The Vision and Mission of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru

Gurucharanam Saranam

The Vision and Mission of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru

Introduction

Santhigiri Ashram was founded by Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru in the year 1968 at Pothencode, 21 KMs away from Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala. It is emerging as the global capital of spirituality where people belonging to all walks of life despite religious, racial, gender and ideological differences arrive attracted by the new doctrine and path gifted by Guru to humanity. Guru was a seer of unparalleled wisdom and spiritual realization and was able to foresee the past, present and future course of development of our life and society. Guru did not subscribe to any orthodox religious beliefs. Revelations from the Supreme Light and the rare insights and experiences of His life of sacrifice spanning 72 years became the basis of Gurumargam, the new spiritual path founded by Guru.

History

Navajyotisree Guru was born on 1st September, 1927, at Chandirur, Alapuzha district in Kerala. The birth of Guru was marked by incidents associated with divine births. After birth, Guru became aware of a unique spiritual experience. There was a ‘Radiance’ inside Him until the age of nine, which Guru identified as the visage of Sri Krishna. When He became 14 years old, Guru left home in search of spiritual realization. He led the life of an ascetic in the Ashram founded by Sri Narayana Guru, well known spiritual and social reformer of Kerala who said ‘One Caste, One Religion, One God for humanity’.

During His search for truth, Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru met Khureshia Fakir, a Sufi sage, who lived near Beema Masjid at Thiruvananthapuram. The ancestors of Khureshia Fakir belonged to Pathan tribe of Afghanistan, hence he was also known as Pattani Swami. This Sufi master was instrumental in awakening rare mystical experiences present in Guru. After few years’ association with Khureshia Fakir, Guru established Santhigiri Ashram near Pothencode. In the year 1973, after a series of spiritual experiences and fulfillments, Guru’s supreme spiritual status and extra ordinary divine mission was revealed to the disciples by the Radiance of God. On 6th May, 1999, Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru merged with the eternal Light of God. The present head of Santhigiri Ashram is Her Holiness Sishyapoojita Amritajnana Tapaswini, who is empowered by the Guru to spiritually lead the Guruparampara.

Vision

Guru founded a universal spiritual path based on the faith in the oneness of God and humanity in fulfillment of the wishes of great rishis, sages and prophets who came in the past. The teachings of Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru deal with revelatory and visionary spiritual experiences. It deals with the questions of spiritual evolution, spiritual hierarchies, cosmic time order, astral pollution, soul transmigration, karma, and most importantly the possibility of spiritual intervention from time to time in the evolution of human civilization. The path of Guru can be referred as Jnana Margam - the experiential path of spiritual realization to help humanity evolve spiritually founded on the esoteric principles of Sanatana Dharma.

Mission of Peace

As per the teachings of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru, salvation is possible only by lifting oneself to higher spiritual planes above the hierarchies of spirits, celestials, angels, gods and goddesses. The astral planes up to heaven are related to pleasure and pain, name and form. By their worship and spiritual practices, the souls get connected to these lower astral planes, which produce only dual experiences of happiness and misery. So long as the soul is subject to the lower astral planes, there will be imbalances and variations in the karmic and spiritual earnings affecting the measure of soul’s virtue and evolutionary growth. The disturbances in nature, the moral degradation of humanity and the consequent trail of meaningless violence and sorrow are directly or indirectly related with man’s association with lower spiritual planes.

Achievements

Enduring health, peace and prosperity is the result of tranquility arising from soul’s composure in higher spiritual planes where all dualities disappear and soul remains in its state of purity and positive spiritual emanations. It is the plane where Oneness of God and Oneness of Humanity become an actual experience. This spiritual transition is the basis for a healthy society and which is necessary to achieve lasting peace, enduring health and progress. Before embarking on this path of higher spiritual transition, one has to get rid of the karmic, ancestral and spiritual baggage by rightly establishing oneself in the path of such a spiritual master, who has transcended the lower astral planes and realized the Will of God. Sri Aravind Ghosh referred to this spiritual transition as the Supra-mental evolution. The life fulfillment of Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru was that He was able to make this spiritual transition a reality among a big community of people, which is now spreading to the entire world, irrespective of caste, religion, class and other differentiations. That Santhigiri Ashram receives ‘revealed words’ from the Supreme Light adds great importance to this theme.

Community Initiatives

Guru recognizes family as the basic unit of the society. The family envisaged by Guru is well founded in Dharma, fulfilling its duties towards society. There is an Association of house-holders, Grihasthasrama Sangham in the Ashram and the members meet from time to time to discuss issues related to familial relations and the duties of the family to society. Viswa Samskarika Navodhana Kendram (V.S.N.K) is the Ashram’s cultural wing that seeks to propagate the message of Guru for a spiritual and cultural renaissance in the world. Santhimahima is the wing of boys and young men under the auspicious of the Ashram and is dedicated to the spreading awareness of dharma among the youth. It aims at instilling values in young people and preparing them for a meaningful and responsible life as citizens of the world. Gurukanti is a centre to make children between the age of 5 to 13 aware of the values of love, truth and compassion and to bring out their talents and skills.

Women empowerment

Gurumahima is an organization for the character formation of women based on the values and teachings of Guru. Mathrumandalam is a women’s organization under the auspices of the Ashram and is concerned with the empowerment of women. There are various women oriented enterprises managed by the Ashram - a weaving centre, cutting and stitching centre, curry powder unit, printing press, dairy farm and flower gardens, agricultural division, coir factory and oil mill. According to Guru the material and spiritual well-being of women are the foundation for a good society and a good world.

Sustainable Development Activities

Ashram has taken up bold initiatives in promoting a sustainable pattern of development that may contribute to do away with the negative impact of human activities on earth. The life pattern and life culture of the Santhigiri community is an enduring example the world community can learn from. Santhigiri disseminates and teaches that the objective of human life is not material accumulation alone. Life becomes meaningful and peaceful when material pursuit is supplemented by spiritual pursuit. The fundamental focus of Guru’s teaching, the spiritual practices and material activities that Guru initiated are with a view to nurture and nourish a life culture and life style agreeable to natural environment and positive human development.

Life Style Changes

Guru’s teaching and the path laid down for its actualization provides guidance in day today life in reorienting life towards higher planes of virtues. This orientation towards the need of nourishing virtues in life, transforms one’s life vision and gradually changes take place in lifestyle. When discriminative understanding grows, one becomes conscious of the positive and negative impact of unbridled and mindless growth of science, technology and material conditions in life.

Green Movement

The members of Santhigiri community are more conscious of the harmful effects of global warming and climate change and use of pesticides and artificial methods employed in different areas of food processing , agriculture, time saving devices which dissuades him not to indulge in physical exertions. The simplicity of life and a natural way of living, loving and caring of nature and the eco-friendly development of the physical environment speak a lot of Ashram’s significance and contribution in guiding society in a new path of development. Ashram for the last 30 years has followed the methods of bio-farming in agriculture. Only natural manure is used in farming .plants are preserved and while cutting even the branch of a tree, permission of the tree is sought in spiritual way. In such sanctity vegetations are preserved and a culture that cares and preserve environment is promoted. The dairy in the Ashram provides the raw materials for biogas. The vegetable and other bio- wastes that runs into tones along with cow dung is the raw material for the bio-manure manufactured in the Ashram.

Community Health

In the field of health care and medical treatment Santhigiri has made commendable and substantial contribution and guidance to the world. The Ashram runs hospitals and panchakarma centers in and outside the state. There is a pharmaceutical centre that produces around five hundred medicines both classical and proprietary. Part of the raw materials required, come from the herbal gardens of Santhigiri at Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad. The Ashram had launched several free mass healthcare programs such and ‘Karunyam’ and adoption of a village which benefitted lakhs of people. Santhigiri also operates Mobile clinics that reach medical assistance to the doorsteps of the poor in the villages as well as in the cities.

Education and Research

Santhigiri Ashram runs prestigious schools and medical colleges (Ayurveda and Siddha). The Ashram is also engaged in social and scientific research and has been recognized by the Ministry of Science &Technology Govt. of India and exempted under Income tax rule 35(i), (ii) & (iii). Santhigiri Research Journal is a new journal of spirituality and Science published by Santhigiri Ashram. The Ashram publishing house brings out a spiritual monthly Santhigiri Adhyatmika Masika and an occasional news paper Umminithankam. Several books on spirituality have been brought out by this wing. The health care division brings out a health magazine, Arogyapadmam and an online Newsletter, Siddhavani.

The Truth of Spiritual Planes

Guru Charanam Saranam

The Truth of Spiritual Planes
Mukundan P.R.

There exist three different paths for God realization in the world, viz. the path of Rishis or Guru Margam (Sanatana Dharma), Deva Margam (the path of gods or the Trimurty tradition) and the path of Prophets or Pravachaka Margam. The differences of Sanatana Dharma with Prophetic religions lie in their ignorance and less or no importance given to spiritual planes, cosmic time cycles as well as the poverty of vision in regard to rebirth and karma. However, one can see that a line of thought in consonance with the ideas of Sanatana Dharma exists side by side in the mystic traditions of almost all ancient civilizations.

Sanatana Dharma puts faith in Brahman – the One Supreme God. However, it accepts the existence of various spiritual stages or spiritual skies (akashas) other than the human world viz. bhutaloka (the abode of spirits, ghosts etc), pitruloka (the abode of ancestral souls), devaloka (the abode of trimurty/deva-devis/angels), rishiloka (the abode of sages). The supreme truth of God is experienced in the formless states (shuddhakasha) beyond rishiloka. Those spiritual skies are known as Ishwaraloka and Brahmloka. To have the experience of such subtle spiritual skies, the seeker should transcend the lower spiritual planes through self-experience under the guidance of a sage who himself has transcended all such spiritual planes. Therefore, the Guru must be a Parabrahma Guru, the Supreme Guru above all spiritual zones.

There are different types of Gurus – Gurus who worship spirits and ghosts, ancestral souls etc., those who worship deities, gods and goddesses through tantra, mantra or yoga. But as per Guru Gita, the science of Guru (Guru tatwa) which Siva taught to Parvati (Skanda Puranam), one should follow only the Parama Guru, the Guru who has transcended all other stages and attained union with the formless Brahman. Such Parabrahma Gurus come in every yuga. One cannot spiritually evolve ignoring or ridiculing the truth of these spiritual planes.

The Muslims and Christians by ignoring the truth of spiritual planes cannot pretend to have crossed these planes. Jesus Christ was crucified because he could not transcend the spiritual plane in which he found himself trapped– in the plane of angels and evil spirits. The Bible mentions the encounter of Jesus with Satan. Why Prophet Mohamed towards his end wailed and said that the world is ruled by Jinns (evil spirits). The vision was related to evil spirits. The fact that Prophet Mohamed received revelations from an Angel, not from Light, itself proves that he could not fully evolve to the formless state for which he striven. Revelations should be received from the Light, from the supreme light of Brahman, the Almighty God. Prophet Mohamed strove for the formless Truth, but striving and fulfillment are two different things. The reason behind the violence, bloodshed and intolerance connected with Islam is to be found in its place in lower spiritual spheres and its association with deviated spiritual powers in the subtle which Prophet Mohamed mentioned as Jinns.

While Sanatana Dharma follows the path of Guru-disciple order (Rishi Marga) for god realization, Trimurty tradition extols the greatness of Siva, Vishnu or Devi. A temple institution is in place around which the life of an ordinary Hindu is organized. Each sect considers Shiva, Vishnu or Devi as the Supreme Brahman – saguna or nirguna. Thus the concept of oneness of God in Trimurty tradition is fragmented in its base itself. The major differences between Trimurty tradition (Deva Margam) and Sanatana dharma have been noted here.

1. Trimurty tradition chooses for worship innumerable deities, gods and goddesses under respective traditions. They include all types of positive and negative spiritual entities. The higher castes are privileged to worship auspicious gods and goddesses such as Laksmi, Saraswati and Gayatri. The low castes mostly worship ghostly spirits and deities in lower spiritual planes because of the age old societal distortions and ignorance owing to caste system. The worship of lowly spirits and deities causes physical and moral degradation and debilities in human beings.

2. Because of the heaven centric ideology of Trimurty tradition through the medium of devas, the spiritual planes above the swarga plane, i.e., above the plane of devas are unattainable, which puts the soul into a vicious circle of births and deaths.

3. The Trimurty tradition gives importance to a highly iniquitous caste system.

4. The importance given to Vedantic philosophy in the Trimurty tradition that the world is ‘maya’ – an illusion and its equation of the individual jeeva with paramatma is creating certain negativity to Indian spirituality. According to realized sages, the jeevatma cannot claim the status of paramatma and the phenomenon of creation and the principles of transmigration and evolution of souls through various spiritual planes are not to be treated as illusion.

5. The belief that whatever form of divine one may worship, it becomes the worship of Supreme God is not in tune with the concept of Sanatana Dharma as there are various spiritual planes and spiritual powers inhabiting these planes. The spiritual status of these entities varies. For example, if a seeker worships a deity or follows a guru who is the worshiper of a deity that aspirant can reach only up to the spiritual plane related to that deity or Guru. As per Sanatana dharma, God realization is through a perfect Guru, who has realized Brahman. At least the Guru should be one who has crossed the stage of deities and demigods. Such a Guru or sage comes in every yuga for the spiritual guidance of mankind.


The impersonal Cosmic Reality expresses itself through the physical medium of a Guru. Four such Gurus manifest in every yuga and a fifth one – a sandhi guru, like Sri Krishna who came as the authority of Dwapara Yuga just before the commencement of Kaliyuga. Other Gurus and spiritual masters come under the regime or hierarchy of such epochal Gurus for specific time periods, such as 500, 1000, 2000, 5000 years etc. which means the spiritual power or potency of these gurus last only to a certain period. Therefore the concept of Christianity which held that the world will end after 2000 years or the idea of Islam that Prophet Mohamed is the last prophet only brings to focus the limitation of these ideologies in contrast to the depth and all embracing cosmic vision of Sanatana Dharma.

An Appeal to All Blessed Souls

Gurucharanam Saranam

An Appeal to All Blessed Souls

Mukundan P.R.


Great preceptors (rishis) impart the guidelines of dharma in each age - the cosmic scheme behind life and the duty of man according to the aeonic changes. The Rishis are considered the guiding authorities on dharma, justice and duty owing to their omniscience, life of self-abnegation and spiritual elevation. But due to our ignorance, we still follow rituals and traditions that create divisiveness and disharmony in the society. The ‘sudra’ represents the ignorant and downtrodden class in the world whose spiritual and materialistic elevation is destined to be actualized in this age. But for its realization, they require the guidance of an omniscient seer, who could show them the path of liberation.

The Brahmic Will to be self responsible for the divine dispensation for god realization existed from the beginning of creation itself and continues incessantly. It is the same godly will that manifests as the Subtle Being, Godhead, as a Deva, Sanyasi (sage) or a Rishi and accepts worship through these mediums in the course of ages. But there is a concept known as Yuga Dharma. Different aeons like Krita, Treta and Dwapara had their characteristic dharmic dispensation, which in the present age – Kaliyuga undergoes significant changes. These changes in the dharmic code (Yuga Dharma) are brought about by great seers of transcendental knowledge, who manifest as the embodiment of enlightenment and divine abstraction as willed by God.

Even during the ages of Treta and Dwapara that were oriented for polytheistic worship of Devi-Deva (gods and goddesses), the words of Rishis, the enlightened seers were depended upon as the guiding principles. At the time of Maharaja Janak, the judgments in regard to dispensation of justice were taken by the wives of Yagnavalkya, the great rishi of that age. They had the divine insight to decide on matters of justice without even seeing the contestants, the accused or the accuser. The blind folded goddess of wisdom has been accepted as the symbol of justice even today. Despite differences in rituals, in the matters of justice, the words of a seer (jnani) are taken as authoritative. The uniqueness of the Indian spirituality or Sanatana Dharma is this tradition.

We are ignorant about the differences in the result (virtue, punya) earned from the observance of customs, rituals and worship followed by us at the present time. Due to the moral degeneration and lack of virtue in conduct, majority of people have become ‘Sudra’. The word Sudra here includes people from all castes – Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudra. All ignorant and fallen people irrespective of caste, color, nationality and religious denominations are termed as Sudra, a qualitative term. As per the four fold caste system, the present age Kaliyuga belongs to the Sudra class for their uplift and enlightenment. The term ‘Sudra’ used here, as already mentioned, is a qualitative term used in a universal sense and includes Christians, Muslims, Budhists, Jains etc. and also the spokesmen of the modern computer age and the apostles of various ideologies and concepts. Therefore the word ‘Sudra’ embraces both the potentialities and also its limitations. The limitation of the Sudra is that he has no wisdom to dive deep into the spiritual light hidden in the historical past and apply it in life in the present age so as to enhance and enrich the glitter of his or her soul through a noble and righteous path of action.
According to Manu, the ancient law giver, this fourth age of Kali is earmarked for the Sudra for his liberation and enlightenment. But we should not think lightly of our lack of awareness and inability to understand the demerits in the customs, rituals and worship we follow at the present age, which are incapable either to liberate us from our (negative) karmic mould or to give us the blissful evolutionary soul experience. We might see the observance of caste system as insignificant which created the evils of social barriers and discriminations; we might ignore too the ignorance that termed spiritual consciousness as communalism. But how do we evaluate the corruption in the path of eternal dharma proclaimed by the Rishis in accordance with the Will of Brahman? How do we see the vested interests that disturbed the harmony at home causing motherly and fatherly curse and sorrow?

How can you justify the horrendous actions by which sinners who are useless for their home as well as the society, performing evil actions and accumulating great burden of sin, at last adorn the clothes of a Sanyasi, get elevated in the society with the support of caste or religion? How can you justify the wicked action of those men who castigated and belittled the sages, the embodiment of sacrifice and divine enlightenment and from whose mind, the pearls of wisdom churned out of the ocean of transcendental truth emerge; of those who raise the men of letters (mere scholars) to the pedestal of seers thus destroying the divine tenderness of dharma? The Sudra, the fourth in the caste hierarchy has got the right by divine decree to earn the karmic and ancestral purity required for the birth of noble souls and experience godly realization in this age. He has also got the luck to safeguard the oneness of mankind till the end of creation. But in whom does the karmic virtue exists to lead him to this goal – in the depth of the heart of a Seer or in some tantric rituals?

The Tantric and Vedic rituals and chants which were reverberating in the last century have almost come to a stop. Sri Marthanda Verma, the Travancore Maharaja used to feed thousands of Brahmins and give away handfuls of gift to them in expiation of sins, but for the last forty years the ceremony has become lifeless; the noble minded give importance to ‘Sadhu Pooja’ – the worship of sages than to the feeding of Brahmins. Who are the Sadhus or the Sanyasis? Is he a lowly beggar who has lost all hopes in life due to penury and lack of virtue or are they the ones who get afflicted by incurable diseases owing to their vices and sin and as a last resort adorn the clothes of a Sanyasi? No, on the contrary, as mentioned before, the seers are great souls who have sacrificed their life, body and mind for the cause of dharma. We should expect the fulfilling action that would be venerated by the ensuing generation, not only in our land but all over the world, only from such seers. The purity of their heart symbolizes the weighing scale of dharma and adharma. They are the divine personification of sacrifice and austerity.
What the world searches today with a longing heart is for such a seer of sacrifice through whom the grand unfoldment, development and fulfillment of Yuga Dharma is to take place. Do we respect that Universal Guru seated in the hearts of Krishna, Buddha, and Christ, Prophet Mohammed, Janaka, Vishwamitra, Maitreyi and Gargi imparting eternal, transcendental enlightenment? If we are waiting for the coming of that great Soul, the leading Light of the five-fold Gurus, the protector and elucidator of the concept of Yuga Dharma, why do we open ‘Bala Gokulams’ all along the roadside? Would we have been celebrating Krishna Leela which reminds us of the ‘Deva Dasi’ system rooted in base sensual enjoyment instead of the noble thoughts on God? Would we ever try to portray Lord Krishna who for the first time blew his Panchajanya for the establishment of Yuga Dharma as the lustful, sensual ‘Gopala Krishna’ through texts like Gita Govindam - creations out of great ignorance? Whatever it is, we are also the inheritors of that pernicious tragedy.

It may be due to the fact that we are also part of that sinful tradition we could not well understand Guru (Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru) and the Santhigiri Guru parampara. Nevertheless, Santhigiri Guru Parampara has reached the penultimate peak of luck. We have discovered the deposits of transcendental truth in the boundaries of Guru Parampara, born from the sacrifices of Guru. Through this medium God has prepared for us, in the form of Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru, we have become the possessors of Cosmic Mind. Like Gargis and Maitreyi, the Jananis (Sanyasinis in Santhigiri Ashram) blessed with transcendental vision ennoble this Guru lineage through the worship of Guru.

This Guru Parampara which receives revealed words from Brahman, the Supreme Light of God promises the certitude of the divine birth of great seers, the initiators of great concepts, like Janaka and Vishwamitra in the coming ages. (It refers to the performance of ‘Guru Pooja’ in Santhigiri Ashram, by which Guru cleanses the ancestral and spiritual impurities and debilities and through which a generation with mental and physical prowess would take birth in the families thus purified by Guru).

In the divine experience of great souls, they see Guru as the illumination of all godly abstractions and the ever lasting, sublime light of love. We consider this glory as the ultimate path of refuge for all people and the entire creation. Lo, through that path of protection, we first walk, nearer and nearer. O Guru, you are enthroned as all Godly abstractions and divine consecrations. You exist as the Cosmic Will and the glorious abode of our veneration.

Submitting our prostrations at your holy feet, we purify the flaws in our ancestry, spiritual practices and customs and also find a solution to the familial curses and sorrows of our mothers and fathers. We have become singers of the glory of the universal path of liberation. We have fulfilled through this the prayer of great sages, the result of their penance of several ages. This path of purity is the fulfillment of God’s wish from the inception of creation itself.

We, the Santhigiri parampara, submit this in front of the whole world with a prayer for the mercifulness of Guru.

(Excerpts from ‘India O’ Rise’ published by Santhigiri Ashram, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala)

India: A Fractured Civilization

Gurucharanam Saranam


INDIA: A FRACTURED CIVILIZATION
Guruvani- the Sacred Words of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru
(Translated from the original Malayalam)



What is the state of elevation of the Saivite; and of the Vaishnavite; and of the devotee of the Sakti cult? All are the same. One prefers Sakti, the other prefers Siva. Yet another person prefers Vishnu. This alone is the difference. Stages of inner evolution do not form a part of these. For a change to come about in a person who ‘sees’, and for a change of stage, he should get the knowledge of all the three. Otherwise he traverses his chosen track but the others remain unknown; all three paths should be seen simultaneously. There is one story or the other to block this course as he progresses, bent on his inner flight.

When one takes to any one of the three-faced Saiva, Sakteya and Vaishnava traditions the knowledge of all the three should be gained. There is no such possibility and that is the worst of India’s calamities.

Many family lineages are being cited like Parasurama Gotram, Viswamitra Gotram, Sankara Gotram and so on. But all these are within the folds of the Trimurthi tradition. As far as the cleansing of the gotra is concerned, everything should be included. That is, all the four divisions of the Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra should be taken care of. Otherwise in cleansing the gotra, everything would fall apart. What has gone wrong with India is that it is fragmented thus.

When the faculty of Darsanam (inner visions) develops in a person under a Vaishnava guru, that guru would be a guide in darsanam related to the Vaishnava tradition. He would not be able to guide with regard to Saiva-Sakteya experiences. The claim of the Vaishnavite, Saivite and Sakteya that the respective tradition of each is the highest holds no value. What does it amount to when one claims that one’s own tradition is high and the others are just right or good?

If a guru does not gain the stature of the Devendra, Parasakti and Ganas how could the disciple get such stature?

As we have not received knowledge transferred in this way, we do not know the true aspect of the concept of Manvantara. As the knowledge about Manvantara has been handed down in a distorted manner, all those belonging to these three traditions are warring amongst themselves. Therefore, we Indians are not able to stand united. And nature itself, in agitation, caused the Asian continent to be fragmented. Lack of unity like this will cause one disaster or the other with the changing of each yuga.
An example of this pertains to the planet Jupiter. Isn’t Jupiter a big planet? It is said that the face of it changed after a comet dashed against it. The area will be in ruin in due course. Here, we are able to receive the knowledge of events of the past 20 million years. For getting to know matters related to millions of years in the past, the right knowledge of Manvantara needs to be gained. But the mistake of India is that the gurus have not been able to perceive Manvantaras and move forward accordingly.

When the Asian continent was not fragmented a lot of people migrated to this place. They followed the life styles prevalent here. When the continent was partitioned into several countries, many people remained here. They evolved mantras and tantras and created the Vedic religion. The Vedic practitioner became the authority here. This is why the people are not united. People would not touch to show intimacy. They would avoid bodily contact in transactions. Thus distances increased and people moved away from one another.

The Trimurthi tradition was pursued keeping these distances. Nothing remained of the four-faced action. The four-faced phenomenon represents the creation of the four Vedas. It was said that Brahma created the four Vedas. There is no history related to Brahma. For that history, the knowledge of the Manvantra needs to be acquired. As the knowledge of the Manvantara was lost even the knowledge of Brahma was lost. The Brahma of the Trimurthi 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 be told only by Manu. As far as Manu is concerned, little is known. Thus a story was told that Manu, born of the Sun, gave it to Ikshwaku. In that history there was no place for Manvantara. Thus we fell into error. Vedic ritualism became dominant with the emergence of the four-fold caste division - Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra.

When darsanam develops in this manner it would be like a haze of smoke. Pay attention to what the Guru has to say if it comes up. If you don’t pay attention you will go into the path of error and slip into more mistakes. Then you will depart from here. If you go, you will be returning with no sense of direction.

The faculty of darsanam develops here through the Guru’s grace. Only such a Guru can give the direct knowledge of the Trimurthi and the stature of the ganas. When it starts emerging clearly, one distinct from the other, there would be a temptation to get away and talk about it. Yield to it and you will lose your way. That deviation will not be perceived either. Your conception is that there is the possibility of the Supreme One arriving here embodied. If the Supreme One incarnates how would you identify Him?

Q: It is said that the term bhagavan (lord) indicates the taking shape of six parts. Sri Krishna is seen and spoken about as Omniscient. Sri Krishna was the most evolved among those who came so far. He is also the Paramatma.

Guru: Yes, but it is not complete at that. It is true that Krishna is the foremost figure among those who had come till then. But his coming was a littile before the beginning of Kali Age. Therefore, we could not be given the Dharma of Kali. People could not be corrected and guided into that dharma either. Kali Dharma should be corrected only after ascending the eighth stage. Only Arjuna was corrected instead. Only Arjuna comprehended. Still he feared having to kill his preceptors and elders. It is then he is asked, don’t you believe in me? The faith is there. Still the fear persists. Krishna says then: They are not killed; they are not made to kill either. What is said at this stage — that is the Dharma of Kali given in this manner — has not been imbibed correctly. The Yuga Dharma has not been put into practice. It is the likes of Drona and Bhishma who have been killed. They were learned and came of royal families. Through the learning of mistaken scriptural concepts they upheld the Trimurthi.

The movement towards the Supreme Self can be contemplated only after traversing the constellations and reaching the eighth stage which can’t be termed ‘Paramatma’ or the Supreme Self. Krishna came upto that stage, but not in practical terms. To establish it on the physical plane he was making Arjuna act, himself giving the guidance as the guru.

Sri Krishna was born in the eighth stage. To move up from this plane he had to reveal to Arjuna everything from the very beginning. He needed to get his disciple Arjuna to do whatever was necessary for him to cross that stage. The stage after that pertains to the nine planetary fields. Eight out of the nine were realized. These forms dissolved. It is the colour of the sky of formlessness that has been attributed to Krishna. The nine planetary fields are tackled through making the disciple do whatever is required. That is Krishna needed to perceive the ninth planetary field and instruct Arjuna about that stage. But when Krishna reached this stage, the deities as well as devils attacked and gave him the chase. He needed to earn everything from the eighth stage and move up and instruct the disciple. Arjuna had been instructed up to the eighth stage.

It was the Deva’s stage that was shown in the field of Kurukshetra. Through the Kurukshetra war it was fully revealed. The next stage has no forms. There is only the colour of the sky. That sky has Sri Krishna pervading it. Arjuna has gone seeing Krishna in that eighth stage and accepting him as his guru. But Arjuna could not get to the ninth stage. The disciple needed to get to the ninth stage and perform action. Guru should not work in that stage. After traversing the nine planets, twenty seven constellations, twelve zodiacs and going beyond forms, thereafter the eighth, ninth and tenth stages are to be harnessed together. Dissolving takes place in the ninth. In the tenth there is no dissolving at all. It is transformation into that stage. There is no colour.

Some of those who visit here grasp the situation. Still they are not able to imbibe it. That is the shortcoming in their destiny. They would keep looking upto the same old thing. This is the problem when the Gurumargam (the Path of the Masters) is not properly followed. They will rotate within the old form. This colour and the form will be caused to change. The process will go on like this. This is what was shown to Arjuna. Sri Krishna said: Drona, Bhishma, Salya and the like are people who destroy the position in which we were before. You are not killing any of them. You are not causing to kill them either. That is the logic behind it.

Anyone would be able to give instructions on the external features of sanyasa—renunciation. Some would develop the faculty of darsanam as well. But how many would be in a position to perceive and explain it clearly? There was nobody until now to clearly tell about the layers of darsanam, the (spiritual) stages and their transitions. To seek clarification about the different stages in darsanam you have to approach a guru — whether you are a sanyasi (renunciate) or anyone else. Otherwise you are not going to evolve beyond the position you have reached. You will be going round and round in that position. You would desire that you would go there or go here and all that. Wherever you go, you will not get it. You will not get it even If you lie for days without even drinking water.

(I am) talking about the matter which (even) Vivekananda could not get clearly actualized because he did not get a guru of that stature. This was not clear to Jesus and Mohammad. It was not clear to Buddha either. That he passed away, after accepting alms is a proof of this. Whatever is eaten should be digested. Poets have written that Buddha has reached the state of Nirvana. How do these poets know what Nirvana is? The theory of poets that Buddha is higher than Sri Krishna by binding the concept of Nirvana (to Buddha) is the conception of the poets. Buddha ‘informed’ the children here (in Santhigiri) that he did not come with the knowledge, hence the error happened.

In the actualization process of transcending form, Guru is present as the Paramatma, the Supreme Self. It is in this Guru that the Supreme Self is seen. One must know what this Supreme Self is through the Guru. There is no knowledge other than this. This is Parabrahmam. It is difficult to get a guru who has been transformed into Parabrahmam. That Guru will be with everyone. Guru is what stays with everything — good or bad. A Guru of that stature infuses devotion (bhakti) to karma.

The man who has studied Vedanta and harnesses his Vedanta with the dictates of the planetary chart will not understand this. Vedanta proclaims that Guru is Brahman. What is that Guru and who is that Guru who has reached the realm of Brahman? Further enquiry should be related to that question. Didn’t Arjuna have vision? That is why Sri Krishna said, “Look, who was I, and who were you, and what were we?” It is after showing him this that Sri Krishna made Arjuna fight. Parasakti and the devas together blocked the evolution beyond the eighth stage after the war. Then Dwaraka went under the sea. It is at that point (Arjuna) said, there is no help, Krishna!

After knowing and following the path here, if you still go back to the old established traditions, there will be such ruination that one would not even know where one is going to reach. What I say is a subject not known to anyone till date. Your aim should be to realize this. This is what God has bestowed on you. Until you realize this you will not be able to bring up your children in obedience. If you are the ones who have understood this, shouldn’t you enquire and actualize it? Is it something to be bound and planted within the fort of some caste or creed and watered? No single person should work in this (Ashram) with such conception. Never should one do it. Misfortune will result.

God by his grace has granted the easiest way for you so that you can lead yourself understanding and defining this, imparting it to your progeny and fulfilling the dharma in life. For this, the children of India should become a model at home in this country and in the world. Instead, what has happened in contemporary India? Today, unable to find the means of livelihood many people have moved out from India itself and have done many sorts of things in fulfilment. They have become tiger or cat or whatever, in the name of redeeming the world. You should be able to absorb such knowledge as would enable you to bring up your children in propriety so that these tigers and cats do not jump on them. The liberation of our country and its existence will be affected through those children.

This is the Annunciation we have received. The world will certainly benefit provided you put in your best effort, doing and making others do without giving orders to one another; without insisting on doing it the way you want it done. You should become fully able to take on this work that will benefit the world by the Will of the Almighty. Whatever the people of the world should get, let them get it as the gift of India. It should be transferred to them through our little children. The need of the hour lies not in giving it through the Upanishads considered to be the fountainhead of Indian wisdom or through the recitation of scriptures (Vedas), nor through aphorisms considered sacred. For this seek at the appropriate place and struggle.

Your ancestors are not people with punyam (merit in the soul). If someone had come into riches, he will have offspring who will chop off the head of that wealth. That is exactly what we see in our midst. Parents with seven children become tearful and start wiping their nose if one child fails in an examination. It would appear that they are pained because the children who are to support the entire world have failed. I have this sadness that we don’t have mothers and fathers who think: ‘The poor who have neither the opportunity to study nor a proper meal to eat did not get this. My children got at least this much. May my children put to righteous use what is earned throgh the merit of the forefathers’. If a child fails in a subject these parents find satisfaction in the gestures of showing sorrow not found elsewhere. Then where would the children brought up by such parents stand? I would only call it as an absolute sign of dirtiness and recklessness. You should not become parents who ruin the country by making these disinclined children struggle and study unnecessarily turning them into plunderers, arsonists and thieves.

Likewise the rites and rituals you follow are also extremely dangerous. This is the cause of your devastation. It is a severe crime towards your family. It uproots not only the family but brings about havoc to the country itself. Today it is the educated who loot much more than the uneducated. Your children are imbibing the education that creates extremely rotten tendencies inviting destruction. You should give your children what is suitable to their innate tendencies. If (something) is given contrary to the tendencies, a bad aspect is being pushed into him. Do not thus allow the child to take up the ownership of karmadosham (error in action).

There is a type of ‘avadhoot’ (the wanderings of an ascetic) wherein one does not know how to dress, eat, drink or bathe. In the style of this, your children walk about in a useless manner, as though merged in God, drinking, defecating and vomiting, moving through filth of many types; they grow in front of the world as predators trying to learn gimmicks, in whichever place they reach.

Giving great weight to this ignorance, you have ended up offering bribes to get admission for your children even in nursery schools. Learning quite a few things from there, they would be turning to other things in order to nourish the wicked tendencies with a course of putrid action imbibed from an ideology that uproots everything. Even if such a child comes to the Ashram, what would he be doing? His efforts would be to take up the action that would invite danger, rather than finding a release from it.

Those of you who wish to be part of the process of the Ashram dharma should keep this in mind: ‘This is not just for removing the faults in me. This is also for removing the failings in the work of my forefathers. If there is release for me well and good! Otherwise let it be. But let this country be not ruined earning this ignorance through my children.’ Your work should reflect at least that much of love. Apart from this you are not asked to become renunciates. You may become renunciates when the time becomes appropriate and you get qualified. One need not forsake that desire nor forbid it. There is nothing to be achieved by resisting it.

I am not talking about the efforts related to renunciation. You don’t renounce. You become the children of our country. Live for the karma that would bring release for your progeny even without your knowledge. For that let your innermost being absorb that dharma which would bring to the world such children as would keep eternal vigilance for this country. Take that life or leave it according to your knowledge, experience and habit. There is no point in my telling you about that too, because I have become convinced that my loving and cajoling cannot prompt you to take it. But what I had to do I have finished doing. I have done the work which will prevent the transfer of hereditary negativity and the resultant ignorance of each one of you to 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 this world itself to you. I am giving you this good news with great expectations.

Gods Own Hermitage

Gurucharanam Saranam

Gods Own Hermitage

Mukundan P.R.


A great Light appeared on the spiritual sky of India on 1st September, 1927 at Chandiroor in the Alappuzha district of Kerala. It was a Thursday. Sri Krishna, whom the world venerates as a great Avatar, was born in a dark prison cell. Jesus Christ, whom the humanity worships as a Savior, was born on a bed of hay beside a cattle shed. Though the great prince Siddhartha of Kapilavasthu was born in a palace, he chose to reside in the rustic hermitages of wandering ascetics.

The great Luminance that appeared on the spiritual sky of India on 1st September, 1927 at Chandiroor was born in a decrepit hut made of mud and thatched with coconut fronds. The simplicity of truth and the immense magnanimity of the Divine is the mark of such divine manifestations. The great Light which descended upon earth at Chandiroor is none other than Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru.

God realization has nothing to do with religious identities and rituals. The great Guru realized this truth and did not hesitate to accept a Sufi fakir as His spiritual mentor in the initial years of search for truth. Today Santhigiri Ashram is home for all people seeking spiritual solace and guidance - irrespective of caste, creed and religious differences. A secular model, which aims to unite people, has great relevance in this troubled times of religious fundamentalism and extremist violence.

Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru, after tortuous experiences in life and wanderings without food and shelter and undergoing painful trials and crossing of spiritual stages, came to this place at Pothencode, in the year 1968, making it His permanent abode. It was as per a divine intimation.

A small hut was made with bamboo sticks and coconut leaves in the wild environment which at that time was surrounded by thorny bushes, wild animals and serpents. This was the nascent beginning of the great monument – the Parnasala, which stands before us today in all splendors.

The Parnasala – originally meaning a hermitage made of leaves has, apart from its meaning of simplicity and spiritual significance, an additional meaning, symbolized by its lotus shape. It is a meaning which takes us to the sublime experience of beauty, tranquility and divine joy, which is implicit in the concept of Lotus and into which experience, the Parnasala lifts up our soul.

Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru spent His life discoursing about the epistemological change required in this unprecedented age of transformation, which unless heeded can lead humanity to a civilizational cul-de-sac or a rupture in the march of humanity towards peace and progress.

Guru took great risk as well as pain to separate the clutches of religion from the pure joy and freedom of spiritual experience. The Secular Spirituality propounded by Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru is based on this separation of religion from the truth of spiritual experience.

Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru struggled to guide the downtrodden people to the knowledge of life-principles vital for soul enrichment and social progress – a knowledge that had been denied to them for several centuries in the name of tradition and culture. The Guru guided them and lifted them up to an astounding level of spiritual understanding in order to unite them, to build up and nourish their families and the society to which they belonged through life supporting charitable activities and enterprises.

Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru tried to lighten the struggle of life by initiating a way of life – a community-living on which the members of the community can depend on to find the means of living together without any discriminative boundaries of caste, religion, class and gender differences. This model of living and growth which Guru envisioned based on the belief in the Oneness of God and mankind is a perfect model for the ailing civilization of our times.

The Parnasala of Navajyoti Sree Karunakara Guru represents all that is good in human endeavor to build up a unified world. It is one of the rarest monuments in the world and will be a land mark of great spiritual significance in the coming years. In addition to its status as ‘Gods Own Country’, Kerala will now become famous for the Parnasala; one might call the Parnasala as ‘Gods Own Hermitage’ or Home.

Let the bright light emanating from this most graceful edifice embrace the whole world and unite the heart of human beings in love and mutual respect, based on divine truths in nature. Navajayoti Sree Karunakara Guru has left behind the legacy of a Guru-Disciple order, the splendid gem of which is Her Holiness Sishyapoojita Amrita Jnana Tapaswini, who guides Santhigiri Ashram as its spiritual head and whose tireless prayers and conception for the last ten years have born fruit in this blossoming of the Parnasala into a magnificent divine structure of global importance.

Astral Pollution of Atmosphere

Gurucharanam Saranam

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Courtesy: Janmadina Padippu, Santhigiri Publications)

An outstanding spiritual gift of India

Gurucharanam Saranam

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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