Challenges before Hinduism

A New Sky and a New Earth and a New Jerusalem

George, Netajipuram, Thiruvananthapuram

My name is George. I was born and brought up in Christian faith. I happened to know about Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru in 1986. An acquaintance of mine who was a regular visitor to the Ashram took me along with my family to the Ashram. When I saw Guru, he did not look like the person I had imagined. He was conversing like an ordinary person sitting on as small stool among a group of ordinary folks. He had no beard and flowing hair. He was clean-shaven, wore white clothes and had no airs about him.

We bowed before him and stood aside. Guru asked us whether we had eaten. We replied that we had. Guru signalled to us to sit down. The person who came with me introduced us to Guru. Guru asked me, ‘Why did you come?’ I replied that I wanted to grow spiritually and materially. Guru asked my companion to explain to me everything. Guru asked me again; ‘Are you alone’. I said that I had come with the family. Guru advised us to visit the Ashram often.

Then He continued the conversation. The talk was about Jesus Christ. In between, he asked me; ‘After Jesus’ resurrection, he first revealed himself to Magdalana Mariyam, who was tainted in life; why not to his mother, who gave him birth and brought him up?’

I stood there stupefied without knowing the answer. I had never heard such a question. When I stood there unable to give an answer, Guru repeated the question to others sitting down there. Nobody could give the answer. Then Guru himself revealed the answer. From that, I could understand one thing; it was by God’s Will I   came to him.

We began to frequent the Ashram and learnt more about Guru and His ideology. I could know from Guru’s teachings and from the experience of others that He is the Great Soul in the prophesies of Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammed, Nostradamus, Sri Narayana Guru, Aravind Maharshi, Sree Buddha and others.

I was convinced that the great master Navajyotisree Karunakara Guru is the Supreme Soul who could for the first time change a soul and its karmagati and cleanse all negative spiritual influences of ancestral souls and deities. With the proof of this, I accepted Guru as my saviour. The words of Yohannan in Bible helped me much in taking such a decision.

Guru explained to us the self-sacrifice and pain of numerous spiritual masters and their followers. Jesus had said that when the Soul of truth comes he would reveal every truth and speak referring his name. The words of Jesus became true here. Guru had revealed through vision that His coming was for the fulfilment of all religions and their ideologies.

Because of the moral decadence of the people who claim to be Sanatanist (Hindus), there developed obsolete way of worship, social injustices and a spiritual tradition that considers evil spirits as Almighty God, who show their strength through fits of trance. There were minor gods for lower castes and bigger gods for higher castes.  The ignorant people were made to believe that this is Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism).

I learnt from Guru that Sanatana Dharma is the spiritual culture of Gurus, who come as the exponents of dharma in every age. Wealth and knowledge is within the possession of people who do not worship Lakshmi and Saraswati, the goddesses of wealth and knowledge. Let us not forget that all scientific growth and richness in this age have come through these guru traditions. We might be scholars and wealthy. However, to have discriminative knowledge we should have a Guru; only through the medium of Guru, we will have wisdom. All our suffering is due to the absence of Guru in our life. We go to the Ashram to get such wisdom; going to the Ashram means the effort to free our soul.

We should venerate Guru If we are to get light dismissing the inner darkness. We will have every kind of knowledge and our vision becomes clear when we worship Guru, the medium through which God appears before us. We should worship only the Creator who has made this beautiful world. Why should we, instead, pray to other powers in creation? It is ignorance to see them in the place of God. Sanatana dharma is not worship of natural forces and deities. The spiritual culture of Hindus is related to the concept of ‘Mata, Pita, Guru and Daivam’, i.e. through the mother know the father, through the father know Guru and through Guru know God.  

Our ancestral background is polluted because of the decadent way of worship, which is ignorant about the age such worship was relevant. Those who have forsaken all this and converted to the path of gurus and prophets who believed in the Oneness of God have developed much higher. They were blessed by fortunes of all kinds, scientific and technological advancement and physical beauty. These words in the Bible are very significant: ‘even if you possess the whole world, if the soul has no rest, what a pity’.

Apart from this, there is this ignorance among us whether we are learned or ignorant. We think that if a Guru is born in a particular caste or religion he belongs to that particular caste or religion and we have nothing to do with that Guru. We do not know what a Guru is. How many persons know that Guru is the physical manifestation of formless God? Only Guru can give the experience of God. God has not made any other arrangements to know him. It is by the will of God, a Guru or prophet takes birth. Their ideology is for the whole mankind.  God has not made any system that for every caste and religion there are different gods. Let us remember that Guru is the path to God. It has been recorded in the Bible that ‘I am the truth and the path’.

The Mahatmas should not be discriminated because of birthplace, language or mode of life nor should they be limited under the boundaries of different religions and the quarrels over it. The Christian religion is an example for that. Only one Jesus Christ was born in the world. However, how many sects are there in the name of Jesus Christ? Each sect claims that his sect is greater than the other. Jesus would be weeping seeing this. The Godly path does not discriminate. Lord Father! Forgive this people.

The Soul of Truth is here who has come to purify all this. A New Sky and a New Earth and a New Jerusalem is ready after the purification of all of us, the earth and the stars.  Those who have luck and light in their soul - let them discover it.  

Let That Golden Vessel be Broken

Janani Satvika Jnana Thapaswini & Janani Amala Jnana Thapaswini

Hiranmayena Patrena Satyasya Apihitam Mugham - the face of truth is hidden by a golden vessel. Several sages tried to open that golden vessel undertaking great pain and suffering and disappeared behind the veil of time. Although we have known about such souls from Guru, it was when we witnessed the wailing soul of a great Rishi, the magnitude of that pain twirled and seized the chords of heart.

A dry morning in the month of Makaram (Malayalam Era 1161): We were on a pilgrimage to Kanyakumari along with Guru and the children of Santhigiri Vidyabhavan. The long-held desire of these children who were fortunate to receive Gurukula education - the lost tradition of modern India - was getting fulfilled. They were chanting the Guru Gita verses, which they had memorized, with an unknown passion during the trip. The atmosphere reverberated with the mantras glorifying Guru, which were denied and unapproachable to their ancestors. Let these echo shaking all living beings that are unaware of this truth because of the selfish motive of the priestly class and its willful treachery.

We reached the precincts of Sucheendram temple around twelve. In all the traveled paths, the ancestral souls of different characters, traits and tendencies were screaming and running behind us, understanding the presence of Guru. Some of them ran away and hid themselves. Some of them danced with joy. Some of them cried for liberation, while some were annihilated. They were souls wandering for many ages seeking salvation through the dust fallen from the feet of a mahatma. Those who sought refuge attained peace. At our arrival, the population of such spirits surrounding the temple increased than the normal. The deities appeared in front of us even before we could enter the temple. There were great rishis, devas and celestials among them. There were Atri Maharshi and Anasuya in front. The great Rishi ran up to Guru and prostrated offering flowers.

We entered the temple. Normally, Guru does not enter any temple. There is a reason. If it were worship time, the deities there would beseech us to tell Guru not to enter then because it was the worship time. ‘If Guru comes inside, we have to get up. And when we receive worship, we are unable to do so’. Therefore, at this place too, Guru waited outside the temple courtyard. Sitting inside the temple, we meditated on Guru. The kundalni was aroused.

The origin, existence and dissolution aspects of the temple flashed before our mind’s eye. The sacrificial life of Atri Maharshi, his soul effulgence and its status could be known. Then the ethereal figure of Guru became manifest with the radiance of a billion suns. The Maharshi touched the feet of Guru and said with tears: ‘I have one submission before You; the people should know the reality, truth and prominence of this place. Your grace should be there for that. It was the heart-rending cry of a soul of self-sacrifice - the cry of a Mahatma who did penance without even a spare cloth and whose hunger had to be satisfied with a morsel of food by begging, and who, suffering mist, sun, rain and wind, left the frame reaching the heights of spiritual realization.

It is that power of penance, which is maintaining the greatness of that place in reality. That truth is hidden with the golden vessel. The name Sucheendram is so known because Indra was purified in that place. The people do not know the Soul who was capable of sanctifying. In his place, the priestly class is worshipping Indra, Trimurti, Sri Ram, Sita and Hanuman. Pity, the poor people offer garlands of vada to Hanuman, who is installed on the Maharshi’s samadhi. When the holy water from the Maharshi’s feet was sprinkled, the Trimurti gods were turned into infants - that is the story. That story is sculpted on the walls too. Ironically, however, the worship is to the Trimurti.

In the history of which temple has the truth not been concealed? Were the Devi temples not established on the blood of Buddha Bhikshus? Even if it is the samadhi of a mahatma, a devi or deva would be installed there and people will be misled. With the passage of time, the number of devas and devis would increase according to the desire of tantrics. Some irrational myths also would be created. The sacrificial lives of mahatmas who had come until now were covered by myths related to the worldly drama of devas.

Is there no escape for these mahatmas? Generations that had blindly believed in all these. Is there no escape for them too? There is now the modern generation, which does not believe in these myths, denying them with rationality and intelligence. Just by denial, you are not going to get salvation. The ancestral souls of your family are entwined with the deities and gods, and they are after you wielding their swords. You have to seek a Guru for their liberation. Break the golden vessel that hides truth and relish the truth.

The Soul of that Mahatma who is painfully trying to show you the golden vessel - that pain has been submitted at the right place, at the feet of a Jnani, who has known the depth of that pain. It has been submitted at the feet of the medium that Brahman has deputed to lead humanity to Satya Yuga, redeeming it from all deviations. Have Your eyes also moistened from the reflection of that submission! You raised him up with compassion as if he were your own soul and consoled him.  ‘Let twelve years pass away! Then there will be an occasion’.

These words made the Maharshi full of joy. However, the pain of the Maharshi still stirs the mind. Pity the people who do not know this. O’ God! If you had given the ethereal vision to all to observe these things happening in the subtle! I declare loudly to the liberationists, compassionately avoiding the rationalists who ridicule this as mental delusion. What is the way for you to know the actual truth of this kind of experiences? If there are Jnanis, let them experience it. Otherwise, there is only the help of astrology. Let them clarify it with astrolabes. 

(Santhigiri Malayalam Adhyatmika Masika, September, 1986, translated into English by Mukundan P.R.)

The Concept of Evolution in Hinduism

The Concept of Evolution in Hinduism

Swami Navananma Jnana Tapaswi

The riddle behind the origin of universe, its sustenance and transformation has always vexed human intelligence and imagination. Nevertheless, the vigor of man’s search to discover the unknown has never weakened. That there is an Invisible Idea behind Creation is fundamental in spirituality. This fundamental plan or idea is behind the origin of life-energy (soul or jeeva), its manifestation and transformation through a physical medium. Indian spiritual thought is related to this perception regarding the successive evolvement of soul and body.

The soul in its infinitesimal form should evolve to its Absolute nature, which necessitates an evolutionary scheme.  Nature has an inherent character to evolve the jeeva to its Absolute status through a series of evolutionary incarnations. There is the process of molding the physical setting according to the nature and quality of evolution presupposing an inter-relationship between spirit’s evolutionary status and physical attributes. There exists, also a divine intervention that creates or directs this rhythmic evolution.

The uniqueness of Indian spirituality is this idea of a divine Intervention in the form of a spiritual embodiment, i.e. Guru Incarnation in the evolutionary process of soul and body. In the practical plane, this concept existed in India in the form of Guru-Disciple spirituality in the scheme of Sanatana Dharma. Since the evolutionary process is successive, the manifestation of Guru is also successive in terms of humanity’s spiritual progression. This process has been ordained in a manner of karma and dharma according to the age, which is termed as Yuga Dharma.

Yuga Dharma is the dharmic orientation of life in accordance with the evolving cycles of time for the soul and body to evolve from its imperfect state to its Absolute status or from the state of nescience to absolute enlightenment. Indian spirituality considers the relationship between an enlightened Guru - who is the embodiment of absolute realization- and the souls who are struggling to attain freedom from the chains of imperfection as the fundamental dharma for the evolvement and fulfillment of all living beings.

There is a revelatory knowledge, which gives the information about such Guru Incarnations who help the imperfect souls to reach the path of perfection. We were not able to comprehend the history of revelations about such great souls and about the prophesies made by them about the incarnations that are to come in succession. We should realize that beyond the miraculous feats and occult performances, there is this path of spiritual evolvement for the soul and body in accordance with a perennial law in nature. There should be a correction to our ignorance on this subject, as it is not good to wait yet.

There is a spiritual order in the universe, which is uniform and binding to all peoples in the world. The seers had discovered this truth, but the institutions built up in their names have been spiritually incapable to perceive this universal truth, dogma and superstitions blocking their real progress. For the devotees of God, a rational understanding of spirituality is essential for evolving higher.

The Spirit World and Islamic Jihad

Gurucharanam Saranam

The extremely cruel and demonic rape and murder of a girl in Delhi, which hurt the conscience of the entire nation brings to fore the moral malignancy of our society. That the government laws and law enforcing agencies are unhelpful when such satanic forces pounce upon innocent victims is clear from such unending incidents taking place around us.  A lasting solution to such cruelties and depravation is the moral and spiritual invigoration of the society and the evacuation of evil tendencies from human minds.

 

The moral standard of a society is in par with its spiritual evolution, beliefs, customs and rituals and their unseen influences on human psyche. A low spiritual culture would produce moral corruption, discord, violence and murder, whereas, true religion leads us to peace and prosperity. Humans, when they are morally unclean become the channels through which the spirit-world expresses itself in its fiery character. When morally fallen characters come together, they hunger for forbidden acts because evil minds find pleasure only in evil thoughts and acts. Such people become the natural allies of demonic forces with which they are subtly connected through worship and rituals, that of their own or come down through their ancestral tradition.

A blood - thirsty deity may hunger for blood. Jataka tales mention that Angulimala wanted the head of holy Buddha for propitiating such a fierce deity. In the history of Sankaracharya also, there is such an incident. He was about to be sacrificed by the devotee of a terrific spirit. Is there any doubt that people who are devoted to such spirits would become bloodthirsty? 

 The culture of our society is deeply influenced by its mythology and spiritual practices. Many sectarian myths have engendered superstitions, contradictory beliefs, caste discrimination, atrocities on women, corruption etc. From where did men learn the practice of using women to corrupt or destroy the virtuous? An example is available in Indian mythology. Indra used celestial nymphs to destroy virtuous seers and their sacred deeds.

 It must be taking a cue from the gods men too began to use women for corrupt purposes. The sanctity of womanhood was violated and her sacred status, as the mother and goddess on earth from whose womb he takes birth, who is the spiritual lamp in his family, was forgotten. The priests kept women as Deva Dasis, the slaves of gods in temples. It is better to remember that the temple dance forms, which enthuse many people, are the remnants of that tradition.

 

One has to accept that there is the corrupt world of spirits behind the human universe. The heinous crimes and sinful actions of man form pools of karmic pollution behind the worldly screen, which becomes the sporting ground of evil spirits. Hundreds of human lives are slaughtered every day in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Egypt, Israel and other countries. A man guns down dozens of school kids in the United States without any sane reason. Thousands of people die every day in violence, accidents and other calamities all over the world. Does all this happen under the aegis of God or with the collusion of the spirit-world? Every religion has its population of spirits. If there is bloodshed in its background, that blood will want more blood. The bloodshed by Islamic Jihadists is only their ritual to propitiate the bloodthirsty spirits. 

Only by cleansing the spirit pollution, an individual, family or society can hope for lasting peace and prosperity. It is self-evident truth that old theologies and spiritual masters belonging to past centuries cannot cleanse the spirit world and reinvigorate humanity, spiritually and worldly.  People can kill each other in the name of religion, but it can only add to the enormous spiritual pollution in the subtle.

Humanity can get rid of this spiritual pollution only through prayers and sacred deeds performed under the guidance of an all-knowing spiritual Master belonging to this era. The path of Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru gives us hope in this direction.