Journey to the Center of Supreme Consciousness - Celestial World

Mythology makes regular references to various levels of consciousness, specially those that range between the super gods and mere mortals like us. The references closest to reality that we know is that of the Shiddhars but the range of celestial beings is far bigger than that.

The word Celestial brings to mind a certain kind of imagery, one where they are magical, excessively beautiful and charming, glowing and emitting their own light, blessed with the ability to fly faster than the speed of light (maybe) and of superior intelligence and brilliance that gives them the power to attract others tremendously towards them.
These celestials come with the unique ability to fly great distances in far less time and with a telepathic intelligence that makes them far more inspiring. Hanuman, Garuda, Kinnaras, Gandharvas, Apsaras, and Adithis belong to this realm and they recide in Kimpurusha Loka.

Indian art and mythology as depicted in the scriptures brings this world out most beautifully. Ancient stories have referenced strong ties of love across strata of consciousness. In some cases the mortal prince falls for the beautiful apsara longs for her presence and she over hears him while she is flying by in the sky. Her act of reciprocating is by carving her feelings into a beetle leaf and tossing it into his realm and it simply floats to the ground, scaling levels of consciousness before it lands near him for him to pick up and realize she has acknowledged his love.

In reverse cases beautiful princesses have been described as being shy and coy in their bridal finery as they were visited by a passing Gandharva who fell to their mortal charm and beauty. Having spent tender moments with him through the night, she awaits his presence in her chamber every night hoping to translate this into a mortal/celestial wedlock.


In other references hybrids have been given a special place in religious scriptures across religions like Hinduism, Christianity, Egyptian, Greek and Assyrian to name a few. Cupids play an important role and so does the sphinx. Hanuman and Garuda belong to this hybrid world and come with supreme human and spiritual qualities.

So what makes these mystical creatures so important and why are they referenced in such vast scale? This for now at least solves our question about their existence and the level of consciousness they belong to. Indian temples across all styles of architecture - Dravida, Nagara, Vesara and Bhumija, have made it a point to elaborately sculpt the exteriors of temple walls with these celestial beings. The various levels of the temple walls indicate the various strata of consciousness. The bottom belongs to animals and is by far most insignificant followed by mortals, kings men and depiction of regular life. This is followed by intellects(Sages) and river goddesses who occupy the brackets of various pillars. Celestials are mostly used as space fillers around the main iconographical deity housed within these niches. The great Gods occupy the center in all the niches with the celestial beings flying and pouring flowers and singing over head.

With such rich depiction on our ancient temple walls, with such meticulous effort put in to motivate us and pass the knowledge forward to the coming generations, these temples stand as an open book revealing one of the greatest secrets of Hinduism - that is the value of self evolution. Why then is it so difficult for you and me to understand and appreciate this, realizing this truth and wanting to be a part of it? We currently stay happily sucked into our realm of worldly role play!

We need to care to step into this real world that we call imagination, and as the Vishnudharmottara indicates that it takes imagination or divya drishti to catch these sparks of enlightened experience, we need to realize the true potential of the mind. What a completely different world it will be if we were able to see celestials flying across our skies in all their purity, dancing and singing, dressed in flowers and celestial ornaments, draped in clothes that glowed in their brilliance like a hundred suns together, emitting light beyond our imagination and descending to have a conversation with us in a divine telepathic language where sound has a different meaning altogether. And at the end they fly away leaving no trace of a shadow or a foot print behind.

What miserable state of worldly blindness are we in that we complete do not tune our minds into this frequency. This is just a hint to indicate that the world we belong to is so vastly different from the world our mind is capable if tuning into to achieve greater heights of spiritual evolution. The world of the celestials is one such example of magic, mysticism and superior power we can hope to achieve if we contemplate hard enough to discover this world our forefathers left for us to discover.

Sri Rudram - Divine Verses to Lord Rudra

The literal translation of the RUDRAM as follows:

A call to the Great Lord Aghora Rudra, who should not reveal himself in a form that scares us, who should keep away my enemies from me, who should grant us happiness in this world and in heaven, all material dear to us here and in heaven, endearing relations, prosperity, comfort, name, fame, fortune, enormous riches, proper guidance from elders, palatial mansions, support from the family, undaunted courage, chivalry and valour, command obedience from our progeny, circumvent untimely death, be free from ailments, ensure longevity, assure bountiful sleep, a very successful glamorous day, wealth and fame derived by me, longed and valued by others, increase my worldly possessions, give me attractiveness and personal charm, feeling pride of the body, with excellent and harmonious resorts for my stay and recreation as diversion, secure well guarded paths for my movements of coming and going, gold, silver and the sacred navaratna stones... and so the Rudram goes on into a never ending wish list of everything we can wish for...

Is this the real Rudram - To keep asking Lord Shiva for things, endlessly including the condition that we would prefer to see his soumya rupa instead of his aghora rupa?



Or is this the real Rudram?

Into the depths of heaven
Does my soul fly
Into the intensity of the element
Does my heart rule
At the feet of the Great Lord Rudra
Do I wish to live

The ever flowing Ganges
Those ancient verses
The depth in the waters of nature
The excitement to be in the audience of the learned
That which completely engages my mind
That chill in the air
The purity in untouched nature
Thar which is left behind in ancient temples
The potency in the stone idol that remains
The holiness of the water in my hand
The warmth in the fire
The energy that is the Goddess
She who describes him as his power
Decorated in vilva and flowers
The great Lord meditates...
The world churns
I churn
And you cease to understand me anymore...

THE RUDRAM

To the ignorant who dont care to know, THE RUDRAM is a series of verses sung in a meter, rhythmic and monotonous making no immediate difference to their lives

To the bhakta who still craves to live, THE RUDRAM is a long list of wishes to the great lord Aghora Rudra Shiva to keep away enemies, to grant great wealth, to ward away decease, to deliver healthy progeny who will be rich and charming and learned and prosperous, to grant land and gold and silver...the list goes on (refer above)

To the intellect who wants to discover, THE RUDRAM is a intriguing tale of secret medicine and alchemy that is hidden in the sacred syllables as they fall out as divine notes.

To the pure soul, the undefined person who neither looks for intellectual stimulation nor do they look to decipher secret code within these verses nor are they attempting to be immortal or wishing for a longer life nor do they find any great happiness in riches feeding a never ending greed... to the pure soul it seems to be pure love, pure rhythmic love, unadulterated pure rhythmic love.

The primordial sound of Om, the calling for Ganesha, the adoration of Aghora Rishi, the prayer to Parama Purusha RUDRA Devata, the recitation of the sacred beejam of Na Ma Shi Va Ya, invoking the Shivataraye Shakti. I call you, in a language that has lived, that has been defined and practiced through the centuries, a tried and tested method of ritual, to come down into this world and reveal yourself to me.

Your Rudraksha mala is my protection, the rhythm in the verses that brings alive the sound of creation is the beat of my heart, and as I live on I realize you are my focus, and once I set eyes on you this life in this state has completed its purpose. I have no more purpose, no more need, no more desire to want to live. I have nothing more to do here, my task is complete.

And so I wait, wait for you to reveal yourself to me, be it your beauty as the consort of Parvati, or be it the charming Bhikshatana, or be it the enchanting Nataraja or be it the fierce Lord Kalabhairava...I wait for you.

I wait for you as a human in this form, I wait for you as a ghost or a ghoul after I leave this body, I wait for you as a deva if I have been honest and pure and have not sinned as much, I wait for you to come and reveal yourself.

I wait, and while I wait I contemplate on you as I play my role within this maya as a child, as an adult, as a wife, as a mother, as a dauther in law, as a boss, as an employee, as a citizen, as a compassionate human being in this state.

I simply wait, I contemplate and while I immerse myself in your thoughts, I worship you...

Courtesy:
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