Emotions are a Part of Life

Life is like an unsolved puzzle. No one can define what life is because it is a very complex thing. Life is something that makes you happy and proud at times and makes you feel so low at times that you say to yourself. “Why I was born?” But whatever it is, it is fun.

In life, in every moment, something new happens, something that you never expected, something you were waiting from a long while to happen and something you were expecting to happen. It is a combination of happiness, sorrow, joy, love, anger, enjoyment, loneliness, fear, excitement and many other emotions.

The definition of the word life can’t be completed without using the word emotions.

Some people work in emotions whereas others work with emotions. So it’s very important to understand how people are using their emotions. If they are letting emotions get control over them, then they’ll be dragged by others and situations all the time. But, if he is controlling his emotions in a proper way, then no one will ever have control over him. The way a person uses his emotions is what we call attitude.

Some has correctly said, “Your attitude determines your attitude in Life.” Attitude, is defined, is the way an individual uses his emotions and directly related to the psyche of a person. Some people use their emotions and directly related to the psyche of a person. Some people use their emotions in a positive way and some people do it in a negative sense.

When people use emotions in a positive way we call it positive attitude and when they use it in negative way we call it negative attitude.

It’s up to an individual to decide how he uses his emotions. “ Now it depends, Which way will you decide.?”

Be at peace

We spend most of our life running after things, doing things. We forget that being comes before doing, those who remember this secret, make an effort to “be” and discover that when they stop and observe, life helps and brings whatever is needed.

Learning to be is learning to be at peace. It is our most fundamental nature.

Be nice and smile to everyone you meet. You don’t know what they are going through, and they might just need that smile. At least for a moment, it would make a lot of difference to them.

Life gives us many such moments to make others feel better. For tomorrow when you feel low, someone might smile and you may feel better.

Just think ! Am I happy ? – If there is any sadness I make a strong effort to be free of it quickly, otherwise it grows like a vine in the rainy season: by midday I will be confused, by evening a whole jungle of weak, wasteful and negative attitudes will have taken deep roots in my mind.

The result equals chaos. Sometimes I reach a stage where the attitude is : “So what I feel the blues today? It is my life; no one else will be affected”. Firstly, the more I allow myself to experience sorrow, the less time I have available to be happy and contented.

It sounds ridiculously obvious, but am I aware of the value of happiness? It is an extremely rare commodity, and the cost goes sky high. Secondly, is it my life? Yes, I am living it, but am I not a member of a family or a co-worker with others, and am I of society? If so, then every movement affects and is affected by those around me.

"जब कुछ नहीं था तब मृत्यु थी ।"

"जब कुछ नहीं था तब मृत्यु थी ।" मृत्यु का को रूप या आकार तो है ही नहीं । अस्तित्व का अभाव ही तो मृत्यु है । रूप का, आकार का, क्रिया का, गति का, किसी का भी न रह जाना । यदि किसी का अस्तित्व था ही नहीं तो वह अंधकार भी नहीं रहा होगा । मृत्यु ही रही होगी । अंधकार का रूप भी उसी ने लिया होगा । यदि कोई अपने जन्म से पूर्व की अवस्था को नहीं समझ पाता तो परमेष्ठी कैसे समझ पाते । वह भी अपने पूर्व रूप को समझ न पाये । उस अंधकार से पहले वह स्व्यं मृत्यु रूप ही थे । जीवन और सृजन क्या जो नहीं था, उसका हो जाना, जिसका अस्तित्व नहीं था उसका अस्तित्व में आ जाना ही नहीं है ।

"सब कुछ मृत्यु से निकला है । मृत्यु ही जीवन का गर्भ है । सृष्टी का मूल ।" अब वह कुछ आत्मसजग हो गये थे । "सब कुछ इसी से निकला है । मृत्यु से ही । वही थी । मृत्युना एवं इंद आवृतं आसीत ।" मृत्यु से ही सब कुछ ढ़का हुआ था । क्षुधा से ही आवृत था सब कुछ । आशनाया से । आशनाया हि मृत्युः । मृत्यु क्षुधा का ही दूसरा नाम तो है । सब कुछ को निगल चली जाती है यह । परम क्षुधा । अमित और अनंत भूक । इसी का कभी अंत नहीं होता । सृष्टि से पहले भी यही थी और सृष्टि के बाद भी यही क्रियाशील रह्ती है । कभी अपने गर्भ में छिपी और कभी अपने को ही उदघाटित करती । अपने से बाहर आकर अपने को ग्रस्ती ।

"अनंत भूक । यही मृत्यु की लालसा है । और इसी से सब कुछ पैदा हुआ, मृत्यु की इस लालसा से ही ।"

आरंभ में एक अकेला सत ही था । उसके अलावा कोई दूसरा नहीं था और उसका होना भी न होने जैसा ही था, इसलिये कुछ लोग कह्ते हैं कि आरंम्भ में एकमात्र असत ही था और उस असत से ही स‍त की उत्पति हुई । वेद में एक पूरा सूक्त है जिसमें इस असत से सृष्टि के अविभार्व की बात की गयी है । परंतु क्या असत से सत की उत्त्पति हो सकती है ? इसलिये यह समझो कि वह जो आरंम्भ में एक और अद्वितीय था वह सत ही था, क्योंकि सत से ही सत की उत्पति हो सकती है ।

सृष्टि से पहले कुछ नहीं था । अस्तित्व से पहले अस्तित्व का अभाव था । अस्तित्व के अभाव का ही दूसरा नाम है मृत्यु । जब कुछ नहीं था तो मृत्यु ही थी । उस महातिमिर की भांति जिसे विग्यानी ब्लैक होल या अंध विवर कह्ते हैं । जो अपने प्रबल गुरुत्व के कारण प्रकाश रश्मियों तक को बाहर निकलने नहीं देता । जो अपने सघन दबाव के कारण् परम द्रव को खोलने तक नहीं देता । वह जिसका विस्फोट हो तो वह अपने अदृष्य आकार के हजारों लाखों गुने दॄश्य पिंडों में बदल जाए ।

The Intelligence: -

For the last thousand years, man has relentlessly pursued his search for intelligence with in himself. Geniuses have been as baffling as schizophrenics (mental disease, disconnection between thought feeling and action). And the urge to better oneself in the matters of the mind has been so great that man has at times resorted to witchcraft and black magic to allegedly improve him.

Intellectual power is the valuable wealth provided by God. All types of activities are being performed by creations like worm, insect, animals, and man. But the difference is that, while the other creations eats anything and sleeps anywhere; man is always in search of a comfortable life and good rest.

If man is to be benefit to the world, they should acquire only good knowledge. The very purpose of education is to make student learn only what will be conductive to purposeful living. Thus knowledge alone will distinguish them from others. God residing within each of them will enable them to make life sublime. Every child has a segment of the almighty enshrined in it and so it has to endeavor to make a good citizen and face challenges ahead.

Parents and teacher should impress on children the vital need for a clean life. If there are more people of character and contentment society can be reformed. As said by Swami Sivananda that the mind is like a blotting paper absorbing the bad ideas easily and never throwing them out again. Thoughts of hatred passion and greed should be resisted and driven out. At the impressionable age, the significance of scriptural themes should be taught.

Soul is to be borne as a human being is the result of pious deeds carried out over a number of years. Unfortunately once he is conferred with this privilege, man usually runs after worldly affairs, money, getting fame, raising a fine family and enjoying other benefits. But in this process he fails to understand the very purpose for which God has given him this body.


Knowledge is divided between phenomenology, science of the changeable and ontology, science of the unchangeable, ontology is the realm of beings and phenomenology that of becoming. To explain it to the laity, Christianity uses the word ‘father’ for ontology and ‘son’ for phenomenology. The Holy Spirit is individualised consciousness that mediates the two.

Phenomenology is the mixing and constant flux of the five elements: solid, liquid, gas, space and heat. The five elements are interdependent and are created from one another. For anything to be solid, it must have been liquid previously. For anything to be liquid, heat is required, for ions, the sun has Caused the earth to relive in a manner that H20 remains in liquid form in a narrow temperature range of zero to a hundred degrees. This is a feat of wondrous exactitude as temperatures in the cosmos range from negative to positive infinity. In order to have heat, some combustive gas is required. All this interplay occurs in space, which is the mother element. Matter occupies infinitely less then one zillionth of cosmic space, where the leela of phenomenology takes place.

Science limits itself to this zillionth of cosmic space occupied by matter. Hence, it has been said that science is an incomplete philosophy, but philosophy is complete science oncologists pose it that we are pure spirit, trying to learn how to be human. At birth, we are pure; pure consciousness. The difficulty lies not in being pure consciousness, but in being human. Completely alien to our being, we are constantly trying to master manmade functions ranging from table mannered to law, family governance to human love. It’s a comedown; a ‘thud’ keeps us in febrile fever. Ontology is the science of the unchangeable, undivided, pure consciousness. Knowledge of pure consciousness makes us realise that the entire universe is nothing but consciousness. I Am That. I am the entire universe, and the functioning of the universe is my responsibility. The brain is incapable of grasping the essence of ontology – It can only categories, divide and choose, assuming separateness, that there are two to choose from. The higher the IQ, the more divisive the brain, since pure consciousness is one, the brain. Since pure consciousness is one, the brain cannot grasp it in a thousand lifetimes.

To know your being or virginal ontological being or virginal ontological state is to resolve, ‘I am a pure virgin’. A virgin is one who is untouched by man. Hence, no thought emanating from any man can touch you. No political, economic or scientific theism penetrates your pure state. The very concept of a universe is a creation of man; even the creator is a creation of man. If the universe and God do exist, they are a part of your pure consciousness. Once stabilsed in your virgin state, everything that emanates from you is pure. Thus, Christ emanates from the Virgin Mary. Kabir was also found in same condition as the Christ. In a basket on a river bank. This is no mere historical phenomenon; it is happening moment to moment, even as you grasp this, as only your virgin purity can. If only Christ had said. “You are the Son of God”, instead of seeing purity only in himself…

The eminent British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking write in his book “The Grand Design” says that the creator of the Universe redundant, because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something, why the universe exist. “It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the Universe going.”

Earlier in his book published in 1988 “A Brief History of Time.” An account of the origins of the Universe, is renowned for his work on black holes, cosmology and quantum gravity. His latest comments suggest he has broken away from previous views he has expressed on religion. Previously, he wrote that the laws of physics meant it was simply not necessary to believe that god had intervened in the Big Bang. “If we discover a complete theory, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason- for then he should know the mind of God.”

As per the new book “The Grand Design” he said in 1992 the discovery of planet orbiting another star other than the Sun helped deconstruct the view of the father of the physics Issac Newton that the Universe could not have arisen out of chaos but was created by God.

The human body has been compared to a temple; God is seated in the heart the sanctum- sanctorum. Those who do not realize this fail to experience God’s presence within. The five sense faculties do not allow men to visualize God within. People’ attention is diverted towards seeing and enjoying only the worldly events. The mind of a human being is full of conflicting desires. It is chiefly responsible for de-linking the Almighty from the devotee, who is ever keen to get released from worldly bondage. If it is subdued other senses can easily be tamed. If the mind checks their activities, men can certainly feel that HE from within is constantly guiding him.

WHY DO people go to a temple? The answer is obvious: to find peace, to sit and meditate and to feel energy of those who have meditated there earlier. The sun Light is present all over the earth atmosphere, but when we use the Double convex lens the light is concentrated and the intensity of the heat is so much it will have a burning effect.

But today, most of the traditional temples have become centers of trade and politics. Regular prayers may be offered here, but these prayers are formal and out of a fear of God. There’s no innocence in these prayers. In such an atmosphere polluted with materialism and politics, meditation is not possible. If we are really interested in meditation and prayer, we need to look for a different kind of temple and one that is not man-made.

The good news is that such unpolluted temple of love still exists. You will find them in nature. Go and sit under a tree, breathe and meditate and you will be filled with love and prayer. The tree always gives life-energy. It will never ask you about your religion or caste. You can hug a tree and you will feel its heartbeat. And at the same time, you will also feel your own heartbeat.

But when you hug fellow human beings, however nobody nowadays hugs anyone unconditionally. The tree is a temple of love, as it always gives. Go to mountains or the sea and sit in the open space. While you listen to the sound of mountain streams, you will automatically start meditating. Mountains need a certain kind of an atmosphere, a space for the soul, where it can fly high in the Sky. And that’s possible only in nature.

What the world calls knowledge, ontologisms define as ignorance. Armed with this ignorance, they can be billionaires, presidents or physicists. Even as they watch, their wealth will be surpassed, nations subjugated, scientific ideas bombed. They are at the feet of the masters of ontology, the masters of truth. Newton defined truth as ‘that which is invariant in all frames of reference ‘. All frames of reference lean on the inventive constructs of time and space. Ontologists would simply say that they are changeable and hence are untruths – even by Newton’s definition. Know the truth will set you free. The phenomenological world will be at your beck and call. Pity, you’ll have no use for it, having sublimated it…

The Real possessions that bind us are our memories, our inner possessions. Memory is an attachment, a holding on to an experience, an accumulation in which energy is trapped. Memory is a form of matter, a substance in the mind. It is the residue of an experience that has left a mark within us. The degree of our attachment to the past is the degree of our materialism. Our memories form the landscape of the world of illusion and sorrow, samsara, in which we are caught this world of memory is revealed during dream and fantasy. It underlies our waking consciousness and distorts our perception. Hence our fall into dream or fantasy is a fall into the inertia of our own minds. The more we are attached to the past, the heavier is the weight of our ignorance.

We can easily measure our spiritual ignorance in life: it is equal to the density of our thoughts, our habitual stream of memory based considerations. Similarly, the knowledge that we cline to through thought obstructs us from seeing the truth. We are not bound to the external world or to the matter outside us. It is the world inside us, the matter within our own minds that binds us. Only when we take the world inside ourselves through thought does it cause anxiety. If we let the world be, it takes care of itself in the natural harmony and freedom of existence.

Consciousness is immaterial and thought is mater. To fall into thought is to introduce a foreign substance (matter) into our unbounded consciousness and to weight it down. Our thoughts are our matter, through which we fall into the material world. To acquire things mentally through name, recognition and identification is to add to the ignorance within us. The mind emptied itself naturally – consciousness itself is emptiness, immateriality and boundless space-when we do not fill it with cares and anxieties.

The realisation that thought is a burden is the end of thought. All worry and care is useless weight that separates us from the beneficence of existence, drawing upon us the very disharmonies that we wish to avoid. When we release the burden of thought through the perception of its foreign nature, we transcend the entire world.

Is our life worth living? Are we really living or pretend to be living? Are we really conscious of what we are doing? Unfortunately, the way we live is nothing but just a mechanical process. We have become a robot no intelligence, no thought, no awareness, no awakening. Every moment we are living unconsciousness, which mars our happiness. But why are we doing this?

Lord Shiva and the Philosophy of His devotion


The scriptural descriptions narrate the simplicity of the wedding ceremony of Shiva and Parvati. He did not go after big people or gods of heavens to join the wedding procession. Rather, he took the ghosts and the palitas along. As praised in the following hymn of the Ramacharit Manas ––

"Tanu Kshina Kou Ati Pita, Pavan Kou Apavan Tanu Dhare"

(Those with ugly, horrifying and diseased bodies were also among Shiva’s Baraatis). Shiva had taken due care of even the deprived and down trodden ones. We should also broaden our hearts and pay attention to those scorned by the society. If we cannot get rid of our hatred, fears and prejudices, we can never enjoy the sense of bliss and fulfillment, the devotees of Shiva deserve.

What is the meaning of our worship and devotion if we don’t learn anything from the truth, from the philosophy of our Deity? We will just continue to perform some rituals, keep crying and praying at His feet without any improvement in our life. Remember that Shiva does not need our flowers and other offerings of worship. Our devotion is real only if we adopt its philosophy in every aspect of life.

An Ox (named Nandi) is said to be the mount of Lord Shankar (Shiva). Why? What does it imply? Well, an ox is known to be an assiduous animal. Any laborious, industrious human can become God Shiva’s favorite irrespective of whether he is an Indian, British, French or any one else…. We all know that God helps those who help themselves. The ox symbolizes strength, courage and hard work in our (Indian) culture. If we want to become a devotee of Lord Shiva, we will have to be courageous and depend upon our own wisdom and endeavors. No one will open the doors of progress for us. We alone will have to come forward and initiate our ascent in the desired direction. Do you know who rides on a buffalo? Shanicar! (Saturn, as described in the Puranas). A buffalo represents lethargy, dullness and escapism from labor or hard work. It can never be an aid of Shiva. Shiva likes the ever energetic, assiduous ox, Nandi. The latter is described in the Puranas as the vehicle of Shiva (in human form). Shiva takes care of it and loves this pet. We should try to cultivate the qualities of this ox; this is what God wants His devotees to be like…

What else have we read or heard about Lord Shiva from the scriptural descriptions? That He lives in the marghat (crematorium)! Why should He do so? Well, this again is a symbolic depiction. It teaches us that we should always remember death. We get so engrossed in the worldly affairs that we almost forget that death could knock at our door any moment… and then we will have to leave this world instantly. We seem to remember everything else but this bitter reality of life. If we had remembered the absolute fact that we had to die some day or the other, our attitude towards life would have been different. In that case, we would have cared for what we ought and what we ought not to do? We would have been more alert towards our duties.

A home and a crematorium are alike for a duty-bound, altruist person who has acquired pure knowledge. Such a wise man knows that this moment he is living comfortably in the house but any other moment he would be no more and his body would rest in peace in a crematorium or a graveyard; then he will have new life and a new home and so on…. Today’s life would be tomorrow’s death, which would again turn into new life some day… This is how the cycle of life continues… Life and death are like the relay games of day and night. Then why should we be scared of death? Rather, we should remember it to make our life more meaningful, more useful, and more enlightened every day. This is another significant teaching of Shiva’s Philosophy of Life.

If we look carefully and ponder over it, we will find that innumerable teachings are hidden in Lord Shiva’s manifestations as we see Him in the temples and religious stories. We often find His depiction in human-like form with a coating of ash on his body. If we knew the righteous attitude of life and the ideal mode of living, the importance of this ash-coating would have been crystal clear to us. Many of us put the bhasm (ash) of the sacred fire of yagya (agnihotra or homam) on our forehead with great reverence. But do we know the meaning of this religious ritual? The most important implication of smearing bhasm on any part of the body is to recall the Vedic teaching that– this body is going to become (a heap of) ash one day. That means, this body might either get mixed in the soil or water or fly like the dust particles with the wind. This physical body of ours, which we are so proud of and are so much attached to, is going to be crushed (with the soil) beneath others’ feet one day.

If we are His true devotees, the bhasm on Shiva’s body should constantly remind us of this ultimate reality and therefore keep us away from the ego and attachments that arise because of our mistaken identity with the physical body.

The Third Eye: The three eyes of Lord Shiva are often the focus of mythological interpretations and mystic curiosity. Representation of His manifestation in humanlike form should have shown only two eyes like the normal humans have. Is the third eye mere all egoric depiction? Or, does it signify some hidden facets…? In fact, the third eye symbolizes the source of sagacity – pure, discreet wisdom. This center in the human body is hidden subtly in an endocrine gland inside the brain right behind the position (on the forehead) where the third eye of Shiva is depicted.

We have read a story in the shastric scripture which mentions of Kamadeva being burnt into ashes due to the opening of Shiva’s third eye. Kamadeva the Lord of amour had once tried to sinfully entice and influence Lord Shiva. Then, Lord Shiva just opened His third eye. The divine radiations emanating there from instantly burnt the gross body of Kamadeva. Have you ever thought about the truth behind this mythological anecdote? It conveys the fact that the insidious force of erotic thoughts and sexual excitation can be instantly checked and eliminated if our discerning prudence is awakened. The opening of the third eye means awakening of our sagacity and creative activation of our inner wisdom.

The third eye is subtly located in the third dimension inside our brain. It teaches us to look into the deeper aspects of every phenomenon, every thought and every experience. Our ordinary eyes (the two eyes on our faces) see only extrovertly; they can only show us our materialistic gains and losses or the worldly affairs in the limited peripheries of our interactions. The needs of the body or the sense organs are easily seen by them. But there is a third eye, which opens inward. It enables us to look deeply in the sublime folds of mind and shows us the world of inner peace, everlasting happiness and absolute truth. This is the eye of foresight and clairvoyance.

When a sincere devotee of Lord Shiva seeks refuge under His grace, he first inspects his own character and conduct to check whether or not he measures up to the virtuous standards with respect to the philosophy of Shiva. The human-like image of God Shiva is a kind of an ideal model for the true devotee. A potter makes a pot in the desired design by processing and fixing the clay into appropriate mold. The devotee should also try to mold his personality, his attitude, his thinking, his life, etc as per the ideals of his Deity. Our worship and devotional practices have no meaning without commensurate endeavors of refinement and improvement in our thoughts, behavior and deeds.

The Sanskrit word for devotional worship is "Upasana", which literally means ‘sitting nearby’. Sitting near the fire makes we feel warm. Similarly, sitting near God should inspire us with His attributes. Sitting in the closed vicinity of a powerful source of energy would bestow the associated significant effects on us only if there is a linkage, a direct connection between the source and the beneficiary. A piece of wood becomes fire only when it sacrifices itself in the fire nearby. This is how "upasana" brings the desired results only if the devotee sets a live linkage of his inner self with the Deity of his worship. For this, he has to discipline and mold himself as per the inspirations of his God. We, the aspirants of the beatitude of Lord Shiva, should also consciously and ceaselessly attempt at transforming ourselves according to the ideals of His manifestation. We should endeavor opening our third eye (that means awaken our intuitive insight and pure intellect).

The very purpose of murti puja (idol-worship) in Indian Culture is to enable the masses to access and imbibe the teachings and inspirations of divine emanations. Every idol, every symbol of God’s manifestation represented here is indicative of some important teaching related to the spiritual evolution of human consciousness. Unfortunately, we often get engrossed in worshipping the gross form – the idol of God and consider the performance of some customary rituals, chanting of some prayers etc as all that is required for His devotion. Even if we have read or heard about the occult significance of the symbols of divine manifestations, we don’t seem to remember anything. We just want to take shortcuts and regard ourselves great devotees simply by symbolic worship.

The word "Shiva" in Sanskrit means highest good. Lord Shiva (Shiva) is the presiding Deity of eternal, auspicious well-being of all creation. But we, the so-called worshippers of Shiva never even think of global good. (Forget about global, we don’t even attempt to expand the narrow domain of our selfish interests and engage ourselves in altruistic service and upliftment of the needy around us). We keep chanting "Om Namah Shivaya" but don’t bother to know its meaning; in reality, Shiva is far away from our lives. We don’t even know what is the true well-being of our soul or our own life and how to attain it? The japa (rhythmic chanting) of Shiva’s name will be beatifying if "Shiva" (Highest Good) is embodied in our attitude, aspirations, thoughts and deeds. It is time we realize that worshipping only the external, gross form is no better than not doing anything at all.

Be Blessed by Shiva’s Grace: The Almighty God of Hindu religion for whom we observe fasting on Shivaratri, perform japa, ceremonial worship, sacred ablution (abhisheka) and what not… can’t He, the Omnipotent, destroy all evils and eliminate our adversities? Can’t He help us in our progress? He indeed can and He will, if we are His deserving devotees. He loves all of us and wants to bestow all His grace upon us; but it is our infirmities, our vices that hinder or limit the flow of His blessings. His grace is like the water-laden clouds. (The clouds shower the treasure of rains without discrimination wherever they fall). But how much water a pond or a pot would collect from the rain depends upon its own capacity. If we deserve, we will surely be beatified by Shiva’s enormous generosity. His beatitudes will continue to grow as our abilities, our merits increase and we shall get everything that a true devotee of Shankara deserves.

We discussed today the meaning and philosophy of the gross manifestations of Lord Shiva as described in the Puranas. A large number of stories and rhetoric descriptions are also available in the texts that lucidly illustrate the great teachings and philosophies of the other incarnations and manifestations of Hindu Gods. There lived about 33 crore people on the Indian subcontinent in the Vedic Age. They were the true devotees, spiritually enlightened, virtuous men and women, who, because of their divine characteristics were revered as 33 crore devatas on this earth. If we had tried to search and grasp the truth behind the teachings of the Puranas and put into practice the Vedic philosophy, we also would have been like those pearls of the human society and would have gloriously accomplished the divine purpose of our life.

We are lucky to have been born on this sacred land, which once upon a time was the Land of gods. It can and should still regain its glory, if we, the devotees, the worshipers of the Vedic Philosophy, sincerely adopt its values and attempt towards spiritual elevation of our conduct and refinement of the ambience around us. Divine beings generate love, peace, beauty, piety, bliss and prosperity wherever we go. We should also adopt and expand such qualities.

Gayatri Mantra .

Historic evidences show the greatness of the Gayatri Mantra. All the yogis and the Rishis in India have taken the shelter of Gayatri sadhana since the Vedic times. They were endowed with supramental powers and were the true winners of immortal glory on every front of life. When Alexander the Great came to conquer India; he had a curiosity to meet the spiritual masters of this land. On his way towards the northwest, he found a Himalayan yogi lying on the ground, blocking the march of his army. Alexander was unable to push this avadhuta (one who has shaken off himself from the worldly attachments and obligations) off the path and asked him to demand whatever he wanted. The avadhuta calmly asked whether Alexander could shift sunrise (from the East) to the West? If not, the avadhuta continued, "Then don’t disturb me; let me enjoy the sunlight from the East…". My children, this was the inner strength, the divine courage induced by the Gayatri Mantra by which a mendicant saint could so easily put to shame the ‘conqueror of the world’.

When the divine force of the Gayatri Mantra fills the heart (the emotional core) of a person it clears all shadows of darkness and illuminates the inner self with divine light. It transforms the personality completely. What does that lead to? It is this transmutation, which metamorphosed the royal dancer Amrapali into a devoted disciple of Lord Buddha ). When Amrapali went to Lord Buddha ) she prayed and asked whether an impure, debauched and depraved person like her could also get shelter under his divine grace and enlighten her life. The Buddha ) asked her to devotedly start the sadhana of a specific mantra ea=. Amrapali , who was a luxury-intoxicated beauty queen of her age, a sex trader, followed the instruction with confidence and determination inspired by Gautam Buddha ). This purified her mind and emotions and transformed her into a great disciple of the Buddha ). She donated all her wealth and belongings for altruist service through dhamma /kke, renounced all worldly comforts and became a bhikshuni . She spread the divine message of "Bhuddham Sharanam Gacchami, Sangham Sharanam Gacchami, Dhammam Sharanam Gacchami" ] amongst millions of people across the globe and was instrumental in uplifting their lives.

This is the grace of the divine force of the Gayatri Mantra that transforms an ordinary mortal being into a great, enlightened, angelic saint. The mantra enjoins us as to what should be our devotional sentiments, our prayers through the heart while performing the japa ti of this mantra. It says – "Oh Almighty, Omni eminent, Omniscient, Omnipresent God! May Thy supreme radiance be embodied in our souls. May it inspire our intellect towards the enlightened, righteous path".

Since the time, this cosmic mantra the boon of Lord Brahma , was beatified in the Vedic osfnd Age, there awakened the dawn of the divine culture on this earth. Those who practiced its devotional japa ti, and adopted its inspirations in life received immense peace, blissful contentment, moral dignity, selfless love and amicable cooperation in every phase of life. Even today, every one – including those deprived of everything, living in the filth of immorality, those shrouded by ignorance, infirmity or the challenges of circumstances –rise gracefully out of the clutches of misery with the grace of the Gayatri Mantra Indeed many are doing so and marching towards noble and righteous living. Sure, there could be and will be a variation in the time and degree of manifestation of its marvelous effects – depending upon our present level of consciousness, but the elevation begins right from the first day. Mantras can’t instantly and magically grow trees on palms. However there is nothing illusive or unscientific about their effects; there should be no doubt whatever about this. The spiritual evolution induced by the Gayatri Mantra progresses gradually and steadily - but certainly, with the progress in sadhana . Many live examples of the past and present evince and illustrate this fact.

Madhavacharya was a saint living in Vrandavan He performed the upasana of Gayatri for twelve years but lost patience thereafter, as he did not get the desired divine benefits. He was quite distressed at that time. He left the sadhana of the Gayatri Mantra and began worshiping Bhairav on the advice of a tantrika In less than a year's time he succeeded in the sadhana of Bhairav . The celestial body of Bhairav appeared but stood at his back and asked him to demand what he wanted to be blessed with. Madhavacharya said; "If you are the real Bhairav , please appear before my eyes". Bhairav said : "I can't appear in front of you, because the brilliance of Gayatri- Shakti infused in you will burn me". The devotee was surprised and inquired that if Gayatri sadhana was so powerful, why couldn't he get the desired benefits for such a long time? Then Bhairav explained to him how his Gayatri sadhana up till then had destroyed his sins and burnt out the evils accumulated during his past lives and that it was only after this purification that he would have deserved realization and attainment of the divine boons of the mantra. Now there was no doubt left in Madhava’s mind. He restarted the sadhana lk/kuk of the Gayatri Mantra and was soon blessed with divine boons. With the awakening of inner intelligence and acumen, he wrote the "Madhav Nidan" , which remains till date, a crucial treatise for the education and expert practice of the Ayurvedic System of Medicine.

The effects of the Gayatri sadhana are indeed miraculous. Once the Indian emperor Akbar called his prime minister Mansingh eku flag and told him to look for some extraordinary means to protect the construction of his fort in Prayag , which, despite the best of efforts and all precautionary measures, had mysteriously collapsed eighteen times in the initial stages of construction. Mansingh also was puzzled about this mishap. He went to Prayag and stayed there with bleak the hope of getting some clue from somewhere. One day when he was strolling in the forests by the banks of the holy Ganga , he saw a saintly yogi ;ksxh engrossed in meditation. Suddenly he noticed a boa around the yogi which was trying to entrap the latter into its fold and gulp him. Amazingly, the dragon-folds of the boa were not able to tighten around the yogi , nor his poisonous breath able to have any effect. He stood stunned for a few minutes. Meanwhile, the yogi opened his eyes and effortlessly threw off the python by the power of his yoga . Mansingh could not believe his own eyes; he had vividly and concretely witnessed the supernatural strength of spirituality. His head was on the feet of the seer.

This saint was known as Devmurari Baba nso . Mansingh narrated the mysterious riddle of the fort before the Baba . He said: "We don’t know what kind of a curse it is that the construction of the fort has been ruined eighteen times". The yogi went into deep meditation for some time and then kept a dry flower (manjari ) of basil on Mansingh’s hand. He said – “Put this beneath the foundation of the fort then there will be no problem”. Devmurari Baba nso was a siddha sadhaka ) of Gayatri and was renowned and revered for his supramental powers. He used to give a manjari , empowered by his spiritual energy, to everyone who would come to him seeking some help. That used to have miraculous effects. The manjari given to Mansingh also proved the invisible, indefinable, omnipotence of the Gayatri Mantra by providing stout foundation and support to the mighty fort.

The power of mantra is indeed real and immense. That of the Gayatri Mantra is indeed supreme, astonishing and infinite. The sublime force generated by its japa sadhana can vibrate in the subtle as well as the external world. Nothing remains unattained or unaccomplished after the beatitude of its divine powers. Its immediate benefit of purification and enlightenment of the intellect is the key to spiritual refinement and evolution of personality. Its sadhana can transform an ordinary man or woman into a great saint, yogi or rishi , having angelic potentials. If we perform the (sadhana ) of the Gayatri Mantra so that the untoward tendencies and vices assimilated during your past lives can be erased and we begin to rise towards the sunlit path. Cleansing of our inner cores is essential so that the new, virtuous tendencies can be cultivated there.

We should adopt the japa ti - sadhadna of Gayatri Mantra as an integral part of your daily life. It is the mantra for the welfare of every being. We should also inspire our friends, acquaintances and family members to perform the japa ti of this universal mantra and spread this light to the people in our neighborhood, colony, and city and so on. Its collective sadhana can arouse collective consciousness and bestow all-round happiness and progress in the world together with the spiritual upliftment of mankind. The Puranas describes so many instances of global well being through such efforts.

It was rare in the ancient times that the Indian land suffered a calamitous famine. It happened once due to a near total drought across the country. All the ponds and wells dried up. Cattle, birds and even humans began to die of starvation. Panicked savants went to Rishi Gautam for support and relief. Rishi Gautam was a great, accomplished sadhaka of those days. He was moved after hearing the agony of the masses; he gave them the akshaya patra (a celestial pot that offers food and water without any limit and is never emptied), which was a boon the divine force of Gayatri had blessed him with.

There is no doubt, that the siddhas of Gayatri Mantra do have such miraculous powers, but they use them judiciously and only for deserving cases. Don't be under the delusive impression that, doing the japa , ahwaan, havan , etc under any saint guidance will magically endow you with extraordinary powers. Nothing can be achieved without developing the necessary abilities and eligibility. It is all the more essential for the invaluable attainment of divine blessings.

Spiritual development can't begin without purifying the body, the mind, the sentiments, and adopting a moral conduct. The gamut of ascetic disciplines, penance and yoga sadhanas, etc, were devised and practiced by the rishis for this noble purpose. They had accomplished absolute self-refinement and moral elevation through Gayatri Sadhana . They had conquered the ego and desires. They wanted instead to serve for the welfare of all beings. A seed cannot germinate and grow into a fructifying tree without dissolving itself in the soil and water; it is only after breaking and softening that it can absorb the fertilizing substances. Blossoming of divine realization also is not possible without the immersion of the identity of the individual self in the cosmic self. How could our personality sparkle unless we remove the mist of vices, blemishes and smog of ignorance? The kinds of sadhana courses we are to undergo here from time to time are meant to help us in this essential process of self-refinement.

As we all know that no crop could grow on barren land; ploughing it is a sheer wastage of effort. The same is true of heartless practice of devotion. If our mind and heart are filled with ego, selfish attachments, jealousy, hatred and similar filth, where and how will the serene sentiments of devotion find place? How would we attain the nectar of devotion of the Gayatri Mantra without paving the way for its descent? The guru :, the noble spiritual master, alone can diagnose the inner ailments and help in the cleansing, curing and refinement of the disciple's life. Guru : means the source of light. There can be no darkness once the light is switched on. We know how Virjanand had elevated his deserving disciple Dayanand, Samarth Guru Ramdas had empowered Shivaji , Ramkrishana had beatified Vivekanand foosdkuaUn with such remarkable siddhis). The guru will eliminate the darkness within us and will enlightened us with the grace of Gayatri Mantra. What riddhis ) and siddhis ) will be blessed by its sadhana all evident will come in front of us.

What is Mantra ?

Speech is creative. It creates forms of emotion, mental images and impulses of action. Mantra मंत्र is a word of power born out of the secret depth of our being where it has been brooded upon by a deeper consciousness than the mental, framed in the heart and not constructed by the intellect, held in the mind, again concentrated on by the waking mental consciousness and then thrown out silently or vocally- the silent word is perhaps held to be more potent than the spoken- precisely for the work of creation. The Mantra मंत्र cannot only create new subjective states in ourselves, alter our physical being, reveal knowledge and faculties we did not possess earlier. It can also produce similar vibrations in the mental and vital atmosphere which result in effects, in actions and even in the production of material forms on the physical plan.

Use has to be made of some mental means or support by which the mind, accustomed to run about from object to object, shell get fixed on the idea of the divine. It is usually a name or a form or a mantra मंत्र by which the thought can be fixed in the sole knowledge or adoration of the Lord. By this concentration on the idea the mind enters from the idea into its reality, into which it sink silently, absorbed, unified.

Those who discuss / argue on Mantra मंत्र science mainly ask show some miracle. In fact to-day man has become so fast that he wants to grow seed on his hand.

Mantra मंत्र concentration is basically is word which is the base like seed, it grows slowly and become large and large. There is no wonder if word nature might create special changes in our life.

This world was created with Panch Bhuta पञ्च भूत i.e. Earth, Water, Fire, sky, and air. Modern Science also believes this. Our Sages & Saints also believe same. On this Panch Bhuta पञ्च भूत our language also developed and progresses in accordance with science. Language has got five (Varg वर्ग ) Their pronunciation is produced by five organs. (Kanth कंठ Tallu तालू Murdha मूर्धा dant दन्त and oshth ओष्ठ each has got its own importance/ recognition, but one element mix with other very easily. Same way each word from different (वर्ग ) can be spoken with each other and do not loose their impression like the word made with (hankar हंकार hasti हस्ती hast हस्त singh सिंह mahaan महान ) etc. All have (hankaar हंकार ) (ha हां ) is a symbol of ether. That is why the word made with (Hankaar हंकार ) has attainment like sky.

What is Om ॐ ?- Om is the मंत्र , the expressive sound-symbol of the Brahmn ब्रह्म Consciousness. The function of the mantra मंत्र is to create vibrations in the inner consciousness. The mantra मंत्र Om ओं३म opens the consciousness to the sight and feeling of the One consciousness in all material things, in the inner being and in the supra-physical worlds, in the casual plan above, and finally, in the supreme librated transcendence above all cosmic existence. The mantra मंत्र is the most direct and heightened, an intense and most divinely burdened rhythmic word which embodies an intuitive and revelatory inspiration and envelops the mind with the sight and the presence of the very self, the innermost reality of things, with its truth and the divine soul forms of it, the Godheads which are born from the living Truth. It is a supreme rhythmic language which seizes hold upon all that is finite and brings into each the light and voice of its own infinite.

It is a word of power and light that comes from the over mind inspiration, or from some high plane of intuition. Its characteristics are a language that convey infinitely more than the language and is borne out of the infinite and disappears into it. It has power to convey not merely the mental, vital or physical content or indications or values of the thing uttered, but its significance and figure in some fundamental and original consciousness which is behind all these and greater.

When the mantra मंत्र sinks in yoga’s ear,

1. Its message enters stirring the blind brain, and keeps in the dim ignorant cells its sound.

2. The hearer understands a form of words, and musing on the index thought it holds।

3. He strives to read it with the labouring mind, but fins bright hints, not the embodied truth.

4. Then, falling silent in himself to know, he meets the deeper listening of his soul.
5. The words repeat it in rhythmic strains.
6. Thought, vision, feeling, sense, the body’s self. Are seized unutterably and he endures.
7. An ecstasy and an immortal change.
8. He feels wideness and becomes a power.
9. All knowledge ruses on him like a sea.
10. Transmuted by the white spiritual ray. He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm.
11. Sees the God-face and hears the transcendent speech.

Word combination is mantra.मंत्र -When we write it separately (A-U-M) ओं३म it is letters, when we write it combined and pronounces it becomes Mantra मंत्र . Every letter, which combines and creates a frequency vibration in air, is called Mantra मंत्र .

The word Mantra मंत्र comes from Rigveda ऋग्वेदः (Rik ऋग means mantra मंत्र ). Mantra मंत्र can be divided into “man” मन and “tra.” त्र‘ Man’ मन refers to the mind and ‘Tra’ त्र is the process thus the process to control / understand the mind is the essence of Mantra.मंत्र

Mantra मंत्र could be single word or a whole sentence. The most widely used is OM ओं३म or AUM ॐ . It is said that the first primordial sound produced at the time of creation was the syllable AUM ओं३म hence it became the first Mantra.मंत्र The sound ‘A’ starts from the vocal chords, ‘U’ from the throat and ‘M’ when the lips are closed thus completing the passage of sound in our body. As such this is the longest and the fullest vowel. AUM ओं३म embraces all the sounds within it and also represents the three states of consciousness viz. The waking state and the deep sleep state.

The sound of AUM ओं३म can be further broken down as ‘A’ for gross material world, which we perceive through our sense organs, ‘U’ or the subtle- your experiences, and ‘M’ stands for the un-manifest or the world of sleep. (For those who suffer from insomnia the best Mantra मंत्र is humming ‘mmmmmmm). Constant chanting of AUM ओं३म transcends barriers and connects us to the very source of existence or GOD.

Mantra मंत्र is a Godly power. It raises hidden power of human. Its regular recitation will fulfill all desires. The Science of Mantra मंत्र cannot be purchased of money or wealth. It does not require recognition for its truth by us. In fact this science does not require any equipment or machinery. This is only reason it has got an unfathomed depth of technique. It requires the guidance as in modern science. Also need guidance but it is in process that is why we don’t feel its necessity.

In materialistic view the Mantra मंत्र Science’s importance is reduced. That is the reason the knower of the Mantra मंत्र Science are not available in large. We will get many to believe that Cerodine tablet will reduce the head-ache, but hundreds of us will laugh, joke that there is such people who remove poison of snake bite, Scorpion bite or other poisonous insect by Mantras.मंत्र The reason we don’t get the people or capable person everywhere, every-now and then. In this only fault of Materialistic who has degraded this science. This does not mean that there is no truth in Mantra मंत्र science.

The Supreme Significance of the Gayatri Mantra गायत्री मंत्र


"Om Bhur Buvah Swah, Tatsaviturvarenyam Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi, Dhiyo Yonah Prachodayat " ओं३म भूर्भ्वः स्वः, तत्स्वितुर्वरेण्यं भर्गो देवस्य धी महि धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात


Meaning of Gayatree Mantra गायत्री मंत्र

AUM ओं३म= the protector; (sabkee rakshaa karne wala सबकी रक्षा करने वाला )
BHOOR भूर = who is the basis of the whole universe and who is self existent and; (jo sab jagat ke jeevan ka aadhaar, praan se bhi priya aur swayambhu hai.जो सब जगत के जीवन का आधार, प्राण से भी प्रिय और स्वयंभू है )
BHUVAH भुवः = who is free from all pains and whose contact frees the soul from all troubles; ( jo sab dukhon se rahit, jiske sang se jeev sab dukhon se choot jaate hai. जो सब दुखों से रहित, जिसके संग से जीव सब दुखों से छूट जाते हैं.
SWAH स्वाहा = exists in different forms in this universe and sustains all. ( jo nanavidhi jagat ke vyapak ho ke sab ka dhaaran kartaa hai.जो नानाविधि जगत के व्यापक होके सबका धारण करता है. )
Tat ततस = that very God; (usi parmaatma ke swarup ko hum log उसी परमात्मा के स्वरूप को हम लोग )
Savitur वितुर = He is the creator and energizer of the whole universe; (jo sab jagat ka utpaadak aur aiswarya ka data hai.जो सब जगत का utpaadak और सब ऐश्वर्या का दाता है. )
Varenyam वरेनियम = worthy of acceptance, the most excellent; (jo sweekaar karne yogya ati shreshth जो स्वीकार करने योग्य अति श्रेषठ )
Bhargo भर्गो = pure and purifier. (shudhh roop aur pavitra karne waalaa chetan brahmswarup hai. शुध्द रूप और पवित्र करने वाला चेतन ब्रह्म स्वरूप है.
Devasya देवाश्याह = the giver of all happiness; (jo sab dukhon ka devanhaaraa aur jiski praapti ki kaamna sab karte hain. जो सब दुखों का देनहार और जिसकी प्राप्ती की कामना सब करते हैं.
Dheemahi धीमहि = let us embrace, so that; (dhaaran Karen. Kis prayojan ke liye ki धारण करें. जिस प्रयोजन के लिये )
Dhiyo धियोह = mind and thoughts. (Buddhiyon ko बुद्धियों को )
Yo यो = God may; (jo savita dev parmaatma जो सविता देव परमात्मा )
Nah नः = our; (hamaari हमारी)
Prachodayat प्रचोदयात = direct; (prerna kare arthaat bure kaamon se chuda kar ache kaamon me pravrit kare. प्रेरणा करे अर्थात बुरे कामों से छुडा कर अच्छे कामों में प्रव्रित करे.)

सबकी रक्षा करने वाला जो सब जगत के जीवन का आधार, प्राण से भी प्रिय और स्वयंभू है . जो सब दुखों से रहित, जिसके संग से जीव सब दुखों से छूट जाते हैं. जो नानाविधि जगत के व्यापक होके सबका धारण करता है. जो सब जगत का उपाधक और ऐश्वर्या का दाता है. जो सब दुखों का दीन हार और जिसकी प्राप्ती की कामना सब करते हैं. जो स्वीकार करने योग्य अति श्रेश्ट्ट शुध्द रूप और पवित्र करने वाला चेतन ब्रह्म स्वरूप है. उसी परमात्मा के स्वरूप को हम लोग धारण करें. जिस प्रयोजन के लिये जो सविता देव परमात्मा हमारी बुद्धियों को प्रेरणा करे अर्थात बुरे कामों से छुडा कर अच्छे कामों में प्रव्रित करे।

तात्पर्य यह है - तूने उत्पन्न किया, पालन कर रहा है तू
तुझसे ही पाते प्राण हम, दुखियों के कष्ट हर्ता तू
तेरा महान तेज़ है, छाया हुआ सभी स्थान
श्रीष्टी की वस्तु-वस्तु में तू हो रहा है विद्यमान
तेरा ही धरते ध्यान हम, मांगते तेरी दया
ईश्वर हमारी बुद्धि को, श्रेश्ठ मार्ग पर चला

The Practical aspect of Dhyan Yoga – II


The second part of this dhyana yoga involves meditating upon the light spot (of rising sun) in the center of our brain. The infusion of this light in our brain, in our mind, should inspire us to become a gyana yogi. The first sign of this progress is that – there should be nothing negative or illusive in our mind; our thoughts should be positive and constructive. In general, the human mind is flooded by strong currents of pell-mell thoughts and imaginations; the bedlam of passions and impulses keeps hovering around it like the fleas and mosquitoes around a drain. Sometimes our mind is boiling in anger; sometimes erotic thoughts perturb it; some moments we are thinking of a movie, soon we may begin to plan for the purchase of a lottery-ticket and dream about what we will do with the wealth gained thereby and what not! This way we keep recklessly wasting our mental energy in useless, purposeless and haphazard imaginations and thoughts. If we were alert and had focused our mind on constructive or analytical thinking and given a focused direction to our thoughts, we would have delved deeper in our selected field of knowledge; some of us would have become a Voltaire by now! If we had dived deeper in our psyche and given creative, enlightened direction to our imaginations, we might have been another Ravindranath Tagore.

Become a thinker. Focus on thinking faculty in specific directions, towards search for true knowledge. Controlled your thoughts and imaginations; never allow them fly randomly. Let them move in the self-chosen, sagacious directions. They generate and expand around noble ideals and motives. Block the entry of unnecessary, delusive or irrational thoughts. Do not allow any place in your mind casual thinking or uncontrolled imaginations

In the practice of gyana yoga, we must inculcate the insight and courage to eliminate and prevent the base elements that keep intruding in our minds. Instead, if we adopt the kind of thinking that is positive, sane and noble and nurture it firmly in our mental field, our mind could become a grand reservoir of knowledge. Precious pearls of deep knowledge, ideas and inspirations would then be discovered in its inner recesses. Like the Ganga emerging from the head of Lord Shiva, a spring of pure knowledge could gush out of our minds by the practice of gyana-yoga. Calmness and stability would then remain firm in our mind like the holy moon on the forehead of Lord Shiva. Our sixth sense – the extrasensory center of divine prudence would be activated like the opening of the Third Eye of Lord Shiva. This is the sadhana of gyana-yoga.

The light of the rising sun we meditate upon should illuminate our inner mind. It should refine our knowledge and focus our thoughts in constructive directions. If this spark of gyana kindles in our mind, it will be assumed that we have comprehended and assimilated the training of meditation, for which we have been guided. If we do not understand and adopt these teachings in practice, our dhyana will only remain a pleasant imagination and we will gain nothing worthwhile out of such shallow practices. Spirituality is not imagination; it is not a dreamy experience. It is real and experiential. It deals with every aspect of our life; it should be lived in our life today, every day. There is no place for dreams or myths in spirituality. God is not a creation of our dreams or imaginations. His presence should be reflected in all our daily activities.

Bhakti Yoga Included in Dhyana Yoga:

The third kind of light, which is to focus upon during this dhyana yoga is that of the inner self. It is the radiance of our intrinsic faith, our devotion, our sincerity, and our compassion, which sparkles all around in the form of pure love. Awakening of this love is the bhakti-yoga. We strengthen our body by practicing physical exercises and make use of the vigor thus gained in our routine chores and in the hard work required for transaction of our duties on multiple fronts. Similarly, when we begin with the devotion and love for God, the inner force of emotions we acquire through this bhakti (devotion) should also be utilized and expanded. We should love our gross body; if we love it, we must take good care of it; keep it neat and tidy; discipline it and maintain its health and harmony. This is a reflection of our love, our devotion for God’s creation. The same way our devotion should also extend towards our mind; we should look after it cautiously. We should not allow it to be disturbed or vitiated. It should be kept calm and serene. Thoughts stored in it should be bright and pristine like the glow of the sun.

We should also love our inner self, our soul. We have always neglected our soul. We have never experienced its presence. Ages have passed, but we have never heard its voice, or bothered about its aspirations. An old woman, entirely dependent upon us, keeps asking us to take her to the Himalayas for pilgrimage. We, engrossed in our selfish motives, won’t pay any attention. We might even reply rudely that – at this last phase of her life, why to worry about going here and there; she should just lie quietly wherever she is! It sounds strange, but this is how we have been treating our soul.

Our soul is a helpless captive in the smog of our ignorance. If we had loved it and taken proper care of it, it would have become so strong and active that its divine power would have transmuted us into angelic beings. But, this divine spark within us has practically been extinguished in our lives because of our misdeeds. If we can’t love our soul; then whom would we love? (Ask this question to yourself – whom do you love truly?). Do we love our wife? No, not really. We only long for the sensual pleasure and comforts she offers us. A leech sticks to the body and sucks the blood; most of us do the same with the lives of our wives. The youth of a wife is often ruined in satisfying the lust of her husband and in producing and taking care of the children. She gets prematurely aged and becomes a victim of varieties of ailments. Still he does not understand her problems, doesn’t care for her sickness. All her potentials, all her resources, have been sacrificed in the thankless service of the husband and his family. If we had truly loved our wife, we should have lovingly taken care of her health; should have helped uplifting her educational and mental levels; should have encouraged development of her talents. On the contrary, we have practically killed her future.

Do we have the noble sentiments of love and devotion? No! If these had a place in our heart, we would have looked after our old parents and other dependents with greater affection; we would have happily offered our altruistic services to the needy. We usually think that we have great love for our children. But, that also is a delusion. We mostly have attachment to them. We consider providing them with worldly comforts and worldly means as the best expression of love for them. We relentlessly endeavor to amass wealth and possessions that we could bequeath to our children as tokens of our love! But have we ever thought that wealth without virtues is a source of depravation? Thus by piling up comforts and pelf for our child, we simply make him a lustful, depraved and selfish person, who will spoil his own life and may become a burden for the society. How can we say that we truly love our child?

Do you know what love is? It is the sentiment of causeless joy derived from selflessly working for the welfare of beloved ones. It means giving; it means generosity, compassion, and selflessness. Bhakti-yoga aims at awakening of this divine sentiment; it means cultivation and expansion of compassion, kindness, altruism and love for sentient beings. This is what is true service and true devotion of God. Many of we think that worshipping a deity, bending the head at its feet, beseeching and crying before it, ringing the bells in a shrine, distributing some alms, etc is what serves the purpose of devotion. Is this what we call "navadha bhakti" (highest yoga of devotion)? No! This is only hypocrisy, mimicry and a caricature of devotion; it is far removed from real bhkati-yoga. It is self-deception. Well! Then, how will we practice bhakti-yoga? For this, we will have to understand its true meaning and adopt it with the help of the meditation on divine light. The feeling of "Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamaya" should emerge from the depths of our emotions while concentrating on the glow of rising sun in our heart. It implies emancipation of the soul, the inner self – from the darkness of ignorance into the eternal light of pure knowledge and divine love.

Deep and focused mental concentration is a major prerequisite for meditation. As small quantity of explosive material, condensed in a bullet and targeted through a gun, hits the focused aim. If we focus our potentials and efforts in a constructive direction, we would achieve the goal of our life. You must have heard about the glorious intrepidity and self-mastery of Arjuna in Mahabharat. He had perfected the art of focusing all his attention at the desired objective. This is why he was the only one who succeeded in piercing through the left eye of the rotating fish by his arrow just by looking at its image in the water below during the Swayamvara of Princess Draupadi. Hundreds of princes and kings had come to participate in this difficult contest of qualifying to marry Draupadi. Guru Dronacharya asked one common question from all his disciples during their training. When they stretched their bows and looked at the image of their target, he asked them – "What do you see?” someone replied "The entire fish", some said "Its head", etc. As predicted by Dronacharya, none of them could hit any part of the fish. Arjuna was the only one who saw nothing except the left eye of the fish. The Guru applauded his perfect mental concentration. Arjuna indeed hit the target and won Princess Draupadi’s hand. This is the secret of success in all walks of life. We do not accomplish anything significant, as our attention and interests are scattered in many directions. Control the agitation of your mind and focus it (as per the instructions) in the practice of dhyana yoga. Because of its wayward diversions, we are neither able to concentrate upon our studies nor to work for vigorous health; we are not able to do anything significant; there is always an instability in and scattering of our efforts. This haphazard state of our mind should be controlled with the help of meditation along with the devotional practices of japa. Our mind should be well organized and trained to imbibe the habit of "work while you work and play while you play". Be that a worldly task or spiritual practices, whatever we do should be done with full attentiveness. Deep mental concentration is a spiritual quality. Any effort carried out with one-pointed absorption of our mind leads to grand success.

We should try cultivating keen interest and focused approach, as the scientists have towards their fields of research. In terms of basic education or training, there may not be any difference between a scientist and someone who has merely passed a B.Sc. (first degree in science education). Who is a scientist? The one who is fully engrossed in his research and dives deeper and deeper, like a submarine in the ocean, to discover / invent the pearls of knowledge. Scientific achievements are the wonderful outcomes of rigorous mental concentration. This quality is essential for success in every walk of life. We need to apply it not only in our devotional practices but also in all the works we undertake.

People often think that they can’t engage their mind in devotional practices. It keeps jumping towards the worldly thoughts". "Does your mind ever get occupied in something with interest and attention?" Obviously, the answer will be "No; Not really". This is because we have not bothered to train our mind to focus. We do not recognize the potentials of a focused mind. We should train our mind to be alert and attentive and cultivate the tendency to enjoy the work at hand. In devotional or spiritual practices, we should have the deep mental absorption that emanates through the heart, like that of a yogi. If we sincerely practice the dhyana yoga, and learn to meditate upon light with deep fervor, our mental concentration will improve significantly. This depth of mental concentration together with our noble sentiments employed in this dhyana yoga will bless us with all that a great devotee of spirituality deserves.

The practical aspect of Dhyan Yoga-1
or
Dhyanayoga Ka Vyavaharik Kriyapaksha (ध्यान योगा का व्यवाहारिक क्रियापक्षा )

If we all begin with the collective chanting of the Gayatri Mantra, गायत्री मंत्र

"Om Bhur Buvah Swah, Tatsaviturvarenyam Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi, Dhiyo Yonah Prachodayat " ओउम भूर भवः स्वाहा तत्सा वितुरवारेनियम भर्गो देवाश्य धीमही धियोयो नाः प्रचो दयातः ॥

There will be tremendous effect of the Mantra मंत्र

There is a need of special training of dhyana ध्यान (meditation) together with Gayatri upasana. गायत्री उपासना There are two modes of upasana उपासना(worship) –– those of the name and the form (of God). There could be no devotional practice without God’s name and form. These two are supposed to be the universal modes of worship. Look at any religion, we will find the use of God’s name and/or form in their modes of worship. Mohammedans recite the name of Allah on tasabiha; Christian Priests chant God’s name with the help of a rosary; the Arya Samajis आर्या समाजी meditate upon divine form as sunlight; the yogis of Nada Yoga नाद योग concentrate upon the sublime sounds of the Omnipresent. In any case, the support of meditation (with Divine name or form) is essential for true worship. This is why this has been advised to practice meditation along with the japa जप of the Gayatri Mantra. गायत्री मंत्र

Mental concentration on some gross object – e.g. an idol, or a picture of a deity, is most convenient for the majority of people; because, the human mind, in general, is not so developed that it could be focused for a stretch of time without any visible or perceptible symbol. However, with sincere practice, one begins to realize the presence of God in his inner self and learns to meditate upon it, without any external symbol.

First of all ….we should know, what is the meaning of dhyana yoga ध्यान योग ? Well, let us try to understand it. As we all might know, our life has two facets. One is the external, which is most familiar to us. The holes in our ears open externally; our eyes also open up externally and keep watching what is happening in the outside world. We can see the things outside but we don’t even get a glimpse of what is there inside us. Is there nothing? No! The real substance, the essence is all inside us. They might be manifested externally but the basic elements of life lie deep within.

Where is our life force? It is not outside; it is inside…. And what about the intellect through which we earn wealth and gain respect? That also is not external, but, an internal potential. We don’t see introvert and often keep wondering why God has befuddled mankind by giving us instruments of perception of the external things and events but no fine-tuned instrument of knowledge of the inner world. We never notice the immense treasure of talents, virtues and divinity, hidden inside our own self. What is easily seen by us is – my child, my material property, my this, my that, and what not! But we can’t see our future; The Omnipresent God and our souls are also far beyond our perception. What to say about the inner world, we can’t even see many components of our own body. We can’t look at out own eyes. Let’s we just try to see (without a mirror) how is our nose, how are our eyebrows? How do our eyelids look like? If we can’t even see these gross external parts of the body, how will we see what is inside? When we peep into our inner world and attempt to know it, we perform some kind of dhyana. In fact, dhyana yoga ध्यान योग is the best method of seeing inside.

Well, so what should be the focus of dhyana ध्यान? Who to meditate upon? One’s inner self or the Almighty God? These two are not really different. Enlightened evolution of the inner self is God. Our ultimate spiritual evolution is – shivoaham, शिवाहम sachidanandoaham,सचिदा नन्दहुम tatvamasi,तत्वाम्सी ayamatmabrahm, अयामत्म्ब्रह्म pragyanambrahm. प्रग्यानाम्ब्रह्म These five great maxims of Vedanta वेदांता affirm that the soul, in its absolutely pure form, itself is God. Take the example of coal and diamond. Except for a minor difference in the atomic structure, the two are quite the same. Diamond is thus a refined form of coal. The soul and God are also basically the same except for the fact that the former is expressed within a limited identity (confined to the individual self) whereas the latter is unbounded, infinite. One is manifested in a tiny domain, while the other is gigantic, unlimited…. One is bounded by the thralldoms of maya माया , while the other is absolutely free. This is the only difference between us and The Divine. This difference is there because of the mist of ignorance covering up the resplendence of our inner self that keeps us cut off from our eternal origin. If we refine and illumine ourselves (by the purifying radiance of virtues and righteous knowledge) we can attain our soul-reality and also God-awareness. This is why (during the dhyana yoga) we meditate upon light; focus our attention upon the inner self, upon the sublime roots of our being and its ultimate goal….

That is why Rishi Muni ऋषी मुनी and our ancestor advised us to meditate upon the rising sun?". The brilliance of rising sun is a symbol of divine light. We may feel its radiance in our mind during this meditation, or may get a reflection of Goddess Gayatri गायत्री . It doesn’t matter if instead of sunlight we experience the deity’s image or some divine reflection. That only shows the degree of progress of our dhyana ध्यान . Don’t mistake the physical light as some of we might interpret. Here it means the divine light, or the sublime glow of pure knowledge. It is not the physical illumination; rather it is the radiance of spirituality and true knowledge. We pray "Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamaya" –"तमसो माँ ज्योतिर्गाम्या" ‘O’ Lord! Take us from the darkness towards light; here again, we mean from ignorance to knowledge. In spirituality, the word "light" is always used in the context of enlightenment, pure knowledge. (This is what should be understood by us in reality).

We should feel and imagine the sunlight presence. The sunlight focused successively at three points – the navel, the heart and the brain (especially the deeper core inside and above the centre of the forehead). These three regions contain the sublime nuclei of power for our three bodies – the physical, the subtle and the astral body. All these points should be enlightened (in our imagination and inner experience during this practice of dhyana yoga ध्यान योग); the brilliance of sunlight should enter all the three bodies. What does it imply? It implies the inherent philosophy and practical aspects of the three principal yogas योगा .

Karma Yoga कर्म योगा taught through Dhyana Yoga ध्यान योग:

In the first step of this practice of dhyana yoga ध्यान योग, we should imagine and try to feel as though the glow of sunlight is being absorbed by our navel. It means that the spark of praña प्राण should enter our physical body from the navel and flow in every vein, every artery and every cell…. Why from the navel? Because this is the connecting point of the umbilical cord between the mother and the fuetus and is therefore regarded as the energy centre of the body. As the vital elements from our mother’s body, that enabled our healthy birth, used to enter our body from the navel, the light (strength) of God is also induced in it through the same centre. When this light will be infused in our body, our bones, our blood, our flesh, all will shine. By this illumination it will induce energy, enthusiasm, alacrity, courage, and commitment to responsibilities, industriousness, and zeal for hard work, motivation for altruist service and love and joy for selfless fulfillment of duties. These qualities will help us accomplish our karma-yoga कर्म योगा. The "Karma-Yoga" is the yoga योगा of the body that means, this yoga योगा pertains to the worldly domains of our life and our deeds. One who meditates upon light in the navel region cannot sit idle. He will always be busy in good actions.

There are three streams of yoga योगा– karma-yoga कर्म योगा, gyana-yoga ज्ञान योगा and bhakti-yoga भक्ती योगा . It has been told that this is to be inculcating the practice of all these yoga’s योगा through the medium of light. Whenever the light of divinity will descend upon a person, it will inspire karma-yoga कर्म योगा in his physical being, in his conduct. Then the person will become more duty-bound; work will be ‘worship’ for him. The deeds of worship, service, social welfare and the actions pertaining to transactions of responsibilities, adoption of moral ideals, etc fall under karma-yoga कर्म योगा. These teach us that when our body absorbs the light (of praña प्राण ), we should become hard-working, our every action should be devoted to selfless duty.

It conveys that – one who meditates upon light should not be lethargic, lazy or dishonest. One who eats and earns without being sincere to his work is equivalent to a thief. We may find great joy in sitting and relaxing at home – doing just nothing, when our son is grown up and he is earning for the family. But this is a sign of lethargy; slothful luxury is worse than dishonesty. It is the worst abuse of our human hood. Insincerity to work and sluggishness are the most disgusting blots on the dignity of mankind. We may argue– "but I have worked so many years and now I am getting pension after retirement….” No, we should not sit idly and make merriment. Till we are alive (and able to move our body), we must do some work. We may have enough resources for our self and our family. But, there are others in the society, who has nothing; so we should work to give something to these others. Our children have studied and are well settled. But, there are many youngsters who are not able to go to school. So we should rise up from our narrow mindedness and lethargy. Try running a night school and teach the children of others.

So! When the light, which we meditate upon, will flow in our body as energy and alacrity, we should work like a karma-yogi कर्म योगा; apply the best of our efforts and hard work towards transaction of our duties as a good human being, towards noble aims till the last breath. We are all bound by our duties towards the society, nation and religion (ethics); we should bear these responsibilities gracefully. If we adopt this attitude and transmit it into our deeds, then only we are karma-yogi कर्म योगा, and have truly learnt to practice the dhyana yoga ध्यान योग.

Lord Shiva and the Philosophy of His devotion

Implications of Scriptural Depictions:

The scriptural descriptions narrate the simplicity of the wedding ceremony of Shiva and Parvati. He did not go after big people or gods of heavens to join the wedding procession. Rather, he took the ghosts and the palitas along. As praised in the following hymn of the Ramacharit Manas –– "Tanu Kshina Kou Ati Pita, Pavan Kou Apavan Tanu Dhare" (Those with ugly, horrifying and diseased bodies were also among Shiva’s Baraatis). Shiva had taken due care of even the deprived and down trodden ones. We should also broaden our hearts and pay attention to those scorned by the society. If we cannot get rid of our hatred, fears and prejudices, we can never enjoy the sense of bliss and fulfillment, the devotees of Shiva deserve.

What is the meaning of your worship and devotion if you don’t learn anything from the truth, from the philosophy of your Deity? You will just continue to perform some rituals, keep crying and praying at His feet without any improvement in your life. Remember that Shiva does not need your flowers and other offerings of worship. Your devotion is real only if you adopt its philosophy in every aspect of life.

An Ox (named Nandi) is said to be the mount of Lord Shankar (Shiva). Why? What does it imply? Well, an ox is known to be an assiduous animal. Any laborious, industrious human can become God Shiva’s favorite irrespective of whether he is an Indian, British, French or any one else…. We all know that God helps those who help themselves. The ox symbolizes strength, courage and hard work in our (Indian) culture. If you want to become a devotee of Lord Shiva, you will have to be courageous and depend upon your own wisdom and endeavors. No one will open the doors of progress for you. You alone will have to come forward and initiate your ascent in the desired direction. Do you know who rides on a buffalo? Shanicar! (Saturn, as described in the Puranas). A buffalo represents lethargy, dullness and escapism from labor or hard work. It can never be an aid of Shiva. Shiva likes the ever energetic, assiduous ox, Nandi. The latter is described in the Puranas as the vehicle of Shiva (in human form). Shiva takes care of it and loves this pet. You and I should also try to cultivate the qualities of this ox; this is what God wants His devotees to be like…

What else have you read or heard about Lord Shiva from the scriptural descriptions? That He lives in the marghat (crematorium)! Why should He do so? Well, this again is a symbolic depiction. It teaches us that we should always remember death. We get so engrossed in the worldly affairs that we almost forget that death could knock at our door any moment… and then we will have to leave this world instantly. We seem to remember everything else but this bitter reality of life. If we had remembered the absolute fact that we had to die some day or the other, our attitude towards life would have been different. In that case, we would have cared for what we ought and what we ought not to do? We would have been more alert towards our duties.

A home and a crematorium are alike for a duty-bound, altruist person who has acquired pure knowledge. Such a wise man knows that this moment he is living comfortably in the house but any other moment he would be no more and his body would rest in peace in a crematorium or a graveyard; then he will have new life and a new home and so on…. Today’s life would be tomorrow’s death, which would again turn into new life some day… This is how the cycle of life continues… Life and death are like the relay games of day and night. Then why should we be scared of death? Rather, we should remember it to make our life more meaningful, more useful, more enlightened every day. This is another significant teaching of Shiva’s Philosophy of Life.

If we look carefully and ponder over it, we will find that innumerable teachings are hidden in Lord Shiva’s manifestations as we see Him in the temples and religious stories. We often find His depiction in human-like form with a coating of ash on his body. If we knew the righteous attitude of life and the ideal mode of living, the importance of this ash-coating would have been crystal clear to us. Many of us put the bhasm (ash) of the sacred fire of yagya (agnihotra or homam) on our forehead with great reverence. But do we know the meaning of this religious ritual? The most important implication of smearing bhasm on any part of the body is to recall the Vedic teaching of "Bhasmantaka Goum Shariram" – this body is going to become (a heap of) ash one day. That means, this body might either get mixed in the soil or water or fly like the dust particles with the wind. This physical body of ours, which we are so proud of and are so much attached to, is going to be crushed (with the soil) beneath others’ feet one day.

If we are His true devotees, the bhasm on Shiva’s body should constantly remind us of this ultimate reality and therefore keep us away from the ego and attachments that arise because of our mistaken identity with the physical body.

The Third Eye:

The three eyes of Lord Shiva are often the focus of mythological interpretations and mystic curiosity. Representation of His manifestation in humanlike form should have shown only two eyes like the normal humans have. Is the third eye mere all egoric depiction? Or, does it signify some hidden facets…? In fact, the third eye symbolizes the source of sagacity – pure, discreet wisdom. This center in the human body is hidden subtly in an endocrine gland inside the brain right behind the position (on the forehead) where the third eye of Shiva is depicted.

You all might have read a story in the holy Ramayana or in some other shastric scripture which mentions of Kamadeva being burnt into ashes due to the opening of Shiva’s third eye. Kamadeva the Lord of amour had once tried to sinfully entice and influence Lord Shiva Then, Lord Shiva just opened His third eye. The divine radiations emanating there from instantly burnt the gross body of Kamadeva Have you ever thought about the truth behind this mythological anecdote? It conveys the fact that the insidious force of erotic thoughts and sexual excitation can be instantly checked and eliminated if our discerning prudence is awakened. The opening of the third eye means awakening of our sagacity and creative activation of our inner wisdom.

The third eye is subtly located in the third dimension inside our brain. It teaches us to look into the deeper aspects of every phenomenon, every thought and every experience. Our ordinary eyes (the two eyes on our faces) see only extrovertly; they can only show us our materialistic gains and losses or the worldly affairs in the limited peripheries of our interactions. The needs of the body or the sense organs are easily seen by them. But there is a third eye, which opens inward. It enables us to look deeply in the sublime folds of mind and shows us the world of inner peace, everlasting happiness and absolute truth. This is the eye of foresight and clairvoyance.

When a sincere devotee of Lord Shiva seeks refuge under His grace, he first inspects his own character and conduct to check whether or not he measures up to the virtuous standards with respect to the philosophy of Shiva. The human-like image of God Shiva is a kind of an ideal model for the true devotee. A potter makes a pot in the desired design by processing and fixing the clay into appropriate mold. The devotee should also try to mold his personality, his attitude, his thinking, his life, etc as per the ideals of his Deity. Our worship and devotional practices have no meaning without commensurate endeavors of refinement and improvement in our thoughts, behavior and deeds.

The Sanskrit word for devotional worship is "Upasana ", which literally means ‘sitting nearby’. Sitting near the fire makes us feel warm. Similarly, sitting near God should inspire us with His attributes. Sitting in the closed vicinity of a powerful source of energy would bestow the associated significant effects on us only if there is a linkage, a direct connection between the source and the beneficiary. A piece of wood becomes fire only when it sacrifices itself in the fire nearby. This is how "upasana " brings the desired results only if the devotee sets a live linkage of his inner self with the Deity of his worship. For this, he has to discipline and mold himself as per the inspirations of his God. We, the aspirants of the beatitude of Lord Shiva, should also consciously and ceaselessly attempt at transforming ourselves according to the ideals of His manifestation. We should endeavor opening our third eye (that means, awaken our intuitive insight and pure intellect).

The very purpose of murti puja (idol-worship) in Indian Culture is to enable the masses to access and imbibe the teachings and inspirations of divine emanations. Every idol, every symbol of God’s manifestation represented here is indicative of some important teaching related to the spiritual evolution of human consciousness. Today, I gave you the example of Shankar “(Shiva ) in this context and tried to explain the principles, the occult implications of His worship and devotion. Unfortunately, we often get engrossed in worshipping the gross form – the idol of God and consider the performance of some customary rituals, chanting of some prayers etc as all that is required for His devotion. Even if we have read or heard about the occult significance of the symbols of divine manifestations, we don’t seem to remember anything. We just want to take shortcuts and regard ourselves great devotees simply by symbolic worship.

The word "Shiva " in Sanskrit means highest good. Lord Shiva (Shiva ) is the presiding Deity of eternal, auspicious well-being of all creation. But we, the so-called worshippers of Shiva f”ko never even think of global good. (Forget about global, we don’t even attempt to expand the narrow domain of our selfish interests and engage ourselves in altruistic service and uplift-ment of the needy around us). We keep chanting "Om Namah Shivaya " but don’t bother to know its meaning; in reality, Shiva is far away from our lives. We don’t even know what is the true well-being of our soul or our own life and how to attain it? The japa ti (rhythmic chanting) of Shiva’s name will be beatifying if "Shiva " (Highest Good) is embodied in our attitude, aspirations, thoughts and deeds. It is time we realize that worshipping only the external, gross form is no better than not doing anything at all.

Be Blessed by Shiva’s Grace:

The Almighty God of Hindu religion for whom we observe fasting on Shivaratri, perform japa, ceremonial worship, sacred ablution (abhisheka) and what not… can’t He, the Omnipotent, destroy all evils and eliminate our adversities? Can’t He help us in our progress? He indeed can and He will, if we are His deserving devotees. He loves all of us and wants to bestow all His grace upon us; but it is our infirmities, our vices that hinder or limit the flow of His blessings. His grace is like the water-laden clouds. (The clouds shower the treasure of rains without discrimination wherever they fall). But how much water a pond or a pot would collect from the rain depends upon its own capacity. If we deserve, we will surely be beatified by Shiva’s enormous generosity. His beatitudes will continue to grow as our abilities, our merits increase and we shall get everything that a true devotee of Shankar deserves.

We discussed today the meaning and philosophy of the gross manifestations of Lord Shiva as described in the Puranas. A large number of stories and rhetoric descriptions are also available in the texts that lucidly illustrate the great teachings and philosophies of the other incarnations and manifestations of Hindu Gods. There lived about 33 crore people on the Indian subcontinent in the Vedic Age. They were the true devotees, spiritually enlightened, virtuous men and women, who, because of their divine characteristics were revered as 33 crore devatas on this earth. If we had tried to search and grasp the truth behind the teachings of the Puranas and put into practice the Vedic philosophy, we also would have been like those pearls of the human society and would have gloriously accomplished the divine purpose of our life.

We are lucky to have been born on this sacred land, which once upon a time was the Land of gods. It can and should still regain its glory, if we, the devotees, the worshipers of the Vedic (Indian) Philosophy, sincerely adopt its values and attempt towards spiritual elevation of our conduct and refinement of the ambience around us. Divine beings generate love, peace, beauty, piety, bliss and prosperity wherever they go. You should also adopt and expand such qualities. I wish you all the success in your endeavors to proceed in this direction. Thank you for listening with patience.

The Supreme Significance of the Gayatri Mantra gaaytree mantr गायत्री मन्त्र

"Gayatri Mahamantra Ki Mahatta." गायत्री महामंत्र की महता
"Om Bhur Bhuvah Swah, Tatsaviturvarenyam Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi, Dhiyo Yonah Prachodayat " ॐ भूर भुवः स्वाहा , तत्स्वितुर वरेनियम भर्गो देवशय धी मही धियो यो नः प्रोचोदय्तः

Historic evidences show the greatness of the Gayatri Mantra गायत्री मन्त्र . All the yogis yogee and the rishis in India have taken the shelter of Gayatri sadhana gaayatree since the vedic times. They were endowed with super mental powers and were the true winners of immortal glory on every front of life. When Alexander the Great came to conquer India; he had a curiosity to meet the spiritual masters of this land. On his way towards the northwest, he found a Himalayan yogi lying on the ground, blocking the march of his army. Alexander was unable to push this avadhuta (one who has shaken off himself from the worldly attachments and obligations) off the path and asked him to demand whatever he wanted. The avadhuta calmly asked whether Alexander could shift sunrise (from the East) to the West? If not, the avadhuta continued, "Then don’t disturb me; let me enjoy the sunlight from the East…". This was the inner strength, the divine courage induced by the Gayatri Mantra by which a mendicant saint could so easily put to shame the ‘conqueror of the world’.

When the divine force of the Gayatri Mantra fills the heart (the emotional core) of a person it clears all shadows of darkness and illuminates the inner self with divine light. It transforms the personality completely. What does that lead to? It is this transmutation, which metamorphosed the royal dancer Amrapali into a devoted disciple of Lord Buddha. When Amrapali went to Lord Buddha she prayed and asked whether an impure, debauched and depraved person like her could also get shelter under his divine grace and enlighten her life. The Buddha asked her to devotedly start the sadhana of a specific mantra. Amrapali, who was a luxury-intoxicated beauty queen of her age, a sex trader, followed the instruction with confidence and determination inspired by Gautam Buddha. This purified her mind and emotions and transformed her into a great disciple of the Buddha. She donated all her wealth and belongings for altruist service through dhamma, renounced all worldly comforts and became a bhikshuni. She spread the divine message of "Bhuddham Sharanam Gacchami, Sangham Sharanam Gacchami, Dhammam Sharanam Gacchami" amongst millions of people across the globe and was instrumental in uplifting their lives.

This is the grace of the divine force of the Gayatri Mantra that transforms an ordinary mortal being into a great, enlightened, angelic saint. The mantra enjoins us as to what should be our devotional sentiments, our prayers through the heart while performing the japa of this mantra. It says – "Oh Almighty, Omni eminent, Omniscient, Omnipresent God! May Thy supreme radiance be embodied in our souls! May it inspire our intellect towards the enlightened, righteous path".

Since the time, this cosmic mantra, the boon of Lord Brahma, was beatified in the Vedic Age, there awakened the dawn of the divine culture on this earth. Those who practiced its devotional japa, and adopted its inspirations in life received immense peace, blissful contentment, moral dignity, selfless love and amicable cooperation in every phase of life. Even today, every one – including those deprived of everything, living in the filth of immorality, those shrouded by ignorance, infirmity or the challenges of circumstances –rise gracefully out of the clutches of misery with the grace of the Gayatri Mantra. Indeed many are doing so and marching towards noble and righteous living. Sure, there could be and will be a variation in the time and degree of manifestation of its marvelous effects – depending upon our present level of consciousness, but the elevation begins right from the first day. Mantras can’t instantly and magically grow trees on palms. However there is nothing illusive or unscientific about their effects; there should be no doubt whatever about this. The spiritual evolution induced by the Gayatri Mantra progresses gradually and steadily - but certainly, with the progress in sadhana. Many live examples of the past and present evince and illustrate this fact.

Madhavacharya was a saint living in Virandavan. He performed the upasana of Gayatri for twelve years but lost patience thereafter, as he did not get the desired divine benefits. He was quite distressed at that time. He left the sadhana of the Gayatri Mantra and began worshiping Bhairav on the advice of a tantrika. In less than a year's time he succeeded in the sadhana of Bhairav. The celestial body of Bhairav appeared but stood at his back and asked him to demand what he wanted to be blessed with. Madhavacharya said; "If you are the real Bhairav, please appear before my eyes". Bhairav said: "I can't appear in front of you, because the brilliance of Gayatri- Shakti infused in you will burn me".

The devotee was surprised and inquired that if Gayatri sadhana was so powerful, why couldn't he get the desired benefits for such a long time? Then Bhairav explained to him how his Gayatri sadhana up till then had destroyed his sins and burnt out the evils accumulated during his past lives and that it was only after this purification that he would have deserved realization and attainment of the divine boons of the mantra. Now there was no doubt left in Madhava’s mind. He restarted the sadhana of the Gayatri Mantra and was soon blessed with divine boons. With the awakening of inner intelligence and acumen, he wrote the "Madhav Nidan", which remains till date, a crucial treatise for the education and expert practice of the Ayurvedic System of Medicine.

The effects of the Gayatri sadhana are indeed miraculous. Once the Indian emperor Akbar called his Prime Minister Mansingh and told him to look for some extraordinary means to protect the construction of his fort in Prayag, which, despite the best of efforts and all precautionary measures, had mysteriously collapsed eighteen times in the initial stages of construction. Mansingh also was puzzled about this mishap. He went to Prayag and stayed there with bleak the hope of getting some clue from somewhere. One day when he was strolling in the forests by the banks of the holy Ganga, he saw a saintly yogi engrossed in meditation. Suddenly he noticed a python around the yogi which was trying to entrap the latter into its fold and gulp him. Amazingly, the dragon-folds of the boa were not able to tighten around the yogi, nor his poisonous breath able to have any effect. He stood stunned for a few minutes. Meanwhile, the yogi opened his eyes and effortlessly threw off the python by the power of his yoga. Mansingh could not believe his own eyes; he had vividly and concretely witnessed the supernatural strength of spirituality. His head was on the feet of the seer.

This saint was known as Devmurari Baba. Mansingh narrated the mysterious riddle of the fort before the Baba. He said: "We don’t know what kind of a curse it is that the construction of the fort has been ruined eighteen times". The yogi went into deep meditation for some time and then kept a dry flower (manjari) of basil on Mansingh’s hand. He said – “Put this beneath the foundation of the fort then there will be no problem”. Devmurari Baba was a siddha sadhaka of Gayatri and was renowned and revered for his super-mental powers. He used to give a manjari, empowered by his spiritual energy, to everyone who would come to him seeking some help. That used to have miraculous effects. The manjari given to Mansingh also proved the invisible, indefinable, omnipotence of the Gayatri Mantra by providing stout foundation and support to the mighty fort.

Friends! The power of mantra is indeed real and immense. That of the Gayatri Mantra is indeed supreme, astonishing and infinite. The sublime force generated by its japa sadhana can vibrate in the subtle as well as the external world. Nothing remains unattained or unaccomplished after the beatitude of its divine powers. Its immediate benefit of purification and enlightenment of the intellect is the key to spiritual refinement and evolution of personality. Its sadhana can transform an ordinary man or woman into a great saint, yogi or Rishi, having angelic potentials. I invite you here and guide you to perform the Anushthana (sadhana) of the Gayatri Mantra so that the untoward tendencies and vices assimilated during your past lives can be erased and you begin to rise towards the sunlit path. Cleansing of our inner cores is essential so that the new, virtuous tendencies can be cultivated there.

We should adopt the japa - sadhadna of Gayatri Mantra as an integral part of our daily life. It is the mantra for the welfare of every being. We should also inspire our friends, acquaintances and family members to perform the japa of this universal mantra and spread this light to the people in our neighborhood, colony, and city and so on. Its collective sadhana can arouse collective consciousness and bestow all-round happiness and progress in the world together with the spiritual up-liftment of mankind. The Puranas describe so many instances of global well being through such efforts.

It was rare in the ancient times that the Indian land suffered a calamitous famine. It happened once due to a near total drought across the country. All the ponds and wells dried up. Cattle, birds and even humans began to die of starvation. Panicked savants went to Rishi Gautam for support and relief. Rishi Gautam was a great, accomplished sadhaka of Gayatri those days. He was moved after hearing the agony of the masses; he gave them the akshaya patra (a celestial pot that offers food and water without any limit and is never emptied), which was a boon the divine force of Gayatri had blessed him with.

Yes, the siddhas of Gayatri Mantra do have such miraculous powers, but they use them judiciously and only for deserving cases. Don't be under the delusive impression that, doing the japa, anusthana, havan, etc under my guidance during your stay here will magically endow you with extraordinary powers. Nothing can be achieved without developing the necessary abilities and eligibility. It is all the more essential for the invaluable attainment of divine blessings.

Spiritual development can't begin without purifying the body, the mind, the sentiments, and adopting a moral conduct. The gamut of ascetic disciplines, penance and yoga sadhanas, etc, were devised and practiced by the rishis for this noble purpose. They had accomplished absolute self-refinement and moral elevation through Gayatri Sadhana. They had conquered the ego and desires. They wanted instead to serve for the welfare of all beings. A seed cannot germinate and grow into a fructifying tree without dissolving itself in the soil and water; it is only after breaking and softening that it can absorb the fertilizing substances. Blossoming of divine realization also is not possible without the immersion of the identity of the individual self in the cosmic self. How could our personality sparkle unless we remove the mist of vices, blemishes and smog of ignorance? The kinds of sadhana courses you are to undergo here from time to time are meant to help you in this essential process of self-refinement.

We all know that no crop could grow on barren land; plaguing it is a sheer wastage of effort. The same is true of heartless practice of devotion. If our mind and heart are filled with ego, selfish attachments, jealousy, hatred and similar filth, where and how will the serene sentiments of devotion find place? How would we attain the nectar of devotion of the Gayatri Mantra without paving the way for its descent? The Guru, the noble spiritual master, alone can diagnose the inner ailments and help in the cleansing, curing and refinement of the disciple's life. Guru means the source of light. There can be no darkness once the light is switched on. We know how Virjanand had elevated his deserving disciple Dayanand, Samarth Guru Ramdas had empowered Shivaji, Ramkrishana had beatified Vivekanand with such remarkable siddhis.

A Guru wants annihilate all darkness from our lives, want to illuminate our inner selves by divine light. We should empty our accumulated vices and weaknesses here and make place to take in something worthy from here, which will make us a better, a stronger person.

We should not live only for bodily comforts and selfish joys; we have to learn to lift our self above this ordinary level of life. Our awakening, our nobility will gladden Guru. It will also please God. We should not worry about our personal problems and the pains that we have gone through. God will care to remove our adversities and worries. We will go with full confidence and courage. May God bless us in our efforts towards self-improvement and support the progress of our sadhana.