Dear readers,

This time of the year is for travelling and touring India’s pilgrimage centres. I am just back from one of the twelve Jyotirlingas or centres of Shiva’s Light called Mallikarjun temple on mountain Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh near Hyderabad very close to river Krishna.

As photography was prohibited inside the temple premises, I could only take a few at the gate of the temple. Although most of South India temples look alike in architecture outwardly, the inside of the temple has a variety of styles of wonderful temple architecture to offer. And Mallikarjun temple was no different. It was one of the most beautiful temples I have ever seen in South India!!

A  highly charged ground made all the more difference to the place and added so much more power to the premises . There were many small temples dedicated to various deities but this temple is mainly dedicated to Lord Shiva and his consort Ma Parvati.

I shall give you more information on this later as I will need some  time to settle down and compose a new blog entry regarding my insights. Until then, take a look at these pictures of the recent journey that I made to Sri Sailam.

As usual, I was attracted to this blooming tree full of mauve flowers at the Mumbai airport.  As I alighted, I grabbed the opportunity to take some shots of these beautiful flowers. What a lovely way to start the journey ahead!

Saw these blooming trees in abundance at Hyderabad airport too.

We began our journey on 6th Feb from Hyderabad. It takes about five hours by car and seven or eight by bus.

The setting of the golden Sun as we drive and were about to reach…

The special moon on the journey with us.  At dusk, the moon became more splendid by showing its face in between the branches and with shades of pink and lavender sky as the backdrop!!

Just about half an hour away from Sri Sailam, in the mountains and forests flows river Krishna. Took a spontaneous stop to capture this mystic image- Krishna at night!!

Next day morning, at the feet of Lord Shiva…

The main gate of the temple with five golden kalash.

So many people’s faith and devotion embedded in these….Nandi bull and Shivalingas made of cement sold in the road side shops…..

It is an exclusive opportunity to catch a glimpse of beautiful birds in my city. As birds are quick to take a flight, this picture of Bulbul was taken delightfully near the dam on river Krishna while we were having a small cup of tea!

We visited a few significant places in the mountains. One was called Shikharam, the highest place in the area where a small Shiva Temple was built on a hill top and we can see the whole region with a clear view. On top of this temple is a small Nandi bull.

We have to see through the horns of the Nandi bull by resting the thumb and the index finger on its horns and sort of making a circumference out of it all. If we are able to see the far off golden kalash of the Mallikarjun temple through it in that position, one is sure to get Moksha in this life time!

Or so they said! Everyone tried their faith and luck and I don’t know if this is true but I enjoyed the whole experience and took some very interesting pictures also!!

Close to the complex of the temple is a place called Paaldhara, the stream of milk and Panchdhara, five streams. It is this special place laden of tranquility where Adi Shankaracharya meditated and composed two important compositions- Shivananda Lahiri and Saundarya Lahiri…

A small temple dedicated to Adi Shankaracharya.

Streams flowing next to the temple which have healing properties.

The place had thick foliage and large trees. Some huge Banyan Trees were acting like an umbrella protecting the sacred place.

Paid my respects to the pious soul Shri Adi Shankaracharya at this holy place and felt gratified.

The next day morning as we were returning to our base, we stopped at one more important place called Paataal Ganga. It was the holy river Krishna where I paid my respect and fond remembrance to my father and other relatives who are no more with us. I did a small ‘tarpan’ without any formal ceremonies.

‘Tarpan‘ is an offering of holy waters done at river sites in India where we offer our memories or respects to the departed souls. It is also done for spiritual redemption. During the shraddha month of Hindu calendar, ‘tarpan’ or water is given to all the forefathers and other relatives who are no more.

This journey was very special for many more reasons which I may write about in my forthcoming articles . It will always be recalled with sweet memories in future for years to come. It felt like there was a paradise in the Sri Sailam precincts, such was the wellness feeling all around the place. No wonder it is called the Kailash of the South. The thoughts lingered with me when I took this picture from the flight which I have titled where- Heaven meets Earth!!!

 

# Kailash of South India, Mallikarjun

# Pilgrimage to Mallikarjun, one of twelve Jyotirlingas

# River Krishna

# Paaldhara, Panchdhara, Adi Shankaracharya composed Shivananda Lahiri, Soundarya Lahiri

#Paataal Ganga, Tarpan, offering to departed souls

 

Part A

15^th Jan’12 and it is 1.18 a.m. Last minute preparations in full swing to make a trip and travel to Aurangabad to do the much awaited sightseeing of the world famous Ajanta and Ellora Caves. During the day, there was less time and more tasks to accomplish. I slept very late and to relax my exhausted body, I meditated in the bed. The body, in next to no time became relaxed and tension free and I slipped into profound meditation. All of a sudden, I saw many roots hanging from a large Banyan Tree. The dangling roots touched my upper body and sort of made me more focussed and my attention was immediately brought to the centre of my two eyebrows. The large Banyan Tree stood firmly on my upper torso and I saw dazzling light in it. In that bright Light I saw an image of His Holiness Shri Mahavatar Babaji. Seeing him, I sought his blessings before embarking on my journey to interior Maharashtra, the site where the world class monuments stand as a master piece and glory of human endeavour towards refining and purifying its soul by making monuments as places of worship and advent of new awakening.

The dazzling Light entered my upper brain with its sensations tingling up there and along with this there occurred expansion and relaxation in my brain. With so much Light entering my nervous system as you would expect, I felt extremely comfortable and relieved of all day’s weariness. At this point in time, Shri Shri Mahavatar Babaji spoke to me mentally with kindness, “This is not enough. Wait. Let more Light circulate in the rest of the brain so that it can accommodate more new knowledge. You will not need any sleep tonight because one great positive thought has more power to rejuvenate your mind and body than a few hours sleep at night. The power in sankalapa (thought) is immense. If you increase the power of your sankalapa by very positive and potent thoughts then your requirement of sleep will decrease. So increase the power of your thoughts, make powerful sankalapas.”

In all my humility, I thanked the Holy Spirit Shri Mahavatar Babaji and abided by his wish. Although I was anxious to take at least a few hours sleep before leaving, I gave up the idea by surrendering to God’s wish and accepted God’s wish as mine. I spent quite sometime in the bed roaming in the spiritual world with a new sense of accomplishment by not being a slave to sleep and also not worrying about missing the early morning flight. I was relaxed and assured  that with God’s blessing and having Mahavatar Babaji’s inner vision before embarking on my holy trip, everything is going to be perfect and splendid….I floated in so much comfort and ecstasy that instead of sleeping I wanted to get started in the middle of night although I hadn’t blinked my eyes even once! For a long time, my heart was brimming over, overflowing with gratitude and appreciation for God’s kindness and graciousness. My heart swelled up with gratitude even though the body was dead tired since  12.30 a.m. I thanked God ever more for giving me so much seva, service for choosing me of all the people to do this service. There are many types of seva God told me and guiding people with wisdom and light is one of them. As you know that these trips that I am making to heritage centres of India these days are not at all my own idea.

As I have mentioned in the beginning of this segment that Shri Mahavatar Babaji will be sending me to some world heritage sites of India and he would tell me something that no historian, archaeologist or traveller would know. My aim and vision is to re-visit these sites and get spiritual knowledge that is buried in times with the help of meditation and guidance of the realized souls. My focus throughout the night was what would God reveal to me this time? What is that God wants me to know? What must have happened during those times in history that we people today do not know and is of great spiritual importance for us and that we should be knowing now? What next?

In such moments out of nowhere my soul began to speak to me, “According to Hindu calendar, today is your birthday. Ask for any boon from me, I shall grant it!” I felt a flux of light at my heart centre.

Without any time spent here and there, I prayed to my Soul, “My beloved God, my sweetest Lord, give me more insight in yet deeper meditations. May I always, always worship you;  may I always do your bhakti, may I always serve you. That is all I want. The rest of my requirements and cares you shall take care of obviously and I am certain about it.”

After saying this, I was mentally transported again to my infancy stage when I remembered that I had prayed to God in my mother’s lap as a baby. “May I never again sleep in the lap of ignorance”, I had  pleaded to my Soul  and I also recalled the power of praying intensely on our birthday and how I had once prayed and pleaded very intensely to God long time ago  before I was even born to unshackle all my karmic bonds in this life itself.

The soul in me threw open the closed gates of yet another higher door of cryptic knowledge by unfolding this enigmatic awareness by explaining me, “ Although we have light of God in our soul but sometimes our soul is very close to God. This means that in some rare moments, there is excess divine light in us, even though it could be for a very short period of time. If we make an affirmation, a positive affirmation at that moment, it could prove to be monumental and it could be the turning point. It can change the future course of path for anyone. To rise in Spirit, one must make very powerful thoughts irrespective of external detrimental conditions. The power in thought is more powerful than the power of food and sleep put together. Therefore, do not think or grow anxious about not getting due rest or sleep but instead have powerful thoughts and increase the physical stamina and endurance by increasing the attention span on God and depend solely on the sankalpa, thought of God to energize you all the time. And what I have just told you is what you should be writing in your upcoming post once you return. The content of the post is crucial so make the draft now before leaving.”

I looked at the watch it was 1.15 a.m.  I, being cautious and wishing not to lose any trace of this sublime divine knowledge, sat up and wrote down part A of this article before leaving for Aurangabad very early morning to see the Ajanta and Ellora caves on 15^th Jan’12.

Part B

20^th Jan’12 and it is 6.20 p.m. I am at this moment writing the later part of my post after I have visited and seen the magnificent caves of Ajanta and Ellora in Maharashtra, India and returned on 17^th night. And dear friends what a rare experience that was! I wonder why did I never get a thought or an idea thrown at me by someone to see these most exquisite caves?

I had not even fathomed before that people living more than 2,500 years ago in India could make such awe inspiring monuments with such humble instruments like that of just a chisel and a hammer!! And seeing is believing! Although I had known for years that these caves are world heritage sites and the caves are of Buddhism, Jainism and Shivaism category but my trip to these sites were not at all from religious point of view. My perspective was very different and all the time I was wondering why were these caves made?

Once I reached the Ajanta caves on 15^th morning around 10.30 or so and started seeing the line of caves I had reached my saturation.  It was mind boggling; the magic of just being in an ancient Buddhist cave was really awesome. Standing inside them with great surprise and wonder, I could visualize the monks walking here and there carrying out all the ceremonies and rituals and how people must have come to pay their respects to Lord Buddha in those caves long time ago. But for the signs of vandalism, harm and damage done to these master pieces left me depressed and disturbed. All the day long, a sense of sadness was felt and it lingered after I saw so many overwhelming and grand idols defaced and dishonoured by some unknown people ages ago.

And the next day on 16^th morning, I visited two caves of Jainism category. As we reached quite early, there were just a few people and I relished every moment spent there seeing carefully every bit of the fine architecture with a deep sense of wonder and respect. I am certain that somehow the later generations were first inspired by these monuments and the Dilwara temples made of white marble in Rajasthan today have drawn inspiration by these Jain temples made about two thousand years ago. There is a lot of similarity between the layout and style of architecture between them and these cave temples.

My jaws dropped literally when I first saw the Ellora’s Kailash Shiva temple after the Jain cave temples. A thrill of electric ray like feeling ran through me when I first entered the huge complex and courtyard of Kailash temple and was left in a trans-like state.  There was so much positive energy in this particular place that I was immediately infused with remarkable energy to capture this great moment of my life. I was inspired and hungry to photograph every master piece installed there by taking as many photographs as possible in the very little time available to me.

I had never ever imagined that man could make such beautiful monuments as places of worship without any modern engineering and machines. And all the pains were taken merely to connect to God in some ways! How very fascinating! This goes on to prove, I thought to myself, that praying and meditating are really very important for we humans and we are just not doing that, I wonder why?

In fact, I only saw three cave temples in four hours in Ellora because they offer so much to see and savour. I left the rest of the caves because one needs at least four days from morning to night to see all the details and appreciate the classic beauty of each and every idol and figure made out of just chiseling the hard black mountains in both the places. In any case, I was so satisfied with what I had seen that I actually did not want to see any more caves, more so because ordinary people lack love, regard and reverence for such grand places of worship and their behaviour is only contrary to what it should be in such elegant caves!

Now though the historical facts were written everywhere on boards but no one answered my one question. Even when I had seen all the caves at Ajanta and in the following day a few at Ellora, I was stuck with one question, “It is clear that humans made these monuments with just a hammer and a chisel but why would they make them? And most importantly- “Who got the first idea of making these caves? From where did this idea come?” I was all the time talking to myself silently. Obviously, no one can answer this to me in the physical world but I was really, really intrigued and a bit restless beneath and I didn’t know why.

Yesterday around 5 p.m at home, I was very peaceful and wanted to meditate in the midst of some ongoing problem. I knew that no wonder what kind of problem I face, I shall find an answer and solution by connecting to God because God knows everything. Also my certainty about God’s appearing before me to direct and lead me to complete my pending assignment of posting a new entry made me feel very comfortable and relaxed.  With gentle rays of love and peace thrown at the upper skies by me, I sat in blissful peace on my bed and was lost in the unexplored and unknown regions of celestial areas. Just then I saw a beam of thick Light coming beyond the Earth and originating much beyond the Earth and touching me. I wished to know from where the beam of Light was originating. My inner vision saw that the beam was endless and was coming from infinity. I concluded that there is Light beyond the Cosmos that I know of but then where is the beam of Divine light originating from? Who is sending it to me? Why is it coming to me?

At this juncture, my soul began to speak to me, “This whole creation was created with the thought sankalpa of God. First came the thought, then the Cosmos. The thought of God has Light in it. That sankalpa of God is still present in this Universe. It is present even today and cannot be wiped out; it is so powerful. There can be catastrophes on the Earth, but this Universe cannot be wiped out because it is my will and sankalpa that it should be conserved and should continue to exist.

 If you connect your thought with this thought of God, you shall be empowered. The Spirit in you is also light of God. Only a pure heart can know and understand all this.

In order to make some spiritual energy hubs on this planet, I had this first thought and it was me who first sent out this positive thought in a Mahatma, a holy Spirit so that these caves could be constructed more than two thousand of years ago. Through this Mahatma, the thought was transferred to some other people and the caves were made. These prayer halls or Chaityas as they were called, were meant to be places of worship, praying, chanting and holy activities. But later some destructing civilization vandalized it in order to gain supremacy. Wars are mainly fought for supremacy, proving a point because of one’s ego or just plain jealousy or even hate. From time to time, one civilization tries to gain supremacy over other civilization by force but the creation will never be destroyed because it is my will. The defacing and ruining that you have seen and has disturbed you is done by one civilization because of not gaining supremacy but out of hate.

Before the actual outward damage happened, there was something unnoticed that took place. The monks in the beginning were pious and were carrying on their duties well. Later on, after about eight hundred years or so, the civilization peaked and the monks in the Viharas and Chaityas  became immodest and hungry for power thus spoiling the unseen atmosphere, the atmosphere of thoughts and sankalpa. The air became polluted and at this time, another civilization took over this place forcefully and damaged the work and toil put up by so many labourers and other people during the medieval times of Indian history. Whenever the negative thoughts over power the positive thoughts, there is bound to be regression and destruction. Therefore, have very positive thoughts and increase the intensity of positive thoughts in the atmosphere by meditating and positive affirmations. In today’s world also there is a silent war of thoughts going on between two countries and civilizations to gain supremacy. Those civilizations who try to be most powerful by negative means in some time face downfall because God will stop them and not allow excess negative, detrimental vibrations in this Universe. Those nations or people who resort to immoral and unethical means to overpower others shall be overthrown by their own wrong doings in due course of time.

Nevertheless, the bad air is again and again cleared and sanctified by the good deeds and thoughts of good and pious people. There should be more good karmas than bad karmas from everybody to gain lasting peace and happiness and well being. Very sadly, most people are like empty cane baskets- light and hollow. They do not possess profound and spiritual thoughts. To make your life more blissful and joyful, one must learn to meditate on the thought of God and their thoughts should be one with God’s wish. Learn to prolong your mind’s attention on God and go deeper still inside and I shall reveal to you many hidden facts about God’s sinless, pure world. Only a pure mind and heart shall be blessed with such divine revelations!!”

Ajanta Caves

 

 

 

 

Ellora Caves

A Foot note– As flash is banned in the caves to preserve the murals and frescoes, I was not able to take the photograph of the most wonderful painting of Lord Buddha at Ajanta- that of Padmapani, Buddha with a lotus in his hand. Some photos on the blog appear to be dark and may also be blurred as they were taken with great difficulty in the dark caves. Inconvenience is regretted.

 

Revised and updated on 24.07.22

The will of God or sankalpa of God to make Ellora caves carved out of one piece of mountain was 3,00,00,000 3 crore years ago.

 

Key words

# Mahavatar Babaji          #Ajanta Caves   # Ellora              # 800 years ago, destruction of Ajanta Ellora caves, vandalism     # sankalpa, wish of God

#Padmapani 

Today is the first day of the year 2012 and for me it is a very favourable day to begin with by submitting a post as a resolution and promise to myself that in spite of our extremely demanding and challenging lives, our commitment to God and Gurus shall never take a back seat. So after resting for a while, I am back at my laptop this evening typing my feelings and recent spiritual experience which took place only last late evening.

Prior to my narration I would like to wish all of you a very blessed and auspicious year ahead.

May this year give you more insight, more blessedness and may you march ahead and rise in your Spirit as each day progresses!! Even if we have to keep pace with our hectic daily schedules, may we never ignore or overlook our constant inner spiritual progress as the wheel of sansara shall never stop and this life is too precious to be washed out in less productive actions.

If you can recall I have mentioned to you in the last post of 30.12.11 that I took a short break and we went out of town for four days. Out of fatigue and lack of sleep in the previous many days, the body revolted and I was in agonizing pain yesterday as I became unwell and I had no choice but to rest and lay down in bed for a few hours. Since the last few days and more so after paying my obeisance to Lord Shiva at Trayambakeshwar temple in Nasik, lately, the silent chanting of ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ has been in progress while carrying out all the work in the day. So to alleviate my pain, I took the best medicine that I think works best in times of crises for me. I switched off my mind from the external world and with full faith I began to chant the mantra ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ repeatedly.

Immediately I felt peace coming to me and the mind easily became quiet and very silent. Peace and silence took me deep inside my soul where I reached the innermost chamber of God’s residence. I pleaded Him to rid me off with the excruciating pain so that I could save time to continue working for Him without any loss of time and much break. Although I knew that the body would recover in minimum time required for its recovery, I requested God to speak to me as talking to God always brings me so much joy and relief. It is the best medicine and remedy to all my problems that recur off and on.

I would like to inform you that during the last few days unfortunately I had to deal with so many people who were instilled with very low level of consciousness although I had ignored and disregarded them by keeping  my mind fixed only on God to save my mental energy for a higher purpose. But yesterday I met somebody who crossed all limits of sanctity. This combined with my hectic schedule eventually took its toll on me.

I fell ill and I was resting on the sofa with eyes closed and my mind on my beloved Param Guru Shri Mahavatar Babaji.  I got instant relief and in no time, everything fell silent and the sound of Om started ringing in both the ears. All my attention was transferred to this sacred sound and I immersed in deep peace and relief as though there was no pain at all. I only wanted to hear Om as nothing outside is ever as good as this. The domain of God and our Spirit is very blessed and I always crave to be in that realm as much as possible because it is very peaceful there. It is blissful to be in contact with one’s Spirit. My soul always longs to be there and during such divine moments I also pray to God to let me keep on being there as long as possible as I don’t feel like returning to the normal world after so much holiness purifying me every time I visit there, never mind how short the stay must have been!

 God is all pervading and omnipresent and He knows every little thing that we see, do or experience. God began by educating me with this knowledge, “Leaving just a few, this whole sansara is full of people who have not controlled their mind. Their mind compels them to make so many horrible errors after errors because of which they fall one after the other in degraded births and there is no way for them to rise up. Their bad karmas bring about bad results and in turn they fall in lower quality of lives and consequently a bad mind compels them to do more bad karmas thus bringing upon them more error, misery, grief and suffering. The never-ending cycle goes on.

It all starts with the mind which has the power to drop you from a height to one’s abysmal low. You used to think that meditation is for controlling the mind because the weak and copious thoughts used to bother you. But you did not know that all the men in the world except for a few are all governed by the agitated, insatiable and dirty nature of mind which drops the soul of the individual in hell and such souls cause so much negativity and nonconstructiveness on the earth. Therefore, the saints and the spiritual Gurus lay so much stress on controlling the mind because there is so much suffering for the soul to go through all this because of so much darkness in them -life after life after life.

And once someone understands that purity of thought and mind is the key to a wholesome, peaceful and balanced life, that individual will practice meditation and will stay away from bad people as much as possible. The interaction with the worldly people cannot be avoided completely but retaining your sanctity, stability and purity of soul is utmost important. Therefore, stay in silence; recover from the impurities of the thoughts of others with the name of God who is the best healer and make your life more divine and peaceful by always remembering God in spite of the extra burden placed on you. It is possible to balance the purity of the Spirit and the contrasting dirt and muddiness that exists outside you by constantly remaining with God and Gurus. Rest a while to recover and get back to your normal spiritual life. Never forget that you are a child of God and those of you who wish to be sheltered and protected in the arms of God must always listen to the counsel and warnings of the Guru. Those people who get lost and drift in this world never realize that they are going on erring and their ignorance about the presence of divinity within themselves is causing so much pain and misery to them.

However, those souls who have worked on themselves since many births and incarnations one day arrive at a point where they are face to face with their pure, unblemished Spirit and they are constantly protected and cleansed by their divine Gurus so that their sanctity is maintained and they in turn rise up further in spite of either karmic load and/or their spiritual aspirations. Such a stage is arrived when the disciple has innumerable good karmas to his/her credit and the good karmas give power and bounce to his/her abundant spiritual growth and evolution. It becomes imperative for the advanced yogi and aspirant to become aware of his duty to keep himself pure and uncontaminated all the time as the Spirit does not favour or oblige any murkiness clouded over it at any time.

In fact, a stage comes when the disciple reaches the pinnacle of spiritual progress and it becomes the will of God to keep the aspirant clean and spotless by saving him/her every time abundant  unclean energy engulfs him/her. The disciple should also listen to the voice of God for smallest of directive that may come directly from within or from the Sadguru who is constantly guarding his much loved disciple.”

 My realization that came about out of the silence of my soul today –

The Spirit likes to remain unalloyed and uncontaminated so that it can remain in its glory, purity and sanctity. The pure state of Spirit emanates joyousness, spiritual insight, tranquility and it knows and has the answers to all the quirky problems that we face each day. The Spirit in us gives us the power to be in a state where the rays of divinity cascade in us and in doing so we come in touch with its endless beauty, timeless knowledge more vast than any ocean that we can perceive of and enduring joy and peace. The thirst to drink this nectar is voracious in me!!

Part-A

(Referring and quoting from Kriya Shakti, the power to act-III in segment- C)

Many a times so unexpectedly God’s kind grace is bestowed on me for what reasons I don’t know. Perhaps I may have done a kind act, or in moments of great reverence or devotion must have poured out loving feelings for the beloved God.

Whatever it is, but God’s benevolence should be shared with others so that we, the seekers and lovers of God can apprehend what it is like when one perceives the ecstatic nature of God in some benevolent moments! This article is a conclusion and an outcome of my meditation of 13^th June morning. On that day without trying hard or having any expectations, I once again dipped into profound ecstasy, then intense peace and eventually quietude. Out of that brief incumbency of silence emerged this enlightening exposition and piece of knowledge.

But before I begin to tell you more, first let us recall this-

Mahavatar Babaji- “Once the Spirit unfolds in us and you know Atma, there are three levels of aspiration and heights to accomplish after that. In accordance, there are three types of gyan or wisdom – Teevra gyan, Prachand gyan and Prabhutva gyan. When we translate that, it means wisdom that is intense, very intense and most intense respectively. In between these three stages there are other sub -stages of spiritual and God’s wisdom.” (From Expand your consciousness-II)

In connection and reference to the above, further knowledge was given to me on that auspicious day. Shri Mahavatar Babaji explained to me, “After enlightenment, there are three types of experiences that are experienced by the yogi-bliss, peace and silence- Ananda, shanti and shunya respectively.

Ananda is in samadhi’s first stage.

Shanti is in second stage and

Shunya is the third.

And this is not all. Those who are always in tune with God’s will over a very, very long period of time may even cross the third stage swiftly as Brahma is beyond even shunya while those aspirants who are distracted will stop at one of these steps.

For the yogi, attainment of joy and peace are essential to detach from worldly obligations and karmic burden. His karmas produce only ananda and shanti-joy and peace. He gives enlightenment to all those who come in their lives. Most sadhaks are not aware that that there is something more beyond ananda and shanti and that is shunya-silence, silence of mind.”

Dear readers this post is interwoven with many quotes and references of earlier posts and we are picking up from a point from earlier segments because  we are ascending bit by bit on our journey further up the summit. Now that you have read a portion of Kriya Shakti-III, please stop here for a moment to become conscious of the fact that in that post our Param Pujya, His Holiness Mahavatar Babaji was too generous and is still so gracious enough that he is going on opening bit by bit every riddle of the mystic knowledge of mukti liberation of a human soul.  Moreover, He is extremely kind enough to elucidate every fine detail of the path and journey of self realization to me. Before I met Shri Mahavatar Babaji, my mind was blurred and dim although I had read many books and had dwelled for hours and days in self absorbing thoughts of freeing myself from the clutches of the karmic trap,  but I was never able to find the exact door from where my soul could release itself in the infinite skies of eternal freedom!!

One day recently,  Babaji out of his own wish blessed me by cascading  more illuminating knowledge on me which is so essential for a growing yogi  on his path of self realization.

 Mahavatar Babaji answered the following spontaneous questions raised by me when there was a connection between the two minds in meditation in the wee hours of 15.12.11

Me- “What is beyond shunya ?”

Him- Brahma. After silence of the soul you shall reach your Spirit.

First is peace, then joy, and then the soul arrives at silence. After prolonged continuity with the Spirit of the Guru, with his mere kripa if the disciple persists to do intense good karmas, the guru shows the disciple the omnipresent Universal Spirit, Brahma. Brahma is beyond silence.

One must meditate on Brahma, the Universal Spirit. In reinstating, the jeeva or soul of the individual does not return to the normal world of cause and effect, the unending cycle of birth, decay and dying. Rather, the soul lives each life and each day of every  life in dedication to Guru and complete surrender to God. In this way, there is no action that is initialized by his disciple and hence no undesirable effect of that karmas which in return give the highly developed yogi  stable peace of mind and joy. There is so much freedom in such a mind and that is what Bhagwan Buddha at that time was telling all in so many different ways  to free themselves from the impact and result of one’s own karmas and  consequently get rid of all the sufferings of mind, body and soul in innumerable lives. This is what is meant by liberation and moksha of one’s soul.”

Part B

 Date 16.12.11 Time 12.35 am

My endless thanks and gratitude to Shri Mahavatar Babaji for giving me peace, peace and more peace.

A flow of divine enlightenment has arrived at me through telepathic conversation at this moment and I enter one more post with his utmost grace and kindheartedness. The following sermon was conveyed to me which I share with all of you-

“Grace or kripa is attained by those seekers who have an intense desire to serve the holy masters who in turn will shower more and more grace as each day and year progresses.

Blazing Spiritual knowledge is attained by those disciples who have an irresistible desire to serve others with love and devotion. The Spiritual Teacher will uncover the lid of the unlimited sacred box of knowledge and divine wisdom which shall never exhaust. Those of you who wish to acquire such blazing knowledge must know that no matter what happens at this moment in your life-auspicious or inauspicious, if you persist in seeking the lasting happiness and permanent peace of mind, then continue being calm inside. Meditate on the sacred holy sound Om and resign your fate and present life to the Almighty Power who will re-design your present life to a fresh start devoid of fear, worry, malice, revulsion and all other unwanted negative qualities. The future divine life is very promising. It shall be full of freedom of expression,  joyful existence, expanded consciousness and some worthwhile purpose in life.

Resignation to the chalked out life as designed by the Spiritual Masters is for the blessed souls for they shall never regret anything ever.

Silence of the soul-II is for those aspirants who are prepared to renounce all negativeness in their current life. If you trust in yourself and God ordained Guru, then surge ahead.  Don’t  look back ever and keep your eyes firmly fixed on a bright, blissful and spiritually prosperous divine life as planned by Him.

Spiritual Enlightenment means freedom

Spiritual Enlightenment means peace

Spiritual Enlightenment means persisting joy

Spiritual Enlightenment means silence and

Spiritual Enlightenment means expansion of divine consciousness in Spirit deep within.”

Dear friends, ever since these golden words have been bestowed on me, the holy sound Om is resonating inside continuously in spite of tough daily schedule. Whenever I relax or rest, the resonating sound Om seems to be spreading more and more in and around me. There is so much peace embedded in it that the physical or mental tiredness seems to vanish in no time once I hear the peaceful sound.

Just this morning that is 20th of Dec’11, I surrendered to god and was very relaxed during meditation in spite of not being able to sit down calmly to work on this post because of time crunch in the last few days. I had full trust in God and my gurus that I shall be able to enter the continuing post on sacred Om and that it is possible to do service for God and lead a healthy, balanced life in spite of a fast urban life.

Just then, while I was meditating and sitting in a flood of unimaginable peace, I felt complete silence within. I perceived and saw utterly fine and faint blue coloured multiple ethereal rays approaching me from the right side of the body. They first surrounded me from right side, then towards left side and after that they encircled me over and over again. I could sense the extra fine rays entering the various chakras and I heard the holy sound Om and they extended towards my right and left side of the body and then to the nervous system where their presence was more intense. In conjunction with this, the sound Om began to be heard although more softly than before but more intense in nature. Om also spread to more areas of the nervous system and the nearest explanation that I could think of this experience is what is called ‘Naadghosh’, a word that I had read in holy scriptures years ago describing the advanced silenced stage of a yogi ‘s mind that is seeking God! Naad means sound, sound  of Om and ghosh means to resonate. A sacred sound of high wave length that is heard in the upper chakras of the nervous system during meditation upon God.

I also discovered that Om was now spreading to the higher astral skies inside me which are based at the higher chakras, the energy centres on our spine. I was able to comprehend instinctively alongside that after this rich experience, I shall grow more in subtle divine consciousness.. ..the arrival of such high wavelength sacred waves will make my mind reach the wider domains of spiritual awareness and I shall be able to grasp some very subtle divine information,  so vital for a seeker to progress on the never ending arena of divine kingdom.

After the delicate soothing rays entered inside me through the higher fine chakras, the streak of light  penetrated the base chakra called muladhar and glided up the spine and reached the crown chakra- Brahmarandra and the shaft of divine light appeared as though a solid slab of extremely light blue light was holding my spine and nervous system together behind me like the thick roots of the Banyan Tree to the ground; like a glowing rod holding my base and top as one and hence balancing and stabilizing the earth and heaven in me!! Even though this phenomenon lasted for a few moments, it was nonetheless very, very peaceful.  Also a beautiful realization dawned inside at this most divine rendezvous and that was- Om has peace inside it; Om and peace are synonymous.

I dipped in a spell of silence within for a short while and these are the words that came from the silence of my soul-

“Om still reverberates in nature since the inception of the Universe. (Refer last post- The silence of the soul-I) Om has peace in it.  If we have more trees and forests there will be more peace. These days there is so much nerve wreaking noise around us all the time which breaks our attention from our peaceful soul most of the time and because of which we are not able to listen to the silence of our soul. It would be so wonderful if apart from diving inside ourselves to hear the sound Om, we can also hear the sound of Om outside if it reverberates in the green cover of the earth and then resonates in our atmosphere and eventually reach us.”

Om Sahana Vavatu Sahanau Bhunaktu
Sahaveeryam Karavavahai
Tejas Vinavati Tamastuma vidhwishavahai
Om Shanti Shanti Shantihi..

May God protect both of us-the student and the teacher. May He nourish both of us. May we both acquire the capacity to study and understand the scriptures in harmony. May our study and learning be brilliant. May we not argue  or be hostile with each other. Om peace, peace, peace.!

And I also learnt at that peaceful time that prayers and meditations are important. One must do selfless prayers for others and meditate for one’s own peace.

I accepted this sacred experience gently with reverence and utmost gratitude because I know without such beautiful experience I shall never be able to receive and transfer such amazing and blazing spiritual knowledge which is inaccessible in normal circumstances. Therefore, my utmost gratefulness and unending thanks to the Supreme, most Benedict God and Shri Shri Mahavatar Babaji  for helping me to record such a subtle phenomenon otherwise it is not possible to explain bit by bit an abstract experience of this kind and make others comprehend such sublime spiritual experiences.

My prayer today- May we all rise in the unblemished holy Spirit. May we trust God and the God assigned Gurus, our Spiritual Teachers and guardians. May we always be fearless to walk in the garden of God’s beauty, ananda, joy, liberating knowledge and complete renunciation of all anxiety, fear, worry, sadness and get liberated from the unstoppable  cycles of birth and death and the consequent suffering that comes along with those random lives… .

Om shanti, shanti, shanti  Om!!!

A footnote   On Sunday, 18th of Dec, I made a personal site visit to two places of Green Umbrella Organisation with Vikram and his team members. We all also went to Ganeshpuri to seek the blessings of Swami Nityananda and Swami Dayananda Shaligram at their samadhis respectively. I would love to share with you  some of those pictures.

At the nursery in the morning

Although I have been to Vajreshwari temple so many times, I was not in the know that there is this sacred Rudraksha tree around which a small temple has been made. Thanks to the curiosity of Vikram and his other friend, I made a great discovery on that day. Rudraksha emits exception peaceful subtle vibrations in the atmosphere.

Showing you two pictures- one of the Rudraksha tree as seen growing within the temple and the other a closer look at its canopy.

A beautiful way to end the day’s work by getting to see a beautiful sunset in the tribal village where a ‘nakshatra vana’ is in infancy.

This post is offered with my gratefulness, admiration and veneration at the sacred feet of Swami Shri Nityananda of Ganeshpuri whose birth anniversary falls today on 30^th Nov.  These two photos were taken in the temple of Swami Nityananda which is above the multiple caves in Kanhangad in Kerala during my visit in Nov lately.

It so happened that just two days back in the middle of night instead of falling asleep, I fell into a deep state of transcendence. I don’t know how long I stayed in that state of super consciousness, but the outcome of that glorious meditation is the concluding post of the preface of this new segment. These three posts at the beginning are easy to understand but hard to follow because they ask for our participation and contribution towards restoration and revival of our precious planet. I suppose I have told you earlier that the last segment-C contained many articles which had Holy Trees as a protagonist. They gave me prolific knowledge and enlightened me on the current state of affairs on our globe and that we should start restoring it with our serious efforts. In fact, if you notice and go to the first page of this weblog you will observe that I have explicitly dedicated this particular portion segment-D of the blog for a specific cause and a definite mission. A mission and a cause that is very close to Shri Mahavatar Babaji’s heart today because his mantra is

“Sarve Bhavantu Sukhina, Sarve Santu Niramaya, Sarve Bhadrani Pashyantu,  Maa Kaschit Dukha Bhagh Bhavet” …

“May we all be happy, may we all be disease free, may we all have well being, may none have misery or sorrow of any kind.”

Though these posts may be condensed in form but nonetheless they have one portion either in the middle or in the end where I have shared with you all the enlightening words bestowed on me by the holy sages, saints, holy Spirits, Trees and the other greatly illumined Masters in the celestial world at the moment. It is my humble proposition to you that kindly focus on that particular highlighted portion, contemplate on it and apply those words in your practical life also.

Meditation alone won’t help; service towards mankind and the society at large is required and is indispensable for moksha or liberation. Gyan, karma and bhakti all go hand in hand. That means that knowledge, action and devotion are inseparable and all go hand in hand.

After reading these thought provoking lines, focus your mind on where it should be-always inwards. After finishing the God given seva or service in the day bring your attention to the heart repeatedly, the centre where the Lord dwells. If you practice this, the mind in spite of doing various activities in the day or at night will be in a reposed state, calmness shall prevail throughout the day and you shall remain in equilibrium and symmetry of mind.

However, if you have already brought yourself in a state of tranquility at this moment by turning your mind inwards by reading these above written words, then kindly read on…there is one more important message of God for all of us.

In the middle of 27^th Nov night, I unexpectedly fell in a transcendental state and I saw dense Divine Light in my third eye. To remove my doubts if that was normal light from somewhere, I stayed in a quiet state. The Light became larger and denser and I became absolutely motionless to be able to absorb it as much as I could at that fortunate time. Seldom do I see such intense Light and to my good fate it lingered for time enough for me to recognize its purity and quality.  After this sight, I saw a cave on a small mountain. The cave soon showed the same intense Divine Light which I had seen a moment ago and soon the picture became very obvious.

(Hidden cave in Guruvannam, Kerala close to the Kanhangad caves where Nityananda Swami first did penace and later made the multiple caves for meditating with his own hands and labour)

The cave that I had seen at Guruvannam at Kanhangad (please refer post ‘Our lost rich heritage-I ) was blazing with Light of God and I immediately thanked Swami Nityananda for gifting me this benevolent sight on an auspicious day like his birthday which was just two days away. I also thanked him in my heart for unfolding this magical mystery about his cave where he had meditated decades ago. I concluded that there is still Divine Light present at that spot which is almost lying abandoned and obscure and thanked him once again for illuminating this secrecy to me. I bowed at the holy place again with new sense of veneration and gratefulness and felt privileged to have got access to this hidden information.

Just as I got over seeing the sacred Divine Light, I saw a big Banyan Tree. The tree was big enough to elucidate that it was old in age and was surely familiar to me. It was the same Banyan Tree which welcomed us at the gate of Guruvannam. Seeing my penchant for photography on that day, the driver stopped the car for me to take some good shots in spite of time restrain. I loved the tree at the first sight but did not foresee that one day it will communicate with me like some other auspicious trees earlier.

(Banyan tree at the entrance of Guruvannam)

I consider it my good luck to have seen and known such holy Spirits which reside in these sacred trees and I bow to them once again with my full adoration and reverence.

That night, first I saw a Banyan Tree which was copious in form and sturdy in its built. In a flash of a moment, it left the ground on which it was standing and stood firmly on my abdomen. In no time, I felt a lot of energy around me and I was completely revitalized as though I had a walk in a thick forest so full of fresh revitalizing air. Though I recognized the tree, I still wanted to clear my doubt and I questioned it. “Are you the same Banyan Tree that I saw at the entrance at Guruvannam?” It said yes to me and in an instance it began to acquaint me about the spirit world. It said, “I am guarding this place and am about 326 years old in age. Our ecosystem is in danger because we have no reverence for nature and we have disregard for the sanctity of our own planet. Everyone must contribute in physical form, be it physical activity or monetary help for the reason that we owe our life to Mother Earth. Therefore, appreciation and gratitude towards forests, birds, animals and all living beings must be maintained.

People think that just because trees, animals and birds are mute, they can be meted out with any bad attitude and behavior by humans. All trees, animals and birds have their own Spirit. When you cut down a tree, you are taking away a life. Nature is made to serve everybody and serve the utility purpose of humans. Even if you have to cut down a tree you must only do so when it is extremely essential and with prior permission of God as well as the Spirit of the tree itself. Trees also bless you. And they curse you if you loot the Earth mercilessly for greed and avarice. The poor quality of man on this Earth today is due to greed and avarice of majority of people. But there are some who are doing commendable job of restoring the Earth by bringing about harmony, stability and afforestation by restoring the ecosystem and biodiversity in nature.

The tree then began to speak to me with a clear message, “Degradation of the planet is because of greed of millions of people and restoration is by very few individuals. Those who have regard and faith in their spiritual masters will repay them through some service to the Earth by educating those who are dirtying the environment, by greening it, by reducing the carbon levels, increasing oxygen content and correspondingly reducing pollution levels. Reduce non biodegradable things in the atmosphere. Be a spiritual man and not a materialistic person. Finally, send out prayers and meditation vibrations for preserving our planet. If the planet survives, we continue to survive.”

A Note. An endangered species of ficus named ‘Krishne Vat’ was saved from the Byculla Zoo in Mumbai by Vikram Yende of Green Umbrella Organization. It is believed that Lord Krishna as a baby used to eat white butter in it because the shape of the leaves when fully grown resemble a cone.

I have adopted this rare tree and kept it at home and will transplant it when I get an open area for it to grow. It is such a lovely plant and has brought so much joy in my home since its auspicious arrival…

These pictures taken today morning when the sun rays fell on them after I watered my Krishne Vat .

Revised on 26-02-19

Preface

Welcome back all my revered readers!  It has been quite some time since I posted an entry on the blog. Some of you have been in constant touch with me yet I have missed my long writing sessions because blogging is such a wonderful way of further learning for me. The last few weeks have been like a whirlwind, a lot has happened apart from making a short trip to Karnataka and Kerala on Diwali. I celebrated Diwali quietly in an ashram without any noise and loud festivities. However, before I start narrating my travel stories, first of all I would like to wish all of you friends a happy belated Diwali. This is the reason that I have wished none of you personally. Somehow, lamps and lanterns induce some kind of subconscious utterance of ‘Astoma sadgamaya….. So with these lovely thoughts let us pick up from where we left on 10^th Sept’11- new light, new awakening and new learning each day. Let us throw out all the darkness in us consciously and invite cheer, joy and new light in our lives.

And as the year ends, the plan for my next year activities, travel, family commitments etc. have already been chalked out and will be executed as per the will of the Divine. Next year has more travel plans than the previous years so there could be some breaks in blogging.

In the last post of segment C – Why is it mandatory to have a divine guru?-II. I had said, “I am eternally grateful to Shri Mahavatar Babaji and all my other gurus whom I have never met on the physical plane but they have been my spiritual Guides and teachers since I have known them. Then there are many highly advanced sadhus and yogis who are alive doing their advanced sadhana, secretly in the caves or on trees of the mountains of the Himalayas. Many times, they have appeared before me in my meditations at home to further elaborate the nuances of yogic practices and have given me tips to enhance and speed up my spiritual journey. My sincere heartfelt thanks to them at this juncture of blogging. You might wonder as I did in the past, pray why do they come to me of all the people? The answer to that question is that they all want to contribute in some way in Babaji’s mission of mass human liberation and emancipation on this planet!

Then there are the Holy Spiritual Trees who do the same. I bow to them in thanks for making my blog so entrancing and adding a touch of mysticism to it apart from enriching my bank of spiritual knowledge. I once wanted to know what is occultism and why do people use it to harm others as I myself was a victim of this malpractice many times in the past. I can never forget the invaluable counsel of Shri Mahavatar in 2002 when He told me this one morning, “Occult Science is also a Yogic Science used since eternity even by Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati but if the Science is used for petty personal gains, selfish goals or plain greed, then you are punished by God severely. Any force of God if misused creates a very negative impact in one’s life at some point.”

Besides,

“In due course of time, the Divine Mother of Pondicherry taught me occultism or the hidden psychic powers in a human to counteract the unrelenting attacks on myself and my family. She also educated me on this Science and I am briefly sharing with you the condensed form of that knowledge here. She said, “Occult Science is all about mind power. Human mind can connect to the unrevealed Forces in nature for its healing properties, to bring about balancing the panch tatvas or five natural elements like air, space, fire, earth and water in our self. It is good because one can connect with other minds for a good righteous cause also and we can benefit from it by transference of shakti or knowledge or both from one agency to another. There are two types of Forces in Nature – constructive and destructive. If this knowledge of Forces in Nature is applied to gain something by harming someone living far away by sending out negative thoughts and will, then one day the same Force will harm you in higher magnitude sooner or later. One should use the Universal Forces only at the behest of God with a definite higher purpose otherwise all is in vain.”

The subsequent posts will be based on this topic and new light will be shed on our past heritage which has a glorious past and a large store house of ancient knowledge.

Prior to the onset of a new segment ‘D’ which has a title ‘Our lost rich heritage’ which will deal with the unknown, unseen, untapped hidden forces in ourselves, let me tell you something about my journey down South in this post to begin with.

Let me now narrate a bit about my travelogue too. The short pilgrimage that I made recently if  summed up briefly was both – awesome yet a little disheartening.

For many years I was inclined to visit the caves where Swami Nityananda of Ganeshpuri had meditated in Kanhangad, Kerala. Finally the day came when my daughter and I packed our bags in excitement to spend three days of Diwali peacefully in a quiet and spiritual place. However, as soon as we reached there on 26^th Oct’11 evening from Mumbai, we became quite unsettled as the basic amenities were sadly missing; a sense of apathy in the premises saddened me. The night was somehow managed and it was decided that we shall leave the very next day for Mangalore where we had alighted and instead a few other religious and spiritual places shall be explored and visited. I assured my daughter that the trip will not be a waste and there is definitely some divine plan for us. As we know most of the pilgrimages are either impoverished because of lack of funds or sadly the funds are misused. People do  not realize that the rich heritage we have that is inherited from our spiritual fathers have inestimable value.

On 27^th Oct morning, I got up happily at 7 am and as my eyes opened I got to see a beautiful morning sky as though a painter had painted his canvas freshly and with my groggy eyes I ran for my camera and took some delightful shots. It had rained the previous night and the sky in the morning had a mystic touch and tranquility about it!

We got ready after this and headed straight towards ‘Dhyan Mandir’ and  entered the caves and meditated for half an hour in that dynamic place where Swami Nityananda had lived in maun or silence.  One wonders why did he make so many caves with his own hands carved out of a huge rock? As I sat there meditating, it was hard for me to leave the place as I got glued to it; it was very powerful. I did not want to leave the place in such a short time. It was at this place that Swami Nityananda began telling me a lot through mental transference about the greatness of the spot where he used to meditate and about the land’s past rich heritage. Some hundreds of years ago, there used to be a temple of a Goddess, a Devi. It was a Shakti peeth, where the caves exist today hence Baba chose this place. Baba came here to meditate in these caves for more than a decade before he left for Ganeshpuri to embark on his global mission to serve humanity .

On top of this group of  caves is made an open white temple of Swami Nityananda.

After visiting this temple and taking many photos of vast expanse of clean blue sky around it, we went to see another cave where Swami Nityananda hid himself and meditated in the jungles. It is just three kilometers away from the previous place and its name is Guruvanam which means the forest of the Guru. The approach to this place is very beautiful, full of thick green vegetation and the place nearby is not at all inhabited and understandably the thick woods were so, so welcome and refreshing. When did I see so much greenery? I asked myself several times at this place. I devoured all the visuals of the massive old Banyan trees standing as a guard and testimony of a quiet epoch and a witness to Swami Nityananda’s penance and silence in this forest. There were trees of varied varieties.

Guruvanam is under the control of the Trust now. I experienced that the forests make you still and quiet without any effort and make you meditate without your knowing it! My mind was still and quiet like the inner bed of an ocean and stayed connected to the Higher Forces throughout those times.

I also realized there that my mind must have been tranquil naturally like this many lives ago because of the stillness, quietude, beauty of Nature and the human race must have been a calmer lot unlike modern humanity who has long forgotten about our lost rich natural and spiritual heritage! It is so natural to remain calm in Nature.

There is a non-stop stream that is flowing from this cave even today at Guruvanam since Baba was here and is called ‘Paap Nashini Ganga’. It is because of his intense tapas  that the stream has been flowing incessantly since Baba has meditated here more than sixty years back. I drank the pristine clear mineral water and found it so sweet and heavenly. As a gesture of thanks and in remembrance of Baba’s kind and compassionate grace towards humanity, while I drank this clean and cool water I decided to do more tapas and sadhana so that I could also contribute more to others in terms of my time, energy, love, understanding, knowledge. It will always be a memorable visit and I shall recall this wonderful experience whenever I wish to plunge in silence and tranquility in moments of solitude. A temple is now constructed near the cave in memory of Swami Nityananda.

A random thought- Who will really appreciate this kind of gesture given to us from God and Gurus? Should we not fill our hearts more with devotion and gratitude rather than willful desires and senseless modernity and urbanization? Should we not fill up our hearts with silence and peace than never ending desires?

When I sat in meditation in Kanhangad, Swami Nityananda directed me to go to pay my obeisance and take the Divine Mother’s blessings before I embark my new year. So in Mangalore which falls in Karnataka on 28^th Oct, we made our way to Kollur in the morning where the temple of Shri Mookambika Devi is made. It used to be on a hill top they say but now a new temple is constructed at the base for convenience of all people while the ancient idol and the temple still exists on the hill top.

Kollur is around 90 kms from Mangalore. There was very little human inhabitation and more of greenery.

We saw cashew plantation, paddy fields and vast stretches of forest reserves. I asked the driver to switch off the AC so that I could breathe in more oxygen. The air was so rich and laden with oxygen that automatically the energy levels shot up steadily as we left the city behind. There was a sense of expansion and the cramped sense of feeling in an overpopulated city appeared unnatural. I don’t remember seeing such thick green woods and forests recently except in my childhood when we used to go to Rishikesh or Dehradoon in summers. During those days when we used to travel by buses or taxis, there were forests, vast fields, rivers, wildlife and long green stretches in between two cities and there was certainly far lesser level of noise pollution.

The forests have so much silence and peace that all along the three hour journey towards Kollur, I recalled each and every word that Shri Mahavatar Babaji, Maharishi Agastya and Mother Earth has told me earlier in times of my meditations. It is their concern about the rapid erosion of our planet’s biodiversity and fast vanishing forests and their negative impact on our whole race. Those of you who have been following this blog, if you can recall so many of my articles in segment C speak about their concern on how to recover our past natural heritage.  Those posts ask for everyone’s contribution in restoration and revival in this endeavour!

“Babaji’s work includes helping humanity to rise above nationality, religion and individual self. He is extremely concerned about the current world issues and the worsening situation. The various cause of concerns are – the rapid erosion of the world environment, the unchecked spread of consumerism, greed and exploitation by the politicians and people in power, unhealthy environment and increasing pollution, the indifference of man towards his fellow men and other living animate and inanimate creatures as well, the rude and shocking exploitation of the natural resources and most important of all these is – the slow erosion of eternal spiritual values and principles known as Sanatan Dharma on which humanity thrives. He believes in and wishes to create an egalitarian society for man’s happiness, prosperity and well being.” (From The Light of the world Shri Mahavatar Babaji-I)

On the return journey we stopped at Udupi and visited the famous Krishna temple. This is the only temple of Bhagwan Krishna in India where Lord Krishna hides from you as there is a beautiful window in front of the idol which stops you from seeing the idol. To see the idol of the lord residing there, we have to look through a beautiful golden window. We found it quite bizarre but unique. As we glimpsed through the small holes of the window after our turn came, we were told by the caretaker that our ‘darshan ‘  is over but  we were expecting something more. A devotee in the temple later narrated this story to us.

About Shri Krishna Math in Udupi-

There was a dedicated devotee of Lord Krishna in Udupi about 600 years ago who belonged to a lower caste in society. His name was Kanak Das. He belonged to the Bhakti cult. During those dark ages as per the social norms, men belonging from the lower caste system were not allowed entry in the temples but Kanak Das came to have a glimpse of his favourite Lord. The priests and other people were outraged on discovering about this. So as a punishment, Kanak Das was kept standing in the courtyard near a window in the hot sun. Standing there through a window he could get a small glimpse of Lord Krishna. He called out to his protector Krishna with devotion. They say that the idol of Lord Krishna which was facing a pond earlier seeing this ill fated event, turned its face towards Kanak Das by shifting from its original position! And since then Lord Krishna is behind a window and everyone gets to see him through the window only!

As photography was not allowed inside the premises, I can only show you the idol of Lord Krishna which I purchased from there. In this idol you can see Lord Krishna with his favourite bird peacock at his feet. As I was strolling in the sprawling compound of this old temple in Udupi, I was overwhelmed by the kind and miraculous gesture of Lord Krishna for his true devotee named Kanak Das. At this point, I also remembered how Lord Krishna, the lover of beauty and nature had picked up a mountain called ‘Govardhan’ in Vrindavan to save others from heavy rains and storm and earned the title ‘Giridhar.’

  (To be continued…..)

Footnote- From the time when I came to Mumbai in 2001, I had a strong desire to grow Banyan and Peepul trees on a large ground or piece of land but it never materialized. About a year and a half back, I came across a small news in my local newspaper about one young man from Kalwa, Mumbai who has a passion for nature and who along with his group of friends rescues Banyan or Peepul trees growing on buildings. Due to my writing, I never embarked on projects like that of afforestation and tree plantation. During my break of two months from writing, I reconnected with Vikram Yende and invited him home.

It was a delight meeting him with his compatriot Mahendra who practices Ayurveda. They have marvellous ideas and concepts about reviving old, useful medicinal trees, making ‘butterfly gardens’, nurturing, planting trees etc. They recommend native trees like Banyan instead of foreign trees because native trees have fruits also which invite birds thereby increasing the number of birds in our environment and propagation of trees is facilitated naturally.

You may contact him at vikram.yende@gmail.com.

These days my city is abuzz with Ganeshotsav, the festival of Lord Ganesha and every city dweller is willing to be involved in the celebrations enthusiastically. Lord Ganesha is the bestower of buddhi, riddhi and siddhi. Buddhi means intelligence, riddhi means prosperity and siddhi means attainment of spiritual powers. In my own modest way, on 1^st Sept’11 in the afternoon when the neighbourhood’s clatter and inharmonious sounds waned, I opened the homepage of my blog. I prayed to my very special terracotta Ganpati to bless my blog on that auspicious day as it was him who had also blessed Maharishi Ved Vyas before the commencement of Mahabharata epic, which is the longest one composed centuries ago. I sought the blessings and grace of Lord Ganesha in a quiet manner that pleasant afternoon. Inwardly I bowed down and touched his tiny feet and also prayed to him on that special day to give me and others intellect – prosperity and  deeper insight when we read the content on these pages. Also we should attain inner satisfaction, happiness and joy after we finish reading these pages.

My dear friends, I thank you so much for the overwhelming response that you have shown at the outset of the previous post in the last week. You are going to find many of your answers here in detail. Like you, I too have mulled over and cherished every word that has come straight from the Divine. I had planned to keep the last post brief but when I began to type I was in an unstoppable flow. I believe and understand that it was the will of God and that I should not just touch upon the points briefly, I should explain things in detail. And this time again my situation is impossible to tell apart. As I begin to type on the laptop, there is no stopping, words are just coming in; moreover I shall not constrain myself today given that there is some other Force that is working at present.

We begin from where we left last time. Keeping the reminisces and summary of the last post on  the importance and crucial role of a divine spiritual guru, kindly begin  to read now….

At the end of your spiritual journey when the Guru shows you Divine Light, you become maun, silent because how in the world can you express your feelings of his mercy, compassion and kindness showered on you day in and day out unremittingly?

On the 1^st of Sept’11, the weather was very cool and pleasing. The ambience around my house felt silent after morning’s mundane  jobs. The sparrows were dancing and chirping on the thick green branches of the mango trees and the pleasant breeze left me calm and contented. I worshipped Lord Ganesha in my own way by praying silently for myself and others and I spontaneously took some pictures as you have just seen. I worked on the internet for some time and to take some rest after the activities of steady concentration for a few hours, I retired in my room on the bed gazing at the monsoon’s vast sky from my window. The open extensive sky had a good panorama where at the backdrop were the grey and blue clouds of rain and a flock of white egrets was flying collectively in an arch with their wings outstretched. Their continuous rhythmic flapping in the infinite space was reminiscent of the rise and fall of a melodious musical note in a symphony in the ethereal world!

It must have been about 4 p.m. when all this was happening and after gazing out of the window, I closed my eyes to  rest. Within a few minutes, the body was restored to an earlier energized state and I quickly left the realms of the consciousness of the earth and reached the high levels of consciousness.

At this threshold, alighted a long spell of these flute like words of the Divine, “In 1861, Lahiri Mahasaya pleaded Shri Mahavatar Babaji to allow him to initiate householders into Kriya Yoga. Prior to this, it was only given to ardent seekers who gave up household comforts and left for the thick forests to practice Kriya in a secluded and quiet place. Out of compassion, Babaji broke the rule and allowed Lahiri Mahasaya to give Kriya Yoga to householders or anyone who took his refuge in sorrow, grief or plain quest of Truth. The humanity since then has benefitted much from learning the lost divine science of spiritual practice of Kriya Yoga. In today’s world it is not possible for people to find sufficient time and energy for spiritual evolution and personal progress.

So far the secret knowledge of Moksha or liberation was kept a secret and the Guru would first test the disciple and then only pass the secret knowledge through the word of mouth called shruti that reveals to us the exact path or roadmap that will lead us directly to God by taking a few, well defined definite steps. Yet again, Babaji has shown extreme conviction and compassion for all humanity so that they are able to help themselves by opening their shackles of bondage by getting the knowledge of Moksha through none other than himself. Today’s spiritual knowledge and its presentation are according to the times, type of era and epoch and directly in collusion and approval with the command of God. Somebody for the first time has revealed publicly the secret science of Moksha through this blog. It is a silent revolution. All the words that emanate from him are words of God. Some gurus in today’s world, if asked how to attain Moksha will inadvertently say these lines, “Serve your Guru.” Others may say, “If only it is in your destiny, will you get it.” Still others might say, “Moksha is very difficult to attain therefore do this…this… or that…” Sadly, they themselves have neither the experience of that which is attained with hearing, Shruti. Hence you will find no book or script telling us how to attain Moksha nor do they know the intricate and complex problems arising out of the actions or karmas done by an individual or the sum total karmas that are done by humanity, the consequences of their karmas on our planet! If only the Guru is himself a great divine soul, he will be able to relieve and free others. There is a memory loss in man and he can neither look back in times in the past nor in future time to solve his problems of multifarious and complex life situations which manifest because of his karmas. Therefore read each word very carefully. The secret science of – Who am I? What is Karma?;What is liberation of a soul? What is Shakti? How to find peace within? What is life?  and many more are now all made open for you to read in these posts.

To decipher the hidden subtle meanings, to apply the precepts in your life, to solve your current life problems and yet be able to see a definite beautiful pattern of God and Guru’s Grace; you should prostrate yourself with all humility and childlike innocence at the feet of your holy guru Shri Mahavatar Babaji. Once your plea is accepted at his doorstep, he will convey everything through his mind power or sankalpa. Do not be afraid to follow his counsel and advice which shall come to you as intuition or a hunch; go for it. Listen to your inner Voice and then surrender and the rest shall be taken care of by the Maha Sadguru. Submission with grace and love is the ultimate way to worship the Divine.  Only a pure and clean heart will be able to treat Guru and God as one. The Divine Guru at the start will not give you any explanation; he will only command or suggest to you depending on your nature, frame of mind and stage of evolution. Therefore, do whatever he says, there will be no harm coming your way. This is a test and a pre-condition that a serious seeker has to undergo anyway to establish  firm faith in the unseen Divine guru and a definite method of discarding his or her ego. After some years when the seekers have established themselves in a mature and irreversible state, they will clearly see that the Guru was building a new divine life for them by asking them to do some karmas and activities that would wipe out their past bad, unproductive karmas of innumerable lives as though there is an exigency. Side by side, he was asking them to do those karmas that will slowly shape up a very pious, joyous, simple, peaceful and quiet life for further spiritual transformations. And all this takes time. Since the road of Higher Consciousness itself is never ending, it only depends on your own will when and how far you wish to go. That new life will have no worries, troubles, doubts, sickness and fears of death, dying, illness, loss and so on. Listen to him, obey him; there is no time to question, no time to fear and no time to cry.

After some years when the heavy baggage gets lighter, the pace of spiritual evolution is much faster. Still hold on your Guru; do not drift or sway here and there. There are many unexpected dangers, traps and agencies of swindling in the name of spirituality and you will not be able to differentiate between the real and false. Therefore, even if the going is hard, keep a happy disposition, stay established in resolute faith and recall all those words and divine messages as well as teachings that He has bestowed on you from time to time so that you always have a light that kindles you all the time, in all weathers of life and for you to continue walking on your path steadfastly.”

Now listen to this counsel my dear friends-

-The path of God may be long; the light of the divine words will give you strength.

-There may be trials and difficulties to face every day; the Guru will give you a lamp post in these posts that emerge here.

-The Guru will ask you to become a lotus in this muddy world; believe in his words and counsel.

-Your doubting mind will tell you otherwise, other than what the speech of Divine Guru has advocated. Listen to the Guru and not the doubting mind.

-Sing the praises of Guru; they will reach God up in the celestial skies and heavens.

-God will be pleased with those whose hearts pain at the misery of the suffering world. God will bless you and will give you the knowledge of Moksha through the Guru to you.

(There is a wonderful  poem Grace in Solitude in the end of- The Light of the world- Shri Mahavatar Babaji-I about how God becomes pleased with us)

My dear co-travellers pray! pray ! pray! Pray every day; pray every time you sleep; pray when you wake up in the morning; pray to God to give you devotion; pray whenever you see the sky; pray when you see the flowers bloom; pray when you listen to a melodious tune of lovely music; pray when you see raindrops falling on your windows; pray when you are sick; pray when you are healed; pray when you have questions in your mind; pray when you find answers to your quest; pray when you fall; pray when you rise; pray when you lose something; pray when God gives you something; pray when your eyes are open; pray when your eyes are closed. And when you pray all this many times, the sweet Lord will one day start to answer you and it will be just one of those days when his Voice is audible in you in a splendid way!

Our prayer is the language of our heart and our inner soul. Each sentence, each word, each syllable and sound of every word is gently received by God with insurmountable love and compassion even though He may never say it. But if we keep on sending our messages of unfaltering love every time, every day without fail and delay, He will begin to show response in a direct or indirect way. View His kind act as benevolence, as grace, as unending love and hold it close to your heart which will surely soften and melt you away. His purest love will give you a holy bath. His compassionate words will heal you and show you the path in the darkest days. His Grace will melt you to conjoin him in unity plunging in boundless Joy, Peace and divine Bliss in hundreds of ways! Soaking and dipping in these God Gifts, gratitude will show first not on your lips but in your eyes as tiny pearls of tears!!

His undemanding heart and silent unconditional love to salvage you from the miseries created by you, year after year, day after day may turn the tear drops to erupt from not eyes but your heart; for you will know that it is only God’s purest, pristine, selfless love that reflects in the Divine Guru who has given you salvation anyway! Not flowers of devotion but drops of tears, no words ever born will fill in the void as there will be no word left with you to thank Him ever enough!!!

May our souls rest in peace now; not later, may we experience that bliss and ananda which our Divine Father is so eager to gift us and may we ever and forever serve our Divine Master by first possessing his Grace and then spreading his Divine words far and wide to make his dream come true that we as one planet are one family Vasudeva Kutumbakam which means that this whole planet is one family of Vasudeva, also Krishna. Krishna is the all pervading Spirit residing in all.

We return to the main question that is before us- Why is it mandatory to have a Divine Guru?

The Divine Guru symbolizes Trinity- trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh or Shiva. Like Lord Brahmaa, he gives us a new birth, a new life. Like Lord Vishnu, he nourishes us and like Lord Shiva, he annihilates our sins and vices. But the Divine Guru’s own nature is-

Brahmanandam Param Sukhdam Kevalam Gyanmurtim

Dwandateetam Gagansadrisham Tatvamasyadi Lakshyam

Ekam Nityam Vimalam Achalam Sarvadi Sakshi Bhootam

Bhavateetam Trigunarahitam, Sadgurum Tvam Namami

Sadgurum Tvam Namami,Sadgurum Tvam NamamiI

The Guru’s state of being is Ananda, divine bliss and ultimate happiness. Brahmananda, an ecstasy that results from the experience of Oneness… that bliss transcends form, attributes or gunas. He is an embodiment of knowledge. He is beyond dualities. He is like a sky or space. He is in a state of continued oneness with the One and the only Brahma, the immutable. He is pure, he is steady in Brahma and always in a state of non duality and an Eternal witness. Salutations to the one who is an embodiment of all the qualities of the eternal, infinite Universal Self named as Brahma. Thou Art That!

The Divine Guru nourishes and holds us like the roots of a tree In ‘Why is peace so essential-III’ an analogy between the Banyan Tree and Shri Mahavatar Babaji was drawn to compare how similar they are. Like the strong and mighty roots of an old Banyan Tree, Mahavatar Babaji also holds us tightly and does not let us go astray in this world of  illusive ‘maya.’

The Guru will wipe out the illusory world that has been created inside called ‘Maya’

He will reveal to you the secret of life and death.

He gives the spiritual knowledge or the secret science of Moksha to deserving disciples.

A new divine life full of purity, virtues, stability, happiness and tranquility is bestowed by the Divine Guru to the seekers.

He awakens the memory of the disciple’s many lives in order to establish resolute faith in himself after which so many questions are automatically answered and the disciple eventually attains constant peace of mind.

At a point of time, when the last impressions of the karmas done in uncountable lives are wiped out in the inner most recesses, the disciple awakens wholly and he attains Atma Bodh or Self Awareness The last impressions of karmas act like a veil which prevents the light rays of Parmatma, God to penetrate in the inner being of an individual.

But when the veil is erased completely, one is free from the inevitable negative and positive outcome, more so of negative chain reactions for future to unfold and harvest. And the Atma or pure Light of God shines forth- that is what we call mukti or moksha in the yogic language; breaking free from inevitable effects of the past negative and positive karmas and thus stopping random wandering of incessant meaningless lives on earth. The Divine Guru will only rest after this because there are always possibilities for the vulnerable disciple to awaken his quiescent ego and he may again get misled and lost in the sansara or this world. That is why it is compulsory to have a Divine Guru or else there can never be an interface between the disciple and God.

Therefore, stay steady in your daily spiritual practices, worship the Divine Guru and you shall surely know God one day. This very famous couplet or ‘doha’ of saint Kabir of Bhakti period is appropriate and falls so well in this context and meaning at this point.

Guru Gobind dou khade, kake lagoo paye I

Balihari jaon guru ki jinha Gobind diyo dikhaye II

Meaning- Says Kabir- I am in a dilemma as I stand today between my Guru and God. And I don’t know whom to prostrate first. I decide to salute my Guru first because it was him who showed me God.

So, my salutations to my great Guru Shri Mahavatar Babaji, the bestower of all happiness, the remover of all sins and miseries and the giver of salvation and sweet nectar of ever flowing divine bliss.

Duties of a seeker

If we gain in boundless measure from the Divine Guru, it goes without saying that some duties rest on the aspirant and seeker also. In a nutshell, there are two types of duties laid on the seeker from God- the moral duties and the spiritual duties.

It is the moral duty of the disciple to lead a noble, virtuous, pure, harmonious and peaceful life. He should be charitable, help the poor, people in real need and those who are in distress thus helping the society in some way or the other. As we receive, so must we give!

The spiritual duties are –the disciple should meditate deeply at least once a day and carry on whatever his or her other spiritual practices are, depending on their state of spiritual evolution and aspiration. They must serve the Divine and the  Guru not as redemption but out of sheer love, dedication and devotion.

Wrapping up My dear ones, this journey of segment- C with the title ‘Life Sacred’ has been a long one- from 16.08.10 to 10.09.11, longer than a year and I suppose I must take a short spell of break from writing and take it easy.

I am eternally grateful to Shri  Mahavatar Babaji and all my other gurus whom I have never met on the physical plane but they have been my spiritual guides and teachers since I have known them. Then there are many highly advanced sadhus and yogis who are alive doing their advanced sadhana, secretly in the caves or on trees of the mountains of the Himalayas. Many a times, they have appeared before me in my meditations at home to further elaborate to me the nuances of yogic practices and have given me tips to enhance and speed up my spiritual journey. My sincere heartfelt thanks to them at this juncture of blogging. You might wonder as I did in the past, pray why do they come to me of all the people? The answer to that question is that they all want to contribute in some way in Babaji’s mission of mass human liberation and emancipation on this planet!

Then there are the Holy Spiritual Trees who do the same. I bow to them in thanks for making my blog so entrancing and adding a touch of mysticism to it apart from enriching my bank of spiritual knowledge. I am so much richer today! I once wanted to know what is occultism and why do people use it to harm others as I myself was a victim of this malpractice many a times in the past. I can never forget the invaluable counsel of Shri Mahavatar in 2002 when He told me this one morning, “Occult Science is also a Yogic Science used since eternity even by Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati but if the science is used for petty personal gains, selfish goals or plain greed, then you are punished by God severely.

Any force of God if misused creates a very negative impact in one’s life at some point.”

In due course of time, Divine Mother of Pondicherry taught me occultism or the hidden psychic powers in a human to counteract the unrelenting attacks on me and my family. She also educated me on this science and I am briefly sharing with you the condensed form of that knowledge for your satisfaction here. She said, “Occult Science is all about mind power. Human mind can connect to the unrevealed Forces in nature for its healing properties, to bring about balancing the panch tattvas or five natural elements like air, space, fire, earth and water in our self. It is good because one can connect with other minds for a good righteous cause also and we can benefit by it by transference of shakti or knowledge or both from one agency to another. There are two types of Forces in Nature – constructive and destructive. If this knowledge of Forces in Nature is applied to gain something by harming  somebody living far away by sending out negative thoughts and one day the same Force will harm you in higher magnitude in long or short duration of time. One should use the Universal Forces only at the behest of God with a definite higher purpose otherwise all is in vain.”

For more than three years, The Divine Mother gave me lessons in occultism to first improve my health and my own life situation as I was targeted by many evil minded people (Ref in an autobiographical post titled ‘The way to surmount obstacles-I. The Mother gave me shakti little by little along with the knowledge of the dark world, the dark Forces and Good Forces in Nature. (To know what is Shakti read Shakti-I, and who was Divine Mother of Pondicherry read Shakti-III). I soon became proficient in sensing the arrival of those negative vibrations and alongside, I enhanced my sadhana to a much greater height. In due course of time, the bad energies around me began to dissipate and wane. I observed that those people who had harmed me then are now in pain and stuck in various, thick life problems where as my life today is so full of contentment, fullness, prosperity, abundance, serenity and happiness and joy. So lesson learnt was this-

Conclusion–Treat everything in this Universe as Divine; everything is sacred. Our lives are sacred, our breath is sacred, our body and limbs are sacred; use them for a good and higher cause. Our senses as well as the mind are sacred; they assist us in sensing and perceiving God and its unblemished beauty spread everywhere in nature. Love God, love Life. Love everyone, everything is beautiful and Divine. Love this life that is given to you by God; consecrate it to the beautiful Lord. This life is beautiful, celebrate it. This life is sacred, live in divinity. Life Sacred is Life Divine!!!

(Reference Autobiography of a Yogi by Shri Paramhansa Yogananda – life incidents of Shri Mahavatar Babaji and Lahiri Mahasaya  to be found in chapter: 35- The Christlike Life of Shri Lahiri Mahasaya

Picture of Divine Mother of Pondicherry- meditation hall in Delhi Ashram.

# In 1861, Lahiri Mahasaya pleaded Shri Mahavatar Babaji to allow him to initiate householders into Kriya Yoga

# So far the secret knowledge of Moksha or liberation was kept a secret

# The Divine Guru nourishes and holds us like the roots of a tree

# The Guru will wipe out the illusory world that has been created inside called ‘Maya’

# Duties of a seeker- moral and spiritual

# One should use the Universal Forces only at the behest of God

# There are two types of Forces in Nature- constructive and destructive

# Any force of God if misused creates a very negative impact in one’s life