Shiva Ratri

[Guest guest]

kartik wrote:

> OM

> Pranam

> Please let me know if you need a copy of the Great Blessed

> book Japa Yoga by the great benefactor of mankind Sri Swami

> Sivanandaji Maharaj, and it will be mailed to you wthout

> obligation.

 

YES, SIR. Please send a copy of Japa Yoga to

V.M.Sundaram

287-D, # 08-302,

Jurong East St. 21,

Singapore 604 287

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

 

Gummuluru Murthy [gmurthy]

Thursday, February 22, 2001 8:50 AM

advaitin

RE: Shiva Ratri

 

On Wed, 21 Feb 2001, Harsha wrote:

> Thank you Gummuluruji for posting the great Shiva Mantra. It is among my

> favorites. In the 1950s, my father had some health concerns and wrote a

> letter to Swami Sivananda. Swami Sivananda as many know was formerly a

> medical doctor and continued dispensing advice on health issues even after

> he became a monk at the age of 37. Along with advice on diet and herbal

> medicinal recommendations, Swami Sivananda also included the

> mahAmr^ityunjaya mantra in the response to my father's letter and advised

> that it should be repeated for good health and prosperity. To this day, my

> father repeats it with great faith. Swami Sivananda has given many of the

> classic mantras in his book Japa Yoga and explained the science and

> psychology of mantra practice. Japa Yoga also contains some wonderful

> Krishna Mantras and explains the Gayatri Mantra as well. Thanks to

Anandaji

> for his posts on Shiva Ratri as well.

>

> Love to all

> Harsha

>

 

namaste shri Harshaji,

 

As I said in my earlier post, we may not be able to put a direct

correlation between improvement of health and chanting of this

mantra. However, I have seen with my own eyes at least three

instances where the patient has miraculously recovered with

chanting of this mantra with *deep faith*.

 

The most recent example is the following: A member of the congregation

of our local hindu temple suffered a heart attack and had to undergo

quadruple bypass heart surgery a few months ago. The case was beyond

critical and practically no hope was given for survival. Swami

Viditatmanandaji of Arshavidya gurukulam was visiting us at that

time and he organized group chanting of this mahAmr^ityunjaya mantra

121 times every day for three days with the health of this friend

in mind. Whatever we say, whether the mantra has a direct effect

or not, the patient has miraculously recovered even to the

astonishment of the medical staff at the hospital. We only have

to conclude that the mantra has its effect, although the deep

meaning of this mantra is beyond physical well-being and death.

 

The thing about mantrA-s is: they are only as potent as our

deep faith in them. If we chant without any faith, they are simply

words. But if we have faith and chant them without involvement of

our ego, mantra has its potent force. This is what the upanishads

also say. We become what we want to become. If we are devoted

to the SELF, we will ataain the SELF-knowledge. If we are interested

in swarga-loka and do karma-s accordingly, we attain swarga-loka.

KaTha upanishad has a nice verse on this. The required ingredient

in all these is the deep faith.

 

Regards

Gummuluru Murthy

------

Namaste Shri Gummuluruji,

 

The example you gave on how the mantra helped in recovery of this gentleman

is a good one. You may know that there have been studies in Boston, well

publicized, giving evidence that prayer in some way also helps the healing

process.

 

I would agree with you that deep faith is indeed a critical component of

the religious and spiritual life. For many people it gives the required

energy and motivation needed for long periods in contemplation, meditation,

and other spiritual practices.

 

Faith is a gift of the Spirit and its power is extraordinary. The nature of

faith is mysterious and not easily fathomable. Faith is a matter of the

heart and not visible to the human eye which sees through the lenses of its

own conditioning. Our scriptures have given us many stories to make that

point which come to mind. One well known story is of the illiterate devotee

of Shiva who did not properly know how to worship. The extent of his

devotion was such however that he took out his own eye to replace that of

the idol. When he was about to take his other eye out to replace the second

one on the idol, he was stopped by God. Another story that comes to mind on

the power of faith is that of Sage Valmiki who was a dacoit and was given

the mantra Rama to help reform himself. Forgetting the correct pronunciation

the Sage kept repeating Mara, Mara, Mara, and due to the nature of his

sincerity and faith, everything worked. If someone knows a url where these

stories are given in their entirety, perhaps that could be posted. Other

stories will also be appreciated along the same theme. Thank you.

 

Love to all

Harsha