Mantra, purashcharana 2

[Guest guest]

cont..<br>Each segment of purushcharana relates

to one of the elements.<br>JAPA purifies the Air and

Ether element in you.<br>HOMA, the fire

element.<br>TARPANA, the water element.<br>MARJANA, the earth

element.<br>BHOJANA is your final offering to your deity, whom you

see in all the people you feed.<br><br>This makes

purushcharana nothing but BHOOTA-SHUDDHI(purification of the

five great elements making up the whole universe,

manifesting in the body at the nodes or chakras)<br>Bhoota

Shuddhi is the essence of Tantra !<br>Purushcharana is

good for starters before graduating on to Panchamakara

.<br><br>Now if one observes carefully, the

Shuddhi(purification) is taking from up to downwards ie

vishuddha-anahata down to muladhara. Why is this so ?<br>For this

we have to know, what is Mantra Siddhi. When one

calls a particular deity with the help of a mantra,

which is nothing but that deity’s name, one must have a

mental image of how HE or SHE looks like. <br>Just what

a true bhakta desires to be one with his beloved,

so a tantric does very systematically. At first upon

being called persistently, the deity comes

occasionally, this is termed as TANMAYATA or togetherness.

Eventually the personality of the saadhak completely

dissolves, the consciousness of the deity and the saadhak

becomes one. This stage is called TADRUPTA. At this stage

there is “Mantra Chaitanya”, when there is total union

of consciousness and the mantra. Every cell in the

body becomes a resonator of the mantra. The original

personality is totally effaced and only the deity

remains.<br>THE END RESULT IS THE SAME FOR WHICH A SINCERE BHAKTA

ALSO PINES FOR !<br>Coming back to the original

question, why up to down? Simple, here the sadhaka is not

trying to raise his kundalini but instead invoking a

fully awakened deity into the body, the path followed

naturally being from up to downwards. <br>In these extreme

sadhanas, the questions of believing - not believing in

god, having implicit trust in god, wanting to have

darshan of god are left faaaar behind. You have to see a

sadhaka nearing Mantra Siddhi to believe it ! The

features, the voice, the behaviour become so similar to the

deity, that it appears very very odd. The focus is

intense. Pride is naturally non-existent.<br>An

interesting story about this tadrupta…, later may be(to avoid

overdosageJ?<br>Regards really

[Guest guest]

Thank you for your very informative post. While I

am aware of the processes you talked about, I wasn’t

familiar with the terminology. I certainly haven’t been

blessed with observing a person go through this

experience.<br><br>Thank you for the story too. I love stories.

<br><br>Some thoughts -<br><br>1. Age is no criterion for

readiness for samadhi. A child in this birth may be a

sadhak ready for mukti (liberation) having journeyed and

learnt through several previous births. <br><br>2.

Those of us who work with conscious-living exercises

(affirmations, prayers, mantras,) use a fundamental Truth as our

tool. The Power of the word - that first (according to

what we know) shows up in the Rig Veda, discussed in

detail in field of Sabdha (Sound) Brahman, and is the

opening sentence in the Bible. An essential tool we use

is “Assume the posture” of what you want to be, and

you will become that. This is based on the essential

knowledge that matter, including our selves, is nothing but

energy. We are a vibrating ball of energy; the blueprint

of our energy patterns is based on our past baggage

(samskaras and vasanas). Our thought, emotions actions,

including who we resonate with, our sangha (company), who

we encourage and support, even what we pretend to

be, all have a corresponding energy pattern which

either perpetuates and continue our blueprint or creates

newer energy patterns. Which direction we take it is

our choice at every moment. It is the clarity of the

“Word”, which is again determined by one’s sincerity and

level of intention, that finally determines how the

word manifests. Attaining this clarity of goals is

part of sadhna. <br><br>3. While the titillating

aspects of Tantra Shastra have attracted the attention of

most people, it is in fact the field, which deals with

Energy, the essence of matter and its manifestation.

<br><br>4. Forms and formlessness. We take form and manifest on

this earth-plane primarily due to the presence of our

egos, with its blocked energy paths by various desires

and attitudes accumulated over lifetimes. We have to

break out of our egos using the very ego-entered tools,

like love, intellect, action, and will. It is no

surprise then that even advaitins have to use “forms” in

meditation to break out of the bondage of the form!

<br><br>5. The Descending of divinity is the state discussed by

Sri Aurobindo, in his works about Supra mental

consciousness. All creation is done at the higher chakras

levels, but for it to manifest it has to brought

systematically down ultimately to the muladhara which provides

the foundation of all manifested forms.<br><br>Where

are our fellow travellers? What are your thoughts?

We have some wonderful topics on the discussion

table. Jump in .. participate .. share your

journey!!!<br><br>_/\_ Tat twam asi<br><br>Uma

[Guest guest]

A post script -<br><br>It has been my firm

understanding (could be wrong) that the ultimate Truth is very

simple. However our attempts to understand and explain

it, using limitation of existing language and our own

faculties, get packed with even more verbage, which furthers

the complication.<br><br>The child represents the

childlike simple faith and trust and desire without any

question, a knowing from within our very being. Just

acheiving that receptive state of mind grounded in an inner

trust, itself takes lifetimes, I feel. One we have

achieved it, all verbage dissappears. There is only THAT

and THAT THOU ART!<br><br><br><br>Uma

[Guest guest]

Very true Umaji, the ultimate truth has to be the

simplest.<br><br>It is only our acquired knowledge, concepts, dogmas,

experience etc which have created such a huge stumbling

block(or rather Hill).<br><br>Any truth, however profound,

arrived at logically, we tend to put in words or axioms

like "Thou art that", which again is a hurdle!

Creating a false sense of realisation of it.<br><br>When

the talk dissappears,<br>the talk dissappears.<br>( )

[Guest guest]

Very True! And those with complicated brains and

complicated theories think that simple people are fools and

can not reach god...then what about Nanak,kabir,

mira,surdas,christ,valmiki,angulimaal ? <br><br> Baba Bulle shah has also

written<br><br> Sabbey gallan gallardiyan<br> Alllah dee gal

galla<br> Kuchh raula paya aliman<br> kujh kagzan payaa

jhalla<br><br> The only Truth is God<br> all other truths are

untruths<br> confusion was created by the learned<br> and

chaos by the sacred books!!<br><br> Really_i_am thanks

for such informative posts on Mantras<br><br> Could

you also elaborate something on Vaikhari, Pashyanti,

Madhyama and Para ? I think without mentioning them, the

Mantra chapter is incomplete.<br><br>Hari Aum

[Guest guest]

:-):-) Will try to soon. May some introduction

from yourself first sir? Till then,<br>a

story....<br>of keeta-bhramara nyaya (caterpillar-butterfly

logic), as you contemplate, so you shall be. This thumb

rule applies very much to any object of continuous

concentration, be it a mantra-deity, or a butterfly as in the

case of a caterpillar inside a pupa.<br>"One day, a

wandering sadhu came upon a boy herding buffaloes. He was

hungry, and the boy readily obliged him with some milk.

After drinking to his satisfaction, the sadhu began to

feel generous, and asked the herdsman, 'What would you

like? I'm feeling fine, I'll give it to you.'<br>The

boy laughed and said,'I really don't need anything. I

do nothing all day long but herd my buffaloes, and

am fully satisfied with that. Besides,

sadhu-maharaj, you came to me as a beggar and I gave you alms.

How can I expect anything from you in return? I am

the giver, not you.'<br>The sadhu was taken aback by

the reply, and realised that this was no ordinary

buffalo-herd. But still feeling expansive he asked, 'What is it

that you love most in the world?'<br>'Why, this

buffalo', the boy replied innocently, 'the one whose milk

you just drank. She is the largest I have, she gives

me 10 gallons of milk everyday, she is broad and

string, so loving and beautiful, I love her best of

all.'<br>'All right', said the sadhu, 'please do one thing. Go

sit in that cave and imagine that you are this

buffalo. Think of her, keep her picture in mind,

completely self identify with her, become her ! As you sit

doing all this, repeat to yourself "Bhaisoham,

bhaisoham"(I am a buffalo, I am a buffalo). Don't worry about

a thing, I'll look after your buffaloes.'<br>The

herdsman did exactly as the sadhu said, and after 3 days

when the sadhu entered the cave, he found the boy

sitting motionless with his eyes closed, repeating,

"Bhaisoham, bhaisoham".<br>The sadhu said, 'So young man, how

have you progressed? Come out now.'<br>Out came the

reply,'Don't call me a young-man! I am a buffalo. Can't you

see that? Look at my broad back! How can I leave this

small cave? My horns are too broad to go thru the

enterance. Now don't be foolish; go away and leave me alone

or I'll gore you and toss you out with these

beautiful horns of mine.'<br>But the sadhu persisted and

said, 'Try to remember my boy, I told you to sit and do

this. Now, instead of repeating, "I am a buffalo",

start to identify with Shiva and repeat "Shivoham,

Shivoham"(I am Shiva, I am Shiva).'<br>The herdsman did that,

and in about fifteen minutes he was in a deep

trance(samadhi). He realized his goal: The Universal Soul in the

form of Lord Shiva.<br>The sadhu was astonished. Tears

came to his eyes and he said to himself, 'This fellow

sits only three and a half days and achieves and I

have wandered around practising without success for so

many years.'<br>Then he had to take that buffalo herd

as his guru, and finally he also realized. I do not

remember the real names of the characters in the story,

but it is similar to what happened with Sri

Ramakrishna Paramhamsa. What took his guru thirty years to

achieve, Ramakrishna achieved in a few days."<br>This

proves that time is not the critereon; if the desire is

strong enough the result must occur without delay. All

has to be forgotten except the name and form of the

deity. Hence it is important to choose a mantra and

deity to which has very strong inherent affinity for,

the Guru can be very helpful here as he can look

behind the make believe world of our

imaginations.<br><br><<Both name and form are essential for worship. One

part

of the mind takes the shape of an object; that is

form. Another part of the mind identifies and

distinguishes it; that is name.>><br><br>To go directly

to the highest form of samadhi is almost impossible.

Even Ramakrishna had to worship Mother Bhavatarini for

many years before his consciousness became one-pointed

enough to achieve The Formless, but may be that was just

Leela for a