Its a journey that is still on, going places, teaching me things i just dreamt of and never even thought it would come true as a burning inner desire. I have been doing television serials with the UGC, which forced me to prepare and therefore read up. These things brought me to the books. I studied for a while, for long hours on end to find a few strange discoveries.
The first for me to stumble over was the ground plan of the Elephanta caves. Stangely interesting, its a ground plan, following the buddhist cave temples at ajanta, but very strictly a yantra in design. The pillared hall forms the various points within the yantra, while the Shiva shrine and the Trimurti take up the cardinal points adding to the growing enigma that surrounds these caves.
Moving on, shaken by the discovery a little, i had to prepare for Khajuraho temples as well. I was not too keen on these Chandela temples for their well sold out erotic sculptures, but the tantric practices that surrounded them intrigued me. Shrines dedicated to the "chausat(64) yoginis" added to the haze surrounding the mother goddess cult. This turned into a fury for information as the under currents of this mother goddess cult were felt all around shiva shrines. If not for yoginis one is bound to find the sapta matrikas around shiva shrines.
Khajuraho temples ended up being more breath taking than mere erotica. After going through Devangana Desai's book on Khajuraho, it was a complete eye opener that the erotic images that arouse the delight of the non-initiated, are actually yantras or hidden geometrical patterns that protect the temples. These are grosely misunderstood to have remote connections with the kama sutra or the like. I could have shouted out to the world that moment! What they actually indicate are the various points on the composition of the erotic sculpture that behave as points on the yantras that guard the temples from evil spirits. The interesting part is that the non-initiated will never know which erotic sculpture is a yantra and which sculpture joins the batch-processing lot.
Hmm... so we close in on these mysterious diagrams which get yelled out in all these ancient shrines. Further reading confirmed that all ancient temples kept yantras in the central sanctum sanctorum of the temples dedicated to the divinity being housed there and a ritual is performed with respect to the ruling king's "gotram" and "nakshatram". After this, interestingly, his angula or finger is used as the basic system of measurement for the temple construction. (will give more dope on that in another post).
But well lets come back to these geometrical patterns. A diagram, housing a syllable, sounds like nothing to the un-initiated but means a whole new world to someone well versed with it, or trying to know it at least. A single bija mantra at the bindu or center, and that is the summary of potency well beyond our imagination. Its a crazy world beyond logic as we understand it. It could be chance, it could be an equation of which i still have not managed to understand anything, but i know it certainly works.
Yantras are to be understood, to be felt, to be respected and worshipped. They are not toys for a greater future, with an easier life, more wealth, better health etc. Yes, those things will come in, but its interesting to see how the recital of a mantra, sitting on a grass mat, with a yantra in a brass plate with a few offerings and an oil lamp can make all the difference. It requires persistence and complete dedication.
Truely amazing. I can tell you this much, most people stop with faith to a certain extent, but getting into the depths of it is a challenge. Its about putting yourself on the line to find out and see the result which might not necessarily be as expected, but is an enlightenment anyway. Its about risk, into the unknown world, where things can go really well or drastically wrong and all that you cling onto is love and faith. Yantras wake you out of mundane reality, uplift you from a suffering called life and make you look at problems as if they are nothing.
Its a world which you enter just once and never leave. Its what lies just beyond human ignorance.
20 comments:
Enlightenment - aaah! That is just the beginning...
First, you empty yourself and then you are so full of myself.
So much so that you start seeing the world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wildflower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour.
Keep seeking! Keep walking!
I will cite only a few observations below that might help reach the basics of Hindu Philosophy of Yoga, the union of self with Paramatma, with the background that ancient Hindus believed life to consist of two parts. The spiritual - devoted to the believably constant, Naadbindu (formless and unborn, the Creator of forms with sound energy and personified by the sound OM), and the varying material - devoted to the limited from one to unending or infinity depending on one’s ‘elevation’ to start with and his ‘leanings’. And, that contrary to the present day belief - because of characteristics of ‘Time’ related with its passage - it was a highly advanced society that had reached the ‘Absolute Truth’ via the knowledge of the process of creation of the universe, i.e., the physical forms within a void or space:
1. While praying, the present day devotee is ritually conscious to face either East (the direction in which our Sun or Aditya/ Aditi, the number one body, rises in the morning), or North (the direction where the fixed, zero state, Polar Star/ Dhruvatara is seen in the night)… Although not essential, an immovable idol, that of, say, Buddha, acts as a mirror for the beginner to help in development of the desired consciousness in the devotee, for ‘Face is the index of mind.’
2. An ordinary yet experienced householder in day-to-day life, in the last stage (Sanyashram), used to get ‘enlightenment’ just by withdrawing into some cave in the Himalayas that trend West-East far from the maddening crowd, confirming the caves to generate an 'energy centre.'
3. Seven colours of the rainbow and the fixed note in the universe, now known as the 'Cosmic Hum', would have inspired them to use the seven musical notes, from Sa to Ni. It is now well known that music, or sound energy, helps in good growth of plant life, better yield of milk by cows, and also helps men in developing a peaceful state of mind… ‘Too much of anything is (however) bad!’ That’s why prudent merger of silence with sound, like sleep after physical and mental actions, was advised…
4. Shiva, Parvati, Kartikeya and Ganesha, i.e., all the members of the same family have been worshipped by the Hindus. As I have elsewhere indicated, these personalities could be correlated with Earth, and the planets that exist in its close vicinity, i.e., its satellite Moon, Venus, and Mars… I could observe it depicted in the photo of one of the panels in the Khajuraho Temple also, presented in the post by Ms Kavitha…
I would like to add more for the seeker:
With a view to recreating the environment related with the chanting of the basic sound by Hindus, ‘OM’, in a minimum thought state, (which a beginner attempts to attain with closed eyes; sweet smell of agarbatti or lighted essence sticks; tinkling of bell; counting of prayer beads in hand; not thinking of tasty food) my attention was attracted to the ‘Siddhasan’ of a Yogi, i.e., the posture a devotee adopts while sitting down to pray to the Naadbindu or the formless God…
First of all, one sits down cross legged - in ‘Padmasan’or Lotus pose - on a level surface comfortably. Next, one joins the index finger with the thumb… Let us pause at this stage and observe what it results in. One would see that it results in the numeral ‘zero’ or ‘shunya’, and leaves the other three fingers free. At this stage, one could perhaps see it as 'Nature' communicating the basic Hindu belief of the formless Creator (zero) and His three functional states of physical manisfestations... Also, coming to the three fingers, one could see the descending order in the size of the three – reducing from the middle finger to the little finger – as if communicating the apparent hierarchy in the physical world in all its aspects…
Now, for chanting ‘O’, one needs to purse the lips to form a small ‘o’ and breathe outwards or exhale. If one were to have infinite lung capacity, one could utter the sound without any break indefinitely (like the Cosmic Hum that is being reportedly heard as the background sound in the universe). However, due to limited human cpacity, one would reach the stage where one would need to end, shutting down one’s mouth to inhale fresh air, resulting in the pronunciation of the nasal sond ‘M’, naturally with the remaining breath in one particular cycle of inhaling and exhaling…
The formation of numeral zero with the thumb and index finger, could also be interpreted as forming the English letter ‘O’! And, if one were to point the remaining three fingers downwards, one would be able to read from those the letter ‘M’, thus resulting in the word ‘OM’!
I would add that the 'Supreme knowledge' exists from time immemorial and the 'Siddhas' learnt directly from Him. And thus only “Persons of doubtful nature and suspicous character”, as one of my friends used to call them, would say that the Yogis wouldn’t have studied English!
And, for the Christians, I would add that one can read the letter ‘J’ formed with fingers of right hand held straight (one behind the other) and the thumb curved upwards. Similarly, one can read the letter ‘C’ in the left hand, by holding the fingers also curved in. Now, to read the initials 'JC' of Jesus Christ, the son of God, one would need to ‘cross’ the hands!!!
Good!
With sound energy or ‘OM” as the believable ‘beej mantra’ of the entire universe in mind, I would cite the example of a seed or beej provided by some tree at a certain given time in the passage of time, from time immemorial, say, in a forest far removed from humans.
When, and if, conditions are suitable for its germination and growth, the tree naturally grows - gradually to varying heights with time. And, at some stage in its growth, it starts flowering and bearing fruits during a particular season only. It would repeat these acts of flowering and bearing fruits, which contain many more seeds of the same species that naturally come to land on earth (maybe via the belly of a bird/ animal) for propagation of the particular species, from one generation to another. In the process the fruit might provide food to many other forms of life that happen to be there, maybe as per some grand design as believed by the ancient Hindus, till one day it meets the ‘great leveller’…
Although it is taken for granted by the generality of men - like a horse provided with blinkers and with a carrot dangling in front of it is unable to have an overall view – someone detached, a siddha, i.e., an all rounder, could realize the entire process to be like a long roll of film shot at a certain time in the long lost past after careful planning, with a predetermined script and so on, being projected again and again by a person who is perfect/ ‘supreme knowledge’ personified…
Life forms, including humans, are thus spectators only who get to see a grand variety of not only trees in ‘Nature’, but also infinite other forms, each from a different point of view, apparently unique to him or copy of a role model during a particular era…
Well in that film putting i am sure he made JC an english man with a stiff upper lip reading shakespeare...or is that a directorial flaw ? must be bollywood only..
All flaws, in Yugas other than the Satayuga, were also realized by the ancients to form part of the drama, as understood by Shakespeare and 'leela' in words of ancient Hindus:-)
Perfection believably can be achieved in the Satayuga only. However, 'all coming events cast their shadow in advance.'
Faults are found even with the 'great' people of their time. Viz., the present day generation finds fault with Mahatma Gandhi, or Lord Rama, or Lord Krishna:-)
There is a saying,to the effect, "All odd reactions are results of inferiority complex only...there is nothing like a superiority complex..."
So, relax buddy:-)All of us are sailing in the same boat. Internet provides the famous quote,**We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan, 1892, Act III
Irish dramatist, novelist, & poet (1854 - 1900)**
ha ha ha...u seem to think that what u say is the gospel truth and dont seem to tackle the direct objection...so i think i will not post anything on ur posts and learn to ignore it...\by the way kudos on being well read!
I am sorry if I have made anybody feel hurt. I have only tried to enter the mind of the ancient Hindus by attempting to read the possible communication in their works, at a certain point of time. It is based upon whatever little background material that is available in different books, which I could lay my hands on or had heard it before from my elders, and so on, during the small life span allotted to me... It is said that one life time isn't sufficient to read material pertaining to just one subject even... I know, as Ms Kavitha also said, that I may not be right, it is just my interpretation that I have expressed... One is at liberty to see life from one's own perspective, and ego, one might have acquired due to exposure available to one because of one's birth and experience one gets in life with passage of time - based on so many unforeseen factors...
I have personally felt that life for any individual at any time, in general, is like entering a cinema hall at a time when most of the picture is already over. So it is apparently left to one's imagination or acquired skill to guess the story one has already missed, so that one is able to enjoy the remaining part that one is likely to see... One might be present when doomsday or pralaya happens, or one might leave the hall even before the title 'END' appears on the screen...
To tell you the truth, I missed you when I didn't see any post from anybody for a day or two!
I didn't reply to all your sidekicks, from my point of view, lest we get lost again like before, and find that we were chasing a red herring... I believe in that God, the eternal bliss, who is managing the entire show himself, alone, as per the philosophy of Vedant too... I am yet to know His purpose of enacting this 'drama' covering from zero to infinity. What is He looking for? Could it be that He is wanting to reach His origin, which reportedly couldn't be reached by the 'wise' ancients even?
If it is destined, we will meet again! So, good bye, or cheers till we meet again!
maybe you want to try another post... guys... cool off... :) peace .. compassions... maybe might help..
As I had indicated elsewhere, the 'dead' wooden log or the soul that gets entangled with the 'live' vegetation near the banks of a river, or gets caught in the eddies, is likely to get delayed in reaching its goal, unless it finds some agency or Guru to disentangle it and push it towards the mid-stream. It may not ever reach in the form of a log, if some agency consumes it or keps it entangled in the eddies till it decays naturally!
All are seekers of something or the other in life, however I would have been glad if some seeker of 'Truth' could have pointed out to me that when one tried reading 'OM' in one's left hand joining thumb and the little finger, instead of the Index finger, one read Buddha's message
of following the middle path - middle finger appearing taller lying symmetrically between the equal appearing ring and index fingers or the 'right' and 'left' paths!
It is said that one appears on the earth empty handed and leaves empty handed. One however, perhaps overlooks the 'hast-rekha' or the lines on the palms one is born with... The phenomenon of famous painters making millions - Rupees or Dollars, and so on - just by drawing some lines and curves perhaps has the 'hasta-rekha' that predetermine their medium of material gain in life!
In very brief, 'Palmistry' indicates solar system to lie in one's hand. And that the behaviour of any individual depends on interactions between different members, which requires reading by one who has studied the subject thoroughly from a good school, which of course is found wanting today due to characteristic property of Kaliyuga!
With the above in mind, I would just say that Hindu belief of four Yugas have perhaps been read from the hand, i.e., the thumb alone is able to approach all other fingers, ike the 'trouble shooter Ganesha or Hanuman... Also the Index finger is referred as Guru or the superior most that is used for indicating the right direction. Thus it could stand for the Satayuga. And similarly, middle finger the Treta, the ring finger the Dwaper, and the little finger the Kaliyug. It might not be a coincidence that Buddha is believed to be the reincarnation of the Creator in the Kaliyuga!
To refresh our memory about Hindu belief of life to be a mere illusion, i give below my personal experience and conclusion therefrom besides other observations.
In my younger days, I was told by a common friend about a peculiar behaviour of one of my via-Hathras or long distance-uncles, older to me by about 2-3 years only. He told me he noticed that he kept a handkerchief over his head while watching a film with him. Once I too got an opportunity to accompany him to a cinema. As I was forewarned, I watched him closely from a corner of my eye. I noticed him cleaning his eyes whenever touchy scenes were projected! Later, I asked him why he shed tears when he was aware that it was all a drama, a fictitious story. He said that he was aware of it, but couldn’t control his natural emotions, and therefore he kept a handkerchief so that others do not come to know him as a weak person! As we will see, this could be said as Maya within Maya!
An Indian, even in modern day Metros of India – and maybe located even in the Godforsaken interiors of India - very commonly, ritually, hears the words repeated like a parrot, Maya or illusion & Leela or drama. These words are associated with Prabhu, i.e., The Master or God in sayings, viz., (to the effect) “It is because of Prabhu’s Maya that it is sunny (dhoop) at one place, and shady (Chhaya) at another”, and, “It is Prabhu’s leela that it is dry (sukha) at one place and wet (gueela) at another.”
The above shows how the message about the Creator and drama of His apparent Creation was literally accepted by the ancient Hindus or Indians who inhabited this part of the world at some time in the past. All Hindu scriptures or Puranas are based on the philosophy that the entire physical forms in the universe are merely illusory, and so the ‘wise’ is not moved by the happenings around him, be it hot or cold, pain or pleasure, and so on, the naturally occurring opposites… ‘Maya’ or, in Robert Browning’s words, ‘Paper walls of day-to-day existence’ seems to have grown stronger in the ‘modern times’. Or, shouldn’t we call it as ancient! For, the ‘wise’ Hindus understood life to be an audio-visual communication backwards, from the advanced stage to the beginning, i.e., from Satyuga, the era of 100% human efficiency to Kaliyuga the era of 25% efficiency at the beginning down to zero at its end. It is obvious that there would be examples of all Yugas preceding it in this particular Yuga! Had it been a story of ‘advancement from zero to infinity’, the story should have proceeded from the foothills to the peak!
To complete my last paragraph, perhaps the Creator has given sufficient and equal opportunity to all souls, that really matter, by projecting the return-journey from 100% physical efficiency in Satyuga to 0% in the Kaliyuga in humans - one thousand times, as believed, to all His forms, including even the just born infants, found increasing in number with the passage of time as also in apparently higher IQ ...
Now, in this fashion He has given opportunity to all to participate in the drama of human life and guess the one person, or the medium, who alone would have made it to the peak!!!
Had He projected the story of advancement from zero to infinity, there wouldn't have been any charm left. For, He alone would have been seen reaching 100% efficiency in human form by Him alone, because all others would have failed to make it to the peak and would have perished long before HIm!!
It’s a fact that a child has good observation power - but generally, as a rule, it ‘naturally’ lacks analytical power. The child ‘naturally’ develops analytical power as it grows up, but its observation power generally reduces with age. However, there is no defined age when it would develop mental maturity. A physically mature person, viz., an ‘eccentric’, and so on, might never attain mental maturity during a particular life…
To be able to do justice with the analysis, i.e., to have an overall view of the observation of the same event through different eyes at a certain given time, a mentally mature person needs to follow the advice, “Think twice before you speak”, i.e., one must consider the pros and the cons thoroughly…
In an attempt to study the thoughts in the mind of the ancient Hindus, I repeat that the Hindus realized life to be like an audio-visual projection of the return journey of Creation from infinity to zero, Satyug to Kaliyug, one thousand times (and in slow motion taking 4.32 billion years to do so!) and not His forward journey from ‘zero’ to ‘infinity’ starting with His Own infinite physical forms. They realized the Creator to be unborn, i.e., formless and therefore ever faceless, though capable of converting His Own sound energy, OM, to create the apparent physical forms of the infinite universe…
Now, when a mature person reads further with the present day finding in mind that ordinary bacteria existed 3.5 billion years ago (i.e., even 3.5 billion years in the forward march bacteria had not perished. And man appeared on the stage only 3-5 million years ago, i.e., human form existed for a very limited or relatively negligible duration in the beginning of the advancement for creation of Heavenly Bodies(e.g., as per Hindu belief, after his death, Dhruva became Dhruvatara the fixed star, while the Saptarishis or the seven sages turned into the constellation Ursa Major that contains the group of stars commonly called the Big Bear, which helps in looking for the location of the Pole star!)
The present day scientists also describe the universe to be expanding like a balloon. Thus a balloon or a sphere could be said to be a model of the universe, in which obviously there is only one centre (compare it with the philosophy of Vedant) and all other points anywhere else inside it are ‘eccentric’. Thus the drama of ever changing physical forms - with the passage of time and lying anywhere within the sphere - only have a beginning and an end at different times, while the centre remains permanent in either case, i.e., when it is expanding from a point or contracting to it, like a Yoyo, that could be visualized as a simple model that demonstrates the behaviour of the universe with apparent time, for they believed in real time to be zero!
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