Varanasi, city of lights, city of color and city of spiritualism hosts the most ancient cremation grounds in the Indian subcontinent. Manikarnika Ghat and Harishchandra Ghat are the most ancient, of which the former is considered to have existed well before Bhagiratha went into penance to bring down the Ganges and have her flow over the cursed ashes of his ancestors. Since then, mere mortals have considered death and burning of their bodies sacred near these waters, a road to salvation. Varanasi has 98 sacred water fronts, which are believed to form the cosmic frame linking 14 bhavana kosas of the human body. Among 84 ghats, 5 are considered to be supremely auspicious. These are Asi, Dashashwamedha, Manikarnika, Panchganga and Adikeshava. These are the Panchathirthas, and are believed to be symbols of the cosmic body of Lord Vishnu; Asi at the head, Dashashwamedha at the chest, Manikarnika at the navel, Panchganga at the thighs and Adikeshava at the feet. Manikarnika is considered to be at the center of the 5 thirthas, the navel of the universe from which blooms life.
According to mythology, Vishnu went into tapasya (penance) that generated heat and being the source of life he created this world. Vishnu is known to have dug a pit here at Manikarnika with his chakra (discus) and the resulting sweat due to his severe penance filled this pit with sacred water. It is also believed that Shiva’s earring fell into this pit due to which the name of this Ghat came to be known as Manikarnika (jeweled earring), and the pit is called Manikarnika Kund. What remains here is the foot print of Vishnu, Vishnu’s Charan Paduka, which is a pair of feet on a lotus pedestal carved into marble, at the very same place where he is believed to have performed tapasya.
This ghat brings death and release face to face with the creation of the universe. While the power of life was generated at the charan paduka of Vishnu, the actual cremation of bodies takes place at Jalsayin ghat, the whole of which is called the Manikarnika Ghat. Jalsayin, or “the sleeper of the water” reflects the beauty of Vishnu asleep on Sesha Naga, during the cosmic deluge consuming the ashes of the cosmos, symbolizing the endless cycle of time, the flame of which burns continuously at the Manikarnika Ghat, a flame that never dies. Sesha also means remainder; the ashes that remain that get washed away by the Ganges, and lose themselves into the cosmic ocean. Vishnu is the seed of life, a lotus from whose navel grows and brings alive Brahma who creates the world. Cremation takes place here, where life and death meet, where creation meets delusion.
This ghat symbolizes that which is real with time bringing Lord Shiva and Vishnu to the same sthal (place). Apart from Vishnu’s sacred charan paduka, that contains the power of life in his toe, the Manikarnika Ghat also hosts Manikarnika Devi’s shrine and Lord Shiva in the form of Tarakeshwar linga.As the story of Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa also reveals, when he traveled in a boat down the Ganges advancing towards the Manikarnika Ghat, he had a vision of Annapurna Devi holding a corpse in her lap. Lord Shiva in shining brilliance, bends over the corpse, whispering the Taraka mantra into the ears of the dead carving the path for them and helping them cross into the after life. Maybe that is why a person is considered truly dead after his kabala (skull) cracks when the body is cremated. The silent spell of the Lord whispering the Taraka mantra was visible only to Paramahamsa, revealing the real beauty of life, of death and of the journey beyond in the hands of Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu and Devi.
Such is the reality of life, of death, a reminder every day with every corpse that burns, that there is a world beyond and death is not the end. This reality of living echoes all over Manikarnika Ghat and reverberates at the Charan Paduka of Lord Vishnu.
52 comments:
Those who might not know, ‘Mani’ is a RED coloured jewel, one of the many semi-precious gemstones provided by the one and the only Provider, the taken for granted planet called earth!
In terms of ‘tapa’ or heat energy, the colour of the flame of fire, as perceived by a normal human eye, reflects its level. White conveys the hottest flame, Blue the next in the order, followed by Yellow, while Red the least of all in terms of content of heat.
White Sunlight contains all colours ranging from Violet to Red that are perceived by the inefficient, although because of helplessness considered ‘normal’, human eyes in the visible spectrum.
Infrared camera is therefore developed to see what some animal forms are naturally capable of perceiving. And, as man was realized by Yogis to have been formed as the ‘image of (perfect) God’ and thus, as per design, a perfect instrument, the inefficiency in the majority of human forms, particularly to the highest degree in Kaliyuga the ‘Dark Age’, was attributed to the dormant eye, the ‘Third eye’.
And ears and eyes being physically also located at the same level, ‘Manikarnika’ or ‘jeweled earring of Shiva falling into the pit created by Vishnu at navel level’, in code words, states the relationship between the ‘Swadhisthan bandha’ at navel level that is associated with the invisible infrared, the ‘pure heat’, to be connected with visible red colour below it (but above the ‘mooladhar bandha’ where Orange colour believably is located)…
In human forms, a wife is called ‘ardhangini’ or the ‘better half’ of her spouse. This indicates that the ‘wise ancients’ had realized a man, ‘by design’, incomplete without his wife, who was said to be ‘the boat to carry man across the sea that earth is’, and which is being ‘churned’. And, thus symbolically a wife sports ritually today also a RED BINDI on her forehead at the location of the ‘Third Eye’ or the ‘Ajna Chakra’ the dormant controller in human form – only by ‘Hindus’ who are believably blessed by ‘Indu’ the Moon, represented by Yellow colour, like that of gold, the ‘royal metal’ out of which crowns are made by kings in human form while the snow-covered Himalayas symbolically represent the natural crown of Shiva-Parvati, and symbolically man-made crown in ‘white’ marble, the Taj (meaning crown)!
With reference to the present day political environment in ‘India’, one could perhaps see with the ‘third eye’, (if it is activated), mischievous Krishna’s hand and his believable ‘Maya’ the illusion and thus be able to enjoy how a character in female form, named Mayawati, is the ‘present day CM’ of the state of UP, who was earlier associated with ‘Taj corridor’ and recently in Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, received a golden crown from the ‘Gujjars’ whose minds appears to be disturbed for quite some time – for which the ‘wise ancients’ blamed lack of essence of ‘Indu’ the Moon, or la Lune, from which is derived the word ‘lunatic’! And, Agra, that has Krishna’s Mathura located close to it, besides Taj Mahal has a lunatic asylum located there since long!
One also needs to keep in mind that ‘Hindus’ believed the physical universe to result from ‘Maya’ or illusion, created by the different ‘Woods’ the make-believe worlds of cinema all over the globe – that is Shiva.
Interestingly also ‘Raj Thackeray’, a character in human life drama in Maharashtra, influenced by ‘angry young man roles’, in Bollywood films, played particularly by AB, that is, ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ (also related with Ahmedabad-Bombay and not Allahabad-Benaras perhaps by him), also appears to be disturbed after having separated from ‘Shiva Sena’ headed by Balasaheb, his uncle!
One could thus relate the 'present' with the 'remote past' as time is believably moving backwards - the return journey from perfection to imperfection wherefrom the journey forward had originally started from Shiva's Kashi!
‘Life’ being understood by ‘wise ancients’ to be symbolic only, ‘ABCD’ of ‘materialistic India’ under the ‘British regime’ was perhaps reflected by Ahmadabad (72.40E, 23,03N), Bombay or Mumbai (72.54E, 18.55N), Calcutta or Kolkata (88.24E, 22.34N), and Delhi or Indraprastha (77.12E, 28.38N), the major cities that continue to play important role in the running of the business in East, West, and North of the country till date, since time immemorial also perhaps...
However the state of Karnataka with its capital in Bangalore (77.38E, 12.58N) was understood as the geographical and cultural meeting point of the North and South India that has Indian Ocean in the South, Arabian Sea in the West that separates the African Continent from it, and the Bay of Bengal in the East - washing the shoreline of the country.
The Gateway of India, Bombay, as a reflection of time moving backwards is now called Mumbai City the capital of the state of Maharashtra in the S-W coast of ‘India’ and named after Mumba Devi, another form of Goddess Parvati the evolved consort of Shiva the Mahesha or the evolved Bhairava.
Mumbai is also recognized as the ‘commercial capital’ of the country and it virtually is also the nodal point of the S-W monsoon that is responsible for the annual water-cycle in the country thanks to SUN representing ‘fire’ as one of the panchabhoota of Shiva…
New Delhi, however, is India’s administrative capital apparently since the year 1911, when the British shifted their capital from Calcutta, now Kolkata, the capital of the state of West Bengal in the east of ‘India’, named after Goddess Kali, yet another form of Goddess Parvati/ Durga. And, historians know how ‘Delhi’ (associated with ‘Dil’ or ‘Heart’ the vital organ, believably the location of ‘Anhat chakra’) has seen the ‘rise and fall of various empires’ since ages, and mythology links it with similar disturbance since Dwaperyuga, at least…Perhaps every historian is aware of ‘Mahabharat’, but only for its battle! And, perhaps a few only might be aware of the ‘spiritual’ aspect of it as the intermediate stage in the evolution of Red colour to Green-Yellow representing the whole Globe as the true copy of ‘Krishna’/ ‘Kali’, that is, ‘Black’ (a combination of Red and Green, in which Green earth is overshadowed by blue, the ‘poison’, and thus came to be known as Neelakantha Shiva)!
Here is a reaction to the editorial in ‘my newspaper based on WHO survey that reveals alarming rise in tobacco abuse related deaths…
A nice Thought for Today* and the editorial Stub it out brings to mind the popular line from some shayar, that is, an Urdu language poet, “Bakre ki maan kab tak khair manayegi.” That in Bengali means, Baray baray ghooghoo daan khabay na.” For, when someone is walking or slipping down from the peak of Mount Kailash must one day drown/ freeze in Mansarovar Lake – unless he/ she can levitate or walk on water; or if it isn’t so destined, for “Jako rajhe saiiyan, mar sake na koi!”
********
Oscar Wilde: “Do you mind if I smoke?”
Sarah Bernhardt: I don’t care if you burn.”
SARAH BERNHARDT, French actress
*****
The above also indicates how 'past' when poison had emerged due to 'churning' that had just begun and affected both devta's as well as 'rakshashas'. And 'burning of Kamdeva/ Bhasmasur is also related with Shiva and His Third Eye!
‘I’ had earler also indicated how Red colour is believed related with Krishna as ‘Raktamber’ and also with bones that form the basic frame or animal skeleton around which muscles are packed, which are believably related with Green colour, a compound colour formed out of Blue, related with nerves, and Yellow, related with fats. And, butter was reportedly the favourite of Krishna the cowboy, which He reportedly stole (and apparently continues to steal even now!) from the heads of humans – indicated in the stories by milk-maids reportedly keeping the butter, churned out from milk, in vessels kept at higher levels which mischievous Balkrishna anyway cleverly stole with the help of human pyramid made with the help of other cowboy friends! And Pyramids are found even today in Egypt and some other countries too, but in poorer conditions…Pyramid shapes, however, commonly seen adopted in ‘Indian’ temples as ‘Vimanas’ or aeroplanes, (linking these with flight to Heaven, or ‘moksha’!)…And human pyramids are used in Mumbai too during ‘Govinda’ – Krishna in the ‘past’ being considered as the universal God of ‘India’ but apparently ‘present day India’ is shrinking as reflected by the ‘sons of the soil’s’ everywhere desiring ‘North Indians’, that in fact is all humans on earth, to return - perhaps to Kashi, the original abode of Shiva, the pit of ‘Manikarnika’!
Also, we had seen how the pit could also indicate the level of human kidneys that have endocrine glands that directly issue some chemicals into the blood that give a sudden spurt of energy to the human body when they get activated. And, it might not be pure ‘coincidence’ that apparent racket of unauthorized kidney transplant has been recently unearthed in Noida, UP & Gurgaon, the city named after Dronacharya, Guru of the Kuru princes in Dwaperyuga, in the state of ‘Haryana’, literally the land of Hari Vishnu, that is also presently experiencing maddening bottle-neck (that is ‘vighna’ and thus badly needs help from Ganesha!) on the express highway between New Delhi and Gurgaon the newly developed ‘modern city of Malls’, like their bigger versions exist also in the Emirates or UAE, Dubai (or Dubayy which, in Hindi, coincidentally means ‘drowned’!)!
To relate Red colour with Black that is Krishna/ Kali , let us recall that in West Bengal, on a particular New Moon day during each year that is reckoned with the help of lunar calendar and not the Georgian calendar, the festival of ‘Diwali’ - the word derived from ‘Deepawali’, that is, literally the ‘row of lights’ - where mustard oil in earthen lamps as fuel was used with a view to driving away evil spirits (as we have already seen earlier elsewhere) as the light of just one lamp naturally dispels darkness, a row of these together with Diwali crackers, including the model of a volcano, called ‘anar’ – made in the shape of the Red coloured fruit, pomegranate, for education of the youth, generations after generations…
The Yogis had realized sound energy used by Formless Vishnu the Nadbindu for creation of the universe and also conveyed that our planet earth itself is Shiva, (with Kali of red tongue in its heart or core), as the model of the Bhootnath the Lord of the Ghosts or the Past...
With the passage of time, and expected lack of knowledge in the generations that followed our ancestors, we 'Hindu' youths started using candles made from wax derived from Petroleum/ or row of electric bulbs – mostly as a formality!
And, also anyway because ‘materialism’ was given priority after 'Independence', not only mustard oil, but today everything - from air to water to food items, and human minds too - contains adulterants, or is polluted, and thus would perhaps also not have served the purpose that was intended originally by our ‘wise ancients’...
Apsmara Purush or forgetful man that we were understood by ‘wise ancients’ as, we need to be awakened. And in this task, Hindu Mythology - read between lines - could serve a useful purpose to a ‘seeker of Truth’ that ‘modern scientists’ also call themselves.
Obviously ‘Indians’, because they already have the necessary foundation on account of birth in this ‘holy land of Shiva/ Rama/ Krishna, particularly ‘Hindus’ should perhaps be in a better position compared to the ‘western world’. And, even the ‘west’ realizes that “It is never too late” to learn, and “Where there is will, there is way.”
‘Communists’ all over the world today are related with RED colour through their flags. And, they are also the leaders of the ‘materially poor’, [either farmers of agriculturists, conveyed symbolically through ‘Hammer & Sickle’ in Yellow colour (!), implements made from Iron that represents sudershan-chakra-dhari planet Saturn, or a physical model of Formless Vishnu, and also ‘His friend’ the poisonous planet Venus!] that perhaps forms an appreciable percentage or workers in ‘the present day India’ who, in fact apparently, form the base for all ‘material development’ – but in the ‘present’, when time is moving backwards (although in reality the strong foundation) they could perhaps be perceived as a weak foundation over which mega superstructures are being attempted, like sand castles on the sea beach, waiting for the high tides to sweep ‘earth’ back to the seas! And ‘India’ has seas in three directions – representing ‘Trimurty Shiva’ as model of ‘OM’ (‘3’, and Yogiraja Krishna the ‘Siddha Purush’ recommends integrated development of human beings in three axes, generally called Physical, Mental, and Spiritual)!
In the apparent ‘civilized world’, in a ‘normal man’, physical development apparently takes place without much effort – just as it apparently is the case with ‘inferior’, ‘domesticated animals’.
Although mental development also apparently takes place ‘naturally’, with experience over time, if one has the required ‘inclination of mind’, as is apparently demonstrated by Gautam the Buddha, who in the eyes of an average man, just sat for 8 years under the ‘Bodhi Tree’ (of the family of Banyan Tree), or even by ‘child prodigies’…
Spiritual development, however, besides inclination of mind, perhaps needs the maximum efforts – as it is conveyed through the well known story of Bhagirath/ Vishwamitra, a king who turned into a sage with apparent valiant efforts despite temptations in his path to seek the ‘Truth’…
'Hindus', apparently however, realized life to be History of His Own Past by the Formless Creator of the physical universe - for His unknown purpose!
As we have seen earlier also, Yogiraja Krishna the king of Yogis, who evolved to become Yogeshwar the Lord of Yogis, was reportedly born in a prison in Mathura, where his parents were confined by his maternal uncle Kansa the tyrant king of Mathura, who had before his birth killed seven of his own siblings immediately after they were born!
He was ‘bhagyawan’ that is ‘lucky’ or ‘Bhagwan’ the God to have escaped from the clutches of Kansa and his employees…to live and evolve further,,,
To learn what 'Maya' is, compare the above with the fact that every ‘Black Hole’ or ‘Krishna’ in the universal void, and also a‘normal person’ even ‘in the present day India’, are ‘naturally’ born after confinement in space/ one’s mother’s womb...
And, even ‘today’ infant mortality rate is appreciable, particularly because of ‘murder of female-child in the womb itself’ – by Kansa’s representatives!?
As we have seen earlier also, the game of Cricket could also be seen as the model of our galaxy, that is, Krishna. And, the present day events could thus be visualized to reflect Krishna's hand...Here is another of 'my reaction' to an article in 'my newspaper'...
SOTTO VOCE article Bullied By BCCI, by Timothy Riley (19/2), demonstrats what addiction or habit can do to a man. The ‘Bullied CCI’ for long is now ‘paying back the ‘west’ in their own coin’! And, they call it a counterfeit one! :-)
Anyway, perhaps the writer would be happy to learn that ‘Dubai’ in Hindustani means ‘drowned’ - and ocean water all over the globe is now eager to sweep clean the surface of earth, the face of immortal Shiva to a ‘Hindu’, in order to accommodate all those souls that are waiting for their turn since long!
“The King is dead/ Long live the King!”
May God bless the souls!
Mira Bai said, “Moorakh ko tum raj diyat ho/ Pundit phirat bhikari.”
Although there are available words of caution, “Don’t believe in hearsay,” and an extension thereto, “Half believe in what you see”, the main problem in comprehension of the ‘Truth’ is the apparent confusion in the mind of humans on account of multitudinous of various truths. These create controversies and therefore virtual chaos, for the analyses are based on information collected by individuals and the society through eons, which they are obliged to do so through naturally deficient physical senses, and also their apparent inability to realize unlike the ‘wise ancients’ that physical universe is illusory – it is merely a dream of the Formless Creator, a dot or Nadbindu located at the centre of the illusory earth!
Who am I then? That's the question that apparently led the wise ancients to realize that man is one of the innumerable images of God at a certain given point in time! Krishna therefore says to the effect that if someone abuses another peson he/ she in fact is abusing Krishna or self!
The Formless Creator, being ‘zero’ or detached in time and space, that is, a dot, say the imaginary centre of the earth (as it appears to us, although believably being illusory), who believably created the apparent physical universe in ‘zero’ or no time...but which is being reviewed in apparent time created with the help of the relative motions of earth-moon and sun…
Thus let us say, for example, if A (say Hydrogen gas) is the 3-D image of ‘0’ (like human image in a ‘magical mirror’), B the image of A…and so on, such that finally Z is the image of Y, which all therefore are in fact the images of ‘0’ indirectly.
We could visualize the phenomenon with the help of images formed with the use of laser beams in space, as it is possible of formation even by ‘imperfect man today’, then perhaps it should be possible to accept all apparent physical forms as images of the perfect Supreme Being who originally was just a dot or Formless source of infinite energy…whose images appear different from each other in some hierarchical order in all aspects of ‘Nature’…
The places called, for example say, ‘Manikarnika Ghat’ and ‘Dashashvamedha Ghat’, respectively, communicate the believable steps in the transformation of energy into matter, such that the representative energy evolves from cool Black (say charcoal) to relatively hotter Red (in coal generated with the help of a tiny spark), and then intensified to Blue; and further to Yellow; and finally to White (that holds all the seven colours within it too). Thus there are five primary states of energy represented by colours Black, Red, Yellow, Blue, and White – in which black could be considered represented by the centre of earth say; red by the hot molten magma in the core; Yellow by Sulphur found in the magma; blue by the pollutants or ‘poison’ found underground, due to say gases, say inflammable gas Methane released by certain plants, such as Hyacinth; White by water - underground, on the surface (which in the form of snow/ certain clouds appears as white), as well as in the air, which is in fact made up of Hydrogen, (the source of white light, which is found in abundance in the core of each of the innumerable stars in gaseous form and also in planet Jupiter in liquid form also), with life giving Oxygen in the air as well as in the Ozone layer – that ges broken into ordinary oxygen, and also gets issued by active volcanoes. Ozone gas serves the purpose of keeping away major part of the harmful ultraviolet radiation that gets emanated from our Sun, besides Infrared radiation or pure heat which is the normal form of energy tht gets exchanged between galaxies also. The process of combinztion of two gases, Hydrogen and Oxygen result in colourless water, to function as copy of the detached or ‘nirgun’ Creator - tasteless, as distilled water is found to be. The taste in water is on account of impurities that it contains, of course desirably within acceptable limits, just as the characteristic gets reflected in humans as minor evils!)…
Kavitha, some visitors leave certain queries in the message box. I reproduce one below followed by my reaction to it.
***********************************
19 Feb 08, 18:04/ 18:06/ 18:07
gala: does any one know about lizard mythlogy.
kavitha...i am gala from Bangalore pleased to introduce myself...can you please help if you have any idea about lizard mythology.
the "i" in me is a great piece..
20 Feb 08, 07:34
JC Joshi: Gala, in Assam a local had told me that lizard falling on one's person was interpreted to mean either aas a good or bad omen. I didn't try to go to its depth.
***********************************
When a ‘scientist’ or ‘a seeker of Truth’ gets inspired - and also finds time with the blessings of the Formless perhaps - one starts seeing life in a different light. And, one might find that there is no dearth of things in ‘Nature’ that apparently hadn’t appear to one earlier although it existed all the while close to one! However, one finds it impossible to do in-depth study on each and every subject.
The ‘wise ancients’, therefore, in essence said, “Hari ananta/ Hari katha ananta.” They also realized life as a result of Hari Vishnu’s ‘Maya’ that is illusion, a spider’s wonderful web-like projection before one’s deficient eye that needed to be moved away...
And, as a reflection of it in the exterior world, with the belief in ‘cleanliness is next to godliness’, every householder would perhaps be observed from time to time removing the spider’s web inside the house, and also wiping away dust from all surfaces too – perhaps, at that instant, unaware of the apparent fact that had it not been for the dust, earth and life on it also wouldn’t have existed!
And, the ‘wise ancients’, thankfully perhaps, realized earth also and, therefore, life on it also as ‘mithya’ or illusory!
The wise, therefore, call Him ‘Adbhutnath’ or ‘wonderful God’!
The problem that the ‘seeker’ apparently faces is how to first of all convince oneself that Earth, and also apparent innumerable forms in the universe, aren’t the ‘Absolute Truth’?
And, that as conveyed by apparently ‘wise ancients’, the so-called ‘Truths’, in fact, are ‘Unthruths’! As ‘I’ had once cited in a ‘true’ incident, a respectable person ‘I’ had met in Guwahati, who narrated his ‘miracle cure’ from a severe arthritic condition overnight merely by a visit to Vaishno Devi Temple. He said he pinched himself to convince himself that he wasn’t dreaming and that it was really true!
With the background knowledge that ‘I’ had gathered from the book, Autobiography of a Yogi by ‘Paramhansa Yogananda’, the above suggested to me that ‘I’, in fact, could be an ‘imperfect character’ in the dream of the Supreme or ‘Perfect’ Being!
Based on teh above thoughts, 'I' give below a reaction to an article 'I' have sent to 'my newspaper"...some posts repeated here too...
Mind Opener article ‘Beanstalk Reinvented’ by Mukul Sharma although made an interesting reading, it indicates that the writer, a character who existed in the past, perhaps fails to realize it as the ‘dream’ of the Formless Creator, Bhootnath the Lord of the Past (given to understand as Lord of Ghosts for distracting the ‘minds of inferior souls’!), in the LLP or ‘long lost past’ when He was considering various alternatives for achieving ‘perfection’, starting from ‘zero’ that He in reality is in the ‘past’ as well as the ‘present’, which reflects the end of Kaliyuga that is being highlighted in His Mind, when He looks ‘inwards’ with the apparent perfect universe in the background!
JC
PS. The following, two comments ‘I’ had posted on 15/2 in a blog might help insight into a ‘Hindu mind’.
‘I’ had visited reportedly 234 feet high Qutab Minar, located in New Delhi, the first time when ‘I’ was a small school student.
I had not heard of Einstein by then. However, as ‘I’ observed its top, it had looked relatively very high to ‘me’ then and thus it was some sort of a disappointment when still in school ‘I’ revisited it the second time (and a few times after that also) – for it appeared smaller because now my eye level also had risen higher from the ground and thus ‘I’ didn’t have to tilt my head more to see its top! Of course, from the top all objects and persons appeared smaller both times…but one could have a panoramic view of Delhi with a sense of excitement and achievement!
To get to the top, one had however to climb along the dark spiraling 378 numbers tiring steps that grew smaller as one moved up to the fifth floor due to the taper – sunlight was seen at each floor level when one could come out for some time…During subsequent visits, however, due to certain accidents and growing tilt in the tower, access to the top level was prohibited by the concerned authorities…
Now, ‘I’ can visualize the spiraling steps with the help of the believable shape of the chromosome and also perhaps similarly the rise of energy within human structure when ‘Kundalini’ gets activated – to perhaps different levels in different individuals during different Yugas. Only a few perhaps permitted to reach the top at times other than Satyuga…
It was in the year 1960, when after the end of our ‘educational tour’ from our college, some students visited Chennai also when the city was called Madras...renamed as it was called thus in the 'past'…
The local person who took us around the then Chennai beaches etc., as it was a novelty then, the concerned authorities in LIC allowed visitors to climb up - by the newly installed lift on payment - to the roof of the then tallest building to have a panoramic view of Chennai (Madras) city!
God is similarly believed to grant ‘moksha’ in one go to the ‘elevated souls’ - irrespective of one’s apparent physical handicap even!
JC
Hi Kavitha, You have indicated the following, “…Apart from Vishnu’s sacred charan paduka, that contains the power of life in his toe, the Manikarnika Ghat also hosts Manikarnika Devi’s shrine and Lord Shiva in the form of Tarakeshwar linga…”
As ‘I’ had also mentioned it elsewhere also, the example of ‘Kasturi Mrig’ that is musk deer found in the Himalayan forest is generally cited as the believable relationship between the Formless Creator and human beings...
Like the musk deer, unaware of the fact that frangrance reaching his nose emanates from its own person man also apparently believably goes around the world in search of ‘God’. And, in this process, he has been looking all over the globe - since time immemorial - signs that could convince him/ her as left behind by the Creator in human form! Thus in Manikarnika Ghat also, similarly, one finds ‘charan paduka’ or ‘foot-prints’ of Vishnu immortalized by the ancients, perhaps therefore the mythological story about Bharat’s proxy rule over Ayodhya in place of his brother Rama in Tretayuga, who was indicated as re-incarnation of Vishnu Himself. Perhaps, an astronomer could relate this part of the story with the relationship of the centre of our galaxy (as an image of the gravitational force concentrated at the centre of our earth) and our sun, the source of sunlight for vision as well as the direct and indirect forms of energy stored in ‘non-living’ and ‘live’ forms on earth for their creation as well as sustenance for a certain duration of time that varies from one form to another in general!
The ancients believably represented the Formless Creator or Bhootnath Shiva symbolically by Shivlinga. Or by His consort, Durga the eight handed Goddess who is worshipped in different forms at different locations, originally as Kali, and in Her physical form by Red colour, such as reflected in Her name as 'Manikarnika Devi' in Varanasi...
‘Manikarnika’, earring of (red coloured) Ruby, a semi-precioius gemstone, brings to ‘my’ mind also ‘manikarna’, which could perhaps be translated as ‘red ears’. It thus brings to my mind another interesting observation in certain human characters, (including ‘me’!), that is, their ears at times turn red (which could perhaps be attributed to high blood pressure, or maybe as an indication that blood which naturally has red colour is able to reach at least their ‘Third Eye’ level, or ‘Ajna Chakra’ - ‘naturally’!
‘Mani’ also means snake and the jewel ‘Nagmani’ is also associated with ‘King Cobra’ a serpent that is believed to have a jewel on top of its hood. Light emanating from it believably attracts insects that act as its food!
[Perhaps similarly, in Jatinga valley, in northeast India, tribals accidentally once found that when they lighted a torch, during certain period and under certain atmospherical condition, young birds virtually dropped from the sky, which they believed as food provided to them by God!
And also tribals in the state of Nagaland in the northeast region eat birds as well as certain insects that get attracted towards light!]
The Yogis, however, believed dormant energy to normally remain coiled up like a serpent within human forms, naturally, at the ‘mooladhar chakra’ - but it believably rises to the head when ‘kundalini’ gets activated, just as the coiled up King Cobra suddenly raises its hood when it senses some danger in preparedness to protect the self, or attack the enemy if required!
Hari Vishnu definitely is wonderful and ananta!
As we have seen earlier also, the sudden spurt of energy noticed in cobras, in humans - who are believed by ‘wise Hindus’ to have passed through all 8.4 million animal forms also in the past - it is attributed in the ‘present’ to chemicals released into the blood stream by endocrine glands located on top of the kidneys.
[In this connection a colleague once narrated how he was unable to expain from where he suddenly, unexpectedly, received energy and was thus luckily saved the other day when he believed he would have died had he not run at great speed, away from a fast moving bus he fortunately saw behind him at the very last moment!]
‘Wise Hindus’ or Yogis the ‘elevated souls’ believed human structure to be formed out of ‘rasa’ or ‘satva’ that is ‘essences’ of various members of the solar system (symbolically communicated through ‘grahas’, which means both, planets as well as crocodile, as we have seen earlier also in detail).
These ‘grahas’ were generally believed to be 8 selected ones in number, with some particular colour or energy associated with each. Energy/ information associated with each essence was believed locked up in ‘chakras’ or ‘bandhas’ that is ‘locks’ located from tail-bone end to head…
Activation of 'Kundalini' believably raised the energy/ information locked up in different ‘bandhas’ to different levels. However, when total energy was raised to the head the concerned soul was believed to merge with Supreme Soul and thereby receive Supreme Knowledge…
The importance of ‘Mani’ is also seen in the story of Mahabharat (related with only 50% to 25% range of evolution of souls during Dwaperyuga).
Aswatthama, the son of Guru Dronacharya, believably had a ‘mani’ implanted in his forehead that apparently would have given him immortality. But, was gouged out with knife later…
Being ‘imperfect’, and thus blinded by rage (which is forbidden for a Yogi as a 'door to hell') at the knowledge of how Dronacharya, his father, was killed by Arjuna deceptively - when even Yudhister who was believed always to tell the truth, on the advice of mischievous Krishna lied and confirmed that Aswatthama was killed, when he actually wasn’t and it was an elephant by the same name that apparently had died - he believably unknowingly killed innocent persons believeing them to be Pandavas!
It is thus believed that Aswatthama’s soul continues to hover around and people reportedly even today see fresh flowers in the early morning hours offered to Shivalinga in a temple, in an isolated location’, which is shut down in the evening itself!
Also, ‘I’ was surprised to notice a burn mark on the forehead of a class-fellow in college who belonged to Andhra Pradesh and had a name relating him with moon!
Having been living in the cosmopolitan city of New Delhi from infancy, by that time, although, ‘I’ had heard of an expression - an abuse in our hill dialect - to the effect, “May your forehead be stamped with hot iron,” ‘I’ was seeing it in person for the first time...
‘I’ learnt (but do not have in-depth knowledge about it) that stamping the belly or the forehead (now ‘I’ can see it related with Kali/ Red colour) with red-hot iron (metal related with sudershan-chakra-dhari Saturn/ Vishnu, and colour with Krishna, as ‘Raktamber') was an ancient practice for cure of certain ailments in villages in India since time immemorial…
In Guwahati, on account of my wiffe’s chronic ailment, ‘I’ too received information on ‘Acupuncture’, a system of treatment of ailments with ‘steel needles’ that are used to puncture human body at predetermined points by the trained practitioner in order to open the otherwise believably naturally closed ‘windows’ (not Microsoft!) and believably thus thus the apparent ailment...
The metal (related with Saturn/ Venus/ Neelamber Krishna, and blue colour as its essence that is associated with ‘nerves’ in human body) being realized as a good conductor of energy, believably allows in small doses the desired cosmic energy to reach the concerned channels that are believably connected with the affected vital organs that need to be energized for repairing the apparent damage due to lack of needed energy for long time perhaps. Thus it needs regular treatment at certain specified intervals for certain duration as apparently the knowledge was passed on to ‘Indians’ too from China in the ‘present’ – perhaps as a present or ‘return gift’!
It was during this period that ‘I’ also happened to buy a book in English on Acupressure by an American physican.
In this system, in place of needles pressure with thumb/ middle finger/ palm is applied at the locations of acupuncture points by the trained practioner. From this book, ‘I’ learnt that below the navel is a point that is called ‘rejuvenation point’, which could perhaps be related with Red colour ot ‘mani’!
The Hindu Mythology, read between lines, or essentially, indicates essence of the the apparent inferior ringed planet Jupiter (compared to Saturn), associated with pure heat, Infrared, at the navel level (‘Swadhisthan Bandha’ that is the location where God Himself is housed). It is referred as ‘Krishna’ the representative of Lord Vishnu (Saturn as the physical representative of the Formless Nadbindu, the detached super conscious witness of the drama at the centre of earth – presented by various forms of Krishna in His Third Eye!)…
Wihin human form, however, the component of the Formless is indicated attached to essence of planet Mars associated with the compound colour Orange - that is believably made from surpluses of Yellow, which is the essence of ‘mother moon’ (‘Peetamber’, or evolved most ‘Krishna’) in the head and therefore it appears small, and the otherwise destructive Red and hence its damaging effect reduced. It is believably located at the ‘mooladhr bandha’ acting as the energy kept in hold, just as fossil fuel is kept in ‘reserve’ in vehicles at the lowest level of the storage tanks!
Also, we have learnt that between Jupiter (Infrared) and Mars (Orange) there is a belt of a large number of planetoids, or Asteroids (some of which have their orbits which bring them near to earth and sometimes enter earth’s atmosophere also, perhaps as per a grand design), which the stories indicate to represent the balance of Red colour, represented in animal forms as the red-bottomed-‘vanar’, or monkey, army of Sugriva etc with Hanuman as their commander seated at the base or ‘mooladhar’!
The above modification for the drama in human life is indicated in the story of Ganesha’s human head cut by Saturn and replaced by Shiva with an elephant-head, which is more evolved in terms of retention power compared to the forgetful man’s!
Einstein's brain is being studied in detail to know more about brain's structure - its variation from one man to another! He was apparently considered as brainless in his early days!
The above needs to be read with the indication in numerous mythological stories by ‘wise ancients’ that depict pranks played by ‘child Krishna’ and his cowboy gang - which also included a character named ‘Sudama’, a poor ‘brahmin’ but a good boy as depicted by the prefix ‘su’ that means ‘good’ - was ‘natkhat’ or ‘mischievous (and Mirabai said that Krishna’s ways of working, or design, was mysterious, for He made brawny the King while the brains remained paupers!)...
The ‘present day scientists’ indicate the order of members of our solar system with Sun as the nucleus or the ‘Raja’ or ‘King’, the number one (not ‘0’, which actually is the ‘numero uno’ of the binary system, which in a Heavenly Body is indicated as the gravitational force at its centre or core, referred as ‘heart’ with reference to Kali the Goddess – who resides in the heart of Shiva that is Earth - whose physical presence is indicated symbolically through Her Red Tongue!) while the solar system is also found lying in the outer periphery of our galaxy tht apparently has a
‘Black hole’ (Krishna the umero uno’ that is near ‘0’) at its centre. And, besides our Milky Way Galaxy there are innumerable other galaxies that fill the ifinite void of the universe…
However, when the solar system alone is considered, around our Sun the relatively massive Heavenly Body revolved various planets and planetoids, who believably also play important roles in the lives of humans as per wise ancients’…
Thus the order suggests Earth or Shiva to be the 3rd planet, the first being Mercury, and Venus the second, which ‘wise Hindus’ have indicated as a ‘friend’ of Saturn or having similar property though reduced in intensity as a model. Thus in terms of colours, Venus/ Saturn or the cold colour Blue, or metal iron/ steel that chops off the head, appears before ‘Hara’ or Shiva the ‘Destroyer’ (or Transformer) the one who decides the time of death or transformation of form as ‘Mahakal’ finds cryptic mention in the story about ‘Saturn cutting Ganesha’s head’ (when Venus was under control), and with essnece of earth getting activated after it he got revived with elephant head – just as Einstein became a genius! Also indicated are many stories about Kings turning into sages when it was the right time!
Joshi uncle,Regards!
A mani is a bead of any kind & "Manik" is theword for ruby
Hi Dr. Anil, Thanks for pointing it out! Long time no see! ‘I’ thought you had stopped visiting the blog!
Reference to dictionary shows ‘Mani’ to mean a ‘snake’, if ‘ni’ is pronounced as longer ‘nee’, otherwise if shorter ‘i’ is used it means a ‘gemstone’, whereas it is ‘Manikya’ that means the red jewel, or Ruby…In the story of ‘churning’ also, in the second stage, ‘mani’-‘manikya’, that is, jewels including Ruby are indicated to have apparently surfaced…
So ‘Mani-Karnika’ could mean any earring that has a jewel, but, maybe here, perhaps ‘Manik-karnika’ is implied, that is, an earring having Ruby, which appears to be the case, as ‘Charan Paduka’ or slippers indicate the base (heart or Red core of earth) or low heat to start with.
As indicated above, a ‘snake’ as well as a ‘jewel’ are indicated, maybe as a ‘wild’ guess, ‘I’ would, however, like to mention that perhaps the word ‘mani’ has evolved from ‘mun’ that is mind which is believably related with animal’s head. And, ‘nagamani’ is believably found ‘naturally’ on the hood of the Cobra. (The snake charmer ‘I’ encountered in Guwahati showed me one that was glass-like in appearance, a bit whitish. ‘I’ cannot however say whether they were genuine or not. Also someone showed me ‘Yadurmani’, which also was a glass-like whitish crystal in appearance). And, snakes being associated with ‘Baijnath Shiva’ the ‘Doctor’, perhaps it inspired man to also use semi-precious ‘gemstones’ of different colours shaped like it for treatment. Of course, crystals formed out of certain chemicals also appear naturally in some geometrical shapes, which could also be a source of inspiration…
Krishna is mischievous!
Dr. Anil, ‘I’ would like to mention that ‘Mahabharat’ - that is, a story related with our solar system, including earth, believably evolving within a range of 25% to 50% - has four major characters, that form two pairs, namely, Yudhister & Parvati, and Krishna & Arjuna (the two aspects of Trimurty Shiva, that is, Vishnu & Brahma)…of course, others too play important roles…
‘I’ had earlier elsewhere also indicated how the four stages of churning and 8 ‘chakras’ also suggest four pairs, which according to ‘me’ perhaps are Mars-Asteroids (Orange & Red, which in terms of fruits could be visualized as Orange and the ‘believably destructive force’ if taken in excess and is thus in Bible indicated as Red ‘forbidden fruit’, Apple!); Jupiter-Sun (Infrared-White, or in human forms Krishna-Arjuna, representing Centre of our galaxy & our Sun respectively); Mercury-Venus (Ultraviolet-Blue); and Earth-Moon (Green-Yellow, or Yudhister the eldest brother among the Pandavas & Parvati indicated as Pandavas’ common wife due to decision taken by their mother Kunti without caring to gather full information - due to ‘Time’ or Yuga concerned that the story highlights, that is Dwaperyuga and not Satyuga)…
Josi uncle,Salvation is a "mukti" from the cycle of rebirth if I have gotit right.Amongst the main religions how many believe in rebirth that is "Karva Vipaak"
There is an old saying in Sanskrit, “Durjanam prathmam pujyate.” That is the truth as it is generally applicable at all times. ‘Good’ people, generally are considered as harmless and therefore, virtually ignored. Whereas, ‘bad’ people, believably being harmful to one’s person, are apparently buttered by the majority, which is also seen in the kind of ‘democracy’ in the ‘present’ in ‘India that is Bharat’ (and not ‘Mahabharat’ the globe in Satyuga), which according to ‘wise advanced Hindus’ actually is the story of the remotest ‘past’, that is Kaliyuga the ‘Dark Age’ when Red (or anger, reflected say in ‘road rage’ etc, in Metros today) ruled ‘ancient India’ in the minds (Mars-Asteroids or inert Orange-Red) and poison appeared to rule the exterior world (that is Mercury-Venus, or ultraviolet-blue, as reflected by ‘Blue-line buses that is iron, and so on, such as guns in the hands even of kids’ in ‘Indraprastha’, or the capital New Delhi, continuing to kill at an average rate of about 10 persons per month in accidents for which Rahu, or the ultraviolet rays, believably are responsible! And, concerned 'rulers' are mere helpless witnesses! As indicated in the Gita too! Krishna told Arjuna that He already had killed all, perhaps in his mind as Raktamber Krishna!)…
Once one understands after reading the description of Shiva in the ‘Hindu mythological stories’ that the ‘advanced Hindus’ related Shiva in human form as the typical or True model of Earth, who is duly supported by ‘Indu’ the Moon as the prototype of Parvati, Shiva’s believable consort that in fact represents the Third Eye at ‘Ajna Chakra’ and ‘Sahasrara Chakra’ within all ‘Hindus’, the word obviously evolved from ‘Indu’, but beyond comprehension of the ‘wwestern minds’ that are governed by Neelamber Krishna, the relatively ‘inferior souls’!
Krishna the representative of Vishnu, as Raktamber' or teh one who wore red garments believably is mysterious and mischievous too!
And, Mars is also called the 'Red planet', while earth is called the 'Blue planet'! And Ganesha believably ruled the earth on behalf of Shiva! Essence of Mars believably is located at the base of 'mooladhar' within human form!
Dr. Anil, ‘I’ am sorry ‘I’ missed your query on ‘mukti’ earlier. Only now when I logged on again ‘I’ happened to notice it!
Truth is universal. Even ‘present day scientists’ in the ‘west’ - represented by ‘imperfect’ or ‘Neelamber Krishna’ the controller of direction ‘west’ apparently despite time headed towards the events related with the beginning of creation, are thus getting to know more and more about creation and apparently acting like God – in the drama!
This phenomenon was apparently already understood by ‘ancient Hindus’, for the ‘Hindus by thought’, or ‘advanced Yogis’, reflecting the apparent achievement of perfection, in physical terms of Earth as the true model of the ‘Absolute Truth’ or Formless God, or the ‘Truth’ at the end of Satyuga, appear to have understood ‘man’, that is, themselves also, as a ‘perfect instrument’! That is, ‘a model of the universe’ or ‘image of God’, (the latter appearing in the Old Testament of the Bible also).
The above phenomenon is indicated in the Gita in the incident related with ‘enlightenment of Arjuna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra’ in Dwaperyuga when he had virtually given up because of attachment with the characters of the drama, in which he himself also was a character – a fictitious one in the ‘present’ as he was only an image of the Formless who is related with real time and space to be ‘zero’!
Through the characters called ‘Vedantis’ the Absolute Truth is conveyed about the illusory physical world merely as imaginary characters, apparently belonging to different regions, practicing different religions, speaking in different languages, and so on, just as images or projections in a cinema – the make believe world! All souls, as part of the Supreme Soul, represented by some image, apparently are like different eyes of the one and only Formless, a dot or Nadbindu projected into the infinite void of the apparent universe!
It is ‘Maya’ that believably fools inferior souls, who get attached, just as some characters or souls start experiencing the same emotion as the hero/ heroine projected on a screen in a cinema hall, while they apparently sit virtually imprisoned inside the hall, glued to their seat if the story is good! But, in the apparent physical, ‘maya’ is so strong that there is no apparent escape even if the film is bad – which doesn’t however apply to a ‘fakir’ or a Yogi, characters who remain detached, according to the role offered to them!
'We' are only Hindus by birth, who are expected to become 'Hindus by thought' - naturally at the proper 'time' as fixed by Bhootnath, which certain events also could help in prediction!
The wise ancients indicated that whatever is seen outside - in the apparent exterior world/ universe - is also present within the human structure. Thus the example of the ‘Hindu’ concept of eight ‘chakras’, literally ‘wheels’ - each representing essence of some planet located at different levels from tail-bone end to the head when seated in ‘padmasan’, literally the ‘lotus pose’ - could perhaps be visualized as 8 residents, each housed at different floors in an eight-storey building.
Also, these residents could perhaps be imagined, based on Hindu mythological stories, as Mars at the base, followed by other ‘grahas’ in the order: Asteroids, Jupiter, Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and ‘Indu’ Moon at the head level, on the topmost storey of the building (as it apparently virtually exists on the head of earth!)
And, as per them each one of them is symbolically represented by different colours, just as for example ‘communists’/ representatives of ‘materially poor’ are identified by colour of their flag that happens to be ‘Red’…which also happens to be a symbol for ‘STOP’, for rail/ road traffic (and in ‘India today’ the present incumbent Railway Minister also is named ‘Lalu’, literally meaning Red - maybe a coincidence!
And, in neighbouring country, Pakistan, the present apparent turmoil in the political situation saw, as its ‘turning point’, an attack on ‘Lal Masjid’, literally the ‘Red Mosque’ that was preceded in the recent past in ‘India’ by a symbolic attack by ‘extremists’ on ‘Lal Qila’, or the Red Fort, the symbol of ‘India’s Independence’, from the ramparts of which the symbolic ‘Tricolour’ is unfurled on ‘Independence Day’ that has Saffron, that is orange-yellow colour that represents ‘spirituality’ or detachment with ‘material’! And, by coincidence again, the ‘presently disturbed Kashmir’, the ‘heaven on earth’, is famous for the saffron grown there!
Reverting to the example of 8 residents, ideally, if all residents continued to live in harmony, the structure would remain safe, and the residents of such a building would also feel safe as well as comfortable…
Now, similarly, one could get information about the apparent solar system that has our planet earth as one of its members, (as is anyway being done for the human society as a whole by ‘astronomers’ on its behalf), one would thus realize that these ‘Heavenly Bodies’ apparently have already been under existence for over 4 billion years! And, they are likely to continue for billions more! Whereas, human structure that - believably according to ‘wise ancients’ - is a model of the undying or immortal universe apparently as a rule in the ‘present’ lasts only for 100, plus or minus, years only!
The above-mentioned suggests ‘animal life’ a result of a ‘grand design’, by the Supreme Being as believed by ancient Hindus and as also to a certain extent by some ‘western scientists’ also, for example, Sir Fred Hoyle in the early Eighties reportedly said to the effect that looking at the complicated chemical structure, life on earth had to be a result of design of some ‘intelligent being’! And, in the beginning of the millennium, while on tour to ‘India’, Stephen Hawking, a scientist of ‘world fame’ also accepted existence of God indirectly by saying that he would like to ‘enter the mind of God’!
The ‘West’ (believably ruled by 'Blue' or metl steel) is thus apparently getting closer to ‘East’ (believably ruled by 'Red' or Kali/ Krishna), as it would have possibly been when ‘Yogiraja’ Krishna the cowboy believably had just started the believable ‘churning of the milky ocean’, as the sole representative of ‘nothing’ or ‘Nadbindu’ the point source of infinite energy (whose component resides within each and every form also), or ‘Vishnu on Ananta’ (and ‘Anantnag’ also perhaps symbolically exists in the state of J&K – the ‘heaven on earth’)!
Although ‘Indians’ appear to be flourishing ‘materially’, after departure of the English who ruled for centuries, their minds appear much disturbed ‘today’.
It is perhaps known to all that although ‘India’ received ‘political independence’ in 1947 with its capital remaining in New Delhi as before, it however got truncated and has now ‘differently named’ countries, ‘Bangladesh’ in the ‘east’ of it and ‘Pakistan’ on its ‘west’.
And, also in the ‘south’, ‘Sri Lanka’ that earlier was ‘Ceylon’ is disturbed for long, because of residents of Tamil origin residing there since long and the 'present Government’s' inability to come to terms with the LTTE - just as ‘India’ finds itself engaged with Pakistan (and insurgents from there from time to time) over Kashmir, the 'heaven on earth', and with China over ‘Arunachal Pradesh’ (literally, ‘Red state’) in the ‘northeast’ – and both regions lie in the ‘North’ in the Upper and Lower Himalayas respectively…and, even the other regions that lie in the ‘northeast’ in ‘India’ apparently also are ‘disturbed’.
On top of it, the ‘Maoists’ from ‘Hindu’ Nepal in the ‘North’ that holds the ‘sagar matha’, literally ‘ocean’s head’, that is, Mount Everest, due to disturbance there have apparently joined hands with the ‘Naxalites’ in ‘tribal regions’ in ‘truncated India’ - the term coined from ‘Naxalbari’ in West Bengal that first saw local ‘extremism’ in the Sixties…
Punjab in ‘India’s west also has experienced local ‘extremism’ at some stage, while, Maharashtra had also earlier seen disturbance on account of ‘local Shiva Sena’ against ‘South Indians’ residing there. Gujarat also witnessed riots vey recently and continues to remain disturbed…
But in the very recent times, Maharashtra has once again seen disturbance, but this time the wrath was directed, by the ‘sons of the soil’, towards ‘North Indians’! And, ‘North’ believably is ruled by ‘Peetamber Krishna’ the Guru or the most evolved form of ‘Nirakar’ or Formless Shiva who, as believed by the wise ancients, resides on top of the Mount Kailash (the believable prototype of Shivalinga in Tibet, now in China!) with His consort, Parvati, the model of Moon that rules Shiva’s as well as His images’ heads!
And, Yogeshwar Shiva believably has the habit of going into long ‘samadhis’ as He apparently gets reminded of ‘Sati’ His original consort whose memory still remains in ‘His heart’, or core of present earth! Had it not been for Rati the ‘messenger of love’ who represents immortal Kamdeva, He wouldn’t have married Parvati at all when His ‘samadhi’ was last disturbed in the interest of continuity of 'life'!
It is said, “Behind every successful man there is a woman.”
Yes, behind Shiva there believably were, in the order: Sati; Draupadi; Sita; and finally Parvati the daughter of Himalayas!
And, she apparently was responsible for immortality of the souls of ‘devtas’ that is the members of the solar system and souls of those also who acted as models of Shiva in animal forms too, which believably undergo cycles of transformation, like links of a chain and acquire different animal forms from time to apparent time...
And, it is only when a soul believably acquires the superior most, or human, form that an apparent image also can realize itself as part of the Supreme Soul who alone matters.
And, the innumerable souls, as components of the one and only Supreme Soul, believably serve some useful purpose that is known only to the Formless Creator in the apparent eternal ‘drama’, perhaps as He seeks 'His True image' helped by His Own innumerable Images!
One more reaction to an article sent to 'my newspaper"...
SECOND OPINION article 'IPL matches should be ‘scripted’ like WWF events' is déjà vu for old souls, for the ‘wise ancient Hindus’ called the world ‘illusory creation’ by the Formless Creator, a ‘mitha jagat’ (that could also mean a ‘false’, or imaginary, parapet around a well into which everyone is made to unknowingly and unexpectedly fall thanks to deficient external eyes as well as the underdeveloped ‘mental eye’ due to improper ‘inclination of mind’); or an ‘illusory market’ where everything appears to be sold!
Perhaps that’s what was believed as ‘enlightenment’ of ‘elevated souls’ such as that of Buddha, who withdrew from the ‘material world’ generated by sunlight to seek the 'Truth'! And, Sun also is believed to go to sleep and all souls then getting frozen, waiting for another round of fooling when a new sun is reborn!
The King is dead/ Long live the King!” English is gone but English still rules!
And, Rama took over from his father Dashrataha only after he got ‘properly educated’, thus allowing brother Bharat the ‘proxy rule’ of Ayodhya in the meantime while he fought with rakshashas that is demons the rulers of the dark world, such as (negative aspect of earth) Demon Tarakasur who stood on one leg, like earth as it rotates around its own axis, reflecting (positive) Shiva the Tardeo (Mumbai ka asli Raja)!
Hindu Mythology depicts Vishnu the Nadbindu resting on Celestial Serpent Shesha or Ananta Naga in Yoganidra or a super conscious state enjoying the outcome of ‘churning of the milky ocean’ by the selfless devtas and selfish demons, both, who used Vasuki Naga as the rope and Mandara Hills in the ‘Dark Continent’, Africa, as the churner. And, Yogeshwar Shiva is called Nageshwar the Lord of serpents, who holds ‘halahal’ or ‘kalkoot’ the deadliest poison in its throat and therefore called ‘Neelkantha’ the blue throated and Yogiraja Krishna is also called ‘Neelamber’ the one who wears blue garments…both are thus associated with ‘Blue’, while Shiva-Parvati’s elder son Kartikeya is shown to have Peacock as his vehicle, which in the ‘present’ is adopted as ‘India’s National Bird’! Planet Earth is also called ‘Blue Planet’ and ‘sky’ during the day appears ‘blue’ when white Sun, the source of ‘fire’ or energy rules over it…and ‘fire’ and ‘sky’ are considered as two of the ‘five ghosts’ of ‘Bhootnath Shiva’ the Lord of the Past, that is, ‘Pandhbhoota’ that includes, besides these two, ‘earth, ‘air’ (associated with Mars) and ‘water’ (associated with Moon) also, which the globe represents as the ‘three in one’ entity…
And Yogis in ‘India’ understood structure of human beings formed out of essences of the universe, and human spinal column as ‘Merudanda’ (like the mast of a flag around which moves energy stored within the form in the eight ‘chakras’, upwards as well as downwardsl ike the man-made flag when it is unfurled or taken down for safe custody at sunset). And, it is known that Meru Town is located in Mount Kenya in Africa, which read with the ‘present day’ knowledge that Homo sapiens have their roots in Africa clearly indicates that ‘ancient Hindus’ also were aware of the ‘Truth’, which according to them is that which remains unaffected by ‘time’…However, they also said that it was on account of ‘Maya’ that is illusion that an average person starts believing it to be happening in the ‘present’, just as Bollywood films made in Mumbai the ‘Mayanagari’ appear as truth related with the time whenever these are projected on the TV/ Silver screen!
In so far as the apparent functioning of human form is concerned, the ‘Hindu Mythology’ can help visualize, in a simplified manner, any one apparent system as having some component of total information/ energy in the universe distributed among eight inhabitants, one each housed in each floor of an eight-storey building that are interconnected, but are provided with strong locks (that are compared with the marvelously designed jaws of ‘magar machchs’, that is, crocodiles that are cited as the most evolved aquatic animal form, or fish, as the first reincarnation of Vishnu.
Maximum energy, to start with, at the beginning of ‘Kaliyuga’, believably was locked up at the ‘ground floor level’, called ‘mooladhar’, closest to the surface of earth (believably supported on the hard back of a Tortoise as the second reincarnation of Vishnu, which indicates need to provide an adequately strong foundation or base), which was all got lifted up to the ‘top floor’, called ‘Sahasrara’, at the end of Satyuga by the ‘selfless’ intermediate level residents, or ‘devtas’, who acted as per command and direction received from the representative of earth at the 7th floor, and they also received their share of energy for retention during the downward movement of energy released by the top, or 8th, floor resident - attributed to gravitational pull of earth the main controller, for everything that goes up, must eventually come down!
And the cycle thus repeated believably 1,080 times lasting over 4 billion years - to be repeated after rest for the same period. Upward journey however is believed to take no time...
The Hindu Mythology through the story of physical Brahma (Sun) and Vishnu (Centre of galaxy) both unable to reach the beginning and end of Shiva (Formless, represented by Earth) the neutral one or ‘Nirguna’ that is having no external sign (such as reflected by colourless ‘air’ and ‘water’ that take the shape of the vessel in which they are kept, reflected by space of ‘sky’) gives to understand that the perfect spiritual being existed in the form of energy (as the ‘fire’ in the core of earth), and related with time and space as ‘zero’ and therefore called Nadbindu, literally a dot, who at a certain stage created the physical universe/ world supported by the four other members out of the ‘panchbhoota’ or ‘five ghosts’ in His True Image…
One of our teachers in school, perhaps as a reflection of it, everyday tried to find four students who were dull and made them ‘murga’ that is sit in a ‘cock pose’ one each in a corner of the classroom. The ‘mentally poor’ students had to sit with arms passed below the knee while holding one’s ears, one in each palm…
He used to also call it ‘chandal chaukri’, which perhaps reflected four friends/ relatives who carry a dead body to the crematorium (participating in the last journey called ‘shava yatra’ not ‘Shiva’s’, the immortal’s!), sometimes even today in certain villages in ‘India’. It is because of advancement in IT that a four-wheeler hearse, driven by a detached person, has replaced four human ‘heads’ or shoulders in urban regions due to greater distances from the residences to the land earmarked for the purpose of cremation/ burial (as in the case of infants, and Yogis too, perhaps to give the soul another chance to improve, or perhaps with the thought of the future lest human society is completely deprived of ‘good’ or ‘elevated souls’ to act as Gurus!)!
One of our teachers, however, made us write 100 times the mistakes we had made, maybe therefore, ‘I’ am being made to write in Kavitha’s blog the same thoughts repeatedly - after normal school time!
And, after all, although believably illusory, earth can be visualized as a classroom also where all souls are gathered to learn about the 'Absolute Truth' and not get attached to the 'Truths' that in fact are 'Untruths' - according to 'wise souls'!
The Hindu Mythology also through Bhairavanath the child Shiva suggests the believably ‘present day civilized human being’, as visualized by ‘scientists’ also, starting as ‘caveman’ and having unkempt hairs on the head, and also a long open beard with its hairs flying in all directions, (as we saw sp0rted by our teacher, referred in my above mentioned post), and living wildly among wild animals 'naturally' in open air most of the time and braving the elements of ‘Nature’ that existed before him since LLP (like a too long, long playing record) the ‘long lost past’!
But, Yogis, who continued to remain in that ‘wild attire’ even later, came to realize the ‘Absolute Truth’…of time moving backwards and thus associated past events apparently becoming visible, like ‘present day’ projection of events recorded in ‘past’ in Bollywood films...
And, had it not been for the ‘white snake’ (Sheshnag? as different from the black Vasuki naga) appearing before ‘my external eyes’ in ‘northeast India’ in the early Eighties, and realization dawning on me through my ‘mental eye’ almost 2 decades later, ‘I’ wouldn’t have perhaps been able to write what ‘I’ have on the subject – maybe acting just as ‘pastime’ or ‘time pass’ in Mumbaiyya tongue popularized by Bollywood films!
Kavitha, Sunday is working day for Krishna! Therefore He makes 'me' send reactions to articles appeared in 'my newspaper'...
Jug Suraiya ji, the Jugular Vein article should perhaps have had the title O! ‘Bama’ wins! For letter ‘O’ can also be read as the numeral ‘0’! And ‘Bama’ (pronounced as ‘Balm’), in Sanskrit meaning ‘Left’, which when applied to Parvati the model of moon (who rules the human head), represents her younger elephant-headed son Ganesha the symbol of ‘spiritual energy’, while her right hand or ‘skandha’ is her elder son Kartikeya the muscleman who rides the Blue Peacock the National Bird of India as part of the 'Blue Planet'!
If ‘I’ were to judge the aticle, ‘I’ would give full 50 marks for the language, and 25 for the content, for it is guided only by the material-half of the balance 50%!
And, please tell 'Shashi on Sunday' that what one wants today is '100% Internationalism', for peace! No half-cooked systems have naturally proved to be fool-proof in the fooling by the Formless Creator, particularly in 'Kaliyuga' the ‘Dark Age’ (with Dhritrashtra as the ruler in Dwaperyuga, the relatively better time in mind)!
Dr Anil, Some more thoughts popped up on 'mukti'...
We all know that instead of alphanumeric symbols, Chinese language uses graphical symbols, and if ‘I’ am not wrong they write a line from top to bottom and the next line moves to the right of the first. Thus the writing moves from left to write.
However, if one were to write the same matter in Sanskrit/ Hindi or English, or in some other European languages, one writes from left to right and moves downwards till a pageful of matter is completed. One then repeats the process moving to the next page till the entire matter within one’s head is transferred on to the computer, or on a number of leaves of paper…in Urdu, the same process is adopted but the writing is from right to left…
This reminds me of a question asked by a senior boy, a friend of my elder brother when he visited us and tea was served.
After he filled up the cup with tea, followed it with some milk, and after adding a teaspoonful of sugar, he once turned the spoon anti-clockwise and said that’s how Russians did it. Then he moved it clock-wise and said that’s how the Americans did it. Then he moved the spoon haphazardly and said that’s how Indian villagers did it.
He then finally asked us why these different practices among different people are adopted?!
Being inexperienced, ‘I’ naturally couldn’t find the correct answer and finally gave up.
His simple reply was, “To dissolve the sugar!”
The central idea in the above example could perhaps help resolve the differences created by different ‘Religions’, if the purpose of ‘churning’ and ‘turning the spoon in a tea-cup’ could be realized as one and the same – that is reaching the one and only the sugar-like ‘cho chweet’ Formless Creator!
An 'eccentric' idea on exercise of eyes that naturally get affected by gravity!
to the top!!!! – END -
line also - moving from the bottom
this manner the next
thereafter continued to write in right the first line. And
number one and wrote from left to
bottom of the page on line
one started writing from the
overcome gravity ‘I’ wish
eyes focused on ‘Ajna Chakra’ to
Yogis practicing to keep the
START => When ‘I’ imagine the
Sorry! The computer isn’t still trained to do exactly what ‘I’ intended. But the idea was only to convey the thought behind the Yogic exercise that indicated attempt at correction of the effect of gravity over eye muscles due to reading from top to bottom over many years before the stage of 'sanyas' that alone helped realize 'where we generally went wrong'…
The above-mentioned concept also can be seen indicated in the game of ‘Snakes & Ladders” one played during childhood. The game starts from a point, marked ‘0’, at the left bottom end and moves in a zig-zag manner, like a hill road, left to right, then right to left and so on.
And, it ends at the top most point that lies directly over '0' and is marked ‘100’. The ladders indicate, say, the boring portion of the narration. And snakes the portion which you wold like to read again in order to comprehend the further narration…
Even the game of ‘Ludo’ that has certain rules prescribed depicts interactions between inhabitants of four Cardinal directions (N-E-W-S) that are symbolically represented by different coloured coins.
It’s like a race between different ‘races’ of people. And, the first one to make all coins reach the goal is declared the winner - like Krishna leading His cows back home!
A wonderfull post!! That's all i can say!! Well, i am not referring to the information about the place, but for the story regarding Ramakrishan paramahamsa.
Untill today, i never knew that there is a myth that a soul departs to the heavenly abode only after the skull is cracked.
May i know why? Any spiritual reasoning behind it? If so please tell
Really very good information, it leads me to visit Varanasi. :)
Hi Aswin Kini, ‘India’ and its innumerable stories and legends preserved since ages (perhaps as part of a grand design) are wonderful that’s why Shiva has ‘Adbhutnath’ that is ‘wonderful God’ as one of His names - as Kavitha also brought it out in one of her stories related with Rajputanis and their performance of ‘Sati’ in Rajasthan...
Hindus believed in the agricultural products to grow at a faster rate during the night compared to the growth during the day. It was said for flouring individuals also, “Din dugani, raat chauguni tarakki karna!” That is, growing at double the normal rate during the day and four times during the night! The queen of the night, or Moon, was also thus known as ‘Annapoorna Devi’.
‘Kapal kriya’, where ‘kapal’ means the forehead, (writings inside which believably decided the destiny of the individual or the ‘instrument’ concerned), and ‘kriya’ means action, therefore, with the belief or realization of ‘wise ancient Yogis’ and followed by Hindus in general, at a certain stage some assistant in the crematorium ritually breaks the skull of the mortal form that is placed inside the burning funeral pyre as the last rite - with a strong bamboo to allow the entrapped soul to pursue its wishful heavenward journey…with the blessings of Shiva (or earth) whose essence is believably located at the ‘Ajna Chakra’ on the forehead and His consort Parvati or Annapoorna (essence of Moon) is believably housed in the head…
'Varanasi' thus is within human form!
Hi Joshi Uncle
A very beautiful analogy indeed on the cracking of the skull. As i read and try to get more material on the ancient practices am just spell bound and speechless over the ingenious thought process our ancients went through to give us the rituals as they currently are!
Its just so simple and logical, and we are making such a mess trying to understand it!!
Regds
Kavitha
Kavitha, ‘I’ think the mool mantra or basic thought of ‘Hindu Belief’ is ‘Maya’ that is illusion believably created by the one and only Formless God who is however mischievous, although Bholanath the Simple God...
Although ‘I’ apparently felt it was difficult, but a logical thought at a certain late stage after ‘I’ read the Gita, that one anyway surrenders during one’s day-to-day life to sleep (and eventually to death from which there is no escape at all); or to one’s physical and emotional desires and to that of his family members, the neighbours, the community, human society as a whole, one’s Nation through history and its apparently 'imperfect' rulers who in turn surrender to other powerful Nations and even to weaker ones that have some nuisance value; and so on, why then does one act as a rebellious child when someone advises one to surrender in the believable 'Perfect Creator'? And, myself ‘I’ was involved in various aspects of Civil Engineering, including ‘design’!
One more reaction including a thought on 'kapal kriya' sent pot my newspaper...
The MIND OPENER article Melting Pots by Atul Sethi (26/2) makes a good reading for the ‘physical hungry’, but maybe not for ‘power hungry’ (refer story of the ‘Monkey and the Bird’, in Panchtantra) – just as the ‘Mythological character of Tretayuga, Ravana the demon in the eyes of ‘North Indians’ but God in the eyes of ‘South Indians’, even today, in Kaliyuga! The truth via west, “One man’s meat is another man’s poison!”
North is North and South is South/ and the twain - once upon a wonderful time - met thanks to Krishna, (in Karnataka, as in ‘SM Krishna’s’ time too), the ‘Yogiraja’, or the ‘Fusion Master’, (in Dwaperyuga, and Kaliyuga the ‘dark age’ believably remained thus because of ‘halahal’ (like KCn, or Potasium Cyanide) who only Shiva the Neelkantha could hold in His throat), who grew into the ‘perfect being’, Yogeshwar Shiva/ Peetamber Krishna, only at the end of Satyuga!
Dilli door ast! That is to say that ‘Dehli’ the entry into the ‘Golden time’, or Satyuga, is still far off. In fact WE THE SOULS left it behind over 4 billion years ago and all are waiting for the ‘Turning Point’, the ‘spring of time’ to lift us, the souls (that like cream rise to the top naturally when ‘milky way galaxy is churned’/ or as humans apparently rise to the top of a sky scraper standing inside a mechanical lift), instantaneously to that wonderful stage!
But, unfortunately for humans today, ‘expert surgeons’ can steal kidneys, or open the skull, that is, do ‘kapal kriya’ that even an illiterate attendant, (a ‘bhoot’ or soul), in a crematorium (the favourite place of Bhootnath Shiva) can do, but no one can open the mind – except Mahakal Shiva the Controller of ‘apparent Time’ and the related ‘Maya’ or illusion!
Post a Comment