Wash it Away
Methods
of Karma-Burning
by Aiya
How the scientific way that karma is drawn out of a person,
and why abhishekam is pivotal in neutralizing its
effects on the surrounding environment. In this
third and final installment, he addresses the
three types of karma, and how they are carried
on throughout several lifetimes.
When
you die, you’ll go straight up, past the Earth’s atmosphere,
the
inner and outer Van Allen Belt and magnetosphere and out
into
space. And you’ll stay there in a temporary residence until your
accounts
are tallied. What kind of accounts? There’s something called
nitya
karma—in your daily struggle to exist, there are so many things
you
kill.
When
you get up in the morning and brush your teeth, you
kill
millions of bacteria there; same when you take a shower. That nitya
karma
also has a value, and that is the first type of karma that must be
considered.
Say
your neighbor gets a brand-new BMW, blazing red, with
leather
interior. You might think, “The fellow has just been working
a
short time and he already has a BMW, meanwhile I’ve been struggling
for
years…” For that little twinge of jealousy, there’s also a
karmic
mark. So that’s what is considered when your accounts are
tallied.
With
each lifetime, you want to get a little bit more into
the
black, because then you will be put into a life where you will be a
little
closer to getting to that state of absolute stillness; we call it reaching
the
Devi. If you are in the red, depending on how much in the red,
you
will be placed in a situation that is a little less comfortable than what
you
had in this life.
Usually
it will take three years for this process to be
completed,
where you will stay in that temporary residence
called
pitru loka. It is an area reserved only
for
the souls of our departed ancestors. One year for you is one day
for
them. And after they leave that holding pattern and are reincarnated
on
earth, they come down by way of the elements; by the rain, or rays
of
the sun, or some type of gradual absorption into the atmosphere.
And
when they come down, the impressions they carry
with
them will imbibe themselves into the earth. So either you eat the
plant
or you eat the animal that ate the plant. And those impressions
will
take root in you to some extent, in an unconscious way—the beliefs
you
hold that you’re not sure why you hold, the peculiarities of why
you
do things a certain way.
So
what you have inherited is the second type of karma you
must
deal with. And the third type is deliberate acts that you commit in
each
life.
These three are collectively called Praaradhva
karmam. When
you
made your way into this world, you brought some baggage with
you.
Whatever you brought, you have to process and finish it off.
And
there are many ways to do this; doing the fire ceremony or homam
is
one way, doing annadhanam and feeding hundreds of people is
another
way, serving people in need is another way. Abhishekam is one
more
way of coming to that neutral point.
Abhishekam
is a true and tried practice. It’s not just yesterday
or
today that somebody thought this up. This has been practiced
for
thousands of years and for good reason. The best part of it is, in all
our
temples it is done by proxy— since they don’t let you touch the
murthi
anywhere, the priest does the abhishekam for you and so you’ve
already
given a portion of your karma to him!
And
if that priest doesn’t do regular homams or japam to burn
off
the karma of all the hundreds of people he daily does abhishekam
or
archanas for, he’ll live a very difficult life—he’ll end up having to
burn
that collected karma (plus his own) through suffering.
But
this method of abhishekam is the way that many
people
can wash away the things that bog us down for many lifetimes.
That
is why it is done.
Ayatana
Puja
Its origin and relevance in Sri Chakra puja
by Sri B. Jayaraman and Smt. Vijayalakshmi
About
2,000 years ago, Sri
Adi
Shankaracharya as an avatar of
Lord
Dakshinamurthi took birth in
Kerala,
revitalized each and every
aspect
our Sanatana Dharma and
established
certain practices for the
good
of all of us. Adi Shankara
propagated
Advaita philosophy for
those
seeking enlightenment and
liberation.
For
most of us engaged in
bhakthi
marga he composed a number
of
sthuthis in praise of every
form
of God namely Shiva, Vishnu,
Devi
etc. For some of us who are
engaged
in ritualistic form of worship,
he
established for the first time
the
concept of Panchayatana Puja (a
form
of Para/Apara form of worship)
and
made it a mandatory daily
ritual
for all the pontiffs of mattams
although
they were Sannyasins and
not
supposed to do any form of
ritualistic
worship.
Thus
through the pontiffs of
mattams
established by him in four
corners
and at center of India,
Adi
Shankara introduced the Panchayatana
puja
concept to be followed
by
all grahasthas (householders)
also.
In
Panchayatana puja we
worship
Ganapathi, Surya, Vishnu,
Shiva
and Devi (Shakthi). Here
actual
murthis with faces, hands
and
legs are not employed. We use
certain
naturally occurring stones to
represent
the devatas.
For
example, a naturally
occurring
reddish tinged stone
called
shonabhadram is used to
represent
Ganapathi. Spatika, a
glass-like,
round stone is used as
Sun
God. The naturally formed
saligramam
found in river Gandaki
in
Nepal, is used as Vishnu. The
naturally
formed banalingams from
the
river Narmada is employed to
represent
Shiva. Devi is represented
by
Ambikam, a shining stone with a
metallic
tinge.
Depending
upon the mental
frame
of the upasaka and his preference,
one
of them is chosen as the
main
deity and kept in the center.
The
other four are kept surrounding
the
main deity in four cross directions
For
Devi Panchayatana,
the
Ambikam stone (Devi) is kept
in
the center and the other four deities
are
kept around in four cross
directions
clockwise starting from
the
stretch of right hand in front, i.e.
in
the Southwest, Ganapathi; in the
Northwest,
Surya; in the Northeast ,
Vishnu;
and in the Southeast, Shiva.
The
main deity at center is formless
and
hence is assumed as facing all
four
directions.
In
terms of Advaita philosophy,
the
atma of every living entity
is
not different from the Paramatma.
However
it is experienced as different
only
because of awareness of
self
as different from Universal Self.
The
object of worship of
any
form of God is to start with
Apara
form (i.e realizing God in a
particular
form and shape as infinitely
powerful
and abundantly kind
and
merciful towards upasaka), and
move
towards Para/Apara form of
worship
(realizing God as present
everywhere
both inside and outside),
and
finally attain the enlightenment
of
experiencing the Self as
God.
Thus
the object of worshipping
Ganapathi
or Surya or Vishnu
or
Shiva is the same as worshipping
Sri
Lalita Devi. It is with this
enlightened
Advaita philosophical
objective
and with due respect to
Sri
Adi Shankaracharya that Chathurayatana
Puja
has been introduced
in
Sri Chakra Navavarana
puja
although none of the texts like
Kalpa
Sutra or Nithyotsava specify
Chathurayatana
puja.
We
worship a number of Gods with different forms and shapes with a clear logic
that although God has
no
particular form or shape, with the power of omnipresence, omnipotence and
omniscience, God can assume any
form
and with abundant Grace and compassion God takes the specific form and shape as
desired by the devotee.
However,
only five forms of God are worshipped as a “Sum total Universal principle” and
they are included as the
Panchayatana
deities.
Sri
Lalita as “Chidagni Kunda Sambootha” represents the sum total of Chid shakthi
of all living entities.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranamam also declares that Sri Lalita is “Jada Shakthi and
Jadathmika.” Thus Sri Lalita represents
the
sum total of all operating Shaktis of the universe.
Let
us analyze the principle based on which the other four deities are included as
Ayatana Devathas. Lord
Ganesha
represents the Muladhara chakra in the body as well as the Prithvi Principle.”
Thus, Lord Ganesha is the
basic
adharam for everything as well as Prithvi.
Thus,
Ganesha represents the sum total of everything in Universe and the principle by
which everything is
physically
supported in universe.
Surya
represents Prakasa—the visible light and intelligence of all living entities.
That is why we pray to
Gayatri
Devi during the Surya Mandala to give intelligence to all. Surya also
represents the heat which helps the
growth
of plants that provide food to all. Surya thus supports in total, the existence
of life on earth.
Vishnu
means Viswam—present everywhere. God created the universe and entered into it
(Anu pravesam).
It
is because of the presence of Vishnu in each and every part of the universe
that it is sustained for survival
and
growth.
Shiva
is the ever-existing principle of the Nirguna Brahman that ultimately has taken
the form of each and every
atom
of this magnificent universe. Shiva represents the highest form of
enlightenment, Truth and Bliss where
everything
finally merges.
Thus
each of these five deities represents an area of a “Sum total Principle” of the
universe and hence they
are
called Ayatana deities. Hence in the highly intellectually evolved Sri Chakra
puja it is natural that our ancestors
have
included Chathurayatana Puja to make it complete in all aspects.
Udayosthu!
Udayosthu! Let
the Jnana Surya arise in all our minds.
Understanding
Panchayatana puja
by Sri S. Shangaranarayanan
Akasha:
Space: Vishnu
Agni:
Fire: Ambika
Vayu:
Air: Aditya
Bhoomi:
Earth: Shiva
Jala:
Water: Ganapathi
Adhithyam,
Ambikam,
Vishnum,
Gananatham, and Maheswaram
are
the Panchayatana
Devatas,
the five elements of nature.
They
are worshipped as such
because
these elements are present
in
one’s body as divine energy and
also
in the Universal energy.
Worshipping
the relevant deities leads one to merge with the
Universal
energy.
The
Pancha Makaras which also indicated the withdrawal of the
divine
energy from our feet to the ajna chakra, are relevant to the worship
of
the five energies, represented by Surya, Shakti, Vishnu, Ganapathi and
Maheswara.
These
5 elements are assigned their place as follows:
Ganesha—Nirruthi—South
West:
Represented
by the stone called sonabhadra available in the river “Sone” in Bihar where it
merges
with
the river Ganga—Water or Jala tatvam.
Surya—Vayu—North
West:
Represented
by a round sun-shaped
crystal
which is available in vallam,
near
Tanjore, Tamil Nadu, India—
Air
or Vayu tatvam
Vishnu—Isanya—North
East:
Represented
by Shalagramam which
is
available in Nepal in Kantagi
river—Space
or Akasha tatvam
Maheswara—Agni—South
East: Represented by banalingam
which
is available in the river
Narmada
in Omkhara kundam,
Madhya
Pradesh in India—Earth
or
Bhoomi tatvam
Shakti—Centre: Worshipped
with
Swarnamukhi stone (which
has
gold lines in it) available in
the
river Swarnamukhi in Andhra
Pradesh,
India—Fire or Agni
Tatvam
It
is interesting to note for instance, if the sadhaka worships
Ganesha
as the main deity, it is worshipped in the center, and
the
Sri Yantra or swarnamukhi representing Shakti would move
to
the South West. Similarly when the Sun, Vishnu, or Maheswara is
worshipped
their place becomes the center and the Shakti stone takes
it
place. This would indicate that the divine energies of nature and/or
the
deities merge with each other to become the Universal Energy and
are
complimentary to each other. Panchayatana worship
becomes
important, simply because one has to be in tune with these
five
elements so that when he starts doing the Navavarana Puja, these
five
elements will help the sadhaka. These five elements (or their
devatas)
installed form a barrier protecting the sadhaka that nothing
untoward
happens during the puja. The Divine Mother Lalita
Mahatripurasundari
is mentioned as “Panchakritya Parayana,” doing the
work
of the five elements. Not only this, She is the energy personified
by
Ganesha, Grahas, Nakshatras, Rasi, and Yoginis, which again are
represented
by these five elements. The worship of Panchayatana
Puja
was there even before the advent of Sri Adi Shankara, but he
fine-tuned
it for the benefit of the common man. It is very important
that
everyone should do at least the Panchayatana Puja. For the
puja
they can use dried tulsi/vilva leaves and mangala akshatha, and
for
naivedyam they can use drakshi (raisins).
This
shows that God is simple and the way to reach Him is
also
simple. In worshipping these sentiments are considered secondary
and
one can worship them in all circumstances, attaching no importance
to
his physical neatness. It is no wonder, therefore,
that
Sri Vidya upasakas are considered as Masters of total Divine
Energy
which they are able to draw from the atmosphere (paramakasa
bhasure
agascha agascha), worship it and then
merge it with the soul
again.
They are often trained by their gurus in panchayatana puja as
an
entry point.
There
is no bedha between these deities worshipped, as they
represent
absolute divine energy of the five natural elements, without
which
the universe cannot exist. By doing the panchayatana puja
one
is worshipping the whole of the five elements, and the entire punya
teerthams
in India and Nepal. Nowhere else has such a worship been
prescribed.
Along
with this people worshipping Subramanya will
include
Him in the form of a (silver) Snake or Vel (spear)
I
can surely say that while panchayatana puja was strictly followed
in
our country we were really flourishing. Though the technical
advancements
were not present people were peaceful, satisfied and
happy.
Only when this Panchayatana stopped during the English
invasion,
we began to lose our glory, happiness, mental peace and
everything.
Panchayatana
Puja is a systematic procedure which involves
physical
and mental discipline, and requires inner and outer cleanliness.
When
done systematically it will surely bring the progress in the
material
world and the final truth— awareness of the true Self. By
following
it, one obtains the Lord’s Anugraha, without which liberation
is
not possible.
Loka
samastha sukino bhavanthu.
Devi
Panchayatana Puja
Vishnu Surya
Devi
Shiva Ganesha
Shiva
Panchayatana Puja
Vishnu Devi
Shiva
Surya Ganesha
Vishnu
Panchayatana Puja
Shiva Devi
Vishnu
Ganesha Surya
Surya
Panchayatana Puja
Shiva
Devi
Surya
Ganesha
Vishnu
Ganesha
Panchayatana Puja
Vishnu Devi
Ganesha
Shiva Surya
Agni Mukham
explained
by Sri
Yegnaratnam
During the temple’s Punarutharuna Kumbhabhishekam
in July 2010, celebrated havan master Sri Yegnaratnam
was one of the VIPs at the 11-day ceremony. During
breaks between doing 11 Rudra homams per day, he would
impart his knowledge behind the ancient art of the
fire sacrifice. This is an excerpt of one such talk.
There
is always some kind of preparation ritual that is done before a person offers
proper puja to the gods.
When
you are chanting Rudram or Lalita Sahasranamam, you would do a nyasam (protective ritual) for yourself.
In
the same way, this Agni Mukham is the way that we do initial puja for Agni.
After doing the Agni peeta puja,
we
have to give three ahutis (offerings of ghee)
for Agni—in this way, we have to do it like we are engaging the
initial
services of a servant.
We
want to get the maximum output from this fellow, so what we will do first is
feed him. When you do
that,
he will have the energy and bhakti to do your job. Remember, Agni is the
messenger of the gods. What you
put
in the fire will only reach the destination if he does his job properly.
Otherwise, it will be like getting someone
to
work for you who has not been taken care of first.
The
Vedas are very, very practical. The moment you do the Agni peeta, it will
immediately engage Agni.
Next,
you will notice in the Agni Mukham that it refers to Agni’s seven tongues—sapta-jihva. Each must
get
his own ahuti so that none feels that he has been overlooked in this pro cess.
It is about equal respect for all
the
workers.
In
the mantra that comes later, Om Vaishvanara Jataveda ihavaha, lohitaksha, sarva-karmani sadhaya
svaha,
you are invoking the names of Agni but also setting down a purpose for him. By
saying sarva-karmani
sadhaya,
you are saying, “It should be beneficial to me.” That is first.
Secondly,
Utthishta
purusha harita pingala lohitaksha sarva karmani sadhaya me dehi dapaya svaha.
You
are referring to the black fellow, because Agni is always dark because he is
burnt and on fire all the time. And
you
are telling him that he should help you achieve the goal that you
are
setting out to achieve with this homam. And you are telling him that
this
is his job! He might be enjoying the ahutis you gave him just now and
thinking
what you want to do can be done later on—no! You are the boss
here
and you are reminding him that it is his job to help you.
Thirdly,
Chit pingala
hana hana, daha daha, pacha pacha,
sarv_ajnapaya svaha.
Agni might be thinking he will get the finest things
because
you have just offered him ghee (where you said Prajapataye
idam namama).
But here, you are laying down the working conditions.
It
will not just be ghee! He has to accept and deliver everything you
put
into the homam without exception. See, the words themselves
will
convey the meaning: Chit pingala hana hana, daha daha,
pacha pacha, sarv_ajnapaya svaha.
He
must take everything without picking and choosing which things
he
likes and which things he does not like. If he does that, you may
end
up with ahutis at the end of the homam that are not completely
burnt,
and it will affect the success of the overall homam. Everything
must
be burnt and so he must take everything in without discrimination.
It
is like you are giving someone $100 to go to the store and
buy
something for you and bring it back. If on the journey itself this
fellow
loses $15, you will automatically not get the full amount of what
you
are seeking. You are instructing Agni that this is what you are
giving
him, and he should do his job properly and deliver the right thing
to
the right god. Now, [at this temple] we
are
all in the practice of performing
the
Tantric Agni Mukham. Why do we even do the Tantric Agni
Mukham?
In Vedic times, there was only one way to send offerings
to
the gods—it was like just one post office. There was no courier
service,
no e-mail, just the one way. Now, we found that post office
was
often jammed because everyone would be sending everything
through
that way. Agni was brought forth and given instructions through
the
Agni Mukham every time there was a havan conducted.
But
there are three avenues that one can use to reach god. The
first
is water, the second is fire, and the third is through Brahman.
Say
if you are doing Maha Ganapathi puja and you have offered
him
different items, you may come across something
that
says Maha
Ganapathi svaroopaya, Brahmanaya
tubhyam namaha.
That is, you can give to god in the
form
of Brahmanas—that is, a person who embodies
god
by following the shastras of a proper Brahman’s
knowledge
and conduct.
So
if you want to feed Lord Ganapathi, you
can
ask a Brahman to come as a substitute and eat, thinking that
the
person is not eating for himself but he is eating as Ganapathi. This
is
why annadhanam is the best offering—if you give someone $1
million,
people will ask for more. If you give 10 saris, they will say they
have
more than 10 people in their house. But if you give an extra idly,
they
will not be able to eat more than their stomach allows
Brahman
can be satisfied, but the appetites of water and fire
cannot
be satisfied. This is why the Vedas prescribe certain amounts of
ahutis
to give into the fire for different homams, or you will be sitting at
the
fire forever. Now, it is not possible
for
someone to do puja or homam continuously—it will take too much
time
and too much money and more resources. And you cannot take care
of
your family that way. People will easily say, “Oh, the Goddess
will
take care of me,” but in reality, someone has to cook, someone has
to
take care of the children in the home, someone must work outside.
This
is also why giving food is the best puja. The jatar-agni
(belly
fire) in the stomach will replace the physical Agni with which
you
do homam. The offerings will still be given into the fire but this is
the
only Agni whose appetite is limited. Even when you are eating, if
you
internally chant svaha-a when swallowing each
bite, the fire inside
you
will process the food. This is how you do homam in the body
temple.
The efficacy of mantras
and the Vedas
by Aiya
How the Vedas apply to the mantras commonly
chanted today. In this first of two halves of his
talk, he describes
the basics of the Vedas, as well as the proper
method of chanting.
There
is tremendous controversy even today among
scholars,
both Western and Eastern, as to the age of the Vedas. Studies
arising
out of Oxford University in England, and
studies inspired by
Max
Mueller, the renowned Indologist,have said that the Vedas are
about
3,500 years old—that’s what the Western world thinks. But in
my
opinion and from what I have learned and studied, the Vedas are
much,
much, much, older than that. Long before the medium
of
a language was structured and invented to record various sounds
produced
the human voice, the Vedas were an oral tradition. That
is
why it is called karna parampara. Karna refers to the
ears. When the
guru
chanted, the disciples heard it and chanted back.
Also,
the Vedas are described as apourashaya. Purusha
is
a human being. Apourashaya means something is not of human
origin.
I won’t repeat details thatare easily accessible and that you
can
get from a Google search, as to what the Vedas contain.
In
the Vedas, there are a wide variety of mantras. Rg Veda
is
the oldest, and I think it is at least 11,000 years old, with 10,500
stanzas
in exquisite Sanskrit. The second one is Yajur Veda, which
contains
something like 23,500
stanzas.
Depending on which scholars
you
subscribe to, Sama Veda is supposed to have between 26 and
37,500
stanzas. And the Atharvana Veda has well over 32,000.
Now
please remember that when there was no language with
which
to read and learn, the guru would sit and all the disciples in the
gurukulam
would sit opposite to each other. They would start chanting.
The
guru would chant a line and touch the student at a particular
point
on the body. The student would chant it back two times and
touch
the guru at the same point. And like this, the interaction would
go
on.
Now
remember the number of stanzas I mentioned. It would
take
a minimum of 18 years to learn all this, with no Canada Day, no
Christmas
holiday, nothing. Every day this teaching would go on.
When
the teacher was not busy, the students would be washing the
teacher’s
clothes, or milking the cows, or cleaning the house, something
like
that. The rest of the time, they would sit opposite to each
other
and practice.
And
after 18 years, the guru might feel a student is ready to
graduate
and leave the gurukulam. He would tell a student to sit down
and
he might indicate a particular line of a particular section of
a
particular stanza of one of the Vedas, and tell you to chant it. The
disciple
must know it by memory. The memories of these students
were
sharpened to such a point that they knew exactly where these lines
were,
and they would chant it back. They could not make a
single
mistake. If they made a mistake, the guru would tell them
to
go back and practice some more.
There
have been cases where men have grown old
in
the guru’s home and died there without
ever having
graduated.
But
if you did pass, then the teacher would tell you
that
you were ready to go out into the community, start your
own
school and teach others.
This
is how the tradition was passed on.
And
you know, there were various divisions within
Sanatana
Dharma. Vaishnavites worshipped Vishnu, Shaivites
worshipped
Shiva, etc. This got so muddled that Adi
Shankaracharya
came
along and divided the practice into shan-mattam,
which are six
particular
schools of worship. I do not claim to know all of the details
and
nuances and variations that are employed by everybody else, but I
was
born into a Shaivite family so I subscribe to and have learned what
was
taught to us by Shaiva Siddhantham.
The
mantras are supposed to have been chanted by Shiva’s
five
faces. The details of this, you will find in the Mahanyasam
chanted
by Bodharaka or Ravana. In the Yajur Veda, fifth patalam,
this
is extracted as Panchanga Raudrikaranam. It is the section of
five
slokams starting with, “Satyojatam prapatyami, satyojatayave
namo namaha…” and
ending with, “Ishana sarva vidyanam, ishvara
sarva bhutanam…”
These
are the five faces of Shiva. He performs a five-fold
function.
Shrishti is creation so the first face is called Satyojata mukham.
The
second face performs the function of protecting the universe, which is
fulfilled
by
the Vamadeva mukham. The third face, the Aghora mukham,
dissolves
the universe after it has fulfilled its function.
The
fourth face has to do with thirodhaanam, the way the
Lord
veils His grace before He gives it to you. The veiling of that
grace
is done by the Tat-purusha mukham. Finally, the fifth face, Ishana,
bestows
anugraham or grace and blessings upon the devotee.
From
these five faces, which is the one that issued first?
Let’s
go to the Bible. Our job is not to exclude any scripture. Sanathana
dharmis
do not have a monopoly on the knowledge of God—if we
thought
that we did, it would be extremely arrogant. We have experienced
a
tiny portion of that huge grace.
In
one of the four gospels of the Bible, it says, “In the beginning
was
the word, the word was God, and God was the word.” What
was
this word? It’s the first one we chanted today—Om. That primordial
sound
was the beginning of movement from the unmanifested
universe
to the manifested universe. What is the unmanifested universe?
In
your mind’s eye, clear everything that you see in space. Completely
clean
out everything. What remains is pure space,
and
in this space, there is no limit.
And
in this space, you can travel for millions of light years and not
come
to an end. It has no beginning, no middle, and no end; it is neither
male
nor female; it has no attributes. There are no molecules of air or
gases
or anything like that in space because you have eliminated everything.
Vyakta, avyakta svarupini, as it says about halfway through the
Lalita
Sahasranamam. So many of our scriptures of extolled the virtues
of
the Devi and of Shiva in that formless, infinite state. Call this
force
Him, Her, It—whatever you like. In this vast emptiness, 14.5
billion
years ago, as some scientists will tell you, a movement occurred.
That
movement was in the form of sound, and that sound is our Omkaram.
When
you chant the Omkaram, learn to chant it properly.
Fill
your lungs to the bursting point and then slowly, measuredly release
the
air for as long as you can go.
That
alone is a maha mantra. People these days, especially the young
people,
ask me, “How do I know I am getting somewhere [spiritually]?”
Chant
the Omkaram as much as you can and whenever you
can.
If you are doing it with the method I just described, you will
see
the changes on your face when you look in the mirror. The person
looking
back at you will seem brighter and brighter each time you
look.
You
must be able to last 36 maatras (beats, or measures of
time)
on a single Om before you will get there. If you break down
the
Omkara, it is divided into three sub-sounds, the A-kara, U-kara, and
Ma-kara.
A-kara should last for 9 maatras, U-kara must be chanted
for
9 maatras, and Ma-kara must be chanted for 18 maatras.
Why
is it that, when a group of 15 people sit down and
chant
the Rudram, for example, you feel as though you are on another
plane?
When that collective sound comes together, your consciousness
is
elevated to another level. Why is that? It is because the Vedas have
the
perfect mapping of the Omkaram contained inside them, and in
the
perfect order.
Now,
the effect of the sound and our chanting that sound,
and
its positive effect on us brings about the next question—how is this
change
taking place? Up to very recent times, there has been this
mistaken
notion that only certain people in an elite minority can chant
Vedic
mantras and others are not allowed to do so. Of course, the
eternal
curse that is there in India, the caste system, says that only
Brahmins
can chant the mantras— and only Brahmin men at that—and
others
cannot.
Sri
Satya Sai Baba has been one of the most prominent voices
in
recent times to try and turn this around. He has said that the Vedas
must
be taught to children as they grow, and it is never too late for
anyone
to learn, regardless of caste, race, culture, gender, educational
level
or age. About 10 years ago was when Baba started to tell people
to
learn the Purusha Suktam, the Narayana Suktam, the Sri Suktam,
and
they are regularly chanted en masse at Sai Centres today.
It
has made me so happy to see this. What is this change that
has
taken place? The 5th-century Tamil saint Thirumular has said
in
his works that the body is the original Shiva temple, the soul is
the
Shivalingam within, and the entrance to that temple is the mouth.
And
inside this Shiva temple, how many shrines are there? There are
sometimes
hundreds in those big Shiva temples in India, like in Chidambaram
or
Arunachalam. At those places you have to do full puja six times a day to each
sannidhi (shrine)
and
it would require an army of priests. There are very few temples
today
that adhere to that principle. For convenience and logistics,
things
have been eroded. But remember, if you go
away
from what has been written in the scriptures, whatever the reason,
you
are diluting the effect. When a child is invested with the Gayathri
mantra
and given the sacred thread, it is a necessity to do the ritual of
sandhya
vandanam three times a day. Show me someone who does
that
today. At the minimum, you must at least do Gayathri japam
every
day but even that is not there.
People
today scoff at these practices and say there is no point to
them,
but is there anyone who has committedly
followed
through on the practice every day before dismissing it?
If
people do it the way it is prescribed for even three months, they
will
see the changes within themselves, and then they won’t be able
to
stop—you can’t go back to the way you were before, once you’ve
experienced
the power of the mantras within the Shiva temple that is
yourself.
It is simply an enhanced state of being.
Sandhya
vandanam is a complete package—physical exercise,
breathing
exercise, spiritual exercise, concentration and chanting
exercise—everything
is there.But when you’re working in a tall
building
in downtown Toronto, how can you do sandhya vandanam in
the
middle of the day? You can’t, so you have to adjust your schedule.
You
can get up in the morning and do it once, and then again when you
come
home in the evening—even twice a day is quite good.
Now,
what will happen to you when you do that, with sandhya
vandanam
or chanting mantras or any type of focused puja? In this
Shiva
temple that is the body, there are 6.4 billion cells and each cell is
its
own shrine. And when puja is done, it will be done in all 6.4 billion
shrines.
So
what will happen then? Every cell without exception, every
cell
is quietly being reprogrammed from the inside to resonate with
the
universal flow. And how that change occurs, you will experience
when
you chant whether externally or internally.
Set
aside a half-hour each morning and each evening to chant
Om,
or Om Nama Shivaya, or Om Namo Narayanaya, or Aim Hreem
Sreem,
or Amen—whatever form of the omniscient power you can
relate
to. It must be enough time for you to chant slowly and properly,
not
just rush through it. Immerse yourself in it and enjoy it, and do it
this
way for three months. Your life before this commitment will pale
in
comparison to how you will feel afterwards.
And
at that point, you won’t just want to do a half-hour
anymore,
and you don’t have to do it that way—sitting down and
formally
chanting or doing puja in the morning and then
again
in the evening. There are some people who chant
24
hours of the day and still lead normal lives. They
drive
to work, talk with their colleagues, play with their
children,
go to the movies, cook and clean—and all the
while,
they propel the mantra within them on a loop.
Like
I said before, you don’t reap the full power of anything
if
you dilute the effort you put in. So eventually, one or two hours
a
day of chanting or japam (mantra repetition) won’t be enough for you.
Whether
you perform external puja or not, at the
depths
of your heart and mind japam must go on.
If
you want fast results, make the effort. If you do
it
that way, many things you find important will
fall
by the wayside and that omnipotent presence
will
turn your attention to other deeper, more meaningful things.
Now,
what is a mantra? It is constant thinking or recollection of
which
one is protected, or released from the rounds
of
births and deaths. It is divinity
encased within a
sound
structure. Make no mistake, all the mantras
that
the rishis (sages) had developed from their spiritual
omniscience
have a solid scientific basis. My
own
guru was a scientist; he was a nuclear physicist
before
he retired. When he explains spiritual concepts,
he
always explains in terms of physics, in
a
way that people can understand.
So,
he would say to understand this, you
have
to have a basic understanding of a solar spectrum. The electromagnetic
spectrum
of energy is huge; the bandwidth is very big.
Out
of that, the human perception is a tiny sliver; that is the extent to
which
we can see and experience it. On one side is 3,500 angstrom units,
on
the other side is 6,000 angstrom units.
This
is what Guruji explains to people who ask him why
he
can see deities and they can’t. Through constant practice and focus
and
meditation, you can increase the bandwidth of your perception of
that
field. The deities vibrate in a different frequency; not in ours.
It
is the same reason why we can’t perceive ultra-violet rays
or
infra-red rays with the naked eye.
This
is why we have to learn to chant
Rudram,
Purusha Suktam, Sri Suktam and the rest—to
start
the process of gradually expanding our consciousness.
And
it must be on pitch and in a strong, clear
voice.
It must perfectly jive with your sensibilities—
only
then can you internalize the sound. Why?
Because
after some years of this type of chanting,
the
mantras will internalize within you and continue to
go
on automatically. Once that happens, you will be
able
to see the different spectrums.
A
Japanese scientist named Dr. Masaru Emoto placed glasses of
water
and played different types of music to them and spoke different
phrases
to them, and then analyzed the water crystals afterward. The
ones
exposed to positive sounds were beautiful, and the negative
ones
had ugly water crystals. Then what do you think positive sounds
(i.e.
mantras) will have on your body when you are made of 70
percent
water?
People
ask me what the meanings of the mantras are and
how
they change you. To describe that would be like describing the
taste
of sugar with words. Even thousands of words can’t describe
the
experience of the sweetness, but just a few grains on your tongue
will
make you understand better than any theoretical learning. Try it
and
see.
Our Thoughts
why
people come to a temple—for spiritual enhancement and for material enhancement.
It
struck me for the first time just then that not everyone takes away the same
idea when we tell and re-tell
stories
of miraculous events.
We
tell these stories to reiterate the point that that omniscient, omnipotent
presence within each of us
and
in the atmosphere is not an outdated concept. That force we call God or Devi,
or Jesus, or Allah, or Deus,
or
Yah-weh, or simply The Universe, is in an ongoing process of creating amazing
occurrences every day.
Miracles
happen all the time; they didn’t only happen in the days of Rama and Krishna.
This
is what I get out of miraculous stories. I couldn’t believe that many, many
others just saw it as a
way
to get an iPod.
People
have historically turned to God when they felt they had
no
other alternative. There are countless tales of destitute fathers going
to
Kanchipuram temples to beg the Devi for money for their daughters’
weddings,
or an unknown power turning paupers into merchants. It
doesn’t
mean going to that temple will let anyone hit the jackpot. Bestowing
fortune
upon a person is merely one in hundreds of ways for the
Almighty
to show its grace.
When
I heard Aiya’s lecture that day in February, it dawned on
me
that more and more people are confusing God with Santa Claus. And
when
they don’t get what they ask for (in their timeline, mind you; not
God’s
timeline), they’re convinced that God, like Santa, doesn’t exist.
This
strange realization made a lot of other things clear as well, like why I’ve
often seen people
whispering
in Nandi’s ear, strangely enough, in broad daylight and on non-Pradosham days.
Or the immense
popularity
of doing archanas—fast, easy ways to put in a wish-list with God.
I
suppose it’s too much to ask that people believe in something greater than
themselves while expecting
little
in return. But every religion in the world has suggested in one way or another
that those expecting
nothing
are the not only the happiest people around, but they’re also the most
grateful, and they feel the richest
Jesus
famously told his followers in the Bible to
leave
everything behind and simply follow him. The
Buddha
said desire breeds expectations, and expectations
result
in disappointment when they are not met. Eliminating
desire
will in turn eliminate one’s sorrow with life.
This
isn’t to suggest that everyone should be poor
and
miserable to be close to God; it’s to say that people
should
start seeing the value in the life they already have. We
compare
ourselves to those that have more and feel horrible
about
our already-charmed lives, when we should be looking
at
those who have less. And if you live in any G20 nation, 80
percent
of the world’s population has less than you have
when he was once talking about how he has
never
understood jealousy: “What reason do I have to be jealous
of
anyone? Can I not see all the wonderful things the Devi
has
showered upon me?”
Lately,
I haven’t been able to ask the Devi for anything. While
my
mother was dying in 2010, I couldn’t even bring myself to
ask
the Devi to let her live and restore her health, even though
it
was the one thing I most wanted. Why? Because what if my
wishes
weren’t the best thing for her? What if being liberated
from
this life was the best thing and the Devi was the only one
who
knew what was best?
It’s
my firm belief that when we ask for things in our lives, we
risk
limiting ourselves from getting something better that the
universe
has in store for us. When we ask for things, we assume that we, as
insignificant specks in a corner of
this
boundless universe, know better than that vast universe itself. And how
arrogant and delusional is that?
That’s
why when I perform archanas, I always throw in, “Devi vara prasadam
siddhyartham,” meaning
that
I only ask for whatever prasadam the Mother wants to give me, regardless of
whether I may deem it
“good”
or “bad” in the short term. Aiya has said many a time that if you have to ask
for something, simply
put
in the request and then forget about it. You’ll receive what you
want
without being encumbered by the attachment to that desire.
When
you do it that way, with your eye on the Devi instead of
on
all the material, impermanent stuff around you, She will give you
things
as gifts; things you didn’t even ask for. When you let go, the
way
a baby does with its Mother, the Mother will always provide the
best
care for her baby.
This
worked out for a friend of mine at work. She and her
husband,
who doesn’t practice her religion, were trying to save up for a
down-payment
for a house, and he told her that if her God was so powerful,
He
would give them $50,000. Then he said he’d be reasonable
and
he’d wait 18 months for that $50,000.
Sixteen
months later, she was calculating their savings for
tax
purposes and suddenly remembered her husband’s challenge. He
makes
an average salary, she works part-time, and last year they loaned
money
to family, flew their parents in from India, and even took a vacation.
But
even with all their expenses, she looked at the bits of money
that
had trickled in over the past year-and-a-half and found that it had
totaled
$52,300.
Maybe
not an outright “miracle” with bells and whistles and a marching band, but I’ve
found that
when
God does things right, you don’t even know that anything is being done at all.
Sri
Gurubhyo Namaha!
A Medical Approach—
Clockwise
Circulation
by Sreekant
Venkata Subramanian
As
a medical student, I often find myself reading very in-depth about various
pathways, conditions,
and
intricacies of our human body. As a Sri Vidya upasaka early on and growing up,
Aiya and devotees
around
me have always taken an effort to combine science and Sri Vidya. Vidya in
itself means knowledge,
so
this integration was very needed for the understanding of a student. As
upasakas, we learn that this body is
our
temple. It is the sanctum and we are the god. It houses a number of major vital
organs that without which
we
would certainly not be able to live.
Lets
take a look at our circulatory system. The blood is our largest connective
tissue. The heart takes
the
blood and allows for its movement by pumping it around the body.
It
should be noted that the heart has 4 chambers,
4
valves, and it most importantly circulates
the
blood in a clockwise manner (with exception to
Situs
Inversus or Heterotaxy). The exceptions are
rare
congenital conditions that do not occur regularly.
The
blood enters the chambers on the right, and
exits from the
chambers
on the left. It is important to note that this
movement
is clockwise and is very similar to our
movement
in a temple.
When
we enter a temple, we always move in a clockwise manner (with exceptions of
course) but on the regular
its
typically clockwise.
As
an upasaka, "Aham Brahmasmi" means a lot more than just "I am
the creator" or "I am God." We
need
to learn to integrate this concept so that we can correlate every little
practice we follow.
Om Tat Sat
(Courtesy from Sri
Chakra Journal and my humble thankfulness to Sri Aiya, Sri Sreekant Venkata
Subramanian, Sri B.
Jayaraman and Smt. Vijayalakshmi , Sri S. Shangaranarayanan, Sri Yegnaratnam for the
collection.)
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