurai@gmail.com
Coimbatore
Door No. 103, Opp. Best Babyshop, Ramachandra Road East, D.B.Road, R.S.Puram, Coimbatore-2, Ph: 9944708165, 0422 76552897 E.mail: santhigiricoimbatore@gmail.com
Bangalore
No.2/2, ARS Mansion, MICO Factory Road, Adugodi, Bangalore-560 030
Ph:080 65721877, Mob:09243029151, D-mail: santhigiriblr@gmail.com
Goa
10, 1st Floor, Lakshmi Narayan Nivas Bldg, Above Casa Bhat, Behind Muncipal Office, Vasco Da Gama, Goa 403 802, Ph:0832 2516060 E-mail santhigirigoa@gmail.com
Mumbai
Sana Bang low, Plot No.251/264, Gorai, Shimpoli Road, Behind Swamy Vivekananda School, Gorai, Sector 1, Borivili West, Mumbai 91
Tel:022 32443433, E.mail: sasvmumbai@gmail.com, santhigirimumbai@yahoo.com
Dubai
Santhigiri Ayurvedic Centre, #209 Belshalat Building, Karama
Ph: +971 4396 6183, Fax: +971 4396 6184, E.mail: santhigiridubai@gmail.com
For information and contact:
Santhigiri Research Foundation
Santhigiri State Nodal Office, Near Dhanya-Ramya Theatre, Thiruvananthapuram
Dial – 0471-6459390, 2572777, Helpline: 9037077101
Email: santhigirisnc@gmail.com, Website: www.santhigiriashram.org
(Parnasala Dedication Program Notice and Invitation issued from Santhigiri Ashram)
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Teerthayatra of Sishyapoojita Janani
Gurucharanam Saranam
The Teertha of Sishyapoojita Janani Amrita Jnana Tapaswini to North-West
Mukundan P.R.
The Teertha Yatra of Her Holiness Sishyapoojita Amrita Jnana Tapaswini, the Guru Apparent of Santhigiri Ashram was a unique event, which can no less be compared with the great journeys undertaken by sages in the past like Sri Buddha, Mahavir, Adi Sankaracharya or Guru Nanak. These sages through their spiritual odysseys were erecting the edifice of spiritual and cultural transformation. The journey of Sishya Poojita was such a journey for the spiritual and cultural renaissance of India as envisioned by Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru, the founder of Santhigiri Ashram. The teachings of Guru have inspired millions of people in and outside India as it add a fundamentally new perspective to the deep rooted spiritual and social maladies faced by our society today.
Sishyapoojita Janani was accompanied by 56 regular Teertha Yatris throughout the journey. The Yatra commenced on Thursday 5 November, 2009 from the Santhigiri Ashram Headquarters at Pothencode Thiruvananthapuram and concluded at Mumbai on 30th November, It involved more than 5000 KMs road journey through north-western India covering major cities and towns viz. New Delhi, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Waga Border, Rishikesh, Hardwar, Dehradun, Mussouri, Jaipur, Udaipur, Mount Abu, Devgarh, Meerut, Agra, Nad Dwara, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Daman, Vapi, Panvel, Karjat (New Mumbai) and finally Mumbai. Here I will not go into the details of the journey as a travelogue on her Teertha Yatra is about to be published soon as a book. I shall mention only the ideological significance of the Teertha Yatra, from my point of view. Certainly there are many things which I do not know. Whatever little she has mentioned about the Yatra, it has been mentioned in the travelogue along with the wonderful experiences of the Yatra itself.
The Significance of the Teerthayatra
If we look at the present times, we find that there is no dearth of spiritual teachings and ideologies. Volumes of sacred literature are available today, taught by both ancient and modern masters, prophets and Gurus. But when it comes to the realization or practice, we get to a blank. The spiritual aspirants as well as the laity get stuck at a certain level of experience unable to achieve the fullest and the ultimate. This is not the case of a particular religion but is an all-pervasive problem. The spiritual roof of mankind is blackened universally by the suffocating smokes of hatred, greed and suspicion. The lack of love we experience among ourselves is indicative of the distance we have created between ourselves and God. The old and new ideologies, religious and otherwise, have failed to take us forward on the path of peace and enlightenment. The Teertha Yatra of Sishyapoojita Janani was to generate love of God among the people.
Generally people seek immediate solutions to problems. They are unable to go in depth into the cause-effect relationship of problems. The faithful think that the Supreme Power who supposedly created this vast universe could perform any miracles. Let God perform a supreme miracle so that all living beings in the world live happily forever with love and respect. The great Gurus and Prophets wished it so and we too repeat their prayers. But such a miracle does not happen. What is the reason? God always said that the problem lies in you and the remedy also lies within you. Be conscious and alert to the laws of life - to Dharma. This seems to be the restraint of God and silent exhortation to humanity. Know the Dharma, the Will of God. The lifetime effort and mission of Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru has been this – to impart Dharma to the suffering humanity.
A large number of spiritual aspirants today are trying to hide in the pigeon holes of their own ‘Self’. They are taught in sophisticated terms and terminology that the ‘Self’ (Atma) is the Supreme God. This could be a wrong and misleading supposition. The ancient method of yoga was developed in a different age which is being promoted in different fashions today. Its effectiveness in calming the body and mind is indisputable. However, for salvation and soul evolution, there are impediments arising out of physical, spiritual, ancestral and karmic bonds with which every soul is affected. The tranquility of the Self cannot be gained without gaining freedom from the karmic bonds and spiritual entanglements accumulated in one’s soul. One can gain this inner freedom only through selfless service at the feet of the Supreme Guru. The path of Santhigiri Ashram is to overcome the spiritual and karmic difficulties through service at the feet of the Guru.
It is said that the nature of our Self is consciousness. But it is wrong to equate it with the Supreme Light. Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru said; ‘We are not the Supreme, but only part of it’. To equate ourselves with God was the first spiritual mistake or the ‘original sin’ of mankind. One of the four great enunciations of the Vedas itself is that ‘I am God’ (Aham Brahmasmi). A curse has befallen on the world due to this error. Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru conveyed to humanity when and how this spiritual error occurred and with what consequence. This is a new knowledge in the spiritual history of mankind. This was revealed from the Supreme Light to Santhigiri Guru Parampara.
The above said spiritual error occurred in the 3rd Chaturyuga of the present Manvantara and thereafter, due to Godly curse, the sages could not experience spiritual light. In the 7th Chaturyuga, the Supreme authorized Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara - three spiritual evolutes to impart spiritual knowledge to mankind. It was thus the Trimurty worship originated in the world. In the subsequent period, the first error was repeated in the Trimurty tradition also, because, contrary to the Will of the Supreme, the Trimurty were equated with the Supreme God. Again corruption took place in the dharma and karma of mankind. After the 3rd Chaturyuga, now it is the 28th Chaturyuga, which means we have lived with this spiritual fall for several ages.
The pollution in dharma affected mankind in various ways. In the passage of time, a priestly class came into existence. They developed complex rituals imposing discriminatory laws on the less privileged with the help of the rulers and fabricating mythical stories. The people were segregated on the basis of castes and true spiritual knowledge was denied to them. The birth of Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru was to initiate a correction in the dharma and karma of this ancient land. The Guru’s liberating ideology should reach at all door steps for the transformation of India. The Teertha Yatra was to touch the heart of India and its people.
The Sudras, the majority in the society, were encouraged to worship low and evil spirits and follow sinful customs and practices. The status of women was degraded. Women, irrespective of their caste tags, were bracketed under Sudra and denied of spiritual knowledge and enlightenment. The children and the family go astray if the women were ignorant of dharma, karmic and spiritual laws. The Indian society was thus degenerated into depths of despondency, superstition and ignorance. Dharma and Karma when practiced wrong for a long time cause wrong Karma Gati among the people, i.e. wrong karmic tendencies in the soul. The result of wrong Karma Gati would be perpetual misery and downward spiral of the soul and the family. When the families thus become victims of wrong Karma Gati, not only the family, but the society suffers, the nation suffers and ultimately the whole world. So fundamentally what is to be rectified and reoriented is the old perceptive on dharma, which we blindly follow not knowing what merits and demerits it would emboss on our soul and family. The Teertha Yatra was to carry this message to the Indian masses.
Due to wrong worship, ignorance about dharma and karma, the majority of Indians became physically and mentally raw and brutish without any positive inclinations in life. They became Sudra in the real sense. They stood divided even when the cultural and spiritual motifs of the society were being destroyed by foreign invaders. India was crushed. India became a slave country for centuries. Even at such times, the priestly and ruling class, excepting certain valiant men and women, sided with the foreign invaders for their selfish ends. Always, the ordinary people suffered. India suffered. The route of the Teertha Yatra showcased the symbols of this past suffering of India.
The people are used as tools and misguided in the name of religion and politics. How can India escape from this suffering? The spiritual renaissance initiated by Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru addresses this question. Guru said that Kaliyuga is the age of enlightenment for all, especially the Sudra. India is destined to lead the world again, Guru predicted. The Teertha Yatra of Sishyapoojita Janani, the Guru apparent of Santhigiri Ashram is the commencement of this spiritual renaissance of India.
According to Sanatana Dharma, propounded by the great Rishis, each time segment (yuga) in the creation undergoes cyclic evolution, in order that all living beings merge with the Supreme after fulfilling their full growth and potential. Therefore, the soul undergoes birth and death several times, to fulfill the dharma and virtues associated with each birth. Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru said that this cosmic plan is known as Yuga Dharma and each Yuga has its specific dharma. Contrary to this, in the present Kaliyuga, the dharma of the past Yugas – the Treta Yuga and Dwapara Yuga is followed, which is the worship of Devi-Devas (celestial beings and angels) and their propitiation through Yaga, Yagna and other originated in the world. In the subsequent period, the first error was repeated in the Trimurty tradition also, because, contrary to the Will of the Supreme, the Trimurty were equated with the Supreme God. Again corruption took place in the dharma and karma of mankind. After the 3rd Chaturyuga, now it is the 28th Chaturyuga, which means we have lived with this spiritual fall for several ages.
It was Sri Krishna, who, in the beginning of Kaliyuga, hinted about the dharma of Kaliyuga. He exhorted Arjuna to abandon the dharmic precepts that were being followed and surrender to Him (Krishna) as his spiritual guide, the Guru or Master. Krishna, the Guru imparted spiritual vision and experience to Arjuna. Krishna categorically stated that it was not through the learning of the Vedas spiritual realization is gained, but through surrender and devotion to the Guru, the embodiment of supreme enlightenment. Remember that Krishna was the spiritual authority of Dwapara Yuga, born in a Yuga Sandhi (confluence of two ages). He was born in Dwapara Yuga just before the commencement of Kali Yuga. His duty, accordingly, was to assess the past and delineate the dharma of Kaliyuga.
The Vedic tradition, however, refused to accept Krishna’s spiritual authority and in the subsequent period created myths that Krishna was an avatar of Vishnu, a God in the Trimurty tradition. Krishna was thus brought under the Vedic ritualism. The same mistake was repeated in the case of Buddha, who came subsequent to Sri Krishna. It was wrong to do so, because Krishna was a highly elevated soul, a Supreme Guru incarnate, who had transcended the spiritual planes of Trimurty and demigods. The visit of Sishyapoojita Janani and her entourage to Mathura and Vrindavan was to honor that great soul, the manifestation of supreme spiritual enlightenment.
Another revelation of Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru of paramount importance is about the difference between the spiritual status of Devi-devas and a Guru who has transcended the spiritual planes of devi-devas. Guru revealed that there are ten spiritual planes which a soul has to transcend before it could experience the Light of Brahman. The Trimurty and Devi Devas occupy a position up to and below the sixth plane. But the formless truth of the Soul is experienced only after the sixth plane. Sri Krishna was a soul who had transcended the eighth spiritual plane by birth itself. In the Kaliyuga, God is to be worshipped through the medium of the Supreme Guru who comes as the authority of the age.
How do we recognize that Supreme Guru? The Supreme Guru would have transcended the planes of Demigods and Trimurty, i.e. he should have at least transcended the seventh plane in spirituality. He would be a Trikala Jnani and should be able to look into what had happened in the past Yugas and act according to the will of Brahman to initiate corrections in Dharma, as required of the age. That Guru and His lineage will receive revealed words from the Supreme Light to guide humanity forward and his words will be the Vedas for the whole humanity.
Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru is that Supreme Guru, who transcending all spiritual planes, became the authority of the age, whose disciples get revealed words from the Supreme Light of Brahman. The dharma of Kali Yuga is to surrender at the feet of that Supreme Guru, in love and devotion, to attain spiritual enlightenment as well as worldly progress. This is the exalted vision of Santhigiri Ashram. Guru cuts away the wrong Karma Gati of the soul, of the family and the ancestors, which helps the birth of good progeny in the family with physical and mental prowess and also with spiritual vision and enlightenment. Guru removes all barriers of caste, religion, class and creed binding human beings in the love of God. Guru is the reflection, the veil of the impersonal or the formless Supreme Being, the Light of the universe. God is to be realized through the medium of Guru. This is the concept of Santhigiri Ashram. This path, Gurumargam, will join human hearts, liberating them from religious and cultural confinements and narrowness. The Teertha Yatra of Santhigiri Ashram went weaving new threads of spiritual enlightenment in the social fabric of India.
After Guru merged with Adi Sankalpam (merging with the Light of Brahman) on 6th May, 1999, Sishyapoojita Janani Amrita Jnana Tapaswini carries the Light and mission of Guru. Sishyapoojita was born at Kallar in Idukki district, Kerala. She became entitled to the position of the first Sishyapoojita, i.e. the venerated among the disciples in the Guru Parampara through her dedicated life of renunciation from the age of seven, when she met Guru for the first time.
Sishyapoojita receives revelations and transcendent visions from the Light of Brahman, through the medium of Guru and imparts this knowledge for the guidance of humanity. She carries out spiritual intercessions on behalf of the Guru parampara. Sishya Poojita undertook the Teertha Yatra as per the Will of the Supreme through the spiritually and historically important places in North-Western India carrying the message of Guru and performing unique spiritual intercessions inspiring hundreds of people from all walks of life including heads of spiritual, religious, political, social and educational institutions.
The soul of India is ailing. The Rishis and sages are not in peace due to the wrong course of dharma. So too are the ancestral souls who suffer unable to get elevated birth, due to polluted dharma and family institutions. We can understand from the long history of India that her heart has been rent several times by the bloody march of greed, violence and ignorance by depredators, religious crusaders and cruel invaders, both internal and external. The soil of India is soaked with the blood of thousands of innocent souls. Such places appear wearing the dark blanket of wrong Karma Gati. Only by the grace of the Supreme Guru, those places and the souls inhabiting in the subtle could be liberated from the misery and a new vista of light brought through the spiritual intercession (sankalpam) of Sishyapoojita, the Guru Apparent. While burning the old Karma Gati, she paves the way for a new Karma Gati to germinate in those places. Children carrying the light and mission of Guru will take birth wherever Sishyapoojita Janani went during her Teertha Yatra. This is how a Supreme Guru brings transformation to the soul of a society.
The Teertha Yatra of Sishyapoojita was a journey cleansing India of the age old dharmic aberrations. The dawn of change and spiritual rise of India is not far. One well known neurologist, who was accompanying Sishyapoojita in the Teertha Yatra asked her how she performs this spiritual intercession. Sishyapoojita’s explanation was that on reaching a place, she could see in vision the characteristic of that place and the souls connected with it. When these souls come under her observation, she does the sankalpam for their deliverance, or for a suitable birth subsequently so that they could work out the remaining karma. The spiritual visions of several other initiates travelling with Sishyapoojita corroborated with such revelations.
The Teertha Yatra of Sishyapoojita Amrita Jnana Tapaswini was a multifaceted exercise in building goodwill, peace and harmony among different sections of people apart from its deep rooted spiritual connotation. It was not only a spiritual journey, but an educative one spreading the light of knowledge and interaction among the different people and institutions of India in spiritually and historically important places. She visited dozens of important institutions and imparted spiritual bliss and wisdom to more than 3000 people during her journey of 25 days. The Teertha Yatra of Sishya Poojita Janani will ever be remembered in the spiritual history of India. It would take India to the zenith of spiritual glory.
The Teertha of Sishyapoojita Janani Amrita Jnana Tapaswini to North-West
Mukundan P.R.
The Teertha Yatra of Her Holiness Sishyapoojita Amrita Jnana Tapaswini, the Guru Apparent of Santhigiri Ashram was a unique event, which can no less be compared with the great journeys undertaken by sages in the past like Sri Buddha, Mahavir, Adi Sankaracharya or Guru Nanak. These sages through their spiritual odysseys were erecting the edifice of spiritual and cultural transformation. The journey of Sishya Poojita was such a journey for the spiritual and cultural renaissance of India as envisioned by Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru, the founder of Santhigiri Ashram. The teachings of Guru have inspired millions of people in and outside India as it add a fundamentally new perspective to the deep rooted spiritual and social maladies faced by our society today.
Sishyapoojita Janani was accompanied by 56 regular Teertha Yatris throughout the journey. The Yatra commenced on Thursday 5 November, 2009 from the Santhigiri Ashram Headquarters at Pothencode Thiruvananthapuram and concluded at Mumbai on 30th November, It involved more than 5000 KMs road journey through north-western India covering major cities and towns viz. New Delhi, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Waga Border, Rishikesh, Hardwar, Dehradun, Mussouri, Jaipur, Udaipur, Mount Abu, Devgarh, Meerut, Agra, Nad Dwara, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Daman, Vapi, Panvel, Karjat (New Mumbai) and finally Mumbai. Here I will not go into the details of the journey as a travelogue on her Teertha Yatra is about to be published soon as a book. I shall mention only the ideological significance of the Teertha Yatra, from my point of view. Certainly there are many things which I do not know. Whatever little she has mentioned about the Yatra, it has been mentioned in the travelogue along with the wonderful experiences of the Yatra itself.
The Significance of the Teerthayatra
If we look at the present times, we find that there is no dearth of spiritual teachings and ideologies. Volumes of sacred literature are available today, taught by both ancient and modern masters, prophets and Gurus. But when it comes to the realization or practice, we get to a blank. The spiritual aspirants as well as the laity get stuck at a certain level of experience unable to achieve the fullest and the ultimate. This is not the case of a particular religion but is an all-pervasive problem. The spiritual roof of mankind is blackened universally by the suffocating smokes of hatred, greed and suspicion. The lack of love we experience among ourselves is indicative of the distance we have created between ourselves and God. The old and new ideologies, religious and otherwise, have failed to take us forward on the path of peace and enlightenment. The Teertha Yatra of Sishyapoojita Janani was to generate love of God among the people.
Generally people seek immediate solutions to problems. They are unable to go in depth into the cause-effect relationship of problems. The faithful think that the Supreme Power who supposedly created this vast universe could perform any miracles. Let God perform a supreme miracle so that all living beings in the world live happily forever with love and respect. The great Gurus and Prophets wished it so and we too repeat their prayers. But such a miracle does not happen. What is the reason? God always said that the problem lies in you and the remedy also lies within you. Be conscious and alert to the laws of life - to Dharma. This seems to be the restraint of God and silent exhortation to humanity. Know the Dharma, the Will of God. The lifetime effort and mission of Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru has been this – to impart Dharma to the suffering humanity.
A large number of spiritual aspirants today are trying to hide in the pigeon holes of their own ‘Self’. They are taught in sophisticated terms and terminology that the ‘Self’ (Atma) is the Supreme God. This could be a wrong and misleading supposition. The ancient method of yoga was developed in a different age which is being promoted in different fashions today. Its effectiveness in calming the body and mind is indisputable. However, for salvation and soul evolution, there are impediments arising out of physical, spiritual, ancestral and karmic bonds with which every soul is affected. The tranquility of the Self cannot be gained without gaining freedom from the karmic bonds and spiritual entanglements accumulated in one’s soul. One can gain this inner freedom only through selfless service at the feet of the Supreme Guru. The path of Santhigiri Ashram is to overcome the spiritual and karmic difficulties through service at the feet of the Guru.
It is said that the nature of our Self is consciousness. But it is wrong to equate it with the Supreme Light. Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru said; ‘We are not the Supreme, but only part of it’. To equate ourselves with God was the first spiritual mistake or the ‘original sin’ of mankind. One of the four great enunciations of the Vedas itself is that ‘I am God’ (Aham Brahmasmi). A curse has befallen on the world due to this error. Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru conveyed to humanity when and how this spiritual error occurred and with what consequence. This is a new knowledge in the spiritual history of mankind. This was revealed from the Supreme Light to Santhigiri Guru Parampara.
The above said spiritual error occurred in the 3rd Chaturyuga of the present Manvantara and thereafter, due to Godly curse, the sages could not experience spiritual light. In the 7th Chaturyuga, the Supreme authorized Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara - three spiritual evolutes to impart spiritual knowledge to mankind. It was thus the Trimurty worship originated in the world. In the subsequent period, the first error was repeated in the Trimurty tradition also, because, contrary to the Will of the Supreme, the Trimurty were equated with the Supreme God. Again corruption took place in the dharma and karma of mankind. After the 3rd Chaturyuga, now it is the 28th Chaturyuga, which means we have lived with this spiritual fall for several ages.
The pollution in dharma affected mankind in various ways. In the passage of time, a priestly class came into existence. They developed complex rituals imposing discriminatory laws on the less privileged with the help of the rulers and fabricating mythical stories. The people were segregated on the basis of castes and true spiritual knowledge was denied to them. The birth of Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru was to initiate a correction in the dharma and karma of this ancient land. The Guru’s liberating ideology should reach at all door steps for the transformation of India. The Teertha Yatra was to touch the heart of India and its people.
The Sudras, the majority in the society, were encouraged to worship low and evil spirits and follow sinful customs and practices. The status of women was degraded. Women, irrespective of their caste tags, were bracketed under Sudra and denied of spiritual knowledge and enlightenment. The children and the family go astray if the women were ignorant of dharma, karmic and spiritual laws. The Indian society was thus degenerated into depths of despondency, superstition and ignorance. Dharma and Karma when practiced wrong for a long time cause wrong Karma Gati among the people, i.e. wrong karmic tendencies in the soul. The result of wrong Karma Gati would be perpetual misery and downward spiral of the soul and the family. When the families thus become victims of wrong Karma Gati, not only the family, but the society suffers, the nation suffers and ultimately the whole world. So fundamentally what is to be rectified and reoriented is the old perceptive on dharma, which we blindly follow not knowing what merits and demerits it would emboss on our soul and family. The Teertha Yatra was to carry this message to the Indian masses.
Due to wrong worship, ignorance about dharma and karma, the majority of Indians became physically and mentally raw and brutish without any positive inclinations in life. They became Sudra in the real sense. They stood divided even when the cultural and spiritual motifs of the society were being destroyed by foreign invaders. India was crushed. India became a slave country for centuries. Even at such times, the priestly and ruling class, excepting certain valiant men and women, sided with the foreign invaders for their selfish ends. Always, the ordinary people suffered. India suffered. The route of the Teertha Yatra showcased the symbols of this past suffering of India.
The people are used as tools and misguided in the name of religion and politics. How can India escape from this suffering? The spiritual renaissance initiated by Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru addresses this question. Guru said that Kaliyuga is the age of enlightenment for all, especially the Sudra. India is destined to lead the world again, Guru predicted. The Teertha Yatra of Sishyapoojita Janani, the Guru apparent of Santhigiri Ashram is the commencement of this spiritual renaissance of India.
According to Sanatana Dharma, propounded by the great Rishis, each time segment (yuga) in the creation undergoes cyclic evolution, in order that all living beings merge with the Supreme after fulfilling their full growth and potential. Therefore, the soul undergoes birth and death several times, to fulfill the dharma and virtues associated with each birth. Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru said that this cosmic plan is known as Yuga Dharma and each Yuga has its specific dharma. Contrary to this, in the present Kaliyuga, the dharma of the past Yugas – the Treta Yuga and Dwapara Yuga is followed, which is the worship of Devi-Devas (celestial beings and angels) and their propitiation through Yaga, Yagna and other originated in the world. In the subsequent period, the first error was repeated in the Trimurty tradition also, because, contrary to the Will of the Supreme, the Trimurty were equated with the Supreme God. Again corruption took place in the dharma and karma of mankind. After the 3rd Chaturyuga, now it is the 28th Chaturyuga, which means we have lived with this spiritual fall for several ages.
It was Sri Krishna, who, in the beginning of Kaliyuga, hinted about the dharma of Kaliyuga. He exhorted Arjuna to abandon the dharmic precepts that were being followed and surrender to Him (Krishna) as his spiritual guide, the Guru or Master. Krishna, the Guru imparted spiritual vision and experience to Arjuna. Krishna categorically stated that it was not through the learning of the Vedas spiritual realization is gained, but through surrender and devotion to the Guru, the embodiment of supreme enlightenment. Remember that Krishna was the spiritual authority of Dwapara Yuga, born in a Yuga Sandhi (confluence of two ages). He was born in Dwapara Yuga just before the commencement of Kali Yuga. His duty, accordingly, was to assess the past and delineate the dharma of Kaliyuga.
The Vedic tradition, however, refused to accept Krishna’s spiritual authority and in the subsequent period created myths that Krishna was an avatar of Vishnu, a God in the Trimurty tradition. Krishna was thus brought under the Vedic ritualism. The same mistake was repeated in the case of Buddha, who came subsequent to Sri Krishna. It was wrong to do so, because Krishna was a highly elevated soul, a Supreme Guru incarnate, who had transcended the spiritual planes of Trimurty and demigods. The visit of Sishyapoojita Janani and her entourage to Mathura and Vrindavan was to honor that great soul, the manifestation of supreme spiritual enlightenment.
Another revelation of Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru of paramount importance is about the difference between the spiritual status of Devi-devas and a Guru who has transcended the spiritual planes of devi-devas. Guru revealed that there are ten spiritual planes which a soul has to transcend before it could experience the Light of Brahman. The Trimurty and Devi Devas occupy a position up to and below the sixth plane. But the formless truth of the Soul is experienced only after the sixth plane. Sri Krishna was a soul who had transcended the eighth spiritual plane by birth itself. In the Kaliyuga, God is to be worshipped through the medium of the Supreme Guru who comes as the authority of the age.
How do we recognize that Supreme Guru? The Supreme Guru would have transcended the planes of Demigods and Trimurty, i.e. he should have at least transcended the seventh plane in spirituality. He would be a Trikala Jnani and should be able to look into what had happened in the past Yugas and act according to the will of Brahman to initiate corrections in Dharma, as required of the age. That Guru and His lineage will receive revealed words from the Supreme Light to guide humanity forward and his words will be the Vedas for the whole humanity.
Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru is that Supreme Guru, who transcending all spiritual planes, became the authority of the age, whose disciples get revealed words from the Supreme Light of Brahman. The dharma of Kali Yuga is to surrender at the feet of that Supreme Guru, in love and devotion, to attain spiritual enlightenment as well as worldly progress. This is the exalted vision of Santhigiri Ashram. Guru cuts away the wrong Karma Gati of the soul, of the family and the ancestors, which helps the birth of good progeny in the family with physical and mental prowess and also with spiritual vision and enlightenment. Guru removes all barriers of caste, religion, class and creed binding human beings in the love of God. Guru is the reflection, the veil of the impersonal or the formless Supreme Being, the Light of the universe. God is to be realized through the medium of Guru. This is the concept of Santhigiri Ashram. This path, Gurumargam, will join human hearts, liberating them from religious and cultural confinements and narrowness. The Teertha Yatra of Santhigiri Ashram went weaving new threads of spiritual enlightenment in the social fabric of India.
After Guru merged with Adi Sankalpam (merging with the Light of Brahman) on 6th May, 1999, Sishyapoojita Janani Amrita Jnana Tapaswini carries the Light and mission of Guru. Sishyapoojita was born at Kallar in Idukki district, Kerala. She became entitled to the position of the first Sishyapoojita, i.e. the venerated among the disciples in the Guru Parampara through her dedicated life of renunciation from the age of seven, when she met Guru for the first time.
Sishyapoojita receives revelations and transcendent visions from the Light of Brahman, through the medium of Guru and imparts this knowledge for the guidance of humanity. She carries out spiritual intercessions on behalf of the Guru parampara. Sishya Poojita undertook the Teertha Yatra as per the Will of the Supreme through the spiritually and historically important places in North-Western India carrying the message of Guru and performing unique spiritual intercessions inspiring hundreds of people from all walks of life including heads of spiritual, religious, political, social and educational institutions.
The soul of India is ailing. The Rishis and sages are not in peace due to the wrong course of dharma. So too are the ancestral souls who suffer unable to get elevated birth, due to polluted dharma and family institutions. We can understand from the long history of India that her heart has been rent several times by the bloody march of greed, violence and ignorance by depredators, religious crusaders and cruel invaders, both internal and external. The soil of India is soaked with the blood of thousands of innocent souls. Such places appear wearing the dark blanket of wrong Karma Gati. Only by the grace of the Supreme Guru, those places and the souls inhabiting in the subtle could be liberated from the misery and a new vista of light brought through the spiritual intercession (sankalpam) of Sishyapoojita, the Guru Apparent. While burning the old Karma Gati, she paves the way for a new Karma Gati to germinate in those places. Children carrying the light and mission of Guru will take birth wherever Sishyapoojita Janani went during her Teertha Yatra. This is how a Supreme Guru brings transformation to the soul of a society.
The Teertha Yatra of Sishyapoojita was a journey cleansing India of the age old dharmic aberrations. The dawn of change and spiritual rise of India is not far. One well known neurologist, who was accompanying Sishyapoojita in the Teertha Yatra asked her how she performs this spiritual intercession. Sishyapoojita’s explanation was that on reaching a place, she could see in vision the characteristic of that place and the souls connected with it. When these souls come under her observation, she does the sankalpam for their deliverance, or for a suitable birth subsequently so that they could work out the remaining karma. The spiritual visions of several other initiates travelling with Sishyapoojita corroborated with such revelations.
The Teertha Yatra of Sishyapoojita Amrita Jnana Tapaswini was a multifaceted exercise in building goodwill, peace and harmony among different sections of people apart from its deep rooted spiritual connotation. It was not only a spiritual journey, but an educative one spreading the light of knowledge and interaction among the different people and institutions of India in spiritually and historically important places. She visited dozens of important institutions and imparted spiritual bliss and wisdom to more than 3000 people during her journey of 25 days. The Teertha Yatra of Sishya Poojita Janani will ever be remembered in the spiritual history of India. It would take India to the zenith of spiritual glory.
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