Rediscovering the Wisdom Tradition

Gurucharanam Saranam

Sanatana vs. Hindu culture

Indian culture represents a unique all-embracing world-view and a vibrant way of life. The cultural stream of India is very extensive and comes down from eternity. It had never been just a philosophical conception cut off from practicality. India’s spiritual vision leads our awareness to eternity through the rise and fall of civilizations, as revealed by the sages through the concept of Manu cycles or the Manvantara order, spanning billions and billions of years, measuring the age and rhythmic movement of the universe. In spiritual terms, the continuity of this cosmic vision functioned through an all-inclusive spiritual concept known as Sanatana Dharma, which meant an eternal system of dharma in relation to creation, life and existence. This spiritual culture was shared and perpetuated through a line of spiritual masters and their disciples and came to be known as Guru-Sishya Parampara or the Wisdom Tradition - the jnana marga. 

We can see that the source of everything related to Indian culture and heritage has been derived from this wisdom path handed down through the Guru-sishya tradition. It had existed as a righteous and sublime way of life inspiring and touching all aspects of life. It nourished Dharma, i.e. the right knowledge and right conduct that enriches and expands the horizon of life. This spiritual vision of India had existed as a life-vision related to the inner transformation of life-force or jeeva, which can be seen as the practical expression of spirituality. The wisdom path of India aims to lift man from his bare emotional existence to the highest pedestal of consciousness and human values through a process of transformation, which ends with mukthi, i.e. liberation from the cycles of births and deaths. This vision of the Indian sages is constituted by the ancient Manu-centric Sanatana Dharma, from which this spiritual culture originated. 

When we deliberate on this subject, we have to highlight certain fundamental truths. We can understand it in depth only through a review of Indian culture, which flows in two distinct socio-spiritual streams, i.e. the Sanatana culture and Haindava culture (ritualistic Hinduism), as distinct from each other. We know that the ancient-most culture of India is known as Arsha Bharata Samskara or Sanatana Dharma, which is the rishi culture. 

Manu – the Nucleus of Creation

We have to re-examine the eventful history of how Sanatana Dharma could not elevate itself to its desired status and how it has got degenerated into the present day Haindava culture, through its long course over the ages. We cannot understand this history without mentioning about the kaala ganana or cosmic age calculation.

Indian Cosmic Time Calculation

1 Kalpa = 14 Manvantaras

71 Age Quartets = 1 Manvantara

1 Age Quartet = Satya, Treta, Dwapara and Kali = 43,20,000 years

The wheel of time called as Kalpa, Manvantara, Chaturyuga etc. is related to the parinaama or evolution of an atomic life-form into the absolute status of Brahman through the ebb and flow of srishti, sthithi, samhara and moksha i.e., creation, sustenance, dissolution and ultimate liberation. In the duration of a Kalpa, the creation completely merges with Brahman, the Supreme Light. This system of time is determined and ordered for the time-bound evolution of karma and dharma of all life-forms beginning from the microbial life-forms. The history of man’s spiritual quest reveals two types of realities. One is his subjective individuality and the second is its cosmic identity linking him organically to the Cosmic Truth in a parental relationship, God being the Cosmic Father or Creator.

The rishis measured every episode of creation in terms of Manvantara equivalent to the age of a Manu. Every solar system and life cycles originates from the sankalpam (conception) of Manus. In the endless march of time, uncountable Kalpas and Manu cycles have gone by, which would explain the reason behind a vast and expanding universe. For the same reason, the Indian rishis named God as Brahman, its meaning being ‘That which Expands’.

The cosmic phenomenon has got a nucleus, a functional centre from which everything manifests. That nucleus is the Manu, the Absolute in the form of the Archetypal Preceptor God, the instrumentality through whom the Will of the Absolute is carried out, controlling the temporal dimension including karma and dharma. Every yuga in a Manvantara fulfills the law of evolution in a structured way. The wisdom tradition envisions a gradual evolution through various time segments known as satya, treta, dwapara and kali yuga within the time period of a Manu, consisting of seventy one age quartets or chatur yugas. There are fourteen such Manu cycles in a single episode of creation known as kalpa. We can guess the depth of Indian spirituality when we know that the length of a chaturyuga itself has a duration of 43,20,000 years. We are in the seventh cycle of such an episode of creation, initiated by Vaivaswata Manu, the seventh Manu. In the present Manu cycle, this is the Kali yuga of the twenty eighth chaturyuga. There are forty three chaturyugas (28+43=71) yet to pass to complete the present Manu cycle. 

The History of Spiritual Deviation

When this Manu-centric age calculation was distorted, the karma and dharma to be followed according to each age went wrong. Twenty five chaturyugas have passed in this manner. It would be difficult for us to grasp its magnitude in one word. In the Manu-centric Sanatana Dharma, Manu alias the Cosmic Purusha is the Creator, not the Trimurti gods - Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara. From the time the puranas, the mythological treatises began to explain creation in terms of trimurty gods, changing the time order of Manu as beginning from Brahma, the ancient Sanatana stream of spiritual culture took a diversion and began to flow through a diversified path, fragmenting Indian spirituality into three broad sects, Saiva, Vaishnava and Saketheya with hundreds of sub-sects. 

Sanatana Dharma                                         Trimurti System /Hinduism

Creation begins from                                      Creation begins from

Manu alias Purusha                                         Brahma/Vishnu/Siva/Devi

Ashram Tradition                                            Temple Tradition

           

Guru Centric  (wisdom tradition)                    Priest Centric (ritual tradition)

Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru explains the history of this spiritual diversion in the following words:

‘What we are going through is the time-order of Manvantaras. That is our perspective or cognition of the world. In the Manu-tradition a great spiritual evolute fell from grace (in the third chaturyuga of the present seventh Manvantara). As a result the Brahman initiated a corrective in the seventh chaturyuga (by evolving the Trimurty system) which was brought to a completion in the eleventh chaturyuga. Thereafter astral matters related to mukti were revealed which got codified as Vedas, Sastras and the Upanishads, without changing the old Manvantara order (to reaffirm that order). Since the sages could not transcend those who received these astral matters did not enquire into the reason why they had received such knowledge. They used their intellect in understanding the path shown by the Almighty and charted their version of the Manvantara time-order chaturyugas, manvantaras and kalpas as subservient to Brahma. Thus they could not invoke Manu, the First Guru and grasp the Error and correct it. This is a peril that has befallen us. 

‘The Error was repeated again and again as the evolutes, who were the spiritual authorities of revealed knowledge, could not discover the mystery and unravel it in full before us…. The feeling of ‘I’ (Aham Brahmasmi) developed in the line of Manus. In the higher planes of knowing it was seen that all the wisdom and knowledge attained so far have come through it (the Manu tradition). This ‘I-ness’ can be seen in any of the books of Vedanta. You talk to any common person - this bloated notion of a free ‘I’ (ego) can be seen. When this comes up in the circle of ascetics (brahmacharis), then such notions come forth through the master-disciple lineage. In the tradition of deity-worship (devaparampara), the ‘deva’ (god) I am devoted to or the ‘devi’ (goddess) I am devoted to is the greatest and most glorious (is observed). Because of such possessiveness in individuals, all kinds of deities, chamundi, yakshi, pey, maruta, matan, mantramurthi (dark, evil spirits such as succubi, ghosts, ghouls etc.) became the ‘Lords’. This has happened because of people’s selfishness and egoism….. 

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

Rediscovering the Wisdom Path

The Manvantara time-reckoning was thus re-charted bringing it under the trimurti tradition, giving it a new definition. It distorted the Sanatana spiritual culture that followed the Guru-centric jnana path respecting the age-specific dharma and karma. Moreover, the status of Guruhood was substituted by the temple tradition involving priest-craft and worship of devi-devas. Guru-hood in the Sanatana culture transcends the statuses of all spiritual entities including the trimurti gods, devi-devas as well as the planes of rishi, sanyasi, etc. above the trimurtis. This deviation fragmented the Indian society spiritually as well as socially. As already mentioned, this mistake gave India two contradictory spiritual characteristics. We can identify these two spiritual characteristics in terms of the Arsha Bharata Samskara guided by the guru tradition, and the Haindava culture, which has grown through the popular temple tradition with all sorts of superstitions, caste restrictions, untouchability and so on. The Haindava culture was strongly established here in which different spiritual entities with different identity, naama-rupa – names and forms and rituals were installed in temples and worshipped in order to appease them through tantric and mantric rituals with the intermediacy of priests. Along with this, the practices of blessings, performance of siddhi, miracles and exorcism also emerged. 

The jnana path tried to nourish the qualities of truth, love, compassion and humility through right thoughts and deeds and strived to earn punya - virtue through the ways of karma and dharma and bhakti for attaining spiritual sublimity.  In contrast, for the fulfillment of desires and other objectives, when people began to adopt a faith system based on the worship of spiritual entities beginning from trimurtis, demigods, yaksha, gandharva, kinnara, bhuta ganas and other angelic beings as well as all types of demonic and disturbed spirits roaming the earth’s atmosphere, these meritless spiritual practices resulted in the physical deformity as well as mental degradation of the populace. They were further made to suffer confined in the ghettos of caste, religion, clan, tribe, with each caste, clan and tribe owing allegiance to different gods, occupation, customs, rituals, etc. Such a degrading and retrogressive culture was perpetuated in the society through mythology, language, arts and literature, religious edicts, etc. as well as through the wondrous tales of siddhi and through the scholarly discourses about maya, dvaita and advaita. This spiritual diversion has been the root cause for the subsequent spiritual fall and cultural degradation of Indian society.  The concept of age-specific spiritual reformation is resisted by the orthodoxy substantiating the chaturvakyas (four great enunciations) in the Vedas, all of which try to imagine the individual soul as equal to Brahman, the Supreme. ‘Aham Brahmasmi’, one of the chaturvakyas means that ‘I am Brahman’. The individual soul is only part of Brahman, not Brahman itself, said Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru. 

Vedas are bound to Yuga Dharma, i.e. they are age-specific. The sages in every age receive the revealed 'word' from Brahman, which becomes the Vedas. The wisdom tradition worked through the Guru-sishya order. Guru is the highest symbol of perfection, the connecting link to the Absolute Truth. Such a Guru would be the spiritual authority of the age, of karma, dharma, jnana and mukthi. The wisdom tradition is a knowledge related to life and its fulfillment. With the advent of Vedic ritualism, this pure life-culture became defunct. The graceful Guru fathoms the threefold time and the cause-effect background of life-experiences. This inner fathoming or mental absorption of an omniscient Guru is to be known as Smriti. The word Smriti means Guru’s perception of those karmic entanglements, which are behind the emotional swings in life, in the form of sorrows and happiness, and the advice Guru gives to the disciple for overcoming such hurdles is to be considered as the Veda or Sruti. When one approaches a Guru in order to liberate the soul from its emotional and karmic entanglements, such process of learning sitting beside the Guru is Upanishad. Such a culture of learning from the Master and living by his guiding words was the essence of the Wisdom Tradition of Indian spirituality. When the spiritual guidance of such a Guru embodiment was unavailable, people began to lead life unaware about the evolving course of dharma, accepting the Vedas and Upanishads - the pre-historic catalogues of dharma, as the inviolable source of wisdom.

Re-establishing Sanatana Culture 

The saying that ‘Guru Sakala Dharmata’ is based on this exalted vision of the absolute truth of God. The absolute truth of God self-manifests and gets activated through Guru and his Word, which is to be followed by the family - the mother, father, children and others. The divine Word revealed through the Guru becomes the guiding force behind the institution of family - the Grihasthashram and Grihasthashrama Dharma, orienting life and culture to a pedestal of absolute purity and sublime truth.  It is this lost guru-disciple ashram culture which we have to re-establish as the highest aspects of Indian culture and spirituality. Today, unfortunately, the householders are totally cut off from this ashram-centric spiritual culture.  The individual as well as family life is affected by the good and bad deeds of ancestral souls. There are also the negative influences because of the distorted worship of maligned spiritual entities, followed by the families as mentioned earlier. The Guru parampara of Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru strives to unburden the individuals, families and gotras from the negative karmagati and spiritual influences, through a way of life that follows the word of Guru vigilantly by mind, word and deed, keeping only the Atmajnani Guru in the heart. Only the realized and divinely authoritative Guru can perceive the karmagati of a person and guide one to the Absolute Truth through ultimate bhakti, the surrender in devotion, realizing that ‘Guru Saakshaat Parabrahm’, i.e. Guru is the very embodiment of Brahman.   

We can thus see that this guru-sishya tradition is the essence of the spiritual soul of India, which strives to evolve the human spirit from the status of a human to the many dimensions of the divine such as deva, rishi, sanyasi, jnani, bhakta and muktha leading to ultimate liberation. These spiritual embodiments are related to expanding levels of human consciousness related to spiritual evolution. Guru Margam or the wisdom path combines jnana, karma, yoga and bhakti in order to nourish dharma and through that one’s success in life by way of enhanced punya and through that, fortune and wealth. Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru reminds us that we have lost this wisdom tradition. The history of the degeneration of this wisdom path is very old as it began twenty five chaturyugas ago in the present Manu cycle. 

The spiritual view of India is a path that strives to fulfill dharma, i.e. the duties and purpose of life, 

artha, the earning of wealth etc. required for attaining material and spiritual well being, kama, exhausting or fulfilling all desires and finally, earning mukthi, getting release from the cycles of births and deaths.  It is essential that we realize when and why this wisdom tradition was lost to India. The backbone of Sanatana culture was to realize the path of evolution in a natural and rational way and moreover, in accordance with the will of God. It was intended to actualize this knowledge in life and evolve oneself to the path of jnana. We should be able to understand that the prayer ‘Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu’ as the essence of this spiritual culture.  The Indian spiritual concept is the path of fulfilling the purpose of life through karma according to dharma and the concept of parinama or evolution through the wheel of time. It is a complete life-vision in which from an atom to the Absolute attains perfection undergoing transformation. It is in this manner that the Indian spiritual concept had existed as the richest spiritual path in the world. We have to realize that our present spiritual, cultural and social situation is very pathetic. The spiritual guidance of Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru sheds light on the cause-effects of this spiritual degradation, which is both ironic and distressing. 

The Guru’s is a path of spiritual renaissance to redeem the society from this spiritual degradation and value erosion. Guru brings to our focus the deviation occurred in the transformational path of spirituality relevant to the age and to dharma and karma. It is an indisputable fact that Guru’s movement of spiritual renaissance, as a correction to this situation, is able to impart to the modern world a new light and inspiration, brilliance and strength. Guru presents before us a new path of karma and dharma respecting the yuga dharma in order to rectify the situation taking into consideration the spiritual as well as material aspects. In Santhigiri, Guru has begun to develop it as a liberating culture without the restrictions of caste, religion, class, gender etc. to fulfill the dictum ‘One Caste, One Religion and One God for Humanity’. 

(Paper presented in the National Conference on ‘Guru Tradition, Cultural Creativity and Social Change’ at Santhigiri Ashram, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India on 8^th and 9^th April, 2015. by Honorable Swami Navananma Jnana Tapaswi, Director, Santhigiri Ashram, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India)

A New Spiritual Initiative

A Global Vision

 

Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru, the Founder of Santhigiri Ashram at Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala in South India, envisions a global spiritual renaissance, going beyond the barriers of religion, class, caste, race and gender differences. Santhigiri Ashram also conducts research in holistic health sciences integrating universal spiritual values and a contemplative life style. Daily, thousands visit the abode of the great Master to have a glimpse of the Parnasala, the lotus shaped mausoleum of the Guru, which is acclaimed as the most magnificent of its kind. The Ashram is home to a large number of householders, who live as a voluntary community with the Ashram as the nucleus.  People from different regions irrespective of caste, class, gender and religious differences live together engaged in a variety of enterprises and services such as healthcare, farming, weaving, education, spiritual guidance, etc. cherishing the vision of a global family. Guru’s vision was to enable all people reach the Absolute Truth of God.

 

Spirituality beyond Religion

 

 

Spirituality transcends life, death, beliefs, customs, cultures etc. The awakened soul discovers prakriti or nature and the various dimensions in the physical nature where existence continues after death. With such realization, the jnanis (sages) of yore discovered and expounded the meaning of life in its full depth. There is a soul, a software that is coming and going in life and death. This software is an accumulation of the karmagati, i.e. the karmic propensity of the soul from countless births and deaths. The sense about the soul, its existence in the various dimensions, the inherent, unalterable laws by which it earns good and bad and evolves are the Soul Knowledge. In the present age (kali yuga) man has the possibilities of full awakening.  For this he needs the guidance of the Guru in his life. This alone helps not religious rituals and theories. Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru has discovered this reality and has expounded a way of life suited to this age, based on His realization and teaching. The contrast between spirituality and religion is clearly distinguished. While religious traditions present human beings as separate identities, the spiritual view brings out the universality in us.

 

The Age Specific Spiritual Guidance

 

 

The Manu tradition of Indian spirituality has provided humanity a time scale of Yugas (cosmic seasons). The basis of this Manu calendar is the Divine Will that governs the movement of nature and cosmos. The great gurus in each epoch who received the knowledge of this cosmic design relevant to that yuga led people in dharma, karma and worship of God, which defines Yuga Dharma. Spirituality ultimately relates to this spiritual administration or Yuga Dharma. The plethora of religious complexities today springs from a lack of relation with this cosmic design.  It was revealed to the disciples of Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru that it was a great spiritual error that led to a deviation in Yuga Dharma. Despite the sacrifice of great souls humanity could not be guided to the path of Truth. Thereafter, it was revealed that the restoration of Yuga Dharma is the mission of Guru, by correcting the wrong courses of human life and their ill effects consequent upon that deviation. In the dharma of Kali Yuga, everything must be oriented to the Supreme. The Guru must be Parabrahma Guru (the Supreme Divinely Commissioned Guru). The mantra, initiation, prayer, meditation and all else must be in relation to the Supreme. In the scriptures, the Jnana portion (knowledge portion) becomes relevant. Only darshanam (visions), asareeri (clairvoyance) emanating from the Supreme must be accepted.

 

Revelatory Visions

 

 

In the long duration of a Manu age, partitioned by time zones such as Satya, Treta, Dwapara and Kali, a spiritual authority manifests age after age for the spiritual evolution of human race. Such a spiritual authority imparts to humanity the dharma to be followed in each age. But in course of time this path of knowledge (Jnana Margam) was lost, which had negative repercussions on the material and spiritual planes. This lost path has been rediscovered by Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru. Guru has not only restored this process of knowledge but also perfected it and gifted it to humanity for its true progress. While correcting spiritual visions of the disciples, Guru taught them at the experiential level that the sources of visions differ. Visions may originate from powers residing in various astral planes, such as – bhootas (demonic spirits), pitrus (ancestral souls), devi-devas (deities), rishis or sanyasis etc. The ultimate vision or the ultimate plane of knowledge is Parabrahmam (The Supreme Light). So a Guru who has attained the Supreme Parabrahmam alone should be relied as the source of Darshanam.  Knowledge of the entire creation, dharma, karma, mistakes and their correction etc. are received through such visions. Science, technology, astral knowledge, disease and medicines, even awareness of the past, present and future can be known in this manner. Our life must be lived with such knowledge and under the guidance of such a Guru. Such a Guru tradition is ordained to be the path of the Kali Age.

 

Spiritual Rehabilitation 

 

 

One of the basic tenets of Sanatana Dharma has been that the future course of an individual’s life depends on the cumulative effects of the residual vices and virtues in one’s jeeva or soul. Unless the inherited impurities or bad effects of misdeeds in past births are removed from one’s jeeva or genetic order, the future life will be influenced and guided by those negative instincts. It means a genetic cleansing is essential for getting more evolved progeny. Though different means have been devised and prescribed by religions and spiritual doctrines, no proper solution has been found to remove impurities and cleanse the evil effects in one’s jeeva and thus make possible a noble human life. After His spiritual completion, Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru became the divinely commissioned Guru to perform the cleansing or rehabilitation of the manes (ancestral souls), deities, etc. This cleansing ensures the birth of children free from the bad effects of past lives. This is an astral task of spiritual intercession performed by the spiritually designated disciple following Guru’s instruction and has no parallel that we know of. In Santhigiri Guru Parampara child birth is planned after this spiritual purification known as Gurupooja. Guru envisions the emergence of a new human race and a world order through such wisdom-filled children.

A New Spiritual Initiative

In the year 1926, Sri Aravinda Maharshi, the great Indian sage had seen in a vision the descent of the Supramental Light to the earth accompanied by Sri Krishna. Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru was born on 1 September 1927 at Chandrioor in Alleppy district of Kerala, after ten months of this vision. Guru experienced the radiant presence of Sri Krishna in Him until the age of nine. This experience had remained a mystery to the Guru for long.  He had an intense desire to lead a monastic life. In His search for an Ashram, Guru found out the Advaita Ashram of Sri Narayana Guru at Aluva, in Kerala. He was just thirteen years old then. The next seventeen years, He lived in the Sivagiri Mutt and its branch ashrams. Guru was trying to find a spiritual guide to clarify His doubts about the childhood spiritual experiences and lead Him further. For long He could not find a right spiritual guide. 

 

While He was living at the branch of Sivagiri Mutt at Aruvipuram in the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram, Guru decided to observe a spiritual vow for forty one days atop the Koditooki hills nearby.  On the forty first day of this spiritual observance, the Saibaba of Sirdi appeared before Him in vision. The Guru took it as a good omen. Within a day or two after this, a well-wisher arrived at Aruvipuram and guided Guru to a Sufi saint by the name Qureshia Fakir, who was popularly known as Pattani Swami. The Fakir lived in the vicinity of Beema Masjid, near Thiruvananthapuram.  Pattani Swami initiated Guru into mystical experiences and clarified His doubts. After years of struggle, self-sacrifices and spiritual wanderings, Guru established Santhigiri Ashram at Pothencode, near Thiruvananthapuram, in the year 1965. On the day of Guru’s spiritual fulfilment, a word was received from the Divine Light: What I wished for ages has been fulfilled now, signifying the re-establishment of the lost jnana path related to the spiritual order of Manvantara. Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru left the earthly plane on 6th May, 1999 inaugurating a new spiritual era. It was revealed that this day is to be celebrated as Nava Oli Jyotir Dinam - Sarvamangala Sudinam, i.e. the All-Auspicious Day of the New Light.

The History of Original Sin and the Manu Cycles

Gurucharanam Saranam

The history of the ‘original sin’ and the Manu cycles is a very important topic because it has the potential to unite us spiritually. The history of Manu or Adam is shrouded in mystery. The Bible writers mention about the story of Adam and Ave and the sin they committed against the will of God. It is presented as a myth, which is both conceptually vague and lacking in historical details. The Adam myth relates to a long forgotten spiritual error in the history of human race, which is little different from the one mentioned in the Bible. First of all, Bible creates the impression that Adam and Eve were the first human beings who lived in the garden of God (it is not clear whether it was on the earth or in the heaven) and that their sexual union after eating the forbidden apple had caused their fall.

The Biblical myth related to Adam in the Genesis and his lineage up to Noah appears in one of the Hindu Puranas (Bhavishya Purana, 4^th Ch.). It has been mentioned here that Adaman and Haimavati (equivalent to Adam and Eve) were living in their heavenly abode. Adaman ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of sin and they were expelled from the heavens. The names of Adaman’s successors have close resemblance to the Biblical names, Adam for Adaman, Seth for Shwethanama, Enoch for Anoohan, Kenan for Keenashan, Mahallalel for Mahallalan, Methuselah for Manochillan, Lamech for Lomakan and Noah for Newhan.

However, I shall present a different version of the original sin and the spiritual status of Adam according to the original vision of Indian rishis (sages). The word Adam was derived from the Sanskrit root ‘Adi’ (the First or Origin) says Blavatsky, the Russian mystic, who was one of the founders of the Theosophical Society in her book The Secret Doctrine: ‘Even the name of the first man (Adam) in the Mosaic Bible had its origin in India… the words ‘Ad’ and ‘Adi’ mean in Sanskrit ‘the First’, in Armenian, ‘One’ (Ad-ad, the Only One); in Assyrian, ‘Father’, whence Ak-Ad or ‘Father Creator’. And once the statement is found correct it becomes rather difficult to confine Adam to the Mosaic Bible alone and to see therein simply a Jewish name’. (The Secret Doctrine, Adam Adami, Page 44).

The equivalent name for Adam and Eve in Indian spirituality is Manu and Satarupa. Manu is not an earthly creation. He is the First Born of God or the First Cosmic Person, the Father in Heaven.  A solar system is born out of the conception of Manu. Because of this, the rishis calculated the age of the universe in terms of Manvantara, after the name of Manu. Fourteen such Manus or Adams appear in a single episode of creation called ‘Kalpa’ which is time-space continuum formed by billions of years (4,320,000,000 years). The time of one Manu cycle is equal to 306,720,000 years consisting of 71 age-quartets or chaturyugas. One chaturyuga consists of four cosmic ages (Yugas), viz. Satya (golden age), Treta, Dwapara and Kali. We are living in the Kali Yuga, the last leg of the 28^th age-quartet of the seventh Manu cycle. Kali Yuga has a duration of 4,32,000 years and it has begun only 5200 years ago after the time of Sri Krishna.

The first ray of life originated in the waters of the earth billions of years ago out of the copulation of cosmic rays from the sun and moon in rhythm with the planetary movements in the solar system and in alignment with twenty seven stars and twelve constellations (zodiacs). Life evolved and evolved and it became man, in the perfect image of God. The spiritual evolution of man happens through a brotherhood of Mahatmas or Preceptors, who appear at the turn of every age (as well as within the duration of a long age), according to the spiritual requirement of every age. This is the spiritual administration of God known as Sanatana Dharma, meaning the ‘Eternal Religion’.  I mentioned all this mind-blowing details as a preamble to explain when and how the original sin occurred.

Everything went on in accordance with the Will of God. Then a great preceptor in the Manu lineage committed an error by equating himself to God. His name was Satyatrana. In his spiritual ecstasy and supreme God realization, he uttered:  ‘I am God’. It went against the Will of God and he fell from the grace of God. An individual evolute may realize God but cannot equate himself to God. The mistake had egoistic origin. The above said error happened in the 3rd chaturyuga of the present Manu cycle. As a consequence, a curse came from God: ‘May the memory of Manu be erased from the human race’. Thus, the awareness about Manu, the Adam of human race was lost. A long age of darkness followed. Then, in the 7th chaturyuga, God initiated a correction through three spiritual entities – Siva, Vishnu and Brahma. Thereafter, the system of worshiping gods and goddesses in different names and manners originated all over the world – in India, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, etc.

The very error, which happened to Satyatrana gets repeated with the gods too as gods began to be equated with the Supreme. A preceptor in this tradition charts the cosmic time order of Manus as subservient to Brahma, the god of creation in Hinduism. Gods were erroneously equated with the supreme God through mythological treatises (puranas). The Will of God is violated…  Interpolations take place in the scriptures. The way of spiritual guidance through the sages in the Manu lineage is ignored. A system of worship based on the propitiation of gods and goddesses gains strength in which priests became the spiritual authority.

The spiritual order of Manu was distorted. Great avatars like Krishna and Buddha and various other sages appeared to rectify this error. When their efforts failed, God sends messengers and prophets such as Moses, Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammed and others in other parts of the world. It has been revealed that 2444 Gurus have taken birth in India and in different parts of the world for this purpose since the beginning of this Kali age. The story does not end there. The prophets and messengers of God are persecuted by powerful super-evil spirits scuttling the mission of these messengers. The Will of God remains unfulfilled and humanity suffers again without true spiritual guidance. Then all great souls pray for a divine intervention. Several sages predict the imminent birth of a Divine Soul in the 20^th century.

September 1st, 1927 – a Divine Soul is born in Kerala, known as Gods Own Country. His name is Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru. God initiates a long awaited correction through Him. In the year 1973, revelations were made to the Guru from the Supreme Light about the aforesaid history of the original sin occurred in the spiritual order of Manu. These revelations are never available in any scriptures. It is a new beginning, a new spiritual dawn.

Mukundan P.R.