The Bhagavad Gita - V

The Yoga Sutra of Sri Krishna

There has been some delay, since I last posted on the Gita. I was away in the Himalayas at Ukhimath, where Sri Krishna is supposed to have fought Banasur from the place where the Bholeshwar temple stands today. And he also attended the wedding of his grandson Anirudh with Usha, the daughter of Banasur at the Omkareshwar Temple. There is the Usha Anirudh Vivaha Sthal, where people worship even today! At the Bharath Sevashram Sangha where I stayed, I woke up to the chants of the Gita for the whole two weeks I was there and chanted Gita at the satsangs at night studying the meanings of the verses. (That was just an aside to explain my absence from my blog for nearly a month!)

We have heard of the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali. But in the Gita, Sri Krishna mentions many a sutra (formula) to be in Yoga, Brahman, the Absolute.

Sparshan Kritva Bahir Bahyan Chakshush Chaivanthare Bhruvoh

Pranapanau Samau Krithva Nasabhyanthara Charinau.

Yathendriya Mano Budhihi Munir Moksha Parayanaha

Vigathechchabhayakrodhaha Yahsada Muktha Eva Saha.

The verses here show the path to liberation. Withdrawing oneself from all the perceptions of the five senses - shutting the eyes, and not reacting to the inputs through the ears, tongue, nose and skin, being aware of the space between the eyebrows (temple), watching the incoming and the outgrowing breath until it flows steadily, not expresssing through action or desires, fear or anger, the sage in meditation who aspires for liberation alone, becomes a free mind.

Amid extremely disturbing situations, the path to freedom is to simply withdraw. Shut up and sit down. Close the eyes. Breathe in and out with focus on the breath. If provoked, do not react with either fear or anger, expect with desire or anxiety. But just be in the empty space within. Being with the flow of life is the freedom of a meditative mind. - Swahilya Shambhavi.

(Picture: Bholeshwar Temple at Ukhimath, Himalayas.) (You may wish to check out the latest update on .soulmate.) For a verse-by-verse explanation of the Bhagavad Gita, please refer to Bamboo Wisdom, beginning New Year.

Bhagavad Gita - 4

The Essence of the Gita

In the fourth chapter of the Gita happen the two verses that is quoted often as the essence of the Bhagavad Gita. They are:

Yada Yadahi Dharmasya Glanir Bhavathi Bharatha

Abhyuthanam Adharmasya Tadathmanam Srijamyaham.

The second is the even more famous verse which follows and which everyone holds on to as a divine prophecy:

Parithranaya Sadhunam Vinashayacha Dushkritam

Dharma Samsthapanarthaya Sambhavami Yuge Yuge.

The literal meanings for the verses will go like this: Oh leader of the Bharata race! Wherever there is a decline of righteousness and adharma or injustice raises itself, my spirit will appear.

The second verse: To protect the good and destroy evil, for establishing righteousness, I will appear time after time through every age.

*****

These two are the most popular, yet the most misunderstood verses of the Bhagavad Gita too.

The dharma that gets destroyed is not to be understood in a people-centric manner. Even for an atom, as well for a universe, there is something called a sustainability quotient for its existence in that particular form to fulfill its purpose in life. Until that purpose is fulfilled, a misalignment of the energies can cause damage. The consciousness manifests at these points, or rather the ever present consciousness is available for a support to fall back on when there is such a shake in the balance. This in essence is the meaning of the verse where Sri Krishna says my spirit will be sent.

And again, Parithranaya Sadhunam Vinashayacha Dushkritam is not about the God being partial and protecting some do-gooders and hating those who are otherwise! Such a partial god is no god. It rains the same over good and bad. The wind blows alike for the good and bad. So does the sun shine or the waters of the ocean touch the feet alike to the good and the bad. And in reality, these two polarities do not exist as there is no one yardstick to understand the good and the bad. Yet, for some discipline and balance in society, some order to run day-to-day life of the plants, animals, humans and all the other species and inhabitants of the Earth and the rest of the Universe, there is a common principle of sustenance called Dharma. When there are forces of energy that swell to destroy this principle of sustenance, the excesses are absorbed readily in consciousness and life begins afresh. The truth of the Divine law of peaceful co-existence and harmony is established.

- Swahilya Shambhavi

Picture: The unseen principle that forms the backdrop for the delicate balance in nature is Dharma. Consciousness is the bedrock of Dharma. This is the law of nature.

Bhagavad Gita - 3

Your actions and thoughts dissolve in Consciousness

If Krishna tells Arjuna to fight, in common parlance, it means action. Arjuna is a warrior and hence is job - Swadharma is to fight. For the rest of us, it is what we do - moment to moment. It is just about 100 per cent action, performed in the peak of consciousness. When a painting is being done, a poster is being crafted, a statue is being sculpted - all that the creator knows is the one stroke that he is working on at that moment. And that action springs from the consciousness and is dedicated to consciousness. There is no sculptor, artiste or craftsperson there. The energy in the cosmos flows through the mind and the body and creates the piece of art, the sculpture, the poem, the music, the drama or sends the ball in the cricket field flying over the boundary for a sixer.
The Bhagavad Gita is just about 100 per cent action. And this verse in Chapter Three sums it up.

Mayi Sarvani Karmani Sanyasyadhyatma Chetasa
Nirashir Nirmamo Bhuthwa Yudhyaswa Vigathajwaraha.

Krishna - the Consciousness, commands to Arjuna - the confused mind. United with the one Consciousness, you give yourself fully and fight as all actions finally rest in Me (Consciousness). Fight without desire. Fight without thinking that you are fighting. Put all your energies into that fight. Now in this moment, be.

This attitude is not just for the battlefield, but in our day to day life. Being there, where one is, waking, looking into the mirror, smiling, eating, playing, talking, sleeping....as if one was doing it all in a battlefield when alertness and awareness needs to be at one's peak for mere survival.

- Swahilya Shambhavi.

Bhagavad Gita - 2

Work - but in Yoga

If there is something that is most relevant to the struggle up the ladder in the corporate world, it is the words of Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. When there are manipulations galore, happening all around to get the results one expects and one is lost if they don't behave similarly and follow the rat race, these words are difficult indeed to implement. But there is no other way as this is certainly Yoga and the essence of the Bhagavad Gita too.


Krishna has managed to get the attention of Arjuna in the battle field and now it is time to give in those words of power which will sink right into him. These words are more for us who read it today after so many centuries, as much as it was for a confused Arjuna, seeking clarity on the battle field.




Yogasthah Kuru Karmani Sangam Tyaktva Dhananjaya
Sidhya Sidhyoh Samo Bhuthwa Samathwam Yoga Uchyate

Do your action, using your mind of course. But the mind here is united with the cosmic mind - the larger scheme of things. With this unity of mind, may the body function, abandoning its attachment to success or failure which will be the result of the work.


In just three words - Samathwam Yoga Uchyate - Krishna condenses the essence of Yoga. Yoga is not twisting the body in eight directions, nor is it about inhaling and exhaling breaths in a particular measure, nor anything else for that matter. The equanimity of the mind is called Yoga.


When action happens in this equanamous state of mind - it is done in Yoga and happens in the present moment. It can be shooting a picture with a camera, it can be a signature in an important official document, it can be digging the ground in the garden, it can be boarding a plane....the actions may vary, but the unity of mind is the one thing required and at all times. That is Yoga.
- Swahilya Shambhavi.

Bhagavad Gita 1

The Song of Consciousness

Sri Krishna seems to be the greatest hynotherapist of all!. For that's how the process begins. The patient who is already saddled with problems of the mind is brought to a state of high anxiety. His conscious mind is numbed and in the sub-conscious mind the healer probes through the original cause of the problems. Removes it gently and fills up the space with a more positive thought.

Arjuna standing in the battlefield in tears, not knowing whether to fight or not, finds himself in a similar state of anxiety. He has expressed umpteen number of doubts to his friend and charioteer Krishna. His mind is so burdened with questions that he simply drops down, bow, arrows and body - in a state of total surrender, not knowing what else to do. Just like the mind that cannot go anywhere when it reaches the peak of anxiety or stress, but has to break down to either cry or pray.

He has asked, what use is the fight, how he can fight his relatives, won't it affect the women and the future generations - just like a mind that tries to find an escape route from a crisis. But Sri Krishna just watches him. Sanjaya who narrates the story to the blind King Dhritarashtra says:

Evamuktvarjunah Samkhye Rathopastha Upavishath

Visrujya Sasharam Chapam Shoka Samvighna Manasaha.

Arjuna poured out all his questions and doubts, expressed his grief in the form of tears. But Sri Krishna is unmoved. Arjuna goes on and on with his doubts about the need to fight the war. Ultimately, he has nowhere to go and just drops down with all his belongings and sits near his chariot, overcome with grief and in a thoroughly disturbed state of mind. Just pointing the way to a confused seeker that the end of tears marks the beginning of the road to clarity and universal consciousness.

- Swahilya Shambhavi.

Vignana Bhairava Tantra - 10

Chance, not choice!

The Vignana Bhairava Tantra - 10 has been published by chance in the other blog that I write, Cosmic Consciousness. Please check it out. May be I'll begin another series on some other text here!
*****

Vignana Bhairav Tantra - 9

When thought clouds rain as tears....

Adhareshwathava Shakthya Gnanathchittha Layena Va

Jathashakti Samavesha Kshobhanthe Bhairavam Vapuh.

*****

The expanse of the Vignana Bhairav Tantra in using life as a university to teach meditation, never ceases to impress. Here is yet another.

There are times in stressful circumstances, events happening in life are beyond one's understanding. Especially in a volatile corporate set up, decisions made or misconceptions not revealed can really shake up long standing erroneous notions.

When the individual self can sometime think no end of itself, especially when it tastes success, spiritual or material, just a statement coming from where it matters can serve to be that rusted pin that pricks the ego's balloon. The upheaval that follows can be phenomenal.

It doesn't matter, says the Vignana Bhairav Tantra. It doesn't matter what you think, even if it is wrong. When the thoughts, conceptions and ideas that one holds on too is given a rough shake up - there is an emotional turmoil, a bursting of feelings and a suppressed volcano of the whys and the how comes - Be with it. There is tranquility at the end of it. There is serenity that runs through the fabric of the outburst.

The experience is just like immersing one's soiled self in the cleansing waters of a quiet stream. The one who emerges out is the tranquil being, shedding the dirt and grime of erroneous perceptions. - Swahilya Shambhavi.

*****

Vignana Bhairava Tantra - 8

Swing and dance with Joy

Chalasane Sthithasyatha Shanairva Deha Chalanath

Prashanthe Manase Bhave Devi Divyaughamapnuyath.

We did it as kids, didn't we - holding a partner's hand and swinging round and round till the sky above began spinning and we fell down. Then it happened in the park when there would be a queue for a wooden swing. Rocking from one end to another, in space that did not move. There was bliss in the game. There was bliss in the swinging. That bliss of a tranquil mind in a swinging body is the divine that you have always been looking for. Be with that experience of the stillness between the swinging from one end to another, the quietude that has always been through the dancing movements of the body. That tranquility is the meditative state of mind and it is as simple as watching it while we walk, run, bend, stretch, swing, swim, dance, play games. So next time you feel like letting loose on the dance floor, or rocking a baby on the cradle or just catching hold of a vacant swing - jump in and be with the movement. It's as simple as that! - Swahilya Shambhavi.

Vignana Bhairava Tantra - 7

Being with the joy of the mind

Yatra Yatra Manasthushtihi Manastatraiva Dharayeth

Tatra Tatra Paramanandaswaroopam Sampravartate.

*****

The mind finds joy in simple things. It can be the fragrance of the flowers. It can be the wispy clouds passing through an azure blue sky. It can be in moments of love. It can be while watching a beautiful picture or listening to one's favourite music. There are many ways that bring happiness to the mind.


Wherever the mind experiences joy on experiencing something, focus on that object, person or situation. In that place, the form of the supreme bliss manifests. It can be while seeing, hearing, touching or tasting, smelling a pleasant aroma or recalling and remembering joyous moments - there is a surge of energy within. This reveals to us the bliss within. Just be with that joy. It is nothing else but the form of the supreme joy of consciousness that manifests through even the momentary and fleeting moments of bliss of day to day life. - Swahilya Shambhavi.

Vignana Bhairava Tantra - 6

Contemplating on the elements of nature

Maya Vimohini Nama Kalayah Kalanam Sthitham

Ithyadi Dharmam Tatwanam Kalayanna Prithagbhavet.

****

All forms and activities of the nature around us are a combination of the different elements - Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space - in different consistencies. This includes man, animal and tree. The different essences combine in different ways to manifest in various forms. What we call Maya or illusion is the feeling that some object is different from us and the objects are themselves different from each other and have different names and forms.
But this Tantra gives us an opportunity to meditate upon different forms of nature, dissolving the differences and becoming one with the consciousness that exists in all.
There are different kinds of human beings, thinking and acting differently. But they all breathe the same air and survive on the same water, sunlight and earth, as do the plants and animals do.
But the consciousness within, that makes one to see the different names and forms, is equally present in those names and forms too. When you feel the earth beneath your feet, meditate. When you drink a glass of water to quench your thirst, meditate. When the cool air blows gently against your face, meditate. When you see the flames of the fire that burns - meditate. When you feel the space around you that lets you go wherever you want to, meditate.
These will lead you to the eternal one that is Consciousness. - Swahilya Shambhavi.

Vignana Bhairava Tantra - 5

Where there is pain, there is Shiva

Kinchidangam Vibhidyadau Teekshnasoochyadina Tataha

Tatraiva Chetanam Yuktva Bhairave Nirmala Gatihi.

******

If someone had the experience of having acupuncture needles running through the body, connected to electric impulses, then this Vignana Bhairava Tantra may have some meaning to them already! This Tantra is not entreating you to invite pain and suffering upon yourself.
But when there is a prick of a needle, there is a point in the body where it pains. Draw your attention to that spot. The pain is nothing but a pure and fresh movement in the consciousness called Bhairava. Be there and experience it in the moment.
It is not just about experiencing the physical pain. It can be an inexplicable pain in the heart too, when one experiences suffering born out of separation of a loved one, dejection, depression, sadness. When such heaviness of the heart happens, be there in that moment without comment or judgement. You experience Consciousness. The pain can liberate too. A word of caution! There is no need to wish for pain and suffering. But experiencing it when it visits is what this verse of the Vignana Bhairava Tantra conveys.


Picture: A memorial for the many children who lost their lives at the Madavamedu village off Nagapattinam coast in Tamil Nadu when the tsunami struck. The little children who died where those who were washed away while they were blissfully watching the television at home. - Swahilya Shambhavi

Vignana Bhairava Tantra - 4

The Silence and the Sounds of Music

Tantryadi Vadyashabdeshu Dheergheshu Kramasamsthithe

Ananyachethah Pratyante Paravyoma Vapur Bhaveth.

****

The Universe is in the form of the cosmic sound called Nada. It is this Nada that emanates when a chord of the veena or tampura is struck. It can be a keyboard, guitar, tabla or congo drums, the sounds of birds, chirping of a squirrel or even the human voice. But when the mind follows the frequencies of the musical waves and the silence that precedes, stays along and exists after the sound subsides, then it merges into that silence and becomes the body of silence itself.
So next time you hear music, even speech sometimes can be music to the ears! know it's time to let go and just be with the sounds. The point where the sounds end and the silence begins, is the end of meditation. It is the place where the rivers merge into the ocean of bliss. The sounds begin from silence, travel in silence and fall back into the same silence.
- Swahilya Shambhavi

Vignana Bhairava Tantra - 3

A steady gaze begets a steady mind

Sampradayamimam Devi Shrunu Samyagvadamyaham

Kaivalyam Jayate Sadyaha Nethrayoh Stabdhamathrayoh.

*****

When Shiva tells something to Parvathi it is nothing but the embodiment of Consciousness, imparting its qualities to the unsteady and wavering mind. By doing so, the two become one and merge into a conscious whole. So in the course of the conversation, Shiva tells Parvathy to listen fully to the tradition that he imparts in its entirety. If Shiva, the Guru of Yoga speaks of a tradition, then one can imagine how ancient this art of meditation must be!
This is a tradition of meditation, a means to dissolve into the awareness of the self. This is called Kaivalya. It is called Samadhi - Sama + Adhi : Where the intellect has merged into the Awareness. It is the same state of non-dual presence which is described as Adwaita, reaching which one attains liberation or Moksha or becomes a Jivan Mukta.
It can happen in a trice when one in total concentration is looking at the words in a book, without batting an eyelid. It can happen when one gazes steadily at a painting or the photograph of a beloved one. It can happen when one gazes with no intention, yet steadily at the lamp that lights the darkness. One gets in touch with the Self and enters into a state of Kaivalya, immediately.
In this state, one discovers the truth of being in the light of consciousness that casts its light. One can see that the fire is not created by the oil and wick when lighted. But the merging of the oil and wick, when fired by a spark, lights up as much as it can to reveal to us the already existing light in that much of space that it can show. The bigger fires like the Sun only show us the vast expanse of the presence of light in the space just around us and within.
The highest state of Samadhi arises immediately when the gaze of the eyes are fixed steadily. This gaze can be at objects without, or just the awareness within. The steadiness dissolves the mind into Consciousness. That is the end of knowing and the beginning of being.
- Swahilya Shambhavi

Vignana Bhairava Tantra - 2

Into the blue dome overhead

Akasham Vimalam Pashyan Krithva Drishtim Nirantaram

Stabdhathma Tatkshanad Devi Bhairavam Vapurapnuyat.

*****

What you see, that you become. It may not be so true of all the numerous material objects. But when it comes to letting the mind immerse into space, seeing is becoming. The thoughts and emotions can at times come crowding - almost like a wave. Following a thought and being with it will be like allowing oneself to get tossed by a wave. But it is during such moments that you can take a break to be with yourself. Look up at the wide, wide sky which has all the clouds floating on it - but it remains steady. Seeing that, the mind with its spaghetti of thoughts, simply dissolves and becomes like the sky.

In this Tantra, Shiva tells Parvathi to look into the pure space of the skies, fixing the gaze steadily. The effect is immediate as thoughts lose themselves in the vastness and dissolve just as the river loses itself into the ocean. With such a steady state of awareness, the mind expands into the body of Bhairava - Pure Consciousness.

- Swahilya Shambhavi.

Vignana Bhairava Tantra

Many ways to meditation

If there is a text to suit the ways and means of each human being in converting ordinary and extraordinary situations in life into a means for meditation - it is the Vignana Bhairava Tantra. These over a 100 ways to meditate as told by the Guru of Yoga - Lord Shiva to his consort Parvati who questioned him as Arjuna did to Krishna in the battlefield on what it takes to experience the divine awareness.

Many a situation in life - a technique from a verse in the Vignana Bhairava Tantra has come to my rescue in understanding what the masters say when they talk of the Self. I wish to share here with you - a verse a time, picked not in any particular order, but at random.

If meditation is being in that space where thoughts come and go - float like clouds in the sky, then each technique of the Vignana Bhairava Tantra is the way to be in the present moment - in the consciousness.

When you happen to be in a vast open space, where there is not a soul to even holler out to, it may be a vast desert with the sun's rays beating down, it may be the big wide sea and just yourself before it, it can be alone on the slope of a mountain or just by yourself on the terrace, staring into the dark night's sky....

Nirvriksha Giribhithyadi Deshe Drishtim Vinikshipeth

Vileene Manase Bhave Vrittih Ksheenah Prajayathe.

You may be walking past a mountain where there are no trees. You may just gaze at a big rock. Look into it fully and be there. The numerous thoughts that arise, with the support of images that you see outside will stop. The thoughts will become lesser and lesser and will disappear. Next time you happen to be alone in a wilderness, it is the place to meditate with eyes wide open.

(Pic. The lone trail to Charan Paduka, behind the crowded temple for Lord Vishnu at Badrinath in the Himalayas.)

Row Row Row

Gently Down The Stream

The journey of life
Is like going to school
Having born, we have to go through
Education is the purpose of being
Just as athe child goes to school
Life exists as we breathe in and out
Each year passes by with a promotion
And life too rolls on to the next grade of experience.
As much as the student is endowed
With intelligence and the right environment
There is success or failure
Joy or sorrow through the school
Just as dropouts stagnate
At that level of study
Life's quitters hover around
The same wavelength of experience
They have to enroll again to move on
One does not mourn the end of school days
When they have to go ahead and
Meet the challenges of the world without.
Just so with life, when death comes
It is just the last day
In the school of Earth International
A preparation for our work and life
In the Universe beyond.

- Swahilya Shambhavi

(Pic: The quiet and deep Ganga beneath the Ram Jhoola at Rishikesh.)

Zen

...in everyday life

It has been many times now. A look into the mirror has taught me so much. From Who am I, to I am That - every spiritual truth has expressed itself so beautifully when I look into the mirror.see myself in reflection.

Once I saw my face on a glass pane of a car moving ahead of me. I saw myself. But I thought at first that the face I saw was me. But then every reflection shared its space on that single glass pane - the other motorists and their vehicles, the trees, the birds that flew past, the blue sky, the sun and all it's glory. I saw myself indeed! It took just a moment before my mind expanded from 'i' to I - the little me to the big universal myself.

I realised today why tea is most celebrated in the land of Zen. Today I sat on a jute swing to spend some quiet moments with a cup of the brown liquid. Beside me, on a bookshelf was Adi Sankara's Dakshinamurthy Stotra - verses that tell that this Universe is a solid dream, just as the one we have in sleep is an amorphous transient one.

Seeing the name Dakshinamurthy took me to my being of Silence that the incarnation of Shiva is said to embody.

I sipped my tea in this thought and I discovered that the liquid was flowing through consciousness, in the space of the foodpipe connecting the mouth with the stomach. It simply travels through silence and rests there for a while. Anything eaten, drunk, spoken or done are just movements in consciousness. That I call some Zen Tea!

- Swahilya Shambhavi

Swaha...

Meditation on fire and other thoughts

Sunday seems to me for sure a day of sun, light, fire and sparks of consciousness.
Much fire has happened, too much to share but yet I shall. Waking up in the morning,

I sat up to pen down the thoughts that began to flow...

Spiritual Progress?

The garment bought in the market is good enough
The master wears it, it collects grime over time
Has to be washed, however well kept it may be
There the process begins - soaking in soap water
A time when the mind garment is dumped with company
Other mind ideas that have the power to cleanse
The cloth then is taken out, from its wet existence
Subject to a more subtler process here
Rinsing in the pure waters that wash away accumulated tendencies
That over, yet a lot remain
It has to be wrung dry of even the holy waters
The master holds the mind's cloth in his hands
Tightens his grip into the now rope-like fabric
Spins it hard and squeezes mercilessly
There is yet the influence of water
Pure though it may be
An alien impression nonetheless
There it finds its place beneath the sun
Spread out on the clothesline with many others
Exposed to the scorching rays of consciousness
Chilling out, yet giving away
The few little ideas it holds on to
Even that is not enough for a product final
There is a gruelling process of surrender
Red hot coals from the depths of the earth
Flatten and iron out the tenacious wrinkles of distortion
The cycle goes on no end
But for the Master who does it all,
There is no pain, no gain
No thing whatsoever.

- Swahilya Shambhavi


Truth

The poem is not the truth
There is a silence
A nothingness
An empty space
After all the eddying words have poured out
There my dear, is the truth
Hold on to it and dissolve
Into eternity.

- Swahilya Shambhavi

Thoughts

When you open your eyes
You see trees, cars, buildings and people
The are there out alread
They are in motion and keep changing
But they have been and will be there for sure
You close your eyes
You see images floating past
Ideas, plans, love, pain, activities
They too like objects are there
And can't be wished away
Just see objects moving about
In the vast expanse of space
The clouds of thought float around
In the skies of Consciousness
As refreshing as an airplane ride
In the sunshine above the clouds
I meditate in my heart's cave
My towering mind nestled in thought clouds
Just as Shiva sits in Silence
In the mighty Himalaya.

- Swahilya Shambhavi.

Evam Eva Jagat Sarvam Dagdham Dhyathva Vikalpataha
Anyachetasah Pumsaha Pumbhavah Paramo Bhaveth

- Vignana Bhairav Tantra

"Having meditated with an unwavering and one-pointed mind on the entire universe being burnt by the fire of time, that man becomes a godman or attains a supreme state of manhood."

Consigned to flames!

Many a time have
The thoughts of the past
Penned or unsaid
Consigned to flames
And as I look into the fire
I see my mind is gone
With all the desires
Wants or vows
Everything goes
Into the flame of time.
All that remains
Is an emptiness
No direction and no thing.

- Swahilya Shambhavi.

Jotting down

...some contemplations

I had a lot of photographs with a white space to it on one side. Though the pictures had no use, I did not feel like throwing them away into the dustbin. I wrote on the space instead. It began with two quotes that I got from friends and the remaining were the bits and pieces of words mined from consciousness whenever I sit down to meditate or contemplate. These cards I keep them on my table at office. There are always those moments when I pick one to meditate upon for a while to get anchored again....

- Never change your originality for others. Because no one can play your role better than you - Suryopanishad.

- Ideas are like pictures on the album of consciousness. If just placed, they can be removed easily. If glued to the screen, it has to be torn off and wiped clean. The process may be painful, but inevitable.

- This body, breath and mind is like a pump that brings out the essence of existence. Deeper the plumbing, purer the quality.

- Just like a coal or a gold mine, every idea is waiting to manifest in the Earth of pure Consciousness.

- Each one is a wave, in the ocean of existence. The greater the depth, the bigger the manifestation.

- Voyages through inner space is true voyage.

- Every object and being of this Universe is an expression of Consciousness.

- Sadhana is to dig deeper into the essence daily and begin from the point left the day before.

- Conception of a conscious being happens when the seeds fuse together in the subtle fire of love.

- Food, water, clothing and recreation is to sustain the spacecraft called humanbeing through his journey of Consciousness.

- Tears are raindrops that fall off thought clouds, clearing the skyto let the sun of consciousness shine brightly.

....with more moments of meditation and more white space, more thoughts will follow....

Varsha Gyan

When it rained....

It is raining cats and dogs, frogs and fishes
I see the water outside
Falling on me drenching thoroughly
But somewhere within
The person who watches the rain
Is not wet
Is not touched by the water
The water falls on him-her - no It
And that's the being in its totality
Consciousness that is untouched.

- Swahilya.

Nothing...

Enlightenment!

An idea was given to me

It came as a joyous infant

Fell into my outstreched arms.

For years four I nurtured it

It made me forget the world

It gave me a high

Lifted me when I was down and low

Whenever I thought of it

I prayed to any god I saw

Wherever I went and whenever I remembered

The idea was there growing

Like a happy child

By leaps and bounds.

And so many saints were there

Whose words I trusted

Go to sleep with the idea, they said

And when you wake up in the morning

'Tis there, sure as dawn's light.

"When you wish upon a star,"

said another

"Makes no difference who you are

Anything your heart desires,

Will come to you."

Emboldened I was taking them for sure,

Like oxygen for the burning fire

I let them stoke the idea's fuel.

But death always lurks around

And who am I to wish it away

Leave alone the flimsy thought.

He cast his leash with a noose and sure

Slung it right around its youthful neck

And dragged it away before the beloved's eyes

In a trice was gone the fictional existence

As if an imaginary theatre vanished

With characters, set and stage.

Now I stand in the vacant void

With nothing to hold on, not even an idea

And in the silence I hear a sound

Om..... it says

But even that trails away

The emptiness and the silence

Is all left of me.

- Swahilya.

(Picture: Sulphur rock heating up the waters of Alaknanda at the Tapt Kund in Badrinath.)

Alluring

Himalayas!


Poets have sung its glory. Saints have sat in its caves and river banks. The seekers went and found their enlightenment. Village folks also live their life there, grazing cattle, cutting wood. Tourists go to stare in awe and wonder at the snowy peak. Trekkers climb and mountaineers try to conquer its heights. But for me, the sight of white snow against the black rocky slopes of the Himalayas, the blue sky behind and the sunshine adding to the aura never fail to send waves of joy, inspiring my being and lifting my spirits. Ever since I went the first time to Rishikesh, Uttar Kashi, Gangotri and Gomukh and the second time to Rishikesh, Badrinath, Kedarnath and Haridwar, it's always a feeling of wanting to go there again, of being there - though I wonder why.
I recently read in an article in The Hindu about why such places as the Himalayas, Kailash Manasarovar and many other places in the world that people visit for its spiritual power. The earth in those regions considered holy have a certain kind of free elements present abundantly. When the traveller enters the region, he is engulfed in its presence. There is an atomic exchange that happens. What I am goes out and what is there gets in to me. This is the secret of inspiring. Spire has its roots from Spirit and InSpire means to experience the spirit within.
While it is not required that one can know the spirit only by visiting the Himalayas, what you see is what you are. In the crowded world out below, all we see is pollution, corruption, crowded thoughts assaulting from all around, disease, poverty and just about everything we do not want to be reminded of. But up there in the mountains, there is silence, space, nature, serenity, calmness and tranquility. So we become all that we see there. So it is a lure of the breathtaking heights that eternally draws me up there again and again....

Picture: The peaks of Kedarnath, behind the Jyotirlinga Temple.

Flowing through: The Mandakini meanders and gushes through the Kedar Valley.

Sunday...

A glimpse of light...

A very auspicious day it was. Sunday - when I got to see what it means when they say light. A day for contemplation when there was nothing official to do, resting and restfulness. Clarity on what it means to be. When the past was burnt and the future there was none, it was a deep summer nap when nothing existed. In a half waking state, I had a glimpse of what the Masters call Light. As if through a chink, when the surface of the being crumbles into luminous shreds, getting absorbed in a massive light. A light that is whole and complete. The one who sees it also gone. There is just light which is much brighter than what we call day. No heat but just light. And that is what has got many names - substratum, consciousness, Om, God, Allah, Jesus, Buddha, Tao, Zen, Being, Living, Nothingness...as many names as there are people to say them. Thank God, the animals and the plants were not speaking! And that's all. There's nothing more to it than just light. Everything that is around is just light in different states of being. What else can I say? That's all there is. Light. And beyond....nothing.


Pic:- The morning rays of the sun streaming through the temple dome atop Parvatamalai.

Sri Lanka

The Verdant Teardrop

Just an hour from Chennai by flight, I reach a foreign capital. The Bandaranayake Airport's Green Channel welcomes me as a foreign national into a country that I feel very much at home. I am talking of Sri Lanka where I spent four five days recently.
Just like the green view of Kerala, there is nothing that I miss along the three-hour drive from Colombo to the hilly Kandy region. The Maruti 800, Alto and Wagon R, Bajaj Autorickshaws, Lanka Ashok Leyland Buses all go to make me feel that Sri Lanka is part of the Indian landmass, just separated by a stretch of water called the Indian Ocean. It has retained the essence of India. The name for a river in Sri Lanka is Ganga. So the Mahaweli river is called Mahaweli Ganga.
Everywhere I turn, there is a Buddha seated in meditation, around road bends, on top of hills and in the temples. Sri Lanka is a land where Buddha is celebrated with a national holiday on the new moon called Poya Day when the Buddha's teaching was supposed to have been brought.
The value of freedom of thought, speech and action - I learnt in Sri Lanka. Owing to the political situation, one has to carry their passport or the national identity card even while going on morning walk, to a temple or to buy something from the neigbouring shop!
I immensely breathed in the air of Sri Lanka. It felt good. Freedom is after all a state of mind and I wish all becomes well soon - for there is so much beauty that the whole world should know!

Sivaji Euphoria

A mixture of matter and spirit

My going to Sivaji - the Rajni Kanth block buster, on the first day of its release, was as much a miracle as many a scene in the superb entertainer.
I am seeing a movie, amid an euphoric audience showering rose petals on the screen each time The Boss appears in a very important scene, and I should say I enjoyed every moment of it, like never before in the last few years.
Rajni Kanth has kept the spirituality of Baba hidden from the direct view of the excited audience. But in Sivaji, spirituality is encased, or rather showcased in a series of positive thinking, with matching scenes on the welfare of the country and how the four principles of Sama, Dana, Bedha and Danda is used to bring the wrong-doers to book.
It may be the same old story of good versus evil and that truth alone triumphs in the end. But it is a story well cooked and served with dollops of cream and frothy chocolate in a regal fare of grandiosity.
The message is subtle. It goes in the last dialogue of the film when he flings the leit motif one rupee coin which lands right on the villain's forehead (A one rupee coin is traditionally placed on the forehead of a dead body in these parts of the country) and says Sivaji, the Boss: "Even this you cannot take with you!"
Though the scenes may be truly far fetched and can happen only on the celluloid, the Director has constantly created a positive image of seeing the country develop. That fills the heart of not just the die-hard Rajni fanbut any ordinary viewer who gets energised by the enchanting scenes of faith in life and the ability to not be moved by the ups and downs, the travails and joys and how not forget to wink or share a quiet joke in the midst of a bloody fight too.
An enjoyable film indeed!
- Swahilya.

How do I wish

happy birthday...

How do I wish someone beyond time
A very happy birthday
How do I fix a date of birth
For one who has been for ever
How will I meet someone at a place
For whom space is home of his consciousness
Where can I search for a person
Whose form is emptiness
Though I look at something to speak to
He disappears saying he's nothing
Though I know 'tis my folly
To look for someone in this place or that
When often I'm reminded
That It is within me
But still as long as I breathe
As long as I can see and hear
Along as I have to touch to feel
As long as I smell to know the fragrance
I am bound by days, time and place
I am bound by customs and traditions
I am bound by culture and manners
I am bound by my feelings and emotions
And that will last till I breathe my last
So 'tis ignorance to ignore or try to forget
That I exist on earth in form and name
This is to wish my Guru Swami Akshara
A very very happy birthday.
- Swahilya.

(Picture: Swami Akshara near an anthill at Yelagiri, while on a morning walk recently.)

Periyar - the source of his strength

Periyar

I finally got to see the movie about the most famous and controversial personality in the history of Tamil politics. Periyar, is indeed a great movie, with a job well done by actors Sathyaraj and Kushboo, directed by Gnanarajasekaran and music by Vidhyasagar.


Only when I saw the movie, did I understand the background that has been the basis of making Periyar what he was - a source of inspiration and support for all his intensity and actions. Not many may be aware that he grew up listening to Sanskrit chants and mantras, arranged at home by his devout Naicker parents.


The movie shows how the angry young man was driven out of the house by his father when the public complained to him about the son's iconoclastic activities. He then went to Hyderabad and joined a Brahmin twosome to Kashi. In Kashi he has a dip in the holy Ganga - a river that has inspired many a human who has turned a saint on the Indian soil. He has a small stint in a Mutt where he was invited to do some work and promised a meal a day. And what happened after his return to Erode is history. But his innate capacity to organise, question authority, to speak convincingly on issues close to his heart and be his own self at all times have all been a sequel to the divine inspiration that turn of circumstances chanced to give Periyar E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker. After all, both the theist and atheist fight about god and no god from the very consciousness of their being which is God!

A spiritual picnic

Camp Yelagiri

It was a spiritual picnic and my second trip to cool Yelagiri - just away from the sizzling heat of sweltering Chennai. The uniqueness of this trip with my Guru, Swami Akshara was that it was just the going, being and coming with the Master at Yelagiri was the experience. A walk around the mango orchards of the resort where we stayed, being in tune with nature, the lush prosperity of fruits and flowers, the trekking up a small hill behind the estate and the convivial talk with the few other members who went together. It was a trip where there was the time and space to be in silence and quietude and a memorable one at that.

Wisdom through silence: The Master at Yelagiri.

.soulmate.

.soulmate. launch

A thought that has been on my mind for a long long time, inspired by my Guru, Swami Akshara. It is .soulmate. a magazine that will report events happening in Chennai city to begin with and go national and international as time goes by. But, big projects have at first a soft and silent launch. And this is through .soulmate. It will be an online space covering events and people - touching all aspects of spirituality. It will talk of the different paths to a life of meditation, that leads to the one source of being in awareness. Your feedback, ideas and articles are welcome. They may be sent to swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com. Namaste.

What to write

I really don't know!

I made sincere attempts to create a new post since my last one in January. But for some reason nothing happened.

I visited Tiruvannamalai, an energy field in south India's Tamil Nadu. It was a short unchartered trek very early in the morning and I had a darshan of the temple town from above.

I continue in my tranquil mode, reading, meditating, doing my work, working out, practising Yoga. Actually, I have nothing else to say and I don't know what else to write! So till then...

Tranquil...

...Vision


Since January, I seem to be blessed with the knowledge of the means to remain in touch with my essence, to remain in that tranquility. It happened through withdrawing from the desires with the world outside, being with books, music, chanting and learning and enjoying the fundamental notes in my many musical instruments, the tampura, veena, keyboard and the mridangam.
I am delighting in being in the Saraswati state of consciousness, learning, reading and writing. I am in love with the notbooks, pens, pencils, colours, paints, brushes, all objects of matter that are the means to a liberated state of mind.
This morning, spending a tranquil Pongal and the beginning of the new Tamil month of Thai, which ushers in auspiciousness into people's life, I was chanting and I realised that every activity on the Earth or anywhere else, is just the conversation between the Consciousness and the mind.
The Consciousness provides the support for the mind to raise itself from itself, perform a specified task of thinking, working, speaking or resting, for a specified period of time - and then fall back into its own self. Everything, animals, birds, insects, non-living thing and human beings, fall in this dialogue between Consciousness and the Mind. They are too not different, but just the unmoving and dynamic states of the same self.
And in keeping with a Tamil proverb, 'Thai Pirandal Vazhi Pirakkum,' meaning with the birth of the Thai month, the way is born. In me, it was a way from the untruth of differences, to the truth of consciousness, from the darkness of emotions to the light of the one elemental unmoving stillness and from the fear of the impermanent to the confidence in eternity. Asatoma Sadgamaya - Tamasorma Jyotir Gamaya - Mrityorma Amritam Gamaya. Om Shanthi Shanthi Shanthihi. (The picture is of the Ganga Arathi at Rishikesh.)