Answers that I am searching, please help me.

[Venugopalan]

I have been discussing about life and philosophy with my close friends who are interested in the topics. Of late I want to get some definite solutions to some of my questions about life, existence, creation etc., and Earlier I used to be interested in reading books that give a broad picture of things or I feel they were ( Osho, J.Krishnamurthy, Swami Vivekananda and books and topics / lectures on life, philosophy vedanta etc., ).

 

I have been asking myself a few questions about life, creation, our existence and the cycle of creation and destruction. Why I am here, on what is self realization. Is it a permanent state. What happens after self realization. Will a self realized person always in that state. How can a human being always be in the universal state of GOD hood.

Why are we associating a form to the universal shakthi itself. Telling that the universal form where all of this creation exists is a human form ( Lalitha Tripurasundari ). Why not this be a formless thing ( or non-existent, I am not sure if I can tell it as a thing in the first place ).

Why do we try to confine the supreme and universal god into a fixed form of say Lalitha. Why is it that we associate a particular form based on a particular criteria ( Lalitha tripurasundari's form for instance ) and Shiva's form and for that matter the other forms of gods.

And if we call the goddess the universal mother is it necessary that a human being follow the hindu symbolism to attain the state of enlightenment.

 

 

The Lalithopakyana itself about the fight between the gods and the asuras. Are they just symbolism's to indicate a much deeper thing / purpose. Who are the shivas and the Vishnus. I pray the idols in my house, but a lot of the time I feel that I am praying out of fear and greed and sometimes I feel that I might become an atheist. Should I just stop my prayer and keep doing my work and follow my instincts and stay withing the societal guidelines so that I don't hurt anyone and live a life that is not bounded by the fear and superstitious ideas. But again I come back to my original thoughts and I do pray.

I also strongly feel that god should be a very easy concept and why should we have so many different things about god and how to reach god and to know god etc., and still why am I not able to comprehend and grasp the concept of god.

 

I have my own doubts about free will and if I ( my individual soul ) had the free will and if it is by this free will that my soul separated from the universal whole where I ( my soul ) is again wanting to go back. Why should I ( my soul ) should have come out in the first place. What is this free will about. Also, If the soul had come out of the universal whole, it should have been in a state of purity since it is was so close to the whole and at the same time the great resistance it had to come out of the whole would have created an equal amount of difference so should I consider my soul ( at that time of separation from the whole ) to be purer or more differentiated.

 

What is this going back to the source about, why are SO many different paths and why is this creation in the first place. There should be something that I am not able to comprehend.

 

I have read and heard that the human form is attained after 84 crore yoni bedhams. So does it mean that the so many forms ( from single cellular organisms to the current human form ) is an ever evolving form ( at least when I take this earth ). Will this continue to happen with millions and millions of life forms ( including humans ) going through these phases. The evolution as is seen by us on the earth itself.

About re-incarnations and the repetition of the human birth after being born ( after crossing the 84 crore different forms ), what if due to some really bad karma the human being is again going to be born as a non-human, when will the soul get the human form again etc., Or is there a fixed set for every one ( where there is no free will, although it appears like a free will ), should I say it is all planned and we are only doing our roles and we should not think of the free will.

 

I have lot more to ask and get some clarity on but I am trying to understand these logically. Hence beyond a point I am not able to progress.

 

I have been discussing a lot of these with my close friends and most of the times we just end up saying may be thats the reason we need someone to show the way or someone has all the answers. Sometimes it might not appear logical but there is a greater logic in play that is controlling everything.

 

I wanted to vent out all my thoughts to someone and I have read on this site / Web that Sri vidya path is a very logical and scientific path. Hence today I thought of putting forward my questions. During my searches and going through the articles I found this email ID.

 

I have also sent this request to another email ID about a person on shakhta Tantra. ( On Shakthi Sadhana Web site ).

 

Please help me understand the reasons

 

Thanks in advance.

[sambya]

well , the nature of question is such that it will attract a wide variety of answers , each different from the other . each sect would project their philosophy as an answer . thats the way the world works .

 

since you are drawn towards devi or shaktism and vedanta and other philosophies also i would suggest you reading the famous 'gospel of ramakrishna' aka 'ramakrishna kathamrita' . ramakrishna as you might be already knowing was the spiritual guru of vivekananda and also a devotee of mother goddess . ramakrishna kathamrita is the published personal diary of one of his disciple who wrote down his preachings when he got home each day . they were gathered together and published after the demise of ramakrishna . it presents the most profound truths in most simple of languages .

 

do check it out . it would open a whole new world to you .

 

as a hind note i should also note that it is completely different from works of swami vivekananda .

 

god bless . hari om

[Venugopalan]

Dear Sambya,

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

I will go through the books that you have suggested. Hopefully my doubts gets cleared.

 

Thank you,

Venu.

[ramana_dasan]

Dear Venugopalan

 

Your mail and esp the questions about why to attach God to a form is asked by many in different ways. For example when I say Shirdhi Sai Baba is God himself and all devatas are in his form, people will first utterly get confused. For another example other person may sya that chant Rama and Rama will help you. Then the question comes what about the Kruthya yug people who where there before Rama is born?

 

Lalitha -- in Shakthism, Radha in Gowdiya Vaishnavism, Thaayaar in Ramanuja vaishnavism -- so many are there.

 

Again formless in Advaita.

 

 

First and foremost you need not get an answer to the brain for all of your questions. The answers cannot be interpreted at the brain level. So the question posed by the brain will be answered totally in a different plane not involving the brain.

 

But one thing is sure -- atleast who prayed to Mother Shakthi with perfect faith and maximum surrender possibel will go nearer and nearer to the answer proportinate to the bhakthi.

 

Then you may ask what is Mother Shakthi? Is it Lalitha or Abhirami or what is it really?

 

I will tell you -- the supreme Para Shakthi exists in all planes in all levels for all devotee's mind sets. You can feel Shakthi when you lift your bag -- without which you wont be lifting your bag. You can feel her in being able to see this post through your own eyes. She is the sublte shakthi or force behind whaterver and whoever does -- starting from an ant right upto Sadha Shiva , everbody acts only with that shakthi.

 

So next time you take a walk observe the force with which you are walking, For a moment stop, imagine what is the force behind the movements of the foot? From where it comes? Who triggers the brain to give direction to the nervers to walk? From where we are drawing our force to do our stuff? That force is Para Shakthi.

 

So what best way you can grasp her -- you start grasping her in that best possible way. Rest assured everythign you do is only with her force. So she is inseparably present in all of the elements of this universe -- so whichever way appealed to you -- that way itself is under the governance and survelliance of her force only.

 

Start with what appeals to you right now -- form or formless or simply a nama like lalitha, ambaa, shaambavi, sthambhini, saakambhari, maathangi or marry or anything for that matter. Start with it , gather all your thoughs, vibrations, feelings everythign possible in and around that which appealed you and with full momentum surrender to her whatever you feel. This way Mother will start revealing herself to you.

 

Remember it is important to board the plane to America -- not to worry about if you shold take pacific ocean route or atlantic ocean route. Whatever the route the destination will be the same. Dont try to guess that destination with the aid of the brain -- for that destination itself lies in different levels -- before final destination there are sheds of beautiful islands where you land for some time and see back your path.

 

All the best.

 

Om Shakthi Paraa Shakthi.

[Gadiyar]

I too had questions such as you have. To answer all your questions, would mean writing an entire treatise on Advaita philosophy. I have read advaita, vishista advaita, dwaita-advaita and dwaita. To me Adi Sankara's philosophy and interpretation of the scriptures seemed to answer all my doubts. If you have already read it then my apologies for suggesting it again. Tatbodha by Adishankara is excellent introductory book for anyone wanting to know about advaita. I supplemented it with a more detailed reading of Advaita philosophy in Indian Philosophy by Radhakrishnan. In fact Radhakrishnan's book [in two volumes; but the relevant bits are in Vol 1] gave me the best insight. It also tells you about the advent of Advaita with Gaudapada and then how Sankara made it all complete. I am an ardent Devi worshipper along with my wife and the concept of Brahman and Maya makes perfect sense.

[Venugopalan]

Dear friends,

 

Thank you very much for your time in replying to my queries. Your statements did give me clarity.

I wish I have the support and will to continue on the path towards experiencing the answers.

 

Thank you once again for your time.

Venu.

[gautam60]

Shri Gurubhyoh Namah

 

Shri Venugopalan,

 

Namaskar. The fact that you are asking these questions with an acute desire to know means that the Inner Guru has started the process to get the answers.

 

The Inner Guru is God or your own true Identity. Every other Identity is relative or borrowed, subject to apparent causality, space time etc. May I venture to suggest that the most profound Avaitavadin and the most profound Dvaitavadin occupy EXACTLY the SAME POINT of realization. How they choose to interpret the profound absence of self and explain that feeling, that experience, is where their samskaras lead them to use different CONCEPTUAL MODES ONLY. Same goes for SHUNYAVADIS.

 

In the Rgveda,we have such terms as VARUNA, VAIVASVATA YAMA. These are very dense with meaning, PREGNANT with meaning. Once you are caught in their grip, that same Inner Guru will attract external influences, be it human or other teachers, books, life experiences. We call these the External Gurus.

 

But please note that just as the THUMB is the prime element in your hand that essentially manages the use of the other fingers, so also it is the INNER GURU pulling in these external Gurus at each stage of your development.

 

Now, Bhagavan [term of respect for a great rsi] Bhrgu asked Bhagavan [DEITY, avyakta paramapurusha here !] Varuna some questions that were troubling him, exactly the circumstances you find yourself in now. This is in the BHRGUVALLI of the TAITTIRIYA UPANISHAD. The important point we are making here is that Bhagavan Varuna gave Bhrgu Rsi a tiny teaching.

Immediately, holding that BRIEF teaching in his conscious the rsi did enormous tapasya around the meaning of that teaching. Tapasya means effort that produces heat. This has relevance when we understand that the word DIKSHA is derived from DAH + SAN (a pratyaya) the abhIpsA or determination to go up in flames. When someone is so determined that s/he is ready to become fire, i.e. burn up, transmute his nature, s/he is ready for DIKSHA and then, getting a little TEACHING, does TAPASYA, that burning we mentioned. That FIRE is invoked with the name, given a personality, SAHAS SUNU. Sunu is the same word as SON, and SAHAS means INDOMITABLE FORCE, SPIRIT, COURAGE. Our minds are creatures of concepts, and it helps if we have a conceptual overhang on which to focus.

Now the main point is, Brghuji spent his entire effort is GROWING HIS CAPACITY to fully understand that teaching. There is prajnAnam [apprehension] and then samjnAnam [absolute comprehension], knowing by BECOMING! SAMYAK SAMBODHI.

So, growing your capacity is very very crucial. Asking someone to explain something is not enough. You also have to generate a corresponding capacity to absorb.

Consider Shri Venugopal at age 1 month looking out at the Universe and interpreting it as he MUST have done then in his own terms. Then consider him doing that at age 5, 10, 25, 50, 70. At each stage it is the same man, but his mode of interpreting or understanding the world has changed due to experience, education or other factors. We can say his capacity has altered.

Likewise, here too your capacity needs to be grown in the right way in the right directions. You have proceeded in a most auspicious path, reading books by authentic spiritual teachers like Swami Vivekananda. I have no idea about Osho, since I really know nothing about him except hearsay.

One additional way is directly to tell your ATMAN whatever you need, straight and simple: I am trying to find my direction about important things. “Atman, you who are omnipotent and omniscient, please do not fail me but help me in my quest.” Keep requesting the Atman and it will most definitely respond. I should not raise your hopes, but sometimes I have found it to respond almost in a miraculous fashion. I am saying this truth in the name of my Holy Guru. But do not get worried about results. The struggle is VERY IMPORTANT. You are building spiritual muscles with this weight training!

Please try this. Swami Vivekananda suggested this method. I have tried it myself and it works for me. Nothing is without effort. Shri Ramana Maharshi underwent great tapasya to find his goal.

I am an ant, a mere nothing, but please let me say that things my holy teacher said when I was 15-18 I had strenuously kept churning in my mind and heart more than 32 years, never giving up even when life turned totally black. Indeed, those words and ideas were the only things that kept me alive, sane and a human being.

The holy teacher creates a 360 degrees environment, not just through words but life circumstances too. You had better be prepared because the teacher in the end says that hardship and enemies are the kindest teacher. He would say “ Directly, could never do anything like this to any of my children. Also, if any of them knew what was in store for them they would run away and not have the courage to continue.” He was right on both counts. I would never have had the courage. But without being broken in many serious ways, nothing comes alive. You give up something to find something. How much of one, is the interesting part!!

Now that I am 50, only the faintest stirrings of sense may be dawning. But all that you asked, the entire structure of reality as cognized by the conceptual mind [buddhi, manas, prana, vak & how they interact with the chatushpAda brahman : akash, dik, ananta, manobuddhisattva], is very clear. It can be told to someone many times over, BUT without effect. That is the interesting part. You need to go through that fire YOURSELF to find out the SPARKLING RELEVANCE and meaning of each word.

WHY? If I sit with you and only talk about a map from Chennai to Delhi, even though you may be very interested in making the journey, I would lose your comprehension much before we got to Dindigul!! If both of us were making the journey TOGETHER, and say I was just 1 km ahead of you, then every night I could come back to you and happily discuss about that intervening 1 km, and the next day’s travel plans would be most relevant and exciting to both of us. Just so in this case.

The very issue is the conceptual mind, which deals with concept, word, meaning and sound. Then there is consciousness and lifeforce. How sound-light, conciousness and lifeforce interact and entwining flow “back into the source” is the answer to ALL your questions.

 

Whether you take one system or the other, the issue is the same. However you cook cabbage, be it one of 10 different Indian styles or 20 different foreign styles, it is the cabbage you have to cook, eat and get strength from.

Your preliminary teachers came in the form of books.Other teachers may have been role models like parents, grandparents,even a faithful dog or old servant. The name of the game is how to kill selfishness, give the “I” without any condition. It takes no big system. Try to understand this clearly: the problem is the mirage between SELF AND OTHER. Once you find a path to resolve that, everything falls into place.

Insome Shakta paths we have elaborate ways to vibrating in phase with SWARUPANANDA, JAGADANANDA, VISHAYANANDA all at the same moment, and not be in time at all, the great spanda of the Kamakala and many other things. But you cannot get Tat TVAM through TATTVA!!

My dear friend, all of these come down to ONE thing only: knowing how to give away this “I”. Speak nicely to people around you, be genuinely concerned about their needs, NOT your own. When you see poor people on the streets, offer them at least an internal namaskar.If you eat in a small hotel, be genuinely courteous to waiters, give them namaskar, treat them like your brothers, not servants. Offer tips as a pranami, not as baksheesh: think, Holy ShrimanNarayana, please grant me the grace of taking from my hands what you have blessed me with in the first place. See the Narayana in them and offer the money with folded hands. Make yourself small & humble, but neither foolish, weak or vulnerable.

Always keep a holy name in your mind. Whatever name you like or nothing at all, just say Atman because you cannot deny your own soul!!!!!! Every hour put an alarm on these telephones or watches, and just take ONE MINUTE to say ATMAN or whatever name pleases you.

Please do some of these practices regularly and you will definitely find CHITTAPRASADA. Moreover, you will find that your questions will be getting resolved slowly.

By the way, if you are married, treat your wife with utmost respect and affection.Any woman, for that matter. When she touches you in a conjugal manner, think that Holy Atman is giving you abhishekam. I will not trouble you with deity names!! When she even looks at you, see in that look the Holy Atman looking at you with infinite compassion and grace, prasada.(In the ShrimadBhagavadGita, not once is the word ANANDA mentioned!! Instead we have PRASADA. Try to explore the many meanings of this word; take decades if you feel the need, no rush!!)

When anyone, especially a woman, is serving you food, or even in the market selling food, accept her offering with a mental namaskar. Thank you Holy Atman, you are coming to me in this auspicious form, I bow to YOU. I am deadly serious about this.

If you see a beautiful woman to whom you are attracted too much physically, say/think Atman, Atman inher direction. We say Kali, Kali, but you choose whatever term you want. That is why it is crucial that no AryasantAna above 24 remain unmarried; that is ORDER of the shastras. Either be a sannyasi or be a sanctified householder, not a s.o.b. in between. Marriage is an immeasurably holy sacrament. There are 2 types of tyAgis, the householder and the sannyasi. Especially for the Kaula shakta, strict modes of renunciation at many levels is spontaneous, who is in unbroken adoration of his wife. She IS the Guru-Deity. That is a special and huge branch of Shakti sadhana: svakIyA kevalA jneyA sarvadosha vivarjitA.

Point is, please be very careful how you treat or see any woman: young girls, old women, married women, anyone. India is a slavish country because we enslave our women. Even Manu says, yatra naryastu pujyante tatra ramante devatAh……na pujyante…sarvastAtrah.aphalAkriyA. In India, we have all our auspicious, dharmic activities generally going towards failure, but not the asuric ones!!

Please forgive me for the long post and for any personal or lecturing attitude I have taken. These are things that I have personally found to give results. Shakta sadhana is KRIYAVATI, action-oriented, not discursive. Therefore I included some small ideas to include in daily activities, some changes in outlook etc., if not already present. Inculcating these is BOUND to give visible results one way or the other. You have a tiny boil deep in your muscle. By placing some hot compresses, the boil can come to the surface. Then a real doctor, a true teacher can take over. That is my heartfelt prayer at the feet of the Holy Guru.