Internal god and external god (R: Query related to Maha Ganapathi Homam)

September 10, 2009

Dear Rajarshi,

You have a knack for asking important questions, that sound simple but touch upon deep issues.

> I mean if I am focusing on Mahaganapati, am I just bringing out the

> energy of Mahaganapati from inside me or is there one single, universal,

> omnipotent divinty called Mahaganapati who exists in the universe, and

> I am trying to invite him into the fire?

Terms like internal god and external god are just a manner of speaking, for easy understanding and simplification of concepts. In reality, a deity existing microcosmically "inside" you, a deity existing microcosmically inside me, a deity existing microcosmically inside someone else and a deity existing "externally" in the macrocosm (universe) is one and the same and there is absolutely no difference between all of them! That is essentially the Upanishadic understanding.

In fact, when you say "inside me", ask yourself : "what is this I"? Is it the physical body? Is it the subtle body? Is it the causal body? When mind entertains the notion that it is a physical body, it indeed becomes aware of a physical body and looks at it as I. When mind entertains the notion that it is a subtle body, it indeed becomes aware of a subtle body and looks it as I. When mind entertains the notion that it is a causal body, it indeed becomes aware of a causal body and looks it as I. When mind finally overcomes all such notions one after the other, it may look at the supra-cosmic body (supreme cosmic being) as I. According to upanishadic understanding, there is nothing other than Brahman or supreme cosmic being. Thus, expressions like "inside me", "inside you" and "inside him" are just expressions that describe false notions rather than reality. There is no real you, I and he, but there is only a supreme cosmic being.

* * *

When you have a conditioned mind, which has a notion that there is a certain entity called "Rajarshi Nandy", an entity called "Narasimha Rao" etc, these entities exist within your mind, for as long as your mind can keep those notions alive. When all such false notions are successfully eliminated, only supreme cosmic being is left for the mind to focus on.

When a conditioned mind that has a notion that it is a specific person called "Rajarshi Nandy" in a specific body, such a mind is pre-occupied with so many things that it cannot focus itself on god perfectly. Due to its pre-occupations, it can only focus itself on small aspects of god, in a very limited way. This is like a mirror capturing Sun in a limited way. Sun's image may be reflected on 100 mirrors in 100 ways. One mirror may be broken and dark colored. It may reflect very little sunlight and sun may appear broken. Like that, each mind can focus on god in a different way, to a different extent. We express this fact in alternate words by saying "the mind focuses on internal god and he is limited".

This is just a simple way to put things. In reality, the issue is not internal vs external. The issue is the mind's ability to perceive and focus on god. As the mind's pre-occupation with other things comes down and its ability to focus on god goes up, we say that the internal god is becoming stronger. Again, this is just a way of representation. In reality, god, whether you call him internal or external, is infinite and does not become weaker or stronger. But mind can focus better and mind's idea of god becomes stronger. After all, a dirty mirror reflecting Sun may show a dirty and dull Sun at first and show a cleaner and brighter Sun after you clean the mirror. Sun has not really become cleaner or bighter. He is the same always. We can say "Sun in the mirror" has become cleaner and brighter. But there is really no Sun "in the" mirror! Though we may talk about Sun in mirror 1, Sun in mirror 2, Sun in mirror 3 and the external Sun, they are all one and the same!

This manner of speaking about internal vs external god and talking about strengthening internal god is used to simplify things. Bottomline is that any visualization of god by a mind is limited by the conditioning, abilities and impurities of that mind. By allowing the mind to visualize god, to the best of its ability, on a regular basis, we sharpen its ability to visualize god. Eventually, mind loses all other pre-occupations and becomes fully absorbed in the infinite god. Then we say that internal god has become infinite. This is just a manner of speaking.

* * *

I want to give a small practical example, that is somewhat relevant and illustrates some concepts.

Once a couple of priests with a high spiritual caliber were conducting a Rudraabhishekam. They were chanting Sree Rudram 11 times. A person who worships Mahaalakshmi was sitting in a corner of the room. He started to meditate with Savitru Gayatri mantra, his favorite mantra. Whichever mantra or deity he worships, he always considers everything to be an offering to Mahalakshmi and imagines only her as receiving the mantra. Here also, he was visualizing Mahalakshmi as filling his entire being and was offering Gayatri mantra to her. After a while, his Kundalini rose and his self-awareness was modified. He lost the regular awareness of body, perceived an all-pervading light that he was part of and remained in a nice spiritual state for a while. When he came back and the pooja was finished, one of the priests described something unusual that he "saw". In the middle of the pooja, that priest turned towards this person and was surprised by what he saw. He saw a tall 18-handed form of Mahalakshmi standing in the place of this person for a little while.

As that person meditated, his senses turned inward and he was looking internally. His mind was focused on Mahaalakshmi, who filled his entire being in his visualization. As Kundalini rose, his distinction of internal and external blurred and he perceived himself as *a part* of all-pervading light (it is neither "internal" nor "external"). He basically perceived Mahaalakshmi as the all-pervading light that he was also a part of. However, the priest who happened to look at him at that time was also in a purified state and so he noticed something. His mental conditioning at that time made him see a specific external form rather than an all-pervading form. But both the priest and the person perceived the same entity in two different ways. One was external and limited. The other was neither internal nor external (but obtained by looking internally at first) and unlimited. But, both are the same. They appeared different to two minds because of the conditioning of those minds rather than anything else, just as the same Sun may appear different in two different mirrors!

* * *

No amount of theorization will help one fully understand and appreciate things like this. The most important thing is to do some sadhana, such as homam or meditation, on a regular basis. No effort is wasted and eventually gives results when there is critical mass. Whatever I say, whatever masters have said before and whatever rishis taught in upanishads, can be understood and appreciated through direct experience. THAT is the goal of sadhana. Reading scriptures and mails like this is only a starting point. One has to engage in some sadhana. Even people like Ramana Maharshi, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Trilinga Swami, Vivekananda etc did sadhana for many years, before they realized god.

Best regards,NarasimhaDo a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/homamDo Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/tarpanaSpirituality: Free Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro.home.comcast.netFree Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAstrologer.orgSri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagannath.org

-

Namaste Narasimha,

I little bit of deviation from this topic of this mail.

There is something which I find a little confusion. I hope you will clear that point. You mentioned:

The god in your homam fire is not an external god, but your own internal god. Through your mental focus, you are projecting the limited manifestation of god inside you into fire and honing your ability to focus the mind on that god. I want to clarify one thing here. Though there is actually infinite divinity inside you, your pre-occupation with so many other things limits (or zeroes) the divinity that your mind can focus on, access and perceive. By focusing on it more and more, you grow it. Fire is a good medium to project it for focusing better.

When we are doing a homam or any puja, we are trying to create the deity from within ourselves where it exists. My questions is, is this where all deities reside(inside)? I mean if I am focusing on Mahaganapati, am I just bringing out the energy of Mahaganapati from inside me or is there one single, universal, omnipotent divinty called Mahaganapati who exists in the universe, and I am trying to invite him into the fire?

I remember a line from Vimalananda where he says, initially we create the deity in the astral body so that this deity (the one we projected) may lead us to the real deity who exists outside in the universe.

Did I understand the procedure correct? Kindly put down your thoughts on this.

-Regards

Rajarshi

--- On Thu, 10/9/09, Narasimha PVR Rao <pvr wrote:

Namaste Krishna Kanth,Suppose god really came to your place in a human form and asked you to give him some nice food. Will you allow someone who cooks terribly to cook? Why not allow him to "serve god"?It is not just about "serving god", but serving god *well*. A purified servant of god serves god with single-minded focus and devotion and has no other thoughts in mind when serving god. A more normal person may think various things in mind even when serving god. There is some self-centeredness and ego even in serving god.The god in your homam fire is not an external god, but your own internal god. Through your mental focus, you are projecting the limited manifestation of god inside you into fire and honing your ability to focus the mind on that god. I want to clarify one thing here. Though there is actually infinite divinity inside you, your pre-occupation with so many other things limits (or zeroes) the divinity that your mind can focus on, access and perceive. By focusing on it more and more, you grow it. Fire is a good medium to project it for focusing better. On practice, the divinity inside you that you can focus on and perceive grows with time. Thus, remember that what is in fire is the limited manifestation of god inside you that you are able to focus, acces and perceive. This limited divinity should be nurtured slowly and allowed to grow, rather than used up for unnecessary things. When this divinity grows and becomes infinite, all your desires and other thoughts will vanish and you will be able to single-mindedly focus on that divinity. Some precautions will help you in the journey.Karmas and thoughts of people who are making offerings in your homam fire are basically being received in your internal god. If he has enough power (his power is, after all, the power of *your own* focus!) to grant a specific desire of someone, he may just do it. But that makes him weaker and who knows whether the desire was worthwhile?!Of course, when you are offering things in fire, you yourself may have some unnecessary desires which may slow down the spiritual progress. But, that is a necessary evil and there is no escape. But, why let someone else's desires cause an extra slow down?Thus, this is not a matter of political correctness and being nice.However, there is already a lot of karmic intermixing between people very closely connected to one karmically, like wife, children and parents. Wife's desires may affect husband's desires and mother's desires may affect son's desires already (atleast in a closely bonded and old-fashioned families). So there is no significant drawback to allowing them to share fire.Bottomline:If some people are so close to you that you want to allow their karmas and their desires to affect your spiritual progress and slow you down, then allow such people to offer in your homam fire. Even if you do not allow specifically, some close people's karmas and desires may already be directly affecting your own karmas and desires and hence slowing you down!Usually, that would be immediate family, but you know your situation better.Best regards,Narasimha---- naaraayana_iyer <narayan.iyer@ gmail.com> wrote: > Namaste Shri Krishna Kanth,> > I am sure Narasimha meant outside of your immediate family. Immediate family includes spouse, children and parents. However, if you have a strong karmic connection with someone from previous lifetime's then they can also participate. Of course, this may not be obvious. For example, there was a gentleman whose last rites was performed not by his kids, but by one of his foreign students. Needless to say, the last rites are considered very important ritual and is a privilege of the children, however, in this case since there was a karmic connection, the foreign student (whom the gentleman also considered as one of his spiritual children) ended up performing the ritual. > > Regards> Narayan> > , krishna Kanth <kritels > wrote:> > > > Sri Narasimha garu & Narayan garu,> > > > Namaskaram.> > > > "Thus, allowing everyone to start or handle or making offerings into you fire can be inefficient at best and disastrous at worst"> > > > I was little taken aback by this statement of your's, because when is sit to do Homam, my mother and my 2 yr old son would join me (90% of the times) and i have encouraged them to offer some sesame seeds along with me in the Homam while i read the Atharvaseersham.> > > > I was always under the thought process that, i'm doing Homam and they are sitting with me and doing some seva to god along with me. But after reading your e-mail i'm in doubt whether should i ask them to stop offering in the fire? > > > > It is clear from your earlier e-mail about the answer, but somehow i'm not very comfortable with that statement as my thought process is still like, God has come to my place and everyone of us are serving him (as you have put that like in case of an Idol). Just wanted to just double check with you.> > > > As an alternative, can they offer some flowers and some Sandal paste/Turmeric etc to the Idol that we place along with the Homam instead of offering anything in the fire? or does they (mother oly ) has to perform the ritual independently all by herself and do not offer anything while i perform my ritual.> > > > Please clarify.> > > > Thanks and Regards> > KK> > > > --- On Tue, 9/8/09, Narasimha PVR Rao <pvr wrote:> > > > Namaste,> > > > (1) Namboodiris are (or atleast used to be) adepts in fire worship. What this namboodiri did is the correct way.> > > > Visualize the external fire as your internal fire and worship it. Then offerings in it will kindle your internal fire and streamline it, depending on how strong your identification is (it will get stronger with practice). If anyone handles that external fire or makes offerings in it, some karmas will be submitted by that person to your internal fire for burning. This intermingling of karmas can be allowed for people whose karmas are anyway intertwined, like husband and wife or parents and children. Of course, you can also take on karmas from the entire world if you are ready and willing to face their consequences, but a person with a strong individualized ego should limit the karmas one faces and work on erasing that ego. When one's ego becomes very subtle, it may be possible to take on more karmas and face their consequences. After all, if you start plucking leaves, flowers and fruits from a small plant, it will die. If you guard it and let it grow very> > big, it can give flowers and fruits to many more people. So, until you become very pure, keep working to burn your karmas and free yourself from the vaasanas (mental conditioning) caused by them.> > > > But some people use fire in the same way an idol is used. They allow anyone to start the fire in their homam, handle the fire and make offerings in it etc. If one who strongly identifies one's internal fire with external fire does such things, it can be disastrous. However, luckily, most people who follow this approach do not understand much about fire and do not have a strong identification with the fire. So, fire is practically like an idol for them and they do not benefit from fire as much as one can. Thus, allowing everyone to start or handle or making offerings into you fire can be inefficient at best and disastrous at worst.> > > > The best approach is: You start your own fire. Only you handle it. Only you make offerings in it. In your mind, identify it with your own internal fire (bhootaagni) that burns in the subtle body. If you do this for a while, a strong bond is indeed formed. Without your knowledge, the internal fire will become strong and burn various vaasanas.> > > > (2) There are different methods for beeja, shakti and keelakam, though anga nyaasa and kara nyaasa are usually standard.. Do not worry about these things and do what you are used to or what you are more attracted to.> > > > As I said many times, these nyaasas are just formality for most people. Placing a letter in a particular body part has a higher significance than just touching a body part and saying the letter. Visualizing a specific body part vibrating with a specific sound is possible only after one makes sufficient progress in purifying one's subtle perception. So there is no point in discussing what is essentially a formality. I can tell you that this will not block you.> > > > (3) They should be shown in the video. If you cannot get them, please feel free to just say it and not show any mudra. It will not block you..> > > > Best regards,> > Narasimha> > > > ---- gisundar <gisundar > wrote: > > > Namaskarams Narasimhaji,> > > I am planning to start doing regular Ganapathi homam (once in a week)starting this Sunday. I had a few queries . Request you to kindly answer them for me.> > > > > > 1) During some homams performed at my home, I have seen the Vadhyar (priest) ask my mother to light the homam fire during the agni invocation. I am a Palaghat Iyer and on other ocassions when we had a namboothiri perform the homam he would light the homam fire himself. > > > My question is whether I can ask my wife to start the homam fire or do it myself ?> > > > > > 2) during the anganyasa and karanysa specifically the glaam beejam , gleem shaktih , glaum kilakam mantraas/mudras , I used to touch the heart , then right and left breasts respectively whereas in the video you have shown it to be heart , navel and below respctively. Is the beejam , shakthih and kilakam mudras /mantrams differnet for each diety ? > > > > > > 3) There are 4 more avhana mudras for suprIto bhava,suprasanno bhava, varado bhava, sarvAbhIshTaprado bhava. The manual does not talks about these mudras. Kindly let me know if these are imporatnt and how to show these mudras.> > > > > > Thanks and regards,> > > Girish Sundaram

September 11, 2009

Namasthe

Please see this video, a story about fishes in the pond and a swan (paramamhamsa).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUByEOTIJrM & feature=related

On Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 8:45 PM, Narasimha P.V.R. Rao <pvr wrote:

Dear Rajarshi,

You have a knack for asking important questions, that sound simple but touch upon deep issues.

> I mean if I am focusing on Mahaganapati, am I just bringing out the

> energy of Mahaganapati from inside me or is there one single, universal,

> omnipotent divinty called Mahaganapati who exists in the universe, and

> I am trying to invite him into the fire?

Terms like internal god and external god are just a manner of speaking, for easy understanding and simplification of concepts. In reality, a deity existing microcosmically " inside " you, a deity existing microcosmically inside me, a deity existing microcosmically inside someone else and a deity existing " externally " in the macrocosm (universe) is one and the same and there is absolutely no difference between all of them! That is essentially the Upanishadic understanding.

In fact, when you say " inside me " , ask yourself : " what is this I " ? Is it the physical body? Is it the subtle body? Is it the causal body? When mind entertains the notion that it is a physical body, it indeed becomes aware of a physical body and looks at it as I. When mind entertains the notion that it is a subtle body, it indeed becomes aware of a subtle body and looks it as I. When mind entertains the notion that it is a causal body, it indeed becomes aware of a causal body and looks it as I. When mind finally overcomes all such notions one after the other, it may look at the supra-cosmic body (supreme cosmic being) as I. According to upanishadic understanding, there is nothing other than Brahman or supreme cosmic being. Thus, expressions like " inside me " , " inside you " and " inside him " are just expressions that describe false notions rather than reality. There is no real you, I and he, but there is only a supreme cosmic being.

* * *

When you have a conditioned mind, which has a notion that there is a certain entity called " Rajarshi Nandy " , an entity called " Narasimha Rao " etc, these entities exist within your mind, for as long as your mind can keep those notions alive. When all such false notions are successfully eliminated, only supreme cosmic being is left for the mind to focus on.

When a conditioned mind that has a notion that it is a specific person called " Rajarshi Nandy " in a specific body, such a mind is pre-occupied with so many things that it cannot focus itself on god perfectly. Due to its pre-occupations, it can only focus itself on small aspects of god, in a very limited way. This is like a mirror capturing Sun in a limited way. Sun's image may be reflected on 100 mirrors in 100 ways. One mirror may be broken and dark colored. It may reflect very little sunlight and sun may appear broken. Like that, each mind can focus on god in a different way, to a different extent. We express this fact in alternate words by saying " the mind focuses on internal god and he is limited " .

This is just a simple way to put things. In reality, the issue is not internal vs external. The issue is the mind's ability to perceive and focus on god. As the mind's pre-occupation with other things comes down and its ability to focus on god goes up, we say that the internal god is becoming stronger. Again, this is just a way of representation. In reality, god, whether you call him internal or external, is infinite and does not become weaker or stronger. But mind can focus better and mind's idea of god becomes stronger. After all, a dirty mirror reflecting Sun may show a dirty and dull Sun at first and show a cleaner and brighter Sun after you clean the mirror. Sun has not really become cleaner or bighter. He is the same always. We can say " Sun in the mirror " has become cleaner and brighter. But there is really no Sun " in the " mirror! Though we may talk about Sun in mirror 1, Sun in mirror 2, Sun in mirror 3 and the external Sun, they are all one and the same!

This manner of speaking about internal vs external god and talking about strengthening internal god is used to simplify things. Bottomline is that any visualization of god by a mind is limited by the conditioning, abilities and impurities of that mind. By allowing the mind to visualize god, to the best of its ability, on a regular basis, we sharpen its ability to visualize god. Eventually, mind loses all other pre-occupations and becomes fully absorbed in the infinite god. Then we say that internal god has become infinite. This is just a manner of speaking.

* * *

I want to give a small practical example, that is somewhat relevant and illustrates some concepts.

Once a couple of priests with a high spiritual caliber were conducting a Rudraabhishekam. They were chanting Sree Rudram 11 times. A person who worships Mahaalakshmi was sitting in a corner of the room. He started to meditate with Savitru Gayatri mantra, his favorite mantra. Whichever mantra or deity he worships, he always considers everything to be an offering to Mahalakshmi and imagines only her as receiving the mantra. Here also, he was visualizing Mahalakshmi as filling his entire being and was offering Gayatri mantra to her. After a while, his Kundalini rose and his self-awareness was modified. He lost the regular awareness of body, perceived an all-pervading light that he was part of and remained in a nice spiritual state for a while. When he came back and the pooja was finished, one of the priests described something unusual that he " saw " . In the middle of the pooja, that priest turned towards this person and was surprised by what he saw. He saw a tall 18-handed form of Mahalakshmi standing in the place of this person for a little while.

As that person meditated, his senses turned inward and he was looking internally. His mind was focused on Mahaalakshmi, who filled his entire being in his visualization. As Kundalini rose, his distinction of internal and external blurred and he perceived himself as *a part* of all-pervading light (it is neither " internal " nor " external " ). He basically perceived Mahaalakshmi as the all-pervading light that he was also a part of. However, the priest who happened to look at him at that time was also in a purified state and so he noticed something. His mental conditioning at that time made him see a specific external form rather than an all-pervading form. But both the priest and the person perceived the same entity in two different ways. One was external and limited. The other was neither internal nor external (but obtained by looking internally at first) and unlimited. But, both are the same. They appeared different to two minds because of the conditioning of those minds rather than anything else, just as the same Sun may appear different in two different mirrors!

* * *

No amount of theorization will help one fully understand and appreciate things like this. The most important thing is to do some sadhana, such as homam or meditation, on a regular basis. No effort is wasted and eventually gives results when there is critical mass. Whatever I say, whatever masters have said before and whatever rishis taught in upanishads, can be understood and appreciated through direct experience. THAT is the goal of sadhana. Reading scriptures and mails like this is only a starting point. One has to engage in some sadhana. Even people like Ramana Maharshi, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Trilinga Swami, Vivekananda etc did sadhana for many years, before they realized god.

Best regards,NarasimhaDo a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/homam

Do Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/tarpanaSpirituality:

Free Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro.home.comcast.netFree Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAstrologer.org

Sri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagannath.org

-

Namaste Narasimha,

I little bit of deviation from this topic of this mail.

There is something which I find a little confusion. I hope you will clear that point. You mentioned:

The god in your homam fire is not an external god, but your own internal god. Through your mental focus, you are projecting the limited manifestation of god inside you into fire and honing your ability to focus the mind on that god. I want to clarify one thing here. Though there is actually infinite divinity inside you, your pre-occupation with so many other things limits (or zeroes) the divinity that your mind can focus on, access and perceive. By focusing on it more and more, you grow it. Fire is a good medium to project it for focusing better.

When we are doing a homam or any puja, we are trying to create the deity from within ourselves where it exists. My questions is, is this where all deities reside(inside)? I mean if I am focusing on Mahaganapati, am I just bringing out the energy of Mahaganapati from inside me or is there one single, universal, omnipotent divinty called Mahaganapati who exists in the universe, and I am trying to invite him into the fire?

I remember a line from Vimalananda where he says, initially we create the deity in the astral body so that this deity (the one we projected) may lead us to the real deity who exists outside in the universe.

Did I understand the procedure correct? Kindly put down your thoughts on this.

-Regards

Rajarshi

--- On Thu, 10/9/09, Narasimha PVR Rao <pvr wrote:

Namaste Krishna Kanth,Suppose god really came to your place in a human form and asked you to give him some nice food. Will you allow someone who cooks terribly to cook? Why not allow him to " serve god " ?

It is not just about " serving god " , but serving god *well*. A purified servant of god serves god with single-minded focus and devotion and has no other thoughts in mind when serving god. A more normal person may think various things in mind even when serving god. There is some self-centeredness and ego even in serving god.

The god in your homam fire is not an external god, but your own internal god. Through your mental focus, you are projecting the limited manifestation of god inside you into fire and honing your ability to focus the mind on that god. I want to clarify one thing here. Though there is actually infinite divinity inside you, your pre-occupation with so many other things limits (or zeroes) the divinity that your mind can focus on, access and perceive. By focusing on it more and more, you grow it. Fire is a good medium to project it for focusing better. On practice, the divinity inside you that you can focus on and perceive grows with time. Thus, remember that what is in fire is the limited manifestation of god inside you that you are able to focus, acces and perceive. This limited divinity should be nurtured slowly and allowed to grow, rather than used up for unnecessary things. When this divinity grows and becomes infinite, all your desires and other thoughts will vanish and you will be able to single-mindedly focus on that divinity. Some precautions will help you in the journey.

Karmas and thoughts of people who are making offerings in your homam fire are basically being received in your internal god. If he has enough power (his power is, after all, the power of *your own* focus!) to grant a specific desire of someone, he may just do it. But that makes him weaker and who knows whether the desire was worthwhile?!

Of course, when you are offering things in fire, you yourself may have some unnecessary desires which may slow down the spiritual progress. But, that is a necessary evil and there is no escape. But, why let someone else's desires cause an extra slow down?

Thus, this is not a matter of political correctness and being nice.However, there is already a lot of karmic intermixing between people very closely connected to one karmically, like wife, children and parents. Wife's desires may affect husband's desires and mother's desires may affect son's desires already (atleast in a closely bonded and old-fashioned families). So there is no significant drawback to allowing them to share fire.

Bottomline:If some people are so close to you that you want to allow their karmas and their desires to affect your spiritual progress and slow you down, then allow such people to offer in your homam fire. Even if you do not allow specifically, some close people's karmas and desires may already be directly affecting your own karmas and desires and hence slowing you down!

Usually, that would be immediate family, but you know your situation better.Best regards,Narasimha---- naaraayana_iyer <narayan.iyer@ gmail.com> wrote:

> Namaste Shri Krishna Kanth,> > I am sure Narasimha meant outside of your immediate family. Immediate family includes spouse, children and parents. However, if you have a strong karmic connection with someone from previous lifetime's then they can also participate. Of course, this may not be obvious. For example, there was a gentleman whose last rites was performed not by his kids, but by one of his foreign students. Needless to say, the last rites are considered very important ritual and is a privilege of the children, however, in this case since there was a karmic connection, the foreign student (whom the gentleman also considered as one of his spiritual children) ended up performing the ritual.

> > Regards> Narayan> > , krishna Kanth <kritels > wrote:

> > > > Sri Narasimha garu & Narayan garu,> > > > Namaskaram.> > > > " Thus, allowing everyone to start or handle or making offerings into you fire can be inefficient at best and disastrous at worst "

> > > > I was little taken aback by this statement of your's, because when is sit to do Homam, my mother and my 2 yr old son would join me (90% of the times) and i have encouraged them to offer some sesame seeds along with me in the Homam while i read the Atharvaseersham.

> > > > I was always under the thought process that, i'm doing Homam and they are sitting with me and doing some seva to god along with me. But after reading your e-mail i'm in doubt whether should i ask them to stop offering in the fire?

> > > > It is clear from your earlier e-mail about the answer, but somehow i'm not very comfortable with that statement as my thought process is still like, God has come to my place and everyone of us are serving him (as you have put that like in case of an Idol). Just wanted to just double check with you.

> > > > As an alternative, can they offer some flowers and some Sandal paste/Turmeric etc to the Idol that we place along with the Homam instead of offering anything in the fire? or does they (mother oly ) has to perform the ritual independently all by herself and do not offer anything while i perform my ritual.

> > > > Please clarify.> > > > Thanks and Regards> > KK> > > > --- On Tue, 9/8/09, Narasimha PVR Rao <pvr wrote:> > > > Namaste,

> > > > (1) Namboodiris are (or atleast used to be) adepts in fire worship. What this namboodiri did is the correct way.> > > > Visualize the external fire as your internal fire and worship it. Then offerings in it will kindle your internal fire and streamline it, depending on how strong your identification is (it will get stronger with practice). If anyone handles that external fire or makes offerings in it, some karmas will be submitted by that person to your internal fire for burning. This intermingling of karmas can be allowed for people whose karmas are anyway intertwined, like husband and wife or parents and children. Of course, you can also take on karmas from the entire world if you are ready and willing to face their consequences, but a person with a strong individualized ego should limit the karmas one faces and work on erasing that ego. When one's ego becomes very subtle, it may be possible to take on more karmas and face their consequences. After all, if you start plucking leaves, flowers and fruits from a small plant, it will die. If you guard it and let it grow very

> > big, it can give flowers and fruits to many more people. So, until you become very pure, keep working to burn your karmas and free yourself from the vaasanas (mental conditioning) caused by them.> >

> > But some people use fire in the same way an idol is used. They allow anyone to start the fire in their homam, handle the fire and make offerings in it etc. If one who strongly identifies one's internal fire with external fire does such things, it can be disastrous. However, luckily, most people who follow this approach do not understand much about fire and do not have a strong identification with the fire. So, fire is practically like an idol for them and they do not benefit from fire as much as one can. Thus, allowing everyone to start or handle or making offerings into you fire can be inefficient at best and disastrous at worst.

> > > > The best approach is: You start your own fire. Only you handle it. Only you make offerings in it. In your mind, identify it with your own internal fire (bhootaagni) that burns in the subtle body. If you do this for a while, a strong bond is indeed formed. Without your knowledge, the internal fire will become strong and burn various vaasanas.

> > > > (2) There are different methods for beeja, shakti and keelakam, though anga nyaasa and kara nyaasa are usually standard.. Do not worry about these things and do what you are used to or what you are more attracted to.

> > > > As I said many times, these nyaasas are just formality for most people. Placing a letter in a particular body part has a higher significance than just touching a body part and saying the letter. Visualizing a specific body part vibrating with a specific sound is possible only after one makes sufficient progress in purifying one's subtle perception. So there is no point in discussing what is essentially a formality. I can tell you that this will not block you.

> > > > (3) They should be shown in the video. If you cannot get them, please feel free to just say it and not show any mudra. It will not block you..> > > > Best regards,> > Narasimha

> > > > ---- gisundar <gisundar > wrote: > > > Namaskarams Narasimhaji,> > > I am planning to start doing regular Ganapathi homam (once in a week)starting this Sunday. I had a few queries . Request you to kindly answer them for me.

> > > > > > 1) During some homams performed at my home, I have seen the Vadhyar (priest) ask my mother to light the homam fire during the agni invocation. I am a Palaghat Iyer and on other ocassions when we had a namboothiri perform the homam he would light the homam fire himself.

> > > My question is whether I can ask my wife to start the homam fire or do it myself ?> > > > > > 2) during the anganyasa and karanysa specifically the glaam beejam , gleem shaktih , glaum kilakam mantraas/mudras , I used to touch the heart , then right and left breasts respectively whereas in the video you have shown it to be heart , navel and below respctively. Is the beejam , shakthih and kilakam mudras /mantrams differnet for each diety ?

> > > > > > 3) There are 4 more avhana mudras for suprIto bhava,suprasanno bhava, varado bhava, sarvAbhIshTaprado bhava. The manual does not talks about these mudras. Kindly let me know if these are imporatnt and how to show these mudras.

> > > > > > Thanks and regards,> > > Girish Sundaram