India is the Motherland of Hindus

India is the land where Sanatana Dharma originated from primordial times and its people practiced Dharmic religions viz. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and in recent times Sikhism. Since the forced entry of Islam at the beginning of the middle ages, there is now a large population of Muslims also in India. The Islamic invaders looted the wealth of India and pierced its cultural soul. After the arrival of St. Thomas and other Christian missionaries, Christianity has also a presence here. Apart from political and economic subjugation, one of the major aims of British colonial rulers was the conversion of Indians into Christianity. As was the case during the Islamic rule, the British too compelled Indians to learn their language and culture. They achieved this aim by enforcing their own model of education, administrative as well as the judicial system, replacing the age-old native social institutions, an important one of which was the Gurukula system of education. The British thus succeeded to tear away the Indian social system. But there were also some positive changes in the Indian society by the British rule. After the golden period of Buddhist India, there was a general degeneration in all fields - science, technology, art, and culture and India had relapsed into a primitive superstitious society. Modernity came to India through the British. Caste laws and other harmful customs and traditions such as Sati lost their legal sanction.

 

The Muslims of India opted for a theocratic nation (Pakistan) exclusively for Muslims, rejecting democracy, after gaining independence from the British. A great population of Muslims went to Pakistan. However, a small population of Muslims wanted to remain in India. Their population steadily increased under the favorable constitution of India which promotes the interests of minorities. India is a democratic state which guarantees equal rights for all religions. This is in line with the vision of Indian rishis who treated all religions with sympathy and granted freedom of thought as well as the right to choose their own path for salvation. However, while enjoying special privileges for themselves in the name of minorities using the constitutional provisions, the minorities, especially Muslim religious leaders oppose the rituals and customs of Hindus and their right to identify their motherland with Hinduism.

 

By their opposition to a Uniform Civil Code, Triple Talaq, singing of Vande Mataram, Cow Slaughter, the practice of Yoga (now the protest against CAA, NRC), etc. the Muslim leadership has sent the message that they cannot tolerate any un-Islamic practices and can go by only sharia, even though it violates the rights and freedom of Hindus. It means that India has to remain without a soul, cut off from its spiritual and cultural roots in the name of a secular democratic constitution. There are several predominantly Christian democratic nations in other parts of the world, in Europe and America. They never suppress Christian values and aspirations. They take pride that the provision of democratic-secular rule springs from Christian values. The values of people spring from their spiritual and cultural world views. Can it be otherwise in the case of Hindus? The Muslim religious leaders want to take advantage of the liberal secular democratic rule but refuse to respect the spiritual and cultural world views of Indian religions.

 

It creates a perpetual fear among Hindus that once the Muslims become the majority in any part of India, they would no longer opt for democracy but will force others to accept Islamic laws under sharia. Already, a struggle is on in Kashmir for cessation driven by strong Islamic fundamentalism. In the background of a rising Muslim population in India, many Muslim leaders have begun to openly challenge the majority community on many sensitive issues. Their confrontational attitude has fueled the growth of an equally belligerent form of Hindutva. Hindus take it as a battle for religious sovereignty in their motherland and the right to preserve their age-old culture and spiritual tradition, whether good or bad, novel or outdated in others’ views.

 

It is an unfortunate instance of a negative and unhealthy interpretation of secularism. A nation and its people have the right to identify their motherland with the culture and religion of their own. Only that gives them a national identity and the freedom to express, nurture and fulfill their spiritual and cultural aspirations. Only that gives a nation the soul-strength to forge ahead. The concept of secular democracy can only help to create soulless societies and soulless people detached from its culture and worldview. The spiritual and cultural edifice of India is built upon the vision of great rishis and Mahatmas like Sri Krishna, Sri Buddha, Mahavir, Guru Nanak, and innumerable other sages. India cannot advance in the world forsaking its own identity.

 

All religions should be able to coexist peacefully in India. For thousands of years, India has been the motherland of all isms and thoughts, where one can freely go on with their beliefs and cultural practices. However, the trouble started with the arrival of Islam and Christianity. Both these religions claim that theirs is the only path that can save mankind. Therefore, they constantly try to impose their worldviews on other people and try to convert them by choice or force. Millions of people were butchered and continue to be butchered because of this bigoted view of religion. Despite several centuries of cruel massacre and persecution of millions of Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists, Islam could not triumph over the dharmic religions of India. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism still flourish in India as before, which shows the strength, resilience, and relevance of these ancient spiritual paths for God-realization. They would continue to exist so long as the creation exists because they provide rational answers to the mysteries of life and death with incomparable depth and insight.

 

However, over the long ages Hinduism has worn out and reform is essential if Hinduism is to survive. Many distortions have taken place in the original concept of Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma. These distortions make Hinduism easy prey for criticism and ridicule by others. Although Hindus constitute eighty percent of the population, their voices are not heard. It is difficult for them to have a common goal because they are divided by sects, castes, regions, and language identities. Their object of worship also differs from caste groups to caste groups. Even the worship of demonic spirits (matan, maruta, mantramuti, yakshi, chathan, etc.) and associated rituals and festivals are celebrated with pomp and show. The Hinduism practiced by the Hindu masses is mainly based on the mythical stories in the Puranas. Some of these myths have no scriptural sanctity. Such distortions generate aversion among the believers of one God, inside Hinduism and outside of it.

 

Hinduism, therefore, should be reinterpreted because no archaic spiritual culture can reinvigorate the people in this new era of Kali. Unfortunately, the Hindutva leadership has accepted the flawed foundation of Hinduism for the revival of Hinduism. This would not have happened had they started from the reformatory path initiated by the great mahatmas beginning from Sri Krishna, Sri Buddha, Mahavir, Guru Nanak, Maharshi Dayanand, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Narayana Guru, Chattambi Swamikal, and several others who stressed the belief in One God and One People concept of rishis. The heart of Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma is to be found in the Vedas and Upanishads, which have upheld monotheism, the worshiping of Supreme Brahman, the One God. The Hindus in general glue to the poetical tales in the Puranas depicting the glory and valor of several gods and kings. The rishis were the most rational thinkers. They believed only in the Supreme Brahman, the One God without a Second.

One can find the heart of Hinduism in the following verses of Rig Veda:

 

‘Who knows the secret?

Who proclaimed it here?

Whence, whence this manifold creation sprang?

The gods themselves came later into being –

Who knows from whence this great creation sprang?

Then,

“He who gives breath,

He who gives strength;

Who commands all the bright gods revere,

Whose shadow is immortality, whose shadow is death; -

Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?...

He through whom the sky is bright and the earth firm-

He through whom the heaven was stabilized,

Nay the highest heaven –

He who measured out space in the sky? –

Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?

He who by His might looked even over the waters,

Which held power and generated the sacrificial fire,

He who alone is God above all gods;

Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?

(Rig Veda, X.129, translated by Max Muller)

Who is the Creator According to Hinduism

According to the wisdom tradition of Hinduism, every solar system in which all living beings have their abode is created through the medium of Archetypal Manu, who is said to be the first self-projection of God and through whose ideation or sankalpa manifests the visible universe consisting of planetary units and stellar systems. Because of this, the Indian rishis calculated the age of the cosmos in terms of Manvantara after the name of Manus. Manu is the God manifest, the primordial Purusha, the Hiranya Garbha or the Prajapati or Ishwara mentioned in the Vedas and Upanishads - who creates our local universe consisting of twelve zodiacs, twenty-seven stars, and nine planets. (This Manu, therefore, is not to be related with the author of Manusmriti, one of the dharmic treatises in Hinduism).

The great rishis have said that God is pure Consciousness and Light indefinable. However, God transforms Himself into a Cosmic Person (i.e. Manu) wishing to create our universe. Various divinities, humans, and other sentient and insentient beings in the solar system get evolved through a long process of cyclical evolution by the limitless potential of knowledge and action potential (jnanashakti and kriyashakti) and ideation (sankalpam) of this Cosmic Person.

The pathetic religious discords today arise owing to ignorance about this natural spiritual order. Numerous gurus, seers, and prophets of different caliber come for a different duration such as 500, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500, or 5000 years according to the socio-spiritual condition of society. Sri Ram, Sri Krishna, Sri Buddha, Mahavir, Zarathustra, Moses, Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammad, Guru Nanak, and others were great preceptors who appeared for such spiritual renovation during historical intervals. This process of spiritual renovation goes on until the end of a Manvantara - the cosmic age that has the length of billions of years. It is this spiritual culture or character of Indian spirituality known as Sanatana Dharma (the eternal spiritual order) that makes it eternally relevant, vibrant, and tolerant to other religions.

According to Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru, the fundamental principles of Sanatana Dharma rest on the concept of Manu and World Teachers appearing in the epoch of Manu. The spiritual brotherhood of these masters is known as Manu Parampara or Manvantara order. The soul through innumerable incarnations evolves and God, in the form of an avatar, guru, or prophet presides over this evolution. Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma is the spiritual culture of these sages in the Manu parampara. The Manu has been mentioned as Purusha, Prajapati, Hiranya Garbha, etc. in the Vedas. There are references to the Purusha in the scriptures:

The first form of Supreme Brahman is Purusha! - says Vishnu Purana, 2:15. Various worlds together with their guardian deities were formerly conceived in the limbs of Supreme Purusha (Bhagavatam 2:9:11)

The Rgveda mentions that ‘whatever exists here, that which is, and yet to be, is all verily the Purusha, the Supreme Being. (Rgveda, 10:90:2).

In the Yajurveda also, the manifestation of God is termed as a Purusha (Yajurveda 31:18).

The Brihadaranya Upanishad mentions thus:

‘In the beginning, this was but the Self in a form similar to that of a Man’ ((Brihandaranyaka Upanishad 1:4:1).

The Bible echoes this idea of the First Born; ‘God created man in his own image, male and female he created them’ (Genesis: 27)

When the attributeless Supreme Being (Brahman) becomes manifest, He is God, the Universal Father from whom emerges the first Cosmic Person, who is denoted here as Manu. Thus, the Purusha alias Manu becomes the authority of our solar system and the cycles of life in it.

Brahman is equated to an ocean of Bliss, i.e. a plane wherein all ideas, forms, and attributes have their ultimate consummation or riddance. In this way, Manu, the First Born of God, referred to as Isvara alias Hiranyagarbha alias Virat Purusha mentioned in the Vedas became the Father of our universe and the epoch of a Manu came to be known as Manvantara, after his name.

There is a series of fourteen such Manus in a cycle of creation referred to as Kalpa. (Kalpa is a time-space continuum formed by billions of years (4,320,000,000 years), after which the created world meets with dissolution; the time period of one Manu is equal to 306,720,000 years constituting seventy-one chaturyugas (four-fold cluster of Satya, Treta, Dwapara, and Kali ages).

The spiritual authorities, who come in the lineage of Manu according to the partitions of ages are denoted as Manvantara Avatars. There are two spiritual streams in Hinduism. One is the Trimurti tradition which promotes the worship of Ishta devata (favorite deity) of various sects such as Saivism, Vaishnavism, Sakteyism, etc. which holds Siva, Vishnu or Goddess and so on as creator gods.

The other is the Manu tradition based on the monotheistic teachings of sages. It holds Manu as the Creator and the medium for God-realization is only a realized Guru. This Guru should be above the spiritual plane of Devi-devas and should be a Trikala jnani - the knower of past, present, and future. While the Trimurti tradition is based on the Puranas, Tantras, and karmakanda found in the Vedas, the monotheistic teachings (Jnana Kanda) are part of the Upanishads, the Six Hindu Philosophical Systems, Bhagavat Gita, Guru Gita, etc.

Seven Signs of a God's Messenger - A Checklist

Seven Signs of a Messenger of God

Guru is the bridge between man and God. It is said in the scriptures that God’s first creations were the Rishis. In the beginning, God revealed the secret of creation as well as all laws (dharma) first to the primordial Rishis. The secret of creation and its laws are universal, eternal, and changeless, therefore, it is called Sanatana Dharma. These laws are interpreted from time to time by Epochal Guru incarnations or Messengers of God in accordance with the evolving nature of ages.

An important revelation in the Vedic lore is that Brahman, the One God (not the trinity god Brahma) can be known only through the medium of a Guru, who has realized Brahman. However, the question is how to recognize such a Poorna Guru, a Messenger of God? The checklist is here:

1. A Poorna Guru will be a Trikala Jnani – knower of past, present, and future, which means he knows our soul and where we stand in terms of our inner evolution. He also knows the process of soul evolution through the course of Manvantara time cycles or yugas. Having known the soul and its karma, he guides us appropriately and helps upgrade our inner potency, in proportion to which, one's worldly fortunes also peak. The Poorna Guru should be able to fathom the influences that you carry, i.e. the spiritual entanglements from your past and present, and be also able to nullify them.

2. The Poorna Guru takes only the name of Absolute Brahman, which means he is not subservient to a Deva, Devi, or angel from whom spiritual energy or communication (in the form of revelation) is channelized. He must have transcended the spiritual stages of such intermediaries and submerged fully with the Supreme Light. The Poorna Guru receives direct messages in the form of visions or revelations from the Light, not through an angel or deva.

3. You may come across great gurus whose wisdom may amaze you, but check what is the object of their worship. Those who perform miracles should be totally avoided as the performance of miracles is against God. Many people channelize satanic spirits and perform miracles and healing to increase the number of followers. Performance of miracles was a feat of great yogis in the past ages - dwapara and treta, but should not be imitated in Kali Yuga. Kali Yuga is the age of jnana, karma, bhakti, and self-surrender to God. Even in Yogic science, the performance of miracles is not advised.

4. The Poorna Guru is born with the mission for a universal change. He modifies the prevailing (old) belief systems and organizes life anew. He will be the initiator of a new mantra and a way of worship transcending the distinctions of caste, creed, race, or gender. By this, be brings all people under one umbrella. The Poorna Guru is a harmonizer and will never claim that he is the only Messenger or final Messenger of God. He considers the work of all mahatmas as well as their teachings worthy to the extent of its merit. They revealed what they knew. The Poorna Guru does not coerce others to accept his teachings.

5. The Poorna Guru is the maker of man (Srishti kartha). He teaches the science of nourishing a family. Only the Poorna Guru can teach how to purify the bloodline. He teaches the secret of begetting healthy and fortunate children free from mental and physical flaws and also the knowledge of how to nurture them to their absolute potential by way of marriage between two compatible souls looking into their past lives, purity of ancestral souls, and family stock (gotra).

6. The Poorna Guru preserves the life of humanity (Sthithi Kartha). He preserves the human race by bonding them in love and compassion. He protects the balance between man and nature by means of dharma and helps the human race in its spiritual as well as material advancement.

7. The Poorna Guru helps transcend death by removing the fear of death (Samhara Kartha). He places the souls after death at appropriate mandalas in order to exhaust their karma and gives them an opportunity for rebirth in good wombs for further spiritual evolution.

We can see that the dharma and karma (Yugadharma) being observed today belongs to a remote past, i.e. Dwapara Yuga and Treta Yuga. When the laws and values appropriate to the age (yuga) are not followed in accordance with the Will of God, human civilization stagnates. In this new age of Kali Yuga, we must follow the teachings of a Poorna Guru and seek His guidance and leadership to bring about the desired transformation of human society.

God has again blessed India with a Poorna Guru – Navajyothi Sri Karunakara Guru, whose 93rd Birth Anniversary is being celebrated on 3 September 2019. By accepting His teachings and guidance, the world can overcome all the ills that it is facing today.

What is Ailing Hinduism?

Much before the advent of Christianity and Islam, India gave the world the monotheistic view of God and theories related to the creation, the evolution of life, time concept, karma, reincarnation, etc. Although the Vedas venerate gods that are organic to the cosmic apparatus, they go beyond and present us the concept of formless and manifest facets of God. The formless God is called Brahman, who with a desire to create the universe manifested Himself as the Cosmic Purusha. So Purusha is the First Born of God, the kinetic form of the unborn, unknowable God. Vedas and Upanishads clearly say the formless Brahman made Him known by appearing in the form of a Cosmic Person. Borrowing this Vedic idea Bible writers say that God created man in His own image.

According to the theory of creation in Hindu scriptures, Purusha remained in the fluid of the universal egg for a long time and finding Him alone, He split himself into two, as a man and a woman with a desire to create. (His first creations were sages or rishis, it is said). The name of the Purusha is Manu and the woman Satarupa. It is mentioned further that from this pair the human race originated; hence Manu is considered the progenitor of mankind. These ideas of creation traveled worldwide and took regional forms. The Purusha began to be worshipped in various forms and names in subsequent ages. The Hindus equated Him with the trinity gods Siva, Vishnu, Brahma and so on. In the prophetical religions, Purusha is worshipped as the Father in Heaven, Allah, etc. The Manu became the myth of Adam in Christianity and Islam.

Manu in Indian spirituality is the Creator himself, not just the human ancestor. Manu is God in creative mode. For this reason, the world-time is named Manvantara after Manu’s name by the primordial rishis. Therefore, Indian spirituality is monotheistic in essence although not in practice currently. The concept of a monotheistic God originated in India. However, during the course of time, certain socio-spiritual distortions occurred in India. The Vedic scribes re-wrote Purana Samhita (mythological treatise which was one in the beginning) and portrayed Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva as the authorities of creation probably to bring these pre-Vedic traditions together. They altered the Manvantara time calculation subservient to trinity god Brahma instead of Manu, according to the revelations received through Sri Karunakara Guru. Manu lost all significance. During the long ages of editions and re-editions of Vedic texts in the hands of Vaidikas, the history of Manu was lost except his name. The Vedic priests not only made trinity gods equal to Brahman but made the community of priests too equal to a god. They instituted a hierarchical caste system that gave no spiritual rights to others. The other communities were prohibited from learning Vedas and rituals and were left to worship evil spirits and tribal gods.

According to Manu Parampara or Sanatana Dharma, only Trikala jnani (all-knowing) gurus are the spiritual authorities in every yuga. Sri Ram was the Guru of Treta yuga and Sri Krishna of Dwapara Yuga. The object of Worship in Sanatana Dharma is Brahman alone, the formless Supreme Light, through the medium of an epochal Guru, who appears in every age. From the beginning of this new age Kali Yuga (which began approx. 5200 years ago), God sent great souls like Sri Krishna, Sri Buddha, Mahavir, Guru Nanak, Kabir Das, and others. However, the Vaidikas brought these great souls under the Trimurti system through interpolated Puranas which portrayed them as avatars of one or the other gods. For example, is the myth of Sri Krishna and Sri Buddha who are mentioned as avatars of Vishnu in the Puranas. The great Mahatmas and their words were not recognized in order to promote the monopoly of Vaidikas.

Further, Vedanta philosophy brought great spiritual distortion in the minds of people as its real essence was misunderstood. The people became full of ‘ahamkara’ or ego-ness as they were taught to think they are Brahman (Aham Brahmasmi). Any sinful person and even an evil spirit can become equal to God in this way. A person can attain Brahman only after cleansing all karma doshas and pitru doshas (karmic and genetic imprints and debilities) through many reincarnations and after crossing many spiritual stages. A fully realized Guru who knows the past, present, and future and who is the spiritual authority of age is necessary for such spiritual cleansing and a spiritual voyage through the cosmic egg.

Thus the Sanatana spiritual order was distorted. God sent other messengers like Moses, Jesus and Prophet Mohammad outside India and tried to re-establish Sanatana Dharma world-view. Since the origin of Sanatana Dharma is in India, the prophets of Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) did not get revealed the full idea of the secret of creation and related knowledge with regard to the evolution of life, the theory of karma, reincarnation, etc. So Christianity and Islam present only a dogmatic half-baked view of God and creation. Only Sanatana Dharma presents an all-encompassing inclusive world view. Sanatana Dharma is time tested, eternal and the divine plan for spiritual evolution.

God sends an epochal Guru, a Kalanthara Guru in every age. Accordingly, He sent another great reformer, a divine messenger to India as the spiritual authority of this new age - Kali Yuga. The name of that great Soul is Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru (1927-1999), whose abode is in Thiruvananthapuram, at the southern tip of India, in Kerala. The great Guru’s spiritual intercession cleanses the individual and family from all karmic and genetic sins and leads one to peace and divine joy. The Guru has led thousands of families to the new order - Guru Margam getting rid of all caste, gender, and religious segregations. In the new order, the venerable is only Brahman, the One God. Mediators are not priests, but the all-knowing Guru and his lineage of realized spiritual masters.

Sri Guru Gita – A Conversation between Siva and Parvati on Guru Tatva - 11

 Gurucharanam Saranam

Yadamghri-kamala-dwandwam Dwandwa-taapa-nivaarakam

Taarakam Bhava-sindhoscha Tam Gurum Pranamaamyaham

Siva said:

(I salute that Guru, the pair of whose lotus feet remove the suffering owing to the consciousness of opposites and take us across the ocean of worldly life.)

Suffering is the mental agony and agitation arising out of dualities in life such as pleasure and pain, success and failure, opulence and poverty or other experiences contrary to our expectations. Just like night follows the day, pleasure too ends in sorrow. All religions in general and Indian spirituality in particular sought to address the question of human suffering. Lord Buddha specifically identified suffering, its cause and its removal, as the basis of his teaching.  Unless we are able to transcend the domain of pleasure and pain we will not be able to experience peace of mind. And the way of peace is to fix our mind on that imperishable eternal truth called God and His glory.

The other day a retired person from Kolkata came to the Ashram. He said he wanted to have peace of mind now since he has fulfilled all his duties as a householder. How can a person hope for peace after retirement if has not thought about it and striven for it until this moment?  Just like we spend our energies for fulfilling other responsibilities in life, one should start the enquiry to find peace early in life. Otherwise it will be difficult because our body and mind get conditioned by the retirement age and you may not have the necessary energy also for such a mission.   

Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru reminds us that every soul is born subject to the universal rules of karma and spiritual evolution. Guru, who knows the disciple’s soul, cuts the karma with the sword of his grace and lifts the disciple to transcendental bliss. Through the service at the feet of the Guru, the soul gets gradually purified of all sins and bad karma. Only then the disciple can hope to reach the realm of God realisation.  So it is important that we connect our children with a realised Guru early in life. The Ashram is a place where an Atma Jnani Guru, a soul knowing Guru lives. Family life is supposed to be linked to the Ashram of such a Guru. In ancient India, children were educated in an Ashram under the guidance of a realised Guru.  This was known as Gurukula system of education. The children were taught not only spiritual science but all other material sciences such as astronomy, architecture, archery, medicine, metallurgy and so on. The Gurukula system was wiped out by the British during the colonial rule.

Worldly life is compared to an ocean because of the hidden dangers in its unfathomable belly and endless expanse.  Our little boat of life may get overturned by the hissing waves and swirling currents.  It is difficult for a truth seeker to swim over to the other end of this perilous ocean all alone. But with the help of Guru, one can cross over this ocean easily and find peace and tranquillity.   

A Conversation between Siva and Parvati on Guru Tatva - 10

Guru-budhyaatmano Naanyat Satyam Satyam Varaanane!

Tallaabhaarttham Prayatnastu Karthavyascha Maneeshibhih

Shiva said to Parvati:

(Nothing exists separate from the Soul. This verily is the truth, O beautiful One! Intelligent men should strive for its attainment as it is their duty. Guru wisdom lies in this).        

The world outside and our soul are not separate from each other. They are one like the two sides of a coin.  Let us see how. Everything is experienced through our subjective consciousness, the soul in us. If there is no soul or consciousness, there would be only a blank; we cannot even know that we exist. Only in the screen of consciousness we can perceive and experience life and the universe around us.

Sri Sankaracharya went a step further in his Vedantic discourse and said: ‘The world exists only within our consciousness just like a city seen reflected in a mirror’.  Spirituality is all about the discovery of this truth experientially.

Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru explained it differently:

‘What is called as God? It is a karma (actualization) that evolves out of the interplay of panchakosas (five sheaths) and panchendriyas (five senses) in synchronization with Jeevatma (individual soul) and Paramatma (Supreme Soul)”.  

So even the concept of God is evolved through our cognitive capacities. The Rishis explain that our body is like a multi-dimensional sphere in the inner cavity of which resides the soul.  Soul is enveloped or conditioned by five sheaths, viz.  Anandamaya Kosa (blissful sheath), vijnanamaya kosa (Intelligence sheath), Manomaya kosa (the mind sheath) pranamaya kosa (energy sheath) and the annamayakosa (physical body or food sheath).   

The soul is constantly struggling to expand by transcending the conditionings of five sheaths to experience the blissful state, the spark of the Divine in us. When the indefinable and unknowable Light of the universe becomes kinetic it becomes Paramatma, the Cosmic Soul, the First Born of the formless Truth.  He is the Aadi Guru – the Primal source of all power, ideation, knowledge, love and bliss.

As He is the embodiment of the Supreme Light, everything is pervaded by Him. We can never define or know the Supreme Light God, but we can definitely know his manifestation, the Adi Guru, the Cosmic Soul in the form of the Primordial Preceptor who designs the universe. For this reason, the Indian Rishis called Him Manu, the primordial human Ancestor.  From the Manu emerged both the blue print and the building blocks of the universe. Many such archetypal Manus and Preceptors in His lineage appear in the endless and timeless episodes of creation repeating the drama of life.

From the ideation (sankalpam) of Manu, the solar system was formed.  He formed Prakriti potentiated by three gunas (satva, rajas and tamas).  The scientists call them by the terms of electron, pluton and neutron.  From these gunas were born the subtle elements of sound, space, air, fire and water and from them the related senses and sense organs of sound, sight, touch, smell and taste. Subsequently, the work of the creation of life in a physical universe began.  

With the intent of creating the human universe, this Cosmic Person split himself into two, in the form of a man and woman - into Purusha and Prakriti.  He created out of himself the sun and the moon, twenty-seven stars, nine planets and the twelve zodiacs.  The sun represents the Purusha, the masculine principle, while the moon is the woman, the feminine principle. So the souls after death depart either by the path of the sun or the moon. Those who go by the path of the sun never returns while those in the path of the moon are reborn for further evolution, so mention the sages.

Life was born first in the waters of the earth from the interplay of cosmic radiances and energies from the sun and the moon. The warmth of the sun and the cool rays of the moon nurtured life. The life of man is thus inseparably related to the sun and the moon, the constellations, stars and planets. The ancient Rishis taught us to respect the universe around us for this reason. Those who pollute God’s creation will suffer.

The soul requires space to breath and to expand, hence the creation of the planetary system, revolving under which it evolves through many births, through many life forms, learning and self-evolving and finally attains beatitude in the Absolute Truth. Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru taught us that the guru-disciple bond is the elucidation of this cosmic truth. In his discourse to Parvati, Lord Siva informs that all intelligent people should tune life with this divine truth as it is the very meaning and purpose of life.

Sri Guru Gita- A Conversation between Siva and Parvati on Guru Tatva -9

Gurucharanam Saranam

Japastapo Vritam Teertham Yajno Daanam Tathaiva Cha

Guru-tatwam-avijnaaya Sarvam Vyartham Bhavet Priye!

O Dear One! Japa (the recitation of mantra) Tapa (spiritual austerities) Vritam (Vows), Teertham (Visiting of Holy Places) and also the path of Jnaana (Knowledge) and Daana (Charities) come to naught if one does not know the truth of Guru.

Explanation:

Has anyone seen the formless God?  No, it is not possible to comprehend the Incomprehensible.  God can be known only through an image or an idea. Thus all religions have originated inspired by some ideologies, gurus or prophets and all of them have left behind a world of images surrounding God.  Although they provide the followers varying degrees of spiritual experience all of us still feel some emptiness, the feeling that there is yet something beyond to be realized. We have not reached that shore beyond - of light, love, knowledge and bliss. Today the spiritual fraternity is groping in the dark unable to experience that Light and Truth.

Consciousness is a multi-layered multi-dimensional experiential journey towards the Absolute Truth – the Brahman.  The self can evolve to become higher spiritual entities such as devi-devas, angels, rishis and other cosmic entities with varying degrees of expanded consciousness. But that is not the final destination. There is a painful gravitational struggle when the soul tries to traverse these realms of consciousness leading us to subtler and subtler transcendental experience. A struggle of grave nature awaits a truth bearer while passing through the nine realms of spiritual evolution before reaching the tenth stage, the ultimate abode of Truth which we call God.  Such a truth bearer becomes the image of God or God itself. The other day, a good soul sent me a copy of Kabir Vani. 

I realize that Mahatma Kabir is also a great soul like the Sikh Gurus who realized the greatness of Guru and the virtue of following the footsteps of a Guru.  Sant Kabir says in one his Sakhis:

“Guru Govind Dou Ek Hai, Duuja Sab Aakar…” (Guru and God is the same, difference is only in the name).

The seekers of truth get stuck at various borderlines of spirituality unable to raise themselves beyond the gross and subtle spiritual planes belonging to various spiritual entities, gurus and prophets.

The experience of late Swami Jagatpriya Jnana Tapaswi of Santhigiri Ashram is an example (taken from the book ‘The Guru of All’ published by Santhigiri Ashram):

The Swami was a devotee of Sri Krishna and was able to see Krishna in vision through his spiritual austerities. Since he was facing some obstacles he began to search for a Guru and finally reached the Ashram of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru. During the audience with the Guru he said that he was able to see Sri Krishna in vision and that Sri Krishna was his Guru. Then the Guru said to him: “Dear Fellow! Sri Krishna will not be Guru to you. It is difficult for ordinary people to get Sri Krishna as Guru. For that, you have to rouse Samadhi.  Therefore, you should find a Guru from somewhere.  If you do not do this, you would face a problem after a year. You should remember me before commencing your meditation and at its conclusion’.

Swami Jagat Priya thought when Sri Krishna himself is with him, what was the need for following the Guru.  Nevertheless, he gave special attention to the Guru’s word that he should remember the Guru prior to and after the prayers. From then, he began to see the appearance of several deities and understood their limited spiritual status.  Sri Krishna was seen as the highest. One day he woke up at 3 AM and began to meditate on the Guru of Santhigiri.  He saw that the self-effulgent light of Guru was an ocean of light filling the whole creation.  He felt that even Sri Krishna had not got this much radiance. He was unable to withstand the impact of this vision; such was the brilliance of that Radiance. The Swami was unable to quieten his mind after this vision. Soon he developed chest pain too. He remembered the words of Sri Karunakara Guru about the need for a Guru. So he prayed to Sri Krishna that he should have a Guru. After praying continuously for a few days, Sri Krishna revealed in vision; ‘What was going on there is what I desired’.  The Swami understood that it was about Santhigiri Ashram and Sri Karunakara Guru.

Thus with Sri Krishna’s full consent he came to see the Guru again. By this time, he was suffering from unbearable chest pain and extreme mental torment. He was in the verge of lunacy.  On seeing him in this condition, the Guru said, ‘It is alright that Sri Krishna came and told you. Let it be. However, now I will tell you what you need’.  Guru touched his chest gently and said, ‘Don’t take the pain seriously’.  With that, the pain which he was unable to bear until then, disappeared completely. From then he came under the protection and guidance of the Guru.

Blind attachment to one’s religious rituals will not help. We need the supreme grace of Guru to overcome such spiritual hurdles. The supreme Guru is one who has transcended all spiritual stages and realized God reaching the tenth stage.  Only such a Guru can lift us up from our spiritual crisis and conditionings. Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru adds another dimension to the definition of a Guru when He said:

‘It is true that what really exists is the formless Truth, beyond all conceptions, like the limitless sky… If there is a formless nature to Truth, in what all states they exist? This should be shown by guru. There are many who have experienced the Truth. But Guru is not who has experienced it but who imparts it to others.’

So the experiential part is important. Many are the ideologies and practices which we blindly follow while disputing and disliking the others. Then surely we are in a domain of ignorance, that is the meaning of Lord Siva’s words. Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru repeats what Lord Siva said above.

There is some truth in every path, but that is not enough for this new age – the Kali Yuga. We should evolve spiritually which is possible only by getting rid of soul’s karmic and spiritual impurities through the grace of Guru. The Guru meant here is not a Guru in the nursery of spirituality, but a Guru who takes us across the borderless spiritual experience.