Panchamukhi Ganapathi

 

A beautiful black Panchamukhi Ganapathi in Mauritius Spiritual Park. I will visit Him one day soon :-)

Image courtesy : TAKA

I visited a nearby Ganesha temple and Sai baba temple on Monday and surprisingly that night Sathya Sai Baba came in my cousin’s dream and gave an instruction to me. Thanks Baba for everything.

Pilgrimage Trip Learning's

 

Had a wonderful darshan of Shirdi Sai Baba @ Shirdi for more than 10 minutes. Though heavily crowded there was a sense of peace I could feel in it. Other visits included Dhagdu Sheth Ganapathi temple and Lord Siva @ Pune and Shani temple @ Shani Shingapur.

The learning's from the trip were many. In a nutshell it was along the following lines.

• The importance of the practice of tyêmmûîf state in Shum language - the state of being of protecting the inner life by remaining two-thirds within inner consciousness and one-third in external consciousness. The peace it generates in mind is really amazing especially even at the end of a long tiring day. This in turn leads to better health as well.
• The importance of keeping the physical body fit by not feeding it too much/too less of food and its effect on the mind.
• How People live in greedy states of consciousness and the way lack of fulfillment in life is driving them for aggressive marketing (@Shingapur)
• The sense of “pursuit of happiness” driven by lack of fulfillment in every person whether it is a better job, better spouse, better car etc.
• The way people react in anger for a short amount of time (by totally identifying themselves with the ego) @ specific circumstances.
• Many people living with so many voices in their mind all the time. This is exactly what the wise folks say “we are a crowd inside us”
• The power of staying unattached to circumstances, places, events or people as mentioned in this post.

Jivana Nadi (The River of Life)

Four important things i learnt from my guru during my pilgrimage trip to Tiruvannamalai (see here to know why the place is so great for Hindus), can be summarized as :-

* Practicing Affectionate Detachment.
* Clearing the Subconscious Basement.
* Being like the River water.
* What does it mean when people say "Nobody Understands me".

Practicing Affectionate Detachment

Affectionate detachment is stronger than any attachment could possibly be, because attachment is created through unfulfilled desire, salted and peppered with fear. Fear of loss, fear of the unexpected, fear that life may not have much more to offer than what has already been offered, fear of old age, fear of harm, fear of accident -- these are the fears which salt and pepper the unfulfilled desires. This is attachment.

To be affectionately detached -- that is a power. That is a wisdom. That is a love greater than any emotional love, a love born of understanding, a love that merges you into the river of life and allows actinic force to flow within you so that you realize God.

There is a great wisdom in cultivated affectionate detachment. Let go of the past. Let go of the future. Be a being right now. Being detached does not mean running away from life or being insensitive. It makes us extremely sensitive. When we have the ability to let go, we are warmer, more friendly, more wholesome, more human and closer to our family and friends.



Subconscious Basement

I liken the subconscious mind to a basement. Those of you who have lived in the same house for a number of years have observed the following: as life progresses in the home, old things make way for the new, and the old things invariably are put into the basement. The basement is likened to the subconscious mind; the main floor, to the conscious mind. If one is putting too many things too fast into the basement and is too busy enjoying the new things passing through the conscious mind into the subconscious basement, there is no time to keep the basement in order.

You can plainly see that we have to go into the subconscious basement and straighten it out, if need be, by letting go and becoming free. That's easy to say. It's a little more difficult to do. Why? Because the basement took time to fill, and it takes time to clean. If we were to straighten out the subconscious basement too fast, that would not be good. It would be going against a natural law. It would be like pouring hot water on plants, as they do commercially, to make them bloom quickly. We must not force natural laws, so we take time in our spiritual unfoldment. The more time you are willing to take, the less pressure you have on yourself and the faster you will attain a permanent enlightenment.

"Nobody Understands Me"

In practicing affectionate detachment, we are learning to live in the here and now, right in the moment. We are awakening the power of direct cognition, the power that enables us to understand what happens, when it happens and why it happens.We are tuning into the river of life, the great actinic flow. This river flows directly from the essence of being through the subconscious basement and the conscious-mind main floor, creating life's experiences. Along the way, our cognition of these experiences completes the cycle of its continual flow. That is what we have to learn to tune into. All of our higher teachings give us that wisdom. It is a great step to learn it intellectually and to be able to talk about it, but once that step has been taken, it is not a great step anymore.

This wisdom must first be applied at home, then at work. Then it has to be applied among all of your acquaintances and friends. Everyone should understand you and about you, and if you feel there is someone close to you who does not understand you, that signifies that the part of yourself that this person represents does not understand what you think they do not understand. If someone who is close to you does not understand your inner nature, you do not understand your inner subconscious yourself. Why? Because you have only intellectually grasped certain things; you have not fully realized these concepts. He, the friend, as a reflection of yourself, therefore, will not quite grasp your studies or your concepts. As soon as you understand yourself, by having purified yourself, you can explain your realization to your friends in a way they will understand.

Those who say "Well, nobody understands me. I feel all alone on the path" are going through a period in which they have memorized everything but understand very little and therefore cannot explain or convince their fellow man of these great truths due to the fact that their subconscious basement is still full. When we only learn intellectually and have not put dharma into practice, our subconscious is still cluttered by uncognized memories.



Being like the River Water

Let's look again at the river of life as it flows into the sea, and again relate that to ourselves and see ourselves letting go of the river banks, merging ourselves into this river, flowing with it and realizing ourselves as the essence of life. Let us not worry about the past ever again. Do not even think about the past. Face everything that comes up in the light of the present, not in the darkness of the past.



Be like the river water. Water flows freely anywhere, easily finding its way around rocks and trees. Be pliable in your life, moving in rhythm with life. Let go of everything that blocks the river of life's energy. Watch your thinking and be careful of your thoughts. Judge every action that you make, judge every word you speak, with this law: "Is it true? Is it kind? Is it helpful? Is it necessary?" Become your own kind judge and make each second a day of judgment, for each second is really a day if you live life fully. If you live completely each second, you will experience many days inside each twenty-four hours.

Be free from life's attachments and don't allow any more negative attachments to occur in your life. Loosen yourself -- be free. Attachments bring all sorts of complications. Freedom brings no complications at all. So, that is what we have to do, recreate our lives each second. Become affectionately detached and manifest a greater love through action. Selfless service to mankind makes you free in the world of mortals. Measure yourself objectively with the river of life and merge with it into the sea of life. Let your service to mankind begin at home and radiate out to the world. Begin at home, with those closest to you, before venturing out among friends and strangers. Let your example be your first teaching. Be free from the past; abide in the present; detach yourself from the future; and live in the eternal now.

Close your eyes and visualize a river flowing into the sea, and see yourself holding on to the bank of the river, and the river flowing on past you. Now let go of the bank of the river and flow down with the river and merge into the sea of life. Feel yourself, right at this instant, living in the here and now. Holding on to the river bank, we hold the consciousness of time and space. Holding on to the banks of the river of life is to recreate within you fear, worry, doubt, anxiety and nervousness. Detach yourself from the banks of the river and again be free. Love the banks as you pass, with a love born of understanding, and if you have no understanding of the bank, study your attachments until you do.


Learn to concentrate the mind so that you can study not from books, but from observation, which is the first awakening of the soul. Learn to study by practice. Learn to study by application. Become a student of life and live life fully, and as you merge into the sea of actinic life, you will realize that you are not your mind, your body or your emotions. You will realize that you are the complete master of your mind, your body and your emotions.

2nd Visit to Kalahasti

Srikalahasti, the great place of piligrimage where Lord Shiva's devotees came into light, it was a spider (sri), a snake (kala) and an elephant(hasti). The pooja went well and we (me and my parents) were seated close to Lord Shiva in the form of a Shiv Ling and Rahu and Ketu in front of Him. Sri Kalahasti is exactly 300 km from Bangalore. 1 hour drive from Tirupati.

The place has now become very commercialized. The priests ask us to constantly offer dakshina (money). The priest who conducts dosha nivarana puja even demands a dakshina of 200 Rs which is supposed to be a voluntary contribution. Scriptures say that such poojas help the soul in clearing impediments and past karmas, but seeing the money minded priests there, one begins to wonder if its all a hoax.

Coming to the good part, I had a very good darshan of the lord (the massive Shiv ling) and also the darshan of the mother. My guru says that the temple, priests and poojas are all an external representation of our own super conscious mind. Keeping this in mind, i constantly enjoyed the darshan and the music which was continuously played in the temple which says 'Om namah Sivaya' repeatedly. Then myself and my driver\friend visited the temple on top of the hill where the great devotee of Lord Shiva Kannappa was graced by Lord Shiva. I meditated for a while on top of the hill and hope to maintain the mountaintop perspective when im entangled in emotions or the instinctive/intellectual subconscious states of mind.

Thus having charged by the cosmic rays of the darshan we returned to Bangalore safely. Thank you Baba for making our trip pleasant and peaceful. Aum namah Sivaya.

Things working fine.

After visiting Madurai Meenakshi Temple with friends, and conversing with them, i realized what trouble my friends are going through. Compared to which my problems were nothing. There are people in this world who have suffered major heart breaks, lost loved ones. Its very very painful affair when one suffers a heart break from a loved one. Its astonishing to see how the mind due to its own novelty is the root cause of all problems, yet due to our identification with it, we suffer even though we are all perfect right now. I have come to a conclusion that desire is the root cause of misery, its the desire which is repressed in the subconscious which is more difficult to eliminate that the conscious ones. The desires in the subconscious have to be understood through meditation and eliminated through understanding. This is a seemingly easy process, but its necessary to achieve concentration and quieting the mind first in order to do it successfully.

Gods are really listening to me, my prayer to Lord Ganesh, Lord Shanmug, Lord Krishna, My Sai and Goddess Madurai Meenakshi have been answered. They have all been kind to me and have made me strong on my path to perfection. They are making me realize the importance of execution, my subconscious desires and the way to conquer them. Looks like i am all set on the path now. The most important thing that i should keep in mind is to be consciously conscious. To look at my own mind, analyse when the thoughts come spontaneously. Find out whether they came from subconscious desires, understand and resolve repressions, kill the subconscious desire through the light of understanding (problem statement, root cause analysis, end result analysis, effects). Wait till i figure out how a subconscious desire in the subconscious mind resolves itself into an emotion in the lower mind (lower chakras) .... Then bounce myself back into the higher mind, to the higher chakras which is under the control of Lord Subramanya. I guess visiting a spiritual land like Madurai and such other holy places can do miracles on an individuals spiritual progress. Thanks to all the ever-loving Gods of the 2'nd world.