Walk in Spirituality Part 5

Walk in Spirituality Part 5

2 – Meditation

One thing we need to understand clearly is that if one wants to realize the self his mind should be free from thoughts (pure) because it is only when the mind is thought free the intellect searches for the source within. When the mind is thought free the intellect shines in the light of the Self within.

Below is a simple process of a Meditation which is best to follow. Follow below steps for effective results

Step 1 - Pranayama

Spend 15 mins for paranayama starting with 10 mins for alternate nostril breathing, meaning breath in from left and breathe out from right, then breathe in from right and breathe out from left. Do this as slowly as possible and note the inhalation is bit faster than exhalation. After a week of this pranayama, after inhalation try holding your breathe and exhale. The ratio of the inhalation: retention: exhalation should be 1:4:2. Hold only to your capacity and do not over exert.

Next 5 mins do abdominal breathing as follows inhale with both nostrils 5 -10 sec, retain 10-15 sec and exhalation 5-10 secs. While inhaling your stomach (abdominal) should expand and contract while exhaling.

Then sit in a comfortable position with spine erect concentrate on your ajna chakra and chant the mantra that is initiated for 20 mins. Later after few days of practice after mantra chanting concentrate on ajna chakra and just observe what is happening there slowly you will lose your consciousness.

Sade Sati – A brief analysis

Sade Sati – A brief analysis

Sade Sati or 7.5 years of Sani period is a common phenomenon that each and every one of us should undergo in our life. There are lots of misconceptions that are prevailing currently in peoples mind about this. This article will try to remove some these misconceptions and also briefly explain what it is.

Below are some of the key points about Sade sati

• This happens to a person three times in his/hers lifetime
• The first and third time are usually considered inauspicious and second time is usually beneficial depending on individuals horoscope
• It takes 30 years for Saturn to complete one cycle around the zodiac and hence it is said that a person can experience sade sati three times during his life time
• Sade sati is more troublesome if the individual has periods of Sun, Moon or Mars going on in his life, others are ok
• When Sade sati enters a person’s life for the first time it will usually be when he is a child or a teenager (13-19). At this stage the mind of the boy/girl would not be matured hence when faced with problems it gives rise to confusions. With confusions they tend to take wrong decisions and thereby face problems. Usually in the first time of this period Confusions, cheating and losing friends and other emotional issues are seen. Problems are more related to emotions.
• In the first cycle we should mostly be focused on child development during that age by building disciple, imparting values and make them more grounded by advising with love and sternness whenever required. This will prepare the child to face Sade sati better. Meditation on mantra would be the best option.   
• During the second time it usually comes at the middle age of a person, it is more beneficial as we can see that, it is at that this age that a person is emotionally matured to considerable extent understands life in general, he has gone through hardships and would have experienced many things which would have made him a seasoned person. So at this stage Sani presents him with challenges which when successfully overcome would result in rewards (it teaches patience). In this period we can usually see people settling down in life and getting a sense of maturity. If people lack this Sani will teach it (then it might be troublesome for few). But usually it is good subject to his horoscope.
• In the second cycle meditation with/without mantra and on Ajna Chakra is more useful as meditation in this chakra gives clarity and when faced with complex life situations the intellect would see the problems more clearly and deal accordingly. Also acquiring spiritual knowledge by reading Bhagvat gita, upanishads, vivekachudamani, panchadasi etc is useful as it will prepare one for third cycle of Sani.
• During the third time Sade sati is more cruel as it gives raise to health issue and usually marked with death for the person as this comes after 60 years of age (depending on horoscope we need to judge this). So at this age Spiritual practices are very conducive as the mortality of the body is realized by most of the people due to old age and health issues, so what is after death would be their problem. So spiritual practices will help them at this stage (meditation on Heart chakra or one feet above head or void meditation is very useful) and if he has already acquired spiritual knowledge detachment would become easy. With this worry of impending health issues or mortality will be removed.
• So we need to be careful in the analysis as Sade sati may not have any serious or no effect if the person’s horoscope is very good.
• If the mind of the person is very strong then effect of Sade sati is not much effective for those people
• For a detached person sade sati does not matter as he is beyond the worries of the body and mind.

These are some general guidelines of sade sati. We must always remember that meditation is always good and has life changing effect for people. No planets can enforce any effect if the person has mastered his mind and leads a moral life. Whatever he experiences would not have any effect on him as he would not bother about it and move on with his life.

Additional inputs are welcome

General guidelines to select auspicious time for starting something new

General guidelines to select auspicious time for starting something new

Below are some general guidelines which will help anyone to select an auspicious time for starting of something new. The below guidelines can be followed by anyone who have minimum to no knowledge in astrology. Just that they have to download a Drik Panchanga app into their mobile.

The guidelines are as below:

1. Generally morning time is more auspicious than evening for selecting a time.
2. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are good for starting something and Sunday is mediocre
3. Birth day of the respective person is always beneficial, suppose one was born on Saturday for that person Saturday is usually beneficial
4. The moon progressing towards Full moon (sukla paksha) is auspicious than the moon progressing towards New moon (Krishna paksha)
5. Moon in phases (tithi) 2,3,5,7,10,13 are beneficial and 4,9,12 are mediocre
6. Days with yoga Vishakumbha, Preeti, Aayushman, Saubhagya, Shobhana, Sukarma, Dhriti, Vriddhi, Dhruva, Harshana, Vajra, Siddhi, Variyaana, Shiva, Siddha, Saaddhya, Shubha, Shukla, Brahma and Indra are good.
7. Days with karana Shakuni, Naga (for pooja’s),Bava, Balava, Gara and Vanija are good
8. Commencing anything with these combination is bad Sunday – Bharani, Monday – Chitra, Tuesday – Uttarashadha, Wednesday – Dhanishtha, Thursday – Uttaraphalguni, Friday – Jyeshtha, Saturday – Revati
9. For works like digging a well, or lying a foundation, underground tanks,tunnels,drilling,mining and spiritual activities below are good

Kritika/Aslesa/Magha/PurvaPhalguni/Visakha/Mula/Purvasadha/Poorvadhadra/Bharani

10. Sowing seeds,visiting of friends,manufacturing,vehicle,boats,cars etc below are good

Mrigasira/Punarvasu/Hasta/Citra/Svati/Anurdha/Jyesta/Revati/Asvini

11. All activities with an upward sight are good and would succed in this nakshatra.  For ex: Space missions,launching of missiles,joining of jobs,club association,investments below are good

Rohini/Ardra/Pusya/U.Phalguni/U.Asadha/Sravana/Dhanista/Satabisha/U.Bhadra

12. Don’t start anything in Rahu kalam, try to avoid Gulika, Yamagandha and Ardha prahara. Primarily Rahu kalam should be avoided.

So based on the above on has to just find a right combination of Day, Thiti, nakshatra, Yoga and Karana, with avoiding Rahu kalam. Of the 5 aspects if all are good then it’s a good day, 4 aspects is also ok, 3 is mediocre.

A person has to just see the respective names in the app, which will list out what is the yoga, karna etc for each day to get an idea about the day. Arrita kalam (1-1.5 hrs prior to sun rise) and Goduli kalam at the time of sun set are also good.

This is just a brief idea as there are many exceptions and conditions (like negative planets from eigth of birth zodiac should be avoided etc). But this would give us a broad idea.

Always remember one thing that beyond all these rules in one’s conscience is clear and says that now is the good time, then that will be good for that person. When the mind is free of impurities it’s a good time.

Walk in Spirituality Part 4

Chanting of mantras - Continued

The effect of mantra can be experienced once a person completes around 10000 japas. Though number of chanting’s prescribed for each mantras varies and are usually very high running into lakhs, for the purpose of experiencing the effects minimum counts as mentioned above starts should showing its effects.

Further there are some mantras which start showing its effect from day1. This is all depends from person to person

Now one should understand that obtaining siddhi on the mantra is very difficult, completing the said count of mantra does not mean that you will become accomplished in that mantra. But one can experience certain changes in his life when the mantra has become much attuned to his body and mind. He/she can observe that his mind becomes tranquil/happy after chanting the mantra, his problems no longer seems difficult after chanting mantra, his affirmation’s become highly potent, thereby getting what he desires for.

The benefit of mantra also depends on the type of seed (bija) syllable used in it. Seed syllables like hum are used to repel things, Srim is for auspiciousness etc.

The best way to practice mantra is to chant it mentally. Also concentrating the mantra on manas chakra helps in the mantra to get absorbed in your mind and will lead to ajapa meditation of the mantra, which is the highest state that one can achieve in mantra chanting, as once this happens there will be complete absorption of mantra into the mind and at the subconscious level the mantra would be chanted 24/7 without conscious action and at this stage mind becomes still and purified.

Aligning mantra with breath helps to achieve ajapa state (continuous chanting of mantra at sub conscious level).

Sticking with one mantra is always useful if one wants to progress in spiritual life as too many mantras will confuse the mind. 

Qualities of a Spiritual Aspirant

Qualities of a Spiritual Aspirant

When a person wants to pursue the highest knowledge of Self Realization, it becomes very important that he possess certain basic qualifications. Here qualification does not mean educational but rather his mind set and disciple in life.

The scriptures have clearly prescribed certain important qualities that one should possess to learn this supreme knowledge. The requirement is basically categorized into 4 and the third category consists of 6 virtues of the mind which converge into one category. Below are list of qualities that are enumerated

1. Viveka or differentiation: The art of differentiating between what is real/right and unreal/wrong and in true sense to know what is eternal and not. The body and mind along with its modifications are always subject to change and hence identifying oneself with the body and mind is wrong, it is through differentiation we will know who the subject is and who the object is. Object of observance always changes but the subject witness always is the same and it is eternal (here the witness, is the witness of the mind i.e. the soul). This is the Viveka that one should possess

2. Vairagya or dispassion (renunciation): When one is able to differentiate between what is real and unreal, indulging in what is unreal will just hamper the progress in our spiritual life. Meaning the body and mind which is the object of experience and ever changing in nature, which raises and dissolves in the eternal consciousness is temporary and attachment to this only causes misery.  

3. Samadi-satka-sampatti or the six disciplines (or virtues) of the mind – The third point is an combination of 6 virtuous quality that the mind should possess. Following are the six virtues  

·       Sama or mastery of the mind – One should possess control and have tranquility of the mind. A stable mind always makes the mind purer and only the pure mind the light of the Self shines. When a mind is not perturbed with the happening inside and outside it gives rise to clarity of mind and thereby brings stability in one’s life

·       Dama or mastery over the senses - We should establish a firm control on our sense as it is this which is the stimulus to our desires. It is the sense organs which create pleasure and pain to the body and mind reacts to the same, hence it creates the dyads (happiness & sorrow, high/low etc). hence this needs to be mastered by changing the focus of our attention towards one’s own self (meaning show restraint and focus within the mind – find the source of the mind)

·       Uparama or withdrawal, observing dharma – Here withdrawal in the true sense means that when we are pursuing the path of Self Realization, wasting our time by getting attached to material worlds would lead us nowhere. Again one need to understand there is nothing wrong in enjoying the fruits of the actions that you have performed morally but the point is to not getting attached.

·       Titiksha or forbearance – The spiritual path and life in general is often faced with lot of obstacles and problems, one should have mental toughness to endure all these things and proceed under any given circumstances.  

·       Sraddha or faith – Faith is very essential as everything that we are trying to do in this life to progress depends on the faith that we have on the scripture or the Guru. If there is no faith the practice by itself is marred with doubts and there would not be any real progress. What one can do is that he can start off thinking that what the scripture or Guru is saying is true but it is not real for me yet. Let me work on it and see what happens.  

·       Samadhana or concentration – Concentration is required as we are trying to find the Self within us and to make that possible we have to focus all our attention inwards and search within, meaning the Self is always present in us and it is due to mind’s thoughts our concentration is scattered. Because of this we are unable to focus within to realize the self. Hence meditation is important.

4. Mumuksutvam or the intense desire for liberation - This is self-explanatory as without an intense desire for liberation there is no point in possessing all the knowledge of the scriptures, as one would not try to practice or learn anything. This intense desire for liberation should not be considered as bad; as desire for material world is considered as detrimental but having desire for liberation does not. Secondly as one proceed in the path of Self Realization this desire gets replaced by firmBra knowledge that “I’m Brahman” and all desire is gone

If one can carefully observe the above mentioned qualities that are required for progression, the very same qualities are required for a successful material life, in fact a person can become highly successful in life both in spiritual and material aspect of his life, if he can adopt above qualities in day to day life.

But as one progresses in his spiritual life these qualities focus mainly towards the Self and interest in the material would decrease to zero for the person who is liberated in the present life.

(Based on my Guruji's teachings, any mistakes solely mine)

Walk in Spirituality Part 3

Walk in Spirituality Part 3

1 - Chanting of Mantra

The purpose of a mantra is to protect the mind. How it protects? When you mentally recite the mantra, your mind will become inactive, as it is already occupied with the recitation of the mantra. 

When you recite a mantra mentally, it produces subtle vibrations into the entire body, trying to sync your body with your mind. This is the first step. Then you begin to contemplate the concerned deity and whey you begin to do this, mantra will fade away giving rise to the form of deity you are contemplating. Now second step is over.

God has no form. He is formless. But in the initial stages if you go with formless Brahman, your concentration will not be good and will begin to wander. That is why you are trying to give a form to the self within you.

That form will guide you through your consciousness, not verbally or physically. It will work on your mind, intellect and ego and will finally help you in purifying your consciousness. The purest form of consciousness is God.

You have to go with the form of deity with which you are comfortable, Dhyana verses do not matter. You create your own deity with a particular form. Use only one mantra and connect this mantra with that deity. You are almost done.

Note - Deity is not going to speak to you or guide you to give suggestions. It is your purer form of your mind that is going to give you suggestion, may be very close to autosuggestion

Based on above we can understand that mantra helps to purify the mind, by purify we mean getting rid of thoughts. Further mantra energies the mind and body and also helps in the movement of our internal energies smoothly.

Care should be taken in mantra chanting as all mantras are not suitable for everyone. Certain mantra 

may really bring people to their knees if the right one is not selected. Only a capable Guru can advise on this.

Usually if the person is devoted to a particular God mantras of that God are usually favorable and mantras of Kula Devata or Ista Devata’s are generally safe.

It is always better to consult a Guru for mantra initiation and if there is no Guru available one can consider Lord Dakshinamurthy as his Guru and start chanting the mantra.

As far as possible the pronunciation of mantra should be correct and ultimately the love and surrender to the divine is the quality which will help us to proceed further.

(Based on teachings of my Guru – Any mistakes solely mine)

The Walk of Spirituality Part 2

The Walk of Spirituality Part 2

Based on this background let us come back to the law of causation and effect and how this works based on the earlier discussed points on impressions/tendencies/mind/ego etc. So every time a person does an activity with his ego attached. These form into a concrete memory/impression in our subconscious mind which has a definite reaction now or in the future.  In this case each and every action is performed with an intention, emotion behind it leads to deciding whether the action performed is good or bad. Any action that reduces the ego is usually considered as good action and any action increases the ego is considered as bad action. Who decides whether the action performed is good or bad; it is intelligence within our mind that decides whether it’s good or bad. We will dwell about this intelligence later.

The law of cause and effect is a peculiar and perfect system. The system sees the actions, examines it and delivers apt effect to the person based on action performed earlier.  

Now the point in spirituality is to scrub the sub conscious mind out of all impressions, memories etc, so that these memories does not affect us in the future which leads to cause and effect.

How do we scrub out mind (conscious and otherwise)? This we will discuss in detail now.

Firstly there are many methods that are mentioned in the scriptures. Let me enumerate few of them

• Chanting Mantra to purify mind
• Meditation to scrub memory imprints

The Walk of Spirituality - Part 1

The Walk of Spirituality

Since our early childhood some day or the other we think about the nature of our self. We also think about what is our relationship with this world/universe. I hope this has come to every mind and have tried to explore this with our limited knowledge at that point of time and eventually when we did not proceed anywhere, we tried to get this answered with our parents and elders who had better knowledge than us. But this turns out to be a futile exercise as most of them don’t give the right answers or try to avoid it. Because of this we get stuck. One more reason as to why we get stuck is that, as we grow older material happiness and problems starts take precedence over these questions and we tend to put this on the side lines and concentrate the problems before us (Though here we have to understand that most of the material problems are self-inflicted and can be ignored but the mind does not allow this).

Let us try to understand the problems associated with our life and slowly progress towards what would be the solutions.

When a baby is born its mind is free of impressions like a blank state, so in order to live, the survival mode of the organism kicks in and starts learning from the surrounding. It slowly starts accumulation information’s that are useful for its survival. So what happens here is that each and every activity that is performed is recorded in the mind in the form of memory and used whenever necessary. So suppose a child see’s a chocolate initially it will be skeptical whether to touch it, eat it etc. But once it eats it, it enjoys the taste of the chocolate and this get embedded as a memory and since it enjoyed the taste of the chocolate the impression in the mind prompts it to eat more or it, this is nothing but impressions which forms into future tendencies. So it is here that trap of life starts. The child proceeds to acquire innumerable impressions like this on daily basis due to which certain impressions are created and these impressions leads to certain tendencies which ultimately results in action and reaction (causation and effect).

The law of causation and effect is one of the most complex activities that take place in the human mind.  Because of this when an action is performed there would be an effect in proportion of that cause. The law functions with the impressions and tendencies in the mind and performs actions. Diving further let us understand how this works with the same example of the chocolate and the kid.

The first time a kid sees the chocolate the awareness within the person prompts the person that there is something before you. Now mind jumps in and tries to see what it is (by reviewing old memory) but when it is unable to decide it takes the help of the intellect. Intellect here tries to analyze what is the thing that is before it. It makes the mind to ask around to know what it is and once it is satisfied it makes a decision, mind now works with the ego and consumes the chocolate.

Since the chocolate is consumed for the first time the taste of the food leaves impressions of its delicious taste in the mind in the form of memory and since the mind has enjoyed the food, mind prompts the ego for more. This is where the initial seed of problems starts, as desire is now created and when left unchecked it rears its ugly head in various ways.

Let us understand how this works further, the enjoying mind which consumed the chocolate now has a tendency to eat more of it and has led to the desire of consuming this chocolate more and more. Usually at this point intellect comes into the picture and puts a stop on the urges of the kid says it’s not good to eat too much, but if the mind is filled with many such impressions and urges, intellects influence becomes weak. So in this example the child now wants chocolate, mind starts disturbing the intellect to come up with a solution to for procuring more chocolates. Now the intellects first things about what are the available options with it. So with the help of intellect the child asks the parents to buy more of eat for its consumption. Suppose the parents do not buy the chocolate saying this is enough for the day and no more will be given. This event will have varied effect on the mind of the child. If the desire for the chocolate is less, then the child will subside and keep quiet and go about with its other activities.

On the other hand when the kid’s desire has taken over the mind (or mind is filled with full of desire of the chocolate) the kid gets agitated (mind of the kind). The kid’s mind now direct the intellect to procure the chocolate in any way possible. So now the kid will starts crying and throwing tantrums against the parents. Even if this does not work the kid will try to steal the chocolate leading to disastrous actions and reactions. If the child gets the chocolate after an unruly behavior, the impression that being unruly will fetch results will get embedded in the mind and leads to a tendency of being unruly next time when it wants something that the parents or others oppose. Further if the kid steals the chocolate and eats it. Then an impression that stealing will fulfill the desire (minds restlessness is subsided). Finally what will happen is that these impressions and tendencies percolate in to something very big, making the same kid in the future to do unnecessary and immoral things for its end.

This is just one small example considering on small aspect, but when we consider our daily life activities there are innumerable number of such impressions and tendencies that get embedded in our mind and mix and match these impressions and tendencies starts ruling our life than it should actually be led. 

So we can see that innumerable impressions and tendencies which work within the mind make it corrupted and confused. Because of these impurities the quality of life that is led is also not good and we become slaves of our thoughts/emotions/ tendencies and not the other way around. 

Sadhana in Vedanta

Sadhana as per Vedanta

To achieve spiritual progress and finally understand “you are that”. Sadhana plays an important role in achieving the desired goal of realization.

To proceed towards realization the fundamental requirement is Knowledge. Knowledge is the supreme of all the paths. Now the question is that what is the knowledge which leads to the ultimate? 

It is nothing but all the Mahavakyas have enumerated, I’m Brahman, I’m Shiva (Shivoham) etc.

Now you may ask a question saying how am I Brahman, this can be explained in a simple example of Jagrat, Swapna and Susupti example, In this discernment process we try to understand one thing that there is something which we call as “I”, that which exists in all the three states. What are the three states of living it’s nothing but Awake, Dream and Deep Sleep.

If one observes these three states one can come to a conclusion that there is an existence of “I” which pervades in all these states, which is independent of these three. Meaning the existence of this “I” does not depend on the existence of the body and mind. But body and mind are dependent on this “I” for its sustenance. This “I” is beyond these three states and hence it is called Turya (4^th state of consciousness) and beyond this is Turyatita (Where there is no “I”)

This “I” is Existence, Consciousness and Bliss.

The first step towards progressing in the path of spirituality is to start with acquiring the knowledge and how do we acquire the knowledge? It’s with associating oneself with a realized Guru, if that is not possible then we have to listen to the lectures of great yogi’s and read the scriptures to understand the true nature of our self.

Once after acquiring the knowledge one has to constantly analyze the teaching and try to understand it completely. For any person doubts are common when he/she starts trying to understand the saying of the scriptures. At this stage he has to get this clarified with his Guru.

Once the knowledge is firmly established, to realize one has to follow profound and repeated meditation on the mahavakyas of great Upanishadic statements such as "That art Thou", “Shivoham” etc, to realize the identity of Atman/Brahman.

To take this further the next problem that comes up is that, Okay I have acquired this knowledge but I’m unable to experience anything. What is stopping me in achieving the ultimate? At this stage the likely reason for this ordeal would be the scattered ness of the mind and the mind is not grasping the teaching and it is not able to be still or is unable to focus. To get over this problem one has to follow Bhakthi or Raja yoga (Bhakthi yoga – Mind has to surrender to the Self, Raja yoga – is the one prescribed by Pantanjali consisting Yama - Self-control,,Niyama- Discipline,,Asana - Physical exercises,,Pranayama - Breath exercises, Pratyahara - Withdrawal of the senses from external objects, Dharana - Concentration, Dhyana - Meditation, Samadhi - Complete Dissolution) the goal of this is to still the mind.  

Even after this one may not be able to achieve the ultimate and this would be due to impurities of the mind (like doer ship, thoughts, tendencies and other mental modifications). This has to be overcome by purifying the mind to become still where the true will get unraveled. So one has to follow Karma yoga (Karma Yoga – Thought of doer ship should go away (always do the activity with established thought that it is the Divine will working through you and doing the activity or just do an activity and don’t expect any outcome, and offer any outcome to the Self)).

So to encapsulate the entire process, one has to follow below steps (given in reverse order).

• Remove impurities/Ego – follow Karma yoga
• Stilling the mind – Bhakthi/Raja yoga (meditation)
• Knowledge path – Acquiring /Understand and Practice of Mahavakya