The Difference Between Guru and the Deities

GURUVANI

(The Sacred Words of NavajyotiSree Karunakara Guru)

Translated from the original Malayalam



The Difference Between Guru and the Deities



What is the range of the term ‘Guru?’ From someone who does a job to a person engaged in the virtuous work of (imparting) self-realization comes under the definition of Guru. Leaving the field of occupation, when one reaches the spheres of pranamayam (energy sheath), jnanamayam or vijnanamayam (knowledge and wisdom sheaths), mere bookish knowledge becomes inadequate as instructions are to be sought here.


The lack of punyam in the soul gets expressed as various diseases in the body. This has to be cured by employing different methods. Textual knowledge does not help in this. Where textual knowledge does not help, that path of dharma, which enables one to seek merit (punya) through karma (action), helps. Such dharma has influence on the soul as well.


The dynamic of action being such, action without dharma hinders the soul and the body in course of time. A person follows his basic instincts and propensities (vasanas) accrued from past births.


Some may do more good deeds and some tend to do bad deeds more. Sometimes, the individual is not in a position to distinguish between good and bad. Therefore when he does a bad deed, taking it to be a good one, his entire activity turns bad.


Unless one confesses to Guru about one’s negative karma, no solutions can be found and one comes to a dead end. In an excess of devotion (bhakti) some resort to strange deeds and invite people’s displeasure. Yet others imagine themselves to be persons of still higher attainment and would act and even move like a yogi or mystic.


In course of time, the activity of such persons loses clarity. It becomes incomprehensible (even) to themselves. They will not be able to assess for themselves whether the path of initiation (upadesa margam) or the path of concentrating on a favourite deity (ishta devata sampradayam) is suitable for them. Beings in the subtle plane start manifesting before a person who follows either of these paths for some time.


Such manifestations would be according to the evolution of the soul of the devotee. If there is a manifestation, the devotee will be full of zeal in his pursuit. His devotion (bhakti) would also increase. He would start getting visions in the waking state of consciousness (jagrat), dream state (swapnam), profound sleep (sushupti), the higher fourth state (turiyam) and a still higher state (turiyatitam).


The inner visions start with the elementals, go on to lower beings such as matan, maruta, and mantramoorti, and to apparitions of mystics such as yogi, jnani, karmi and so on. Demonic beings capable of creating powerful movements in the five elements are among them.


These are the ‘lords’ in some households and ‘gods’ in some others. The devotee who has visions of them might even get the feeling that these ‘lords’ and ‘gods’ are pleased in his presence. He would then feel proud that he has attained certain heights. He might get visionary experience in dream as well as in the waking state. He would become respected in the locality. In terms of the soul’s growth, some of these persons get stuck at this stage.


If there is no Guru to guide, at this stage a situation may arise, which invites the displeasure of family and neighbourhood. They could say bad things about him and he may even be physically beaten up. Since the devotee has extrasensory experiences, he would still cling on to his object of worship. He would carry on as if his experience is spiritual. He would indeed have many matters to present as authentic! As indicated above, there would also be deeds to his credit that ought to make those around him believe (in him).


Those who follow the path of worshipping a favourite deity like matan, maruta, or mantramoorti would sprinkle holy ashes, engage in tantric rites and initiation rituals, in order to earn people’s respect. These are minor tricks inspired by the deity itself. The devotee and those who believe in him get caught and even incarnations could be wasted this way. This could have happened in past births also (to the devotee).


The practitioners of such devotion might take to wandering, and their end might come on the roadside somewhere. Yet others would practice yoga, initiation through mantras and worship of favourite deities and just pass away (without much progress).


Some work towards altered states of consciousness like pratyaharam and dharana related to the samadhi state. Striving thus, they earn certain spiritual experiences as well as perceptions of life. As they are meticulous about their personal cleanliness and bodily purity, they will be held in high esteem at home and outside.


As they go forward, the lack of soul’s merit (punya) as well as the needs of the body will block their progress. Here things get mixed up. Correction and direction can be received at this stage only from a Guru; Guru becomes inevitable here. That is the depth of the riddle that is Guru.


When visions, as indicated above, are received, and 7444 of them realized, an aspirant attains one ‘stage’. If an individual with a healthy body and punya in the soul strives relentlessly and consistently, it would take 181/2 years to complete this one stage.


Even such completion would take an aspirant (if he is a beginner in spiritual life) only to ‘Vetalanagaram...’ – the realm of powerful but dark (tamasic) beings. If a mistake is made at this level, one would stagnate at the same level through many births and deaths without progress. The line from the Gurugita, “aneka janma samprapta karma bandha vidahine”, could be reflecting this cycle of birth and death.


An aspirant could fall into such error whichever path he takes – be it jnana, karma or bhakti. Some who have come up in the jnana path also have written about this.


Sri Narayana Guru’s Daivachintanam refers to the same experience. It is from his spiritual knowledge that he draws and speaks. To get out of the negative, one must pursue the positive, he says. But he does not make it clear as to how to go about it.


It is one among millions and millions of tyagis (seekers who lead a life of self sacrifice) who becomes capable of getting such a perspective. Many souls incarnate and depart in a variety of ways. In all this there would be truth also. The truth, in words of dharma, is in the correction by discriminating between right and wrong.


A person who completes 70748 visions of this kind will evolve to a high plane (daivasannidhanam) moving closer to the Supreme. Until and unless the human race realizes the value of this great and inexplicable astral process, no one can even guess what the plight would be. Even the rationalists turn out to be exponents of futile efforts in this field.


More dangerous than these aspirants and rationalists who create perverse karmic streams are those poets and thinkers who present a world vision based on intellect, without an inkling of the gross-subtle-cause-effect (sthoolam-sooksmam-karanam-karyam) relationships. The above mentioned rationalism (yuktivada) and liberationism (muktivada) have led to the philosophy of people like Charvaka.


These people have a handicap. They don’t have the maturity of awareness that can lead them to their own liberation. But we keep in mind that they have the skill to open up the storehouse of knowledge of the entire world.


The effort in this area is of two types of devotion -- without using intelligence (mooda bhakti) and devotion born of knowledge (jnana bhakti). Of these, the second group pursues the path of jnana bhakti and will not have any touch with real spiritual experience.

The subjects that their intellects absorb and the writings of those who are in tune with them are of intense value to themselves; everything else would be senseless to them. But legs tire equally for the person who is chased, and the person who chases. Both will fall pathetically in the end. Rationalism and liberationism have only this much of essence.


But the real liberationist is not in these lists. The author of Gita has qualified him with great words: the one who combines intelligence with spiritual power – “budhya yukto yoga balena chaeva.”


Some of the scholars who enthrall people with their textual knowledge are projected as jnanis by some (other kind of) rationalists. There are also persons who are stuck in unthinking devotion (mooda bhakti) till the end. These are the type of people who were described earlier as scapegoats of the sorrow that is Vetalanagaram. People of textual knowledge, no matter how great they are, are slaves to this realm of the spiritual world.


The aspects of gross-subtle-cause-effect (sthoolam-sooksmam-karanam-karyam) are related to the soul’s karma and dharma. The Guru who lends gross-subtle-cause-effect to soul’s karma and dharma should be a bold doer with direct spiritual knowledge and should respect and consider the five elements (panchabhoota), five senses (panchendriya), five sheaths around the soul (kosas), the individual soul (jivatma), the Absolute (paramatma) and dharma.


Without Guru, the aspirant may reach the aberrant state of the liberationist/rationalist whose action does not bear any fruit.


Thiruvalluvar does not seem to have discussed dharma, artha, kama and moksha but he has made references based on them. It is not possible for an ordinary person to function without these.


As far as liberationism and rationalism are concerned, they do not rise up to any conceptual height. It does not help to forget the fact that at this point every one falls. Reason and liberation are two ideas which deserve special and serious consideration. Such consideration is a way to freedom.


The dharma of Guru is eternal and inscrutable. Guru is the giver of vision (knowledge) pertaining to the level of the atom, the indivisible totality (akhandata) and the object of one’s worship.


He possesses the clarity of knowing the past, present and future. He can impart that proof to others as well; he causes recurrence of their life situations, to reach a corrective solution.

The difference between Guru and deity is immense. A life without realizing this is fruitless. The deities worshipped – devas and devis - are nothing at all in comparison with the visionary disciple of such a Guru.

Reordering Hinduism: A Workable Guruparampara

Gurucharanam Saranam



Reordering Hinduism: A Workable Guruparampara

(From the Teachings of Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru)




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



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

Guru further said:

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The Blessed Mantra of Peace

Gurucharanam Saranam

The Blessed Mantra of Peace
Dr. George Onakkur

In my reminiscence that had the luck of meeting Guru – Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru in person fills the fragrance of peace. That happened as fate would have. Like my honored friend Sri O.V. Vijayan (now late), I too was guided to the presence of Guru by our dear sister Usha. One day, O.V. Usha came to see me at my home. Rather than on her life of a poet, she talked more on her spiritual odyssey. That gave me a rare solemn feeling. To my question when I would be occasioned to the abode of Guru, her answer was, ‘always’. By her clarification further, I felt that Guru was expecting me extempore. If that was so, I should not delay it further, an inner voice persuaded me. Thus I was visited by the chance to travel the paths of prayer to Santhigiri.

My mind was almost full of uncertainty when I reached at the Ashram gate by noon. Wouldn’t be the Guru resting at this uncertain hour? Will my presence create disquiet in the tranquility? Doubts galore! But the moment I entered the Ashram lawns, the news that Guru was waiting for me came along, like a tender breeze. I walked up courageously to the proximity of that Foot.

Even today, I mentally prostrate before that gracefulness of the Rishi, who, clad in pure white, stretched both hands and held me aside, with serene smile. All uncertainties fled me and the ocean of my heart became tranquil, all the waves having subsided.

Not a word came out of me. I was standing bowing before that figure of tranquility.

‘Please sit down….’ Guru instructed and I obeyed.

‘Have you had your food?’ His words were caring.

‘I already had’.

‘That will not do. You may take something from here’. He instructed compassionately.

‘Surely then’, I responded.

Guru himself served me snacks and sweets. I felt no thirst or hunger. I experienced in the honeyed words, the grace of Guru what I had sought. There is no ideological exhortation, no spiritual advices. The bosom-touch of creation like that of a child lying in the lap of its mother! It was always like that. In all the days that I came to see Sri Karunakara Guru, I blissfully bathed in the milky ocean of love, earned the happiness of spiritual elation. This kind of bliss was rare in my too ordinary life. Everlasting, solemn encounters that lift one to vitality from the low planes of worldliness!

I continue the practice of visiting the Ashram searching for the precious moments of peace which the grace of Guru bestows. In Santhigiri, Guru is still present. That spiritual luminescence glows eternally blessing the devotees. I have had plenty of opportunities to be witness to that lively Presence during the meetings in the Ashram. What I experienced on those occasions is the elating blessings of Guru overflowing me. I have the convincing experience that Santhigiri is the central place of spirituality.

What attracts me most in the Ashram is the real peace that is gained by the disturbed minds. That happens in many ways. God should manifest as food before the hungry stomachs. For the sick, he should be a doctor. He should be the ambrosial words of wisdom for those who seek spiritual truth. In the initial period of my visit to the Ashram, I had understood that more than 500 people partook in the Annadanam (offering of free food) being conducted. I remember that that benediction was extremely filling me with pride. However, today it is solace to thousands, daily. The growth of Santhigiri in the field of Ayurveda treatment is amazing. A situation wherein worries of the mind and afflictions of the body get dissolved! For the soul and body to become equally healthy, the contribution of Santhigiri is matchless. Equally glorious is the studies and exhortations of Guru full of Guru’s ambrosial grace.

The great luminance of a new philosophy suitable for human uplift and cultural renaissance is brightening up this hillock with full of light. The message of Santhigiri is the basis for the development of human civilization untouched by the thoughts of caste and religious differences and the quietude produced by it. The contribution of Santhigiri is the Himalayan-like spiritual elevation wherein takes place the confluence of three such great streams – triveni sangam. That is the blessed mantra of enduring peace for the present times distressed by the disquiet and inglorious maladies of its own.

(The author is a well known Malayalam literature)
Courtesy: Janmadina Poojita Samarpanam Souvenir 2005, Santhigiri Publications
Translated by Mukundan P.R. from the original Malayalam

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.

Navapoojitam Celebrations - Press Release issued from Santhigiri Ashram

Gurucharanam Saranam

PRESS RELEASE

PRANAB MUKHERJEE TO INAUGURATE NAVAPOOJITAM CELEBRATIONS OF SANTHIGIRI ASHRAM

Santhigiri Ashram, Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 21: Union Finance Minister, Sh. Pranab Mukherjee, will inaugurate on August 23rd, Sunday, the month-long ‘Navapoojitham’ celebrations, marking the 83rd birthday of Navajyothisree Karunakaraguru, the founder of Santhigiri Ashram.

The function, to be held at the A J Hall at Ernakulam, at 6.30 p.m. will be presided over by Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Prof. K V Thomas. The keynote address will be delivered by KPCC President, Sh. Ramesh Chennithala. The release of a book containing ‘1001 Guruvanis’ will also be done on that day. Kochi Corporation Deputy Mayor, Sh. C K Manishankar, CPI district secretary, Mundakkayam Sadasivan, BJP district president, Nedumbaserry Ravi, Santhigiri Ashram Director, Swami Navananma Jnana Thapaswi, actor-director, Sh. Madhupal and Santhigiri N N Communications AGM, Sh. G Jayakumar, will also speak on the occasion.

The main programmes connected with ‘Navapoojitham’ will be held at the Santhigiri branch ashrams at Ernakulam, the birthplace of Guru at Chandiroor, Alappuzha, and at New Delhi besides the main ashram premises at Pothencode, Thiruvananthapuram.

A function to formally declare the ‘Navapoojitham’ programmes and to mark the 9th anniversary of the consecration of the ‘parnasala’ at the Ernakulam branch ashram will be held on August 22nd, Saturday. Kerala High Court Justice Haroun Al-Rashid will inaugurate the function at 10 a.m. at the Ernakulam ashram premises. Kochi Mayor, Prof. Mercy Williams, will preside over the function. The programme declaration will be made by Swami Satyaprakasha Jnana Thapaswi, President, Santhigiri Ashram. The keynote address will be delivered by the Ernakulam District Collector, Dr. M Beena. Santhigiri Ashram General Secretary, Swami Chaithanya Jnana Thapaswi, Kochi Corporation Councillor, Sh. P J Vinod, Ernakulam Santhigiri Ashram Advisory Board President, Sh. C K Venugopal, Santhigiri Vishwa Samskarika Navothana Kendram (VSNK) president, Sh. D Pradeep Kumar, regional manager, Sh. Subhash Chandra Bose, Santhigiri Mathrumandalam secretary Girija Chandran and Advisory Board secretary R Satheesan will also speak on the occasion.

At 11.30 a.m. on August 23rd, Sunday, Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Prof. K V Thomas, will inaugurate a public meeting at Chandiroor Santhigiri Ashram, following a ‘Janmagriham Teerthyathra’ (procession around the Guru’s birthplace) at 8 a.m. Kerala Agriculture Minister, Sh. Mullakara Ratnakaran, will preside over the function. Advocate A. M. Arif, MLA, will felicitate local agricultural families who have been tirelessly working for the development of agriculture in and around Chandiroor. Chandiroor Santhigiri Ashram ‘karyadarshi’, Swami Gurumithran Jnana Thapaswi, Aroor grama panchayat president, Smt. Leela Thanjan, district cooperative bank president, Sh. C V Chandrababu, Janata Dal state committee vice-president, Sh. Varghese George, Aroor grama panchayat member, Sh. P P Sabu, BJP district committee member, Advocate V Padmanabhan and VSNK secretary, Sh. V Ajithkumar, will speak on the occasion.

The Navajpoojitham function at the New Delhi Santhigiri Ashram will be inaugurated by Delhi Legislative Assembly Speaker, Dr. Yogananda Shastri, on August 23rd. Delhi Health and Family Welfare Minister, Prof. Kiran Walia, will preside over the function. Dr. Syed Zafar Mehmood, President, Inter-faith Coalition for Peace, and Ms. Annie Raja, general secretary, National Federation of Indian Women, will also participate in the function.

The ‘Navapoojitham’ celebrations at Santhigiri Ashram, Thiruvananthapuram, will commence at 3 a.m. on August 25th, Tuesday. ‘Pushpanjali’ will be held at 5 a.m. followed by prayers and flag hoisting at 6 a.m. ‘Gurupadavandanam’ and floral offerings at the Guru’s feet will take place from 6.30 to 9 a.m. The ‘Navapoojitham’ public meeting will be held at 9 a.m. Prayers and ‘Gurupooja’ will be held at 12 noon and ‘Deepapradakshina’ at 7 p.m. The functions will conclude at 11.30 p.m. with floral offerings and ‘pushpanjali’ at Guru’s feet.

The ‘Navapoojitham’ public meeting will be inaugurated by Kerala Food Minister, Sh. C Divakaran, and presided over by Devaswom Minister Kadanapally Ramachandran. Sh. A Sampat, MP, will release the ‘Navapoojitham Souvenir’ on the occasion. Former MP, Sh. Varkala Radhakrishnan, will deliver the keynote address. Felicitations will be offered by Smt. J Arundhati, Advocate M A Wahid, and Sh. Thomas Chandy, MLAs, Sh. J Alexander, former Karnataka Tourism Minister, Sh. Srinivasalu, IAS, Labour Commissioner, Andhra Pradesh, Sh. G Vamadevan, president Pothencode grama panchayat, Dr Kiran, zonal manager, Santhigiri Ashram, New Delhi, and Dr. P A Hemalatha, secretary, Mathrumandalam. Sh. K Satheesan, secretary, VSNK, will give the vote of thanks.

On September 20th, Sunday, the concluding day of the ‘Navapoojitham’ celebrations, Guru Mahima, the young women’s organization of Santhigiri Ashram, is organising a youth meet at 10 a.m. This will be inaugurated by union Food Processing Minister, Sh. Subodh Kant Sahay and presided over by Leader of the Opposition in Kerala, Sh. Oommen Chandy. The keynote address will be delivered by Sh. N Peetambara Kurup, MP. Sh. Kadakampally Surendran, secretary, CPM district committee, will release a special edition of ‘Umminithankam', an ashram publication. Felicitations will be offered by Sh. Koliyakode Krishnan Nair, president, State Cooperative Bank, Sh. P K Krishnadas, president, BJP Kerala unit, Advocate B Balachandran, president, Manickal gram panchayat, Dr T S Somanathan, treasurer, VSNK, Sh. V Subhash Chandra Bose, Project Chief, DISA, Santhigiri Ashram, and Brahmacharini Dr. Anu, secretary, Guru Mahima. Sh. T K Unnikrishnaprasad, DGM, Operations, Santhigiri Ashram, will offer the vote of thanks.

The month-long ‘Navapoojitham’ celebrations will conclude with a ‘Poorna Kumbhamela’ procession around the ashram complex, commencing at 4 p.m.

Swami Gururethnam Jnana Thapaswi
Organising Secretary, Santhigiri Ashram

Guru Never Disappoints a Devotee

Gurucharanam Saranam

Bangalore, Year 1995. Mrs. Anand Ram, mother of Janani Rishi Retna Jnana Tapaswini called me in the office informing that those who have ‘experiences’ should reach Kanyakumari. I was surprised because she had rarely any reason to call me. Guru would be arriving there for the performance of a special sankalpam. Sitting in the boredom of office, the news was exhilarating. I reached Vivekananda Kendra at Kanyakumari, the venue, early in the morning. Guru was expected to reach in the afternoon. Sri Iyer and other organizers were present.

Arrangements for Guru’s accommodation were done at two places, one at Travancore Maharaja’s House on the seashore and the other at Vivekananda Kendram. Sri Kottayam Babu and Sri Surendran (Now brahmachari) were cleaning and preparing the rooms for Guru at Vivekananda Kendram. The rooms and bathroom were thoroughly brushed and cleaned with water and surf powder, then detoxified with fumes and then scented. I also contributed my might in cleaning and preparing the accommodation of Guru. I felt an inner satisfaction while rubbing the floor that I could get such an opportunity. I earnestly prayed that Guru should feel comfortable and pleasant in the room that I cleaned. The rooms at Travancore House too were getting ready simultaneously. No one knew to which place Guru would go. As I had sincerely prayed and exerted much cleaning the room at Vivekananda Kendram, I expected Guru to come to Vivekananda Kendram. But soon information came that the cavalcade of Guru has approached Kanyakumari and that Guru would be going straight to Travancore House.

Soon the cavalcade arrived and I knew that Guru went to Travancore House. Some of us went to Travancore house and met Guru. After sometime or the next day morning (regret my failing memory) all people were asked to immediately assemble at Vivekanada Kendram for the sankalpam. Thousands of white clad devotees sat down wherever possible in the vast lawns of Vivekananda Kendram and did the sankalpam. I do not remember the lines of sankalpam Guru gave us that day, but it was a major sankalpam Guru did for the spiritual uplift of India. A procession was also taken the same day through Kanyakumari town to the sea beach, where Guru spoke to the assembly of devotees from a dais built for the purpose on the beach. Guru spent the night at Travancore House. The room arranged for Guru at Vivekananda Kendram was occupied by few ladies in the night as all other rooms in the centre were occupied. I felt irritated by this fact. I had cleaned the room with extreme devotion and prayers for Guru. But now it was all futile.

The following day Guru came to Vivekananda Kendram. A welcome was arranged by the staff and devotees at Vivekananda Kendram for Guru. Guru spoke to the assembly and gave prasadam to all people at Vivekananda Kendram. Devotees also received prasadam from Guru. After the function, Guru stepped down the dais, the usual disciples holding his hands in accompaniment. Guru walked through the pandal to the vehicle parked nearby on the road. Devotees thronged both sides to have a glance at Guru. I still remember the gentle and tender figure of Guru walking, exuding more light than the brilliant daylight around. His was truly a divine form. Though I was enjoying all this, I still felt a vacuum in my heart thinking about the vain job I have done for the sake of Guru in preparing his room. It was all over now.

Guru was seated in the car and it began to move round the curve, the devotees still following him. I lazily stayed behind watching the disappearing vehicle of Guru. I turned back trying to figure out about my return journey. After a few minutes, I found people still thronging in the pathway Guru’s car went. The people were crowded near the room which I had cleaned the previous day for Guru’s stay. I immediately went up there to find out what was happening. Then the devotees said that Guru was resting in the room. After sometime, the cavalcade of Guru moved on again its way back to the ashram. The room Guru got into and rested was the one I cleaned and prepared for him the previous day. Guru never disappoints a devotee in the matter of sincere love and devotion.

The Mission of Santhigiri Ashram

Gurucharanam Saranam

The Mission of Santhigiri Ashram

Mukundan P.R.

In the process of a fundamental evaluation of spirituality, in a life dedicated to godly love and realization of truth, it was revealed to Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru that a catastrophic error in regard to god realization had happened several ages ago, which has affected the moral and spiritual edifice of mankind adversely. This error is not only in reference to India but encompasses the whole world in its consequence.

Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru explained about the division of cosmic time zones into Yuga, Chaturyuga, Manvantara and Kalpa and the variations in dharma – the values, way of life and god realization applicable to each yuga or era which happens according to the will of Brahman. It is called the Sanatana Dharma or Manu Dharma. Sanatana Dharma means the eternal and universal dharma of mankind. Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru interprets this concept in a new light and angle.

In the present Manvantara, i.e. in the 3rd chaturyuga of the seventh Manvantara, contrary to divine ordination, human logic was weaved into the practice of dharma and god realization. This error or ‘original sin’, if it may be called so, had happened 25 chaturyugas back, i.e. several millions of years ago, in the long history of the rise and fall of civilizations that may even go beyond our present solar system. What followed was a spiritual barrenness in the subsequent ages, eclipsing the awareness about the divine ordination for human evolution.

The cosmic plan of human evolution as exemplified by Sanatana dharma, the eternal religion of mankind, through the transcendental vision of rishis and sages was subsequently altered to suit the trimurthi system which followed after the great spiritual cataclysm. Trimurthi system or Hinduism, as it is popularly known today, is but a distortion and misinterpretation of Sanatana Dharma through interpolations, mystic tales, superstitious beliefs and discriminatory practices and rituals which have weaned people away from a righteous life.

Guru critically evaluates the absurdities of caste system and the negative mental and physical consequences resulting from degraded worship and social customs such as worship of evil spirits, pagan rites and rituals including sorcery, magical spells, tantric practices, untouchability, casteism, social embargo of various nature etc, all of which caused the downfall and disintegration of society.

Several sages and prophets have come in the world to lead humanity, but the religions founded in their names have, as may be seen, lost their internal cohesion and have been fragmented into many conflicting sects stifling the process of human transformation against the will of God. Instead of germinating peace, harmony and good will people have been alienated in the name of religion and castes and are being tormented. A situation prevails here that thwarts the unity of people because of the age old religious and social structures and prejudices.

The mission of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru is to warp a new generation of people with mental and physical prowess to live up to the ideals as ordained by God exterminating social barriers and discriminations of all sorts. It calls for unshakable faith in truth, a sense of sacrifice and limitless love and faith in the oneness of humanity holding on to the guidance of Guru, the medium.

Faith is the firm determination of the mind to fix it on the merciful experiential Light of the Divine. It also means the faith in Guru, the personified Godhead, through whom the experience of the divine is imparted. One identifies and submits himself or herself in word and deed with the benevolent mission of Guru. This is the essence of Guru Margam – the Path of Guru.

Non-believers mean those who have not yet reached the above said state of mind and who follow the blind observance of tradition as well as those who are atheists. No goodness can be derived from the practice of and allegiance to degrading principles and lifestyle as it causes the destruction of virtue in the soul and the consequent fall of the individual and society.

The progress and fulfillment of a person depends on the quotient of goodness, virtue or blessedness in the soul. The merciful Guru is ever concerned about the uplift of such souls and advises the path for earning of virtue in this short span of human life. Guru exhorts us to work together for the obliteration of filth in our soul and society, accumulated by the past deeds of our ancestors and ourselves so that our progeny will be freed from the pollutions of culture and tradition.

Pollution of culture has its root in the thoughts and actions of several generations of our forefathers molded through tradition and way of god worship. Unless those cultural and soul imprints in the psyche of the society are cleansed, the transformation of the society in the desired direction becomes difficult. This goal of cultural cleansing cannot be achieved through socio-political means, as it requires the spiritual guidance of an epochal preceptor, who comes as the authority of the age by divine decree. Such a preceptor perceives the riddles of time and space, light and energy, life and death in perfect tune with the cosmic reality.

The Gurupooja of Santhigiri Ashram is this karmic, genetic, spiritual and cultural cleansing, through the spiritual intercession of Guru. Guru pooja holds out the promise and hope for a global cultural and spiritual renaissance through the birth of a new generation of children unaffected by physical, mental, cultural, spiritual and hereditary negativities. Today thousands of families from a society divided by the walls of caste, religion and class have migrated to a new spiritual movement of equality, spiritual experience and guidance. Guru created for them an enviable model of self-sufficient community living that has become the succor and hope of thousands of people, engaged in various professions, trade and enterprises in Santhigiri Ashram.
The fundamental aim of Santhigiri Ashram is thus a cultural and spiritual regeneration of humanity as expected of this ascending age of Kali Yuga in the process correcting the fundamental error occurred in the practice of Sanatana Dharma that led to societal degeneration and fragmentation worldwide, threatening the peaceful existence and growth of human society.

Gurucharanam Saranam

SANTHIYATHRA- WATER ENVIRONMENT & PEACE
[a movement for global peace]

BRAINSTROMING WORKSHOP
SUNDAY 28th JUNE 2009, 10 AM to 5PM

Venue: Kanakakunnu Palace Auditorium, Thiruvananthapuram

Key Address: Sri. K.Jayakumar IAS, Additional Chief Secretary & Home Secretary

Valedictory Address: Sri Mullakkara Rathnakaran, Hon’ble Minister for Agriculture

In connection with the dedication of Parnasala (the shrine of global peace) to humanity, Santhigiri Research Foundation proposes to organize a SANTHIYATHRA from Kashmir to Kanyakurai from September 2009 to January 2010 upholding the major cause of global peace.

The yathra arranges platforms for serious discussions and public awareness programmes in all states of the country on peace related subjects like land, water, environment, health, lifestyle, communal harmony, national integration, anti-terrorism etc.

The brainstorming workshop intends to discuss mainly the strategies for;

· Event Organization
· Fund Mobilization
· Public Attention
· Partnership & Collaboration

Athmabandus & Well-wishers who wish to participate in the brainstorming exercise may contact State Nodal Centre, Thiruvananthapuram most immediately.

Sugestions on the points for discussions are also welcome

SANTHIGIRI RESEARCH FOUNDATION
DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES OF SANTHIGIRI ASHRAM (DISA)

STATE NODAL CENTRE, SANTHIGIRI ASHRAM, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
[Phone: 0471-6459390, Mob 9249422026, E-mail santhigirisnc@gmail.com ]

The Sadhu from the Himalayas

Gurucharanam Saranam

The Sadhu from the Himalayas

Babu was a young boy when he left his home in a village in Kerala. Unlike other children, he disliked to be at his home. He visited unknown households and offered his service to the family. As he was only a small boy, the householders would accede to his strange request and allow him to stay. Eventually his whereabouts would be found out and his parents would arrive to take him back home. Once, his outings became serious when he reached Crawford market in far away Mumbai. From there fate whisked him away to a group of spiritually thinking men. And it was serious again.

One fine morning, Sri Babu became a no-nonsense Sadhu in orange cloths with a heavy burden of matted hair and an equally long beard, wandering in the Himalayas in the manner of ascetics. He was in the race for the spiritual trophy like many other ascetics atop the Himalayas. But the trophy never came in his hand leaving him languid and mirthless. Then he took up a seven year long vow of annual visits to Ajmer Darga in Rajasthan. Now his desperation became uncontrollable, for his years long vow has ended, but the doors to spiritual attainment weren’t still opened. He was furious and caught the neck of the Fakir guarding the tomb in Ajmer Darga. ‘Give me the clue’, Babu Swami thundered. ‘I am on this vow for the last seven years’.

The Fakir quietly took him to an inner recess. After offering some drinks, he mentioned that the clue will be available only at another Darga connected with Ajmer Sahib Family nearby. Collecting the information, he set out immediately and reached the Darga a few KMs away. There too a fakir was guarding the tomb. He took permission from the fakir to tell his prayers. He asked the question of his life to the tomb. ‘You will get it at Kanyakumari’. The tomb said. When I asked him how the tomb gave him the clue, he said it was in the manner of soul communication. Unbelievable, but true! I would not have said so, if I had not got such experiences myself. I have had such experiences with Guru.

Babu Swami then headed towards South and took abode at Kanyakumari, but even after three years, the promised spiritual breakthrough still eluded him.
Babu Swami’s brother had a marble show room near Vyttila in Ernakulam town so he decided to visit him once. He reached Vytiila at the predawn hours. After walking a little he decided to wait at the veranda of a shop. While sitting there thus, he saw a vision of Christ. He thought to himself that the vision was significant. He got up and asked somebody the way to Shanthi Marbles, the brother’s marble show room and went in the direction shown and reached at the gate of Santhigiri Ashram, Ernakulam branch near Palarivattam. The person had directed him to Santhigiri Ashram instead of Shanti Marbles. Babu Swami saw a water pipe near the road that went to the Ashram. He bathed sitting under the pipe and felt fresh. The morning was still in its meditative mood and the bustle and hustle of life was yet to begin in the area. Babu Swami entered the Ashram stepping his right foot first. He had felt some genuine spiritual vibration in the place and a tender hope flickered in some roughened corner of his heart.

The Swami in charge welcomed him and offered breakfast. After breakfast the Swami instructed the mother of Sri Balakrishnan (now Swami Vishwabodha Jnana Tapaswi) to talk to the Sanyasi about the ways of the Ashram. They were speaking in Malayalam. But he feigned ignorance as they had already took him as a North Indian Sadhu, who did not know the local language. As instructed, Swami’s mother explained about the Ashram. She told him that the Ashram followed a system different from that of temple worship and that they followed the Guru in all matters concerning life and death. The Ashram even differed radically with the traditional sanyasa concept in some important aspects.

Babu Swami then asked her where their Guru was available. She gave the detail of Santhigiri Ashram, Pothencode. Babu Swami took her leave and fixed up a meeting with his brother in Shanti Marbles. The family members had forgotten him, but his brother recognized him. He called his brother out from the shop. ‘I require some money urgently’, the Swami said to his brother. ‘I shall be hanging around. You may come with the money to Marine Drive. I shall be there in the park. I require the money to go to a place in Thiruvananthapuram ’. As agreed, the brother came and handed over the money to him.

At the serene gateway of Santhigiri Ashram, Pothencode stood a dark looking Sanyasi with heavy matted locks perched on his head and equally long beard flowing down to the chest. His eyes had a fierce expression. His rugged appearance and manners bespoke of the rigor the life of a sanyasi is subjected to living in the wilderness, wandering from places to places. The person at the reception was startled at the sight of the Sadhu. He guided him immediately to the Ashram office.

The Sanyasi was not very communicable. One person by the name Vinayakan came there and asked him, ‘Swamiji, what is your name? Where are you from? What are you doing?’ The Swami ignored his questions and asked him to tell the Guru that one of his devotees had come to see him. The sanyasi waited and waited, but the Guru did not see him. Suddenly the Swami disappeared from the Ashram. Everybody looked for him in the Ashram but all at once he was missing.

The Swami went straight to the nearby town and entered a barber shop. He asked the barber to shave off his matted hair and beard. The barber was taken aback. He was afraid to cut his locks and therefore asked the Swami few times for confirmation. Then he proceeded with his solemn job and transformed the Swami beyond recognition. The Swami now was clean shaven with short thick disobedient hair. He bought a white dhoti and shirt too and wore it discarding the sanyasi dress. Now he looked like any other youth on the road. He was now Sri Babu from Kottayam, not any Babu Swami from the Himalayas.

At Santhigiri Ashram, the youth was welcomed as any one of the people visiting the Ashram daily. After little waiting, the meeting with Guru also took place. He prostrated before Guru in full length. Guru asked him to tell him in brief about his life. He told his story in brief. Guru then advised him to join his family at Kottayam. Understandably it was a difficult option for Babu and a totally unexpected advice. He was reluctant to go back home. Guru called him in his room. With folded hands, Guru requested him to go back to his house. It was a begging. Sri Babu could not bear this sight. A great soul begging a wretched soul like him! He immediately fell on the feet of Guru and said, ‘Guro, I will go to my house immediately’.

Thus Sri Babu went home at Kottayam and lived with his family for a few years during which period he lost all his spiritual charisma. Petty quarrels and fights at home dragged him cruelly to a world highly detested by the Himalayan sadhus. The sadhus had only one bond, the bond with the Supreme. Babu endured all troubles of family living and mellowed down to become a normal worldly person.

Year 1995. Spirited preparations to receive Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru at Kanyakumari were going on at Vivekananada Kendram and at the Travancore palace adjacent to the seashore in Kanyakumari. The rooms earmarked for Guru both at the Palace and Vivekananda Kendram were being thoroughly cleaned, wiped, fumed and perfumed with all other paraphernalia in place. Three persons were also instructed to offer ‘thattam’ (a platter with offerings) to Guru on his arrival.

Guru and his entourage came in thousands at the destined hour. The ‘thattam’ was offered to Guru by the three persons in an atmosphere charged with devotion and the chanting of Guru Mantra. Guru, after accepting the thattam, offered ‘prasadam’ to them. One among those three persons was Sri Kottayam Babu, the erstwhile Babu Swami.

While he offered the thattam to Guru and prostrated, the oracle he heard from the Darga near Ajmer came running to his mind in a flash. ‘You will receive it at Kanyakumari’. The experience was so striking. Guru benignly smiled and gave him the prasadam, which he received with both hands. Somewhere in the depth of his heart, a turbulent ocean became calm, very calm like a divine milky ocean.

Spiritual Experience - Sri G.P. Krishna Kumar

Boundless Grace
By G.P. Krishna Kumar, Santhigiri


I would like to share some of my experiences that illustrate how an ignorant man met his extraordinary master, compassion incarnate, and failed to follow his Master’s Words. I am around 62 and am now staying in the Santhigiri Ashram premises in Thiruvananthapuram in the accommodation given to me by my Guru. My wife is with me and my children a boy and a girl - are grown up and have set up their own families. I belong to a village called Panmana in Kollam district in Kerala. My house is very close to the Samadhi of the great (late 19th and 20th century) Saint Chattampi Swamikal. From childhood I had been suffering from one illness or the other without a respite as it were. As a result I was always on one course of medicines or the other, following the regimen of one system after the other. To add to this misery I met with several accidents causing fractures and dislocations and what not, which led to long periods of bed rest, leaving behind memories of great pain and constraint. In their anxiety about me, my parents were running to doctors all the time. They also resorted to magical ceremonies, invoking many deities including snake gods. The extended family I belonged to had other problems too beside my sickly condition. Some members had consulted astrologers who attributed our misfortunes to the anger and dissatisfaction of the deities we worshipped in our family shrine. Apparently the rituals that were necessary for those deities were not being carried out properly. Our family shrine had several deities for the past many generations. We were worshipping these in addition to visiting big temples and holy places. Two positive factors balanced my suffering later. I found a government job and got a caring wife. These were my circumstances when I met my Guru. There must have been some punyam stored up in my soul from previous births. Otherwise how could I have met him!

The punyam of some ancestors also might have acted as an influence. Be that as it may the golden chance to meet Guru came in the form of an invitation from a friend, Sri Ramanujam. He was accompanying a person from Nagercoil who wanted to consult Guru about his retarded child. I joined the group and we visited Ashram for the first time on 22 January 1986.

Guru gave us a lot of time that day, talking at length on the evils of worshipping snake gods and such other deities. The retarded child whom we had brought had this defect due to such a baleful influence through worship. For improvement, the parents of the child should turn to a righteous system of worship and to virtuous deeds. Guru also narrated the story of Anasuya, wife of Athri whose Ashram was fabled to be at Sucheendram, a place fairly close to Nagercoil. The story illustrates the power an individual soul can attain through commitment to a Guru. Anasuya was totally committed to her husband taking him to be her Guru. The Trimurti - Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara - acclaimed to be the mightiest gods in the Hindu pantheon, were totally disarmed by Anasuya. They had entered Athri’s Ashram with a negative intent and Anasuya could immediately read their minds. She sprinkled the Paadatheertham of her sage husband on these goods who were transformed into infants at once. This story is found engraved in the temple at Sucheendram. I could not comprehend then the message Guru was conveying through the story. Nevertheless his words stayed in my memory, after exploring within my inner space, giving out the energy of new meanings. Without my knowledge, my meeting with Guru had become a turning point in my life. For I decided to bring my family to Guru. It was a new beginning for us.

In the course of time, I became a regular visitor to the Ashram. My wife and children accompanied me fairly often. Every time I paid a visit I was charged by a Word, a Glance or a Smile from Guru. Without my having to explain anything, Guru understood everything about my family and myself. Through Guru, I got the conviction that the root cause of my painful physical condition lay in the family’s wrong worship system.

After three years of my first meeting, Guru asked me if I could bring my parents to the Ashram. My father never took my suggestions or opinions very seriously; still I could get them to come to the Ashram with me, on 26 January 1989. Guru then told me that the family could stop the rituals at the shrine now. I was happy but I did not know how to convince my father, who did not take me seriously. He was so mindlessly but deeply involved in the age old traditions and customs of pantheistic worship. Guru knew my plight well and advised me to get a reputed astrologer to the house and to divine the cause of our family problems and the remedies thereof. As a traditional family it was easy for us to resort to divinatory astrological means. So, with the consent of all I got Sri Karakulam Krishnan Potti very well known as an astrologer, to come to my house in Panmana. Guru deputed two persons from the Ashram to witness this session. Sri Potti drew the chart of planetary positions in front of a lighted lamp and started the calculations with his cowries.

All of us had gathered there, watching. After carefully studying the planetary positions he started telling us what we knew from earlier consultations with other astrologers. The deities of the family shrine are angry and dissatisfied he said. Many generations of our ancestors had worshipped at the shrine as the site of worship appeared to have had its origin around 750 years ago. The anger of these deities is having a malefic influence on us now, who have inherited the shrine and its tradition.

How can this situation be countered? What could be the measures to please these deities so that we could free ourselves? The expert astrologer went into his reading of the planetary charts again. Well, yes there are certain remedies, he concluded: The shrine had to be renovated. Needless to say, then, that the re-installation ceremony was to be conducted. A separate well had to be dug exclusively for the shrine. A compound wall also had to be erected around the shrine. Periodic poojas as conducted now are not enough. There should be daily worship in the temple and for the proper conduct of the daily worship a priest had to be appointed. Moreover special ceremonies might have to be conducted periodically as the measures suggested could be effective for only five to ten years.

At this juncture I intervened: ‘Look, I am a follower of Karunakara Guru of Santhigiri Ashram. Please see whether the deities would be satisfied if we followed Guru’s advice in this matter’. Mr. Potti started his divination again. He said he could not believe his findings. He saw him repeat his exercise, apparently with the same result. He was quite perplexed when he hesitantly told us that my suggestion offered a permanent remedy unlike the conventional measures. One of our well wishers who had come for this session just could not agree with this reading. How could a potent astral being like a brahmarakshas be removed at all, he asked unbelievingly. The astrologer stated that the planetary influences unequivocally indicate that the method suggested by Guru can remove even the brahmarakhas. He calculated several times but the readings were consistent, affirming the above position beyond doubt astrologically.

Thus by Guru’s grace I could employ traditional astrology to persuade my family. My parents, siblings and most of the other relatives showed willingness to agree to the new remedial measure and came to see Guru. On the day they arrived, Guru spoke with them for a long time. Guru drew our attention to once prosperous families who worshipped deities in their own shrines have become decadent. Guru also spoke on the Gurupooja in The Ashram. It is cleansing ordained by the Will of the Almighty and could free us from all the baleful astral influences and spirits. Nevertheless there could be some pain and suffering. It is like an operation in which the patients have to go through pain for healing to take place. Guru expressed his willingness to do Gurupooja for us and asked my father whether he was ready for it. At that crucial moment my father wavered, probably aware of the anxiety on some faces in our group.

My father’s response shattered me. He said that he wanted some more time to consult these members of the family who could not come to the Ashram with us. My father’s unfortunate answer amounted to an outright rejection of Guru’s immense Grace extending so caringly to protect us. It amounted to a rejection of the Almighty’s compassionate Will. Seeing what untold grief my family had caused me Guru allowed me to declare my position to my parents and relatives. I went to Panmana when a ceremony was being conducted in the family shrine. I told all who were present there that my wife and myself along with our children would no longer associate ourselves with either this shrine or the rituals conducted in it.

Within a short period the branch of our family who were directly involved in lighting the lamp in the shrine daily had to sell their house and property and move to a far away place. The daily lighting of lamp in the shrine stopped the priest who used to perform the pooja once in a month had a fall from his bicycle on his way to the shrine and broke his legs. Another priest was brought to take his place after some days. He opened the shrine to find an invasion of termites all over the place. Worse than that the idols had lost their firm connection from their seats. The priest left without performing the pooja, advising my parents to arrange for a reinstallation of the idols and other purificatory ceremonies.

My parents were helpless now, they themselves were facing problems like people streaking their coconuts, encroaching their property etc. With the help of some relatives they got another astrologer along with a priest to tantrically shift these deities to various temples. The idols believed to have been their abodes were thrown (immersed) in the sea. The shrine itself was demolished. The properties including the one in which the shrine once stood were all sold. That was the end of a long chapter in our lives.

Guru, in spite of how my father behaved, showered unconditional Grace on him. My father could see Guru in vision. Not once but many times. My father started chanting Akhandanaamam which is the main vehicle of prayer in the Ashram. He could find relief in chanting it. My father was a patient of rheumatic fever. At one point he had become so weak that blood transfusion had to be given to him. A thorough check up was done and the x-ray film showed a clear mass below the lungs. His case was referred to the Medical College hospital in Thiruvananthapuram when Guru was informed of this situation. He asked me to first consult doctors known to one of his close disciples, Dr. Somanathan before bringing him to Trivandrum. Accordingly I went to an eminent chest specialist with the x-ray film and other medical records.

After examining these, doctor said that he did not want to see the patient. Surgery, radiation and chemotherapy were the only treatment in this case. Considering the patients age and physical condition such treatment was not advisable, the doctor asked me to take him home from the hospital without letting him know what had happened. Give him all that he liked. Medical care was to be given to him to make it easier for him. I conveyed the doctor’s advice to Guru, and without saying anything Guru gave me a small packet of bhasmam (sacred ash) for my father.

I went to Panmana and gave an account of this development to my mother and brothers. Under the pretext of going to Trivandrum Medical College, we obtained discharge from the hospital in which he was admitted. I brought my father to my house. I gave the packet of bhasmam from Guru to my father. He would apply the bhasmam on his forehead and put a pinch of it in his mouth. Days passed by and my father appeared to be quite happy and had a good appetite. I went and told Guru about this improvement. Guru smiled: ‘It is all his Grace! Do your prayers’. After two years father was admitted in the same hospital for rheumatic fever and general weakness. The doctor who treated him earlier was still there and he was utterly astonished. He never expected my father to survive that long. The X-ray film of my father’s chest surprised the doctor further. Chest was clear. When my father complained about his aches the doctor patted him on the shoulder and said, ‘You have escaped miraculously from a killer disease! May be it is the Grace of God or of your Guru! Do you think you should complain about these aches?’ Only then did my father find out the secret we kept away from him. My father lived for many more years and passed away in June 2002. Such is the boundless Grace of my Guru!

I have only that GRACE to fall upon. And I experience it now through Guru’s Sishyapoojitha! May I humbly submit my reminiscences at GURU’S lotus feet!

Spiritual Experience - Urmila G

Guru Charanam Saranam

Indelible Marks of Experience
Urmila G, Tallassery

We are witness to the gradual decay and degeneration of well known families which have family temples and family deities. Is there any relationship between the concept of God, way of worship and the ups and downs in life? I don’t know whether we have honestly studied or inquired to find this out. Several studies had been done to analyze the cause and effect of social and cultural disintegration of this country which once enjoyed unparalleled supremacy in the areas of knowledge, education and wealth. Scholars and social reformers assign caste and age-old family traditions as the reason behind the decay of socio-economic and political system and progress. They do not probe into the other dimensions of this phenomenon.

But Guru through his own experience revealed that it was the pattern of faith and the way of worship contrary to the age which played an important role in the disintegration of families social order. Guru, not only stated this untold truth but also fulfilled the Will of Brahmam by restoring Yugadharma. Nobody ever knew that the decay and disintegration of families have been caused by a wrong worship and faith inappropriate to the Dharma of the Age. Families thus degenerated are aplenty in our society. Mavanal in Thottapally is one such old family, which had from wealth, fallen to the depths of penury. It was in this house that Guru had first performed Guru Pooja outside the Ashram. Neither members of the family nor the spectators did not realize it even in imagination, as the exalted action which would become the foundation of spiritual and social renaissance of the world. Smt. Urmila G, a teacher, now residing at Talassery, is a member of this family and has been a follower of Guru since. Here, she shares her experience, with the prayer that it may become a pointer to the world at large.

Q: Teacher, It is 34 years since you have met Guru. How did you come to know about Guru?

A: At that time we were going here and there consulting astrologers to find a way out for the ills at home.

Q: What did Astrologers have to say about your family problems?

A: Ours was a big old household with boundary walls, family temple, pond and family deities which were worshipped as per tradition. It was in our generation that the family had begun to degenerate. The astrologers pointed out that there was the problem of family deities and ancestral souls, and that they should be housed in a freshly built temple. We had identified the place to build the temple. But at a time when we were struggling for livelihood, it was not practical. Similarly, necessary material had been unloaded to renovate the house. But nothing could be done. From the astrological readings, it was seen that nothing would be possible until the relocation of the deities.

Q: How did you meet Guru?

A: My mother visited a Muslim lady soothsayer, who she thought, could advise a way out from our difficulties. On her way back, she paid a visit to the house of Sri K.P. Vaidyar, our family friend. It was he who told her about Guru. When he listened to our difficulties, Vaidyar said, ‘A Swami will come here. Just tell him and see.’ He was talking about Guru.

The moment she saw Guru, she felt that this was the place where all her difficulties could be relieved. She experienced an unexplainable relief too. Guru affectionately enquired with mother about the matters at home. Mother told Guru the entire story.

Guru asked if there were people in her family who were capable to build the temple and move the deities.

Mother informed Guru that they had no faith in these things though they had no big financial difficulties as hers.

Guru said that he was not in a position to do anything at that time. Six months had to pass.

Q: What was the reason for Guru to say that?

A: It was a period connected to the completion of Guru’s spiritual phase. During that time, Guru was not to intercede spiritually. This was in line with the ‘instructions’ from the Light of Brahman. When after six months Guru came to Vaidyar’s house, mother went and saw Guru. ‘Determining a day, all people in the family should be called. Also arrange for a good astrologer’, Guru informed. Immediately we invited the famous astrologer of Central Travancore, Sri Pallana Kochu Keshavan, and informed him all matters.

Q: What was the response of the Astrologer?

A: When he heard that these deities and ancestral souls could be removed just with ‘sankalpam’ (mental resolve) without any rituals, he said, ‘We are viewing this scientifically. No individual, let him be any great saint, through his divine power and meditation, the purifying karma cannot be performed. Rituals like ‘Homa‘ etc. are essential. If the deities observed in the chart were seen relocated by ‘sankalpam’ then only it can be believed’, he added.

On the appointed day, Guru reached our house around 10’ in the morning. We had no knowledge as to how to receive Guru. There were, along with Guru, a little girl called Suma (now Satvika Janani), Moli, the sister of Prathibha Janani, Sri K.P. Vaidyar and his wife and Sri Sridharan. A big crowd had assembled there as spectators and listeners including the family members. The astrologer also arrived in time. My father was living separately as he could not bear the financial burden after the ruin of his business. Presently, knowing that Guru was coming, he also came there.

It took everybody by surprise when they saw Guru for the first time. It was not at all a figure in their imagination. An ordinary looking man clad in white dhoti and shawl. But everyone could see a divine light, a rare aura in that face.

Q: What rituals had taken place subsequently?

A: For everyone, it was totally a different experience from what was expected. Guru along with the little child Suma sat in the front hall. The astrologer sat on one side. Guru asked the astrologer to see what are all there in the house. After calculations, the astrologer said, ‘It’s a very old family. It has an age and tradition of approximately 800 years; We were aware from the disclosures of astrologers earlier that it was a Brahmin household. From the chart, it was made known that there were such and such deities, Brahma Rakshas and Serpent (Naga). It was also disclosed that the remedial measure was to make a temple and install them there.

Q. What was the response of Guru after listening to this?

A: Guru called that little girl to his side and said something. After prostrating before Guru, that girl sat for sometime in meditation. ‘Now see whether these have moved from here,’ Guru asked the astrologer. The astrologer worked out the chart. Agitation was writ on his face. Has the calculation gone wrong? The astrologer doubted. He did the chart again and again. The same results!

Guru: ‘Why, have they all moved?’

Astrologer: ‘From the calculation, it is seen that all have moved’.

Guru: ‘Isn’t the chart true?’

Astrologer: ‘Yes, it is true’.

Guru: ‘Then, what is the doubt?’

The astrologer suddenly rose and prostrated before Guru. ‘Please forgive me. I have not seen anything like this before. I am seeing a unique performance like this for the first time. It is a new experience’.

Some people present asked the astrologer. ‘It was told that all these have moved. Where did it move?’ The astrologer replied loudly across the crowd, ‘It is seen that it was to an Ashram far south’.

Q: What did Guru tell you later about this performance?

A: Guru explained this way: ‘When all these spirits were asked to move after bringing them under the light of Guru, all except one were ready to move. That one was a Sanyasi, a member of the family. As it was standing there as the family head in the ancestral zodiac, it was unwilling to move without someone taking that position. It was however desirous of salvation. The tears of this Sanyasi were causing the family to deteriorate. Only after Guru promised to take that position, the Sanyasi became ready to move. Guru told that it was a soul which had immense love towards the family.

Q: Is the performance known as ‘Pitrusuddhi’ as well?

A: The people at that time had no knowledge about the greatness of Guru. This purifying performance later came to be known as ‘Pitrusuddhi’ or ‘Guru Pooja’, constituting the foundation for the fulfillment of Guru’s mission. I understood its greatness after reading the article, ‘The difference between the Gods and Guru’ - in the ashram monthly.

Q: What is the difference between the Gurupooja in other places and the Gurupooja here?

A: We commonly believe that the luck of the children and the prosperity in every family depend to a great extent on the virtues- merits and demerits of the ancestors. Whenever some difficulties befall us, and when we see it astrologically, we come to know about ‘Pitru Dosha’ – the damaging position of the ancestral souls – and we perform remedial rituals. But a method is not seen among the Hindus to cleanse the manes- ancestral souls, releasing them fully, giving whatever position they deserve. Therefore the ‘Pitru Dosha’ always stands as the reason behind the decay and destruction of the families.

In the path of knowledge, i.e. ‘Sankalpa Matrena Parameswara’ – Self evident Godly realization - without Tantra and Mantra, through the resolve of a self realized Soul, first ever it is through Guru a method is being established for cleansing the Pitrus. In the glow of Guru’s Soul, 18 generations of ancestral souls are cleansed giving them whatever deserved. The Guru Pooja of Santhigiri is also a self-sacrificial action preparing the path for the salvation and liberation of the deities these ancestors worshipped. Through the performance of Guru Pooja, a new generation and culture is being established in the world. After doing Guru pooja for us, Guru said; ‘Do not continue the other ways of worship‘.

Q: Is it not negating the traditional ways of god belief?

A: Guru has not negated anything that exists. Guru teaches that faith and ways of worship we follow since ages are not in tune with the present Dharma of the age and the will of God. This truth is seen in the old scriptures too. In the Sanatana Dharma, which was the ancient culture of India, the Yuga Dharma has been explained. The Mahabharta and Bhagavata have also talked about Yuga Dharma. They have also explained what should be the way of god worship and concepts relating to god realization in each age. But for several ages, a life and the system of worship suitable to this age has not been followed. Therefore, our god concept did not go beyond the plane of ‘heaven’ and the Trinity.

Except for the soothing discourse and expositions on the radiance of Brahman, the planes of consciousness and monism (advaita), practically, god worship and spirituality did not go beyond the sphere of trinity. By stories, ideological discourses and logic, through intellectual prowess and theory of salvation, everything was being submitted at the altar of Trinity. Except that, the mankind could not know about the actual light of God. Without having a path to live and worship as per the wish of that Light mankind got alienated from true Dharma for ages.

Q: What did Guru say about the reason behind it?

A: It was through the path of Manus, mankind received the knowledge about Yuga Dharma and a life culture in accordance to it. The Masters (Gurus) who were the architects of Sanatana Dharma -which is established in the path of knowledge – guided the people as per the dharma of the age. But the Sanatana Dharma got deviated and in course of time, Trinity system came into existence.

Q: What is the explanation received from Guru regarding the cause of decadence of Sanatana Dharma?

A: As per the revelations from Guru, in the 3rd Chaturyuga of this 7th Manvanthara -25 chaturyugas before- an error happened to a Rishi in his vision which brought forth a curse from Brahman. As a consequence, the light of god disappeared from mankind and the path of truth was lost. The memory of Manu itself was obliterated from the mind of man. Several sages took birth after that in many parts of the world and sacrificed their life to guide mankind to virtue and truth, notwithstanding the historical truth that their efforts remain futile.

It is through Guru, the world for the first time knew about the reasons why through the worship of god the problems and desolation of man are not being resolved. The mistake happened to the Manu Lineage did not get revealed to the other sages. As they lived and worshipped without knowing this truth and therefore the mistake remained irreversible. It was in the year 1973, at the time of the fulfillment of Guru’s spiritual stature, these facts were revealed to the disciples through ‘revelation’ and ‘vision’. It was then, the birth and objective of Guru’s life was revealed. We can see an awful situation where after the fading of Manu Dharma, the search for truth languished at the level of Trinity.

Q: Can you tell us in brief the details known about the mission of Guru?

A: Due to the mistake of Manu Lineage, from the time the Yuga Dharma went awry, the sages who came in succession could not guide the spiritual and worldly actions of man in the proper way. Treading the path of truth without having right guidance, innumerable seekers of truth lost track and remained in the spiritual spheres as ‘Yoga Brashtas’ and evil spirits – this has been known from Guru. They influence the thoughts and mind of man and control life. By worshipping these powers - who give ‘visions’ and ‘experiences’ - as God, the system of worship was deviated. The sages, who came to restore the Will of God, after reaching the sphere of Trinity, remained there, unable to go beyond. The history of god realization remains at this sphere of spirituality from where a soul is unable to go further. The life mission of Guru is to restore the lost connection between man and God and thus fulfill the Will of Brahman.

Q: Wasn’t Guru establishing a new path of god worship and concept?

A: Guru has established a path of god worship and god concept suitable to this age. The spiritual paths limited in scope to the availability of ‘heaven’ and trinity stage could be saved through this, leading to God.

Q: What is that path?

A: It is the path of Guru (Guru Margam) which is established in the faith of one Absolute Truth. Behind it is the concept - Guru Sakala Dharmatma – Guru is the essence or soul of all Dharma. After knowing the essence of all Dharma, fulfilling all Karma and then merging with the Supreme Light - Parabrahmam, again taking birth by the command of Brahmam – that epochal Guru is the rightful heir of all Dharma. One can know the greatness of God only through that Guru. Only through such a Guru, the inheritor of all dharma and karma, who came here to fulfill the Will of Brahmam, we can fill our life with prosperity cutting asunder all obstacles that take us backward, spiritually and materially. This is the knowledge and experience received from Guru.

Q: What have you to tell about the experiences in life till now?

A: It is my experience that there is a relationship between the faith and way of worship we follow, and the rise and fall of our life, disintegration of families and societies and cultural degradation. It is an irony that no social reformers, religious pundits, thinkers or scientists inquire or study about this. Even while borrowing new techniques and models to remedy backwardness, we see that the individual, the family and the society is still in turmoil, suffering with contrary experiences and tragedies.

The wisdom should dawn on our scientific, social and political leadership that along with materialistic considerations, there is a determining role, relevance and importance to spirituality. It is also my conviction that the ideology of Guru can be transmitted to others only through the sacrificial life of each disciple.

(Translated from the original Malayalam by Mukundan PR)



Courtesy: Santhigiri Publications, Santhigiri Ashram