Divya Jyothi Nov 2014

Navaratri Special Edition

Atma Deepo Bhava – Be a Light unto yourself

Now let us look at the light of the Self – Atmajyothi,

Atmada Belaku. Last week we were speaking about the

light of Wisdom, Deepavali. What is the light of Wisdom?

For this we again have to go back to Buddha. Once Bud‐

dha ate something and his health got upset. Buddha un‐

derstood that the time to depart the body or the time to

attain Pari Nirvana was nearing. He was sleeping and was

looking forward for that time. Everyone there came to

know that Buddha would not live for more days. There

was an announcement made that whoever wished to have

the last (Antima) Darshana of Buddha could come and

have his Darshana. We have a concept of last (Antima)

Darshana as seeing the body of a dead person before taking it to the burial ground. That is not the meaning of Last

darshana for an Enlightened Being because they have already left the body and nothing is there inside the body, it is

just a body. So having the Antima Darshana – final walkthrough of Buddha means to see Buddha before he takes Pari

Nirvana. Everyone stands in a big queue to have the Antima darshana of Buddha. They ask Buddha ‘what will happen

to us when you attain Pari Nirvana? Who will look after us? Who will give us the knowledge’? Buddha says ‘Atma

Deepo Bhava, Atma Deepo Bhava, Atma Deepo Bhava’ three times. Buddha continues to say ‘who has to give light to

you, you must become the light. Which is that light? That is the ‘light of the Self’. You become the light of the Self and

what is needed to be that I have already told that to you. Whatever I have told is there in Tripitika.’ This light is called

Atmada Belaku, Atma Jyothi – the light of the Self.

How can we find out which is dream and which is real? Can anyone here prove that this is not dream this is reality,

maybe I have come in the dream and speaking to you all now. What is the difference between dream and waking?

How do you know that this is not dream? When whatever appears in dream seems to be real, why should not whatev‐

er appears in waking be a dream? So what is real? What is the truth? Whatever we see through the eyes, hear through

the ears can be questioned to find out if that is true or not but we cannot question the ‘I’ that is witnessing this. ‘I’ is

there all the time in all the state waking dreaming and deep sleep this is the only reality. So, whatever we see in wak‐

ing state, in dream state and in deep sleep state can be questioned if that is real or not. But we cannot question the ‘I’

that is witnessing all the time this ever witnessing ‘I’ is Atma. The light that comes out of this ‘I’ is the light of the Self

– Atmada belaku Atma Jyothi. This ‘I’ Atma is eternal. This light of the Self is awareness. All Mahatmas say ‘Awareness

is Guru, awareness is the real Master’. That is why Buddha said ‘Atma Deepo Bhava’ ‘Be a light unto yourself’ and see

through that light of awareness.

Prabhuji Speaks

P a g e 2 D i v y a J y o t h i


From the five

grossified ele‐

ments are born

the Brahmanada

along with the

worlds, objects

of experience

and the gross

bodies. The

Hiranyagarbha

attains the status

of Vaishwanara

being identified

with the total

gross bodies.

(28)

After the grossification of the five great elements, the

next step is to create the objects of enjoyment and the

‘house’ or location called the body, where the instru‐

ments of the enjoyment are to be lodged.

From these five great‐grossified elements the Brahma‐

nada is created. Brahmanada is of two tiers of seven

each that means there are 14 worlds in Brahmanada. In

this Brahmanad Bhogya means the objects of enjoy‐

ment and the shelter or gross body in which the in‐

struments of perception can function are created.

Now let us see understand what hiranyagarbha is and

why this hiranyagarbha is called Vaisvanara. Hiran‐

yagarbha includes the world of experience and also the

houses where different jivas are located to taste the

experience. Hiranyagarbha when identified with total

gross body is called Vaishwanara ; before identifying

with gross body, hiranyagarbha was identified with

total sukshma sarira – subtle body.

One Consciousness manifests in many forms, identi‐

fies with the form and becomes Jiva but everything is

Brahman or Consciousness. 'Ayam atma chatushpat'.

There are four aspects of this Consciousness. Con‐

sciousness in the waking state ‐ Jiva in waking state is

called Vaishwanara and the world experienced in this

state is called Virat. Jiva in dreaming state is called

Taijasa and the world experienced is called Hiran‐

yagarbha. Jiva in deep sleep state is called Prajna and

the world experienced is Ishwara. Beyond these three

states is the fourth state of Turiya, state of Sakshi or

Pure Awareness.

Let me tell you a story from the Puranas how hiran‐

yagarbha identifies with the gross body and is called

Vaisvanara. There was a demon called Hiranyaksha

who was being destructive in the entire universe. He

once captured the earth and fled away with it. Then

Lord Vishnu took the form of Varaha, a boar and killed

Hiranyaksha. The Lord forgot that he had come from

Vaikunta. He began to enjoy his new body, out of his

own will he created a female boar and started a family.

Then Goddess Lakshmi got worried and complained to

Shiva. Shiva came and reminded Vishnu, who was in

the form of Varaha to go back. Vishnu said that he was

very happy with his family. Shiva then with his trishula

killed the boar. The boar then realized that he was

Vishnu and he went back to Vaikunta. All life forms

are creation of the Lord. After creating the life forms,

Consciousness enters into that and identifies with that

life form and becomes Jiva and forgets that he is of the

form of Pure Awareness. Jiva who realizes this be‐

comes Shiva.

Vaishwanara is one who experiences the gross Uni‐

verse. Vishva is the visible, manifest Universe that is

experienced and Nara means human beings or living

beings who have lost Ananda (Bliss).

One day, as usual, Mullah Nasiruddin went for a drink

and while coming back he forgot the way to his house

in his drunken state. He went and knocked on his resi‐

dence doo. His wife opened the door; suddenly he

thought he had mistakenly knocked on someone else’s

house and ran from there. At that very moment, a rick‐

shaw driver came by and asked Mullah if he needed a

ride. Mullah said that he wanted a ride home and sat

in the rickshaw. The rickshaw driver was also drunk.

Both of them were driving around in circles the whole

night and when morning dawned, they realized that

they were circling around Mullah’s home all night.

Similarly, when we are intoxicated with the concept

that ‘I am the body, mind and intellect’ we lose sight of

our true identity and live in a dream world. The false

illusion that ‘I am the body, mind and intellect’ is the

Panchadasi - Tattva Viveka


most intoxicating drink. Once that intoxication wears

off, you are not in ignorance anymore and realize you

are not the body, mind and intellect. Out of sheer igno‐

rance you enjoy and experience the outer gross world

sthula bhugu with sapta angah or seven parts of the in‐

dividual or Jivatma and seven aspects of Virat Purusha ‐

head, eyes, nose, chest, trunk, legs and kidneys.

For Brahman, the entire Universe is his body– sky is his

head, sun is his eyes, the space between is his trunk,

earth is his feet, air is his breath, water is his kidneys. As

Vaishvanara, you have seven parts or aspects known as

head, eyes, nose, chest, trunk, kidneys and legs. This is

the comparison of Universe or the macro (Brahmanda)

and individual or micro (Pindanda). Universe – macro

and individual – micro are same but appear as different.

What is in Brahmanda is also in Pindanda and what is in

Pindanda is also in Brahmanda. This is why it is called

sapta angah. A Jivatma has nineteen faces. They are

Sense organs (Jnanendriyas) ‐ eyes, ears, nose, tongue

and skin,

Organs of actions (Karmendriyas) ‐ hands, legs, mouth,

sex organ and anus,

Five Pranas ‐ prana, apana, vyana, udana and samana.

Mind (Manas),

Intellect (Buddhi),

Ego (Ahamkara) and

Sub‐conscious mind (Chitta).

Mind, intellect, ego and sub‐conscious mind or the in‐

ternal aspect collectively is called Antahkarana. With all

these nineteen aspects an individual or Vaishvanara ex‐

periences the outer gross world. This is called the

prathama pada or the first aspect of Cosmic Reality –

Parabrahma as Vaishvanara. The whole Universe is

Brahmasvarupa unfortunately; we are unable to recog‐

nize it because of our false identification with body,

mind and intellect. When you realize that you are not

the body mind and intellect, you are Pure Awareness,

only then you will realize that the whole Universe is also

nothing but awareness. Hiranyagarbha when identified

with total gross body is called Vaisvanara; before identi‐

fying with gross body, hiranyagarbha was identified with

total sukshma sarira – subtle body.

Sanatana Dharma

Bhakti

India has a tradition of the Jnana Ganga. Continuing

flow of Wisdom from eternity. Flow of Truth and wis‐

dom. Different Paramparas are branches. Each param‐

para caters to one level of evolution. When we feel

strong sense of duality, Bhakti and service is the way of

life. This is dualistic system. When we understand our

limitation we have to surrender to the Lord. In such a

heart (spiritual heart) purified by Bhakti, and Seva,

Jnana ‐ wisdom will shine in the form of Non Dual na‐

ture of existence.

What is Bhakti?

When bhakti enters food it becomes prasad

When bhakti enters hunger it becomes a fast

When bhakti enters water it becomes charanamrit

When bhakti enters travel it becomes a pilgrimage

When bhakti enters music it becomes kirtan

When bhakti enters a house it becomes a temple

When bhakti enters actions it becomes service

And When bhakti enters a man he becomes human

During 14th or 15th Century in Pandarapur of Maha‐

rashtra there were many great Saints. At that time Sant

Jnaneshwar known as Jnanadev, Gorakumbara and

Namadev were contemporaries. Many saints came at

that period. The same thing happened in Karnataka

also, there was the period of Bhakti, and many Dasas

like Purandara Dasa, Kanaka Dasa came. In Tamil Na‐

du also there was a period when many Alwars came

and many Nayanmars came in and at some point of

time many saints were born.


India is a great country, a Universal spiritual Master

that taught and gave the message of spirituality to the

whole world. Wherever there is disturbance in the

world, wherever people seek peace, harmony and spir‐

ituality they look at India. India is the Universal Mas‐

ter – Vishva Guru. It gave peace, wisdom and spiritual

messages to the whole world. People in pain, suffering

or turbulence, they come to India for spiritual life.

What has happened here is that we have forgotten

what we are, we have forgotten our essential values. It

is great to be born in India; to get a human birth is

very difficult, extremely difficult.

It is indeed a blessing to take birth in a country like

India, the spiritual land, the Holy land where every‐

body in the world seeks to be born. It is a very great

merit, that too in the land of Karnataka which is a land

of Bhakti, the heritage state born in the legacy of

Bhakti. Hanuman, the greatest devotee of Lord Rama

was born in Hampi, Karnataka. Madhavacharya, who

gave life for the legacy of bhakti, was born in Karna‐

taka. Bhakthi got spread, got revived in Karnataka and

spread to west Bengal and rest of the India which was

in the deepest difficulty because of the rulers at that

point of the time.

When the Bhakti Panth was ruined it was Karnataka

that gave life to it again. Ramanujacharya, Shankara‐

charya and Madhwacharya the three great Acharyas

were in this place. There are very few places where

three Acharyas established their center. Bhakti Panth

with Madhwacharya, Prapathi saranagathi with Rama‐

nujacharya and Jnana with Shankaracharya all these

three met in a place called Karnataka, it is a great for‐

tune to be born in this place. The confluence of Bhakti

saranagati and Jnana through Madhwacharya, Rama‐

nujacharya and Shankaracharya is in Karnataka.

When we listen to the bhajans of Haridas our mind

gets purified. Sheshagiridas and his team gave us the

banquet of nectar today. Listening to the glories of the

Lord, listening to the song of the divine is a great op‐

portunity. Shri Haridas, Seshagiridas and his team

gave us the amrita. How many of us know about the

nectar of Jnana that came from the legacy of Haridas,

Madhvacharya? So, to make it easy for everyone to

know the Dasa Vachanas – the divine songs of Harida‐

sa, Sheshagiridas started the Dasa Vacahana program

in every home. Let God bless him with strength to

spread and take the message of Haridasas to every

house and let all people in Karnataka and the world

have the bliss of experiencing the divine songs of

Haridasas.

The most important message which is the messages of

Gurus, Acharyas, spiritual masters and enlightened

beings in India is ‘to take human birth is the greatest

thing to happen, to take human birth is difficult, to

take birth in India is much more difficult, to be in Kar‐

nataka is the greatest merit, do not spoil it. The birth

of human being is to chant the names of Lord – Bhaga‐

van Nama smarane and purify our consciousness and

work towards liberation, Mukti.'


Verse 15

Ability to become Divine Love

Saraj‐jyotsna‐shuddham sasi‐yuta‐jata‐juta‐makutam

Vara‐traasa‐traana‐sphatika‐ghutika‐pustaka karaam;

Sakrn na thva nathva katham iva sathaam sanni‐

dadhate Madhu‐kshira‐drakhsa‐madhurima‐dhurinah

phanitayah.

Sweetest words rivalling the honey, milk and grapes,

Can only Come to the thoughts of the devotee,

Who once meditates on your face,

Which is like the white autumn moon,

On your head with a crown with the crescent moon

and flowing hair,

And hands that shower boons and give protection,

Which hold the crystal chain of beads and books.

The Love and compassion of the Universal Mother

towards her children is seen on her face that is like the

white autumn moon. Love of the Universal Mother is

shown in different ways. The head has a crown with

the crescent moon, which represents the delightful

light, and flowing hair represents the flow of river. The

hands which shower boons and give protection holds

the crystal chain of beads that signifies concentration

and meditation and the books signifies the Knowledge

of Wisdom. A devotee who once meditates on the Uni‐

versal Mother can have only those thoughts that are

sweetest words rivalling the honey, milk and grapes

that signifies the Pure Love – Para Bhakti

The Love that pervades this whole Universe is nothing

but Divine Mother. Everything in the Universe is held

together by Love. The pure love expresses itself in

Soundarya Lahari many ways. It is Sun’s love that is expressed as sunlight

in the whole Universe, for all the living beings. Love is

giving, and is an expression. It is out of pure love that

Sun gives sunlight, moon is expressing the delightful

light in the form of love, wind blows out of love, river

flows, and everything in nature is an expression of

pure love. This love is called Divine Mother.

Now this love when it expresses through human being,

it narrows down. Infinite love becomes finite. Mother

says, “This is my child.” Love gets restricted and ex‐

presses as love for “my child”. When love comes

through the human mind, it narrows down. Now there

is a possibility that we can experience that infinite love

when our mind becomes purified. That infinite love is

Divine Mother.

We can experience this Divine Mother in this lifetime

with this human body mind complex by a pure

mind. A pure mind does not say “me” or “mine” as it

narrows down the love. It is like this ‐ there is sun‐

light, sunlight gets reflected maximum or fully in the

mirror, reflected partially in the river and reflected

very minimal in the stone. Similarly divine love ex‐

presses completely in the pure mind and pure

heart. The expression of pure love is what Mata Am‐

ritanandamayi is – an expression of pure love. When

mind becomes purified divine love expresses itself in

full form, like infinite waves through a human being

who has purified the mind and offered the mind to

divine. That is what realization is about, experiencing

of divine love is the peak of human evolution.

We experience love in small ways and love in greater

ways called Bhakti or devotion, love in the highest

form is called Para Bhakti ‐ where the lover and the

beloved have become one and you become the Divine

LOVE. That is called realization. Amma is an example

of Para Bhakti or highest form of devotion. There are

many human beings who have attained the highest

and purest form of love by purifying their mind. With

a purified heart we can experience the kingdom of God

that is Divine Love, Supreme Love. That Supreme Love

is called The Universal Divine Mother.


Padmaraga shiladarsha paribhavi kapolabhuh

Navavidruma bimbashri nyakkari radanachhada

Padmaraga shiladarsha paribhavi kapolabhuh: Whose

cheeks are far fairer than mirrors of ruby (Padmaraga)

Navavidruma bimbashri nyakkari radanachhada:

Whose lips outshine the redness of fresh coral and

bimba fruit.

Goddess Lalita Devi is the Goddess of Bliss, an epithet

for Mother Parvati. Lalita means ‘she who plays’ imply‐

ing spontaneous or ease of convenience. The Divine

Mother is your Inner Self ‐ Atman, Brahman. You are

the Divine! Until you realize this you need external

form of The Divine Mother.

Outer form of The Divine Mother motivates you, in‐

spires you, guides you and shows the way to Inner Self.

The Divine Mother’s cheeks are fairer than mirrors of

Ruby where you see your Divine Nature. The lips out‐

shine the redness of fresh coral signifies the Divine

qualities in you; the shining ones. This we can under‐

stand through Triputi – the three fold.

Triputi - The Three Fold

Consciousness split into Seer and Seeker, after Triputi

Seer Alone Shines.

Mind is like a mirror. When the Seer (witness/sakshi)

sees the mirror and identifies what it sees in the mir‐

ror, it forgets its true nature and confuses itself with

the object seen in the mirror. The Seer of the mind can

see itself when the mind is still. The mirror can be

dirty or clean. A dirty mirror reflects a distorted image

of the Seer, whereas a clean mirror reflects the true

image of the Seer. A still and silent mind reflects the

true image of the Self or the Seer. If you look at any

religious or spiritual practice it is ultimately designed

to calm and silence the mind. Only in the silent mind

can the Seer see itself or its true nature.

A man went from his village to a big city to make his

fortune. After couple years later he returned to the

village, which was very isolated from the world with‐

out any television or communication devices. This

man returned with a big suitcase filled with gifts for

his family. He kept the suitcase in the house, and went

to the bathroom to freshen himself. His curious wife

opened the suitcase and when she looked she found a

woman there staring at her. This lady got very fright‐

ened and thought that her husband had brought home

another woman from the city. She broke down and

started crying, when her mother in law came and en‐

quired why she was crying, the wife explained that her

husband had brought another woman from the city,

who was in that suitcase. The old mother in law head‐

ed towards the suitcase and took a peek into the suit‐

case. She consoled her daughter‐in‐law and told her

that her son had brought home an old woman from

the city and that she need not worry. Then the father‐

in‐law came in and peeped into the suitcase and told

the women that they were fools as there was an old

man in the suitcase, who was brought as domestic

help. Finally, the son arrived and showed his family

the mirror that he had brought from the city. Nobody

in the village had ever seen a mirror, and could not

understand that what they saw was their own reflec‐

tion in the mirror.

Likewise, mind is a mirror that reflects the world. In

that reflection you see a distorted image because of the

thoughts. Only in a silent and still mind can we see

our own true image. Otherwise seeing the reflection in

the mind the Seer confuses itself into believing that

he/she is a limited body, mind and intellect, thereby

the true infinite nature of the Self is completely forgot‐

ten.

The Seer is the Self ‐ witness (Sakshi ‐ I). Seeker is the

individual self (i). Seeker has no real existence. Seeker

Lalitha Sahasranama


is the ego self. It keeps on changing its roles, expecta‐

tions. Seeker is a product of past memories and projec‐

tion of future dreams.

Self is the being ‐ Silent, ever peaceful, aware. Self is

the Seer.

Ego self ‐ seeker is ever restless. Keeps on trying every

means to get happiness, peace. Seeker initially keeps

seeking happiness in the external world. This is a pro‐

cess of becoming. In its quest for survival, happiness,

ego self ‐ seeker keeps on becoming something. After

long time, there is a realization in the seeker that at‐

tempt to become something is futile. Then it tries to

become the Seer ‐ because of religious teachings or

spiritual teachings.

Once the Seer Sees the game of Seeker, Seeker disap‐

pears into Seer. No more seeker. Seer Alone shines ‐

This is Kaivalya ‐ Mukti ‐ Liberation ‐ Freedom and

Peace.

Ganga Puja

We celebrate the first day of Diwali with Ganga Puja. The sa‐cred River Ganga is supposed to descend into the bath water on the eve of water filling festival. Gin‐gelly oil ‐ sesame oil is also used on this day for the bath, it represents our kar‐mic impressions.

Let us contemplate on the deeper mean‐ing of the festival. Every festival of India

carries a deeper spiritual message. This day carries the message of the sloka ‘Nahi jnanena sadrasham pavit‐ramiha udyate’. Through wisdom (Jnana) only one can get purified. The Ganga represents Jnana Ganga. Jnana Ganga, which is flowing from Shiva’s head, purifies the mind and liberates us. The river Ganga purifies physi‐cally, but it is the Jnana Ganga that purifies one from internally.

Gangge‐Cha Yamune Cha‐Iva Godaavarii Sarasvati |

Narmadaa Sindhu Kaaverii Jalesmin Samnidhim Kuru ||

O Holy Rivers Ganga and Yamuna, and also Godavari, Saraswati,

Narmada, Sindhu and Kaveri; Please be Present in this Water Near Me and make it Holy.

So, on the first day of Diwali, we do Ganga puja. Ganga puja is respecting all the rivers, Ganga, Yamuna, Goda‐vari, Saraswathi, Narama, Sindhu, Kaveri, the sacred rivers of India. We respect and worship the rivers be‐cause they are part of this Creation which is nothing but the reflection of God. The Creator and the creation are not different. Just like the dreams are an appear‐ance in the mind, the creation is an appearance in the Creator. If you are looking for the creator somewhere else, you are missing the point. The Creator has mani‐fested and is appearing as the creation. Every aspect of creation is sacred and that is why we respect the rivers.

So when that worshipping attitude went away from India because of lot of ignorance, the rivers started


getting polluted. We used to worship the forests, wor‐ship the life, because life is nothing but reflection of the divine and that is why non‐violence came into picture. Whenever that worshipping attitude in your life is gone, and ignorance is there everything gets polluted and cor‐rupted around us.

Ganga puja is slightly more than the physical worship that we do. Ganga has flown from the ‘Jata’ of Lord Shi‐va. What flows from the head of Shiva? Jnana Ganga, the wisdom. The first day is also celebration of the Wisdom, the Jnana Ganga. Ganga flowed down to the Earth be‐cause of the Bhageeratha Prayathna. What does Bha‐geeratha means? It is the tremendous effort made by the three generations of people. There was an emperor called Sagara Chakarvarthy. He had Sixty thousand chil‐dren and he was performing Ashwamedha Yaghna where they allow the horse to go any kingdom, and those kingdoms if they surrender, they become a part of this empire and if they don’t surrender they have to fight a war with this emperor.

That horse went to the Paatala Loka and there this Sixty thousand children of Sagara could not find the horse. There was one sage, Kapila Muni, who was sitting there meditating and these children thought that this sage has hidden their horse and they got angry and starting abus‐ing him. Kapila Muni got angry and he cursed them to get burnt and all the Sixty thousand got burnt and their ashes remained there. That is called ‘Apamrithyu’, a death which happens at a wrong time. Those who get Apamrithyu, they become Prethas, beings without body and they cannot go to higher loka, they will be hanging around, it is a tristate. So somebody told Sagara that if those people have to get the actual mrithyu, he has to get Ganga from Vishnuloka, Vishnupada to wash the ashes and then they get liberated.

Sagara Chakravarthy does Tapasya for Vishnu, gets old and dies and same happens with this son also. His grandson, Bhageeratha does tapasya, first time for Vish‐nu and after many years of intensive Tapasya, Vishnu will become pleased and asked him what he wants and Bhageeratha asks him to let Ganga flow down to the Earth. Vishnu asks him to pray to Shiva as Shiva alone can control the force of Ganga. Then Bhageeratha does Tapasya for Shiva and asks Shiva to control the force of Ganga. So here, what happened was already three gener‐ations have done Tapasya and now in the Grandson’s generation, the first level of meditation, first 12 years of meditation is over, now again he does the second 12 years of meditation on Shiva and then the river flows with a force and Shiva captures Ganga in his hair knot. Ganga gives Mukti to his ancestors.

In a sense this story is about physical Ganga. But in a sense it is spiritual Ganga, Jnana Ganga. It tells us the story of the struggle of generation after generation to get the highest spiritual truths form the Vishnu loka, the highest state of Consciousness to the level what human beings can understand. Flow of Jnana Ganga to the Earth from the Vaikunta, which is the realm that could happen because of the struggle of many genera‐tions. It will not happen easily, the highest wisdom coming down from Vaikunta. India has dedicated ten thousand, fifteen thousand years for getting Jnana Ganga. Many and many Saints, Rishis have meditated on what is Atma Jnana, what is Realization and be‐cause of their struggle; the highest wisdom has come to us. The struggle to get these highest spiritual truths, wisdom is told in the form of this story of Bhageeratha.

Later and what happened was in between Indian went through one thousand years of war. Many people in‐vaded India, they invaded on the physical wealth of the country and they invaded on the Jnana Ganga. They destroyed the system of education. There was an education system in India for thousands and thou‐sands of years in India where our ancestors have brought the Jnana Ganga from highest realm of the Vaikunta to the earth in the form of spiritual wisdom, in the form of Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads etc. That system was attacked by these invaders. But that doesn’t die, Jnana Ganga again flows. That is because it is the wisdom of the Rishis, they created the stories, they created these festivals so that even during the attacks, invasions, still this will continue and it will revive. The Ganga River never dies it will become Jnana Ganga. So on the first day, we do Ganga Puja to remember that. That is called Ganga puja.

Why do we do Ganga Snana (bath) on this day? What happened was, in these ‘Yatra Sthalas’ (holy places) there were many Sadhus and Mahatmas staying there. In earlier days there was no bus, train and airplanes for transportation. It used to take six months to eight months for journey. In between the journey, you see many people, you interact with many people and go to Ganga theerta and take rest there where you come across many Mahatmas who will give you Jnana Ganga and then you take a dip on the Ganga River. Now Jnana Ganga is missing and Ganga Snana has become just taking a dip in the river and coming back.

Taking head bath with Jnana Ganga is to wash away the darkness of ignorance; applying sesame oil is to wash away the deep‐rooted samskaras and vasanas which means dropping your karmic impressions. The sesame seeds are crushed to generate oil; similarly, you have to crush your karmic impressions to get liberated.

P a g e 1 0 D i v y a J y o t h i

Every human being seeks happiness and peace in life and if these two are not there what is the use of having all the materialistic wealth! We can come through many of the people in our life who say, ‘I have everything but still I don’t have peace of mind’. Why is this so? To know about this first we should know that whatever we are, at this given point of time, the good or bad that we are ex‐periencing in this world are the results of good and bad actions committed by us in our previous births. The re‐sults of good actions performed in previous birth lead to happiness and the results of bad actions give sorrow in this life. These are the Karmic impressions and this cycle goes on and on forever. Every incarnation creates more Karmic impressions. The individual soul gets trapped into a never‐ending cycle of bondage due to Karma.

There are three types of Karmas. Prarabdha karma – started giving results. Nothing can be done about this. Sanchita Karma – which is yet to manifest and the spir‐itual practices can prevent this. Agami or Kriyamana Karma – ready to fructify but can be changed by selfless service.

Spiritual Significance: Effort of Bhageeratha represents the spiritual struggle. The Ganga represents Jnana Gan‐ga. ‘Nahi jnanena sadrasham pavitramiha udyate’. Gen‐erations of ancestors will get liberated when a person attains Enlightenment through intense effort ‐ Spiritual sadhana.

Shudda Prajnaajyothi – The Light of Pure Con-sciousness

Deepavali is the ' Festival of series of Light ‘. To realize the Inner self which is the light of all lights by taking bath in the river of wisdom Jnanaganga and to share the light of love compassion and wisdom is Deepavali ‐ Shud‐da Prajnaajyothi ‐ Light of Pure Consciousness. The spirit of Deepavali is beauti‐fully summarized by the in‐vocation Asatoma ma Sad‐gamaya, Tamaso ma Jyothir‐

gamaya, Mrityorma Amritamgamaya!’

Lead us move from untruth to Truth, darkness to light and death to immortality.

Death to immortality (Mrityorma amritamgama-ya)

Our inner self – Atma is eternal. Atma has no birth, no death and no bondage and no liberation. Identifying with the body mind intellect complex, the Atma ap‐pears to be having birth and death. When the errone‐ous notion drops, the real nature of self‐dawns and immortality is experienced. The first day celebration of Deepavali is called Yama deepam – lighting the lamp of Lord of death. The mythological story on Yama deepam has full of symbolic meaning.

Yama Deepam – the Light of Wisdom

First day is called ‘Yama deepam’. Yama means the lord of death. There was one lady. One astrologist told her that Yamadharmaraya would come in the form of a serpent and kill her husband on this day. That lady was very smart and on that day, in her bedroom, she kept lot of gold coins, mirrors and lamps. So there was reflection of light everywhere. Yamadharmaraya the lord of death came in the form of serpent to bedroom only to be perplexed by dazzling lights. He could not locate the husband of the lady due to the shining light and went back. So her husband survived. So that is the story. So that is why on the first day of Diwali, in many houses, they light the lamp, keep a mirror and gold coins also.

Now, can lights and gold coins make Yamadharmaraya run away? Yama means appointed time. So now the death cannot be chased away by coins or mirrors or lamps. The only thing, which is guaranteed in life, is death. Is it possible to chase the death by lighting a lamp? There must be something deeper than a physi‐cal light that is told here. The light is not a physical

Deepavali


light. Yamadeepa is the light of wisdom that chases away death. So the mirror represents to see your Self, realize yourself. Gold represents the golden qualities that are required – Shama, Dama, Titeeksha, Uparati, Shraddha, Samadhaana and Mumukshatva. Lamp represents the lamp of wisdom. But it doesn’t mean you’ll not die. The body will die. But you will realize that I’m not the body, mind and intellect. I do not have birth or death. I am liberated. That is first day message of Deepavali.

Narakasura Vade – Destruction of Ego

And then there is Naraka Chaturdasi. What is Narakas‐ura – naraka means one who causes suffering, makes you suffer. It is your own Ego, Ahamkara. Separation from the existence, ‘I am’. The concept of ‘I am’ what you have is not real. Where is your ‘I am’ feeling in your deep sleep? It disappears. But you were there in your deep sleep. In deep sleep when you wake up you say, “There was nothing”, but then you say, “I was very peaceful. I had a very nice sleep”. That is Atma. The deep sleep rep‐resents your state of Atma. That is the peace, silence. In Atma there is nothing else. So, Naraka means ego, the feeling of ‘I am’. As soon as you wake up from the sleep in morning that ‘I am’ feeling comes. The feeling you feel as if you are individual. There are no individuals in the world. There is only Universal Consciousness Para‐matma. And you feel as if you are separate from the ex‐istence, which is because of the Maya, appearance. It’s not real. And that causes suffering. That is called Nara‐kasura. Naraka means suffering.

From the demon called Narakasura in us, is a trouble to us and trouble to others also. Do you know what is the capital of Narakasura in Purana? Praagjyothishapura. Jyothi means light, praagjyothishapura means a city where light is gone and city of darkness is a called praa‐gjyothishapura. The kingdom of Narakasura is filled with darkness – Praagjyotishapura. In puranas they say the meaning of Pura as the Atma in us. ‘Navadware pure shayate iti purushaha’ the one who resides in our body where there is nine openings or gate is called ‘Purusha’. Our body is a city, which has nine doors, is called the city of nine holes and the one who is there inside that is called Purusha, and that city praajyothishapura is a city of darkness. The one who is inside the body is ‘purusha’ and the one who is filled with darkness is called ahanka‐ra and that is Narakasura.

Shri Krishna has to take birth inside us and bless us by destroying the demon Narakasura inside us. ‘Ishwara sarva bhutanam hredesi Arjuna tistati’ the Lord is in eve‐ryone’s heart. The divine is in our heart as sakshi‐ the witness; ahankara the ego has taken possession of our body, mind and intellect saying ‘this is mine this is mine’. That ego, the destruction of that ego is called Deepavali. Praagjyothishapura – when the light of the divine – Sakshi falls on that city which is filled with darkness, the city is lighted with that divine light and that divine light is Deepavali. That is the festival of Deepavali.

Shri Krishna is in our heart in the lotus of our heart – Anahata chakra as Sakshi. That divine heart of lotus has eight petals and eight petals represent eight direc‐tions and those eight directions represents Sri Krish‐na’s Ashta Mahisi – eight prime queens. And in the puranic story Shri Krishna kills the demon Narakasura with the help of Sathyabhama. The truth will drive away the ignorance called Narakasura. Sathyabhama means Sathya – the Truth, when one submerged in the knowledge of wisdom, when the ignorance is gone they become aware that ‘I am not the body, I am not the mind, I am not the intellect I am Atma’, that is Deepavali. I am the body, I am the mind, I am the in‐tellect is the darkness, when the darkness goes there is a light inside our heart and there is a realization of the Lord inside us.

So, Narakasura has imprisoned 16000 women and Krishna goes and liberates those women and kills Narakasura. Krishna is the inner Consciousness. And sixteen thousand women represent the naadis, Energy channels in the body. The inner Consciousness frees you from the ignorance and liberates you. So that is Narakasura Vadha. And to celebrate that you do Ganga Puja, you invite all the holy sacred rivers ‐ Ganga, Go‐davari, Yamuna, Narmada, Sindhu, Saraswathi, and Kaveri. And remember that Ganga is ‘Vishnupada sam‐udbhavam’, born at the feet of Vishnu. So everything in Universe is nothing but a manifestation of supreme reality. Whatever you see is nothing but God only, Shakti of God, and Consciousness. So Ganga is very purifying. You invite Ganga. You do Ganga Puja. This is to respect the Prakriti – Nature. Then early morning you have a bath. Why you have a bath early morning? That is a Brahmi Muhurta. You have to wake up in the Brahmi Muhurta. That is the right time for meditation.


Asato ma Sadgamaya

Dhanalakshmi represents the wealth – money; power… etc. represented by eight aspects of wealth Astha laksh‐mis. During the Deepavali time we do Dhanalakshmi puja on Amavasya day seeking the wealth for success in life. Amavasya shows the way to transcend ourselves through Pancha Maha yagnas to reduce the vasanas in the mind and transcend the mind through meditation. Amavasya is the time when moon does not reflect Sun light. Moon is the representation for mind. Sun repre‐sents the Self ‐ Atman. During the state of meditation, mind becomes thoughtless, silent. This is sublimation, suppression of the mind. All the tendencies of the mind become dormant. We experience the bliss of the self.

The second day of Deepavali is Dhanalakshmi puja. They do Dhanalakshmi Puja in all the shops. Lakshmi means lakshyam – focus. Where people minds go that is called Lakshyam – Lakshmi. And where does people minds go? Dhana, Aishwarya, Vahana – vehicles, money, power, santaana etc. Ashta Lakshmi – the eight aspects of wealth. So it is required for survival. For survival in life you need wealth. There’s no question about that. So do Lakshmi puja. All our life is after Lakshmi, we are not focused towards Narayana, Narayana is secondary, and primary is Lakshmi. Money, money money, sweeter than honey.

All of us are after Lakshmi – the Power, Lakshmi is the mother, Adi Parashakthi, Jagathjanani. Out of compas‐sion she gives you all these –Dhana, Dhanya, Santana, she gives you the external power out of compassion for the child, but her love is to see that you turn your mind towards Narayana. After adding all this chocolates, bis‐cuits and all in your life please turn your mind to the Narayana, the Sakshi inside you, that is why Lakshmi gives you Sampathu, Dhana, Dhanya, Aiswarya.

Dhanalakshmi puja is about sampathu outside but Dhanalakshmi puja is a bigger sampathu inside, there is a greater wealth inside. That wealth is called spiritu‐al wealth – adhyatma sampathu, Kshama, Dama, Ti‐tiksha, Uparadhi, Shraddha, Samadhana, Viveka, Vair‐agya, Mumukshatva. Kshama means patience, Dama means ability to master the senses, Titiksha means ability to withstand the pain, Uparati means our mind has to go more and more towards inner Self, Shraddha means faith in the scriptures, faith in the wisdom of our spiritual masters – Guru, Viveka means discrimi‐nation between the truth and untruth, Vairagya means dispassion towards the materialistic world and Mu‐mukshatva is desire for Liberation. For a person who is looking for enlightenment, these inner qualities have to be woken up.

Let us contemplate on the deeper meaning of what Lakshmi puja mean? Where everyone focuses his/her attention that mindfulness is called Lakshmi. Where there is mindfulness that is Lakshmi. Where does the mind of a person flows? It flows towards money, wealth, grain, food, children, victory, courage like this there are Asta Lakshmis eight Lakshmi. Lakshmi means the mind focuses on some object and flows to‐wards that object, this is the meaning of Lakshmi – Lakshya (aim).

So, on the second day of Deepavali our ancestors asked us to perform Lakshmi puja. First day they said under‐stand what Jnana is to drive Yamadarmaraya and light Yamadeepa that became the light of Wisdom – Atma‐da belaku (light of the Self). Second day they said per‐form Lakshmi puja. It is true that to survive and lead the life we need money grain everything but where is our true Lakshya, means in reality where are we focus‐ing? What is our mind in search of? That is Lakshmi puja. What are we in search of? Money? Progeny? Grain? Wealth? Power? Victory? Where is our atten‐tion? Our real search or aim is not money, grain, pow‐er, progeny or victory but when we achieve all these the joy we get is our real aim – Lakshya. To get that joy all these are the media. So, Asta Lakshmi is the way to attain the joy. Our real aim is Ananda – joy/bliss.

Will tell you a small story. One day there was an argu‐ment between Shriman Narayana and Lakshmi in Vaikunta. Lakshmi said ‘I am most popular in the world’. Narayana said ‘what are you saying? How can that be, I am the most popular one in the world’. The argument went on, they decided to clarify. Narayana disguised as a Brahmin went to the Palace and met the King. Narayana told Lakshmi that this King is my great devotee he does my puja daily. Narayana as a Brahmin

Sri Dhanalakshmi Puja


exhibits his talent by reciting many slokas and saying about astrology too in front of the King. The king is very happy and praises the Brahmin about his talent and re‐quests him to stay back in his kingdom in fact he asks him to stay in a small palace which was in front of his huge Palace. The king says to the Brahmin ‘daily please come to my palace and recite the slokas and whatever you know’.

After few days Lakshmi comes there. Narayana in the form of Brahmin came by walk but Lakshmi is the God‐dess of wealth, she comes in golden chariot. The horses are decorated with gold even the person who drives the chariot was dressed with gold ornaments. Everyone was stunned to see Lakshmi with the glorious way of coming and the amount of jewels she wore from top to bottom. They were speechless and forgot to greet her; Lakshmi sat in a place and started watching everyone. Whatever Lakshmi touched everything started turning to gold. One brought water for Lakshmi in a steel vessel and when Lakshmi started drinking water the steel vessel turned to gold. This was the greatest miracle that hap‐pened. The king was shocked to see all this. He said ‘daily I used to do Lakshmi puja and I feel this Woman is the Lakshmi herself’, he had no idea that this woman was Lakshmi. The king requested her to stay there only. He was calculating how much millions he was able to make if this woman touched the palace and the palace turned to gold. Lakshmi said she needed place to stay. King said ‘you need place to stay, don’t worry, the small palace in front this palace is for you to stay’. The king called the Brahmin and asked him to vacate the palace. The Brahmin was shocked, he said ‘but my Lord you have registered this palace to me, the documents are all there’. The king said all that is not valid and put him out of the palace and told Lakshmi to stay in that palace.

This is what has happened in our life. We are after Lak‐shmi all the time but what we need is Narayana. Naraya‐na means Nara naam ayanaha one who gives real peace to the mankind is Narayana. Nara means human beings aayana means peace. That Narayana is our Self – Atmarama ananda ramana.

In our life the route we go is little wrong, what we need is joy – Narayana for which Lakshmi has to become the way. But in reality what is happening is when Lakshmi enters, Narayana moves out. To remind us about this, Lakshmi puja is performed. Lakshmi is needed for sur‐vival and to lead the life but try to find out what is your real Lakshya – aim. Find out your Lakshya with the lighted lamp at the time of Deepavali – festival of lights. Elephants on both sides of the Universal Mother repre‐sent the power. She is the bestower of power to the seeker. Power can be material power or inner spiritual strength.

Your real Lakshya – aim is joy – ananda, for that you need Lakshmi. Find out that Lakshmi who is inside you the same Lakshmi who gives the materialistic wealth also gives you the inner wealth. What are those inner wealth? Shama dhama uparati titiksha shradda samadhana and mumukshatva. These are the positive qualities needed for Atma Jnana – Self Realization. For Atma Jnana we need to silent our mind and to silent our mind, we do Lakshmi puja on Amavasya day, we need these six positive qualities, which only Lakshmi can grant us. So first day light the lamp of Yamadeepa and realize the light of wisdom and on the second day light that lamp and find the Lakshmi inside you and pray to grant the light inside. If you are not able to find the inner light still, there is one more day and one more puja tomorrow through which you can attain Atma Jnana.


There was a king called Bali Chakravarthi. Shri Vishnu as Vamana went to Bali Chakravarthi Bali represents the powerful ego ‐ sense of "i". Lord Vishnu in the form of Vamana as small kid begs Bali for a 3 steps of Land. When Bali grants that wish, Vamana grows into Trivikrama occupying the entire universe. When the land was granted, Vamana revealed his identity and became gigantic to cover over the three worlds, he be‐came Trivikrama and pervaded through space, Earth and netherworld that means the Lord is able to com‐mand from anywhere to anyone and at any time. His first step was from heaven to earth; his second step was from earth to the netherworld; unable to fulfil the promise, Bali Chakravarthy offered his head for the third step. Vamana placed his foot on Bali Chakravarthy’s head and granted him immortality for his humility.

Bali represents ego. He taking control of all the three lokas is similar to how ego takes control of our waking, dreaming and deep sleep state. ‘Mana’ means mind and ‘Vamana’ means an uplifted mind, mind that can show the limitation of ego and bring divinity in life. This story is about enlightenment. God first comes into our life as a small being, as Vamana, as purified mind. If we give a chance to that small Vamana then he will pervade through our waking, dreaming and deep sleep state as Trivikrama and we can realize Vish‐nu Consciousness. This is Savikalpa Samadhi. The sto‐ry says that Bali Chakravarthy offered his head, offer‐ing head is symbolic of offering the ego. Once offered the ego disappears into netherworld and this is the state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Vishnu is the all‐pervading Consciousness. Trivikrama Vishnu pervades the whole universe. Viswam means the entire Universe the totality or completeness. His entity, images quality and wealth are spread all over.

Each of us are Bali Chakravarthi, we are big powerful demons Balis, maha Balis. We are full of Balis – dhana bhala, artha bhala, kama bhala, adhikara bhala, akhila vaibhava bhala, all these are bali, we are full of ego, this ego is Bali Chakravarthi. Not that we ask God, The Lord asks us to give him three small places in our heart! Only three footsteps space for vamana! Vamana means one who enters into your mind – mana, but we don’t have any space for the Lord because we have be‐come Bali chakravarthi. There is no space for the Lord, three steps of space for Lord is not there in your mana‐mind!

Bali Padyami – Nirvikalpa Samadhi

We are celebrating Deepavali from past three days. Deepavali is serial of lights, festival of light. Today is the third day of Deepavali, the festival Bali Padyami and fes‐tival of crackers.

The festivals of India are not limited to enjoyment. It is not limited to just have festival food, wear new dress and take pleasure. The festivals of India are a call for some‐thing higher. Through these festivals, the great sages, the Rishis of India have taught us the way of life we have forgotten. The festivals have become rituals, a mere out‐er shell. We have forgotten why the Rishis gave us the festival. We have come to a conclusion that festivals are meant for enjoyment. The Rishis gave us the message, they taught us through festivals how to live and we have forgotten that. We forgot the fruit banana and started eating the peel. We have forgotten the essence and started living in the superficial.

Through all these festival, our Rishis tried to remind us to move towards the light, reminded us to light the lamp, to bring home the light and to lead life towards light. From thousands of years how could one transfer the message from one community to other? It was through festival, through different festivity. What do our Sanatana Dharma and our ancestor say through the fes‐tivals? They want us to move towards light, they want us to lead the life towards light. What did they try to say through the third day festival of Deepavali – Bali Padyami?


Vamana means a small way God comes and begs for space in you because we have occupied the space of the Lord, Lord has to beg you, you think you are beg‐ging Lord, and your heart has no light your heart is full of prajyothishyapura – full of darkness. Bhagavan‐tha has to beg you, Lord has to beg you to give space and gracefully you show some grace on the Lord and give him some space and when you give him some space, the Lord occupies the three spaces – akasha, bhumi, jala antariksha inside and outside. The inner world and outer world and all over you experience the Lord. This is the story of bali chakravarthy.

Bali chakravarthy story is the story of the self‐realization. Inside and outside ‘vasudeva sarvam ithi’. To experience God Bhagavantha Vasudeva everywhere is the story of Bali Chakravarthy. Bali Chakravarthy comes with a lamp, what lamp is it? Deepa ‐ candle lamp, it is not candle lamp it is the light of wisdom of Bali Chakravarthy. Bali chakravarthy is coming every year and reminding you and telling you, I gave three spaces to the Lord in my heart, I realized the Lord everywhere. You please give some space for Lord in your heart and experience Lord everywhere that is called Bali padiyami, the light of Bali Chakravarthy.

We celebrate Deepavalli with crackers. That also all the external manifestation has an inner meaning. The cracker is sound and light. The physical world what you see is a manifestation of Nama and Rupa. The sound and name is what physical world, and the phys‐ical world will burn out, burn you, it is temporary and with that intention we burn the crackers. Why do you burn crackers? It will get burnt; it won’t stay for long time, it is temporary and the external world is the physical form associated with nama and rupa, with that intention we burn the crackers.

All mythological stories say about adi bhoutika – the external; adi daivika about the God and adhyatmika spiritual. Adi daivika means Vishnu came and begged for land, adi bhoutika means Bali Chakravarthy our ahankara, adhyatmika means Vamana is our uplifted mind and Trivikrama is the Samadhi state. To remind us about Bali Chakravarthi the Bali deepa, Bali Padyami is celebrated.

What else can one say about Deepavali festival? First day to drive Yamadarmaraya we have to light Ya‐madeepa, second day they asked us to bring the inner Lakshmi the inner light and the third day they asked us to drop the ego like Bali Chakravarthy. By doing this we can experience God all pervading. This is about Deepavali festival.

So, have you celebrated Deepavali? Deepavali festival of light? Have you celebrated taking Ganga snana? Jnana Ganga, killing Narakasura, understanding what Bali Chakravarthy has to say, give a small space in your heart for the Lord and understanding what Lakshmi has to say, all these are temporary go to the lakshya which is Nara‐yana, that is what Deepavali is about. Deepavali is a festi‐val of light, festival of enlightenment, festival of libera‐tion, festival of driving away the ignorance, festival of driving away Yama Dharmaraya. This is what deepavali all about. So let us celebrate Deepavali with a deeper inner wisdom. Let us celebrate Deepavali festival by un‐derstanding the Jnana Ganga that has come through the Rishis, submerge in Jnana Ganga and get the knowledge of wisdom – Jnana Ganga – Atma Jnana.

Coming after Deepavali Celebration is Karthik Masa

which again reinforces the message of Deepavali. While

Deepavali carries the message of enlightenment and lib‐

eration, Karthik Masa strengthens our resolve for work‐

ing towards the same. Karthik masa is a time of prayer

for Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu and Karthikeyan.

Birth of Karthikeyan

There is a story behind the birth of Karthikeyan. There

was an Asura called Tarakasura who had boon from Lord

Brahma that only a child born from Shiva and Parvati

can kill him. Shiva was in deep meditation and in no

mood to marry. Parvathi daughter of Parvatha Raja was

doing penance to marry Shiva. Devatas plan for the mar‐

riage by disturbing meditation of Shiva through Rati and

Manmatha. Lord Shiva burnt Manmatha into ashes by

opening his third eye. Later he married Parvathi and mil‐

lions of years pass, but the child is not born. Agni out of

curiosity visits Kailas in the form of a bird. Semen of Shi‐

va fell on Agni who dropped it in the river. The child was

born in the river. He was taken care by six mothers ‐

Karthika stars. Spiritual significance of the story‐

Karthikeyan is the Senadhipathi ‐ Commander in Chief

of the armies of Devatas. Devatas represent the divine

qualities and Asuras represent the demonic qualities in

us. Karthikeya is the Adi devata for those divine qualities

represented by the Devatas.

In Srimad Bhagavad Gita, sixteenth chapter lists the di‐

vine qualities ‐ Starting with Abhayam, satva samshud‐

dhi, the list goes on. During Karthika masa, we should

read this chapter which will guide us in understanding

the divine and demonic qualities and the right way of

paying respects to Lord Karthikeyan.

Why six faces? The divine Consciousness, the positive

qualities in us gets activated as the energy moves from

Muladhara to Ajna. This is represented by the six faced

God, Subramanya and this journey from lower Con‐

sciousness to higher Consciousness is represented by

chieftain of divine armies, represented by six faces.

Karthikeya is the Chief, Adi Devata for all the six chak‐

ras in the body ‐ Muladhara, Swadishtana, Manipura,

Anahata, Vishuddha and Ajna. The divine energy flows

through the chakras hence he is called Deva Senadipa‐

thi.

Adi Devatas for each chakra:

Muladhara – Ganesha; Swadhishtana – Shakthi; Ma‐

nipura –Surya; Anahata – Vishnu; Vishuddhi – Shiva;

Ajna – Guru; Sahasrara – Sadguru.

The divine qualities in us move us from a grosser level

of existence to subtle to a causal and transcendental

level. For an ordinary or mythological folks, divine forc‐

es represent divine beings who fight demonic forces

perpetually. In reality these divine forces are the pull

within us from lower to higher, from grosser to subtle,

from matter to Consciousness, these are the forces of

divine. They are represented grossly as physical light.

Subramanya, the six faced god represents, the Con‐

sciousness in six centers of human beings at our six

chakras, Mooladhara to Ajna. The conscious evolution

of a human being with a divine pull is celebrated in the

month of Karthika masa through light. That is the jour‐

ney towards light. There are two journeys in our life,

the journey towards darkness and journey towards

light. Journey towards light is often celebrated as festi‐

val of light. And this is the journey of light, journey

from dropping the gross and moving to subtle to causal

and to conscious plane of existence.

Karthika devatas are the brightest stars representing

the wisdom. Peacock is the vehicle of Murugan and the

many eyes on it’s feathers represents the sharpness of

intellect, Viveka required to conquer the forces of dark‐

ness ‐ negative qualities in us. His Vel represents the

Spinal cord. Six faces of Lord Muruga energize the Six

Chakras. So, the birth of Karthikeyan heralds the up‐

ward movement of Kundalini energy in Sadhaka. The


Karthika Masa


demon, Tarakasura ‐ undefeatable demon represents the

ego which has survived millions of life times. The mar‐

riage of Shiva and Shakti in Sahasrara heralds the march

of Divine Army lead by Lord Muruga.

Story illustrating two paths of enlightenment

I shall now narrate a mythological story which illustrates

these two paths. Lord Shiva, the great ascetic and his

wife Mother Parvati resided in Himalaya with their chil‐

dren Ganesha and Subramanya. One day, the divine

sage, Narada gifted a mango to Mother Parvati, the Uni‐

versal Mother and said, “This is a very special mango, it

should not be cut. You can give it to one of your sons

and the one who eats it will become the leader of all di‐

vine forces.” The two children began to fight for the

mango. Mother Parvati then said, “I will give this mango

to the one who goes round the Universe three times and

comes back first. The fastest one will get this mango”.

The moment she said so, Lord Subramanya got onto his

vehicle, the peacock and rushed. He went around the

earth three times very fast. Lord Ganesha on the other

hand circumambulated around Shiva and Parvati three

times and claimed the mango and Mother Parvati gave

the fruit to him.

One who tries to understand the deep spiritual meaning

of this story understands the allegory. Lord Shiva repre‐

sents the Universal Consciousness, Awareness and

Mother Parvati represents the pranic energy, Shakti, Na‐

ture (Prakriti). The Consciousness and the Nature, the

Purusha and the Prakriti together constitute this whole

Universe. Lord Ganesha represents the shorter and

quicker path of wisdom (Jnana), the path of awareness,

which involves contemplation. Through awareness,

Ganesha experiences the union of Consciousness and

energy – Shiva and Shakti symbolically told as going

around Lord Shiva and Mother Parvati. Lord Subraman‐

ya represents the path of action, which involves move‐

ment, moving around the earth. The vehicle of Lord

Subramanya is a peacock. The path of Karma represent‐

ed by Lord Subramanyam, involves a variety of actions

represented by the many eyes on the peacock’s feathers

and going around the earth represents the action. But

for most of us the path represented by Subramanya is

very suitable. We want everything to happen very fast.

We are action oriented. Kartha ‐ represents action. We

need to follow the path of action involving ‐ Seva

(Service), Devotion (Bhakti), Raja yoga to purify our‐

selves and defeat armies of Asura (demonic qualities in

us).

Both are required for Enlightenment, path of jnana and

karma is complementary to each other and both aid the

spiritual evolution of the sadhaka. Let us pray to Shri

Karthikeyan for bestowing us the Divine qualities and

destroy the demonic qualities in us.

Kathika Somavar Vratha

People who want to observe Somavara vrata wake up

early from bed and perform spiritual or ceremonial bath.

They pray the divine couple Parvati Parameshwara (Uma

Maheshwara). The Lord is anointed with Pan‐

chamritham (the sanctified mixture of milk, ghee, curd,

honey and ocimum leaves) and other sacred offerings.

Devotees offer Vibhuthi (Bhasma) and Bilva Patra (Bilva

leaves), which are favorites of Lord Shiva. Devotees offer

Naivedya (food offerings) to the Lord and they perform

food charity to their fellow devotees and to the poor.

One who observes Somvar vrata would enjoy every

pleasure in the world and after death that person would

reach Kailasa (Salvation or Moksha or Shiva loka).


allow any of the ganaas including Nandi to enter the

premises. Shiva comes, he is not allowed inside. Shiva

gets angry and cuts off the boy’s neck. When Parvati

comes out, she is angry. To console her Shiva asks his

ganas to bring the head of an elephant and fixes to the

body of that boy. This is the story of birth of Ganesha

in brief.

In spiritual sense, all of us are born out of mud. Prakriti

gives life to the body. We do not recognize the Con‐

sciousness father. Cutting off the neck and replacing

the neck symbolizes removing all old thought process‐

es and giving all new thought processes. The boy with

new thought process is Ganesha. Ganesha means the

master of sense organs. Gana means sense organs and

Esha means Master. If you see the head of Ganesha, all

aspects of senses are magnified in certain way. The ears

are big, eyes are sharp, nose is very long, skin is thick. if

applied to sensations, touch, smell, taste etc. are mag‐

nified. This magnifications represents heightened

awareness of all sense organs. An enlightened being has

heightened awareness. Ganesha represents the Enlight‐

ened being. Those who are not enlightened are slaves

of sense organs. Ganesha represents Buddhi – purified

intellect.

So, the story is about Mother showing the union of Shi‐

va and Shakthi, the manifested and the unmanifested.

Dwadashi means twelve and Dwadashi means two ways

Dwa – two, dashi – ways. After Ekadashi, Dwadashi is a

wakeup call to master the eleven – 10 organs of action,

10 organs of sensing + mind. Ekadashi involves upavasa

and Dwadashi involves Jagarana. But meaning of both

has been distorted completely and twisted out of con‐

text in real observation. We also need to be aware that

food is something, which we take through all sense

organs ‐ hearing, seeing etc. We need to ensure proper

inputs elevating thoughts to reach our consciousness.

Upavasa – On Ekadashi we have to observe Upavasa.

Upavasa is translated into fasting. It is not so. Upavasa

means to be near (vasa), Upa (in higher plane). Upava‐

sa literally means to be in elevated state of conscious‐

ness. Literally it has nothing to do with fasting. It is

consequence of your state of consciousness. You might

have observed, when you are engrossed in interesting

activity, you will forget hunger. This is same. If you are

engrossed in deep meditation, you will drop hunger. It

The celebration of

Tulasi puja on Ut‐

thana Dwadashi day is

the union of Universal

Consciousness Puru‐

sha and the Nature,

Prakriti. Saligrama

represents universal

Consciousness Vishnu

and Tulasi represents

the Nature Prakriti.

Saligrama is the sa‐

cred stone of Sanatana

Dharma, and it is

found in the sacred river called Dandaki. So, looking at

Saligrama, your mind has to again and again go back to

the Lord who created the creation which is Vishnu ma‐

ya ‐ Tulasi. This is the purpose of Saligrama. Mind

needs something to focus on; this special attention giv‐

en to an Idol is called Saligrama. Out of Vishnu Maya,

the universe is projected. Tulasi represents the Prakriti

– maya.

We have two principles operating in Universe; one is

Consciousness ‐ Purusha and the other is Energy ‐ Pra‐

kriti. Purusha means the father Prakriti means mother.

The principle of Consciousness, witness, sakshi is called

father. Anything it manifests is nature; Prakriti is moth‐

er. Human beings or animals see the nature; they do

not see the Consciousness. We always see the nature;

mother, we cannot see the Consciousness because Con‐

sciousness is the seer. The child only sees the mother;

the child does not see the father. Mother has to intro‐

duce the father.

In spiritual evolution, also you associate with Prakriti

and the Prakriti takes you gradually back to the father

that is Consciousness, this is Enlightenment. Without

Prakriti there is no way you are born, grow up, and ex‐

perience your desire. We can see this in the story of

Ganesha. Parvati, the Universal Mother creates a being

out of mud and gives life to it. She instructs that boy to

guard the home while she takes bath. The boy did not

Utthana Dwadashi


the Prakriti together constitute this whole Universe.

Dwadashi represents the path of wisdom (Jnana), the

path of awareness, which involves contemplation.

Through awareness, one experiences the union of Con‐

sciousness and energy – Purusha and Prakriti symboli‐

cally told as Saligrama and Tulasi.

does not happen the other way as most people wish. If

you are hungry you do not enter into meditation. On

the contrary, typically people enter into meditation on

food/what to prepare on Dwadashi.

Jagarana – Jagarana means to be aware/awake, waking

up from ignorance. People in literal sense take it to be

awake throughout the night. This actually comes from

Bhagavadgita ‐ ya nisha sarva bhutanam. We need to

be aware in waking condition. We are dreaming in

waking condition. We need to come to self‐awareness

in waking condition.

We have two paths or purposes – outward and inward,

Dwadashi. We interact with the world to fulfil our out‐

er purpose while we turn inwards for fulfilling our in‐

ner purpose. Our inner purpose is more important than

the outer purpose.

We seek long lasting Love, Peace, Happiness, and Wis‐

dom through our inner purpose. This is seeking for Self

Realization. While on the other hand, we try to seek

happiness through job, relationship, entertainment,

company and other outward activities. In reality we are

trying fulfil our inner purpose through outward activi‐

ties.

Dwadashi also means Materialism and Spirituality. Try‐

ing to fulfil our inner purpose through outward activity

is called materialism. On the other hand trying to fulfil

the inner purpose through searching for the source ‐

God within is called spirituality.

The Vedic Dictum that harmonizes these two conflict‐

ing directions and summarizes the purpose of life is:

"Atmano Mokshartham, Loka Hitaya Cha". We strive to

find our inner Source (Atman/God) while working to‐

wards welfare of the Universe.

One who tries to understand the deep spiritual mean‐

ing of this story understands the allegory. Lord Vishnu

represents the Universal Consciousness; Awareness

represents the pranic energy, Shakti, Nature (Prakriti).

The Consciousness and the Nature, the Purusha and

Please find Shri Prabhuji's article on

'Significance of Holy bath' published in Bo‐

dhi Vruksha newspaper (Times of India

group):

http://www.bodhivrukshaepaper.com/

Details.aspx?id=1142&boxid=22473946

Activities in Adelaide 1. Children Yoga workshop at Hamstead Primary School Adelaide SOUTH AUSTRALIA 2. Journey Through Chakras

One day chakra workshop at Inception Adelaide 3. Mindfulness Meditation Course, 4 weeks at Komal's Residence 4. Weekly group yoga workshops at various student's houses in and around Adelaide 5. Writing articles on yoga in various Print and online newsletters 6. Giving Community Radio (5EBI 103.1Adelaide) programmes including articles on spirituality, gita slokas, yoga

and health.

Komals Yoga

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Divya Jyothi Nov 2014

Documents

i atma

light of awareness

light of wisdom

antima darshana of buddha

dream state

d i v y

self atmada belaku atma

j y o t h i p