5.28.2007

Jyothir Lingam Sri Sailam - Mallikarjuna temple



Mahonnadham Mahakasam Mahodharam Mahabujam |
Mahavaktram Mallika arjunam Jyothi-swaroopam Namosthuthe ||

Andhra Pradesh, a state baking in the summer heart breaks into lush green carpeted landscape when the monsoons hit the parched lands. The Sri Sailam range has the Krishna River meandering through the foothills. There are places where the river flows inside the mountain, underground and is therefore called Patala Ganga. Legend has it that if one takes a dip in its sacred waters, they are blessed with amazing mind control and purity of thought. They say that even “manaseek darshan” (darshan through the mind) is also very effective here and bears fruit to one’s wishes.

Mallikarjuna is also known to be a Jyothir Linga sthala apart from hosting a Devi Peetham. It has its own share of mythologies surrounding it, in this case more than one event seem to have taken place in history, well beyond the measures of the western calendar.

Chandragupta ruled over a greater part of India, beyond the Northern banks of the Krishna River. He was a benevolent king who for the greater part of his life stayed away from the court fulfilling his royal duties. He had a very beautiful daughter, princess Chandravati who was very pious by nature. One day the princess when to the southern side of the Krishna River into the Sri Sailam forests to do penance. She was accompanied by a group of faithful herdsmen with cattle. She stayed in these forests for a while, and her main diet was milk from the cows.

One day she observed that her cow was not giving milk when the herdsman milked it. Curious to know the reason why, she ordered the herdsman to follow the cow wherever it went. The herdsman came back with news that the cow was yielding milk over a Manikam Shiva Linga (Linga made of Ruby). The princess went over and witnessed this for herself and was left pondering. That night Lord Shiva appeared in Jyotir Swarup in her dream and asked her to build a temple around this sacred Jyotir Linga. The princess built the temple according to the Lord’s instructions and the luminous Lord took the form of Shiva Mallikarjuna. This temple faces east and has a special shrine for Lord Brahma and Nandikeshwara occupies the central hall.

The Sthala puranam has another story to say. Lord Shiva and Parvati once decided to find suitable brides for their sons, Ganesha and Muruga who argued on who would get wedded first. Lord Shiva put the condition that the one who would go around the world in Pradakshinam would get married first. Lord Muruga took his vahana (vehicle), the peacock and flew away on his mission. Lord Ganesha held his hands together in adoration and walked around his parents 7 times. According to the Shastras, going round one’s parents in circumambulation is equal to going around the world in Bhupradakshinam. Having completed first, Lord Shiva got the daughters of Viswaroopan, Siddhi and Buddhi married to Ganesha.

When Muruga returned, he was enraged and went away to Mount Kravunja to stay alone there and assumed the title of Kumarabrahmachari (Bachelor). When Shiva and Parvati went to pacify him, he decided to move to another peak, but stayed back on request of the Devas. Lord Shiva and Parvati came to stay close at Sri Sailam. It is believed that Lord Shiva visits Muruga on Ammavasai and goes back to Parvati during Poornima.

















Photo courtesy: Copyright © 1998-2001 Live India Internet Services!

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Hindu Mythological stories are all about apparent ‘miracles’ related with the apparently complex subject of Astronomy and various forms of energy, viz. heat, light, sound, electricity and magnetism, (such as moon-rays or reflected sunlight from moon’s surface, being symbolically represented by cow’s healthy white coloured milk, and ‘Manikya’ that is the red coloured Ruby with the centre of Earth or Ma Kali reflected through Her red tongue) in simple words for the benefit of lay persons, which the present day man finds difficult to comprehend because of time and usage of languages that evolve with time and, thus are related with a particular era.

As we have seen earlier also elsewhere, Murugan and Ganesha refer to planet Venus and Mars respectively while Parvati-Shiva refer to Moon-Earth, as their ‘parents’. The relative movements of Earth & Moon and the source of light, Sun, are presently known to cause the waxing and waning of Moon. Venus, that has no satellite of its own and, therefore, referred as a bachelor, comes closer to Moon during New Moon. And during Full Moon, the moon is closer to planet Mars, which has two satellites, Demos and Phobos - as they are named in the present – called by the ancients Riddhi and Siddhi (or Buddhi).

Anonymous said...

Once someone accepts that life is all about the past, or History of Bhootnath Shiva, it becomes easier to visualize the concept of ‘Vedanta’, as the ‘Absolute Truth’, that is one God and His believably illusory Creation, which in fact could perhaps be called the ‘Truth’ of the past, but 'illusion' of the present seen through innumerable eyes just as one watches relatively inferior films in cinema halls that are prepared at some time in the past and projected later any numbers of time by imperfect humans, as in the present.

The apparent difficulty in comprehending the ‘Truth’ by an average man today was apparently communicated through ‘wise’ human characters who appeared in the past, which naturally reflected more evolved versions as Time is moving backwards, that is, from Satyuga to Kaliyuga while evolution happened from Kaliyuga to Satyuga! However, to make it apparently complicated there exist various versions, as they exist today also which are expressed by different characters depending on their 'half-cooked-knowledge', thus stress was given on acquiring ‘Siddhi’ at any given time and on drawing ‘essence’ of the apparently infinite data, that becomes available on each and every subject, from observation of the general trend, as it is realized in the present also that functioning of microcosm is similar to that of the macrocosm.

Dr.Anil Joshi said...

Kavita,Two things that I want to mention are 1.Shree shailyam is the seat of Indian Alchemy.Virbhadra has done most of his research at this very place.It is a science of study of Mercury & sulphur.Mercury represents shiva & sulphur Parvati.Both in their individual capacities are toxic.The science endevors to combine them in such a fashion that the resultant is good for humanity.2.Shivaji Maharaj was a great devotee of God Mallikarjun.It is said that the thought of offering his head to the god had come very strongly to his mind during his stay here.He was persuaded against this by his sub ordinates with great difficulty.

Anonymous said...

Hi Anilji, quite interesting information. Although Mercury is the name given to the planet that is closest to Sun, I can't say if it is coincidental, however, mercury is perhaps the only metal that is naturally found in liquid form. And sulpur is found inside the craters of active volcanoes in natural form and Yellow in appearance, reached there from the core of earth, the original abode of Ma Kali/ Sati, who reappeared as Parvati!

And, it is said that 'Zahar, zahar ko marta hai," that is, 'poison helps remove poison'. A needle is used to remove a needle-like thorn from the skin, and so on...

Anonymous said...

Now, perhaps there is no doubt that our planet Earth was recognized as the ‘Mrityulok’ that is the place where death of all life forms is inevitable. And yet, immortal physical earth inspires humans to also similarly acquire immortality, and hence research in the field of 'medicine' and various other therapies with a view to reaching the material(s) that has perhaps rendered immortality to Earth itself.

The ancients, however, appear to give credit for that to Moon & Mars, associated with Yellow & Red colour respectively, (or orange colour, associated with Ganesha/ Hanuman, by the yoga of the two colours), as their essence found on Earth also, but having a remote control, as the use by us terrestrials in operation of various electronic gadgets, or performing detachment while maintaining attachment – the advice to an average man by Yogis/ Yogiraja Krishna/ Yogeshwar Shiva!

Kavitha Kalyan said...

Hello Anilji,

It is interesting to note the connection of mercury and sulphur paralleled with Lord Shiva and Parvati or Shakti would be more appropriate in this case.

I have heard about this before but didn't have more clarity than that. You have really given me a direction to start moving on this further.

Shiva and Shakti in their individual capacity are deities who should be carefully worshiped for they are so potent that the consequences might not be favourable if the worship is not done with sincerity. This parallel with mercury and sulphur is very logical.

Your second point is something i would like to debate on. Historically Shivaji has been known to be a Kali follower and he found himself ready to sacrifice his head to the Goddess on many occasions, but was stopped by his nobles for the safety of his empire.

Historically as well as ritualistically Shiva worship does not call for decapitation in any form but Kali worship has depicted this across the country in Tantrik worship for centuries.

I would believe Shivaji would have attempted to do this at the Shakti sthal but not for Lord Shiva.

Regds
Kavitha

Kavitha Kalyan said...

Joshi Uncle,

With the parallel drawn by Anilji, I have begun to look at your comments in new light. I seriously need to go back and read through the wealth of knowledge you have posted to understand the deeper meaning of alchemy that i definitely have missed out.

Thanks again.

Rgds
Kavitha

Anonymous said...

Hi Kavitha,

However, through ‘wise’ ancients, the concept of one and only Formless Creator and His apparently impenetrable ‘Maya’ is also conveyed. Vishnu in super conscious state is indicated as reclining on the bed formed by the celestial serpent Shesha/ Ananta in the middle of the ‘milky ocean’ while it believably also holds the earth on top of its hood! And the Shaivites represented Formless Shiva symbolically through Shivalingas, made from various materials found on earth. The description of Shiva in the mythology matches with Earth itself. It was also said that Vishnu is Shiva and Shiva is Vishnu, thus communicating the apparent physical earth as a true representation of the Formless Creator, Vishnu/ Shiva.

Being formless, energy, or soul/ supreme soul, came to be represented by symbols, in conformity with human brain apparently functioning as an analogous computer that recognizes only symbols, be they pictorial or some alphanumeric symbols, as also reflected in human dreams.

With this background, I give below a reaction to an article in 'my' newspaper.

Shri Jagmohan Bhasin in Clash of Symbols has rightly pointed out the apparent situation in the Punjab arising out of ‘illusion’ and inherent human characteristic, called ‘inferiority complex’.

Anyway, only God or time can tell ‘on which side the camel decides to lie down’, or in apparent frustration, ‘like a cat scratches at the column’, causes harm to ‘some of its own kith and kin’, the drama that ‘India’ is so used to witness as ‘a slave of time’ since the days of ‘Mahabharata’ of the Kauravas & Pandavas!

Talking of symbols that life believably is, i accidentally happened to see the printed head of the Dera Sacha Sauda Guru from the wrong end and thought it was a new attire of a ‘muni’ with her/ his mouth tightly closed with a colourful band (presented in some 'fashion show')!

Anonymous said...

It is common knowledge that a job that can be done by any one person would be done to the satisfaction of the concerned, and it would at any given time be according to his possible capacity and would also depend on one’s desire to improve, and therefore the capacity might enhance with passage of time to a certain ultimate peak. This is apparently applicable to the Creator.

However, if any job necessarily involves two or more persons, it is likely that it might not be to the satisfaction of any one concerned person, generally because of varying capacities and different inclinations of each, unless the persons involved - by chance or by luck (or by design) - happen to be of the same inclination and capacity. And hence the need for selection of a proper team (as reflected in the field of sport/ political or general administration, and so on), say like that of the solar system members, each member of which apparently works in the interest of eternal existence of the system as a whole and not in each one’s selfish interest, and perhaps that’s why it continues to function since time immemorial, or at least for over billions of years as per the present day estimates, and eternally as per ancient Hindus, with periods of active action followed by periods of inaction or sleep when only reflexive or involuntary actions get performed - as in human form too.

In view of the above background, one could see with the example of plant life, say, how each component of the plant functions in the overall interest of the plant as a whole - with the roots feeding the tree the basic elements from the earth with the help of water and air. And, the leaves cooking the food with energy received from sunlight (and perhaps also moonlight), which gets circulated to all members that constitute the plant.

In animals, including humans, however, food is received through nose as well as mouth in the form of cosmic particles inhaled or raw/ cooked food consumed through mouth.

All life forms, however, apparently have a limited average life span that varies from one species to another. The Hindus however believed only the soul, that is, some special form of energy to be immortal and each one of it obliged to acquire the various physical forms from time to time, which all are purely temporary and have some average life-span in each given form.

It was also believed that it is only in the human form that one can reach the ‘Absolute Truth’, which according to the ‘wise’ ancients happened to be the sole purpose of human life. However, it was also believed that it wasn’t easy for an average man, although structurally each one of us has the same constituent members as in the immortal solar system - in the form of their essences that however need to be ‘tuned’ like the strings in a musical instrument, ‘Saraswati Veena’ as believed by the ancients, before harmony could be achieved, or proper balance achieved with the help of requisite materials that are available on earth and need to be identified and suitably applied.

Assuming a different colour of the visible spectrum as the essence of some one of the planets involved, I can think of gemstones as one such material for improving human efficiency as these are seen to be used for long, but perhaps without requisite knowledge in the present.

Dr.Anil Joshi said...

Kavitha,The presiding diety of this shaktipith is Bhramaramba.Parvati worshipped Shiva in the form of a bee.Obviously this form of parvati doesn't come anywhere near the form of "Kali". Besides there are very succint references in the Maratha history that shivaji had thoghts of ofeering his head at the feet of Lord Mallikarjun. A correction:It was Nagarjuna & not Veerabhadra who practised "rasashastra" on the hills of Shree shailya.The compound wall of this temple coplex have an exqusite collection of beautiful scluptures on all sides.It has a very rare image of "gand pherunda" a mythological bird.

Anonymous said...

Hi Anili, ‘Bhramaramba’, or Parvati that is ‘Jagadamba the creator of earth' in the form of a bee, obviously is an analogy to express the relative movement of Moon around Earth expressed as the mythological pair Parvati-Shiva that originally was Ardhanarishwar Shiva. And similarly ‘gandha pherunda’ the mythical bird that revolves around, say, a scented flower – maybe, similar to the musk deer that believably goes around in search of the source of the sweet scent, not realizing that it is emanating from within its own navel, a concept similar to the belief of Yoga of soul and physical form!

Alchemy, the dictionary meaning of the word reads: Medieval chemistry, an art which sought in particular to change common metals into gold; any magical power or process of change. There are umpteen stories how certain persons received from some mystical characters some ointment which when applied gave them x-ray eyes, and they found gold buried underground, or found ‘Patal Ganga’, whose waters gave them some miraculous powers!

Alchemy thus generally brings to mind turning of iron into gold, that is, mainly the ‘materialistic’ or selfish approach, and not the approach in the age-old Hindu prayer in Sanskrit, “…Sarve santu niramaya/ Sarve bhadrani pashyantu…etc.”! That is to the effect that let all become gentle and healthy so that there is no cause for unhappiness.

However, variety in 'Nature' was believed to be seen and enjoyed as a spectator, perhaps with the realizatin that life is all about the past! Thus it is believably a matter of faith or belief.

Anonymous said...

Another reaction to an article in the newspaper is given below.

This refers to Too Much Hot Air – Global warming may not be a result of human activity by Shri Amit Mitra (May30).

Although, the title conforms to the ancient ‘Hindu’ thought, the supporting ‘scientific’ data in no way provides documentary proof that over 4 billion-year-old earth itself, that is, unending or immortal Shiva Himself, or the Solar System that is Mahashiva, could have other ideas for their/ His own well being, which might be different from the thoughts received in the ‘western head’, or the throat that is ruled by ‘Saturn’ or ‘satan’, that is, mischievous, in the form of the mythical serpent, such that the ‘apple’ remains housed in the human throat till date (and not in the head, where Moon or Ma Durga is housed!) that believably led poor Adam to succumb to the temptation of the ‘forbidden fruit’. And, thus starting the ‘kalchakra’ or time-cycle of transient life forms or ‘Maya’ that is illusion!

The ‘Hindu Yogis’ advised activation of the ‘kundalini’ that is making the ‘coiled up serpent’ to reach the head, and not any intermediate location, particularly the bottle shaped neck, the house of the planet Venus the 'Shukracharya', the cause of 'Maya' that is illusion, that constricts its passage further up – as per a grand design of Mahashiva the Bhootnath that is the Lord of the past!

PS. i do realize that the 'Hindu thought' is beyond average comprehension, but someone has to express those too, as some 'journalists' appear to have done so in the past too, although their 'kiths and kins' might get carried away by 'satan' today, that is, the remotest past!

Anonymous said...

As I had indicated earlier also elsewhere, the Yogis have given much importance to the activation of ‘third eye’ (of Shiva) or ‘Ajna chakra’, that is, the ‘control point’, which is believable located between the two eyes at the meeting point of the forehead and the nose in human forms. It is believably related with Shiva, the Lord of destruction and, believably being Bholanath also, He is considered as very magnanimous and ever ready to fulfil any and all the wishes of His devotees!

It is believed that Yogis or ‘elevated souls’ attempted to concentrate, with both eye-lids closed, at this point. It is believed that in, pigeons and dolphins, this region contains liquid Hydrogen that remains magnetized and thus gives high sense of direction, like a magnetic compass, to these two forms. However, it is believed that liquid Hydrogen in human form likewise existed earlier, but has dried up with the passage of time, and hence one needs to magnetise the soft tissues, (that are seen to have Hydrogen ions that get magnetised in the presence of electromagnets), in this region with perception of light retained with closed eye.

Some Yogis believably received extraordinary powers on achieving it, viz. walking on surface of water, disappearing from one place and instantaneously appearing at any remote location even, and so on…Ravana the mythological character during Lord Rama’s time believably offered nine heads, to his deity, Lord Shiva, one after another as every time a new head appeared on his shoulders! And thus he came to be known as ‘Dashanan’ or the ten headed one!

It is interesting that the author (?) of The Philedelphia Experiment, I read long ago, communicated similar exercises believably performed by the US Government under the guidance of Einstein before he invented A-bomb, utilizing a cargo ship and two other ships with strong electromagnets, which resulted in the cargo ship becoming invisible and getting teleported instantaneously to the shipyard thousands of kilometer away where it was originally built!

The experiment believably failed because all crew members reportedly turned into spirits or ghosts and the matter was then hushed up and Einstein then concentrated on building of the A-bomb!

Anonymous said...

Dr Anilji said, “Shivaji Maharaj was a great devotee of God Mallikarjun. It is said that the thought of offering his head to the god had come very strongly to his mind during his stay here.”

Seen from the yogic point of view or belief, the fact of life believably is that all life forms are transient in nature as part of a grand design, each form at any given time being one of the innumerable images of the one and only Formless supreme being. Therefore, one comes across the communication - in Hindu philosophy - of ‘Shivoham’ or realization of certain Yogis who managed to reach the ‘Ajna Chakra’ (meaning ‘I am Shiva the destroyer’) after managing to cross ‘Vishuddhi Chakra’ located - like a barrier - in the human throat. However, the ‘Siddhas’ that is the Yogis who didn’t stop at the ‘Ajna Chakra’ and, unlike Bhringi (whose story was seen earlier in another post of Kavitha also), ‘continued the churning’ even after reaching it, and managed to reach the ‘Sahasrara Chakra’ in the head to realize ‘Parvati’ or essence of Moon that is ‘Mohini form of Vishnu’ as the source of ‘Amrit’ or immortality, which was perhaps expressed as achieving ‘moksha’ or liberation from the 'birth & death cycle', the believable goal of human life.

Anonymous said...

Hi Kavitha, it maybe because of the approaching 'Poornima' that is full moon, however, another reaction to an article in 'my' newspaper, dedicated to Parvati.

Art Imitates Life – Hindu India embraced erotica long before M.F Hussain, by Vinay Bharat-Ram, (May31), perhaps can be said to be an excellent attempt in expressing the essence of various ‘Truths’ of the illusion or ‘Maya’ of ‘Creation of the physical universe’ (hence 101% marks to him as per the present day standards of examination!).

However, maybe a ‘Hindu by thought’ might find it coming from a person who ‘naturally’ hasn’t the time and inclination to go still deeper (perhaps because of selfish interests and limitations of time in a busy day-to-day schedule), starting like a ‘scientist’ from the question: Why the word ‘Hindu’? With the given hint that in the sub continent even today Lunar Cycle is used to determine all ‘religious’ activities. And also, pondering over the question: Why did the obviously ‘wise’ ancient Hindus decide to reflect human efficiency decreasing from 100% in the beginning of Satyuga to reduce to near 0% at the end of Kaliyuga, and not vice versa? (And, perhaps therefore, it shouldn’t be found surprising that even (born) Hindus today are apparently acting ‘foolishly’, virtually like lunatics because of lunar effect, maybe!)

It would, therefore, be naïve to suggest “informed debate” with the apparent mob that reflects at any time 0% efficiency, when the author himself would find it below his dignity to talk to, say me even, an average ‘Indian’!!!

The believably ‘wise’ ancients, believers of “simple living and high thinking,” used to gather on the ghats or banks of sacred river Ganga at Kashi, because it happens to be the original abode of ‘Gangadhara Shiva’, of the “Satyam Shivam Sunderam” fame - represented symbolically by Shivalinga - and thrash out verbally the different view points with an attempt to reach the essence or spirit (of Shiva) that believably still resides in that region, although His innumerable forms apparently, as reflections, or ‘images’, are present all over the universe – even in a dust particle and, therefore, no need to actually visit Varanasi that was Kashi!

One can perhaps therefore only wish God to give ‘sanmati’ or ‘sanity’ to all and sundry, Hindus or Talibans, and particularly the journalists in the 'east'/ ‘west’!

Anonymous said...

Yesterday, it was ‘no tobacco day’, for the ‘present day physicians’ also have come to the conclusion that smoking is harmful to the average human being. But, it is perhaps a necessary evil, as no administration in the present appears able to ban its use completely (helpless because of many other governing factors, perhaps as a part of a grand design).

It is also known from certain, maybe rare, examples that some humans exhibit no ill effects with smoke/ intoxicants even. And, Hindu Mythology has the example of Yogeshwar Shiva as the Lord of such a category of men!

The Yogis believably concluded that ‘sura-paan’ or consumption of intoxicants was allowed only to the ‘suras’ or ‘devtas’ the demi-gods (members of the solar system) who had been rendered immortal as a result of the ‘churning of the milky-ocean’, under the supervision of Sage Brihaspati that is Jupiter, and ‘devtas’ eventually receiving ‘amrit’ while the only demon Rahu (‘mayavi rakshasha’) who managed to fool them for an instant had his head cut away by Vishnu with His ‘sudershanchakra’ before he could be rendered completely immortal.

The above story perhaps conveys cryptically the presence of a component of Ulta-violet rays at one end and Infra-red rays at the other end of the spectrum, as the head, or Rahu, and lower body, or Ketu, respectively, separated from each other! These two powerful rays were considered as ‘shadows’ of planets and are shown in the horoscope of individuals separated by six houses, i.e. if Rahu occurs in the 4th house, Ketu would be seen reflected in the 10th. These two are also found reflected in the characters of two Gurus associated with Pandavas in Dwaperyuga and also in Tretayuga with 'survanshi' kings, as Dronacharya & Vidur, and Vishwamitra & Vashistha, respectively... and so on...

"Hari ananta/ Hari katha ananta!"

Anonymous said...

Kavitha, yet another reaction to an article is given below.

Reference God is in the market (June 1), maybe the author isn’t aware of the conclusion reached by the ‘wiser’ ancient ‘HINDUS’ - thanks to ‘Time’ - that Earth is ‘mithya’ or only a ‘Market where lies are sold’, therefore, he seeks the ‘Absolute Truth’ in the ‘market’ at the fag-end of ‘Kaliyuga’, which as per realization of the ancient Hindus happens to be the beginning of evolutionary processes when man was near ‘zero knowledge’ that eventually led to the creation of the perfect physical form in the long-lost past in Satyuga as a true representation of the Formless God, who is known today as planet Earth, and not ‘Shiva’ or Mother Earth, due to ‘natural’ inability of ‘born Hindus’ in the apparent ‘present’ to see the ‘Truth’ as per a grand design, unless one tried to see it through the eyes of the ‘wisest’ or ‘sarva-guna-sampanna’ that is ‘perfect’ ancient ‘Hindu’, or entering the mind of GOD, as Stephen Hawking, although a ‘foreigner’ or a ‘stranger’ also hinted – of course believably only if one ‘surrendered in Him (vide the Gita)!

Anonymous said...

Let’s come back to ‘Ajna Chakra’ in the middle of the eyebrows, the believable location of ‘mind’s eye’ where certain ‘elevated souls’ believable can see the events related with theirs or others future, if they could make energy from the ‘Mooladhar Chakra’ to rise to this level at least.

As I earlier said, this particular ‘control point’ is related with essence of earth that is green colour or ‘Gangadhara Shiva’ and is in line with the central nervous system. And, we had also seen earlier how the sympathetic nervous systems are perhaps believably related with Rivers Yamuna and Brahmaputra, or the two ‘nadis’ on either side of the Ganges. The Yogis believe these two to be reflected through hot air flowing through one nostril (related with white Sunlight reflected by Moon and yellow colour as its essence, housed in the head) and cold (related with ‘cold’ colour, blue, its essence lying at the throat level ) through the other (thus the two colours representing ‘peetamber’ and ‘neelamber’ or both together representing Yogiraja Krishna - uniting to form green that lies in the middle at the Central Nervous system representing the sacred river Ganga).

Anonymous said...

Further thoughts dedicated to Parvati...

To communicate the concept of energy/ knowledge reaching the animal head from the different ‘chakras’ or ‘bandhas’, that is, ‘locks’ within the human body at different levels, Yogis indicated activation of “kundalini” with the analogy of a coiled up King Cobra’s raising its hood like a spring while its lower body/ tip of its tail, ideally, continues to rest on the ground.

‘Nature’ has many such examples, perhaps for all and sundry to realize the rising of energy from the ‘mooladhar’ within human forms, as indicated in the Gita too - through the character of 'Yogiraja Krishna' in Dwaperyuga - that anybody, irrespective of one’s sex, caste or creed etc., could reach Him. I can think of natural geysers/ water-fountains/ banyan trees/ kerosene pressure stoves or LPG gas stoves/ diwali ‘rockets’ or space ships/ and so on...

The ancients also communicated the thought through the archers aiming their arrows towards the ‘sky’ first as symbolic representation of energy sources there, the Sun and the Moon etc., whose essences also believably exist at intermediate level ‘chakras’ within the human form, above the ‘mooladhar’…

In so far as fulfillment of desires by certain devotees of Shiva (the destroyer) at certain ‘holy’ locations is concerned, maybe its reflection is seen in the continued practice of asking the last desire from a person who is ordered to be executed, perhaps as part of a grand design of life’s 'drama' as believed by the ‘wise’ ancients due to lack of knowledge of purpose by ‘Apsmara Purush’ the forgetful man who is unable to recall his/ her real purpose of reaching the ‘Absolute truth’ besides the various ‘Truths’ that are in fact also indicated as ‘untruths’ or ‘mithya’ by the ‘wise’! Thus it is indicated as a matter of faith and belief, for ‘Nature’ continues to indicate apparent hierarchy in all its aspects, perhaps as part of a 'grand design'…

Anonymous said...

Kavitha, here is another reaction to an article in newspaper on change required in 'Hinduism', on account of 'Time' that is Kaliyuga!

This refers to the Temples of unmodern India by Shri Gautam Siddharth (June 4).

Although the toi has presented the sad state of 'Hinduism' in India, it is sad, or/ rather a sorry state that obviously a ‘born Hindu’ writer, moved by the ‘west’, which is controlled by the planet Saturn/ ‘Satan’ the mischievous Krishna (the ruler of Dwarka in Dwaperyuga when maximum possible human efficiency was only 50% of the potential), concludes with an advice on ‘Hinduism’, without mention of God, or even an attempt to know why the word ‘Hindu’ (with the knowledge that Indu in Sanskrit means Moon or La Lune, from which the word 'lunatic' evolved, and Hindus called a fool ‘buddhu’ while the wise ‘the Buddha’!) was apparently decided by the ‘wise ancients’ (for example, a few of the characters in Mahabharata are named, Dushashan that is ‘maladministration’, Duryodhan that is ‘a bad soldier’, and so on).

Sanatan Dharma, for information, relates to a practice that in theory only is to be carried forth through time immemorial, from one generation to another, without any change, because of the basic belief - based on in-depth study and realization by the wise - that ‘Truth’ or ‘Satya’ (referred in Satyam Shivam Sunderam) is not related with the passage of ‘Apparent Time’ that moves backward, from Satyuga, the age of Shiva in human form achieving ‘perfection’, to the present or Kaliyuga when human efficiency generally tends to zero% from 100% potential achievable by all humans in Satyuga. During Kaliyuga, a maximum of 25% of the potential only is possible.

In short, Earth as the prototype of Shiva in human form in Satyuga (Lakshamana in Tretayuga, and Yudhister in Dwaperyuga as the evolutionary process took place from Kaliyuga to Satyuga, in steps) is immortal - just like the ‘Absolute Truth’, or the one and only Formless Creator of the entire apparent physical universe, Nadbindu, for it is related with zero time and space and believably a component of it resides within each form, but it is realizable only in human form as per Formless Creator’s ‘grand design’!

In view of the very brief comment given above, the comment with reference to Christianity by a westerner is not at all applicable to the ‘Hindu Philosophy or Thought’!

Anonymous said...

A few words on the World Environment Day...

The central idea of ‘Hindu Philosophy’ or belief regarding ‘creation’/ ‘dissolution’ is that the original creative/ destructive force, ‘Kali’, (meaning, black), or ‘Sati’ (meaning, the essence of the physical universe) is represented by our planet earth as the essence or model of the physical universe, as we the humans, similarly as models of the solar system, apparently perceive it with our physical senses.

And, the variety that we apparently perceive in ‘Nature’ is on account of illusion, (like man, believably also the model of the universe, views his reflection in a mirror depending on its form/ quality of material used etc), different planets as different images of the planet earth itself, however, each one of those so designed as to create an apparent hierarchy, that is different appearing forms - each of which has a varying balance infinite force as part of the original common energy component of Kali, some of the energy being used up in creation of a particular form and the rest lying locked up within the form.

In the human form, each one of which is realized by Yogis as formed with different permutations and combinations of essences of eight selected members of the solar system, such that different utilizable energy/ information - in locks at eight different levels from tail-bone end to the head, out of the 100% in human form of Shiva at the end of Satyuga - is accessible to the concerned depending on the Yuga. It is therefore apparent that creative/ destructive capability of any given individual in general would get reflected from his/ her behaviour at any given time and would thus apparently relate one with some one of the members of the solar system that is governing at that particular moment. That’s to say that the ‘wise’ ancients, through behaviours of different human characters at any given time, could relate those with the predominant member out of only eight members of the solar system that believably participate in the celestial drama. For example, the generallly apparent selfless character of Lord Rama in Tretayuga, a ‘suryavanshi king’, that is, belonging to the family of Sun, is apparently related with our Sun and its life-giving sunlight, continued since time immemorial for sustenance of life on the planet earth! And, so on.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps the most surprising part of ‘creation’ that sounds unbelievable to us today is that the ancient Yogis believably realized all about Mahakal/ Time and the duration of different Yugas etc. while seeking the ‘Truth’ within their own body - sitting detached in some Himalayan cave far away from normal human habitation doing ‘Tapasya’ that is literally baking (brick-like) in the sun!

This stage in a normal human life came to be known as ‘sanyas’ and became an accepted practice by all Hindus towards their fag-end of life when an individual normally withdrew to the isolation of the Himalayas/ Ashrams.

It is however obvious that during their earlier normal stages of life, that is, childhood the age of learning; as a householder, growing in family size; and settling their off-springs etc. before they could retire for ‘sanyas’, in all these stages, they would have come across many questions on the natural existence of opposites in life, viz. good/ bad, right/ wrong and so on. Thus, ‘sanyas’, the forced spare time to pause, which the day-to-day activities didn’t permit them earlier, allowed them to receive answers to such questions within their own heads by in-depth analysis, the exercise which apparently got reflected in the form of some ‘miracle’ - believably related with the ‘spiritual’ - being performed by them, as stories of some yogi walking on surface of water, and so on, became known to the masses.

The information received thus in the past was disseminated to all and sundry when the Yogis, as per the prevalent practice in the past, gathered together at the banks of Ganga at Kashi/ Sangam near Prayag/ at Haridwar and so on, perhaps as part of the Master Plan.

Similarly, in the present such 'miracles' are apparently being reported from the 'west' through the media through believably the inferior 'material' means, compared to the 'spiritual' in the east in hte past, of course, on account of 'Time'!

Unknown said...

Dear Sir Joshi,

I live in Chennai and want to visit Srisailam for the Darshan of Lord Shiva.

Please tell me as to how to reach there.

With warm regards,
Sankaran