Soul’s Separation from its Primal Source

Gurucharanam Saranam

Soul’s Separation from its Primal Source

Mukundan P.R.

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

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

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

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

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

Astral Pollution of Atmosphere

Gurucharanam Saranam

Astral Pollution of Atmosphere
(Sacred words of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru)
Translated from the original Malayalam


Whatever our ancestors have established, let it be truth or untruth, is the ethics. How did we conduct ourselves in it? Kali is the fourth era. When we say Kali we are made to believe that it is the age of ignorance or the age of ignorant people. But this concept is absolutely incorrect.

There are four Vedas which have been divided for the four yugas. This division has been made by a person called Vyasa or Krishnadwaipayana. However that may be, this Knowledge has astonished us. How can we now observe the Dharma of Kali?

By telling that ‘Kali is with Sudra’, the Sudratwa (the quality of being Sudra) has been irrevocably established. When it was pronounced that Kali is with Sudras, some people felt superior and some others felt inferior. Some thought that they were a group of the downtrodden.

What is the Dharma of Kali? The other three yugas have been actualized. If any shortcomings have occurred in that actualization, the Kali Yuga and its heir the Sudra are there for its correction. For that, the Sudra has to acquire knowledge. Thus the Sudra who acquires the knowledge is also becoming the authority of the Satya Yuga. No one becomes an authority just like that. For that one has to acquire wisdom, ability and efficiency. It should be based on knowledge given by divine dispensation. Ignorance about this divine dispensation has resulted in branding Kali as bad. The whole world has been functioning on this wrong assumption. This malfunctioning has come through the course of many ages; to be exact it is as old as twenty five chaturyugas. Therefore, it is not possible to grasp it by calculating. It is not possible to measure it even by going to the moon and studying. The length of a chaturyuga is 12000 divine years. One divine year is 365 human years. How could one comprehend it by calculating?

After living in this world we will go, leaving the body here itself. We are learning things till that time. Each day, small and great things will be learnt. It is a great act in the Ashram culture, wherein we first, praying a bit, respecting a bit, accept each other and regard the teachers, parents and preceptors. With such action, we ourselves can accomplish many things. The remaining is a great wisdom that is learned from the institutions of family, society and the nation when we grow up. That is the knowledge which we should cultivate materially and spiritually. But be careful in the exhibition of deception and pretentious frenzy in the name of that knowledge. Those who have stayed in the Ashram even for a day observing all this will realize that it (pretentious display) is not good. If those who are experienced in ashram-life were to join with them in the frenzy, they will become worse than the latter, because they will do all undesired things to outsmart them and thus become unbefitting to the country.

In the Ashram and through learning in the Ashram, we, with our wisdom, sacrifice, suffering and actions are compensating and fulfilling whatever lapses (are there) in our house and the country. This is the spiritual knowledge which we get from the Ashram. This is not sanyasa. It is not for adopting sanyasa one is coming to the Ashram, having faith or staying (in the Ashram); but it is for learning with their lives. That was what ancient kings had done. Even Lord Krishna studied in an Ashram. An Ashram is such a great institution where (great souls like) Krishna learnt.

‘Aa’ (‘Aa’ means that), ‘Shram’ (‘Shram’ is effort) – Ashram. The core aspect of every Ashram is to work transmitting love, respect and humility for the good of the world. This is the education which is gained from the Ashram. Instead, there is no meaning in saying that ‘I had been to the Ashram for the sake of it and learnt Vedas, Vedanta, music and dance’. All these can be got from anywhere.

There is a relief from all sorts of problems after the present prayer (Akhandanama) was started without interruption in the Ashram. When the Trimurthi system was relied on, there were results in the early stages. Gradually, there began occurrences of failures; nothing worked including the curing of diseases. The present prayer was received by two persons as oracle. It was received at Varkala itself. But since my name appears in it, I did not permit to do it. But a message (oracle) was received that it should be chanted and strengthened. I referred this to Pattani Swami (the spiritual guide of Guru). Then he said: ‘At present, you will not know who you are. For that, a time will come. Only after your time, it will be understood sufficiently. It is for the whole universe’.

It was in 1973 it was realised that the Akhandanamam is the most appropriate thing. The conviction is that Nature had been preparing for this for a long time in advance. There are people here who have been praying this daily from the very beginning. But most of them have not understood what it is being done for. There are many reasons for it. Most people have come to think (of prayers) that if the blessing of a god or goddess is received, everything is attained.

Another type of awareness is the practice of satiating (the deity) with one-day ‘ahuti pooja’ or ‘adakki pooja’ (certain prayer offerings to the deity) accompanied by vows and offerings. There are many temples in Travancore and Malabar which conduct this type of one-day ‘adakki pooja’ as the most important ritual. There are such temples in Thiruvananthapuram, Vaikkam, Ettumanur in Travancore and from Kodungallur to Kasargode in Malabar. These include the temples of Parasurama. Neither we nor the people with higher wisdom than us know why these have been built as such big temples with outer and inner courtyards filled with ornamentation works. Our forefathers, or let us so consider that Kshatriyas, have done it with a mind to show off their power.

An attempt has been made here to unite us by the Vaishnava, Saiva and Saktheya cults. But people will not get united in that manner because these three cults have come with three different characters. What is required for unification is certain wisdom. What knowledge can we get from these (traditions) which have been led into decay with embellishments, music, dance and din? Let us take Kathakali itself. It has been acclaimed as Kerala’s own original (art form). Absorbing the consciousness of coining names for each sect and sub-sect, categorizing them into many folk arts like Theyyam, which even the government promotes - in such a situation, how much have we progressed, how much have we taken, how much could we understand? Do we have time even to think about this? Even if we have thought about it, it is as if a cruel fate of time that never allows us to unite has entangled all people, leading to the path of annihilation.

All of us know about the Dharma called Sanatana. But what is Sanatana, what is Haindva - we are in a quandary unable to know it with discernment. Sanatana means to function with the knowledge of the Ages. But we do not know what these Ages are. We do not know how to adapt to these Ages. The Satya Yuga has gone with its innate goodness. From the Treta Yuga, we have lived according to the dictates of the karmic propensities.

We have come to this world after many generations. We have very little time in this life. What can we learn during this short span of time? Can the wealth of knowledge left behind by the ages be learnt to exhaustion? Therefore, the subject we should learn is the Dharma of Kali. The Dharma of Kali is not based on caste or religion. It is a benevolent aspect that should come about in the dharma of mankind all over world. Though attempts are made to suppress it to the extent possible in the name of freedom or whatever else, one should realise the changes that have occurred during the past fifty years.

Especially, when we evaluate the intelligence of the children born during the past twenty years, be it good or bad, we will find that they are more intelligent than us. This can be observed visibly in the children of the age of two to three years. Even though all these changes have occurred empirically, we have been informed that Kali is bad and ruinous. And this misconception has been ‘served’ all over the world. How can we change this concept? Many people are convinced that we cannot change this. But, we can change it. It is for that purpose, we have to work hard. If we are unable to change it, what is the benefit to the next generation? In the past twenty five chaturyugas itself, how many great men have come; they themselves could not change according to the Dharma of Kali or change others. Then what is the fate of ordinary people?

There are millions and millions of souls, of those who have died after worshiping in a wrong manner either evil or benign powers, existing like a scourge in the atmosphere. They exist as atmospheric pollution (or astral pollution). The scourge of this atmospheric pollution indeed affects all of us equally. It is said here about the whole human world. I do not know how many of us are aware of this aspect of truth. I am saying that this can indeed be changed even when the atmosphere exists in this manner. Of course, this is a big issue.

When we talk about the knowledge of our ancestors, whether they have the karmic attainments in the measure of ten, five or ten thousand years? How can we tell them about how the karmic propensity of a yuga is interlinked with dharma. That which is described as the ‘karmic propensity of a yuga’ exists as long as the soul exists. In what way can we transform it?

We should transfer this knowledge to our children. The children growing in front of you should not be thrown to the ‘knowledge’ evolved in the past. Children below the age of twenty to twenty five years, irrespective of gender, caste or creed should be enabled to effect a transformation which will lead all people to a benevolent destination. Within a period of a hundred years, how many millions of souls who have come and lived in this world and gone back with ‘karmadosha’ (karmic error) exist as atmospheric pollution! It is not the pollution of a thousand or ten thousand years. The pollution of indeed twenty five chaturyugas is here. Though we might have to face a lot of difficulties and hardships, this pollution can be removed. For that there is a God-given benevolence here.

It is not for a (particular) caste, religion or doctrine. If one doctrine is concentrated upon, what shall we do with the others? Kali Yuga is the most appropriate time for actualizing this. I have realized this truth, perceiving and experiencing with my life. God has permitted to accept this Kali-Dharma in all its certitude. In order to take it up in its absoluteness through the children growing up in front of you, and in order to beget the ability in each one for actualizing it, you accept this. Melt in sorrow to whatever extent though you may, this characteristic of accumulated pollution cannot be removed by you from them. It is a great fortune if you can take it up as a great Dharma.

What we have so far seen and heard are all a series of miraculous acts inspired by a whole range of subtle beings from demon to deity. The frenzy trance which is a ‘test’ (pariksha) of the presence of the deity worshipped is one such phenomenon. All that was said and done to myself by those who were possessed by deities while at Santhigiri Varkala comes to my mind. A girl had come there who was possessed by an evil spirit (which she said, was) ‘Madhura Meenakshi.’ Another person was possessed by an evil spirit called Kalliyankattu Neeli, as advanced and powerful as the first. In Southern Kerala this spirit is known as Yakshi. There are numerous similar spirits based on tombs and mausoleums.

If you concentrate upon them, then these evil forces will appear in front of you. They would utter certain words of greetings outwardly and inwardly, and making certain odd sounds, tell us about matters which we have never thought of or heard of. They would speak of things we have done in the distant past and forgotten; and of the deeds done by our forefathers. They would express an exact knowledge about our objects of worship as well. If the soul is that of a person who belonged to a prophetic religion, it would quote a few words from the prophet and continue on its own illustrating the points.

All this is the perversion of an evil spirit who does not have any knowledge or attainment in that path (that prophet´s path). If it happens to have some knowledge, the performance would be more convincing. If this is the case with a lower spirit, how much more impressive would be the words of spirits which have attained the stages of a deva (deity) or a rishi (sage). It may be difficult for us even to understand. The reason for this is the ignorance of the essence of the four enunciations that came through a preceptor in the line of the Manu: ‘Aham Brahmasmi,’ ‘Ayameva Brahma,’ ‘Ayamatma Brahma,’ ‘Tat Twam Asi.’

Those who think on how these four enunciations got formed or how they were spread could be very few. What can we do then with the knowledge produced by a kind of scholars who do not have any knowledge? In this way, rights and wrongs have got mixed up through the ages. It is impossible to tell how many souls are there who have evolved into the stages of deva, devi and rishi following countless paths of yoga and jnana, against this background.

It is not humanly possible to tell one from the other and act accordingly. During Sri Rama’s time, it was a Brahmarakshas (a powerful being in the subtle plane) who came to block the fire sacrifice of sage Viswamitra. This has been included in the myriads of miracles of Hanuman in the Ramayana; this is an example. There is an account of an incident in which Hanuman carried and brought a hill of medicinal herbs (Marundu vazhum mala – Maruthua mala) and so souls like this will appear in front of a man of deep devotion and say that a particular thing will happen in a particular way; it will exactly happen as predicted. Would it be surprising then if the devotee develops a pride about himself when four or five such incidents have happened exactly as predicted? The reality which the devotee has experienced would eventually lead to dosha (bad effects).

Souls like these present in this atmosphere are not two or four thousand but millions and millions. We should understand that they are capable of misleading growing children in any way (they like). The phenomena of becoming a medium of Hanuman or of various male and female deities and the paths of miracle working of rishis (ascetics) are all marks of being led astray thus.

Any man who follows these paths will be led astray. The realities submerged here and there in the story of Sri Rama are indicative of such straying. Rama Teertha and Shirdi Sai – are they lesser people? There is a story among Christians, a handful of water was taken from a pool of water and a cavity formed up to the extent of the water taken.

The human mind can magnify small matters and store them within. If such matters as quoted above enter into the mind, what would happen, can be (easily) guessed. Such matters of jnana and siddhi (miracles, predictions, etc.) happen in abundance not only in India but the world over. What is more, all these are matters that occur amongst people always. Whether people believe in them or not, they give great importance to this. Agnikkavati, Garudakkavati, Manushya Kkavati etc. are rituals celebrated widely among Hindus. There are people, possessed by deities, who can dance wearing a chain of red hot iron around their body and work miracles. How could one not be wonder-struck when all this is practiced on an ordinary human body? This is considered highly divine; this is our knowledge.

Walking over water and walking through fire are similar practices. How is the rationalist to know the inner impulse of this? A. T. Kovoor lived in Ceylon amongst those happenings; why did he not put an end to those miracles there? Would it not have been better to bring about changes in these practices there than coming to India and giving lectures? What to say except that all this is worse than bursting fire crackers in the presence of deaf people. The witnessing of one such ‘achievement’ is in my memory. It was an occasion when some pooja was going on in my family shrine. The man who conducted the worship (shanti) was an oracle (velichappad) who came from a distance of a kilometer. After blessing (the crowd), he hacked his face with a ceremonial sword in his hand and the flesh was hanging from that cut. People wanted to take him for getting some medical treatment but he would not agree. When he came out of the temple, his face was intact. Who would not be wonder-struck by seeing this?

A big spear will be taken and a thread will be run through it first; this will be pierced through the cheeks of the devotee. This will be handed over to the next devotee. He would pierce through a lemon and then he would pierce his cheeks also and hand it over to the next one. I have seen three or four persons pierced through with one spear like this. This happens mostly in Subrahmanya temples. This is the way we make projections as the divine. How many illusions could a mere magician create before us! Who does not know there is no good, either big or small, coming from miraculous feats? (The so called) manifestation of God has been happening in the midst of us in this manner. What should we do? How should we go forward? The man who gets into the frenzy this way turns into an evil spirit after death, an extremely evil spirit. Staying in a variety of places of prayer, they would act in many ways. Their acts would appear to be real also.

If you go to Nagore, Beema Mosque and the resting place of Peerukkannu Sahib in Takkala, you can see continuous frenzy trances in dance from 6 in the evening to 3 after midnight. It would stop after 3. In case it continues, it would be a consciously created movement of the body, an act merely put on. If philosophers and scholars engage in scholarly elaborations, ignoring all this (reality), do you think it would disappear? This matter cannot be wished away by saying that it does not exist. Asserting the reality, without doing anything about it, cannot make anyone a jnani – a man of true knowledge- either. For, it has particular characteristics filling the atmosphere as astral pollution. It would not be removed by giving lectures, only in front of a jnani does it – the spirit possessing a person- get subdued completely.

The jnani would not exhibit frenzy trances or any tactic. In his presence the evil vanishes. This would happen in slow course without doing anything in particular. The power of the evil decreases in time and would depart. However, if the members of the person´s family do not recognize and value the grace received, the evil could return. Or another being of the same nature could take charge of the person.

Millions and millions of evil spirits are present in the atmosphere as astral pollution. This is what the condition of the world is. If a person gets possessed intensely for a few days continuously, he would behave like a madman who has lost his senses. When it becomes severe after several attacks, the person could bite his own tongue and lips or grind his teeth and can even pass away. Is it possible for any rationalist, scholar or philosopher to say that such severe convulsions do not happen? Would it be possible for the doctors who look after the sick to say that? It is such a negative force that had inspired the killing of Sri Krishna.

It is this force that caused the Prophet Mohamed to regret: ‘Oh the world is ruled by jinns!’ Thereafter the Prophet resorted to austerities for three months and left his body. That is the only course he could possibly take. Is it not known to the religious scholars and theoreticians? It has no benefit for us to either prove or disprove the reality through argument. We should have at least the knowledge to say that such influences cannot be removed.

Status epilepticus which creates convulsions as in tetanus is a result of severe epilepsy. This is one among the many afflictions caused by the influence of evil (spirits). This sort of disease is seen in most upper class families. Some children influenced by spirits go blind or deaf; some others – both male and female- turn mad and have to live with the symptoms of madness till the end because of this spirit influence. Many instances of these maladies can be seen among the children of the present generation. What do we gain from Yuktivada –rationalism - and Muktivada – liberation theory - in such a situation?

More people affected by the diseases from spirit influence are found in countries outside India. Who knows where the souls of all these people go after death. I wish the arguments for and against the existence of spirit influence is dropped, knowing the kind of diseases it causes stationed as it is in the atmosphere. People have a habit of dismissing the symptoms of spirit possessions as madness or lunacy. There are retarded children in the families of many doctors. Treatment for their abnormal behaviour and enlargement of head is not effective even when they are in their childhood. If at all it is effective, it could only be described as God´s Grace. In other cases, they have no way but to live with their condition.

What do the patriarchs, rationalists and scholars have to say about this. This is characteristic of the diseases affecting the children of the wealthy. It would be better to take care not to transfer this ‘wealth’ to the coming generations and destroy them. Think if you happen to read this note of objection, being written to bring to light the ignorance of generations. The children might be playing the roles of father, uncle, husband or wife. Will there be any change if you call them scoundrel, mean minded or in a literary way Bhadrakali. These mean souls adapt to fashionable ways and the foolish call this sophistication. Such people are groomed as tigers and lions by the ignorant knowledge mongers of despicable character, who have learned to oppose everything. Each of us needs to think about the title that should be given to this (kind of) human being.

As a solution there is only one thing we need to acquire through the Grace of God. Without any denial, by arguing that it is true or untrue, try to assimilate the truth that exists. When you perceive any such feature, obey the Great Soul who has informed this to us. In order that the mistake exemplified through the lives of Sri Rama, Sri Krishna, Rama Teertha, Jesus, Prophet Mohamed and others be cleared from our midst there is only one way. That has been already mentioned. In order to wash away the atmospheric pollution, maintain a Guru-Disciple relationship with the Great Soul who has come as your contemporary. There are a lot of things that can be understood through such a Guru-Disciple relationship.

(Courtesy: Janmadina Padippu, Santhigiri Publications)

An outstanding spiritual gift of India

Gurucharanam Saranam

Parnasala - An outstanding spiritual gift of India
Mukundan P.R.

The beautiful Parnasala of Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru is an outstanding spiritual gift of India to mankind. The holy Parnasala of Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru has a spiritual historicity – a historicity which is characteristically secular and evolutionary in the growth of human society. The humanity stands at the threshold of turbulent times and great civilizational perplexities. This stage of human predicament is probably the consequence of a past which overlooked the indestructibility of spiritual values and the truth of its evolutionary character.
The universe exists on the wheels of evolution. Disregarding this truth brings stagnation to human civilization. The human civilization has evolved from a primitive state to the present level of development through various stages of evolution, both in spiritual and physical terms. This magnificent Parnasala is the symbol of this human evolution at this age of ours.

The Parnasala represents the sacrifice and teachings of the sages, Rishis and prophets down the ages who aspired to unite mankind in the Oneness of God. Their aspirations for humanity stand actualized in this beautiful lotus shaped Parnasala of Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru, emitting the tenderness of love, spiritual joy and fullness, beyond all boundaries of man-made discrimination.

Lotus is India’s national flower, which is not just a coincidence of choice. Lotus is connected to the acme of spiritual experience and joy, of purity and truth. Lotus conveys a message to us; rooted to the mother earth it exhorts us to transform ourselves into sublime beings of purity and truth, established in the love of God. Parnasala at Santhigiri conveys us this meaning.

The Lotus symbol of Parnasala is not born out of human intelligence or from the imagination of a worldly architect. Much before the blossoming of the Parnasala in the present lotus shape, after the spiritual fulfillment of Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru In 1973, a Lotus with 2444 petals was shown in a spiritual vision. It was revealed further that the Lotus was symbolic of 2444 great souls who had taken birth for the spiritual evolution of mankind since the dawn of this new age – Kaliyuga, which commenced about 5200 years back, as per the ancient Indian time reckoning.

Since then, the Lotus carries a sacred significance for Santhigiri Ashram and occupies a place in its sanctum sanctorum. When the Guru left His physical body in the year 1999, again an oracle was received through Her Holiness Sishyapoojita Amrita Jnana Tapaswini that the small structure – the Parnasala of Guru, where His sacred body is interned should be rebuilt in the shape of a Lotus.

Her Holiness, Sishyapoojitha after she put the foundation stone for the Parnasala in the year 2001, directed the devotees in its construction day and night, as per the divine intimations. It was revealed to Her Holiness that the Parnasala should be built with a height of 91 feet with 21 petals and 21 supporting pillars. The 11 steps inside the sanctum signify Guru’s spiritual status of a supreme order. A lamp lit by the Guru many years ago, when He built the Ashram here, still burns inside. The flame will be kept burning forever. The memorabilia of Guru – the sacred articles used by the Guru shall be kept in the 12 chambers built above.

Thus the Parnasala of Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru is the fulfillment of a divine Will in Nature for universal peace and opening of a new spiritual order. Both the western and eastern masters have predicted about the dawn of a new age of human development, peace and prosperity. The Supra-mental human evolution about which the great sage Sri Aurobindo Ghosh taught to his disciples refers to such an age of spiritual development, for which the world eagerly awaits.

In the present age of troubled peace and value distortions, of mindless violence and environmental threats, the teachings of Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru give us a new insight and awareness into the human predicament. Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru has shown in an empirical way the possibility of a spiritual reconciliation and reorganization of religions into a single stream of spiritual awareness, which goes beyond religious rhetoric. There has always been a cherished desire in the heart of humanity, to have a unified approach to truth in regard to the Divine. It is this desire of the Universal Mind which finds its expression in the Secular Spiritual concept of Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru.

Secular Spirituality of the great Guru has no religious, caste, creed, color or gender differences. Its premises are based on basic human concerns in its universality – concerns as much this worldly, connected to one’s health, family, society and environment as in the otherworldly, whatever meaning it holds for man. Guru focused on the subtle connection of health- both mental and physical to the soundness of the spiritual in man – a soundness based on human virtues in relation to his past, present and future encompassing even that of his forefathers who lived on this earth, who bequeathed the tradition and experience of long ages. The success and progress of humanity is based on this perspective of the past and its evolution in the onward march of time, and on an evaluation of what is wrong and right, and what is appropriate and essential to the age in which we live.

If this Creation has manifested from a Single Source, it is bound to have also its universality – a oneness which cannot be repudiated. The Secular Spirituality of Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru realized this universality or singleness of man’s spiritual quest, which is all the more essential today to forge peace and unity among different peoples of the world.

India had a long tradition of secular thought as exemplified in the well known concept of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbhakam’ – the whole world is one family. The vision of the ancient sages went beyond all human discriminations and touched upon the universal truth through internal spiritual visions of the Divine and of the worldly phenomena. The abstraction of the Rishis works in the same way as science, but only the methods differ. By the method of internal abstraction, as against the extraneous abstraction of scientific method, the Rishis of India had found the answers to the fundamental questions of existence, which physical science is slowly approaching to in concurrence.

Therefore, human civilization cannot forge ahead ignoring the embodiment of such spiritual abstraction in our midst. Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru is such an embodiment of universal vision and human compassion, who worked in His whole life for the peace of all people, especially the downtrodden, through life saving principles and activities for the development of society and life-situation, disregarding all man-made barriers. Guru taught them a method to live without the divisions and bitterness arising out of caste, religious, class and gender differences, as a commune of people working together for peace, family welfare and spiritual enlightenment, which is a unique model of development in the present age of rift and disquiet.

Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru affirmed that changes in thinking and in society cannot be superimposed; it should be brought about from the basic unit of any society, i.e., the individual and the family, in which women always have an important role. Therefore, Guru gave all prominence to women for their spiritual emancipation, an area, which is still conservative and unapproachable to women. The spiritual leadership of Her Holiness Sishyapoojita Amrita Jnana Tapaswini is a standing ovation of the success of women par excellent in the spiritual tradition of the whole humanity.

A new human generation will emerge in the world through the emancipating spiritual teachings of Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru to affirm peace, spiritual excellence and overall development. Santhigiri will be the source for such a model of life and development on which the future can depend to address the universal concerns of degradation in different aspects of life that are troubling the conscience of humanity today.

The Parnasala of Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru is the symbol of that hope of humanity. Parnasala indeed is the pristine spiritual gift of India to the rest of the world for spiritual sustenance and guidance. Parnasala, the hut where the great Guru began the Ashram and enlightened humanity on divine truths, is now the great spiritual banyan tree, permeating peace and spiritual joy to all, who come under its shade.

The Parnasala, which was dedicated to humanity by Her Excellency, the President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devi Singh Patil, will be opened for worship on 12th September, 2010 on the occasion of the birthday of Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru.

The Dynamics of Spiritual Practices

Gurucharanam Saranam

The Dynamics of Spiritual Practices
Mukundan P.R.

There are spiritual hierarchies – animals, humans, spiritual planes of ancestors, celestials, rishis and sages which all exist in this universal egg as expressions of the Supreme Consciousness. The Hindus knew it more than any others. But it is the Hindus who are blind to this truth than any others in the world. The deities, gods and goddesses, angels, jinnis and so on exist in a spiritual plane much below in spiritual evolution.

Like in the human world, there is ignorance and sensual indulgence, competition and jealousy in the world of the celestials too, though in a different ethereal dimension. If a human being worships such deities and angels, by oneself or under the guidance of a guru, what the soul begets are the same qualities and level of spiritual growth the deity or angel has perfected in their embodiment. It is this truth, generally people forget while following such worship tradition.

There are thousands of Gurus who propitiate spirits and deities and attain certain spiritual powers, and exhibit it in front of the ignorant believers, who mistake it as the proof of divinity and get misguided in the path of spirituality. We objectify our faith in God by attaching ourselves to one or the other gods or gurus who follow the deity tradition. We have tribal gods; gods and gurus who are fenced into thousands of castes and sub castes. And we have Christian God, Muslim God. Do we require any further proof to understand our pathetic fall and the ridiculous ideologies we follow without ever bothering to think?

Worshippers of deities, angels and gods can never attain tranquility and spiritual fullness due to their bonding with the sensual, imperfect world of the spirits and deities. Initially, a man who worships the deities might gain worldly – wealth and enjoyment in life. In fact it would be the result of one’s own earnings in the soul, which they would have enjoyed otherwise too with the sole strength of their ‘punya’ - the soul-virtue. The virtue in the soul is the positivity, the radiance or the health of the soul, arising from right conduct and virtuous actions in life, which gets embedded in the soul and from which arises good luck in life in proportion. This earning of the soul is being ignorantly pawned with the deities by the unsuspecting devotee as a guarantee for continued joy in this life and life hereafter.

The deity sucks the virtue of the devotee and leaves him bankrupt of soul-virtue. It happens because the deity is unable to enhance the soul-virtue of the devotee due to its own spiritual confinement in a lower spiritual plane. However, initially, the deity may be able to bestow some small favors on the devotees, which is intended to cement the devotees’ faith. The devotees get misguided going by the small experiences and in return pawn their soul to such powers by way of prayers, vows and worship. This bonding with the spirits becomes a spiritual liability not only for the worshipers' soul but its grip goes deeper into the family lineage. When a person dies after worshiping such spirits his or her soul becomes extremely uncomfortable in the astral plane unable to get further spiritual elevation.

To get spiritual elevation, the souls in the astral plane should be able to take birth in the homes of parents who live a spiritually elevated life. Unfortunately, the progeny of the ancestral soul would be blindly following the worship tradition in the family, whatever the ancestors followed. So the way of escape becomes impossible for the ancestral souls. The tragedy gets accumulated and it works like a curse on the family concerned due to the desperation of the ancestral souls. The aforesaid disquiet of the ancestral souls affects the family genetically in various ways – poverty, disasters, family imbroglios, misfortunes, physical and mental debilities and unhappiness. The family slowly disintegrates losing all luck and prosperity. These ancestral souls are also born sometime with mental and physical debilities due to the blemishes accumulated in the soul through wrong worship, karma and dharma. In astrology, it is termed as ‘Pitru Dosha’ or ancestral demerits.

The life and work of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru was to rescue the families from this predicament of ancestral curses and to give them a way of worship that will nourish their soul, not nullify its virtue. The performance of Guru Pooja in Santhigiri is for this spiritual cleansing and reorientation.

Our mistake is in the selection of medium towards God. We mistake the medium of spirits, gods and goddesses as the Almighty God. Our mistake is our ignorance in understanding the concept of Guru, the medium between God and man. Generally in India, people accept a Guru in their life. But the mistake lies not as much in the acceptance of Guru, but in the selection of Gurus. If you accept a Guru who is devoted to a god or goddess of aforesaid nature, that Guru can take you only to that level of spiritual truth. Most of the Gurus including the ones belonging to the monotheism of Sankara are deity worshipers, though they theorize about the formless Truth, the Brahman. The ashrams belonging to Sankara tradition do not entertain non-Brahmins in their ashrams, much less offer food to them. It is due to this lack of love, people do not give any heed or respect to such sanyasis and ashrams.

It is very disheartening to see that there are hundreds of ashrams and sanyasis today, who bother about caste and religion. This is equally true of other religions as well. A real sanyasi is beyond all sorts of human discriminations. In the ascetic tradition of India, one should not ask a Sanyasis about his previous stage in life - his name, family, caste, educational details etc. Because the sanyasi is one who has identified the oneness of his soul with the souls of all other living beings. There is only one vibration in the heart of a sanyasi - that is of joy and unconditional love. This unconditional love and joy can flow only when the heart is connected to the supreme source of that love - the Light of God. It cannot be gained from the lower planes of tamasic and rajasic spiritual powers, angels, deities and gods or from the gurus whose spirituality is based on deity worship or spirit worship not only of Hindu tradition but of any other religious traditions.

The first point in the checklist before accepting a Guru is this – whether the Guru is attached to a deity. Go ahead if he is not, and find out next whether he is experientially connected to the Supreme Light of God. If he is connected to the Supreme Light, he will be the one who receives words and visions from the Light. Go ahead still further and find out whether you are able to yourself experience the Divine through him, find out whether he is able to know your soul, its trajectory and make you aware of yourself. A supreme guru is like a mirror in which you see your own reflection; it reflects your own truth. These are the basic checklists one should follow while selecting a Guru. And Guru you must select in order to elevate yourself in the spiritual ladder. The difference between spirituality (of Guru-disciple order or Gurumargam) and religion lies in this experiential aspect.

Spiritual Cleansing - Gurupooja at Santhigiri

Gurucharanam Saranam

Spiritual Cleansing - Gurupooja at Santhigiri
(Sacred words of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru)

Translated from the original Malayalam

We fought one another remaining in a system which laid down that we should not touch, step into, accept or perceive the sanctified aspect within all performances. In that fight, varnashrama dharma was lost and the caste system arose. The castes were also not to touch one another. All the karmas were hit by this system. We (at Santhigiri) are taking back that bruised karma, which many had tried in vain earlier. Santhigiri’s karma is directed at reverting to the caste-less state and not at devoleping a sanyasa cult. Nor is it aimed at tracing the root of the Indian civilization with a view to retrieve it. It is not necessary to lift it up. Because this is Kali: The dharma of Kali is not to step on the shoulder of the errors that have arisen in the whole world and then revive it. Our karma as well as the dharma of Kali is to wipe out the aspect of error.

In this karma, both the genders of householders should earn a great level. The householder-life (grihasthashram) is a great concept wherein a householder elevates himself (in such a manner) that through his offspring and lineage, he acquires the intelligence to rule the world; the karma (way of action) to impart goodness to the world or even become capable of assuming the role of the protectors of the world or its motherhood. Without knowing this, you live and perish as opportunists.
You don’t know what God-worship is. You do not know even to act distinguishing what is the Householder, Sanyasi, Yogi and Karmi. None of these karmas is now with us. Our success in life lies in retrieving them. This is the first effort in the world (in this direction). No where else has this effort taken place. Let it come if it is going to come elsewhere. We have reached the stage of the humbleness of the performance of God’s creative contemplation.

When I first reached this place for the actualization of this performance, I was told not to stay where I could be seen by two persons together. Many sort of things happened here at that period. The people of this place also know some of it, but their knowing was of no avail. When I first made a hut here, I handed over its care to some local residents here. And you came in (here) witnessing their fall. What is that fall like? These people had come and witnessed the happenings here. Despite many events which took place in front of them, being caught by cognitive lacking, they were distanced (from here) forever in a manner that it is impossible for them to come back or take it back. Some of them repent today saying that it was (their) flawed action. However, there is no use of their saying so.

The karma now being performed here today is aimed at moulding such offspring who can give birth to the array of deva (god), devi (goddess), rishi (seer), sanyasi (renunciate) and jnanis (the wise) who were worshipped by our forefathers with love and reverence. Nobody who came until now has done this performance, for God has not ordained them for it. But God has granted us that karma. You should realize that, but you fail to understand it in whatever way it is said. In this institution, where more than 15,000 families performed Gurupooja, there are no people even countable by fingers who live knowing it in that greatness. How will you then discern this karma? Many children of this place who were once associated with this have forgotten this. I have not told them anything. Whenever they come to me, sometimes I try to prick them saying it like a story, but they have no pain. Why so? Because all of us are the progeny of people who have read the ancient tales and epics like a story and, turning that story into play, made it into recklessness.

When it is mentioned that our subject is to correct this ignorance - what becomes necessary is your children. But they are not able to be brought forward because the dharma by which we worshipped, and were made to worship with the offerings of love and wealth, is entangled with our soul. (Such being the truth), when a girl is born, she is led away from her virtues in such a manner that her goodness is unable to be known. When a male-child is born, he is transformed into a drunkard in such a manner that he is unable to know what duty he has towards the world. There is a great effort in changing these vices. This effort in one way is good. For, at least, for that sake, you would get in contact (with Guru) and act.

There’s a saying among us that the husband is God! Is the meaning of this saying then a fool, who fulfilled (his life) with theft and one who has never shown justice to anything? Does it mean an unchaste person who has not learned to live in righteousness, living without humility and virtue, pulling down the undergarment of women? It is all this we are creating and letting out. How can they manage this country? What all this depravity (depredators) cannot perform?

The ‘Gurupooja’ here is the foremost karma which I am doing for this for you. (I am) not talking about its greatness. I don’t understand such greatness. I am not leaned, great by virtue of wealth, capability or education. God has not led me into any such things. But there is one thing. God has granted you a suitable setting where irrespective of your status, you can assemble. And through this, together through you and your offspring, children are taking birth from whom will be born several great souls who are capable to do whatever (good) for the country and indeed the whole world. We don’t know how it is made to happen.

But we do it in the Sankalpa (conception) called ‘Sankalpamathrena Parameswarah’, whereby, after envisioning everything that has come until now in the law of Devi-Devas - giving whatever they require (they are not abandoned) - a way is found by the path shown by God to give them an opportunity to take birth or make them entitled for liberation. We are handling this exactly the way the revelation is received from God to perform this. It’s not performed, as someone might think, attracting some evil spirits by sitting and chanting. Nor is it performed bringing a ‘root’ from the places where I spent life. I have not taken any ‘root’ of others. I have not found a suitable scenario also wherein I could take this ‘root’. There are no suitable ‘roots’ either. In fact, it is being nurtured by scraping off all these ‘bottoms’, then burning them with fire, scooping good mud and then planting the sapling there. What is required for it is, suitable children. You do not know how I perform it. That is my sadness.

What I am making you do is a performance, which, by correcting the flaws in the traditions that have come from the beginning until now in the deva and rishi lineages (trimurty and seer traditions), without exterminating the essence of these lineages, will transform them into a great status. Then how great should be your eminence? It is a performance in humility to bring within you the privilege of not only ancestral souls, gods, goddesses and rishis but even some genderless ghosts also to be born of you (for release). Retaining the truth in that path, transform yourself as the sanctified work emerging from that truth. This is the goal. I have no other rationale or doctrine. I have done this for 15,000 families in this manner, but they are unable to take it. Not merely that but building up contrary attributes in their actions, make it the cause for its destruction. There are about fifteen households who have perished like this in this locality despite performing it with genuine sacrifice, prayers and contemplations; rest of the families (perished) leaving this place.

The ancestors did have (their share of) good and bad (in them). The difficulty was great when these (the deeds of ancestors) were tried to be eliminated. You will understand it when you reflect on the great souls of the past, in order to realize that. But the biographies made up on them are unsuitable for such evaluation.
For instance take ‘Geeta Govindam’. What is the purpose of making children enact Krishnaleela? You are inflating the sensuality already present in them, by adorning and bringing up children in this manner and spoiling them - adding to the fulfilment of such action and taking it up. This is what the Saktheya, Saiva and Vaishnava have done here. You cannot change it at all. This is the fact behind the coming of so many great souls. We don’t have the aptitude to remove it through (our) lifetime. But we have the luck.

You will not be able to find a similar thing (Gurupooja) elsewhere in the world. Nor has it ever happened in the world. In your epics mention is made about the ‘Bhageerata Prayatna’ (the effort of Bhageerata). Bhageerata was a king and he could do many things, but there too, not this. Here, you are endowed with awareness in a manner of witnessing it yourself and accepting with discrimination. God has ordained it for you. It is in the said awareness the deva, devi, rishi, monk, jnani (seer), the devout, the pitru [ancestral souls] are all guided and placed in auspicious constellations. Your children, after living truthfully, are entering into that constellation. Even if you are unable to become so, it should be made possible through your children. This is the great work that you do for the world. After performing this (Gurupooja) for you, I am guiding you how you should live till the birth of a progeny. (However), you do not understand that. Instead, making your children listen and obey, describing it as some other big thing, you are not allowing them to come in front, in (the matter of) dharma.
*****

The Origin of Trimurthi Tradition

Gurucharanam Saranam


The Origin of Trimurthi Tradition
(The sacred words of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru)
Translated from the original Malayalam



An annunciation was received soon after I started an Ashram: ‘You need to think about your life’. At that time I could not figure out what it meant. I asked for a clarification from my Guru, Pattani Swami. He said: ‘I have received two indications only. You will get the rest’. The first idea was that it was not enough to seek only the spiritual. The second was that it would become necessary to reform the practice of Sanyasa.

Prayer and worshipful observances were done as directed thirty four times in the name of ‘completion’. On the seventh day after the prayer began, on the thirty fourth time, an annunciation was received that a ‘kumbham’ (earthen pot) should be prepared and kept (ceremonially). For four years we were not able to do it properly. In the fifth year we performed this in a humble manner.

We have been shown this for the sake of humanity which is the characteristic of an actualization from the five elements (panchabhuta) through the five senses (panchendriya) and five sheaths (panchakosha). This observance is being done here by effecting a change in the system of such rites performed so far. Not everyone gets such a right.

This is a path in which working of miracles (siddhi) is not allowed. Siddhi is not Jnana (knowledge). Those who were with me had also insisted that it was in order to perform some miracles. Permission was also sought from Brahman and it was given. Later it was indicated that it is not good. Therefore it was not pursued. That is the history of this place. The details of preparing Kumbham were given to us some years ago. Direction was given to do it with the strength of will that our Parampara should have the abundant power to carry this.

The tradition of Trimurthi worship is strongly alive among the Hindus. At one time, it remained so powerful that no one could avoid it. When it was veiled in Varnasrama Dharma, it became rootless in the soil of Kerala. It is with the British rule that Varnasrama broke down and started wearing out. This blight has not gone fully. The theoreticians have kept this away from public knowledge. Though independence was gained through the theoreticians of nation-state who followed it, so far good things could not be touched, using that benefit. This can only be achieved through children who have such a vasana (propensity). This should be realized with the family as a base and it should be imparted to the society and the young children. For this, a great deal of effort has to be made, because the foulness of each region is latent in its people.

It has been shown here (through revelation) about all the worship traditions that have come up in the world and also all the past preceptors and their glorifications. From the beginning of Kali Yuga preceptors (Gurus), have been made to take birth for this purpose. It was revealed later that we were made to perform the aforesaid acts of Poortheekaranam (completions) for the sake of bringing a new generation of progeny from whom the negativity from a certain phase of Kali has been removed. Even I was not let into the mystery of this. If I were to know it directly, pride could arise. Therefore the Will of the Brahman got it carried out without letting me know.

Nothing goes on without the gross (sthoolam), the subtle (sookshmam), the causal (karanam) and the effect consequential (karyam). It is the householders (grihasthashramis) who have to come up as the most qualified. They have got deteriorated the world over. But through the householders who believe here the essence of Truth is being proved. There are householders here who have perceived it in totality. Some of them had rich experience of even receiving the Word from the Supreme. But because of a lack of vasana (propensity), they are not able to put in their efforts with steadfastness. Steadfastness can come only to celibates (Brahmacharis).

It was mentioned earlier that we could not prepare the Kumbham in accordance with the directions received; at that point the circumstances were not favourable. Kumbham can be carried as a vow to eliminate incurable diseases. Those who have undergone a mental breakdown can take the vow. To remove bad habits also this vow can be taken. Besides, it can be done also for the fulfilment of a wish. It has been revealed that the Kumbham vow will yield the desired results if it is taken with true devotion.

It is a rare happening in aeons (Yugantaras). If there is a lapse in following the Will of Brahman, you can get an opportunity for correction through this. That is what has been revealed. This will lend infinite punyam as well as an earning which can never be exhausted. Whatever has to come let it come and whatever has to go let it go – thinking thus, you should boldly carry this forward. Whatever is done here has been done out of conviction, resulting from direct experience. All this is yours. The responsibility to bring up this as an organisation and to sustain it is yours.

Q: What is the reason for the cyclic nature of the four yugas?

Guru: This question itself is the result of the incalculable antiquity of the Hindu tradition. The Sanatana religion means the culture of great souls who came from time to time. We find in history that cultures based on the worship of Sakti, Shiva and Vishnu have tried to improve the quality of life. In between some preceptors have come up, following a religious parampara, but those who have emerged that way do not belong to the tradition of the primal Manu. In the present Manvantara, in the tradition of Vaivaswata Manu, at the end of the third chaturyuga to be exact, a preceptor called Satyatrana faltered in Selfhood due to certain shortcomings following which life deviated from the Cosmic Law given by the Almighty. Satyatrana’s concept was like a transformational ideology (parivarthanavadam). Thereafter the Trimurthi (Trinity) tradition was brought in the seventh chaturyuga to actualize the Will of God.

Q: So there was no Trimurthi tradition before this?

Guru: No. It is the line of Manus who control, each for a given time span, the dynamics of the evolution or dissolution of the world in accordance with the Will of the Brahman. The origin, creation, sustenance, and dissolution come through fourteen such epochs called Manvantaras. The spiritual character in accordance with the Will of Brahman has evolved in this manner.

Q: Why is it that most of the people do not know about the existence of a Manu tradition?

Guru: it was mentioned earlier. The feeling of ‘I’ (Aham Brahmasmi) developed in the line of Manus. In the higher planes of knowing it was seen that all the wisdom and knowledge attained so far have come through it (the Manu tradition). This ‘I’ ness can be seen in any of the books of Vedanta. You talk to any common people - this bloated notion of a free ‘I’ (ego) can be seen. When this comes up in the circle of ascetics (brahmacharis), then such notions come forth through the master-disciple lineage. In the tradition of deity- worship (devaparampara), the ‘deva’ (god) I am devoted to or the ‘devi’ (goddess) I am devoted to is the greatest and most glorious. Because of such possessiveness in individuals, all kinds of deities, chamundi, yakshi, pey, maruta, matan, mantramurthi (dark, evil spirits such as succubi, ghosts, ghouls etc.) became the ‘Lords’. This has happened because of people’s selfishness and egoism.

Q: Why has it happened so?

Guru: It was mentioned already that when the Brahmic Will could not be conducted because of certain failings in the Manu lineage, the Trimurthi tradition came into being from the Will of that Brahmic power. Vedanta (jnana) was lost to this trinity tradition. Ritual worship, prayers and ‘manifestations’ became all its character. When that character worsened to become the ‘exhibition of power’, induced by spirit possessions, the human kind could not perceive fully the greatness of God nor carefully know or learn its extent or its sources of knowledge.

Q: If Guru says so, wouldn’t it come to mean that all that has come so far is wrong?

Guru: Yes, whatever I said so far is that – that they are not correct.

Q: But Guru said that the Trimurthi system came into being for carrying out the Will of Brahman consequent to a mistake that happened in the Manu lineage.

Guru: (Due to the) emergence of Varnasrama, castes and castes upon castes, those who worshiped according to the Trimurthi tradition could not function in accordance with the goodness of the Age. Earlier to this tales were created using the mediacy of srutis and smritis and they were presented as authentic. Before that, as there appeared the creed of ‘materializations’ some sanyasis themselves handled the traditions of siddhi. As it all came up to this, the tradition of Manu faded away even from memory. This degradation of the times is due to the refusal to modify the customs that required a change according to the age and the falsification of the ideology that the abode of Brahman should all the time be with the celestials (deva) and Brahmins.

Yugadharma and the Householders

Guruvani
(The Sacred Words of Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru)

Yugadharma and the Householders
(Translated from the original Malayalam)



Material reality is very important to mankind. Disregarding physical phenomena nothing can be understood. Our body arises from karma (action); that is materiality. What can be achieved without the physicality of the human body? To assume the Dharma of the body, Karma is necessary. Only the knowledge gained through (the medium of karma) will be useful to us. Only that knowledge has a locale. How have all of us - men and women, small and big - transmitted this knowledge through our lives?

There was a time when a disease was diagnosed from the pulse. When it was modernized it has become impossible without touching the blood, bone and marrow. Still, wherever and whatever is examined, it is not known where the disease is located. All the undiagnosed diseases would be covered up by jargon too difficult to understand. We are enslaved by some jargon or the other like this. There should be a change to this error.

It is the householders, grihasthasramis, who should correct this fault arisen from habit. Only they can do it. They have to struggle a lot for it. Many more hardships will have to be undergone compared to what we undergo for the sake of husband, wife, children, education, wealth and power. For setting this karma right one should decide to make one’s own house the very starting point. It should be handled in such a way that everybody can understand it. For, from the time of birth until one is able to walk, it is in the home-environment that one grows. For a mother (girl-child) who is brought up thus, that tendency (learnt from home) would be in her blood, marrow and flesh. For developing such inclination in mothers, first the men themselves should inculcate it. The home environment should be thus developed as far as possible. When such effort is coupled with the accumulation of virtue, punya, the prevailing method of education itself will change the world over.

When there is no clarity of aim with awareness, the God-given blessedness of the earth itself will be lost owing to a deviation from the course of mankind’s (right) karma and dharma, resulting in children who sow ruin all-round. (Hence) it should be done in accordance with the changing times. That it has not been done this way is the reason why thinkers, rulers, physicians, householders in the world and social activists regret they have got into a vicious circle. Even those who, standing in the midst of people, dish out moral teachings and Vedantic aphorisms taking the name of great preceptor-traditions are convinced that their own lives and the whole life of the society that they lead are caught in this vicious circle. These are people who do not think about the matters that have come by divine dispensation or evaluate the Yuga Dharma. The populace, therefore, being caught and trodden under the grip of devotion, liberation, rationalism or atheism has moulded the householders in such a manner that they have become ready to be thrown into a big fire-pit that is looming large.

All the technologies discovered by the West to save themselves, enduring shivering cold and snowfall, are pitched towards us to spell ruin. Though we possess here a nature suitable for living by whatever means and a land rich with agricultural produce, we remain idle, hands locked, making others to work in the manner of slaves, acting as the lords - the consequence of which we are experiencing ourselves today. The result of that very karma has come back to us. We have got a situation, wherein, after cultivation, in order to crop the produce, the consent of someone else has to be sought. If the crop is to be harvested full, one has to stand with folded hands before the hewer. Otherwise half of the crop might be left uncut in the field. Thus we are in the midst of all kinds of degradation. We have no drinking water, no law and justice. What kind of freedom do we have? We, who do not have freedom, say we are free. Except polluted air, what do we have to take in? Aren’t the five fundamentals, the panchabhuthas, themselves polluted? In our country the situation is at least a little different because there are no big factories and companies functioning in our land. The world falls apart like this while our notion is that the world is progressing. Ignorant multitude of people, who mindlessly glorify science and technology! (There are) some others who are aloof from all this. There are yet other ignorant people who say yes to whatever is told. This karmic circle makes your life empty because it does not let you think or make others think about the perpetual loss and destruction taking place in the world. I am reminding you again about those intimations being given to the world for the past many years as the Words of God.

The technology of the Westerner - who tries to show superiority by writing, sketching and experimenting to prove whether the greatest invention is ‘ours’ or ‘yours’ - not being satisfied with the assault from both land and sky, is destroying the people through ideology, activism and government. I am reminding you once again that the householders of the whole world ought to be vigilant; otherwise they are preparing themselves to cast their own future generations into a vast fire pit that is getting formed. Because, whatever way it is created, do the parents have any alternative other than letting the children be in this very society?

What does each one do in the name of politics? Politics is a thing (karma) which gets extinct in a day and fated to be so. But the youngsters who are unaware run after politicians and take politics for their life. They start reflecting about it only when half their life is over. By that time, turning back becomes impossible because they are not in a position to start afresh. Ask any leader, who has crossed the middle age, in private. And he would agree that it (his entry into politics) was a mistake. If it is considered seriously, you will realize that this is an outrageous wrong being done to the younger generation. But we have not realized at all what a great wrong it is! This evil will vanish from the very face of the earth, if the householders could unite and act with a will. It is enough for you to understand that it is deception and it will disappear on its own. Until you realize this situation for yourself you will not be able to listen to and believe in any counsel. This karma (the politics of today) does not have to be eradicated willfully; you need only perform your duty with awareness.

What is that duty? It is fulfilling the karma (efforts) accrued through previous births. It is not possible for you to act from the awareness of all past lives and achieve the completion. It is not necessary for you to know it either. It is enough to learn to believe. This is what Jesus said that your faith will save you. You should learn to have faith. A Source is being given to you for faith. Remaining firm on that Source, everything can be accomplished one by one. You, your wife and children are involved in the same karma. What you attain should be attained by them also. The father should be one who has attained love through faith, karma through love, virtue (punya) through karma, and good fortune through virtue. The womb of a mother suitable for this is also necessary. Have we brought up such virtuous mothers? A father, who has to be god for the children, should he not reach at least the level of knowledge of showing the path to God? Your search should be for this. Whatever else you find for them would not do. This is karma. This is virtue. The father and mother who reach this virtuousness actualize the ‘progeny of the world’. This is not the accomplishment of the renunciate, the sanyasi. What can be done if you householders live abandoning this? Caste, religion or class is not applicable to the life of householders. The dharma of the age should lead you as the light.

This is the Age of Kali. The Dharma of Kali is the guidance given by the Guru who has come (to the earth plane) extinguishing all karma, going beyond tantric and mantric rituals and actualizing the Saakteya, Saiva and Vaishnava traditions and (who has) earned the right for liberation through cycles of birth accumulating virtues in life. Kali is brimming in a manner that declares that even the teachings of Jesus and Mohammed are not enough. If the Dharma of Kali is to be accomplished, the wife and mother in our households should be virtuous like the wife and mother of Prophet Mohammed. Initially the prophet could not make out the Word from Light. The Prophet thought that it was an illusion. It was his wife and mother who understood and encouraged him. They were of such goodness and qualification.

The householders should be able to bring up such a girl (wife) who would say (to her husband) that, “I would pray for you so that you may attain whatever blessedness.” Only if you do karma of this much virtuousness, you can become the heirs to the work of redeeming the Age. It cannot be got by one who has disqualification in karma, no matter how high his status.

If this ever revolving orbit of planets is to offer us beneficence remaining in their paths, the grace of God is indeed essential. People should get this knowledge through the Governments. This should be accepted by the people and governments as much suitably.

How can one think and realize the possibility of interstellar destruction, if we disregard these matters, immersed as we are in mirage-like rhetoric and words of consolation? We must maintain constant vigilance to accept this physical duty by our life, if we are to bring up India as the basis of prosperity and the true source of the Word of God.

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.