It had been a while since Srinivasan had heard from his Guru. This left him feeling fairly uneasy over the unpredictability of his Guru's mind. Srinivasan had made enough calls by now to know that his Guru was just not giving him a listening. His growing dependency on his Guru left him with butterflies in his stomach wondering what had gone wrong.
Srinivasan had reached a stage in his worship. An advanced stage so to speak, where he was not entirely clear he understood what it was all about but he was definitely certain it had made differences to his life. Srini, sat back, thinking about all the miracles one after the other, that he knew he could never explain to the world but was certain he had not imagined them.
It played on his mind, each thought clear as ever giving him instructions on what to do to get his Guru's attention or at least make contact. Srinivasan lived in two worlds at the same time. One that we call the familiar and the other unknown even to him presenting him with events that left his jaws permanently dropped. He had been overdosed with the experiences, so much so that he could not think anymore. What was that life all about? With every ritual he performed he saw something new, something out of the ordinary. It was not a miracle in the real sense; it was pure events unfolding so rhythmically that he
wondered whether fate could be controlled in some form.
Simple thought crossed his mind, "What if I had not done this, would events have been different? What if I had done that, would anything have changed? Is this as bad as it gets when they warn me that I am not going to have a good day?"
Srinivasan sat back thinking hard. He saw the changes in his familiar world. He was overwhelmed; the benefits were great and they made him fly but the world of illusions was intoxicating too and he tried very hard not to get sucked into it. Srinivasan watched his mind. Thoughts flitting up and down, thoughts that stayed and thoughts that went, thoughts he entertained and thoughts he feared he even came across. Thoughts he identified with and thoughts he refused to acknowledge that they originated in his mind.
Srinivasan called again, the rings of the phone haunting his mind as he prayed for his Guru to lift the misery off his mind from the other end of the line. No answer, Srinivasan went queasy.
Finally he decided, if this method didn’t work then the ancient method would. Early next morning Srinivasan set the stage for another round of ritual. This was not as much a worship of Lord Shiva as it was a call hoping his Guru would know what he was up to.
The given chants rose into the air, slowly but strongly as he lit the lamps and sat down. The world in front of him shined and the copper turned a golden yellow in the lamp light, the mystical lines glowing with every dance of the flame. The copper bathed in water and milk and the flowers fell forth. Finally the lamp was lifted and in fiery circles the "Arti" was completed gracefully. A full circle, a signal sent, a hope that somehow someone would know that the puja had been performed.
Among the greenery that carpeted the hillside, worshipped as the Lord Himself lay a road dotted with small temples. The regular morning chants rose into the air in a soft hum that enveloped the green countryside. A man held up a flame to the Shiva linga before him and drummed away with Rudram. The fire of consciousness rising into the air lighting up the Linga decorated in all its finery within the Garbha Griha walls. Then all went silent... and he heard twelve calls. Twelve calls made by a lizard in the west within the chamber. The man looked back at the Lord and smiled. Applying a bit of Vibhuti on his forehead he walked out of the temple and smiled a satisfied smile, another puja complete by someone far away.
Six hours later Srinivasan heard his phone ring. The puja had been completed. It was a success. Srinivasan sat back, relieved. Life was good, normal as normal can be!
P.S. Based on the deeper secrets of Pakshi Shastra, an ancient science that "logically" connects animal sound and behavior to direction and maps them with life's various possible events.
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Ornithologists, or in layman’s words, ‘bird watchers’, today say that birds are next to man in intelligence. Similarly, based on the expertise developed by ancient Yogis, who apparently came to understand the language of birds, many stories about ‘tota and maina’ or ‘Parrot and Mynah’ were authored by writers in the past. The two birds mentioned are even today domesticated and taught to imitate human speech, but not learn their language! However, man is gradually realizing the apparent grunts of Gorillas even to be intelligent means of communication between them; unlike man, elephants and whales are capable of communicating between the life of their own kind over many miles without resort to any external tool or aid; bees communicate through sign lanaguage to convey to others the location of flowers etc; and so on. And even the planet Saturn was noticed to be issuing sounds that resemble close to a mixture of chirping of birds, tinkling of bells and beats of drums. In short, the entire ‘Nature’ is perhaps sending some information for use by any interested/ capable life forms to interpret those properly. Humans need training for many years before one could become versatile or an expert in the use of words (practically in a few human languages only) to express his thoughts a bit clearly, although incomplete, because of limitation of words to communicate the abstract, irrespective of how many words he uses to explain it…
The ‘wise’ ancients apparently came to realize human form to have evolved from a component of supreme soul that was obliged to pass through 8.4 million animal forms before it eventually came to acquire the superior most form of man – however, with a limitation or an apparent condition that he must have faith in the supreme being and watch the drama as a spectator only for he is serving His purpose and man's own believable and ever changing purpose is only incidental!
With the above post as the brief background, the ancients appear to have come to realize supreme knowledge to be concentrated at one point, called ‘Naadbindu’ or point source of unlimited (‘anhad’) sound energy, the formless creator of the physical universe/ world.
However, within the human form - as a part of apparent design - complete knowledge or information was realized to have been distributed in eight points located within the body at different levels, which believably lie between the tail-bone end and the head. Besides that, it was also realized that there exists a dormant component of knowledge/ information, depending on the Yuga concerned, which is believably located at the tail-bone end level - united or fused (but locked up) with the limited knowledge, which otherwise is relatively easily accessible to the individual concerned as it is relevant to the concerned Yuga depending on one’s location and level of development of the soul concerned. Thus, as per the realized souls, the individual concerned needs to add up the knowledge at different levels if one is interested in realizing the overall knowledge at any other time except at the beginning of Satyuga when human efficincy believably becomes 100%...
Theoretically speaking, sound energy (such as ‘OM’ the ‘beej mantra’) was therefore believed to be the means of developing direct contact with the formless/ self and thereby apparently understand what information birds/ other animals had got recorded within their forms(s) - as one time reflections of man/ God in the apparent past.
Thus in so far as we humans in NEWS are concerned – for ease in understanding even from a common housewife’s point of view irrespective of what language she speaks - the most evolved form (Earth or Shiva) could be considered similar to, say, preparing from an egg an omelet - as the desired end product - irrespective of what other ingredients etc. (Centre of galaxy for churning, solar system for varied forms of energy for heating, materials supplied by earth, and so on) are used as mediums according to apparently varying personal choice and likes/ dislikes!
From the very common use of the word, ‘Maya’ or illusion, for human life happenings which in the remotest corner of India even today is ritually repeated since time immemorial, shows how the ‘truth’ that is believably unrelated with ‘apparent time’ and in reality with time and space zero. It indicates what the Creator can do to the believably ‘most intelligent life on earth’ – make one and all its slave through ‘time’. And thus the realization of some modern character that “only a few can come up above it”!
It is apparently possible for the generality of men, only theoretically, to become conscious of the above-stated fact at times. However, it is very hard to remain ever conscious of it, particularly when someone apparently personally comes across ‘unpleasant events’, viz. death of a close relative/ friend; mass destruction due to war/ some ‘natural’ catastrophe; and so on. Maybe it is so because human life events, like the accepted ‘natural’ events, also although are beyond human control, yet one finds oneself unable to accept the fact. For, as per the modern man (because of ‘Maya’) - in the days of expertise in limited field(s) - that apparently happened only in the past because of lack of knowledge and therefore blind faith (unaware of the overall knowledge the ‘wise’ Yogis then seem to have possessed)!
The ‘wise’ in the past through (Yogiraj) Krishna in Gita – the words carried forth since time immemorial - therefore advised ‘surrender in Him’, perhaps in his own supreme form, i.e., Earth (“that has eyes and mouths in all directions”), where anyway all life forms end up eventually.
Man, ritually, unmindful of the ‘truth’, does so even today when he sometimes lies prostrate, silently or softly praying together with the ongoing battle of opposite thoughts in one’s mind, maybe, although, in front of an idol or image or even another man considered as Guru or Superior. However, as per the ‘wise’ ancients, in reality the prayer is addressed to the Formless Creator within each form! As per the ‘wise’ ancients, when a Hindu says “Namaste” to another person with folded hands (perhaps ritually today), he is in fact praying to the God within!
Thus, prayers by the physical form is apparently meant to overcome the otherwise disturbing or negative thoughts that also continue to enter the human mind together with neutral and positive thoughts. In the present, the concerned ‘health experts’ advise that one should consciously merge both neutral as well as positive thoughts together with the apparent negative thoughts at all times to increase one’s 'bearing capacity'. As, otherwise, under constant negative thoughts, or depression, one might not be able to function normally if the stress is prolonged and the basic material is weak (a state, which in the material world is understood as ‘crossing of the yield point and entering into a plastic state in metals’; and ‘creep’ in concrete).
In man’s world, the apparent physical exercises/ rituals related with the processes involved with worship, on one hand might help in toning up of the physical body, could help on the other hand in suppression of the negative thoughts for some time. However, as in the apparent present, because of the multitudinous and thus innumerable sources of tension, only rituals related with various beliefs (without the so-called ‘real faith in the Absolute Truth’)/ physical exercises perhaps are insufficient, and hence the need to go to the root cause of the Creation and its purpose as applicable to the believable Creator, or ‘entering His mind’as expressed by Stephen Hawking too.
However, if the Creator is a point, ‘Niarakar Naadbindu’ who is related with zero time and space, ‘entering His mind’ would mean losing one’s believable physical existence – although it is anyway temporary – and becoming a point or nirakar itself.
The ‘wise’ ancients however realized the apparent existence of a parallel hierarchical world of formless also (perhaps like the apparent ‘dark matter’ besides the 'physical forms' that apparently also exist that together fill the infinite universal void - in the words of the present day scientists) spread over the apparent infinite world, i.e., the majority as ‘eccentric souls’.
‘Moksha’ or ‘salvation’ was thus believed for a soul to also reach the real location of the Creator through ‘Yogic’ exercises ("merger or soul with the supreme soul") that believably involve exercises in three different axes around which the apparent 3D physical forms are developed – a tough proposition.
The simplest means advised by the ‘wise’ ancients is surrender in ‘Krishna’ or ‘Kali’ the heart of Shiva (centre of our earth that is surrounded by molten rocks/ iron) mentally as thoughts alone can reach where even sunlight cannot – ‘shastang pranam’ or lying prostrate on the surface of earth, in a near thoughtless/ minimum thought state, perhaps is the nearest where any fasting common man on a believable 'auspicious day' can safely reach closest to earth’s centre! Some elevated souls or Yogis have demonstrated that they could remain buried under the soil without air, food and water - for some time only though.
Therefore, in view of what I wrote in the thoughts in my earlier posts, it is purely a matter of faith and belief, i.e., believing the thoughts of the ancients about one and only intelligent life and all other apparent physical forms in the infinite universe to be its imagination. And unfortunately for the apparent physical forms, with limitations in the physical senses provided for gathering limited information in each individual - perhaps as per a grand design - it happens to be formless/ unseen unlike them and therefore requires surrender or unquestionable belief in the apparent accepted fact about its being relatively Super intelligent vis-à-vis the physical forms which act as instruments or store-house for information on the various aspects of apparent Creation (like man stores water in a number of vessels/ dams, small or big, for the day-to-day requirement for various purposes - as an analogous thought reflected in humans).
It is well known that each individual has a limited capacity to acquire information in various aspects of day-to-day life and also retain that for durations varying from one to another only. And thus, in the ‘present’, the human race finds lot more information is needed to be gathered before the truth of creation could be reached. And so also the purpose of human life perhaps (which the wise ancients believed was to realize the formless God as well as the Gods with forms).
The ancients’ concept of approaching the believable formless within each, for supreme knowledge within one life time - by attempting to reach a near thoughless stage by each and every individual for acquiring that - could also perhaps have been concluded from the observation of some even today. That is, if one is apparently unable to solve a tough problem - and if he/ she were to contemplate hard over the problem before going to sleep - its solution often appears in the head at times naturally within the first 30 minutes or so after waking up or in the conscious state.
The wise ancients appear to have considered sleep an ‘ardha-mrit avastha’ or the half-dead stage, or near zero thought stage naturally achieved during sound sleep. The Yogis thus apparently attempted to reach the so-called super conscious state, where time and space apparently disappear, through Yoga-nidra, that is, the state of zero thought even while remaining awake or conscious. The process came to be known as ‘meditation’.
As I had earlier elsewhere said, if one were to see it logically, the ritual of meditation (seated at a place with eyes closed etc in one’s neat and clean room inside the house/ in a temple in a peaceful environment where one could remain undisturbed for some time) performed even today by even a common man, could have led one to conclude that the basic idea was to achieve zero or thoughtless state by attempting to reach it through a minimum thought state, perhaps repeatedly for some time daily in the first stage only, to eventually become immune to the apparent deteriorating environment with passage of time – rapidly as apparent in the present.
The modern west and even the east too in a greater proportion today, without indepth thoughts, superficially reject ‘idol worship’ that is being ritually performed since time immemorial in ‘India’ even today.
One could perhaps find the modern saying itself - “Face is the index of mind” - relevant. For, as we have seen, the ‘truth’ is a matter of thoughts, i.e., the generally unstable status of human mind, which gets reflected on human face through different emotions of fear, anger, peace, and so on, (unless one plays cards and with ‘meditation’ of a different kind has developed a ‘poker face’ (Yudhister was therefore considerd Dharmaraja)!). And, God believably is eternal bliss. Therefore, when a sculpteur/ artist is given the task - or takes it up on his own - of sculpting an idol/ painting an image of God, it is obvious that one would attempt, virtually lost to the outside world till the task I cmplete, to reflect the belief through one’s creation. And, it is a fact that just the expression on the face generates a feeling of peace together with ‘abhaya’ or fearlessness as generally additionally communicated with the ‘abhaya mudra’ (as in Natraja’s idol/ Guru Nanak’s popular image, an so many other revered personalities related with ‘religion’ - one of the palms held up in the universally accepted pose of blessings).
The average soul is depicted in Shiva the Nataraja’s idol as ‘Apsmara purush’ or a man who is unable to recall memory of his past life. For, although ‘Krishna’ the supreme knowledge of physical forms is within one, yet it is not accessible to an ordinary man. Due to characteristic property of time, it is locked up in the different Bandhas or Chakras.
In Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna that the difference between him and Krishna was that while Yogiraj Krishna, or an all rounder or an ‘elevated soul’, could recall His Own past from the very beginning of creation, Arjuna was aware only of events related with his life in his the then present form because of lack of overall knowledge. For, being apparently an expert in the field of archery only, ‘he saw only the eye of the bird’ and not the whole bird -like the six blind men in the popular story describe an elephant by touching only one of his body part and therefore six altogether different versions. He thus needed a Guru who could provide ‘divya chakshu’ or ‘mind’s eyes’ or ‘Shiva’s third eye’, to see the ‘whole truth’ or the ‘Absolute Truth’ or the ‘essence’, the Formless Vishnu, represented in the physical form by Krishna’s supreme form, i.e., our dear planet earth that an average man takes for granted!
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