A View of Santhigiri Ashram

A View of Santhigiri Ashram
Lotus Parnasala and Sahakarana Mandiram , Santhigiri Ashram, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

Friday, June 26, 2020

The Reproductive Science of India: Marriage and Pregnancy.


Why do we have children that are contrary to our expectations? Why is there a generation of people who are physically and mentally weak, and devoid of virtues, making our lives miserable?

Why does a husband-wife relationship end in resentment and sometimes a breakup? There are essentially two things behind this: Incompatible marriage, and then ignorance about garbaadhan, i.e. the procreation act.

Those who marry should look for the compatibility of souls. Otherwise, marriages based purely on the basis of wealth, beauty, and social status will lead to the above problems.

Soul Compatibility is seen by taking into account the spiritual, mental, physical, karmic, gotric as well as sin and virtue relationship between the couple. Only an all-knowing Guru who knows these things can determine soul compatibility.

Marriage is to nurture vamsha, the lineage. Prayer, sankalpam, and other rituals are necessary for the birth of a good child with good fortune.

Similarly, garbaadhan is an important matter. The following should be noted.

The bride and groom should perform pitrushuddhi after marriage. Otherwise, inauspicious pitrus, (ancestral souls) may be born as offspring.

The day of Pournami should be chosen for garbaadhan. Time is between 3 AM and 4 AM in Brahma Muhurtha.

Perform the garbaadhan with prayer. It must be borne in mind that they are going to perform an auspicious task. Because a new creation is about to take place.

There must be an auspicious atmosphere all around. The home and surroundings must be sacred. It should not be a place where sinful acts like robbery and murder have been committed.

The husband and wife must keep celibacy for a few days before garbaadhan. Soul-abstraction gives sperm strength and vigor.

Vritam and prayer are good. Pray only to the Paramatma.

The auspicious time for marriage and garbaadhan, related rituals, and sankalpam are to be sought from the knowledgeable Guru.

The disaster we witness today is because of ignoring the knowledge given to us by our great Rishis. Let the lost guru and ashram culture of India rise again. Only when the householders’ life is linked with Ashram, it becomes Grihasthashrama. This is the basis of the Sanatana Dharma.

Navajyothi Sri Karunakara Guru is a Mahatma who has practically revived this Indian reproductive science. The above is what is learned from the Guru.

If we give attention to these things, we can be sure that we will have children of good fortune, prosperity, health, beauty, knowledge, understanding, and karma-sheshi. It will bring us peace and happiness.

Thursday, April 16, 2020

What Should be the Dharma of a New India?

What is the reason behind the enslavement of Hindus for a thousand years? Why Hindus are unable to be united despite the best efforts of so many great souls? Why Hindus are unable to assert their cultural identity and freedom in their motherland? Why Hindus suffer the onslaught of conversions and distortion of the idea of Bharat? What should be the religion of a New India? The discussion here explains the whole background of these issues.
There are three spiritual systems in the world that embrace all spiritual visions. The first one is the Manvantara Spiritual Order or Sanatana Dharma (Jnana tradition of Rishis). The second one is the Trimurti Order, in which three major sects are integrated into a single order under the idea of Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer, by the authors of Puranas. For this reason, the Trimurti system can also be referred to as Puranic Hinduism or Smartha tradition. Some Indologists call it Brahmanical Hinduism too, because a Brahmin is extolled as a Deva (Brahmana Devo Bhava) and therefore, superior to all other castes.
The third one is Prophetical Religions that promote faith in the One God through the medium of a Prophet.
The Manvantara Spiritual Order is centered around Manu, who is God in creation mode. Manvantara Spiritual Order upholds the concept of Brahm or Paramatma, the One God of the universe. Between the Paramatma and man, there is only one medium - His messengers, i.e. the sages, seers, and gurus.
Although the Abrahamic religions believe in One God and the mediumship of a Prophet, their worldview, as well as the idea of creation, is crude. Moreover, the Abrahamic religions lack important concepts such as Cosmic Time Order, Evolution of Jeevas through various Lokas, the theory of Karma, and Reincarnation.
The Puranic tradition through the eighteen Puranas and Itihasas propagates the idea of Trimurti and the large family of deities under them for worship. There are hundreds of sects and schools of thought under the Trimurti Order. There are no fixed laws or common rituals. There is total freedom to be a believer or a non-believer. There is no spiritual authority also to interfere or control the freedom of people in the matter of faith. Although freedom of individuals is commendable, there is rampant misuse of this freedom and a person is able to escape without any punishment even if he denounces the faith.
Hinduism has six philosophical systems. One can find the roots of all thoughts in the world in these philosophies. Among the philosophies of Hindus, Vedanta occupies an important place as it is the basic thought-current of the Vedas and Upanishads. Advaita Vedanta, a branch of Vedanta, has been placed on the highest pedestal by all great thinkers in the world as man’s ultimate spiritual thought-process. Nevertheless, the Advaita philosophy of pure Non-Dual Truth (i.e. God, the Absolute Truth alone exists) has not been found favor with many god-fearing sages in Trimurti Order itself. Madvacharya was one of the main opponents of Advaita Vedanta. He advocated Dvaita philosophy (accepting the medium of a Guru or Devata to achieve the state of Advaita, i.e. the non-dual state of Absolute Truth.
It is against the Will of God to consider what God has created imagining itself to be the Creator as suggested by the saying ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ (I am God), said Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru. Navajyothi Sri Karunakara Guru reveals that ‘Ahama Brahmasmi’ is a major error that had occurred in Indian spirituality. Any evil spirit can be elevated to the level of God by this concept.
Is there any difference between Sanatana Dharma and Puranic Hinduism? This is an important question that all practitioners of Hinduism should give a thought to. Since both these systems draw from a common source, it is difficult to distinguish the difference. The fundamental principles of Sanatana Dharma rest on the concept of Manu and the world teachers (Kalanthara Gurus) appearing in the epoch of Manu. Manu is the originator of every episode of creation, i.e. the Kalpa and Manvantara time cycles.
14 Manus prepare the blueprint of every solar system in a Kalpa and guide the Jeevas (souls) in their spiritual evolution through the Yuga cycles. For this reason, Sanatana Dharma is also known as Manu Parampara or Manvantara Spiritual Order. The Rishis have even mentioned the name of 14 Manus. We are living in the seventh Manvantara and the Manu is Vaivasvata Manu.
The Manvantara Spiritual Order believes that all human beings came from a Single Source, i.e. Manu, the Cosmic Purusha. So Manu is God in creation mode. The man was created in the image of that Cosmic Purusha. For this reason, Manu is mentioned as the Progenitor of mankind, the Supreme Father. The purpose of life is to evolve and to merge with the Cosmic Purusha and attain Mukthi. The Abrahamic religions borrowed this idea from Indian spirituality and prospered.
For achieving Mukthi, the soul incarnates innumerable times. A Kalanthara Guru guides the evolution of souls. Manu Parampara means the spiritual brotherhood of these gurus and the dharma revealed by these Mahatmas become the Veda. Sanatana Dharma is the spiritual culture of these Mahatmas or Rishis. At the beginning of every yuga, the Veda gets revealed through the Kalanthara Guru under Manu Parampara. Sanatana Dharma means the eternal or everlasting dharma guiding the spiritual evolution of humanity. By its own definition, Sanatana Dharma is the God-ordained spiritual system universally applicable to all people.
In contrast to the basic tenets of Sanatana Dharma, the Trimurti order identifies itself with the Karamakanda of Vedas and the mythology in the Puranas that extol the supremacy of gods and worship of deities through mantra and `tantra. The Vedas were revealed in the earlier Yugas, i.e. Satya Yuga, Treta, and Dwapara and that was the dharma of those ages. While the basic principles remain the same, the modes of worship and spiritual authorities change in every Yuga. This change is applicable to Kali Yuga also. It is a science related to evolution through the Manvantara time order.
The above said truth was first revealed by Sri Krishna. But the orthodoxy did not welcome the change and continued to stick on to the old system. When they refused to accept the Yuga Dharma of Kali Yuga, God gave the message in various ways through Lord Buddha, Lord Mahavir, and so many other Mahatmas highlighting the spiritual transition in Kali Yuga. Unfortunately, their efforts did not succeed. Then God sent other messengers in different parts of the world in order to implement the dharma of Kali Yuga by force or choice. In short, India was left behind in this spiritual transition or advancement.
The worship of Devatas, the performance of Siddhis, etc. belong to past ages - Treta Yuga and Dwapara Yuga. Kali Yuga is the age of Jnana or spiritual realization. Kali Yuga is the stepping stone to Satya Yuga, the all truthful age. So the souls must attain necessary qualifications to be promoted to Satya Yuga by achieving spiritual excellence in Kali Yuga through a realized Guru. For this reason, even the Devatas want to be born in Kali Yuga in Bharat, the scriptures say. However, the orthodoxy portrayed Kali Yuga as a ruinous Yuga because the old ways of worship lose significance in Kali Yuga. Kali Yuga is the age of spiritual and material advancement. All people have equal opportunities to evolve into Satya Yuga. This is an age for correction of mistakes that occurred in the previous Yugas.
The other schools of thought have not accepted the orthodox Trimurti order, the Puranic Hinduism because of its time-barred worship system and caste-based division of society. The birth of different spiritual movements in India like Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and sects like Kabir Panth, Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, etc. and religious conversions of Hindus to Islam and Christianity can be seen in the light of this rift. The only way to prevent the disintegration of Hindus is to follow the Manvantara Spiritual Order, i.e. Sanatana Dharma in its purity. This forms the discourse of Navajyothi Sree Karunakara Guru, the great Guru in prophecies.
In the Trimurti system, the nucleus of society is the temple and the priest. In Sanatana Dharma, the nucleus is the Ashram and a Trikala Jnani Guru, who sits in the Ashram for the guidance of society. Every Grihasthashrami (householders) is thus guided by Guru. When the Griha (family) gets linked with Ashram and Guru, that becomes Grihasthashrama Dharma. Grihasthashrama Dharma can be fulfilled only through the guidance of Guru.
India has distanced itself from the Ashram culture and therefore, Gurus are not given a proper place in the society. The main reason behind it is the spiritual distortion prevailing at present. Today, gurus and ashrams proclaim the glory of Sanatana Dharma without knowing the true spiritual framework of Sanatana Dharma.
The Kalanthara Guru has control over the whole people, including the government. That is the concept of governance in Sanatana Dharma. In ancient times, the kings governed the country under the guidance of such Gurus only. Sanatana Dharma envisages a singular control over society. As there are no divisions of caste, creed, gender, etc. there is an absolute sense of unity.
In the Trimurti order, this unity and singular control are not possible because of the importance of three main sects, which have different deities as objects of worship and different Karmakanda and philosophies as well as different spiritual authorities. While one sect considers Siva as the Originator, the other as Vishnu, and yet another as Brahma, Goddess, and so on. The people are divided among unequal caste groups. And there is no possibility of getting united under a singular spiritual authority as different deities and priests are the media between man and God. All efforts to unite Hindus have so far failed because of this spiritual disunity and social fragmentation.
Friction exists between these two thought currents from ancient times. The concept of Yuga Dharma through the cycles of Yugas and Manvantaras is fundamental to the inner teachings of Sanatana Dharma. It’s time the Hindu society and its leaders review the original concepts in order to confront the forces that threaten their very existence in their motherland Bharat.
Only through the acceptance of the Manvantara Spiritual Order Hindus can unite and confront the onslaught of outside religions and bring peace to the world. India can again rise to the status of Vishwa Guru and show others the right path. The spiritual movement of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru is a beginning in this direction.

Monday, April 6, 2020

How You Lose Bhagya and Punya (Good Fortune and Luck)

So far Dharma has been defined through the perspective of moral and religious duties. But dharma has a spiritual definition different from that. Dharma is also about the right mode of God worship. Man attains bhagya (good fortune) and Punya through the worship of God and observance of Dharma. When man deviates from the right mode of worship as willed by God, it becomes Adharma and it leads to Aradhana Dosham – the ill effects due to degrading God worship. Aradhana Dosham means debasing spiritual practices with their consequences such as moral faults, corruption, mental and physical debilities or deformities, loss of good fortune, etc.
Aradhana Dosham also affects the mobility of souls through higher spiritual domains (Avasthas or Lokas) of varying evolutionary nature with its peculiar color, potencies, and hierarchies. These are spiritual planes above the earth plane. After the Manushya Loka (human world), there are the Bhutaloka (the Spirit world), Pitruloka (the world of ancestral souls), Devaloka (the world of devatas), Rishiloka, Janarloka, etc. up to Parabrahmaloka. Although texts like Bhagavata Purana mentioned it, the concept of Lokas and their relation with evolution is an area that has not been explored properly. It forms part of the discourse on Aradhana Dosham or spiritual degradation or stagnation. Aradhana Dosham directly or indirectly affects the measure of virtue (Punya) and the evolutionary track of the soul. Spiritual pollution means stagnation of souls in lower spiritual domains with its adverse effects on health, progeny and the prosperity of the family.
The tranquility of soul is experienced in higher spiritual domains (Avasthas) above the hierarchies of spirits, celestials, angels, and devatas including their mediums. Those who worship low spirits, their souls, after death, go to Bhutaloka. Those who worship Pitrus, go to Pitruloka and those who worship devatas go to Devaloka or Swargaloka if they have lived a virtuous life. Swarga is a plane of the highest degree of pleasure. The worshippers of devatas will remain in Swarga Loka till the exhaustion of their Punya that they have earned in Marthyaloka. Once the Punya is exhausted they fall back to the earth plane to undergo the misery of pain and pleasure again and again. The Upanishads state this. This has also been mentioned by Sri Krishna in Bhagavad Gita. This is a vicious circle. Adi Sankaracharya mentions this misery in his famous verse ‘Punarapi Jananam, Punarapi Maranam, Punarapi Janani Jatare Shayanam’ (You fall back again and again in the womb of the mother).
(The Abode of Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru at Santhigiri Ashram, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India)

The spiritual domains up to heaven are related to virtue and vice, praise and punishment, pleasure and pain, name and form. In other words, it is the abode of Ashta Raga - the eight-fold bindings of the soul. By the worship of lower spiritual entities, the souls get linked to those astral planes which produce only dual experiences of pain and pleasure, sorrow and happiness, births and rebirths. There is no scope of Mukthi for the souls in this domain. So long as the soul is subject to Ashta Ragas, there will be no Mukthi by way of spiritual evolution. In the present age, mankind is mostly confined to these lower spiritual planes, hence there is a lack of peace, love, and harmony, good health, etc. and experiences contrary to expectations.
Although the Abrahamic religions speak of One God, their ultimate aim is also heaven, the same Swarga which Hindus speak about. They too remain in the category of heaven-mongers. Hence, the quarrels, corruption, violence, and bigotry in those creeds. It is well known that the holy Koran which speaks of One God, was revealed by an angel. In the Old Testament, it is said that angels corrupted men and misled them. Revelations from the Supreme Light alone leads to true enlightenment and peace.
The last one such revelation was from Sri Krishna who advocated the worship of Paramatma, the One God. Krishna came from a higher Source above Devatas and Trimurti. He exhorted the people to abandon the old rituals and accept Him alone as the embodiment of God. But the teachings of Sri Krishna got distorted and his mission defeated. Moreover, the spiritual tenure of Sri Krishna had ended with Dwapara Yuga. However, he left with an assurance that he will manifest again in Kali Yuga when dharma is in peril.
Enduring health is the result of tranquility arising out of soul’s composure in higher spiritual planes where all dualities disappear and the soul remains in its true state of undivided bliss. It is the plane where Oneness of God and Oneness of Humanity become an actual experience. This spiritual transition is essential for a healthy society and for achieving lasting peace, enduring health and progress. Mankind, therefore, requires the guidance of such a Spiritual Authority in this Kali age - a Trikala Jnani Guru who has ascended the spiritual ladders up to Paramatma.
The supra-mental evolution mentioned by Sri Aravind Ghosh is related to this spiritual transition in Kali Yuga. Before embarking on this path of spiritual evolution, one has to get rid of Karma Dosha, Pitrudosha and Aradhana Dosha and establish oneself in the path of such a spiritual Authority under Sanatana Dharma. The dialogue on human health and progress can become meaningful only when these subjective and astral aspects are given due attention and thought, mentions Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru, the supremely ascended Master, whom Sri Krishna brought to the earth plane to resurrect Sanatana Dharma.


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Friday, February 7, 2020

A Diaologue between Lord Siva and Parvati on Guru Tatva.


Gurugita-14

Yasmaad-anugraham Labdhwaa Mahad-ajnaanam-utsrujet
Tasmai Srii-desikendraaya Namascha-abhiishta-siddhaye
Yadanugraha Maatrena, Shoka Mohau Vinashyatah
Tasmai Srii Desikendraaya, Namostu Paramaatmane


Meaning:
(Salutations to that Lord among Teachers, on receiving whose blessing, great ignorance is dispelled and also wishes fulfilled. Salutations to that Lord among teachers, that Supreme Self whose blessing ends all sorrows and delusions the moment it is received).

Explanation:
What does our soul desire? Lasting peace. There cannot be peace when we are in the middle of problems. There are wants, desires, and duties to be fulfilled. Every man has to pass through this because our soul is in an elemental state. We are born with a passion to enjoy life on the earth plane. So long as the soul is attached to the elemental world, to the senses and egoistic existence, it has to be born again and again to enrich itself and evolve to its full potential. That is why the sages called the earth karma bhumi – the place of actions. The seeds of karma in us make us what we are. You reap what you sow. What we are today is the result of what we were yesterday. We are evolving through this process.
Evolution is related to the upward journey of consciousness from gross planes of existence to the fort of purity and tranquillity experienced in the subtler state of consciousness. That is called Chidananda, the bliss of pure consciousness. Reaching that state, Adi Sankaracharya uttered the words, ‘Chidoham’, Chidoham’, i.e. I am bliss, I am bliss. There are no fights, no fear, no struggles, no grievances, no wants and desires there. It is an endless ocean of pure bliss and love. To reach that state of stillness the soul has to evolve achieving victory over the ever miserable ego, whose ignorance is so difficult to transcend. So long as the veil of ego exists, there is no possibility of experiencing the bliss of God.

The serpents of base instincts, shameful actions, and cruel deeds crawl in the ego-pit of ignorant souls. However, there is hope for those who have a Guru of supreme realization. They can surrender all their bad karmas at the lotus feet of Guru and remain relaxed forever. ‘My devotees never perish’, that seems to be the assurance from the great Guru, Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru. All sins get washed away by the purifying light of Guru. Those who live according to the dictates of dharma, who are able to control and discipline their thoughts and actions evolve, become upwardly oriented. They get disgusted by the pendulum of pain and pleasure and its ceaseless repetition. They desire to ascend the peak of spiritual tranquillity, freed from the dark valley of ignorance below. The Merciful Guru is ever eager to reach out to such blessed souls.

Monday, September 23, 2019

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)

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

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.

Monday, July 15, 2019

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.