Shiva and Me

Dear Friends

Yesterday I was at my village, where the ruling diety is Lord Chandrasekhara. I was fortunate to offer our Manasarovar Jal for Abhishekam to Him and then offer it for the villagers as “Theertham”. The few minutes I spent in solitude before Him transported me mentally to Ashtapad, where we saw the Lord in His full resplendence for the first time.

We returned from Heaven on Earth (no it is not Kashmir it’s Kailash) on 16th last month. To those of us who were present, there is no need to reiterate what we felt or experienced in His presence. To others, I can only say; so long as physically, mentally and financially there is a remote possibility of your undertaking this Holy Pilgrimage, please don’t overlook the opportunity when it confronts you. I am sure the impressions are fresh in each one who went there, but such is the nature of the human memory that, like brick-work on a wall, one after the other, fresh impressions built on top, one-by-one, tend to push the earlier ones to the bottom. Having said that, the experience in itself created reactions like “awesome” “fulfilling” “amazing” “peaceful” “blissful” etc etc.  The extent to which we bring into our hearts, the stillness and peace that we experienced whilst there, on an ongoing basis day-to-day, will determine our “inner success” with this Yatra.

During the Yatra, I undertook a pledge to write our impressions and experiences into a new book. The few weeks since our return have been a constant mental catching up!! In the 18 weeks before our Yatra, the opportunity that I had to share my thoughts was in itself, as fulfilling spiritually, as the Yatra. My first writing experience, compiled into “Eighteen Steps to Kailash” was the result of His blessings only. I find a sense of incompleteness, now, after our return. Although the responses to my earlier posts were very few, the writing kept me steadfast, remembering Gurudev’s words; “Spirituality is a One Way Street-Only Entry! Book writing, by its very nature, has a tendency to take time in completion; and I am engaged now in two of them. So obviously the process is going to be long-drawn.

Many of our friends, who couldn’t make it to Kailash, have been waiting with bated breath for my weekly posts and the photos of the Yatra. Somehow, I felt that pictures by themselves wouldn’t give the complete story. So I have created a compilation of the photos and videos of the Yatra into a movie. The first trial with the voice-over failed, and I am in the process of completing the corrected version. Personal priorities have taken far too much time for me to complete the task that I took upon myself. I did make a DVD with only music instead of voice-over, which I have shared with a few “seekers” but the real-one is yet to be finished. I have now successfully uploaded the video on Picasa. I request your patience in giving me this week to upload the revised one with voice-over.

I will be blogging our daily experiences with pictures and videos on http://sureshsub.blogspot.in. The first of these should be up by 15th August evening. Please start visiting my blog periodically and revert with your comments. In case anyone can share any inputs, anecdotes, experiences that they feel I could add in my blog or my book, please feel free to do so.

As I concludel, I find there are unduly too many instances of “I” in this message, as compared to “We” that I have consciously chosen in my earlier blogs. I wonder if it is a case of “ego” or is it simply the need for communication. Maybe He can answer!!

Prem & Om / Suresh

Kailash-18

Dear Friends

In the course of the last week, we have received information about Rudrabhishekam to be performed by us each day from 3^rd July to 16^th July. A pertinent question that arises in the mind is “What is Rudraabhishekam?” One of the names of Lord Shiva is Rudra. The typically understood meaning of this word is anger or destruction caused by anger. Such a constricted meaning would be incorrect. In one of my earlier posts, I had mentioned that the Lord, as the destroyer, helps us in destroying our ego, false tendencies and vain passions. So Lord Rudra enters our hearts, destroys wrongful notions about ourselves, creates an attitude of peace and calmness within us and assists us in climbing the pinnacles of happiness, which is nothing other than the Mount Kailash which is inside our hearts.

Sri Rudram is a sacred text appearing in the Yajurveda, which salutes different names of Paramashiva, extolls different virtues of Mahadeva and seeks blessings from Sadashiva, who is residing in Mount Kailash. Divided into 11 sections, the Sri Rudram is followed by the Chamakam which seeks gains on the material plane through the Lord’s blessings. Collectively, it is the single-most auspicious chanting for Jagadeeshwara. At the end of the first section there is one verse that offers salutations to different names of the Lord, which I am reproducing here

Namaste Astu Bhagavan,Vishveshvaraaya, Mahadevaaya, Trayambakaaya, Tripuraantakaaya, Trikaagnikaalaya, Kalaagnirudraaya, Neelakantaaya, Mrutyunjayaaya, Sarveshvaraaya, Sadashivaaya, Shriman Mahadevaaya Namah

Abhishekam as we all know is offering of different substances like fruits, milk, honey, butter, water, flowers, etc to the image-form of the Lord, called shivalinga. So as we chant His holy names, we will be offering different material possessions to his image-form, in utter surrender and prayer unto his qualities and grace. The material substances that we offer, symbolically would represent our wrong tendencies, ungainly passions, our anger, greed, jealousy, pride, fear, and all other negative thoughts.

In the course of our parikrama, if we remember the Lord, His names and His benign grace and thereby surrender our bundle of ego and wrong vasanaas, He is sure to grant us His blessings and provide all the benefits that we seek on this material plane. We are going to be moving very slowly during our parikarama. As we take every step forward, let us pause and think of Mount Kailash as the shivalinga and at every step, let us remember His name and His grace, surrendering our ego unto Him bit-by-bit for each step. That will be the best Rudrabhishekam that we can perform for the Lord who is none other than our Inner Self. Let not the physical challenge of ascending or descending the mountains deter us from remembering Him at all times. Because finally He is the One Supreme Being who is going to be our companion in the yatra and who will enable us to complete this Holy Pilgrimage, for which we had taken a sankalpa about 4 months ago.

This is my 18^th and the last message in the course of this Kailash Yatra. I thank the Lord for inspiring me to share my thoughts with you. I thank each one you as the Shiva-Amsham (part of the Lord) for tolerantly reading my posts and at times responding to them as well. I must confess that it has been a selfish act on my part, because as I have shared, I have grown within myself. So to that extent each one of you is a contributor to my growth in this journey. May the King of Kailash Bless one and all! OM NAMAHA SHIVAYA

With Prem & Om

Kailash-17

Dear Friends

Jains worship Kailash as “Ashtapad’. It is a spot on Mt Kailash; where it is believed that, Saint Rishabdev, their first Tirthankara, attained ‘nirvana’/’salvation’. The saint is called Adinath, who initiated the process of renunciation of material possessions and encouraged following the path towards liberation after fulfilling our duties on the material plane. A brief sketch of the saint’s life-story is as follows: -

He was born as Rishabkumar, prince to a royal family, ruling over what is today called Ayodhya. It is said that he had a bundle of punya karmas from previous lives, which prompted his birth as a very pious and humble prince. During his rule, he was renowned as righteous, fair-minded and was instrumental for the development of civilization in his kingdom. After many years of just rule, he gave up the kingdom; to pursue a Higher Calling of Life; the pursuit of happiness, which is not determined by material well-being alone. His teachings thereafter encouraged charity, chastity, silence, purity and freedom from bondages of the mind. As he was the precursor to subsequent followers, he is called Lord Adinath. His name, Rishabdev, symbolizes the Bull, which we all know is the vehicle of Shiva. There is also an inner parikrama of a hill facing at Kailash which is called Nandi Parikrama. So the connect between the first Tirthankara of Jains and Shiva at Kailash, is right there; at the Summit.

The story provides a significant message to humankind. Our bundle of past deeds and actions, if they are good and pure, they will result in our reincarnating amidst noble and progressive surroundings. If we continue the journey likewise in the present embodiment, we are sure to reap the harvest of fulfillment, satisfaction and bliss; which will provide a path to liberation from future cycle of births and deaths. We can also attain to the status of a Tirthankara!! While prakriti (nature) will bestow its riches upon us, let us not forget the qualities of Saint Rishabdev in every station and action of life.

Bhaktamar Stotra is a composition by one of the Jain Munis extolling the virtues of Lord Adinath. Among the various recitations, there is one pertaining to knowledge, which means that ‘Maybe I am ignorant and the wise scorn me, but my devotion to you is like the cuckoo who sings as the mango fruit comes out during spring-time; my devotion to you and singing praises for you is never-ending’. The emphasis on devotion to the Lord and singing in his praise is all too poignant. Devotion to the Lord generates the state of mind within ourselves to appreciate and love all things and beings around us. In that state, the inner image of the Lord that we see is full of peace, compassion and happiness. Obviously we experience these qualities within ourselves at those fleeting moments. Our songs / chanting at those times reflect our own state of mind.

As we near the day of our departure for Kailash, obviously there will be anxiety pangs and goose-bumps. The one all-pervading remedy for this mental condition is utter surrender to the Lord, seeking His umbrella and singing / chanting His praises. The resultant calm and peace will allow us to enjoy this Holy Pilgrimage to the fullest.

Prem & Om

Kailash-16

Dear Friends

I was in USA last week, and the compulsions of work there and on my return, prevented me from writing earlier. Whilst in USA, I was fortunate to visit a temple-site which is planned for construction. As I set about talking with the committed devotees who were trying to accomplish the divine task, their challenges in surmounting the limitation of resources, was palpable. Looking into the surrounding woods and trees, I suggested to them that their limitation of financial resources was more than met by the strength of “nature” being their bountiful friend. A thought occurred that they could create a pathway amongst the woods, trees, the birds and Mother Nature; and in those pristine surroundings they could put up tablets made of stone or wood, on which they could carve stories and teachings of the Lord.

On my return I remembered that the Vedas contain a divine hymn called “Purusha Suktam” which speaks of the entire creation as a single form of the Lord; the Supreme Purusha - the Cosmic Being. The sky, the waters, the trees, the mountains, the sun, the moon, the stars and the entire phenomenal creation is considered to be a single being, constituted in time and space. He is the Conscious Being, enveloping the entire Universe; is the past, present and the future. The entire study of environmental science as we know it; is contained succinctly in a single ancient text, that describes the Lord as manifested in all the things and beings that we perceive with our senses.

One of the immortal Abhangs of Sant Tukaram goes as follows: -

वृक्षवल्ली आम्हा सोयरी वनचरे, पक्षी सुस्वरे आळविती || ध्रु || 

येणे सूखे रुचे एकांताचा वास, नहीं गुणदोष अंगा येत || १ || आकाश मंडप पृथ्वी आसन, रमे तेथे मन क्रीडा करी || २ || 

कथा कमण्डलु परवडी विस्तार,करोनी प्रकार सेवु रूचि || ३ || तुका म्हणे होय मनासी संवाद,अपुलाची वाद आपणासी || ४ ||

Literally translated, this means that trees, creepers and flowers are part of me, where the birds sing melodiously. In absolute solitude, without any incompleteness or faults, I am happiness and bliss myself. Under the canopy of the sky and with the earth as my seat; my mind plays joyfully. My body is no different from my blanket and pitcher and the breeze tells me the time. Speaking about His creation is like food for me, and my conversations begin and end within myself.

In a beautiful and succinct manner, the saints who composed the sacred hymn called Purusha Sukta and the saint who sung this melodious poem have made us realize that Mother Nature is the Lord manifested as the Universe that we know of. We must remain in melody with Him, derive happiness and bliss from Him, enjoy His company and be in conversation with Him.

As we ascend and remain in communion with Him at Kailash, let us perceive Him and His Creation in all things and beings around us. Let us remember that we are only enjoying His play amongst the various experiences that we come across during our sojourn.

With Prem & Om

Kailash-15

Dear Friends

In the course of various readings on Kailash, we come to know that as much as Hinduism places it as the Ultimate abode of Lord Shiva, it is equally important spiritually for Buddhist and Jain folllowers. I used the name 'Chakrasamwara' as one of the names of Lord in Tibetean Buddhist worship. The Internet describes that He is a union of the male and female aspects of the Lord with multiple limbs and is a destroyer of all evil forces. Transferring the description to our own learnings of Hindu mythology, we realise that the combination of Shiva and Shakti is the cause of destruction of all evil forces, ungainly thoughts and unwanted egoistic pursuits. We realise that there is great commonality between the two faiths and both extol the virtues of silence, meditation and non-injury. 

If I speak something that hurts you, I have injured you. If I speak something ill about you to someone  else, unknowingly I have injured you. If I try to create a situation that will ultimately result in some disadvantage or loss for you, I have injured you. So non-injury really means that whatever I do, speak, think or perform, should not result in being resoponsible for my fellow-beings' suffering. This can be best practiced by becoming conscious at all times and remembering that my thoughts, acts and reactions are meant for the common good of my fellow beings. Such a mindset will at least ensure that if anything adverse does come about, it is an unconscious or unknowing act and not with an intent to injure others.

When we were in school, we remember that during 'free' periods, when the subject teacher hadn't come to the class, we used to make a huge ruckus in class. At that point, some other teacher enters class and shouts.... 'silence'. Immediately, the whole class went quiet for about 20-30 seconds. Then the teacher asks.....'whose class was this?' Suddenly everyone jumps up and tries to be the first to say 'miss x or miss y.....whatever'. The momentary silence is broken. If we relive that experience for a moment, we understand that silence is our inner nature, it is always present. We create noise and disturbance, with our constant inner-chatter and compulsive thinking process and consequently remain unhappy. A constant vigilant watch on the mind and it's habit pattern will slowly help us to remain silent in our within, and use our thinking faculties only when confronted with a need to find a solution or react to a given situation in life. That way we can remain in the 'present' and not hallucinate about the future or brood over the past.

We have heard the word 'meditation' many times, but those who are unfamiliar with it tend to feel scared about it or think that is something to be done in old-age after retirement from day-to-day working. Actually meditation starts from understanding, what is breathing. We all breathe; without that we cannot live. If we pay attention to how we are breathing at any moment, we'll realise that when we are calm and serene, our breathing is very normal.  The moment there's any sorrow, joy, excitement, depression or any such change in the emotional condition, our breathing becomes erratic or heavy. If we pay attention to our breathing at these times and focus on breathing normally, suddenly the power of that moment's emotion to overpower us diminishes. Meditation can be practiced by initially concentrating on maintaining this normal breathing pattern. Once the mind learns the habit of focussing on the present, we can gradually travel 'inwards' to know ourselves in our within. 

Let us pray to Lord Viswanatha (who is the lord of the world / 'vishwa') to help us gain access to these knowledge and grow into our happiness and bliss which is our right.

Prem & Om

Kailash-14

Dear Friends

Lord Sadashiva, the ruler of Kailash, is always blessing us in whatever we do. This belief is what keeps us engaged with faith in our daily undertakings, our great ambitions, our purposeful actions and achievements in life. If He is always with us, then why it is that good people suffer the various trials and tribulations in life. Why is it that sincerely devoted 'bhaktas' undergo sorrow and pain? Why some apparent wrong-doers enjoy prosperity and some righteous people undergo penury? Why Ravana, a Shiva Bhakta, lives and rules an empire and Rama, also a Shiva Bhakta, suffers troubles, separation and test of character in his 'vanvaas'? I have chosen the last example with reason, if Rama himself, who is the Lord incarnate, had to suffer, then why not mere mortals like us?

In olden times, in villages, food-grain used to be stored in barrels after they were received at home from harvest. These barrels were very tall, therefore, for removing the grain to use for cooking, there used to be a 'tap' at the bottom, which when opened, used to release as much grain as was needed to be used for cooking, and when the tap was closed, the supply stopped. Now, the grain that comes from the harvest is of different shades, fibre or size at each harvest, and they are piled up one on top of the other; harvest after harvest. Whenever the tap is opened, irrespective of the grain that was filled from top, the ones available nearest to the tap are released for our consumption. Extending this example, instead of grains, if we pour in "pebbles" from the top, obviously the barrel will receive that also. But the tap will still release the grains because those are nearest to the tap. Now again, on top of the pebbles, if we pour in fresh grain, and then open the tap; it will now release pebbles instead of grains, because by now the pebbles have percolated nearest to the tap. 

Our experiences of sins and virtues; "paapa" and "punya" is exactly like the grain-pebble inputs that we provide in the barrel. Whatever good we do now, it reaps its rewards invariably at some future period. And whatever bad we did in the past, results in our experiencing the sorrows for those, now in the present. And this "past", "present" and "future" is not limited to the life that we are enjoying at this moment; it applies to each and every embodiment that we had, we have and we will have at all times. So the happiness and bliss that we enjoy are directly determined by the amount of "grains that we put into the barrel" as compared to the "pebbles that we dump". It is our conscious practice of thinking, acting and doing good at all times, that will result in the "barrel of our mind & intellect" always remaining full of peace and happiness. 

In many spiritual texts, two special terms are used; "shreyas" and "preyas". Shreyas means that which is good, that which is right, that path which is to be followed at all times and which will yield satisfaction and fulfillment in the long run. Preyas means that which is pleasurable, momentarily attractive but which we could be the harbinger of disappointment in the long run. We are many times confronted at cross-roads in life to choose between these two options. The choices we make through such experiences will determine our "paapa-punya" quotient.  The Lord will bless us as HARA (the remover of all sins) and KAILAS (one who bestows peace).

Kailas is called “Gang Rinpoche” by the Buddhists. It is believed to be the abode of Chakrasamvara, whose traditional description is similar to a combination of “Nataraja” and “Ardhanariswara”. Although not competent to write on the intricacies of the Buddhist ritualistic practices, I will attempt to write on how “silence”, “meditation” and “non-injury” are practices that we could cultivate in ourselves reaching to pinnacles of Peace, Bliss and Happiness; in my next post.

Prem & Om / Suresh

Kailash-13

Dear Friends

“Thirukkadayur” is a temple dedicated to the Lord, along the sea, in eastern Tamil Nadu. The Lord’s name here is “Kaalantaka” which means He who ended death (Kaala). Many of us are familiar with the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantram (i.e. “Triyambakam Yajaamahe, Sugandhim Pushtivardhanam; Uruvarukameeva Bandhanaath, Mrityor Mukshiya Maamrithath).  This Mantra finds its origin in the story of Sage Markandeya.

Markandeya’s parents prayed to the Lord for an offspring, and the Lord, pleased by their devotion, appeared before them and gave them two choices (i) they would have a son who would be scholarly and erudite; but who would live no more than 16 years or (ii) they would have a son who would not be intelligent but would have long life. Obviously, they chose the first option; thus was born Markandeya, who was honest, scholarly and an ardent devotee of Shiva. As soon as he turned 16, realizing that his time had come to leave this world, he clung on to the Shivalinga in total prayer to the Lord pleading to save him from the imminent departure. Yama, the lord of death, came with his noose, to take away the boy’s life. Enraged at Yama, for disturbing the boy from His prayer, Shiva appeared and liberated Markandeya from his death. Thus the Lord is called Kaalantaka; He who ended death.  This is the image we find at Thirukkadayur. People, who pray here for long life, are believed to be blessed by the Lord.

We live in what we know to be the real world, so the miracles associated with sages like Markandeya, seem improbable to us. But metaphorically speaking, the lesson in the story is that, if we give up our fears and insecurities, and surrender in total devotion to Him and cling on to His name and glory, we are sure to be liberated from death. But the death here is not the physical death of the body. We come across many situations in life where our little identities with our relationships, our economic situation, our emotional stability etc are challenged. For instance, if our child uses improper language in conversation with us, we feel our identity as a parent is challenged. If some investments that we have in the share market are lost due to a sudden crash in the sensex, our financial security is disturbed and our identity with being a “rich man” is challenged. If someone whom we love dearly, deserts us and goes away, we are sorrowful and our identity of being a “loved person” is challenged. At each of these instances, our little identities that we have created for ourselves are killed by events occurring outside of us. Thus we die thousands of deaths in a given lifetime.  The only escape from these “deaths” is our clinging on to the Lord in total devotion and surrender, and He is sure to end our agonies from these deaths.  He will end our “Kaala”, and take us towards the path of immortality; that immortality which is beyond the body, mind and intellect equipment.

Towards the end of my last post, I had mentioned about my communication and whether it reached the intended recipients the way I wanted it to. The objective there was to elicit response from co-pilgrims. Krishnan responded, with tips on making the communication effective. The subject we are discussing, being abstract in nature, would get more “teeth” with responses. We are into the last 4 weeks before our departure for the “Sumeru” (excellent mountain). There are a few more topics in my mind that could invigorate our thinking faculties, unless there are reverts on specifics coming through responses.

May Lord Kaalantaka end all our “ego” driven identities, and assist us to see ourselves in His Light.

With Prem & Om

PNS Remembrance Day

Hari Om!

Those of us who studied in India know that in our country, on the 30^th of January, each year, at 10.55 am the school bell rings, which is a signal for all of us to stand in silence for 5 minutes, solemnly in remembrance of Bapu (Mahatma Gandhi), who left for his heavenly abode on that day in 1948. Every year thus, as children, we were told to remember the Father of the Nation. But for most people this was only a ritual compelled by the teachers, who in turn are instructed to do this as part of their “duty”. Very few actually do this with reverence to Bapu, maybe because physically or emotionally, they were untouched by his deeds and actions.

Tomorrow, i.e. 22^nd May 2012, is the first anniversary of PNS parting from physical association with us. However mentally he resides in every one of our hearts, in some cases very prominently and in others, at the back of our minds. However, our memories of association with him are still fresh. That is because, in some way or other, he left an impact in our hearts about certain good values, good thoughts, kindness, love and affection, care and learning. That we cherish these qualities from our association with him is not in doubt. As a mark of remembrance and with a view to reinforcing the impact that he created in us, I propose that we all observe a 5 minute silence between 2.30 pm and 2.35 pm tomorrow afternoon (the time when he breathed his last), no matter wherever we are. During those moments, let us recall all the goodness, kindness, love and affection that we carry in our hearts, not only towards PNS but also towards ourselves, because unless we remain serene and calm within us, we cannot display these qualities outside us. So let us use these 5 minutes every year, as a prayer unto ourselves and unto these qualities within us. That is the best way we can remember PNS.

I am sure there will be memories of time that we spent with him, some of which will bring a smile on our lips and some others probably tears as well. But these memories have an underlying appreciation of how PNS touched our lives. I am not saying these words as the son of PNS; far be from it. What PNS meant to me was far beyond my relationship with him. It is similar to many others, who are not his progeny or who had no relation of flesh and blood with him. So without getting entangled into the relationship dogmas, let use the 5 minute prayer as a tribute to these qualities of PNS. 

I am also promoting a PNS Foundation tomorrow; which will be an organization dedicated towards the cause of education, healthcare, talent empowerment and providing succor to the needy. At the moment the path forward is not known clearly, except the intention to create something that can work towards those less privileged than us. As time goes by, I will be able to provide clarity on this. I welcome any of your thoughts on this. I am marking this email as CC to a number of persons close at heart with PNS. If you feel I have missed out anyone, please forward it to them as well. I would not have omitted them intentionally, must have only skipped my mind or I didn't have their IDs.

Please also look at the remembrance section of Times of India tomorrow.

Prem & Om

Suresh

Kailash-12

Dear Friends


This week I was pre-occupied with some personal events which kept me mentally and emotionally attached to memories of someone who is no more physically with us. The chain of thoughts occurring in my mind was different from the ones that energized me to keep writing to all of you each week. Obviously it needed time for disengaging the thought-flow.

This experience made me realize something; mind is constituted of thoughts. These thoughts when they find expression through our thinking process; keep flitting like a butterfly from one flower to another. We tend to identify ourselves with each of these thoughts and start building our towers of happiness or valleys of sorrows on the strength of these identifications. Unlike the butterfly, we do not disengage ourselves from one flower; flit over to the other, only to leave it a little while later to go to another flower. These constant engagements with thought-identifications; result in our joys and sorrows. We become a slave of our thinking habits.  Like a flowing river, we identify with the flowing water, its current and its little ripples. We fail to notice that the river is falling into a gorge a little ahead and we are going to fall with the current. The objective of all spiritual or even self-improvement studies should be to disengage our mind from these thought-identifications and become a witness to them; as though standing on the banks of the river. As we witness these thoughts, their power to engage us in their agitations will cease. We come to realize our serenity and calmness that is permeating within us at all times. We realize the meaning of the phrase-”Om Shanti Om”.

One of the names of the Lord is Yagneshwara; “Yagna-Eashwara”. What is a Yagna? When we perform “havan” at home, we offer various choicest “possessions” to the “holy fire” These possessions are items like butter, sandalwood, cooked-rice, husk, etc. The holy fire is purified by the chanting of divine mantras and slokas, by the priests. At the end of the yagna, the priest offers us the ashes immersed in ghee for applying on our forehead, and this we call as “prasad”. A true yagna is one where offer our thought-agitations, our vulgar passions, our unholy attachments, our unending desire for worldly possessions etc into the “holy fire of knowledge”. This knowledge comes from joining other fellow-devotees in His continuous prayer; learning and reinforcing the truth founded on His kindness and greatness and affirming to ourselves to remain steadfast at His Holy Feet. The peace and calmness generated in our hearts by this devoted joint effort is the “prasad” that comes out of this yagna. This prasad is given by Lord Yagneshwara.

I have learnt that many of the writings that I have shared with you have language impediments for understanding with a few recipients. What is communication? A method, manner or instrument used for conveying an idea from one transmitter to another recipient is a communication. The thoughts or concepts that I have shared with you thus far may not have been properly “communicated” to you because of these language impediments. I consider it more a limitation of my transmission than receiving limitations of my audience. I can only pray and hope that I can convey my thoughts about Him and His Unending Glory in better and more effective communication again and again.

With Prem & Om
Suresh

Kailash-1

Dear Friends 

Those of you who wonder what is Sankalp Pooja, this is a little precursor. 

When we set out to do some action(s), personal, professional or social, we always prepare with the right attitude of the mind with the hope that the action yields the results that we anticipate. This creation of the right attitude of the mind, is called Sankalp. Those of us who are familiar with the rituals in Hinduism will know this from the performance of the priests at various religious and social functions. 

Therefore, now that we are beginning our preparations for the yatra to Kailash, we pray to Shiva, [these two letters, "shi" "va" means the auspicious one; one who helps us keep the "shree" {pure}" in our "vash" {control}, that He gives us the right attitude of the mind in enabling the preparations and remains with us till we reach His Abode and forever thereafter. This Sankalp will be taken by everyone who is going for this auspicious yatra. It is indeed a rare privilege that He has bestowed the thought upon us to undertake this great pilgrimage. {Some of you may not relate to the use of the word "pilgrimage". Pilgrimage is a journey or search for great moral or spiritual significance; at least this is what wikipedia says!!} Then what is this great moral or spiritual significance?

Human beings are constituted of three components; body, mind and intellect. The purpose of the human life is to reach nearer to our origin, which is nothing but peace and happiness. This is easier said than done, because we are living in a world of constant disturbance and a constant expectation of happiness; from things outside of us. Little do we realise that, what we search for and expect is deep within us, in our own bosom. The efforts at undertaking pilgrimage or attending satsang (which is what we will do on Sunday at the Sankalp Pooja) is to make our minds and intellect more and more pure with the aid of our body (thus all our three components work in tandem) and to reach that peace and happiness within us, which is our birthright. 

I hope to share more of such thoughts with you all, again and again, over the next few months. Please feel free to fill this space with your own as well.

I look forward to each one of you participating in the Sankalp Pooja on Sunday 18th (those of you who are in Mumbai) and benefit from this auspicious beginning for reaching the auspicious one!!

With Prem & Om

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Dear Friends

I’d promised myself that every Monday I will put in a new post, but certain personal events over the weekend prevented me from acting upon that promise. I pray that I should be able to keep it up in the next 12-13 weeks.

One of the names of Shiva is Dakshinamurthy. He is called “Aadi Guru” i.e. the first teacher. Of course that form of the Lord is only seen by us in photos or in temples. There was however, one teacher who descended upon our great nation centuries ago, his name was Aadi Sankara”. He was the Lord’s own incarnation who brought His teachings to us through many spiritual literary works.

When we buy any appliance or machine, we get what is called an “instruction manual” sometimes in different languages, to advise us how to use that appliance or machine. The human body, mind, intellect equipment, when it is born; doesn’t come with any “instruction manual”. We learn to use it by default rather than by design. Adi Sankara wrote a few such instruction manuals for different kinds of people with different inclinations; like the Bhaja Govindam for the melodious devotion inclined; Shiva Aparadha Kshamapana Stotram for the prayer inclined; Vivekachoodamani for the learning inclined etc. These instruction manuals teach us about what this triple personality layer, i.e. Body, Mind, Intellect equipment (called BMI) is. I had said in my last post that I will write on this BMI in my next post; here I am.

At the core of our being is the Life Spark in us, our Godhood. This principle is the one which makes our BMI apparatus function in us. With our Body we perform various actions in our daily transactions with various experiences. These actions are determined by how we react to situations and people around us. These reactions are governed by our Mind, which is the seat of our emotions and feelings. While doing so, many a times our actions are determined by our likes or dislikes; i.e. different pairs of opposites. On occasions these actions are wonderful and excellent and at other times very disappointing or disturbing. The difference in the quality of actions is determined by our discriminative Intellect. The Mind is like the water in a flowing river; ever changing course, constantly moving; whereas the discriminative Intellect is like the river’s banks, firm, guiding and channelizing it in the right path. In spiritual literature, “heart” means the Mind & Intellect equipment (M&I) in us and not the anatomical heart that is behind our lungs. When the Life Spark with us is no more, it is the sum total of the residual qualities that we have developed in our heart that determines our journey into our next embodiment, the after-life.

The Kailash Yatra is not a journey out there in the yonder; it is a journey inwards; into our hearts. Let us use the various exercises prescribed for our different personality layers to make this pilgrimage a really Holy one. In doing so, to the extent possible, let us learn a few of the literary gems of the Great Teacher, Adi Sankara, depending upon our own convictions in our hearts, in each one of us.

With Prem & Om
Suresh

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Dear Friends

Those of us who were fortunate enough to make ourselves available for the “Sankalpa Pooja” last afternoon were witness to and experienced the benefits of preparing the “right attitude of the mind” for undertaking the Kailash Yatra. Those among us who missed it due to pre-occupations can be sure that their sankalpa was performed by their other fellow-yatris who prayed for their absent friends.

We understood that the worship of the Lord that we did yesterday was a combination of our actions with our body, mind and intellect. We intellectually understood that the sankalpa was an aid at our self-purification for undertaking the pilgrimage in the right attitude of the mind. We mentally felt one with our fellow-yatris and cultivated the emotion of devotion for the Lord in our actions. We bodily performed actions with our five Indriyas; viz: eyes, ears, nose, tongue and hands. With the eyes we beheld the “linga” form of the Lord and saw his altar decked with floral decorations, with our ears we heard the sacred chantings of the Lord’s glory and His names, with our nose we smelt the fragrance of the flowers and dhoopa that were offered to Him, with our tongue we repeated His names as was instructed to us and our hands were sublimated in our prayers at His holy feet. Thus with “manasa” (mind), “vaacha” (word) and “karmana” (action) we prostrated before Him and sought His blessings in undertaking this great pilgrimage that we have embarked upon.

While we are on the subject of worship, I will now narrate the way Kannappa Nayanar worshipped Lord Shiva. Kannappan, a hunter in a forest, used to worship a shivalinga in the forest. As a hunter the only known food to him was meat of the animals that he killed. So he used to carry meat of these animals in one hand and in the other hand he used to carry flowers. Now he had a dilemma; how could he carry water to do abhishek of the linga? So he filled his mouth with water and used to wash the linga by spraying that water from his mouth, decorate the linga with the flowers and offer the meat at the altar. After he finished his “pooja” and after he left, the priest of the temple used to come and find the linga in such disarray. The priest would then curse the hunter who did this, and perform the pooja in the “prescribed traditional manner”. The priest would mutter to himself that he was such a pure devotee of the Lord whereas the hunter who desecrated the linga was a blasphemous idiot. One day when Kannappan came for his “pooja” he found that Shiva was bleeding from one eye. He was aghast at the Lord’s agony. He therefore took out his hunting knife and plucked out one of his own eyes, affixed it on the linga, and stuck it to the linga with the “vilva” leaves. He suddenly found that the Lord’s other eye was also bleeding; now he was in a fix. Although he wanted to offer his other eye also to the Lord, how could he see the linga while fixing the second eye, because he would have become blind by then? So he put his foot at that point in the linga where the Lord’s second eye was bleeding, for identifying the location, and plucked out his second eye and likewise affixed it at the point where his foot was placed. Pleased with his devotion, Shiva presented himself before Kannappan, restored his eyesight and declared that Kannappan would be known as one of his most ardent devotees. Even today, in Tamil Nadu Shiva temples, Kannappan is worshipped as one of the 64 principal devotees of the Lord.

The principle we learn from this story and from what we experienced yesterday is that no matter whatever rituals or offerings we make and no matter what is the manner and method of our prayer, if our devotion to the Lord is pure, He is sure to bless us with infinite happiness and peace.

Continuing from the knowledge we gained about involving our three personality layers; body, mind and intellect, in the process of realizing our spiritual personality layer; I will take up these three personality layers in my next post. Till then; Om Nama Shivayah!!, With Prem & Om

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Dear Friends

Probably the most common posture in which we find the Lord, is the posture of meditation. With eyes closed and palm extended in blessing, he is the epitome of peace and calmness. When we stand in prayer before Him, there is an inner silence that swells in our hearts. The noisy roar of thoughts that attack our minds constantly because of our incessant thinking, stops for a magical moment and we are peaceful in our within. This silence, which is always there within us; but which we fail to recognize in us because of our compulsive thinking habits; helps us in opening the eye of our minds, which is the Third Eye of knowledge within all of us. Viewed in that perspective, each of us is none other than Him, the Trinetradhari !!

Last week I mentioned about the birth anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. Last week also marked Chinmaya Jayanti. So, instead of writing myself, this week, I am sharing one of his many teachings; this one is about Changing our Vision about ourselves. Over to my Gurudev: -

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"Thayumanvan" is the name of the Lord at a temple in Tiruchirapalli (Trichy) in Tamil Nadu. Translated, this means, He who also became mother. The story goes that one of His devotee ladies was in her labour pain at which time her own mother was not available for help in her delivery. The Lord came to the devotee's help, as her mother, and performed midwifery. The name of the Lord is thus derived. "Ardhanariswarar" is another name for the Lord; it means Lord who is half female. Of course there are many different stories attributed to this form of the Lord. The reason why I am drawing attention to these names is obvious; is the Lord male or female? If you read my earlier posts also, I have referred to the Supreme Reality as "He" not "She". Does it mean that there gender bias for God as well ?!!

In spirituality or philosophy, gender is only an anatomical difference. We are born into a specific gender in the present embodiment, as a result of the predominant gunas or tendencies coupled with the residual desires subsisting in us (or our parents) from our previous embodiment. Scientifically of course, we will be told that, it is the result of X+X or X+Y chromosomes, but let us leave that part to the scientists for the time being. Essentially we are all divine. Our gender reality at birth, in no way, takes us away from our essential divinity. If you recollect one of my earlier posts, I had highlighted about names and forms. Driven by our anatomical conditioning, we have got a form and therefore a name suitable to that form was given by our parents. It is a different matter altogether that there are some effeminate men and some masculine women !! That is probably the result of their gunas or tendencies !!.  Essentially, divinity is gender free. We are one with the Supreme Reality without any gender bias. Obviously therefore the Supreme must also be free of such bias. Parameshwara cannot be complete without Parameshwari. Where He is Appan (Father); She is Amma (Mother). One cannot be thought of in another breath different from the Other. In legal languages, we often say that, wherever in the context, He appears, it must also be read as She. When we use such uniformity in our own transactional world, there cannot be any differentiation in spirituality either. The Supreme Reality blesses one and all without any distinction of color, creed, caste, gender. The form and name that appeals to our conditioned thinking, determines the name, form and gender of that Reality, but THAT itself is one without a second. 

Mr Krishnan mentioned in his response last week that spirituality is such that we will find it difficult to get answers for all our questions that haunt us during a lifetime. But how can we find answers unless we ask questions in the first place. The moot question being "Who am I?". Every other question that comes to our mind would be an extension of this query. Our quest to find ourselves, takes us in different directions; each one only in search of Happiness and Peace. Our presence here in this embodiment is but a small dot in an otherwise long journey of coming and going, and in the process gradually diminishing our identifications with "raaga" and "dvesha"; i.e. attachment and repulsion. Our engagement with this pair of opposites keeps our mind and intellect engaged in this constant journey back and forth. Once this engagement has ended; once we have found the answer to "Who am I", there is no more any need to undertake this journey. All our acts on the physical plane should be meant only for a gradual expurgation of this engagement. 

Today is the 150th Birth Anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore; a spiritual, literary and poetical giant. One of his famous quotes reads like this."faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark". If we reflect on this carefully and understand from our daily routine, it becomes clear. Most of us are used to alarm clocks to wake us up. Our knowledge of science tells us that around 5 am to 530 am is the time when the day dawns. Assuming we have woken up to the alarm clock, at say 4.30, after seeing the clock we know that in another hour, it will be dawn. Our faith is conditioned by our knowledge about the clock and science. However, the bird that is sitting on the branch, has no clock and no science. It has got perception that in a short while it will surely be dawn, so it starts chirping outside our window. At that time, hearing the bird chirping, we too know that it will be dawn shortly. The bird has full faith about the dawn whereas we have got derived faith. Let us reinforce our faith in Him (or Her!!) like that bird and grow into our inner peace. Parameshwara is always there, it is our perception which will help us reach Him.

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I have received a few sporadic responses to my posts. Some of you have also mentioned during conversations that you have 'archived' the posts for future reading or understanding. The inspiration for me to start writing to you came from the first post when I wrote about the Sankalpa Pooja. Thoughts about the purpose of our undertaking this wonderful yatra motivated me to share them with you. Of course, the process has also enabled me to grow through this sharing experience. I am sure they have triggered similar thoughts in many of your minds but there is probably some reticence in sharing those or probably issues of articulating them. Please do share your views. As time went on the mailing list has increased with a few of my other spiritually inclined friends, not joining the yatra with us.

Over the last few days I have seen a couple of cremation grounds / 'smashaan bhoomis' with the signage reading 'Shiv Dham' or abode of Shiva. Now, this is a classic dichotomy, we are saying Kailash is the abode of Shiva and here we have cremation places with similar names! There is a popular belief in Hinduism that the Holy Trinity, i.e Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh have divided their tasks as Creator, Sustainer and Destroyer, respectively. The common use explanation will be that, the things that we perceive, the beings that we come in contact with and the events that we experience are created, sustained and destroyed, respectively by these Supreme Beings. From that standpoint, probably the destroyer does live in the cremation places, isn't it?!! But that explanation is far from being correct. 

If we see the consorts, of this Trinity, they are Saraswati, Mahalakshmi and Parvati. Collectively these trinity and their consorts tell us that through the blessings of the first pair, we gain our education and knowledge of the truth of life and its purpose, our material gains on the physical plane are determined by the blessings of the second pair and through blessings of the third pair we gain our ability for reflecting on the nature of the One Reality which is nothing but Him. Thus the roles of the Trinity is that, one creates the eagerness and desire for gaining right knowledge in our minds, one sustains our mind and intellect steadfast on the path as we progress and one destroys all wrong tendencies and ungainly thoughts that impede in this progress; so that we may gain our vision of the Trimurti, Trinethdradhari and Trishuladhari, who is none other than Kailashnath.

But when we speak of knowledge, what is there to know that we don't know already? Actually we are born with infinite knowledge. Our inner nature is that of silence and bliss. But the layers of 'education' that we have created over the years have actually veiled this knowledge, with the result we are now shrouded in ignorance. We assume to 'know' everything about ourselves but really don't. The means of knowing ourselves is called 'contemplation' and for preparing the mind for this contemplation, we undertake all practices of religion including the pilgrimage that we are due to go in a couple of months. Once having gained this knowledge, to remain steadfast and unaffected by various trials and tribulations in our life, the means is called ‘prayer’. Through the prayer founded in right knowledge, the means of reaching the inner calm, tranquility and total bliss, is called ‘meditation’, which is the ultimate objective of the human embodiment that nature has blessed upon us.

Let us use the experiences that we come across in life as a springboard to redirect our energies and attention to gaining the right knowledge, in a prayerful attitude and become one with happiness which is our true nature.

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I turn 50 this week. A simple arithmetic reveals that it is about 26 million minutes!! Naturally, I had no role to play in this passage of time; I just was there, when it passed me by. Which brings us to the question, what is time? Is it the 24 x 7 phrase that we familiarly use nowadays? Actually no; what we have done with our scientific knowledge is to compartmentalize time. Time by itself, like its sister Space, is eternal. So the infinite moments that we let pass by in our finite time on this physical plane, should be purposeful and with a motive to grow to the Higher. Life should be large; not long. There is an advertisement of a popular liquor brand with a byline, “It’s your life, make it large”. Of course the large there has a different connotation, but the phrase by itself is very relevant !! I, of course, thank my parents for providing me with the platform to help me trying to make my life large. I also thank my Guru for his inspiring teaching.

I had shared in one of my earlier posts about a text written by Adi Sankara, titled “Shiva Aparadha Kshapana Stotram”. The import of this text is that, in one part, we seek forgiveness from Shiva for mistakes / sins that we have committed in not remembering Him at all times and in the other part we seek His help in remembering Him and growing larger and better every moment. I will briefly explain this here, in as few words as possible.

In our previous embodiment, we clung on to the fear of passing away from this world without remembering Him at the time of our exit from the world stage. We are propelled into this world into a new embodiment, with unfulfilled desires and passions, as determined by the urges we entertained at the end of the previous embodiment. Thus without remembering the Lord and His glories, we are ordained to come again into this world. Here, from our childhood to youth to old age, at every moment, we are crying for more and more satisfaction from the objects, emotions and thoughts that we come into contact with, without remembering Him and His infinite glory. We constantly live our day-to-day moments of wants fulfillment, from birth to youth to old age to death, always assuming that we are permanently to remain here. We forget that we are merely enacting a role provided to us by Him as determined by our past. The effort that is required to uplift us from this mortal plane to a Higher Consciousness, we refuse to take, with the result we continue to remain in this web created by our own desires and fancies. We seek His forgiveness for our unintelligent acts that we perform in this physical plane. We have forgotten that the Lord is the Ultimate Truth and dwelling on His Glory, making our mind and intellect, pure and calm, if meditate upon Him, our entanglements with objects, emotions and thoughts in this physical plane will cease, and we will climb to the pinnacles of happiness which is His Abode, Kailash. Unfortunately our limited knowledge about the purpose of coming into this world; creates a massive sense of attachment to things and beings, due to which we forget to remember Him in our day-to-day transactions in Life. So in the second part we seek His Grace and support for surrendering unto Him all our ego driven fancies and attachments, and grow into pure and unsullied bliss, through selfless, unattached and dedicated actions in every station of our life.

Our life is divided into different time compartments, birth, childhood, youth, middle age, old age, decay and death. The benchmark of our growth through these various stages / compartments is determined by how we have adjusted to these various automatic time determined events in our life and “lived” rather than “existed”. May the Lord shower one and all with right knowledge and right thinking!