ashreya-- shabari

“Sheila bhabhi, I want to invite Guruji home will he come?”

“Why not. Call him if cannot come he will say so.”

‘But I don’t have silverware to give him things.’

“Shabari, as such Guruji, eats only fruits and drinks milk I will lend you my silverware if you are particular. But this whole silver business is new,”

After Shabari left, Sheila thought of the early times when SriVasu visited them. They had an ordinary steel plate and tumbler that was kept separate for his use. It was only as the flock of disciples increased each disciple with himself or herself had added one more must to the list of hospitality for Guruji. Silverware was the latest contribution.

Sri Vasu though did not really comment he very subtle tend to stay in homes where the silverware was available for his exclusive use. The opulence of Vishnu was manifesting and the power of Lakshmi was visible.

And it was Shabhari’s name sake who was supposed to have offered the Lord berries after biting into them to see if they were sweet, only sweet ones were offered while the ones that were not good were thrown out.

These stories were to be narrated and morals to be stated and verbally eulogized. But practising it seems a super effort. After all not all could be Yudhistra the prince of Kurus. It is believed that the Guru Kripacharya asked his students to learn their lessons.

“what have learnt prince” guru asked each of his students

Each one narrated or recited elaborate works.

It was then the turn of Prince Yuddhistra of Kuru.

“I learnt not to get angry or disturbed by anyone or anything.”

“What else” prompted Kripa-acharya?

“That’s it”

Angry Kripa acharya slapped the Prince and punished him. The prince calmly accepted his punishment. It was only then that the acharya realized while everyone had learnt the lesson by route, the prince was the only one who understood, practised and applied it.

book review--dharmasala diaries

Dharmasala Diaries

Author: Swati Chopra

Publisher: The Penguin Group

ISBN:  978-0-141310-306-6

Genre: spiritual Journey.

The book Dharmasala Diaries penned in an autobiographical travelogue style, maps the journey of the writer from along three axis, the physical journey from Delhi to Dharmashala.  The mental journey of accepting the reality, along with idealism, and the spiritual journey of perceiving beyond the visible reality. Seemingly mundane discoveries but they reveal a profound understanding of everyday spirituality. The recognition of divine in mundane.

The book is a convenient handbook as a travel guide for beginners at Dharmashala.

The geographic and cultural diversities have been well captured. Along with the practical hurdles faced by the Tibetan and Himachali communities.

Though Ms.Chopra Buddha is considered as the 9^th incarnation of Vishnu and not the 10^th.

For those who have begun to get restless and begin to see sign posts of personal journey, this book is excellent beginners guide.

Words carry their own energy and power.


If we are not conscious of the power of the words, we run the risk of creating noisy disturbance.

When we speak or write we use words these are vehicles that carry of energy from us to a group of people.

This could be anything a love-letter or a work memo or just a dairy entry but each written word has a life of its own. A vibratory signature that creates waves in the same way a musical note creates waves. Like musical notes our words live in a community of other words, we become capable of making beautiful music in the world. If we are not conscious of the power of word we could create disturbance.

Some of us know this instinctively, while others come to this understanding slowly.

Many times we blurt out our feelings and thought without much regard for the words we choose and impact they cause. When we remind ourselves wanting to be more aware of our use of language.

A fun way of increasing our sensitivity to words is to list our favourite words and notice the energy they contain. We can write them down where we can see them and notice the energy they contain when we speak them aloud. This is like playing an instrument consciously as opposed to the unconscious fiddling that we have imbibed. This discovery can be startling and delightful.

As we begin to grow more and more comfortable with playing the language instrument we begin to compose beautiful messages. Creating positive energy every time we speak or write

the myth of deepavali

Growing up in rural India with close emotional and cultural ties with Malabar the land of Maha Bali, the benevolent asura King who came up on the day of Onam and ruled the earth till deepavali. The legend was that goddess Lakshmi the goddess of wealth was enslaved by the King Bali’s goodness so lord Vishnu had to descend as Vamana the dwarf and retrieve her. Stories that Kitta-doddamma narrated to us at Malumatta my mother’s ancestral home. These would be accompanied with golibajje the traditional snack from coastal Karnataka, and of course the raagi malt a drink made of millet and milk.


Param-ajja my grandfather’s brother and patriarch of the family and our uncles would return from the fields, or their place of work at sundown, when the second round of golibajje would appear, and as Kitta-doddamma walked in to make these, he would snort, at her of course well assisted by the snuff that he used. A deck of cards would materialize and coffee this time round. Doddamma would refuse to give us coffee since we were kids, but ajja (grandpa) would look at benevolently, and say give the kids half cup coffee each. That was the first treat. These coffees were special as they were made of jaggary a sweetener extracted from sugarcane.

He would then tell us the real meaning behind the story of Deepavali. The essence of Bali, the sacrifice and de-romanticize the entire story. To him the tale of Bali was the sacred codification agricultural knowledge or truths handed down from one generation to the other. It was the lore that inspired the agricultural karma yogis the quality of Bali (sacrifice). A good harvest required sacrifice giving a part of oneself to nature, whether it was the seed which shed its skin the worm that contributed their organic components, the former who contributed his labour, the soil its nutrients, mother earth the Lakshmi who reside in the earth nurtured these to spring a rich crop. Bali was the contributor or the sacrificed that enslaved lakshmi with this goodness. To Paramajja Vaman of lesser importance.

To my maternal grandmother who had an urban upbringing and convent education the story of Bali symbolized something else. Bali to her inconsequential, but the concept of Vamana the dwarf’s feet enlarging enough to gulf the three world meant that any thought if dwelt upon too much could engulf your entire being and existence.

Today when I sit back and try to understand these myths I realize the shifting fortunes of devas and asuras are cyclic again area’s are not destroyed only put in their place. If Bali and goodness rose from the nether world above to the earth then balance is disturbed. Bali rises every year on onam, he oversees the nurturing of the crops then after harvest he returns to nether world on Balipadya. After which lakshmi or wealth enters the house on deepavali. Incidentally most major festivals are associated with the death of an asura. This is again because asuras are the keepers of sanjivini vidya or the knowledge of restoring life i.e. the rejuvenation of nature.

The saga of deepavali also involves the destruction of narakasura, -- personification the slough created by the rains and harvest. Interestingly he can only be destroyed by his mother, the mother earth. Goa actually has this gathering of the slough making an effigy of Narakasura and then setting it flame. This takes care of the environment.

Talisman

After my accident my mother consulted an astrologer, who told her that someone had cast an evil eye and that had affected me. The effect could be nullified using a Talisman.


It’s not only amma, but a lot of people find solace in talismans cure a range of ills, they act as protectors, provide peace and sometimes act as affirmations of goals.

The talisman has its origin in the Greek word Telesma the magical energy trapper. By definition it is

• An object marked with magical signs and believed to confer on its bearer supernatural power or protection.

• Something that apparently has magic power.

Traditionally it anchors energy that then attracts abundance, protection or whatever else the individual goals are.

Contemporary talismans are made of metals, paper stone and or natural elements embossed with symbols and it can be either carried or worn.

Creating your talisman

To create a talisman its physical property becomes important. The choice it the creators, what inspires them the most. These talismans are energized ritually and periodically re-energized.

1. Identify your need for the Talisman; it could be spiritual goal, love, physical energy, mental strength. As long as it is important enough for you to invest your energy in it.

2. Lots of people pick astrological periods for installing the talisman, like Venus-mars for love.

3. The object is then picked as per what inspires you. Again lot of people choose objects of astrologic association, like copper associated with Venus so copper for a love goal.

4. Then design your inscription, it can be anything that inspires you, religious or astrological or any pattern.

5. Energize it with a ritual.

Energizing your talisman:

This is also a very personal procedure. I know a friend who energized her talisman by earthling it for weak because she felt she needed to strengthen the earth component of her five elements.

Another person I know faced the east at the crack of dawn cleansed the talisman with milk and water, dried it with incense, and then placed it on a wooden piece over which she placed a silk scarf. She then created a couplet with the goal mentioned, before placing the talisman on the alter that she had created she recited the couplet 108 times. After which every day she recites the couplet every morning in front of the talisman for five minutes and at night she thanks the talisman before going to bed.—this is by far the most popular method,

Probably this constant affirmation, gives a sense of protection and focus to the goals that we have put forth for ourselves.

These talismans have existed as long as mankind. With organized religion they have developed organized rituals and symbols.

Lakshmi and Saraswati

The complexities of Saraswati and vidya Lakshmi always had me wondering. As I was reading the nadi prakarana sandi the magic of the language of icons revealed.


Saraswati the pure intuitive knowledge, she is the intrinsic power but she can be strengthened when she is pursued with shradha or sharada the dedication and gayatri the research. But this does not translate to fame or material wealth for which the presence of Vidya Lakshmi becomes essential.

It is so simple isn’t it? The our strengths or shakti is always feminine as it constantly reinvents itself.

navaratri the worship of the mother goddess

Ganesh chaturti, Mahalaya, followed by Navaratri.

The nine nights, these are dedicated to the worship of the mother goddess. 

Navaratri or nine nights of ritualistic worship.  The vasanta Navaratri, the jyeshta Navaratri and shared Navaratri are three major navaratri’s.

Vasanta navaratri  in spring was first celebrated by the ancestor of Ram to beget progeny

The jyeshta Navaratri or the Ganga Navaratri when Ganga the river goddess is honored.

Sharad Navaratri that honors the mother goddess in all her forms.

Mother goddess, is the personification of nature. The is Adi maya the invincible. She is both the bride and the warrior at the same time, on one she establishes a home, nurtures, romances and provides food on the other she is unfretted protector of the people who surrender to her, she rides a lion, and destroyers her challengers.

With respect to Brahma we have the creative energy that manifests as sharada, saraswati, shatarupa. As shatarupa she takes on the infinite forms, as saraswati she is the embodiment of knowledge, answering the primordial question “who am I “as sharada, she is dedication and discipline. Riding a white heron the symbol of concentration, a string of memory beads, and no jewels, and holds a lute she is difficult to acquire once she is realized she is a companion for life.

The bejeweled opulent companion of Vishnu Lakshmi, daughter of Varuna the water she is embodiment of tangible wealth. She is fickle as she is fortune.  Her symbols are all the symbols of prosperity, dressed in a red sari, a pot overflowing with grain and gold the goddess represents pleasure, prosperity and power that culture harvests out of nature. She is elusive, whimsical and difficult to hold on. She is always with her twin Jyeshta lakshmi or Alakshmi the goddess of misfortune, poverty strife and struggle she demands acknowledgement.

Gauri the, known as pratyaksha maheshwari or visible goddess she is Annapurna the giver of food. Secure in Shiva’s lap she is everything that Kali is not. Usually represented as fair, married woman, in a green sari, with green bangles wearing a string of fragrant flowers. She is mother goddess domesticated.

Ganga the personification of human energy she was so powerful, that Shiva himself could not sustainer, she drew the heat of Shiva’s Tapas and flow down as a river. The matted hair of Shiva here symbolizes discipline unless disciplined the life sustaining quality can overwhelm.

 Radha the embodiment of romance, surrender and unconventionality. She is the vayu prana of the Krishna avatar, once Krishna leaves vrindavan for Mathura he ceases to be venugopal. Radha a married woman, older than Krishna their romance defies the social norms.  Scholars would like to justify it as the eternal need of the jivatma (soul-Radha) to merge with the parmatma (the divine).Radha is the acknowledgement of inner desires that are denied, repressed or sublimated despite which they still exist.

Placing her foot on a mustachioed human head, Kali is nature in her aggression, unbound raw and wild. She is the darkest recess of unconscious that can overwhelm culture; there can be a collapse of social structure if discipline gives away to desire.  The mustachioed human head represents the human ego, which needs validation and approval from the external world.

Lajja Gauri as the art historians call her is very popularly seen both in folk art and tantric art. She is not really identifiable by scriptures. A picture of contradiction. The image depicts absence of face suggesting shyness and exposed genital contradicts this.  This can be translated to the impersonal i.e. without head, fertile and pleasure giving make the mother goddess a beloved and a mother.

The indigenous Gramadevata is created by drawing eyes and palms to certain naturally occurring rocks that are responsive. The open eyes symbolizing her sensitivity of to the devotees need, the upturned palm reassuring and blessing the down turned palm giving. The tangible energy varies from place to place. The most popular one being the vaishnoo Devi at Jammu.

Gauri	Durga	Kali
·         Dressed in green ·         Maternal ·         Hair bound ·         Vegetarian ·         Wears symbols of marriage ·         Holds no weapon ·         Offers food	·         Dressed in red ·         Bridal ·         Unbound hair ·         Accepts all offerings ·         Wears bridal jewels ·         Holds defensive weapons. ·         Does not offer food	·         Naked ·         Carnal ·         Disheveled ·         Demands blood ·         Covered with human head. ·         Holds offensive weapons ·         Does not offer food.

The mother goddess, Maheshwari—Adi maya-Adishakti is infinite and impermanent she directs the jiva to realize the divine within, nurtures the jiva’s journey to self discovery.  But the journey of self discovery tries to control the fertility of nature that she personifies, she strikes violently.