The Forgotten Fundamentals of Sanatana Dharma

Gurucharanam Saranam

The forgotten fundamentals of Sanatana Dharma




Religious practices among the people living in different social settings present the spectacle of myriad paths in the worship of God. The confusion that arises in a seeker in seeing the complexity in religious practices can be resolved only by a fully realized Guru who should show at the experiential level the truth and untruth engrained in different methods of worship. Notably different from other spiritual philosophies, ancient Indian spiritual science has presented insightful accounts about the means through which the Supreme should be worshipped in accordance with Yuga dharma (ethical code of the age) intended to be the basis of human deeds in each age. It is the Manu tradition of Indian spirituality that constitutes the basis of the Rishi culture (Aarsha Bhaarath Samskaara) which provided humanity a time reckoning, knowledge and worship pattern of the Supreme in accordance with the dharma of a Yuga.


As per the realizations of the sages, each of the four Yugas in a Chaturyuga has an ordained Dharma to be followed. This is relevant over the entire solar system within which this Creation has taken place. Nature changes with every yuga. The connection between the different dimensions also changes. Along with this, subtle perceptional changes too occur in the soul of man. The Yuga Dharma determines the limits up to which the souls can evolve.


As per this, in the Satya Yuga, the soul lives quite absorbed in Brahman – The Absolute. In the second and third Yugas (Treta and Dwapara) a gradual extroversion takes place in the soul necessitating spiritual discipline and external mediums. In this period, the deva-devis, the high celestial evolutes of the last Chaturyuga, who however had not attained liberation (mukti) become the deemed authorities of spiritual intercession. They can accept prayers, reveal visionary knowledge, scriptures, advices, mantras and generally lead the souls as per the will of Brahman. But they can lead the souls up to their avasta or spiritual stage. Some people may evolve beyond the celestials up to the position of Rishi or sages in Rishi Loka. Then comes the Kali Yuga. Nature changes; subtle perceptive changes occur in the souls too. In this age attainment of highest spiritual transformation, realizations, leading up to salvation- mukti become possible.


In the Dharma of Kali Yuga everything becomes Supreme oriented. The Guru must be Parabrahma Guru – the Supreme Guru. The Mantra initiation, prayer, meditation and all else must be to the Supreme. In the scriptures the Jnana portion becomes relevant. Only visions (darsan), revelations (asariri) emanating from the Supreme must be accepted. The auspicious souls of the previous two Yugas - the devi- devas, rishis, and others will take birth in the purified families, gotras, which have got into the path of the Supreme Guru. They along with us will then continue in the efforts to attain salvation. Though the essence of a great truth is indicated in these ways, its logic must be worked out to its fullest in all spheres of life and after-life. The civilization must become Jnana oriented. In every Yuga, the Yuga Dharma will be taught and revealed by great souls who are born in that Yuga.


In our world the Kali Yuga Dharma was first preached by Sri Krishna to Arjuna. He taught Arjuna the jnana yoga, karma yoga and bhakti yoga. He also told Arjuna the dangers in the lower forms of worship and said that Arjuna must repose his faith in Him only. Foreseeing what Krishna was going to preach, His very birth was opposed by the diabolic forces and their earthy devotees (e.g. Kamsa).


During His life the traditionalists opposed Him at every turn as a Sudra, as a dark person (non-Aryan), as an immoral person and as opposing their deity worships etc. But many respected his teachings as truth and accepted Him as Paramatma. Six Hundred years after His life the traditionalist did what they were always good at. They accepted these teachings but infused it with the traditional lore and practices. Krishna, the Yuga Acharya became one of the gods of the Hindu pantheon. This is a good example of a truth preached, becoming a part of religion.


Then came Sri Buddha, Sankara, Prophet Muhammad, Christ and innumerable others. We have been told that 2444 Acharyas came into this world in this Kali yuga alone to preach the Dharma of Kali. They had limited success. In India today other than isolated traditions, the bulk of religiosity is traditional fused with some of the teachings of these Acharyas. We must go to the jnana path – the path of knowledge. Otherwise we cannot progress materially and spiritually in right direction so as to resolve the manifold sufferings that we face today.


In the West the teachings of Prophet Muhammad and Christ was able to lead
people away from the then existing Roman, Greek and other isolated religious, spiritual traditions to the path of saints or Rishi marga. But they had not attained the jnana path or mukta avastas (stage of liberation). As such the intellectual pure sciences that grew in the West completely refuted the religions there. The scientific search confined itself to empirical, confirmable matters only. The perceivable world was studied. The agent perceiving through the body was outside such a purview. This agent was the soul. Though the body is created and dissolves at death, this is only ‘hardware’. It by itself is meaningless. We can chemicalize and atomize it into nothingness. We will not discover anything. There is a soul, the software which is coming and going in life and death. This software is an accumulation of the Karmagathy (karmic propensities) of lakhs of births and deaths. The knowledge about the soul, its existences in the various dimensions, the inherent, inalterable laws by which it earns good and badness and evolves higher are the ‘soul knowledge’ (atmajnana).



Mukundan

Hindu Dharma – Has it come through Manu or Trimurti

Gurucharanam Saranam



Hindu Dharma – Has it come through Manu or Trimurti

Professor (Dr) K. Gopinathan Pillai



About 30 years back Santhigiri Publications brought out a booklet authored by Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru titled 'Hindu Dharma, has it come through Manu or Trimurti?‘ (Haindava Dharmam-Manuvilkudiyo Trimurtikalil Kudiyo’).


By this question Guru wanted to draw the attention of the people of this country to the basic causations of poverty, social disintegration and cultural degeneration of this great land and civilization despite her unique spiritual legacy. Even today an average Hindu is incapable to answer the question posed by the Guru. In the heterogeneous and complex character of Hinduism, truth is veiled by untruth, myth and legends eclipse reality and distortions are legitimized.



Therefore, an ordinary Hindu lives in the midst of religious ritualism and spiritual ignorance unable to discriminate between Sanatana Dharma and Trimurty system. This incapacitated them to recognize and accept divine masters like Sree Krishna, Sree Buddha, Mahavir, Gurunanak and others who took birth to guide them to the right path. Guru’s revelation that the unabated sufferings and sorrows of humanity, despite the sacrifice of great souls, have resulted from the deviation in Yuga Dharma and distorted forms of worship, is an eye-opener to all God believing people. A proper understanding of Guru’s revelation is possible only when one understands Sanatana Dharma, its eclipse due to a spiritual error in the past and the advent of Trimurty system and the resultant degradation in karma and dharma leading to astral pollution, human sufferings and miseries of all sorts.



Sanatana Dharma



If we are to evaluate the worth of India, it becomes necessary to understand the purpose of Manusmriti - the perennial law of Manu which constitutes the basis of Sanatana Dharma, Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru said. But the name of the first Guru, Manu, and the dharma he gifted to humanity and the truth that Manu Dharma is the basis of Sanatana Dharma have all vanished from human memory and never taught. Interestingly Manu, the first Law Giver is characterized as the most reactionary and conservative whose laws were responsible for the rise of caste system and denial of liberty, especially to women. The basic reasons that contributed to the demise of Sanatana Dharma were first revealed by Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru. Guru pointed out that a small book that is circulated today as Manu Smriti is a distorted version of the original Manu Smriti, which was long lost and has nothing to do with the present one.



Manu was a fully realized Guru through whom the Supreme or Brahman revealed to humanity the divine design of cosmic time, dharma and evolutionary process in the nature. That is why Sanatana Dharma is also called as Manu Dharma. It encompassed the principles to be followed in each and every aspect of spiritual and material pursuit of human life. Those principles were considered eternal because they were given by Trikala Jnanis or realized Guru’s who could discern in spiritual vision the cause-effect relationship of all material and metaphysical phenomena.



The time scale given by Manu Smriti and the concept of Yuga Dharma forms the basis of Manu Dharma or Sanatana Dharma. According to this, the creation, existence and dissolution of the world occur in a time span of one Kalpa. One Kalpa is composed of 14 Manwantaras and one Manwantara consists of 72 Chaturyugas and one Chaturyuga consists of four Yugas, namely, Krita (Satya), Treta, Dwapara and Kali. An important fact to be noticed is that each Yuga has its own karma, dharma and worship system. In each Yuga great seers or Kalantara Gurus would take birth to impart to humanity the dharma and karma of each age. It is in this context an observation of Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru holds significance. Guru pointed out that the greatest mistake occurred to Hindu society is that it still follows the Yuga Dharma of Treta and Dwapara in the present Kali Yuga which has caused the loss of material as well as spiritual progress.



Upanishads exemplifies the depth and the intuitive power of Jnanis in unraveling cosmic laws and astral secrets that influence spiritual and material realms of human life. Rishis lived in the midst of people teaching them how to live properly. In the Jnana Marga there was no distinction based on caste, religion or any such man made inequalities. At a particular point of time Sanatana Dharma was weakened and slowly got eclipsed and sidelined. Thereafter the previous messengers of God could not fulfill their mission of guiding humanity in consonance with Yuga Dharma. It was the time of the advent of Trimurty system in Indian history. Guru has rightly said that we have deviated from the principles of Sanatana Dharma and observe customs, rituals and worship contrary to it.



Trimurty system



With the decadence of Sanatana Dharma, the Trimurty system gradually emerged. The most important shortcoming of this system was the absence of jnana path. Many aspects of Sanatana Dharma were incorporated into Trimurty system. While the time scale of Manu was accepted in the Trimurty system, the Jnana Margam of Sanatana Dharma was discarded. The ennobled concept of God or the Supreme Light in Indian spirituality is Brahman which the Vedas and Upanishads characterize as the only Truth. The exponents of Trimurty system covered the truths of Sanatana Dharma with mythical stories and interpolations. They characterized Vishnu, Maheswara and Brahma as the ultimate gods to be worshipped and all worship and spiritual practices were dedicated to Trimurties. Evolution of the soul to the Ultimate Truth was thus blocked as the Trimurties were recognized as the Ultimate. The decay of Indian society and social disintegration start from this point of time.



Manipulating and twisting the concept of Varnashrama Dharma, the priestly class in the Trimurty tradition created caste system. Varnashrama Dharma was based on the eternal law of the inherent quality of one’s jeeva, i.e., an individuals worth is determined on the basis of the dominant ‘colour’ of his soul. Thus the degree of brightness (punya) of one’s Jeeva, decides whether one is a Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya or Sudra. Thus Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra are born to parents in each family. This natural law was misinterpreted to suit the interests of the priestly class with the sidelining of Sanatana Dharma. The Caste system was legitimized by interpolations in scriptures. Majority of the people were included in the Sudra caste and the jobs that were allotted to them were also considered lower ones. Hard and fast rules were prescribed for each caste and vast majority of the Sudras were denied access to knowledge. The cruelest thing done to the Sudras was that they were denied the worship of the Trimurty and other deities that the higher castes worshipped. They were given evil spirits for worship or deities with ‘tamasic’ qualities. Thus majority of the Hindus had lost the opportunity for intellectual and spiritual pursuit and became ignorant and Sudra in the real sense.



Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru’s life is marked by incidents, events and developments of unprecedented character. Guru passed through uncertainties at each phase of his life. It was only at the time of His spiritual fulfillment in 1973, the mission of Guru was revealed from the Supreme that He was brought up by Brahman to shed light into unanswered and unresolved puzzles in spiritually. It was revealed on the occasion of Guru’s spiritual fulfillment that the mission of Guru is the restoration of Yuga Dharma and thus fulfilling the unfinished mission of previous messengers of God to guide humanity to the Truth.



It was revealed further that the past preceptors could not transform human nature and nourish virtues by eradicating the inherent bad instincts in soul because of the deviation in Yuga Dharma and the resultant practice of dharma and karma contrary to it. The previous seers despite their sacrifice could not get revealed this deviation in Yuga Dharma and how it occurred. That is why in spite of the best efforts of great Rishis, Gurus and Prophets and religions founded in their names, cruelty, violence, disquiet and scientific inventions that destroy the nature continue.



(The Author is Professor in Political Science, Govt. Arts College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala)

The Spiritual Path of Santhigiri Ashram

By Mukundan P.R.

Gurucharanam Saranam

The phenomenon of Spiritual experiences in Santhigiri Ashram is and will be its strong foundation, on which the faith of thousands of people is built. For over four decades and even after the physical departure of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru, the founder Guru, this phenomena is in tact and continue to be experienced by the devotees, new and old. Guru is at the centre of this experience. Guru is experienced in various ways by the devotees and disciples. Guru as the Omniscient, Omnipotent force; Guru as the Light and Guide; Guru as Truth and God; Guru as the Protector and Enlightener; Guru as the Savior of the family and the ancestral souls; Guru as the liberator of even gods and goddesses worshipped by one. This is the spiritual experience of Santhigiri Ashram. These experiences explicitly declare to us the omniscience and omnipotent nature of Guru and as a fatherly figure.

Spiritual experiences are fruit, born from the soul-tree. According to the differing qualities of the soul-tree, we reap the fruit. Life experience, therefore, is related to the quality of one’s soul. Spirituality is the science that seeks to understand the inner essence of the soul and its qualitative status in order to improve, nourish and fulfill its existential purpose. It requires the medium called Guru, who knows this subjective science of the soul. Santhigiri Guru Parampara is blessed with such a Guru of soul vision and soul intercession.

Guru helps a soul to evolve from a state of inaction and agitation to a point of bliss and spiritual realization. The secret behind the Guru-Disciple relationship is this soul processing. Guru makes the disciples aware of his or her negative traits, not only in their soul, but in their family and ancestry, and instructs them ways and means to overcome those shortcomings. Obviously, the grace of Guru is the only means. The all knowing Guru knows the soul of a disciple and also the way to liberate him from these hurdles. Santhigiri Ashram is a place where this soul science is in practice.

India has a long history of mystics, who through their life of concentration receive occult visions and experiences and also the power to perform miracles. At this scientific age also, there are such men and women in India and elsewhere in the world. Spiritual visions are experiences and intuitions otherwise not known through sensory perceptions. They are clairvoyance seen through the inner mind or the mystical eye. Spiritual visions encompass everything in its scope, subtle and gross. It includes past, present or future incidents related to people and the universe and visions of ghosts, ancestral souls, deities, angels, saints and sages, different types of light, sound, smell, sight, etc. These are all part of the mystic tradition and experience.

However, spiritual visions and experiences are not the only yardstick for spiritual realization. Spiritual visions and experiences vary in its source. They occur in waking, dream and deep sleep states of consciousness. It may occur through the medium of ghosts, ancestral spirits, yogis and saints. Certain ancestral spirits appear in the form of gods and goddesses which these ancestors worshiped while living.

There are the spiritual experiences of several saints in the recent history like that of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Swami Vivekananda, Yogananda Paramahamsa, Anand Mayi, Franklin Merrell-Wolff, Hazrat Inayat Khan and others. Those experiences belonged to individualized phenomena belonging to established traditions such as Yoga, Tantra, Mantra, Sufism, Mysticism etc. It involved the experiences of altered states of consciousness, mystical trance, possessions and performances involving yogis, gods and goddesses. For example, saints like Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Paramahamsa Yogananda had the vision of goddess Kali and experienced spiritual trance. Sri Ramana Maharshi had an altered state of consciousness in which he experienced the disembodied nature of his soul. These sages followed a rigorous spiritual life involving years of spiritual practice.

Against this, the spiritual experiences of Santhigiri Ashram are entirely a phenomenon different from the established traditions. The persons had not undergone any rigorous spiritual practices following any established traditions. Their experiences were spontaneous and belonged to a different category altogether. Their experience took them to a new discovery in spirituality. It established a radically different path from the traditional ones. Through their spiritual visions and experiences, they were being guided to the understanding of Guru Concept and to the awareness of certain pitfalls in the practice of spirituality. Therefore, the spiritual experiences of Santhigiri Ashram are in the nature of a spiritual revelation and renaissance.

As per the Indian cosmic time calculation, Kaliyuga began more than 5200 years ago. Saints and sages in the past have predicted about a Supreme Soul, a spiritual authority incarnating during this age. In the Koran there is a mention about a ‘Mahadi Imam’ – a Supreme Guru. The ‘Gospel of Buddha’ by Paul Carus says that Buddha had foreseen the birth of a great soul. Once Ananda, the disciple of Sri Buddha, asked Buddha who will guide them (Buddha’s disciples) once he left his mortal body. Then Buddha said that another Buddha would arise in the world in due course of time and he would teach the same truth that he taught. When asked how they would recognize him, the Buddha said that he would be known as ‘Mettayya’. The meaning of the Pali word Mettayya is one who is Merciful (Karunakara).

Jesus Christ also made such a prediction. On the last day of Jesus’s sojourn on the earth, he tells his disciples that he has to go, but the ‘Father’ would send another ‘Comforter’ who would be with them for ever and who will speak of the truths that he had taught and ‘who would show you the things to come’; i.e. teach through spiritual visions (St. John, Ch 14-16). Guru’s life fulfils this prophecy as well.

The spiritual vision of Aurobindo and the Mother in Aurobindo Ashram on 24th November, 1926 would suggest the descending of the Supreme Soul accompanied by Sri Krishna. Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru was born on 1st September, 1927, after 280 days of this experience, the normal period of gestation. Guru as a child had the vision of Light and a face in his heart till the age of nine. The figure was of Sri Krishna. During the spiritual completion of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru, it was Sri Krishna, who elevated Guru from a certain spiritual plane after the Trimurty.

There can be many more such prophesies, heard and unheard. However, they are all interpreted in different ways, buried in theological jargon and cannot be and necessarily be taken as to prove or disprove anything related to the birth and ideology of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru. The ideology of Guru stands on its rock bottom of truth, experienced by thousands of his disciples. The mention of the predictions is made here only to point out the fact that the birth of a supreme spiritual authority was awaited in many cultures and religious traditions throughout the world and such expectations of a divine intervention are all the more relevant in the present time. Several devotees had the vision of Guru even before they actually met Guru.

India had a dharmic structure based on the teachings of the Rishis. In the ancient times, the rulers administered the country according to the wisdom and guidance of the Rishis. But with the appearance of Brahmanical Hinduism in the social scene of India, instead of the all knowing Seers and Rishis, the Brahmin priests took over and became the authorities on dharma. They perpetuated a highly unequal and oppressive social system with the help of the rulers. The misery and fall of India had begun then; its chariot of dharma began to run on lamed wheels. If the backwardness, the sickness and the inglorious social problems of India have to be rectified, India should heed the words of a ‘jnani’ – an all knowing seer, who could re-establish India’s dharmic structure as per the spiritual experience of the Rishis – the Sanatana Dharma, which is distinctly different from the divisive Brahmanical Hinduism, wrongly projected today as Sanatana Dharma.

A restructuring of the society based on the teachings of the Rishis is required to uplift India to its pristine glory. It is exactly with this mission Navajyoti Sri Karunkara Guru was born at Chandiroor, in Alappuzha district of Kerala. Guru lived 72 years (1926-1999) building the new social edifice of India and also of the world in the time to come. Guru has built up a foundation for this future society, silently, through a group of ordinary ignorant people. He taught them the high ideals of the Rishis through their practical experiences in life. He taught them how to think and act and live according to the lofty ideals of Sanatana Dharma. The spiritual experiences of Santhigiri Ashram highlight this noble work of Navajyoti Sri Karunkara Guru that how Guru saved a society of ignorant people from their spiritual, karmic and social weaknesses and how he taught them to live in unity, without any distancing barriers of caste, creed and religion and follow a spiritual path that enrich their souls, not degenerate and devolve them into a state of brutes.

There is a very little thought about aspect in the spiritual practice of Hindus, i.e. the consequences arising out of the worship of low spirits, deities, serpents etc. In the Bhagavat Gita, Sri Krishna cautions Arjuna about the consequences arising out of deviated worship. Krishna said that those who worship Devi-Devas (deities), ghosts, goblins etc. or ancestor souls, their souls after death go unto those spirits and not unto the Light of God. What happens in such cases is that the souls get stagnated in very low spiritual planes unable to get elevation, which becomes the root cause of trouble by way of family curses, diseases and misfortunes.

The problem of Hindus today is that they mistake the worship of God as devotion to deities, serpents and spirits as followed by their ancestors. These ignorant and inferior practices were thrust upon the lower castes by the Vedic priests in order to decimate their virtue and progress in society. Due to these inferior forms of worship, the families of the lower castes always remained in the dark cell of ignorance, physical and mental debilities.

Guru had a fundamental concept on health. Guru pointed out that the diseases could be categorized into three: (1) Common disease (2) The disease which results because of wrong spiritual practices (3) The disease relating to ‘Jeeva’- the soul. The classification of diseases based on spiritual factors is something unique. Diseases related to Jeeva are due to ‘Aradhana Dosham’ or distorted spiritual worship. Worshipping anything believing it as God is not good. That is not the proper way to God. Let us remember the advice of Sree Krishna to Arjuna (Bhagavat Gita) that if we worship the ‘devi-devas’ (celestials), we attain devi-devas; if we worship ‘bhootas’ (spirits & goblins) we reach the same; if we worship the ‘pitrus’(ancestral souls) the soul is lead to ‘pitrus’ and not to the Supreme God. Majority of Hindus follow the path of such deviated worship and believe that performance of miracles is the sign of divinity. They achieve their goals through such deviated worship. At certain stages in life the grace in their life vanishes and they become sick and miserable. The success in life depends on the inherent virtue in the soul. Those who lack virtue should cultivate virtue, which is possible only through the guidance of an all knowing Guru.

Another aspect which is less thought about is the truth of ancestral or familial curses and its bitter consequence in the life of a family. Power and status of a person do not help when such problems strike, which can be termed as parental curses. In scientific terminology, it is known as genetic problems. Mentally retarded children, physical and mental debilities, untimely deaths, suicides, sudden fall of fortune and luck – these are all genetically encoded messages that run contrary to one’s expectations in the course of one’s life. Only a Seer, the all knowing Guru can decipher the genetic imprints in the soul and in a family lineage and suggest remedies. Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru through such a graceful spiritual intercession resurrected thousands of ill-fated families.

Is there any relationship between the concept of God, way of worship and the ups and downs in life? 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 and social order. Guru not only stated this untold truth but also fulfilled the Will of Brahman by restoring Yuga Dharma. Nobody ever knew that the decay and disintegration of families have been caused by wrong worship and faith inappropriate to the Dharma of the Age. Families thus degenerated are aplenty in our society.

Home is the centre of one’s life and the great divine institution invented by God to groom humans into perfect beings from the state of brutes. It is from the institution of Home one learns to live for the sake of one another and learn virtuous qualities such as love, sacrifice, respect, discipline and sense of duty. In that way, there is no greater university than one’s home. Those who have not learnt well from their homes, become empty speakers. They won’t be able to practice in their own house what they preach outside. Nevertheless, home is the cause of greatest worry and trouble to majority of people today. The concern of all parents today is about the fate of their children in a highly contaminated world, physically and morally. Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru said that if the nation is to improve first the home should improve and to improve one’s home, the mother in the house should have gained knowledge about the dharma in life. Therefore, family is the basic pillar of the society and an institution where three important incidents take place - birth, marriage and death.

Sri Chidambaran, former Dy. Director of Education, Kerala published a booklet on the ideology of Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru. He mentioned that an ardent follower of Santhigiri’s Guru Margam, who prays and acts with full dedication and surrender, after facing a lot of obstacles, is sure to get protection from miseries, relief from diseases and also guidance and help in all activities by the grace and blessings of the Guru and this self experience is the secret of the firm faith, deep devotion and self discipline found in the followers of Santhigiri. ‘I do experience it myself in all my activities and feel the bliss of the grace and blessing of Guru. I have also the bitter experience of failure and loss due to non-compliance with the guidance and caution from Guru’. Sri Chidambaran wrote.

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

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

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

For the Liberation and Enlightenment of the Fallen Classes

Gurucharanam Saranam

Amrithavani
(Malayalam, First edition - April 1990)

This book is based on a few birthday messages of Guru which were published in Santhigiri monthly. It is the confirmation of the experiential truth of Guru which he earned through the struggles and sacrifices spanning several births. The book ponders over the age-old Dharmic fissures in the lives of Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudra classes and the path of action suitable to liberate them from this disaster. Along with this the book also throws light on the concept of Yuga Dharma, the changing Dharmic codes relevant to this particular age, a large extent to which the societal cohesion is based.

Guru said:
‘The self-comforting conclusions on an analysis and evaluation of the human problems do not, on its own, provide fulfillment to our life. The dilapidation of the dharmic backbone of the eighty percent of people in the world and of the twenty percent who were responsible for the ruin of the majority was due to the disregard for Yuga Dharma, owing to which the dharmic path relevant to the age was lost’.
(P No. 1)
The concept and views of Guru are distinctly different from the hue of existing ideologies. In the primordiality of bygone ages, exemplified through the concept of Manvantara- the cosmic chronometer, there occurred conceptual as well as applicational error in the Trimurthi tradition. The book narrates the consequent decadence in the dharmic structure of India. Read the following observation of Guru.

‘It was due to our diminished virtue we have lost our heritage. Through the lack of virtue, we became slaves to other infiltrators. They had both knowledge and capabilities. There was a language here similar to Hindi or Pali. Sanskrit came probably as a combination of these or as a subsequent refinement. The scriptures - puranas, epics, Upanishads and Vedas were written in Sanskrit and through this the Brahmin was made a god, an immortal deva. Because of this, the majority of people became ‘Asuras’. Through some of them the `Sakteya’ tradition was developed and through some others, the Saiva and Vaishnava traditions. None of them was inferior in comparison. All were excellent in their own way. But how would you discover which one of these is correct and incorrect?'
(P No. 131)

This book contains those great liberating thoughts of Guru which could revive us from the age-old frigidities and traditions that destroyed the significance of leading life according to the true dharma of the age. India has a rich and vast storehouse of knowledge gained through the observance of Yuga Dharma - the evolutionary concepts of the four-dimensional ages - Krita, Treta, Dwapara and Kali. But the people of India have been unable to get benefitted from this for earning virtue or self-fulfillment for the soul. Read how Guru explains the decadence of Sanatana Dharma in the following lines.

‘In the fragmentation that took place in spiritual practices (dharma) having diversified into Saiva, Saktheya and Vaishnava traditions, the glorious edifice of Sanatana Dharma propounded by the sages and rishis in the lineage of Manu was lost to mankind’.
(P No.7-8)

Similarly, observe how Guru asserts the urgent need to look at the present afresh, not through the opaque and fragmented mirror of the past.

‘The things happened in the past are only for our cognition and not for today’s observance. What we require today knowing thus is the righteousness to work in unison for the present time’.
(P No.13)

Guru informs that the seers who fathom the three-fold time should work living in the midst of people and thus inspired, the scientists, scholars, as well as ordinary people and workers can exemplify goodness in their respective fields.

This book also expounds the concept of Guru for the liberation and enlightenment of the fallen classes of people through his own life of sacrifice and unique ideology that delink religion and caste structures from the spiritual pursuit of man. Guru’s words emit the fragrance of the purity of Rishis and reverberate with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the mercy of Prophet Mohamed, the essence of the teachings of saints and sages like Sri Buddha, Sri Sankara, Sri Narayana Guru, Chattambi Swamikal, Sri Rama Teertha, Sri Aravinda Ghosh, Sri Ramakrishna Parama Hamsa and Swami Vivekananda.

The book opens the doors to the path of enlightenment and the divine intercession willed by God through Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru, the epitome of highest Guru-hood and spiritual elevation. Amrithavani intercedes with the concept of Dharma through the light of knowledge by which one can ensure liberation.
Mukundan PR

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

The Great Sayings of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru

Gurucharanam Saranam

The Great Sayings of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru
(Translated from the original Malayalam)

Note: Guru has said volumes on these topics. However this is only few glimpses of what He said readily available in English.


On Spirituality

“Gurudharma is infinite and immortal. Guru is the harbinger of vision …. The difference between the Deva (deities) and the Guru is very big”.


“Why the society is generally worshipping God today? Why go to places of worship and ashrams? Just for temporary fulfillment! It ends up with breaking of coconuts and lighting of wicks. They return in a worst state than before… Till now we had been living behind the system in which there were different gods for lower castes and higher castes…. Kaliyuga requires the culmination of the faith in a single God”.


“The rules and regulations within human intelligence are not sufficient to preserve Dharma. People do not even think what the need is there for twisting and dancing in the name of devotion…. For all of us who live in this world, a ONE is required to remain together. Spread everywhere by confining to that ONE, That ONE, which spreads to everything is the Truth….”


“The revival of the nation should be achieved through the revival of the home. How can the home be revived? Can the home be revived by finding a way to get some money? If the home is to be revived, the mother, who is the first Guru, should be virtuous and knowledgeable. Nobody has improved the world at a stretch. But if at least one woman can be led to wisdom, one home will improve. The next generation will improve. If it is done as an offering to god, this seed, which is sown, will spread throughout the world”


“Kali seems to have reached a critical stage that cannot be countered even by the teachings of Jesus and Moses. If the Dharma of the Kaliyuga is to be accomplished, the women in a household should be spiritually awakened like the women of the Prophet Mohammed’s family. The Prophet was unable initially to make out what was happening. He did not realize that he had started receiving the Word from the Light. He thought that he was imagining. It was his wife who affirmed his experience and encouraged him. She was such an evolved woman. The householders should be able to bring up a girl-child who would, when she becomes a wife, assures her husband that she would strive for his welfare through her prayers. Only if this spiritual quality is attained would you earn the right to do such work as would redeem the Kali age. One cannot achieve this, no matter what high status one has, if one’s karma is defective. It is only through the grace of God the ever-orbiting planets, remaining in their stellar paths offer substance to us”.


“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. That is why Jesus said that faith saves. Indeed you have to learn to believe. Something perennial is being offered to you to believe. Rely on it with resolve and accomplish everything one by one. You, your wife and children are caught in the same karma. What you achieve should be achieved by them too. The father of a family should have attained love through faith, karma through love, punyam (virtue or blessedness) through karma, and good fortune (luck) through punyam. The womb that carries the child has to be that of a similarly worthy mother. Have we brought up our girl-children to be such virtuous mothers?”



‘We have come to this world after many births. We have very little time in this world. What can we learn during this short span of time? The wealth of knowledge acquired through the ages is so voluminous that we are unable to understand even a fraction of it... Therefore, what we can learn is about Kali Yuga Dharma. Kali Yuga Dharma is not based on caste or religion. It is based on the innate goodness of humanity’


“It was said that the Brahma created the four Vedas…. The Brahma of the Trinity tradition was misconceived as Brahman. Brahman is all pervading. Brahma is not so. Brahma relates only to the aspect of creation. Still it was made to believe that Brahma was above everything. However, Brahma is not everything. The story of Brahma can only be told by Manu. As far as Manu is concerned, little is known….. Thus we fell into error….”


The Aim of Santhigiri Ashram


“It was laid down that we should not step into, see, touch or take… We fought one another within these edicts. As a result, the ‘varnashrama dharma’ was lost and in its place has come the caste system. All the Karmas were hit by this system. We at Santhigiri are taking back that faulty Karma, which many had tried in vain earlier. Santhigiri’s karma is directed at reverting to the caste-less society and not at developing a sanyasa cult. Nor is it aimed at tracing the root of Indian civilization with a view to retrieve it. Why should it be, after all? Because this is Kali Yuga whose Karma is not to step onto the mountain of errors covering the whole world and then revive the lot! Our karma and dharma are to finish off what has gone wrong in it....”


“The householders belonging to both the genders have got a major role to play. Each householder has to elevate himself in such a manner that through his off-springs and lineage, he acquires the intelligence to rule the world, the Karma to do good to the world and become capable of assuming of the role of the guardian of the world…. That’s the dharma of a householder. Blissfully ignorant of this, you live and perish as an opportunist…. You don’t know what god-worship is or the performance of the karma of a householder properly…. None of these karmas is now with us. Retrieving them is going to be our mission…”


“Many great spiritual leaders like Krishna, Buddha, Christ and Prophet Mohammed have come and gone but their divine teachings did not have the desired effect on mankind … Most of the scriptural discourses go astray leaving the humanity behind!... What is the way out? The only thing that we can do for their good is to pray to God”.


Guru on Politics & Government


“What does each one do in the name of politics? The karma of politics has the life of a day. It is meant to be that way. ….. Ask any leader, who has crossed the middle age, in private. And he would agree that it (his entry into politics) was a mistake. Consider this seriously and you will realize that an outrageous wrong has been done to the younger generations. We have not realized 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 the deception and it will disappear on its own. Until and unless you realize this situation for yourself you will not be able to either listen to or to believe in any counsel. This Karma (the politics of today) does not have to be eradicated by force. It is enough that you keep to your karma with proper awareness”


“The people should get this knowledge through the body that governs the land. This knowledge should be properly received by the people as well as the government. How can one realize the possibility of the interstellar destruction if we disregard these matters, immersed as we are in mirage-like rhetoric and words of consolation? We should be ever vigilant to fulfill the dharma of our incarnation …. That is the means to raise India to be the fountain-head of the Word of Truth from God. And that is how India could be the base for eradicating of poverty of the peoples of the world”


Guru to the Householders


“A father should be as God to his children. Then should he not be in a position to at least show the children the path to God? Your search should be motivated by this cause. Whatever else you find for them would not do. This is the karma. This is the virtue. Actualizing of such virtue would enable parents to bring into existence the citizens of the world. This is not the mission of the renunciate, the sanyasi. It is for the house-holders to accomplish it …. If the householders are rejecting this what is the way out? Caste, creed and race are not to influence the householders' lives. The Dharma of the age should become the light that leads. This is the age of Kali. The Dharma of Kali is the guidance given by the Guru who has come to the earth plane even after achieving liberation. He would have realized and gone beyond Vedic rituals and the traditions….”


“Today it is the educated who loot much more than the uneducated. Your children are getting the education that creates wrong tendencies in them inviting destruction. You should give your children what is suitable to their propensities. By giving something unsuitable, negative tendencies are fostered. Do not thus allow the child to take up the ownership of karmadosham (karmic error). There is a type of avadhoota (spiritual wanderer) who does not know how to dress, eat, drink or bathe. It would look like some sort of renunciation. Your children walk about as though merged in God, reminding us of this avadhoota. These children drink, defecate and vomit in an utterly messy way and move through filth of many types. They go astray and wherever they go try to fool about before the world….”



“Those of you who wish to be part of the process of ashrama dharma should keep a thought thus in mind… This is not just for removing the faults in me. This is also for removing the failings in the life and work of my forefathers. If there is release for me, well and good; otherwise let it be. But my children should not amass this ignorance; this country should not be ruined because of them. Your work should reflect at least that much of love. Apart from this you are not asked to give up and become renunciates”.



“I have done that which blocks your hereditary negativity and the resultant ignorance affecting your children. Believe this to be the karma performed by me so that you may be in possession of that karma; your dharma is to faithfully absorb it for which you have to renew yourselves. For that God has entrusted his word itself to you. I am giving you this good news with great expectation”.



‘While learning staying in the ashram, we, with our wisdom, sacrifice, sufferings and actions are compensating for the lapses in our homes and the society. This is the knowledge we gain from the Ashram. This is not Sanyasa (renunciation). Those who come to the Ashram and stay here do not adopt Sanyasa. They are coming here to learn with their lives. That was what ancient kings had done. Even Lord Krishna studied in an Ashram. Ashram is such a great institution. The basic duty of every Ashram is to give away love, respect and humility for the good of the world. This is the real education which we gain from the Ashram’.



“The house-holders of the whole world ought to be vigilant otherwise they are preparing themselves to cast their own future generation into a boundless fire-pit that is getting formed. This is a reminder to you to take great care while bringing your children into the world and parent them. Ultimately where do the children have to live? Do the parents have any alternative other than letting the children come into this very society?”


Guru on Bringing up Children


“We are nurtured in such a way that we have no contrivances to bring up our children in the specific manner. If the father leads a decent life, the children would pursue it. If the mother has no say in anything, indeed everything would be lost. It is not adequate that father alone be good. Children would emerge righteous if only they are conveyed all the facets of virtues. Even if the wife is virtuous, the drunkard husband can crucify the family. Many such families exist. Children of such family are to be resuscitated. The householders should take heed of it. No philosophy can save him. Vedanta, to him, would be hard nut to crack. Life is more important than Vedanta. What is life? We should know how to live. We play hosts to many absurdities in life. Try to remedy them. Shape it through your children. The first pre-requisite is the knowledge of the dharma to make it possible. I have diagnosed the cause of the malady and revealed to many. Still I do it. But how many pay heed to it? I am sad that though I disclosed it to thousands few care to conceive it in the right spirit. The malady prevails. They come again but time is spent. Be mindful, this is a karma done only through children. It is possible only through two or three generation that this task can be accomplished. Do you have any knowledge to impart to the posterity....? What shall we do? This is the curse of the time. This is high time that we shall try to make amends. At any cost, we must do something. Just appreciating what I say is not enough…. The housewives have to take initiative, and not remain aloof as a bystander…. What is required is the knowledge having the fragrance of life…. Woman is the integral part of a house.. Women must be virtuous, otherwise she cannot control her children. They seek their own path. What are parents if they cannot guide their children?”



Guru on Genetic Cleansing



“There’s a saying among us that husband is God. Is it applicable then to an embodiment of all vices and one who has never been fair to anything; to one who has lost all punya (virtue), humility….? ‘Gurupuja’ is the Karma which I am offering here for these ills. And through this, off-springs capable of transferring goodness all around will emerge. It’s not as if someone is sitting somewhere meditating, chanting and invoking some evil spirits, never…. What I am making you do is a unique karma. Its purpose is to make amends to the errors in all spiritual lineages (devas, deities and rishis) till date, thereby raising them to an elevated plane….The ancestors did have their share of good and bad. The task of rectifying their bad deeds was stupendous. You’ll understand it, if you reflect on the lives of the noble souls of the past”.


Guru on Spiritual Planes


“We should be prepared to declare that there is an effective method for the intented correction. For this it requires that one should come to know or experience the Supreme Soul who fills with radiating light the planetary and interplanetary spheres of the system of nine planets. There is the spiritual wisdom starting at the first sky [Akasa] and encompassing the succeeding planes of the different specifications of light. But the scriptural renderings of wisdom do not effectively bring out that spark of life illuminating the life-force... The written history, which is a mixture of Vedic, puranic and scriptural thought does not illustrate this fact….”


“Beginning from the humble grass or from the five elements involving the water content the life-force is evaluated; this leads to the five spiritual cells - pancha Kosa (Annamaya, Pranamaya, Jnanamaya, Vinjanamaya and Anandamaya). Scholars have tried to add a sixth one to the existing five cells. This concept of the sixth one is far from the truth, though it may appear reasonable, pure and scholarly….. The nine-fold light can emanate from one atom as has been proved by the possibility of atomic reaction brought about by modern scientific research…”



“There was a theory that the atom cannot be split. Now who has split the atom? The assertion of the indivisibility of the atom is similar to the theory of Advaita. Science can bring to light a number of facts. But the method or path followed by the scientist need not necessarily be the proper one. What do we understand from this? His findings may be scientifically true. The nature has arranged everything without holding back anything from our observation. The spokesman of the truth can alone clarify the objective tribulation of the life-force in accordance with the different stature of individual souls. The great men whose sustained effort in search of the source of grace for long, having acted upon every cell beginning from the annamaya kosa (food sheath) and through a long journey enabling them to reach Anandamaya kosa (blissful sheath). The objective evaluation of the possessive process of spiritual phenomena can be done only by a seeker of truth”

82nd Birthday Message of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru

Gurucharanam Saranam

82nd Birthday Message(As Revealed from Guru-Prakasham through Sishyapoojita Amrita Jnana Tapaswini)


Let us pray in one heart and in unison for peace!
The Soul of Truth,
Lonely in the shores of the oceans,
Realizing the truth of human life,
Vigilantly safeguarding the path of penance,
Cleaving the thick cobwebs of karma,
Its certainties as well as uncertainties,
Observing the hidden far off truth,
Through the sastrugi of pain and realizations,
In those sinuous pathways of pain and truthful reflections,
Loudly proclaiming:

Hail! Hail! 'The Light of Truth, the Light of Truth'.

In that Soul of Truth, in its scintillating effulgence,
Through vigilant experience and mystical revelations,
Behold, the path of verve and renaissance,
That leads countless souls to the virtuous path.

In that corridor of wakefulness, the truth of life is known;
Like the maneuverings of the ocean, known through nature's throbs.
In its ceaseless journey, in the crucible of wisdom
In the alimental karma and dharma, that complements each other,
Behold the self-earned virtuousness,
And the eternal glimmer of life-effulgence,
The conduct of life after birth and death,
The truth of cause and effect,
Behold them all, in that Godly Will!
Untouched by the humanly wisdom,
Like the ores caught by a magnet,
In the horizon beyond the shore of thoughts,
The sinews of divine bliss, penetrating the yonder skies,
Curing thus the karmic ruptures,
With the puissance of sacrifice amassed,
Transforming as the path itself, for the liberation of all:
Thus the revelation:

'Word is Truth, Truth is Guru, and Guru is God'

The path conforming to Godly Will!
The path of blemishless and virtuous seers,
The path of awakened truth, of revelation,
And of the apocalyptic aphorism:

'Guru is Brahma, Guru is Vishnu, and Guru is God Siva'

Traversing the acclivitous truths of which,
Life becomes merged with that luciferous truth,
Of knowledge and wisdom, the seat of transcendental bliss,
Guiding life, as the eternal fulcrum of creation!

That self revealing transcendental bliss,
Hidden indeed is it in the alcoves of our heart,
Known through self-experiential knowledge,
And discriminatory wisdom,
The realization of which is the vigilant will of God.

What for and what that vigil was?
Astringed with sacrifice,
With karma brimming with righteousness,
With the loving salve of beneficence;
That seat of transcendental bliss,
Is the credendum, or the quiddity of Santhigiri.

We remember the perennial birthdays…..
In the girdles of experience,
With the osculant prayerful visions,
That throbbing of self-effulgence;

In the epochs and in its twilights … Manvantara
In its' high and low tides,
In the innards of dharma and adharma
Cognizing and respecting everything,
Abandoning that which to be abandoned,
All to imbibe that divine effulgence,
The personification of scintillating perfection!


The throbs of our prayers keep the purr of entire creation,
In the girdles of protection,
Through our life of vigilance, in the altar of self-sacrifice,
And in the kingdom of the Self,
Salvaging its wisdom and experience
Demeaning with all in right measure,
In our verve to venerate the Supreme Blessed Light,
The object of worship of all!

Praying ever and anon, for the welfare of this creation!
Embracing always that graceful Light,
Hearken to realization, with a worshipful mind!

Prayers again for the quietitude of all,
With submissions in that totality of truth,
In that eternity of perfection!

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

Sishyapoojita: Her Ordeal of Fire

Gurucharanam Saranam


Sishyapoojita: Her Ordeal of Fire

by Sreenilayam G. Phalgunan

Year 1992: The respected MLA, who represented Vamanapuram constituency, invited the members’ attention in the Legislative Assembly through a submission. The subject in short was this: ‘A girl named Radha is locked up in Santhigiri Ashram by the Swami there. The Swami’s intention is to grab the wealth of her parents’.

The honorable MLAs responded, some in support while some disagreed. There were allegations that the MLA who brought up the question , had close relations with the Swami, and that his house was crow’s cry away from Santhigiri Ashram, and that the Swami used to buy hay and paddy from the MLA who was a good farmer, for the use of the Ashram. At the end of the discussion, the Minister announced that necessary action would be taken after an enquiry. The MLA was happy. He arranged a party for his media friends and ensured the news in the next day’s newspapers.

The truth of the case was something else. Radha was born as the eldest daughter of Sri Chellappan Pillai and Ratnamma at Kallar Pattam Colony, Idukki. Her birth was marked by unique incidents. Both the mother and child were affected by long periods of ill-health and associated difficulties. Medical science as well as remedies under Vedic tradition had failed. Today, on reflection, it could only be said that it was God’s Grace that both the mother and child survived.

Radha looked like an ordinary child but had exceptional qualities which could not be found in other children. She tended to keep a distance from everyone. Radha’s spotless character and innocence added to the joy of her God fearing grandmother.
Radha has early memories of a unique kind of vision. In sleep and waking state she saw some forms and lights. She saw deities, celestial beings, great souls like Rishis and Gurus. Some of them touched her gently and spoke to her. An energy of love, compassion and joy always filled her heart. She did not know its meaning, but knew it was something special.

Radha started going to school. She was seven years when one day her parents and other family members went on a pilgrimage to Palani (the temple town famous for its Subrahmanian temple). Radha and her younger uncle stayed back in the house.
At dawn, Uncle asked Radha: ‘Child, light the fire and boil water for tea. I am going to milk the cow’. Radha started removing the ashes from the fireplace. She briefly glanced through the windows and her eyes fell on the ground at the far end of the courtyard. Noticing some movement there she looked intently - the earth came loose and a beam of light emerged from the ground. While she looked on, the light changed itself into many colors, blue, red and yellow and the full figure of Muruka (Subrahmanian), the family deity appeared. The deity was blessing her. Radha kept looking, with rapt attention. Uncle came to the kitchen with milk and called her out and the vision broke. Radha realized that she had just been through a big experience. She did not feel like telling this to others.

When Radha stepped out holding a broom to sweep the courtyard, she saw a white light from which a human face looked at her affectionately smiling. She shifted her eyes and she saw the same vision. Radha could see it even on the bags of spices which her father stored in the shed adjacent to the house. She experienced extraordinary joy and elation. The more she saw it, the greater was her desire to see it again and again.

One evening, when the father returned home after his work, he talked about a meeting he had with a Swami. When Radha heard the description of the Swami, she said suddenly, ‘I have seen the Swami’. The father took it to be the prattle of a child. But next morning he realized that she spoke the truth.

Radha, along with her parents and other members of the family went to see the Swami, at the Ashram nearby. While the others were looking for water to wash their feet, Radha went straight to the ‘Swami’.(in seventies people addressed Guru as ‘Swami’). She prostrated, and got up and stood there with folded hands. She was elated that the face she saw in her visions was that of the ‘Swami’. ‘You have seen me, isn’t it’? Guru asked her with deep affection. Radha nodded her head, saying ‘yes’. When he asked how she had seen him, she briefly described her experience. Guru sank in meditation for a while, and then, calling the parents near, gave them some advice.
From that day Guru was in Kallar.

Radha spent her day in the Ashram and returned home at night. On the third day a family came to see Guru. Guru called Radha and directed her to call upon the ‘face’ she always saw in her visions and seek information about this family, their intention and the deities they worshipped. Radha prostrated before Guru and sat down with her eyes closed. Within seconds, she got up and told Guru what she got from that light. The details Guru found out after that from the family tallied with what Radha got. The matters revealed by them were the same that Radha had got revealed from the light. Some other children, who were with Guru in those days also had this type of experience. This unique faculty is the most exalted aspect of Santhigiri’s Guru-Disciple order. It is true that several other Gurus and Acharyas had the experience of receiving intimations from the Light. But their disciples, especially small children were not known to have this. To a lesser degree many householders who pray to Guru as well as small children, grown up or old people have had the faculty of vision kindled in them. The others are filled with joy when they get one word or look from Guru. The greatness of Guru is revealed just by this experience.

Two years passed. Radha, guided by her inner light, wrapped up a pair of clothes in a piece of paper intending to go with Guru to the Ashram at Thiruvananthapuram. Even Guru’s devotees discouraged her, saying that Guru is in the habit of beating and scolding children. They said that she would not get enough to eat. And worst of all, she would not get a place to sleep even. The child listened to all this smiling, without uttering a word.

While Guru trained Radha to live in the ashram he also sent her to school. After school she was sent to college for further studies and when she completed pre-degree (now the plus two) she realized that she need not spend any more time in college. Such worldly pursuits were a waste of time for her as she had some other work ordained by the Will of Brahmam. She was born for that. God, in the form of Guru had willed her birth for that purpose. With this awareness she concentrated totally on Guru. She was convinced that whatever belonged to Guru was also hers and that she belonged to Guru. The childhood tendency to be aloof from parents and relatives grew stronger and all attachment receded.

Initially the parents were happy and proud of the child, but now they were beginning to feel unhappy. Some differences of opinion cropped up. The other side of the story relates to the subtle laws of spiritual evolution. As a great poet in Malayalam said:

‘Bondage indeed is Karma to Man,
Cut the Bondage, Salvation Sure.

A devotee can progress in the path of realization only when he or she is free from all bondage. The deserving soul shall make itself free from worldly fetters. Otherwise, God will intercede. In other words, it is ordained by God. The incidents that took place in Radha’s life also support this truth, for the world to see it. But Radha was unmoved. Her vivid mystical visions and experiences from childhood, the will to self- sacrifice and the great attachment towards Guru stood support to her faith.

In the year 1984, Radha received ‘Sanyasam’ (vow of renunciation) from Guru and became a member of the Guru Dharma Prakasha Sabha – the association of sanyasis, which Guru formed. The new identity given to her by Guru was Janani Amrita Jnana Tapaswini. She lived like the shadow of Guru, carrying out the spiritual work given to her by Guru and caring, observing and attending to his well being. Life was going on like this through realizations when there was an unfortunate turn of events as mentioned earlier.

A woman estranged from the Ashram misinformed Janani’s parents that their daughter was imprisoned, and was being tortured and starved. The parents, already distanced from the Ashram, were totally misled and approached the area MLA. It was thus, the subject came up in the Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Assembly appointed an Enquiry Committee. Officials of different police departments were deputed for investigating the case. The intervention and influence of the MLA added vigor to the police investigation. The police questioned the Ashram inmates. They returned, shaken by the experience, saying, ‘Please send away this Janani from here, it is risky otherwise’. Janani was present when they said this. She remained calm. Ashramites were disturbed. ‘Why don’t you leave?’ some asked Janani straight in the face. Others were visibly troubled, thinking of the problems Guru might have to face. Some persons loathed seeing Janani thus in agony. In this turbulence, Guru silently suffered.

Janani accepted all - the cruel arrows of words, slander and slights without any complaint. Even when these crossing limits she did not react. Her attention was riveted to receiving Guru’s instructions and obeying his words. Such was her faith in Guru and His Word and Grace.

The enquiry commission appointed by the government visited the Ashram. They met Janani. She truthfully and courteously presented her version of things - her spiritual experiences from the age of three and her faith. The members of the committee who heard her folded their hands in reverence and love. Then they put some customary questions to her. “I came here along with Guru with the consent of all. My relationship with the family ended then and there. The moment I saw Guru, I realized that Guru was everything to me. That realization has grown as wide as the universe. What is the use of a life to me forsaking Guru?’ She answered.

The members of the commission bowed again with respect and got up. Some among them asked her ‘If a court decision comes after the case? I would have only one appeal; provide me a dark cell, befitting one sentenced to death. I shall sit there in the Light of my Guru. The government wouldn’t have to spend even a paisa on me’.

‘Is your faith that strong?’ One among them asked.

‘With a pure mind, forsaking eightfold attachment, you also come here with faith and seek guidance from Guru. Know Guru through your experience. Then you will understand me and about my thoughts’, the Janani replied.

On July 22nd, 1992, keeping the report of the enquiry commission on his table, the then Home Minister informed the Legislative Assembly to this effect: ‘From the age of ten, the girl Radha was staying in the Ashram on her own volition and with the permission of her parents. She became a Sanyasini in the year 1984. Now she is around 30 years and is matured with experience. The enquiry commission could not find out even a single incident in the Ashram proving the allegations mentioned by the Honorable Member through his submission in the Assembly. The Sanyasini has nothing of that sort to say. She has proved to be a staunch believer. No one has the right to question an individual’s freedom of faith’.

The newspapers reported this the next day. A few inmates in the Ashram could not get over the controversy and continued to mortify Janani. ‘She should be turned out, they maintained, she tarnished the Ashram’s name to the extent possible. Why isn’t she leaving?’

All this reached Guru. Some of them directly told Him. ‘Janani shouldn’t be allowed to continue here. This is the majority opinion’. Questions came from persons sitting in important positions too. ‘Why is she being fed and kept here still?’ This all deeply distressed and pained Guru. Guru called everybody. He told Janani, ‘Your father filed this case against the Ashram saying that you are kept as a prisoner. You can go with your father. This is the majority opinion here. I don’t want you here. You may leave’.

The Janani prostrated before Guru and went out of His room. She seated herself under the mango tree, where the Sahakarana Mandiram stands today. She went into deep meditation. Then she received Words from the Light of Guru: ‘You should not leave, it would be risky’. Empirically Guru orders her to leave. On the subtle plane – as Radiance - He asks her not to leave, warning her of danger. Janani, who knew who Guru was, who she was and what her mission was, did not have to think further. Her parents had come prepared to take her away. She approached them and said, ‘No, I am not coming’. With determination Janani re-entered Guru’s room.

Guru lay there in bed not getting up even once. He had not taken any food either. Janani prostrated, and said softly, ‘Guru, please get up; get up and take food’. Guru did not respond. Janani said again, ‘Guru should take food’. There was no response still. She went close to Him, ‘Guru, why do you distress yourself’? She continued, halting a while. ‘Didn’t you tell me about this, years ago? Whatever you said then, is taking place today’.

It was years ago. Janani was a mere child at that time. She had just joined the Ashram. She was accompanying Guru, who was going for a bath to the nearby stream. On the way Guru asked her, ‘Did you see anything when you prayed’? ‘Yes, I saw’, the girl said. She spoke about the vision. After listening to what she said, Guru sat on a stump by the roadside. After a while Guru addressed everybody and said, ‘No one would receive such a vision so easily. She got this luck through her abundant virtue. Once, all people, including her parents will forsake her. If, on that occasion, she could survive it, she would be saved’.

The scene flashed simultaneously in the mind of the Guru and disciple. Guru sat up at once, ‘Hum, she has come to teach me Vedanta! Go get the food. I am very hungry’. Guru was suddenly full of happiness. A disciple has come, who knows His mind, to take His mission forward. What else does a Guru need?

While having His meal, Guru occasionally glanced at the disciple as if to say; ‘So, you outlived it.’ He moved the plate towards the disciple with a little food in it. With a nod of the head, He gestured to her to eat it. The disciple took it sitting there on the floor, brimming with love and utmost satisfaction. Several people witnessed the scene, which reflected the closeness of Guru-disciple relationship. Many had tears of joy in their eyes. She had emerged as a true renunciate, firm in determination and courage.

That Disciple has evolved to inherit the great legacy of Guru. She has become the Sishyapoojitha, the most venerated among the Guru’s disciples -- the spiritual head of Santhigiri and the Parampara, carrying out the Will of Guru in the world.

(Translated from Malayalam by Mukundan P.R.)