It might be a misconception that Tantrik cults are over and done with, for the essence of it still continues to prevail rather openly in West Bengal and Assam. While Kalighat and Tarapeeth might have been big centers for such practices the seat of ancient tantricism is at Kamakhya Devi temple, Kamarupa Assam. This is the most important of all the Shakti Peethas in India.Kamakhya devi shrine hosts the yoni of Sati that fell here following the destruction of Daksha's sacrifice. This Shakti Peetha symbolizes the union of Shiva with Shakti, as described in the Kali Purana. They are depicted in constant union where Kamakhya is the Goddess of desire, who grants salvation. She is the young bride of Lord Shiva and together they symbolize the sublime reality of the miracle of life, the everlasting bliss of male/female union. This temple is situated atop a hill that overlooks the Brahmaputra river. The inner sanctum is a deep dark underground rocky chamber into which one descends by a flight of steep steps. The "Matra Yoni" which is inscribed on a rock is covered with silk sarees and is constantly moist by underground spring water.
Tantrik cult is a different kind of cult where the orthodoxy of normal rituals and male dominance over the female took a massive beating. In tantricism, it’s the opposite where the female is given a lot more importance and is associated with Shakti. This is reflected in all their strange ritual practices. There is a deep divide between conventional worship and tantrik worship. In conventional worship, a woman is considered as "impure" during her 3 day monthly cycle, further to which she is almost treated as an untouchable in ancient brahmin traditions still prevailing today. In Tantrik worship, most of the rituals including initiation are centered on the 3 days, this period being the most important period where the woman is considered most pure and an incarnation of Shakti. This is clear from various references made in Tantric texts.
Most of the tantrik texts have been found around the regions of Kamarupa, suggesting very strong prevalence of this cult around the Kamakhya Devi temple. The Yoni Tantra hails from Cooch Bihar but most of the Kaul Tantras originated from Kamarupa. The earliest comprehensive references made to the most important element of Tantrik ritual, called Yoni Tattva in the Kaula Tantra are given in the Kaula Jnana Nirnaya by Matsyendranath.
A few references that really call for interest about this esoteric cult, and can be made mention of, are as follows.
1. The Shakti, represented here as Kamakhya Devi has close associations with the 64 Yoginis found elsewhere in Orissa. The yantra associated with Kamakhya devi empowers the 64 yoginis(Hirapur Chaunsat Yogini Temple, Khajuraho) as part of Shakti. The Tripura mantra "Aim Klim Sauh" represents the triple Kundalini. It is also believed that female sadhvikas who are well versed in Yoga dwell at Kamakhya peetha. If one joins them, they obtain yogini siddhi.
2. The Matrikas who dominated both Buddhist sculpture as well as Brahmanical, are the depiction of the importance of alphabet or sound in the worship of Shiva and Shakti. There are seven representations called the Sapta Matrikas, describing the importance of the alphabet in the Beeja mantra and associated hymns sung in the praise of Shiva and shakti.
3. This reference comes as an eye opener that Tantrik cults were not restricted to unknown tantriks who practiced in complete secrecy, but a few known faces also seem to be a part of this cult in thought.
With reference to Yoni tattva, Kaula tantras deal with the subject of menstrual blood as given in the following translation.
Matrikabheda Tantra (English translation Ideological Book House 1990) describes the different types:
"Shri Shankara said:
The first menses appearing in a woman who has lost her virginity is Svayambhu blood.
In a maiden born of a married woman and begotten by another man, that which arises is Kunda menses, the substance causing the granting of any desire.
Deveshi, a maiden begotten by a widow gives rise to Gola menses, which subdues gods.
The menses arising in the first period after a virgin becomes a married woman is the all bewildering Svapushpa."
Last but not the least is the dialog between the supreme creative power Brahma and Shakti. Brahma can create but only through the yoni which shall be the sole creative principle, and will bless the soul with life. After severe penance Brahma brought down a luminous body of light to earth and placed it within the yoni circle of Goddess Kamakhya at Kamarupa.
Courtesy: Translation (c) Lokanath Maharaj 1985. All rights reserved. Creativecommons.org
34 comments:
Hi Kavitha, Shri Anon and all others...
Human form was apparently understood as the model of the universe/ solar system/ earth – material forms having apparent hierarchy in innumerable aspects, all created from sound energy.
The beej mantra or basic sound energy was realized close to ‘Om’, the basic note that gets apparently reflected in the different bases that have different frequencies, apparently adopted in the three octaves (Sa to Ni/ or Do to Ti) that are generally found sufficient to cover the range of human voice, male and female – and used in musical renditions too to differentiate man from inferior animals, who also utter typical sounds associated with each species...
Even an illiterate mother sings lullabies to her infants to put them to sleep, thus indicating the soothing effect on all souls, which in their turn govern the behaviour of the exterior animal form…and could therefore have helpful effect on souls without forms too!
The ‘Tantrics’ realizing it, therefore, depending on their personl 'natural' capacities and 'inclination of minds', appear to have developed different mantras to reach souls who, because of the hierarchy, are at different levels!
Shri Anon also had indicated how prayers, in different style and words, used even intuitively by a Guru or relatively elevated soul, could help control ‘difficult kids’!
The ancient scientists of Yogis defined each physical form to consist of five basic elements (‘panchtatva’): #1 Sky (‘amber’ in Sanskrit); # 2 Earth; # 3 Fire (represented in the sky by Sun, that mainly consists of Hydrogen; Air (or spce/ atmosphere); water (called ‘ambu’, while cloud is called ‘ambud’ or ‘ambudhar’, and the sea is called ‘ambunidhi’ or ‘ambudhi’)…
At Kamakhya Temple, sometimes during the monsoon season, a festival is held when all Tantrics gather there. The festival is called ‘Ambuvachi’. It is interesting therefore to know that ‘ambu’ means ‘water’ and the suffix, ‘vachi’, helps understand that the festival draws one’s attention to ‘ambu’ that is ‘water’, as the main element that is responsible for ‘life’ on earth and particularly in India due to the SW monsoon that links the Arabian Sea with the Himalayas! And, during this festival, the basic colour, as reflected by the colour of animal blood is also observed in the water turning red as the sign of fertility of Ma Kamakhya! Small pieces of red cloth are given to devotees to preserve at ‘home’ (sounds close to Om!) to bring luck, longevity and prosperity!
In retrospect ‘I’ believe there was some problem related with the ‘past’ that like a hath-yogi ‘I’ escorted ‘my ailing wife’ to the Temple for the first time only when 5 months had already elapsed, despite her requests at regular intervals. ‘I’ have earlier also elsewhere narrated in details the events leading to it and the carry over effects of the visit thereafter…certain events, which are beyond comprehension of a ‘present day normal person’…
Thanks to 'my wife' in this life ‘I’ have remained in regular touch with ‘Ma Kamakhya’ since the early Eighties, through a ‘panda’, that is, a priest who had registered 'my name' when 'I' had visited another time alone. In fact, he took me to his residence within the complex and offered me lunch too, with sweets in the dessert!
He or his sons perhaps remind me of the ‘Navaratri’ through a letter in advance and ‘I’ send him ‘dakshina’ or some cash in return for ‘prasad’, consisting of dry fruits and ‘sindoor’, the dry red coloured powder for application on the forehead, and petals of flowers to be placed on the head as blessings of the Ma, ‘I’ receive regularly every year…The ritual keeps me reminded of Her, the Formless Creator represented by the Himalayas, whose ‘genitals’ apparently are believed to be located where the Kamakhya Temple is presently located since time immemorial – thus indicating the energy centre or ‘Mooladhar chakra’, of the concentrated energy underground at the centre of earth as it is also expressed in an active volcano, which also has its ‘Sahasrara Chakra’ at the origin of sacred River Ganga, to 'Hindus' the word derived from Indu the Moon, ie, Gomukh…
Ganga is believed to have transcended from Moon...
Hi joshi Uncle
I recently lost a very very close friend of mine. He was far far more talented and insightful than me and had a lot more passions that he worked on, while mine were left as concepts.
Now he is gone, those ideas, that enthusiasm just ceases to exist. That personality is just not there and neither is it replaceable.
It has left me wondering whether am doing any good at all or not!
This blog is my passion, my life and my enthusiasm brought out rather vocally.
But i really dont know its purpose or whether its doing anyone any good...
regds
Kavitha
Kavitha, Words can’t express a realization…The Gita advises one to remain unmoved under all circumstances. However, the truth of ‘human life’ is that it is difficult to bear any ‘material loss’ by the majority, particularly the apparent death of a close friend/ relative, which varies from person to person depending upon one’s ‘natural mental inclination’, training and experience as one grows up…
All said and done, one ‘naturally’ finds helpless in front of the mute but powerful ‘Nature’ (the panchtatva) and its apparently predetermined cycle of birth and death, and perhaps re-birth, if ‘moksha’ isn’t achieved in this life...
Although, perhaps, a foolish person or persons might get a feeling at a certain time that ‘Nature’ can be controlled by man. Only with time does one learn the ‘Truth’ that ‘control of Nature’ to suit (ever faulty) human desire isn’t possible. And, man has to learn to live with ‘Nature’s will, enjoying whatever one comes across, although it might be beyond one’s comprehension, which in reality is due to lack of overall knowledge, that is, the knowledge of the ‘Absolute Truth’, which alone one is supposed to achieve within the allotted time to each – and, therefore, the saying, “What can’t be cured must be endured.”
However, perhaps one can get consoled with the realization of the Vedantis that at present an apparently inferior individual soul in the past when Shiva wasn’t fully mature, that is in Kaliyuga as the ‘present’ (and which represents your apparent physical form as one of the inferior forms of Shiva) is getting to see the past of the now Perfect, Formless Shiva, the Supreme Soul represented symbolically by Shivlingam…as a model of Earth, the near perfect form of Shiva, whose image everyone of us is!
Hi Joshi Uncle ~
Kavitha didi,
Pranams. Sorry to hear of your loss. Respectful obeisances to you and your friend and his/her family.
According to Tibetan Buddhism as well as one Shiva Siddhanta school, the soul is seven times more clairvoyant and clairaudient immediately after transition from this world. So have good thoughts for your friend because s/he can still feel your love. And s/he can be like guardian angel for you now.
Also, I don't know if it is true or not, but I believe some seers have described that there are other worlds besides this world. Your friend, with many ideas, perhaps can more easily fulfill the ideas in the world of the devas, in the Karanaloka: where we just think about something and it manifests!
Or your friend, so intelligent, perhaps enjoy to be in the company of other souls in the various lokas of the sages. There they can discourse continually, without needing to earn a living, stop for food or drink, or sleep. And the discourse at a very high rate of vibration, like intuitive minds telepathically sharing. Like a heaven for the smart people.
There, in that world, can assist Divine by learning new skills and then reincarnate to bring these new ideas to fruition. Or remain in the Karanaloka and oversee the activities of more junior souls. So is like a graduation to a higher realms of existence.
Or, perhaps your friend merge with the Divine, and as such no more will ever have to suffer anymore like the embodied jeeva does with repeated birth and death.
Well I hope it give your heart some solace. And I appreciate your jnana dana, sharing of knowledge.
Keep on doing good activities and can dedicate the merit to the memory of your friend. Then the merit helps that person to have like first class upgrade wherever they are now. And due to that, they are grateful to you and become like guardian angel to you, helping you from the other side.
In deepest sympathy ~
Wishing you peace ~
May you feel the embrace of the Divine giving solace to your heart
Aum Namah Shivaya
I had read long ago it was generally believed that Buddha’s soul had moved over to Korea and was waiting there for long as it hadn’t found a suitable body (God alone knows how someone found that!)...The Theosophical Society under Annie Besant apparently decided to experiment with Jiddu Krishnamurty to act as a medium and receive the soul in his body. And then questions could be posed to him for finding solution to world peace etc...
It was reported that the experiment, however, failed because of some shortcoming in the medium at the last moment…
‘Wise ancient Hindus’ appear to have gone much deeper and related inherent human capacity with Time, in terms of Yugas. As per them the ‘present time’ is called ‘Kaliyuga’, which itself literally conveys it to be the ‘Dark Age’, that is, naturally it is the period when knowledge among humans believably is expected to be minimum out of all Yugas, which apparently continue to repeat…The human efficiency during this era according to them naturally is expected to range between 25% to 0%, ie, it reduces with the passage of time and is likely to come to a halt when 0% is reached, which is related with the absolute beginning of the universe from ‘zero’ time and space…
In view of the above, the ‘wise ancients’, say in the Gita, advised man to surrender in the Supreme Being…the all knowing one and only real being...
Hi Joshi Uncle,
Pranams ~
I liked all your stories that you added on the last thread. And this thread also.
I think it's rubbing off on me and giving me permissions to "see" the Divine everywhere and more often than I normally would...for example...
In a walk through a park, see a white flower I see dozens of times: often used for landscaping.
But now it looks like hood of Ananta is over it, and the stamen looks like mini Shiva lingam: the universe in a single flower...
A flock of birds, chattering, in flight: singing the glories of Shiva, with Shiva inside each one!
Seeing a family: a grandfather, dad, and sleeping baby boy...the element of time as expressed by the generations, and beyond time the eternal essence within all...
Anyways is fun, that's what I am learning from this site: it's okay to see the Divine everywhere and in everything. And is nice to have a safe place to do it: "A saint is never appreciated in his hometown".
***
and for our dear Kavitha didi:
"Patacara collapsed by the side of the road. She no longer wanted to live. Some people took pity on her and took her to see the Buddha. He listened to her tell her story, and he told her in a gentle voice,
'Patacara, you have suffered terribly...Practice the Way of Enlightenment, and one day you will be able to smile at even your maost painful sufferings.' "
--Old Path, WHite Clouds
p.360 Thich Nhat Hahn
also:
"One morning, novice Cunda...came seeking Ananda. He informed [him] that Sariputta had just died in Nala...
"Venerable Ananda said, 'Lord Buddha, when I heard that our brother Sariputta has died, I felt paralyzed. My eyes and mind grew hazy. I am deeply grieved'...
The Buddha said, 'All dharmas are impermanent...You must transcend the world of birth and death, arising and dissolving...If you but open your eyes and look, you will see Sariputta in yourself, in the Tathagata, in the community of bhikkus, in the novice Cunda, and along every path Sariputta travelled...
"Don't think Sariputta is no longer with us. He is here and always will be..."
ibid p. 550
and
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted" --the Beatitudes
Aum Shanti Shanti Aum
Aum Namah Shivaya
Hi Anon,
You have so beautifully described nature as an aspect of Lord Shiva. Very beautiful indeed.
Regds
Kavitha
Hi Shri Anon, Kavitha… As ‘I’ said earlier, it was my third daughter who became instrumental in introducing ‘me’ to the unseen ‘Mother’ when ‘we’ were in the northeastern region, although it had apparently earlier also been leaving so many mute hints prior to that about Her presence, which ‘I’ had failed to realize as such and had believed those to be ‘accidents’ or ‘coincidences’...and could only recall those incidents later when ‘I’ traveled within ‘my’ mind to ‘my past’ in this life…which ‘I’ have also recorded in Kavitha’s blog…
‘Krishna’ (model of ‘Black Hole’ that resides at the centre of our ‘Milky Way Galaxy’ that in its outer periphery holds our solar system, reflected also by an oyster that holds, say, a necklace made from the most precious gems, including Sun, the ‘pearl’), in the Gita, says that He is the common thread that links all physical forms, like in a garland in which the beads are also made of the same thread! Or, in other words, the ‘wise ancients Hindus’ understood existence of the one and only Supreme Soul, whose different components present within apparently innumerable and different looking forms gave an impression of the multitudinous and therefore the apparent chaos because of the apparent hierarchy!
During his last over a year my almost 80-year-old father came to stay with ‘us’. From the childhood it was a practice in our family that the parents between themselves communicated in the hill dialect, while both spoke with the children in Hindi as we resided in a cosmopolitan environment…
He slept alone in a bed room. One night, however, he hurt himself as he searched for his SOS medicine in dark, for being considerate he didn’t want to disturb us by switching on the light! After that day, ‘I’ too started sleeping in the same room for any assistance needed. One late night, ‘I’ switched on the light, and in that half-sleep state he asked me the time in the dialect that he used with my mother. When asked, he explained that although already over 6 years had elapsed since his wife had apparently departed, after 54 years of married life, he always felt as if she was present close by!
Hi S/Shri Anon, Kavitha...
‘I’ haven’t shared ‘my’ personal experience that occurred within 12 days of ‘my wife’s’ departure when the ‘departed soul’ as per ‘Hindu belief’ is expected to hover around the spouse/ children/ home…
It is during this period that relatives and close friends visit the concerned to help relieve the mental pain on account of the loss…Although not used to doing that now, ’I’ sat on the floor, on a mattress whenever some visitor(s) arrived and exchanged a few words of consolation…
A close friend of my second daughter accompanied by her mother, being family friends too, came to visit us one day. As usual, ‘we’ exchanged thoughts with them seated on the floor for some time, till at a certain stage they stood up to leave. However, when ‘I’ stood up alongwith my daughter, all of us were shocked and surprised to notice that ‘I’ involuntarily walked some distance towards the younger of the two visitors and, thankfully, stopped in front of her!
The physical explanation was that because ‘I’ wasn’t used to sitting on the floor for long time, circulation of blood in ‘my’ left leg had come to a stop and my left foot got twisted backwards, such that my leg came to rest on the upper side, till it regained the normal position after restarting of blood circulation!
As Shri Anon also said about mute communication by souls, ‘I’ wondered later whether the departed soul wanted to indicate to me that she was still with me, for a wife is understood as ‘ardhangaini’ that is the ‘better half’!
And, although it is said, “What is there in a name,” interestingly the said girl’s name happens to be “Gauri’, another name of Ma Parvati, which is quite commonly found adopted in 'India'!
It reminded me also of the incident ‘I’ have earlier narrated regarding an old man in Calcutta addressing a child, “Ma (Durga)!”
'I' am therefore perhaps related with Ganesha!
Ganesha represents the essence of planet Mars that is located at the mooladhar. It is believed to be the location within the human body, as model of the universe, where energy remains locked up unused, and whose quantum increases progressively with passage of time of review of various events by Bhootnath Shiva - from Satyuga to kaliyuga when the energy available for use in the head or Sahasrara tends to become 'zero'...and hence the concept of 'activation of kundalini' by Yogis to reach the Absolute Truth, which believably is difficult in Kaliyuga the Dark Age...
Pranams all ~
Kavitha didi,
Thanks your nice comment, also for this blog: a safe place to share and deepen our realizations!
***
Joshi Uncle,
I love all those kinds of stories that you are sharing. Indeed we are fortunate to catch glimpse of Siva Shakti everywhere.
My maternal grandmother said that she would daily converse with her departed husband, for twenty years, after he died, she could hear his voice. I also read in the autobiography of Queen Noor of Jordan that she conversed with her deceased husband this same way also. So I believe it is true what your father was saying.
***
In regards nature, also I am observing everywhere are birds joyously taking off and taking flight. I am noticing more the directions and patterns they are flying: joyously with a mate, or in different formations. At every moment they are giving little hints of "Behold! Sacred Divine is everywhere and in every thing!"
By their wing patterns is like they are pointing, "Look here is the Divine, there, everywhere all around us!" It's fun to see.
***
Also a little bunny rabbit now I am visiting often. I love bunny rabbits; they are very psychic and sensitive creatures. The more you pet a bunny rabbit, the more it will become calm and affectionate.
Bunny rabbit is like a little yogi, because the communication they like best is to "Be Still".
Then after a long time you are petting them, they share their feelings with you: "I like you".
***
Also I am noticing Shiva is inside so many of the noble people who have come to this planet. For example, I have been reading some contributions of individuals who were ahead of their time, they had to wait decades for everyone else to catch up with them.
Now I am picking up more that Shiva inside of them gives them confidence, ability, intelligence, good judgement, discretion, and patience.
It's so beautiful that Shiva is inside the very small and the very great!
Blessings everyone, and peace...
Aum Namah Shivaya
Hi Shri Anon, The interest you evince in the flight, and chirping of birds, reminds me that ‘I’ have earlier elsewhere indicated how the ‘present day scientists’ have also been successful in recording images, as well as sounds emanating from Sun and Saturn…
The sound issuing from Sun believably is like that of the string instrument, a harp, whereas the ancient Hindus interestingly associated the stringed musical instrument Veena with Saraswati the consort of Brahma, who is traditionally shown wearing a white sari (like Sunrays)!
Similarly, the sound emanating from ringed double colour (lustrous copper red in the middle, and having blue rings) planet Saturn sounds similar to a mix of tinkling of bells, chirps of birds, and beating of a drum (bells and drums associated with existing temples in 'India' since time immemorial)!
And, Hindus indicate the image of Vishnu, the one who apparently witnesses the drama in a super conscious state, that is, ‘yoga-nidra’, reclining on the bed of Ananta in the middle of the milky ocean and having ‘sudershan-chakra’, literally a beautiful discus or wheel as His weapon, besides the lotus flower that grows out of His navel that has Brahma seated on it!
Besides the more popular Kamakhya Temple near the top of a hill skirted by the River Brahmaputra, Guwahati also has a less frequented Navagraha Temple on top of another hill on the river bank.
The ‘navagrahas’, that is, the ‘nine planets’, are housed within a masonry structure that has a dome shaped roof...
Eight equal sized shivalingas are placed in the middle of the building, one each at the eight cardinal directions, while a bigger shivlinga is placed centrally in the middle of these eight…
Interestingly, ‘I’ found that from the Navagraha Temple, the Kamakhya Temple is located in the northeast direction, which ‘I’ believed reflected the relation between Varanasi - the original abode of Adi Shiva in the centre - and Guwahati in the northeast of it, as in a model…
The ancient ‘Hindus’ were perhaps named thus with ‘Indu’ in mind, that is moon the plaything of ‘Krishna’ the ‘Dark One’, and whose essence is believed to be housed in the head of all humans at ‘sahastradhara’ (1,000 channels), or simply ‘sahasrara chakra’, but which is ever fluctuating as is indicated by the phases of moon, varying from new moon to full moon (‘Shukla Paksha’) and vice-versa (‘Krishna Paksha’)…which perhaps gave the believable fickle mindedness to the female of the human species! Interestingly, moon is called ‘Chandra-ma’, but due to mischievousness of the Creator, some characters call it ‘Chanda-mama’ also that is maternal uncle! However, to reach the ‘Truth’, one would need to refer to the ‘Unborn’, that is, as its models the infants within the womb of their mothers, within all animals that has man as its leader…
The Hindu Mythology, however, also indicates the ring planet Saturn as the model of Vishnu the Formless Creator, or ‘Nadbindu’, represented by Jupiter (‘Krishna’, the omnipresent as he claims thus in the Gita, and ciould be interpreted to be also present as ‘Black Hole’ at the centre of our galaxy, or/ rather at the centre of all galaxies, which fill the apparently infinite void of the universe, ‘ananta’ or the unending Creator), another ring planet, which is relatively inferior, or in other words it is lower in hierarchy…Planet Saturn in the human body is related with steel as well as the nervous system that serves the purpose of communication, or carriage of information and energy to the brain…
Now perhaps it could be easy to understand why the ‘wise Hindus’ apparently exclaimed, “Shivoham!” That is, “I am Shiva (the formless, represented by the mooladhar throiugh the symbol of Shivalinga & Parvati’s Yoni)!” They also said, “Shiva is Vishnu and Vishnu is Shiva.”
Krishna is called ‘Yogiraja’, the king of Yogis, while (formless) Shiva is called ‘Yogeshwar’ the God of Yogis whose influence is felt within the infinite void of the universe…
In physical form, ‘our’ Solar system is indicated as the essence of the universe, or ‘Mahashiva’ while, similarly, ‘our’ planet earth also, as the essence of the universe, was called Shiva the ‘Gangadhar’, or ‘Chandrashekhar’ etc 1,000 names, including ‘Mahakal’ the controller of time…and thus indicating apparent time generated with the help of different aspects, Sun & Earth-Moon, of Mahashiva…for the formless creator is ‘zero’ that is related with time and space zero!
The Gita indicates the sole purpose of man on earth to know the formless as well as the forms of the Creator…which was also indicated through the saying that God created man in His Own Image, which the Hindus clarified by indicating the physical universe to be illusory or result of ‘Maya’ created by the perfect Supreme Being (for His Own purpose)!
Maya that is illusion is cited in the apparent human life in many ways. For example, some people give the common example of a snake appearing like a rope, and vice versa…The other more commonly used example is appearance of one’s own reflection in a plain mirror (or even a ‘magical mirror’ where the image isn’t at all like the object in appearance/ surface of water, or from a shining surface of some metal, and so on…
However, in the ‘present times’, perhaps the best man-made example is the projection of films on screens – ‘silver’ or on the monitor of a computer/ TV…However, the best ‘natural’ example is the appearance of dreams in all animals in their mind’s eye, whether they are educated or illiterates, and irrespective of their caste, creed, sex, and so on!
For the illusion part, that is, projection of dreams during sleep as well as during apparently ‘wakeful condition’ the ancients suggest active participation of eight numbers ‘grahas’, that is solar system members, and their ‘rasas’ or ‘essences’, each concentrated and located ar different levels within the human form – from ‘mooladhar’ to ‘sahasrara chakras’, that is, tail-bone end to the head…
Reading between the lines, based on one conception vessel attached to a governing head (four formless and four forms, as indicated by Shri Anon also while referring to Thirumantiram), and four stages of evolution, starting from Kaliyuga with Vishnu’s representative, Krishna (Jupiter/ Ketu/ infrared) as the base attached to Brahma (Sun/ white) as the head of the first set, the next set gets suggested (from two Gurus attached to the suryavanshi kings) as Rahu (Mercury/ ultraviolet) & Shukracharya (Venus/ Blue).
The third set that then gets suggested is Earth (green) as the inert base (Ajna chakra, that needs to get activated) & Moon as the head (Yellow) dormant in the Kaliyuga. The fourth set that gets suggested during Kaliyuga is Mars as the base (Mooladhar/ Orange) and Asteroids as the head (Red/ Sahasrara, as reflected by the red coloured dot or ‘Bindi’ on the foreheads of females, particularly the married ones!)…
‘I’ have used the above as the basis for determining the ruling planet for individuals whose particulars of birth are made available to me, and have been attempting to work out the three (3) planets, that is, the Trident or Trishool of Shiva, which would point towards the colours and corresponding gemstones to be prescribed, for better efficiency…’I’ have used these on photographs of individuals, including my own, for experiencing their effect on my person – based on trials and errors…
Interestingly, a physician friend also told me how, despite ‘advancement’, medicine still remains a subject of trial and error…
The ‘wise ancients’ conveyed, “Prevention is better than cure.” In this regard, in ‘India’, even ‘today’ one can observe the practice (besides many others also), of a large majority of people wearing rings/ earrings/ pendents and so on with gemstones, adopted since time immemorial that are prescribed by astrolgers/ palmists based on the location of the ‘grahas’ in the sky at the time of birth of different individuals…However, with passage of time the fundamentals aren’t clear to the present day practitioners…
As seen above and in view of the apparent lack of knowledge in the ‘present’ that is mainly ruled by the ‘west’ in all aspects of ‘present day life’ all over the world (globe, or dormant Vishnu/ Shiva the ‘Yogeshwar’ who is well known in the ‘east’ for His ‘samadhi’, while Himself remaining in the super conscious state), one apparently finds everyone getting wiser only after the events, and thus apparent ignorance rules…
The Hindu Mythology, however, indicates how ‘time’ (Mahakal Shiva) is the actual ruler as the story of Brahma (an aspect of Mahesha the Trimurty) seated on the lotus flower also communicates - he apparently prayed to Lord Vishnu in Yoga-nidra (super consciouis state) when two demons born out of the ears of Vishnu Himself grew bigger in size and thus created panic in him - while he sat on the lotus flower that grew from Vishnu’s navel - lest they consume him! It was only at the ‘proper time’, which only He believably determines, that they were grabbed by Vishnu in His hands (reflected as a model by the eight-handed Octopus, Ma Durga-like, perhaps)!
Krishna also says that he doesn’t fail his devotees! Thus the wise ancients suggested one to have firm faith in the Formless Creator, through any deity…and therefore one finds in ‘India’ even today almost everything is worshipped by someone or the other!
Shri Anon, as Kavitha might be able to recall, ‘I’ had indicated earlier also elsewhere how ‘I’ had first reacted to a newspaper item in the year ’82 - when ‘I’ was just engaged to seek ‘my’ purpose - regarding world famous scientist (astronomer) Sir Fred Hoyle’s statement, which stated that looking at the complicated chemical structure of ‘life’ on earth, it had to be the result of design by an intelligent being. But, he didn’t agree with the concept of a ‘Divine Person’ as that being…’I’ had then suggested a cycle indicating interaction between planets and some apparent relation with events related with ‘Post Independence India’, with its time of birth clearly identified as ‘0’ hour on August 15, 1947, which needed further study…and therefore had asked him what his objection was in believing that ‘intelligent being’ to be God, the Creator as Mother, as believed by the ancients? However, ‘I’ got a single line reply from his private secretary that he had found my letter interesting, however, as he was preoccupied with work he was unable to reply personally to me!
‘I’ then realized that in the subject of ‘spirituality’, ‘we the people of India’ were at an advantage compared to the ‘west’, for we hear right after our birth different mythological stories in code words (needing to be read between lines). And, it is believed that by the age of 5 years 50% IQ gets developed in a child, which acts as a firm foundation for further growth of the children into a mature personality…however, although the ‘present’ generation apparently is materially better off because of the ‘western education’, man on the whole appears to be unhappy everywhere despite ‘material advancement’, perhaps at the cost of the ‘spiritual’!
Gradually with passage of time, however, 'I' have now come to seek Her, Ma Kamakhya's Purpose!
Shri Anon, Talking of 'white' animals, such as bunny rabbits in present day terms, ‘I’ had earlier also narrated the incident in detail in which, in retrospect, ‘I’ could see Her hand in my overcoming the inferiorirty complex in the childhood, using a neighbour’s cow as a medium - as one of the many examples!
In very brief, the said white cow used to get irritated when the owner and our next door neighbour used to start his noisy Royal Enfield (?) motorbike. It would start jumping madly, up and down, and used to sometime pull out the peg and run with it alongwith the metal chain...
Those days my weak point was inability to jump over a storm-water drain, which every other boy easily could. ‘I’ couldn’t muster enough courage to execute it although ‘I’ would run upto it!
However, one hot summer day when ‘I’ alone happened to be near the drain, to my horror, ‘I’ realized it rushing at me from behind! And to save myself, “I’ jumped over the drain, while it halted on its track!
That day, perhaps ‘I’ was the happiest child on earth, not because my life was saved, but because of 'my' achievement! Fear gone, ‘I’ then demonstrated to other friends, later in the evening, how ‘I’ too could easily do it!
Pranams, all:
Delightful stories, Joshi Uncle, as well as much wisdom!
In the Nada-bindu Upanishad, as well as the Yogatattva Upanishad of Krishna Yajur Veda, describes the nada sounds. And is interesting, some of the sounds the planets make are the same sounds the inner ear can hear when one has attained Savikalpa samadhi/ Parashakti realization/ Saccidananda!
I have seen and heard video of the sounds the planets make, as picked up by space probe. And the Taoists of ancient China also felt that the planets, stars, asteroids all have impact upon the human being.
In some of their esoteric meditation texts--a combination pf Taoism, Buddhism, and Hinduism-- has things like "Planetary and Stellar Meditations to Increase Awareness and Sensitivity", with concepts like: Tan Tien = Internal Universe; Chi Nei Tsang = External Universe.
Is similar to the esoteric mystic knowledge you have been sharing with us, Joshi Uncle, if not the same: due to knowledge from India was sought out by sages from China, Thailand, Japan, etc.
As far as material prosperity goes, I think at least some in India are doing very well! On the website of www.forbes.com has the list of all the very richest Billionaires in the world, and many are Indian names. So appears that the West has no monopoly on wealth and material prosperity!
Conversely, many born in the West have past life sukritya so that from their birth they also heard Indian religious stories also; or if not from their birth, they had enough past life sukritya that once they heard, or saw, Hindu art, music, dance, literature, scriptures, etc. then they devoted their lives to it!
And for a long, long time many Westerners have wanted to learn and understand Eastern thought. For example Pierre Loti, travelled to India in 1898-1899 and wrote a book: "India: without the British".
He highly respected Indian culture, and longed to be able to go inside the Hindu temples and pay his respects, longed to understand what the priests were chanting, and longed to understand the Hindu scriptures. He did get to go inside a few temples, but certainly not all.
So it's nice that nowadays is so easy to just google search and read the Hindu scriptures and be able to see so many of the lovely temples: inside and out! We can download temple music, visit the website of the temples, everything is there in so many languages!
Thanks Kavitha your role in making virtual temple and deity darshan easily accessible! It is a miracle that some in the past have dreamed of their entire life but could never realize!
Aum Namah Shivaya
Namaste all…Shri Anon, once ‘we the souls’, the residents of the globe or earth, accept the Vedantic belief of one Formless Creator and all other physical forms as its own images or fictitious characters in an unending drama produced, directed and acted by the same individual being in different stages or parts of the world, it becomes easier for a character, or in reality a soul or energy form, in that drama, to comprehend or realize why the wise ancients advised one to remain unmoved by the apparent hierarchy…or why Krishna says death is only change of form by the soul, like one changes new garments in place of old ones! However, as part of the script, one isn’t able to break away easily from the illusion or ‘Maya’!
Try watching a 3-D film to realize it!
Now, in the drama, as per ancient ‘wiser Hindu’ realization, Neelamber Krishna, the one who generally governs the direction ‘west’, is apparently inferior to his evolved form the Peetmber Krishna who generally governs the direction ‘North’. But, being a ‘cowboy’, Krishna is also responsible for the apparent ‘churning of the globe’ - like milk, which results in cream to rise up and also move outwards (as in a centrifuge, like the shape of or Milky Way Galaxy, perhaps considered the best out of all galaxies that all fill the infinite universal void)…
‘Kashi’ is indicated as the origin of ‘life’ that believably then multiplied and filled up the entire globe, but like a Banyan Tree, such that because of illusion the origin of life, or its root, appears to be located at different places and, as presently understood, African Continent happens to be the generalliy realised root of the present day Homo sapiens…
Also, being perfect and related with time and space zero, the Formless Creator apparently created the entire universe in no time, thus knowing the exact time when life would end at the apparent end of Kaliyuga is difficult...the wise Hindus therefore said that dooms day can occur at any moment...
Happy All Fools Day to everyone!
It was from ‘Poisson d’avril’, the mystery story by Agatha Christie that ‘I’ first learnt that angling in Europe is prohibited in the month of April because the month marks the breeding season for the fish and, therefore, being hungry, they get easily caught…
Being a ‘born Hindu’, ’I’ could then also link it with the ‘Hindu belief’ that fish is the first incarnation of Vishnu and, therefore, likely to be ‘foolish’ or lacking in knowledge that would only have been possible to achieve by ‘Peetamber Krishna’ by the end of Satyuga – after having started ‘churning’ at the beginning of Kaliyuga the ‘Dark Age’…And also why 1st of April came to be thus celebrated as ‘All Fools Day’ by the apparent ‘wisest of the wise’ even, to remind man that only Vishnu/ Shiva the Formless is the Supreme Being, and that it is only because of Time (Mahakal Shiva) and related apparent hierarchy among men that some appear to be ‘wiser’ at any given time. And, thus the character called Rama came to be realized as ‘purushottam’, or the best among men, in Treta Yuga; and Krishna in the Dwaper Yuga…
Similarly, there is a saying issuing from ‘west’, “One can fool all the people for some time, some people for all the time, but not all the people for all the time.”
However, all scientists know also that there are exceptions to all rules and, therefore, from a ‘Hindus’ point of view, perhaps the only exception to above rulie is the Formless -who is apparently fooling all for all the time! But, it is also believed that all are His Own Images, thus it is surprising why He is apparently eternally fooling Himself!!!
Wisest of the wise Hindus also appear to have failed to find the reason...
The essence of Hindu mythological stories is that all animal forms are store houses of infinite energy, for their personal use and also for use of the integrated system…
An individual life form can be said to function like a star in the sky, say our Sun, from which - as part of a grand design - limited amount of energy, in the form of heat and light etc, manages to reach the surface of our planet earth for use of the planet as well as for sustenance of life that it supports, as a result of the wonderful design by some intelligent being…And, in this drama, the instrument in animal form, called man, alone apparently helps the being to try to seek its purpose…
It is indicated that it takes over 4 billion terrestrial years - for it to review the entire globe through various instruments acting as its eyes for an overall view - which is considered as its one half of a day in its unending life, which is followed by its night of an equal duration for it to rest…And, Shiva (or Shakti, the energy) is supposed to go into long duration ‘samadhi’ or meditation, or analyses of the data thus collected!
As ‘I’ said earlier, a ‘born Hindu’ acquires background thoughts of the Hindu Philosophy regarding union, or ‘yoga’, of matter and spirit. And, also one hears about Brahma as the popular four-faced creator of physical forms, as indicated in popular Hindu mythological stories that one gets to hear right from the early childhood…
Brahma was thus seen by ‘me’ - at a certain point in time while trying to enter the mind of the wise ancients - apparently reflected by a pyramid, meaning ‘fire within’ that has four triangular shaped faces oriented in such a manner that each side faced one of the cardinal directions and which form a big square at the base and meet at a point at the apex…just as each physical form is believed to have a component of the one and only Formless Creator within…
This realization itself explained many aspects of the ‘Hindu’ mythology that apparently also linked Africa the ‘Dark Continent’, the root of the present day Homo sapiens, with the believably highly advanced civilization that apparently flourished in the long lost past in ‘India’, the believable birth place of Adi Shiva…but apparently separated by the waters of the Arabian sea that, in fact, get linked with the high Himalayas even through the agencies of the ‘panchbhootas’, thus indicating the globe as a single unit, a ‘Divine Person’ in the words of the ‘wise ancients’, irrespective of the apparent distant locations of continents and sub-continents!
Man is believed to be the model of the universe/ image of God, believably a perfect being, a dot or Nadbindu the source of infinite energy. Thus the question that is natural to arise to one’s mind is: Why there is then imperfection seen in the animal world, whereas ‘Nature’ is ever seen to be perfect and apparently acting as a Teacher or Guru?
As per the Hindu belief of Bhootnath Shiva as ‘Mahakal’, the controller of past, the pyramid shape perhaps can be seen also to reflect passage of unending time in cycles of Yugas in the believable review of events related with the past, starting from the apex…that is, how, with elimination process, after having started from a large numbers of souls in the beginning, which gets represented by the large area at the base required to accommodate those, the perfect soul, Nadbindu, alone eventually gets reflected by the summit…And, Hindus thus believe Shiva-Shakti, the formless to reside at the peak of Mount Kailash that provides life-giving water to ‘India’, located in Tibet, once upon a time the abode of peaceful Buddhists, messengers of Buddha from ‘ancient India’, now in China, which in the ‘present day’ has turned into the abode of disturbed souls, for perhaps it’s time for inert Shiva to go into deep meditation/ Brahma to go to sleep…
‘Global warming’ that is apparently causing the ice in the Arctic region and also in the Hmalayan glaciers to melt in the recent times at a rate that is increasing rapidly with time could perhaps also be an indication of the approaching end of Kaliyuga (time and related events of review by Bhootnath believably moving in reverse order) that believably marked the start of ‘churning of the milky ocean’ in four stages under the supervision of Guru Brihaspati, that is, Jupiter, the ringed planet which is also closely related with Lord Vishnu’s representative ‘Krishna’ the ‘sudershan-chakra-dhari’, (perhaps also with infrared rays or pure heat that gets exchanged between different galaxies), and the mischievous friend of the five ‘Pandava brothers’, particularly closely related with Arjuna the ‘expert archer’ of Dwaper Yuga (compare with sunrays)…and also brother Yudhister the one who always spoke the truth (linking him with Shiva as in ‘Satyam Shivam Sunderam’), but was a gambler and still he was called ‘Dharmraja’, like Yamraja the agent of death, while Shiva is called Destroyer also!
I hope Kavitha is doing okay...
Joshi Uncle, is nice to read Shiva's name and think about/ remember the sublime activities and characteristics of the Divine
The story of your encounter with the cow was funny also
Aum Namah Shivaya
Hi Shri Anon, Like Kavitha got disturbed with the thought of a lamb offered in sacrifice to the deity in ‘Shakti Peethas’, ‘I’ was once disturbed to see exploitation of a meek and perhaps sad cow by the roadside, where a milkman was seen using its stuffed dead calf close to her udders to fool its mother to release milk - for him to sell to his customers who stood close by…perhaps because of his helplessness, for he isn’t the one responsible for the ‘natural death’ of the calf…
Of course, by that time ‘I’ had decided to ‘surrender in Krishna’ after reading the Gita…
‘I’ haven’t personally owned a cow, however, ‘I’ had observed in my hometown - on my first visit during one summer vacation – how, announced by the musical tinkle of s small bell dangling from each cow's neck, small sized hill cows returned home in the evening at dusk - on their own and headed straight to their respective cowsheds! My uncle’s cow was named Lakshami!
It’s a common sight to find animals, including cows, roaming even on the middle of certain busy roads, and even in the capital of the country!
One morning, while ‘I’ waited by the roadside for the chartered bus to arrive, ‘I’ was pleasantly surprised by a white cow come and stand close to me as if it knew me (But, ‘I’ couldn’t because of lack of knowledge of ‘my’ past)! ‘I’, therefore, started to caress her face and under her neck. And, it was at that very moment (as if by design) ‘my’ bus arrived, and a friend sitting by the window and a witness to the scene commented loudly, “Love at first sight!”
Let’s hope Kavitha comes up with some new post soon…
Thanks for your valuable information,,,,,,,,,,
Asta Dasa Shakti Peethas area unit the eighteen Shaktipeeth temples or outstanding and most auspicious temples dedicated to deity Shakti. it's believed that these temples area unit most ancient in Hinduism and thought of because the heavenly abodes of the deity. List of Asta Dasa
Shakti Peeth.
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