Part A

Spirit In Life blog is for the benefit and welfare of the whole world community. It was started five years ago in 2008 with the aim of pursuing it for just one year as per the promise made to my daughter, Mandira on her birthday. It was her birthday gift. The first segment A ‘Celebrate Life’ was addressed to her. However, today is the fifth anniversary of Spirit In Life.

Since the past two weeks, I have been thinking what remarkable thing I can write on this distinctive occasion but I have been blank. And with the fast flow of life, calmness of mind was the sole comforter during this period. I was waiting patiently till some inspiration came in my meditations. I was seeing the time ticking every hour but there was no inspiration at all. Until 1.30 pm today, I was clueless how to go ahead and it was already half the day gone.

Two of our blog’s readers, Nishith Patel and Shahid Khatai made lovely videos in the beginning of the month. I told them that it would be a wonderful idea to upload them on 20th May along with my post. Please read Mandira’s response to the videos, I was deeply moved by her love and encouragement for me.

Beloved Ma,

5 years. Wow. I hadn’t realised that till I saw the video. I should thank Shahid.

If I could have 1/5th of that kind of commitment to something in life, Ma, I’d consider that great!

You’ve come a long way, Ma. From writing drafts in diaries to graduating to directly typing on the laptop. From reading out posts to a reluctant listener (who else but me) to hitting the publish button with absolute confidence. From worrying that its time to post & you haven’t had time to “download” to knowing that the download will come and you will write. From asking me “Who do you think will read this sort of work, Mandira?” to having a group of divine aspirants who appreciate and understand messages from Higher Souls and are making arduous effort to evolve. It’s been an absolutely amazing journey, Ma. When I tried to teach you some basics of computers I had no idea that you will go such a long way. You haven’t asked me a WordPress/internet related question in months!

At 32, there is still so much I need to learn from you.

I love you and I am very proud of you.

Mandira.

I was electrified by the essence of the mail and I also went into a thinking mode side by side and wondered how could I manage all this? I also thought to myself that instead of talking to her on the phone, I would be immensely happy if I could answer so many of her questions straight on the post and in this way create something that would help others as well. And as I am on the fifth anniversary juncture, I might as well address her again as reminiscence of a joyful experience that continuous blogging has given to me ever since. Nonetheless, I was still empty and had no content or concept at all and went to sleep.

Before sleeping I prayed to God about my request. I prayed to God to give me some indication about the content of my next article. At this point in front of my eyes, I saw a huge hand with index finger pointing towards the North direction and saying “Babaji”. I was quick to understand that Babaji is in charge of this assignment and that I should wait till dearest Babaji initiates a dialogue with me in a calm state of mind. I should also be patient as he works at the level of God’s will and God’s directives. They both are one. I said my prayers quietly to him and fell asleep.

At 2 am I woke up as if it was around 5 am and I was fully awake. I put my mind on Shri Babaji with the intention of knowing from him about the content of the new post if there was any by now. I was in a state of trans when the atmosphere was so still and quiet. I heard him explicitly as if he was sharing my room and could tell me from an adjacent location. “If I want I can make you write a very scholarly post whereby just a few people will benefit and appreciate the intelligence dripping out of it. But I want you to teach others by your own life and life experiences because we learn a lot more from other people’s life stories more than anything else. You were forced into blogging by others and had no aspirations from your side. Address this post to Mandira and explain to her in great detail as she has reached a stage of decisive decision making. Teach her with your life experiences, they are more effective. You are her role model. She loves you tremendously and depends on you for emotional and spiritual guidance. So do not shy away or hesitate and allow others in your personal life and life stories. I never imagined that you could take so much of my load although I know that you have immense devotion towards me. Even Divine Mother of Pondicherry had visualized maximum three years of blogging from you.”

As morning came, there were many phone calls, cooking and settling down after house organizing and planning the day. But I could not sit down with my laptop and time was running out. Consequently, instead of eating my lunch I went to my room to sit calmly and become quiet at 1.30 pm. I wished to ‘download’ my fresh knowledge so that I could receive it for my own sake and then impart it to all others who have devoutness towards God and the other Holy Masters. As I have stated on a number of occasions that I often see that strange are the ways of God and his ways of working.

No sooner had I shut my eyes, the tripund or the symbol of Shiva with three horizontal lines hit my third eye in blue Light and I had a darshan of Lord Shiva. It was mesmerizing. The voice of Lord Shiva said, “The knowledge that you will receive now from me is from the times and era of Lord Shiva and is extremely ancient. As people could not write or read because there was no script developed by humans at that primitive time, you will not find any of these things in any books. Nobody knows about it either. Since you are my favored, I am telling you now for the reason that you have surrendered every second of your life for God. I bless you that you will never forget this knowledge nor will it be ever erased in any of your forthcoming lives too.”

I was extremely humbled by this Divine intervention and with a sense of overwhelming gratitude, I uttered, “I dedicate this humblest offering for the welfare of humanity by documenting every word on my blog today for other people. And also for those people who in distant future will visit this web site for their reference and recollections. Whatever you will impart me today, I will take that as ‘prasad’ and will share with everybody. I will document it for posterity sake and keep it safely and freeze it for years to come.”

Further blessings were given so graciously through these divine sweet words,“ You have not slept enough in numerous lives in the past. You have worked hard and toiled incessantly. Soon you will be able to sleep early like a yogi at 10.30 and wake up at 5 sharp in the morning. You are sleep deprived but this will change soon as I am about to change your DNA.”

Remember Mandira, in Celebrate life I told you that on our birthday we should always review how much we have progressed spiritually every year. However, I wish to first revisit my early childhood for the sake of bringing home a point to you because Shri Babaji has insisted that I should tell you and others something from my personal life to corroborate and explain something that is important on this day.

Childhood recollections

I read the biography of The Mother of Pondicherry with extreme interest the first time in Dec 2003. (Refer Shakti –III)

The reason was simple- I could identify very well with her character, her life story and to a great extent my own. But Mother knew at the age of four that she had a big mission to accomplish on this Earth, I only had a great sense of urgency as though time was running out very fast. Since I can remember I, as a child knew that there was something to be accomplished very earnestly, some unfinished task to be achieved in this life and hence I was always unsettled and felt out of place in the whole family setting.

As a small child, I was labeled as a very stubborn, never at ease, ever occupied with something and a girl of resolute ideas. I was highly energetic, active and a great team player and a leader always wherever I went. I was a very quick learner also. Sadly, these qualities were never recognized and appreciated at home and were discouraged because I should have been more girlish and submissive as per their understanding and cultural inclinations. When I compared my childhood qualities with the Mother’s, I gave myself a clean chit and felt relieved to know that I was not an unconventional, intolerable or annoying child in the family for the sake of being my own person.

One day some eight or nine years ago, I was lying in my bed thinking of nothing special that I sensed Shri Babaji is requesting me to take hold of my old forgotten childhood album. In any case, there is scant documentation of my childhood. I have barely six to eight early childhood old photos. I was wondering what is so great in them that I should burden myself of seeing those forgotten photos in the sultry afternoon. But as I don’t wish to ignore or let go of my acute sensibilities I obediently opened the bed box, took out my album and saw the photos.

             Age around 4 years old

For every photo, Shri Babaji told me that I had very good hidden qualities which the family would not appreciate. His favourite is the one that nobody liked!! Because everyone told me that I was unbearably stubborn and would not let go at all, while Babaji said that I showed severe determination and scary resilience on my face and hence he appreciated it. I should pay attention and appreciate it very much! Bizarre and paradoxical are the ways of the saints!

All my life since I can remember, my soul knew that there was no time to waste at all and every minute matters, hence the uneasiness throughout. My conclusion of my reflections on such matters Mandira is that if a person decides that he or she has to accomplish the uncompleted task of achieving the Highest Goal in life, he should know the importance of following important principles of life. I recommend two critical things at this point-

Save time in every possible manner. I have saved my precious time by multitasking, letting go of all sensory pleasures and entertainments of life, unworthy discussions and gossips and constantly reviewing methods of prioritizing my daily life actions. This is important. People who think that Self Realization is not a worthy cause to prioritize, then they need mature understanding to come to this conclusion someday. You aim for the Highest Goal and attain wisdom to banish your ignorance.

Do it alone Some enthusiastic aspirants think and believe that they will do Spirituality when the times or destiny are favorable. Right from the beginning, my life situations have been difficult and adverse. But I learnt very early on in life that if I ever want to earn or learn something very special, I will have do it all alone. Don’t expect or wait for life circumstances to be what you imagine, rather change the average situations to wonderful experiences out of which you derive the maximum union with God!

Part B

Very briefly we will go to those wonderful transcendental spiritual transmissions of esoteric knowledge that was told to me by Lord Shiva some hours ago. My dear child, you should now read each of these posts with great interest and get at the bottom of its depth-

“To manifest our soul, we need 3 types of energies or Shaktis- Ichcha Shakti, Sankalpa Shakti and Kriya Shakti. The power of Will, Thought and Action respectively.

Spiritual knowledge is of 3 levels- Teevra Gyan, Prachand Gyan and Prabhutva Gyan-

Intense, very intense and Blazing knowledge respectively.

There are 3 things to do to know our Spirit- Meditation, Exercise and Right Diet. Meditation is to calm and control the mind to bring it inwards and then connect it for longer times to commune with God.

The foremost necessity of exercising for the yogi is to increase the amount of oxygen in the brain and the body, more oxygen is required in the brain for meditation. By exercising regularly, the amount of carbon dioxide in all the cells is reduced. Yogasanas make the body supple and supply additional oxygen to the brain. It also helps the yogi to meditate easily. Abundant supply of fresh air and sunshine is compulsory.

Right diet is essential so that the activities in the world as well as for the sadhana are procured from the food by the yogi. Therefore, meditation plus exercise plus right diet is mandatory.

Why does it take us so very long to discover our soul?

Lord Shiva expounded to me, “Moksha is mandatory because ignorance is the cause of all human sufferings. The true meaning of Moksha is living the life on the will of God and eradicating ignorance by receiving spiritual wisdom and removing the sufferings of all past karmas today. The past amassed karmas act as a huge hurdle. The good ones are easy and simple to live by but the sins are very difficult to overcome sometimes. But if you follow what I have said, you can achieve that.

When the sanchit or accumulated karmas are exterminated slowly, new virtuous karmas will be created which will be beneficial to you and the society at large. We will not suffer mentally and physically if this goal is achieved. Instead the results of unselfish and virtuous actions done consciously will result in love, peace, happiness, health and longevity. They will also produce the Joy of Spirit and highest ecstasy. The world does not know about this and does not also believe in this theory. So do not preach anyone; they will learn when they observe your good, righteous and pious living. But this takes a long time because the human being learns from his own mistakes and not otherwise.

How to tackle the impact of the difficult accumulated karmas?

It can be achieved by maintaining your peace of mind. All of you worship Lord Vishnu and Lord Buddha in the reclining position without ever finding out the exact denotation of this symbol. Lord Vishnu is shown with either a pink or a blue Lotus in his navel in this special position. Pink is for love and blue represents tranquility.

                                Lord Vishnu’s temple in Nepal

Profound peace can be attained if you balance all your chakras at the navel, the Kundalini spot. Bring your mind’s attention at it and inhale deeply. You will be supplied extra oxygen in this place which will in turn make your mind absolutely stable. This is one of the many Kriyas to bring a disturbed or an agitated mind at rest and fetch harmony and stability in times of intense crisis. Practice it until your peace of mind is never lost frantically.

Express peace and peace everywhere. With peace of mind, you can achieve the impossible by being grounded and stable. Rest your mind when troubled like reclining Lord Vishnu until peace returns and live your life by the will of God every day. God is the savior, the provider and the biggest healer.”

I have wrapped up my today’s post at the Lotus Feet of Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu and our Param Guru Shri Mahavatar Babaji with the most modest and simple offerings- saffron colored marigolds and a kindled earthen lamp as my token of gratitude and devotion. As the knowledge imparted today is so very ancient, so are my humble offerings- so simple and basic yet full of appreciation, thankfulness and gratifications.

I also offer all my work done so far on this blog Spirit In Life to the Sweet Lord and all the sacred Gurus and the saints.  I invoke their blessings so that I always remain their true servant, submissive disciple and an ardent devotee.

Om shanti, shanti, shanti Om………

A video on Ichcha Shakti and The power of praying intensely-II

28th April night was an uneasy night. All the way through, I was tossing and turning. When I became awake, I found myself to be concentrating and connecting to the prevailing Awareness, the Consciousness ever established inside us. I was attempting to understand the doings of my lively mind in the middle of night when I shook myself out of sleep. It was like during my sleep, someone was sending me important mental messages from far off distance as though sleep was not important that night. The purpose of remaining awake was of higher importance I supposed. So, I remained vigilant. When I woke up intermittently after every two hours or so during the night as time was progressing, I tried hard not to let go of any important message that was coming in. Yet when I woke up at six thirty in the morning, the reminiscences became hazy and I could not recall much. Whatever little I recollected, I could not make out anything of it. I accepted it.

The fact was I did not even try hard. I believe now that whatever God wishes me to remember I will. If it is important it will be surely remembered during the day some time because that is the will of God; sooner or later the information will come around. And the initiative or inspiration of God has to always be wonderful and pleasant so why must I have anxiety and lose my peace of mind until I recollect? I was much rested in my composure and had full faith that God’s trail is never failing. Thinking on these lines, I yielded and waited till things solved on their own with time.

The association and linking of an advanced yogi’s mind with the thought of God is very strong and unbreakable. The sankalpa or thought from God is very important in a yogi’s life because their lives revolve around the will of God. The motivation and will of God is translated as the thought or sankalpa. The thought of God has power in it. That motivation or inspiration gives the right sense of direction to the yogi’s actions and in concluding them with successful results in everyday of his or her life; no matter how great or trivial the task is.

Parmeshwar or Heavenly Father rejoices when we give Him the due respect and undiluted love from our lovable heart. In following his resolve, we acknowledge and salute him by following his commandments with all reverence and adoration. Following God’s will and doing his missionary work is not being meek, imprudent or unwitting. On the contrary, God gives us the worthiest of blessings like tranquility, sense of well being, harmony and a balanced mind if we do so. Winning God’s heart is the biggest victory for the enlightened yogi. Reasonably, it opens all the doors and pathways to blessedness, graciousness, peace of mind and harmony…..

Since then whenever I have meditated in the night or sometime in the day for prolonged hours, all the revelations and explanations have been streaming in. The decryption of the celestial interventions of 28th night and simultaneously the translations of the vivid mental impressions did arrive with God’s Grace. Although I could not recollect on the following days, but my mind was riveted to those far off feeble signals that were beamed at me. As I persisted and waited to gather the important messages in transcendental states sporadically, I was fortunate to have finally succeeded in my goal.

So much is the information coming from the Heavenly Father and our dearest Shri Mahavatar Babaji regarding those celestial communications that this post is being delivered at the nick of time and is spontaneous in nature.

I learnt with the compassion of God and benevolent and pure love of Shri Mahavatar Babaji through many living examples that it takes anybody a very long time to manifest the inherent Soul inside us predominantly for these reasons-

One has to struggle hard with one’s destiny-

Irrespective of whatever kind of destiny we have, the aspiring sadhak or seeker must at every critical turning point of his life be braver and mightier than those challenging prevailing life situations. Winning those challenges and trials and not bowing down to them by merely keeping the sacred Guru and merciful God shall assist you in this tough attempt. Just a few succeed. The reason is the mind should have a very strong will power to overcome all kinds of precarious life situations like sickness, misfortune, lack of sight and blurriness, vices like greed, anger, obsessions, lust, weakness of mind and body, delusion, resentment, lack of support and apathetic relations to name just a few. The trials could be of any type depending on the karmic pattern of the individual.

Lack of persistence

Persistence pays. Determination, if added to persistence will help you tremendously if you wish to know your Soul and relieve yourself from the complicated trap of action and reaction and the suffering that comes along with it as we do not know what should be done and should be avoided best.

Lack of undying patience Some problems of life are simple; while many are complex and some other very complex in nature. Those who have patience will persist till their impact wanes.

Gratitude towards God and the Divine Gurus is limited

Those striving yogis who till the end, put Guru and God before their own selves skip so many of the so called ‘landslides and rockfalls’ of their precarious fates and recover from them quickly as the Gurus save them by showering their Grace from time to time. The self-centered person suffers from delusion, the delusion of ‘I am’. While the self-sacrificing and loving yogi marches ahead and is victorious in the end as he is able to win one by one all the difficult and tricky life situations.

To manifest our soul, to recover from the hardships and miseries of the impelling tricky destiny, the following procedure needs to be followed in the increasing order and the Yoga or Union with God attained.

1. Nadi shuddhi The purification of the energy or life force nerve channels with pranayam and mastering the breath to revive the body, mind and Spirit.

They are spread profusely in the body and can be cleaned and energized by Yogasana and other simple ancient and Oriental mild physical exercises.

1. Shwas shuddhi The purification of the breath. It is achieved by doing one of the various types of breathing techniques called Pranayam. Even watching the breath is one easy technique for the beginners. Below is the technique of cleansing the breath.

• Sakshi bhav, being just a witness. Observe only the breath without thinking of any other thing and become a witness of the breath coming in and going out until the thoughts fall silent and deep peace procured even for a short moment.Concentrate on 6th chakra while watching the breath with mool bandh, constricting of the anus muscles.

Benefits- Before you start any meditation, watch the inflow and outflow of your breath. It is very useful to regain mindfulness and  your consciousness. This practice of Sakshi Bhav or becoming a witness of your breath can be done by all of any age and at any time. It will immensely help the students also to concentrate well and will bring back the scattering or confused mind. Practice this technique for multiple benefits

Purpose- to delay and temporarily stop the rush of force of incessant thoughts in order to get a glimpse of Self which is peace. God is peace and tranquility, God is silence

• Nasagra Dhyan- Focus on the tip of your nose. Agitated ‘prana’ will return to its place the 6th chakra or vishuddhi chakra and get its rhythm and pace.

2. Karma shuddhi Improving the quality of our actions from woeful to gleaming ones. Being ever vigilant and cautious at every moment on each day and watching our actions and forcing them to be always clean, good, selfless and pious. This is of extreme importance for any seeker because any wrong deed can push anybody from a great height in a ditch. Merely doing Yogasana or Pranayam will not suffice. Utmost care and vigilance should be paid by the sadhak in improving the quality of actions in body and mind both.

3. Mana Shuddhi Purifying the muddy mind by daily meditation, chanting God’s name, reciting and meditating on Om and doing Yoga and meditation. It is only after this final stage is arrived that the seeker can attain ‘Atma sakshatkar’ or God realization.

(To be continued……….)

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Updated on 27.10.21

The foremost objective of visiting Nuara Eliya was to go to Seeta Eliya. Just a few kilometers before Nuara Eliya, is a temple dedicated to Lord Rama, his consort Sita and the mighty Hanuman. We visited ‘Ashok Vatika’, a beautiful garden on a hillock where Ravana captured Sita and kept her in custody. He made this garden extremely beautiful to seduce Sita in order to win her heart. ‘Ashok Vatika’ as decribed in the epic ‘Ramayana’ should have been very beautiful as they say because Nuara Eliya as it is today is such a breathtaking place and the climate is so wonderful. So it looks true that Ravana’s intention of keeping Sita in this far off place was manifold and the garden in which she was withheld must have been extremely beautiful with pretty flowers, waterfalls, streams and cool breeze….

Anyhow, it was mighty Hanuman who went there secretly in search of Sita and had found her in captivity. He then, with great relief informed Lord Rama that at last they had found Mother Sita in a very beautiful garden called ‘Ashok Vatika’ captured by the demon Ravana. Those readers who are unfamiliar please know that this story is from the great Indian epic ‘Ramayana’. We went to see the temple erected at the site of the stream where Sita used to bathe. It is a very basic temple made by Indians.

We begin with a  few pictures of this temple in this photo gallery.

Ashok Vatika in Seeta Eliya

Paintings depicting Ramayana on the walls of the temple.

They say that these huge footprints are those of Lord Hanuman. I went upto that place and compared my foot with the giant size of the foot of Hanuman! The yellow markings around the huge holes are the footprints of Hanuman when he stepped on these rocks  to gain entry into Ashok Vatika- as the story goes.

We leave Nuara Eliya.

Because of temperate climate, it is favourable for all types of vegetation to grow in abundance. Large amounts of vegetables are grown here and supplied to other cities. Fresh veggies for travellers to buy and take home!

Tea gardens occupy kilometers and kilometers and almost all slopes of small mountains and provide tons of fresh air in the atmosphere in return. I still remember the clean and fresh air that prevailed there. Most of Sri Lanka’s tea is produced here.

Tea Factory

Chamomile growing in the tea factory. Chamomile tea is an excellent anti-depressent and antioxidant.

Of this and that….

Turtle Conservation Centre

Green turtle and Ridley Turtles.

The previous ones are pictures of just four days old and four weeks old turtles respectively. Their eggs are protected by the conservationists in this sanctuary.This turtle is an adult one and many such turtles are rescued from the sea if they are in a crisis and if their bodies mangled by trawlers. They are taken care of by the caretakers inside. The others which are hatched here are nurtured and left in the sea at the right time with the help of the fishermen to live in their natural environment finally.

Adult turtle

Masks Museum

With this image, we are finishing the whole series of the picture gallery of Sri Lanka toured by me between 26th March to 4th April’13. Indeed it was a long trip but so much has been benefitted, innumerable insights received and deep learning have been bestowed by Param Guru Shri Mahavatar Babaji. I seek his blessings for all of us who read this blog with love and devotion towards God and also from the many sages and divine souls who are guiding all of us silently in our endeavours.

It is very important that we grow everyday in Spirit and become holy so that we can one day have communion with the Silent Spectator and our beloved sweetheart. The more we grow that love for Him inside, the more we liberate ourselves from all the sufferings that we have created for ourselves by forgetting the Divine Presence in us.

The aim of showcasing these pictures was not what it is normally meant to be. The approach has been very different. I just wanted to tell all the devotees of the many Sadgurus and Mahatmas who are following some daily practices all over the world that remember  it is very important to take care of ourselves by not getting lost in this Maya. It  is essential that we take charge of our lives and with our own hard efforts release ourselves from the lack of wisdom and Divine Light and learn to live each day in Divine ecstasy and deep love for God. The mentor and our Gurus will make us do all the difficult tasks to accomplish the higher goals of spiritual life. We will be given rough and tough lessons to do but the merciful God will also show us his Creation called the world even if we have no desire of it. If we roam in this world with holding the unseen, silent hand of God, we will never get drowned in the delusion or deception caused by our own ignorance.

The section ‘Of this and that’ is exactly that. With merciful God’s kindness, we got to see so many things in Sri Lanka unexpectedly as if it was pre-planned and we did not know about it before. Whether it were the hotels or the people or the driver, everything was so good, right and perfect. Everything was carried out so smoothly because the power behind all the planning and organizing was from the Higher Sources.

With my heart so full of thanks and loving gratitude, I thank God, Shri Mahavatar Babaji, other saints and endearing angels as well as all the people who have made this tour so successful. The pictures are mere documentation of a very extraordinary trip that I made and will be retold to myself from time to time in future……

Revised on 15.04.21

Connection between India and Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka was once joined with Southern India and was integrated millions of years ago. The impact of sudden earthquakes disconnected the two parts and now it is an independent island.

Even today there are many similarities, unanimity and cohesion as far as language, food and culture is concerned. The people are warm, cordial, humble and helpful. They consider India as the Mother country and Sri Lanka as the son. This is also because their main religion is Buddhism. Lord Buddha was born in India and it was King Ashoka who took Buddhism to Sri Lanka in his determinations and pursuance of penance after the Kalinga war about 2274 years ago. They are still connected and welcome us generously in their country. However, this is modern history.

Penance in thick jungles of Sri Lanka by ancient yogis of India-

During ancient times some millions of years ago, it is said that Parvati and Lord Shiva  asked his second son Kartikeya to do spiritual penance by doing Sudarshan Kriya in the thick jungles of least inhabited Lanka because the Himalayas were very cold. At that time, the south of Sri Lanka was full of fierce animals and thick vegetation. To provide complete uninterrupted silence and quietude that place was ideal for a serious yogi. So Kartikeya came from North India and did ‘tapas’ or hard spiritual practices in the southern area of Sri Lanka called Katargama today. The original name was ‘Kartikgrama’, which means the village of Kartik. There was a river flowing by which is today’s Manik Ganga thus adding serenity around and the place was completely cut off from the villages. This river has now become narrow and shallow.

Kartikeya did meditation under the cool shade of the canopy of old trees and fasted many days to enhance his divine powers. When his attempts were successful, he completed his days of vow, broke his silence and offered all the fruits of his deeds to God.

Less than two thousand years ago, Mahavatar Babaji was also asked to go to the same place to do spiritual progress by God when he was a teenager. (Read- The manifestation of our soul-I to know more about this place) Like Shri Kartikeya, Mahavatar Babaji also donated all the rewards back in the lap of God and only asked that the rewards of his ‘tapas’ should be given to other aspiring spiritual aspirants. Hence, my sole aim of going again to Sri Lanka was to benefit from that place where these two spiritual giants had meditated under tough geographical and climatic conditions. There are many other unknown seers, yogis, saints, and philosphers who must have made that place holier by their own pious deeds in antiquity when very few people lived on Earth.* They have made it easier for today’s yogis if they have forbearance and tolerance to go there and sit calmly to absorb all the prevailing dynamic spiritual wavelengths and vibrations embedded in the atmosphere.

Before I left for Sri Lanka, Mahavatar Babaji explained to me that there are three levels of ‘tapasya’ or progression that a yogi can pursue and attain. They are-  tapasya, ghor tapasya and finally mahaghor tapasya. They are increasing degrees of hardships and forbearance that an ascending yogi undergoes to attain the highest levels of God realizations. Mahavatar Babaji did ‘mahaghor tapasya’ or highest level of hardships and endurance undertaken to achieve the ultimate spiritual realizations in Katargama in Sri Lanka. My sole purpose of going to Sri Lanka was to enhance my own spiritual progress by availing the divine atmosphere still permeating it.

Nonetheless, we stopped in various places to do sightseeing before we could reach Katargama. Colombo was one such place. We visited Ganga Ramaiyya temple and adjoining  Seema Malaka temple on a lake.  A few pictures are uploaded for all  to see and appreciate their grace, benignity and beauty.

We made this trip between 26th March to 4th April 2013.

Ganga Ramaiyya temple, Colombo

Ganga Ramaiyya temple is a palace converted into a temple. It also has a museum, a Buddhist school and a library. Many priceless gifts are donated by many devotees in this today’s Vihara, museum and library. In spite of seeing countless expensive and rare artifacts in the museum, a deep sense of detachment prevailed over me. After all what is it that is in the Soul of a realized Buddha that we find all these things worth relinquishing? Why do we pursue Him? Maybe for Peace? Ultimately, we find the value of any object worthless if compared to the priceless and most sought after love- Love for God. Isn’t craving for God far superior than any of worldly things? Why did the seers and sages advise detachment and contentment? What is it that I will take with me once I am done here? I was just ruminating…….Buddham sharanam gachami….  I take the refuge of Lord Buddha was resounding in the atmosphere of the Vihara or ex- palace and musuem of today in Colombo.

Amidst the hustle bustle of the city, a tranquil lake takes you by complete surprise. Seema Malaka temple is built on Beira lake and has an old Bo Tree. It is surrounded by many fine trees and water birds perching on them or in the quiet waters. We visited it at sunset time and the environment was very calming. Modern high rise buildings blend well with the Oriental and traditional ones.

The city at night around Berai Lake, reminded me of an oil painting!

To be continued.

# Sri Lanka was once a part of South India      # King Ashoka took Buddhism to Sri Lanka 2,274 years ago     #Kartikgrama, the village of Kartik      

Mahavatar  Babaji  tapasya  Katargama after Kartikeya 

# tapasya, ghor tapasya, mahaghor tapasya

Updated on 21.04.21

The place where Kartik Swami did penance in Katargama was already sanctified and purified by Maharishi Vishwamitra when he lived in the third Earth. His samadhi is where there is today a very large Bodhi tree which is venerated by all Hindus and Buddhists alike.

This Earth has been rebuilt, reconstructed thirteen times. 13 times this Earth has been destroyed and rebuilt after ‘pralaya’ or natural catastrophe. At present we are in thirteenth Earth.

The place where Mahavatar Babaji did penance in Katargama was originally sanctified by Rishis of yore. In fact, even before Sage Vishwamitra did penance here in second Earth, there was a Seer who lived in today’s Africa when the Earth was formed the first  time. Even Africa was once connected to Indian continent long, long time ago. He was the first person to have invoked God and came in search of Him and got gravitated to Katargama first at God’s response, today’s Katargama. After him on the same place Sage Vishwamitra came to do penance and left his mortal body here. Kartik Swami, other Rishis and presently Mahavatar Babaji have sanctified Katargama where there is a Buddhist temple today in Katargama Temple- Ruhunu Maha Katargama Devalaya apart from a small temple dedicated to Mahavatar Babaji.

More of that from my posts of March 2016 when I visited Katargama again. The pictures will speak and validate what I wish to confer upon you.

Part A

We are unable to manifest our Souls because of the ignorance embedded in our mind of many incarnations. Each person’s ignorance is different from the other.

Nobody in the world knows where is the seed of the ignorance seated?

The seed of ignorance is in the manas or mind. One has to go up to the last layer of the depth of the mind to remove the ignorance.

The soul has wonderful peace inside it. But to manifest that Divine Peace inside the soul, the ego and all the gravels of ignorance ought to be mined and thrown out. But what stops a human being or a seeker to not let the ignorance which is a covering the mind from uncovering the Truth of its Soul?

The soul is buried inside the heaps of layers of ignorance. Reluctance to admit and accept the liberating knowledge and Truth do not allow the liberating knowledge released by the holy Masters to seep into the mind. Their ego stops them from future learning and they insist and assert that they would like to remain in that state of mind because they know more and they know better.

Earlier the rishis or sages set out in search of the Truth and lived in harsh climate and hard life conditions to be able to concentrate their mind in their pursuits. They were humble and chaste and therefore with their continuous attempts and hard work, they were successful in knowing the Truth buried inside. God helped them by giving them the sacred knowledge and Divine wisdom by showing them the path that belonged to the sacred Masters; God guided them towards those Masters. Intense tapas or hard toil and spiritual attempts are performed by those who have surrendered their ego or any pride and they have enough patience to allow Divine’s intervention that will manifest some day in some manner.

Holy and divine, sacred places of great penance are chosen and made by the will of God. So the holy souls come to such places and meditate for a very long time in that surcharged atmosphere to realize the Truth and know the mysteries about God. The great realizations occur only at holy and sacred places wherever they may be.

Disciples who surrender to their Gurus or Holy Masters are guided by them to step up their inner efforts and they benefit from prior made Holy spots inhabited by holy souls. As the atmosphere is already surcharged by that Divine wisdom and peace so, naturally the present day disciples are able to easily access mentally by entering into the Divine atmosphere by meditating in those caves or other holy spots. Their Holy Masters are aware about the progress of the disciples and they encourage and support them in all their endeavours and liberate them from their existing ignorance or ‘avidya’ lingering over many lives.

As the disciple has laid down his entire personality at the holy feet of his or her Master, in order to purify himself at the hands of the Guru, the Grace of God and the Holy Masters is bestowed on the disciple. The disciple should have incessant patience and the will to cut through all the layers of the existing Maya or ignorance. Those seekers, who have completed the whole process of purification and cleansing undergo further hardships or penance in order to reach the uppermost level or realm of Divine Consciousness.

The liberating knowledge of Moksha is very sacred and should be possessed by the aspirant in order to free him or her from all the grave errors occurring in future and also to liberate himself from the effects of suffering lives and difficult life situations.

Part B

I am at present in Katargama in Sri Lanka and have come to meditate at the holy spots of Katargama Devale where Shri Mahavatar Babaji did intense tapas in the dense forest under the Banyan Tree and the Bodhi tree by the will of God. Today the majority of people are unaware about the Divine spots at which the humans can meditate peacefully and cure the chronic disease of ignorance. There are two places or spots which are most sacred, although the entire area is calm, peaceful and holy. More than 1800 years ago, Babaji came here from Kashi, India and meditated in a very dense forest where no one could even penetrate. Babaji was free of every particle of Maya, yet he did intense penance for others and our Earth. He meditated for many days under a Banyan Tree without food and water and wished not to be disturbed. Unfortunately, one wood cutter who was filled with the raging desire of cutting this very Banyan Tree could not be stopped by anyone and in spite of being warned repeatedly of the alarming dangers, he went ahead and cut the same tree under which Babaji had meditated intensely. After a few days, the woodcutter was so full of guilt and shame that he took away his own life by hanging from a tree.

The office bearer whom I met this morning, told me disappointingly that they have been trying to plant a Banyan Tree again at the same spot where there is a modest temple of Babaji today, but all their efforts have failed. The new Banyan Tree that they plant die and do not survive. This piece of information intrigued me and I was very curious to know the reason behind the dying of the Banyan Trees at the holy spot where Babaji once did intense penance and meditation.

During my meditation a while ago, our dearest Babaji told me, “ The wood cutter was already cursed even before he cut my Banyan Tree and the curse lingered. The curse was because of his acts of deep ignorance. But there is another Peepal tree or Bodhi Tree in this precinct where I had also meditated which is alive with my energies today. I used to meditate under it after the Banyan Tree was cut. You have already written about it (The state of Super Consciousness-I) that it has tremendous Sankalpa Shakti and therefore you have come to this holy spot again to make an intense and strong resolution and to meditate with that resolution under the Bodhi Tree. It shall be fulfilled.

Seekers who have unconditional love, complete faith in their Holy Master shall be blessed with more courage and physical and mental strength to pursue further learning by dynamic meditations. So utilize this time and go very deep inside until you know the inner most depth of your soul. Inhale my presence in this holy place through your mind and breath. Instill peace and calmness that will not break continuity of your mind with me. Distribute this Divine knowledge to those who surrender to you and who please me. Do not extend help to those who are densely ignorant and covered with mud of darkness because the sacred knowledge of the Divine is given at the mercy and the will of God to those who have surrendered their individual self at the lotus feet of their holy Gurus. Invoke love and gratitude in those hearts who are willing to serve others and refrain from those actions in which you lose your precious time.

I bless all of you if you will make special efforts to go deep within yourself and contemplate. Remove all the remaining portions of your ignorance by doing daily meditations, praying and maintaining silence. These actions will purify you and make you peaceful. The manifestation of soul is due to prolonged peace of mind. Manifest your soul with the lingering peace of the Divine within you. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti Om”

P.S  As I am at this moment touring Sri Lanka, this post will be revisited and revised again. If I am able to get the pictures of the sacred spots of the trees under which Babaji meditated, then they will be uploaded later. Thanks.

Part C

Updated on 10.04.13

As mentioned last time that if permitted by the temple authorities, I would like to take pictures of the two holy spots where Shri Mahavatar Babaji had meditated. So here are the pictures that were taken on 31.03.13 early morning in Katargama.

We begin very early to visit the Holy Shrine or Devalaya to avoid the buzzing of people in order to take good pictures and to meditate peacefully. At 6 am we were at the holy Shrine.

This is a river named Manik Ganga that flows next to this Shrine. Maybe it was much closer to the place many years ago and has shifted as there is sand in the premises.

The Path

Inside the premises, one can easily divide the area in two parts- the left side and the right side. In fact there are two gates on the huge wall. One goes from this gate to the Murugan Swami temple, Buddha temple and the Bodhi tree under which Babaji meditated and the right side has Hindu deities and the small temple built by Kriya Yoga people as a memory where Babaji once came to do penance. First let us see what we can see once on the left side once we cross this gate.

The very first temple on right is of Murugan Swami. This is where he did penance many milleniums ago in a thick jungle.

The Bodhi Tree where Shri Mahavatar Babaji did penance and meditation

On the right side of the main wall there is a second gate

Just behind the left wall where there are two peacocks and a swastik, there is a small temple dedicated to Shri Mahavatar Babaji.

The yantra, geometrical energy and power point

Inside the premises there are temples of Lord Ganesha, Lord Murugan Swami of Palani, Mother Goddess Parvati.

The eighteen Siddhas of South India including Shri Mahavatar Babaji

A note All the historical sites associated with the life and times of Shri Mahavatar Babaji should be preserved and kept safe for posterity sake. 

Videos of this holy site.

1.Katargama Devalaya

2.The temple of Babaji where he did penance under a Banyan Tree

We see around us so much strife, disharmony, ambiguity and drowse. People walk, sleep, and fight in that kind of state of mind. Harmony is not the word in their lives. Peace is unknown. Based on that state of mind, they take steps of incongruity. When they will rise, you think. When they will think, wonders the Lord.

Some good souls who have faith in merciful God wish to see the Earth green, calm and tranquil and full of ecstasy. They try their hands to undo what the people in sleep are doing in moods of disharmony and incongruity. Questions are raised quite very often by the Samaritans when they read these sacred words of the Holy Masters on ‘Spiritinlife’ and they sometimes are at unease. It is because the Lord in them is being affected by the heat of acts of ungodliness carried out by men somewhere on the Earth because of their unsacred thoughts.

To know what is inside our soul my dear friends, leave the mayhem and confusion that has been lingering since time unknown outside yourself. We cannot clean the whole world but we can clean our homes and hearts. Peep inside, go deep within. Rest in that holy altar, bathe in the holy waters of sanctity and breathe fresh air of serenity.

Let the waft of stale air exhale from your inner core so that the corner is empty where you can rest deeply and inhale fresh air of tranquility. Leave the strife of countless minds that are in complete darkness and will never understand that peace is as essential for all of us as fresh air and clean water that we bank upon every moment, in every day and night. Instead, kindly still your mind like the calm waters of a moonlit cool lake and sit in the yogic asana and dhyana like a yogi in a cave. Call upon your Merciful Master and all gods with all the sweetness of your love in the heart. Invite the All-pervading silent God to help you pursue your first love, our sweet Lord Himself. When you can do that, the rest shall be delivered to you soon in moments of blessings and consecrations by the dearly loved Lord.

Your vulnerable soul shall open up to you. Your mind shall breathe in the nectar of serenity and peace shall prevail.

Now go little deeper inside. What do you see? Do you recognize that?

That is pristine peace, clean and very soft, mellifluous and full of innocent scent and sweetness; so sublime and gentle. Bask in that, remain in that sanctuary and dip in the tranquility that the soul consists of since eternity.

Peace percolates in our soul like coolness in river waters.  Tenderness, calming peace in our sublime soul. Imbibe it as you inhale the sweet scent of lovely flowers as you walk past ravishing flower beds in your garden. Instill that calmness and peace so strongly in your mentality so that any upheaval and destruction done outside shall not touch your stability. Carry on with your work and daily duties with such durable peace packed inside you. This source of continuous harmony and peace shall never betray you.

So what is inside our soul?

There is peace inside our soul.