moksha

Maha mrutyunjai mantra

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This is a somewhat technical post. Someone requested me to write on this mantra so I took my time over it and its typical grammar. I will follow the grammatical meaning Shabd-arth and extrapolate it to the essence of the mantra Bhav-arth, all strictly within the framework of the grammar. 

ॐ त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे
सुगन्धिं पुष्टिवर्धनम् ।
उर्वारुकमिव बन्धनात्
मृत्योर्मुक्षीय मामृतात् ॥

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The Rg 7-59 Sukta

The Maha mrutyunjai mantra is from the Rg ved 7th Mandal. It is the 12th shlok in the 59th sukta. So I opened my copy of the Rg Ved and and tried to understand what this sukta says. (If you can afford and feel like, get the 4 Ved Sanhita-s published by Yug nirman yojana vistar trust. These are translated by Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya and Shrimati Bhagvati Devi Sharma, the set costs about Rs 1400/-)

The Rishi of this sukta is Vasishtha-maitravaruni. The deities are the Marut and the Mrutyu vimochani Rudra. Chhand, ie the meter of prosody is the Anushtup. 

The Marut are the energies of the breath, fierce winds, storms and war. And this word also means god, gold and beauty. Marut are the conscious energy of movement, change and vital energy/ pran. Rudra is the deity associated with the Marut as they both rule over the area between ‘the Earth and the Sun’, ie the Mooladhar and the Sahasrara chakras. They are sort of a link between the physical foundation and the heights of the conscious. Rudra is also said to be the father of the Maruts, so can be considered to be the brilliance of the pran energy. He is the reason due to which changes occur in the substance of the pran, which cause further cascading changes in animated beings. The energy which causes change can also be used to consciously direct the change and if needed also be used to stop the change from occurring. Thus Rudra and Marut together are a formidable force.

As I had mentioned in my post on Kaal here, ‘change’ is an illusion. Perception of change depends on the perspective. (eg If you stand at the center of a merry-go-round, your position does not change, even if it spins around you. But if you ride on the play-horses here, you will be swinging around till you get dizzy.) To exit this illusion of ‘apparent change’, we have to consciously use the power of Marut and Rudra. And this is precisely what we are doing in this Sukta which includes the Mahamrutyunjai mantra.

Let’s briefly examine the framework of the Rg 7-59 Sukta,

  • In the first 1-10 shlok-s, ‘we’ are invoking the Marut, fortifying them with power, requesting them to increase our strength, to destroy all our enemies, to be with us in happiness, to support us with their presence.
  • In the 11th shlok, we are inviting the Marut to come to our Yajnya with ‘Yajnyam Marut Aa Vrune’. This is the first mention of ‘Yajnya’ in this sukta.
  • So the background is that we are harnessing the power of the Marut, the vital energy and now exhorting them to provide their these energies to the Yajna, ie the evolution towards the Self. We are increasing the power of our vital energy/ pran and fortifying ourselves for the final evolution. And are preparing ourselves for taking the decisive step towards the highest evolution.
  • Then the 12th shlok of this sukta is the famous Maha mrutyunjai mantra.

The Maha mrutyunjai mantra written as per the anushtubh chhand, ie 4 lines of 8 syllables each.

Trayambakam yajamahe
Sugandhim pushtivardhanam |
Urvarukam eva bandhanat
Mrutyuh mukshiya maa amrutat ||

The form of this shlok in the Sukta does not start with the Om, but when we do sadhana with this mantra we have to begin the mantra with Om, else it creates imbalance.

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The grammar of the words used in the Maha mrutyunjai mantra. Writing a bit on this to emphasise the beauty of the Devbhasha Samskrutam.

  • Tryambakam – neuter gender, nominative and accusative singular
  • Yajamahe – root verb Yaj यज् (1UP /AP) present tense, plural, first person
  • Sugandhim – neuter gender, nominative and accusative singular
  • Pushtivardhanam – neuter gender, nominative and accusative singular.
  • Urvarukam – neuter gender, nominative and accusative singular.
  • Iva – indeclinable
  • Bandhanat – neuter gender, ablative singular
  • Mrutyu – masculine gender, nominative singular
  • Mukshiya – root verb मुच् Much (6UP /AP) benedictive, first person singular (a very typical verb form)
  • Maa – indeclinable
  • Amrutat – neuter gender, ablative singular

The nouns are in three forms. So we have three options of subject/ object nouns.
1. neuter gender, nominative and accusative singular.
2. neuter gender, ablative singular
3. masculine gender, nominative singular

The indeclinables are Iva and Maa

Both the verbs in this mantra are from the ubhay-pad category, but their atmane-pad forms are used. Thus it is clearly indicated that the fruit of these actions directly go to whoever has acted in the first place. From these verbs, it is understood that the mantra is recited by ‘us’ or ‘I’. The doer is the first person, initially in the plural in ‘yajamahe’ and then in the singular in ‘mukshiya’.

  • So with the first verb yajamahe, ‘We’ are getting the fruits of this evolution which ‘we’ are performing in the present tense.
  • And in the second verb ‘mukshiya’, it is the benedictive mood. So ‘I’ am giving ‘myself’ this blessing that by the result of this action ‘I’ will be liberated. This is a rare form of the verb found only in Vedic Sanskrit.

Now if you just look at these words and their grammar it is obvious that the way the mantra is traditionally translated does not fit the words. I am assuming that there are two sentence structures because there are two verbs in the mantra, yajamahe and mukshiya. Also in Sanskrit, more than the order of the words in the sentence, the grammar is paramount in conveying its sense.

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So let’s understand what is being said.

Om is the moorti of the Advaita. Om is the energy which is accessible in the created universes and yet is ‘nearest’ to the highest Consciousness. A sort of a bridge from the illusion of creation to the Reality of the Non-dual. Om is composed of four parts of which three are accessible in the created universe, ie the states of Jagruti, Swapna and Sushupti, represented by the akshar A, U and M. The vibrations created by the 4th part ie the Bindu help the spiritual aspirant realise his Self. At the lowest level of consciousness you are aware only in the Awake-Jagrut state. As your consciousness expands you become aware of your Dream-Swapna and later Deep-sleep Sushupti states. And as you progress even more, you are able to dissolve these three states related to the creation into the 4th part of Om, the Bindu. Once this happens you are Enlightened, ie you have achieved Moksh, you experience yourself as the Non-dual Advaita. Whenever you do any mantra jaap you must start with Om, this channelises the power of the mantra in a safe and conducive way for you.

The trayambakam are the three states which are seen or perceived. ie the Jagruti, Swapna and Sushupti, thus the trayambakam are often commonly considered to be the ‘three eyes’. These trayambakam are the fluid energies which generate these three different types of experiences. As one experiences does one exist, so we can say that these three, Jagruti, Swapna and Sushupti, are the three perceived states of existence. Only when these three states of existence are ‘sacrificed’ does the fire of internal Self become visible. These three states are to be merged into the Light of the Self or ‘sacrificed’ in the fire of Awareness, which in this mantra ‘we’ will be doing.

In this sentence the doer is not specifically mentioned, ie there is no subject noun but as the verb ‘yajamahe’ is in first person plural, the subject is implied as ‘We’. The mantra describes a dynamic situation where these three states of perception are made to continually evolve, ie their energy levels being increased by ‘our’ conscious efforts. Here the doers are in plural. The three fold states of lower levels of consciousness ie Jagruti, Swapna and Sushupti avastha are continuously evolving by the action of multiple doers. Ie the doers of this act are still perceiving themselves as the multiple and are working with multiple states of existence, duality is perceived to exist.

Sugandhim is used as an adjective of Tryambakam. These three states, Jagruti, Swapna and Sushupti bear only a very small quantity of the Highest Consciousness. These three states are exactly ‘perfumed’ with the tiniest part of the most Excellent awareness. These three contain the highest virtue of the Eternal Beautiful, but just a hint of it, as it should be. These are the emanations of the Advaita and at their essence are also the Advaita. Something like a perfume exuded by a flower, the three states of existence are exuded by the Eternal. Just as the smell of a flower is at once both the flower yet at the same time apparently separate from it.

Pushtivardhanam is used an adjective of Tryambakam. These three states are continually being nourished and their levels of animation are being promoted by their link to the Eternal. They are thriving, developing, increasing their levels of awareness only due to this connect to the Highest. They are continually expanding, enlarging, extending, upgrading themselves. They are completing themselves by their link to the Awareness. All this is happening because ‘we’ are evolving the Tryambakam to begin with.

Finally Urvarukam is used as an adjective of Tryambakam but with the use of the indeclinable ‘Eva’ it has a subtly different meaning. This word causes a lot of confusion as it commonly means a cucumber or a melon. But vegetables have no place in a mantra focussed on the highest Consciousness. Broadly Urvaruk उर्वारुक can be understood as the result when the catalytic energy is acting on the foundation. And in Sanatan Dharma whenever we talk of a catalytic energy we mean the eternal consciousness. In this mantra, Urvaruk is the great fire of consciousness which burns within the depths. The blazing Sun. The bountiful extensive great ocean of consciousness. 

When we, by our efforts, evolve the three states of perception, we realise that these are mere emanations rooted in the Bindu ie the 4th state of Om, ie the Eternal Advaita. They are simply ‘fragrances’ of the Non-Dual flower. Thus we merge ourselves into the Non-dual.

The first part of the mantra deals with how the three states of perception are consciously made to evolve and gain more and more of the essence of the Eternal, to come very very close to the Eternal.

So by ‘our’ efforts we are bringing the Tryambakam almost to the level of the Urvarukam. But then what comes after this stage? This is in the second sentence in this mantra.

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Now the second part, ‘Bandhanat Mrutyuh mukshiya maa amrutat.’

Bandhanat, means ‘separated from the bindings’. We all believe that we are bound to our existence through different attributes, the Gun – Satva, Raja, Tama, Avastha – Jagrut, Swapna, Sushupti or even identities like Rajan, Priya, husband, wife, mother, father, child, teacher, student, the karmic ties which bind us. Our belief in these ties is so strong that we are unable to conceive our Eternal nature, this is also the cause of existential sorrow. Thus we take on lives after lives, searching for the true Happiness, trying to find the Self.

Mrutyuh is a noun in the masculine nominative singular form. There are several meanings for Mrutyu. Death or the deity of Death, ie Yam are the usual ones. But Mrutyu also means the secret of existence, ie the Para-Brahma. And also Maya, Vishnu, Kali, Kama-dev, samsara and the hunger ie desire. Interestingly, relevant to our mantra, Mrutyu essentially is ‘the evolution which is rapidly completed’.

In the first part we saw that the 3 states are still evolving continually by the action of multiple doers.
In the second part, the verb ‘mukshiya’ is the benedictive singular first person. The plural doer has now become singular. With the evolution of the three states, the non-duality has started asserting itself. 

So this “Bandhanat Mrutyuh mukshiya maa amrutat” will mean the following,

The ‘evolution which is rapidly completed’ will now most assuredly be separate from all bindings. This secret of existence will be released from all bondages. The concept of desire (which causes more ties) will be unyoked from all concepts of ties. The idea of Maya and Creation will be cast aside. Satva-gun will be discharged (Satva gun is the last one to dissolve in this involution process) etc. ie, the singular doer is now assuring himself that the direction of the evolution will most assuredly take him to himself. This is an intention expressed in the positive sense. ie release from bindings.

At this stage the doer ‘I’ realise that I am non-dual, there is no one but me and I have no attributes, I am almost there, so I use my intention to consciously ‘bless’ myself. Only I can bless myself, as there is no one else but me. I bless my own Self with this benediction. ie, ultimately everyone has to intend his own evolution. To evolve spiritually or to remain stuck in the ties is a decision that everyone makes for himself. If you want to play the Game some more or if you want to realise the Self, this is your own choice your own intention. You are always blessing your own self in this sense.

This ‘rapid evolution’ will most definitely not be separated from immortality. It will not be cast away from the Light. It will not be abandoned by the Eternal. ie, singular doer is now assuring himself using the negative clause too. That he will never be separate from the Advaita. He will always remain conscious of his Eternal Light and aware of his Non-dual nature.

It is interesting that the mantra reinforces the blessing using the positive ‘Bandhanat Mrutyu’ and negative intention “Maa Amrutat’ both. Somehow these two intentions are balanced by the benediction ‘Mukshiya’ that is placed between them. It makes the structure of the mantra very elegant.

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It is significant that the deity, conscious and aware intelligence linked to this mantra is the ‘Mrutyu vimochani Rudra’. Rudra means the vibration, change or brilliance. Vimochani means the act of release, liberation, casting away. Mrutyu has several meanings as above. Try to think on what the ‘Mrutyu vimochani Rudra’ really implies.

This mantra is all about how the energies of the Marut-s and the Mrutyu vimochani Rudra are being utilised by the spiritual aspirants to evolve the limited consciousness which thinks it to be separate from the Eternal to reach the highest pinnacle of Self awareness, the Advaita.

There are absolutely nil vegetables in this mantra and we are not worshiping any god nor propitiating any deity with this mantra. There are no deities in Sanatan Dharma, we Hindus adore pure consciousness, we adore our own form, the highest Conscious Intelligence. I create my Universe for the Game I play, for this I first create a mind, this now runs in the ten directions creating further elaborate illusions for my Game. When I am done playing, I dissolve the Game. This requires that I train the mind, stop it from running in the ten different directions and focus it on the one single Bindu that really Is. As I dissolve the mind, I see Myself.

This post is a very rudimentary way of understanding this mantra. If you want to really experience it, do its Jaap, ie 108 times mental repeats at least once a week. Or do its Homa. Or listen to its Ghana-path, its spiralling energies looping in your mind. This Maha mrutyunjai mantra is very useful for all issues in life, if you train your mind with its energy, it will act as an all-round remedy for all your problems.

The Ghana path by Uma Mohan, with its mesmerising spiralling energy.

 

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Jagat Guru Adi Shankaracharya

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Adi Shankaracharya is the Jagat-guru, the Guru of the entire Universe. Today, the Vaishakh Shukla Panchami, 5th day of the bright fortnight of the Vaishakh month, is celebrated as his birth anniversary. There is no clarity on when he actually lived in his physical form, but he is the essential Advaita Nirvishesh Brahma so life/death are meaningless words in his context.

I feel very deeply about him, Jagat Guru Adi Shankaracharya, he is the Sat-guru. He is the reason why I am able to, albeit dimly, understand the highest philosophy, Advaita and progress surely towards myself. The force/Guru which pulls me towards the Sat/Truth. ‘I am the Truth’, I wish to experience this realisation in its entirety.

Jagat Guru Adi Shankaracharya

His books and literary compositions are immense, voluminous, full of real enlightenment, Jnyan. Books include Vivek chudamani, Upadesha Sahastri etc. Commentaries include the first ever commentry on the Bhagvat Gita, ‘Bhagvat Gita Bhashyam’. The epic commentary on the Brahma-Sutras, on the several Upanishads etc. Several verses which describe the Eternal Advaita, eg Nirvan shatak and my very own favourite Brahma Jnyanavali mala. Verses in praise of the deities and Prakruti, ie Soundarya lahari, Kanakdhara Stotram etc. All his work is in Devbhasha Samskrutam, Sanskrit. These books are all translated into various languages and you will find them in bookshops near you if you wish to read.

Adi Shankaracharya established the four Math-s for the 4 Ved-s in the four corners of Bharat. In these Math-s the Ved-s are worshipped ie taught and learnt, pure knowledge. His Samadhi is at Kedarnath behind the Kedarnath temple. (if you are a follower of Sanatan Dharma, you should try to visit this Samadhi if you can travel physically.)

Adi Shankaracharya is the Sat-Guru of every single soul who desires to know himself in the real sense. If I desire Sadyo-mukti, I am requesting guidance from the Advaita none other. That is why listening or reading his works is important, he writes with the authority of experience of the Self. When I listen to his upadesh/ teachings, I realise that I am listening to my own self. I am to realise My Self, so I will do it only when I listen to descriptions of myself. As I contemplate on myself, meditate on myself, bit by bit I remember myself. I become myself.

I listen to the Brahma Jnyanavali Mala once a day.

A pdf with the text and a reasonably good translation Brahma Jnaanaavali Mala, there are 20 shloks/verses.

The first Shlok is this,
“asangah aham asangah aham asangah aham punah punah, sat chit anand rupah aham, aham evah aham avyayah”
Unattached am I, untouched am I, unconnected I am, ever and always. I am the truth, pure, eternal happiness. I am the only one. I am. I am indestructible, unchangeable.

And the last shlok is this

“antah jyotih bahir jyotih pratyak jyotih paratparah, jyotih jyotih, svayam jyotih Atma jyotih, Shivah asya aham”
I am the inner light. I am the outer light. I am the light within the light. The greatest light, higher than the highest light. I am self- luminous. I am the light of the ever-lit Self. I am the ever auspicious One.

In this short composition, Adi Shankaracharya, very succinctly, clearly unambiguously declares that ‘I am the Unchanging, I am’, in the strongest words possible. Even more than his ‘Nirvan Shatak’, the ‘Brahma Jnyanavali Mala’, resonates with indescribable power of the Advaita

This composition, is the essence of all philosophy in the simplest words. The power of these words in Sanskrit shakes me to the core, dissolving the Illusion of the creation that surrounds me. If I have time, I try to contemplate on every word in this Brahma Jnyanavali Mala. This will help me realise that I am the ‘Light’ the Advaita, and the power of this Light, Atma-Jyoti.

I am required to contemplate on the concept of ‘Aham sakshi’, ‘I am the Witness‘. Saying these words ‘Aham sakshi’ is rather easy, but bringing it in practice when I have the entrancing dance of creation before me is difficult. That is why I listen/read these words again and again. So that I gain the mental strength to continue focussing on what really matters, ‘Me’.

When I really desire to know myself, I feel an intense internal turmoil, just like a fish is breathless out of water. I know what I am deep within me, but the illusions of Prakruti, do not allow me to experience myself fully. Then appears the Sat-guru, the one who grants clarity, dissolves the illusions. When I give myself over to the power of the Guru, I do not get deeply caught in even more illusions of this world. He makes me realise that the ‘karma’ which I thought bound me is in fact insubstantial, imaginary, does not exist. At one point of time I used to think that I have this karmic pendency or that I owe this other person something. And unless I give it back or experience its negativity through, I won’t be free. I would think that I had to complete the karma I had created in my past lives etc. But nothing is complete in this incomplete illusionary world. So I disregarded this thought of ‘completing the karmic baggage’ and instead focused even more sincerely on ‘Me’. I am the only Reality. So best focus on Me. My one single mantra, my Soham. And as this got even more intense, these other ‘karmic ties’ evaporated as if they never existed over me. I experienced all of them in my dreams or during Dhyan, I died several times in my swapna-avastha, travelled astrally, did the work in the astral realms, let the astral body suffer, break down, get hurt, all the karma was experienced by this body.  Then my Guru repaired the bodies, while I did even more Dhyan. The only use of these bodies is to do Dhyan. So if you do your Dhyan, your so-called ‘pending karma’ will get resolved in dreams, like the dream they actually are. Whatever level of Karma may exist, it will be dissolved if you do your Dhyan systematically and regularly. (This is a bit difficult to understand if you do not do Dhyan. But if you do Dhyan, you will notice that you also are doing this same thing.)

You get deeper and more powerful glimpses of your own self as you focus on your self. There is only one thing which deserves your focus and this is your Own Self, none other. But then the created illusions, Maya, also tests you, so you need support from such verses, books, commentaries, which help you navigate thorough these tests. Use your Intelligence and the blessings of the Guru, and keep focussing intently on Your Own Self..

May you and me both realise that we are the Advaita, the Non-Dual, in the gentlest, happiest and kindest way possible.

Dedicated to the Lotus feet of the Jagat Guru Adi Shankaracharya, the Nirvishesh Brahma, the Advaita Himself in all gratitude and Shraddha/faith.

Kedarnath Palkhi

This is a photograph of the Palkhi, palaquin of the Kedarnath Mahadev taken yesterday. In the winter months the Moorthi of the deity comes to his temple at Ukhimath and then goes back to Kedarnath in the summer. The temple at Kedarnath is to be opened on 29th April. In this current lock-down situation, 6 people are travelling with the Palkhi, barefoot, carrying Him over 25kms in the snow, rocks and through the cold Himalayan streams. In reality He is carrying his devotees in all his love and compassion. Jai Kedar! Har Har Mahadev!

Ketu conjunct Lord of the Ascendant sign

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I have written about Ketu conjunct the other planets. Ketu the headless graha internalises the planet he is with and changes his behaviour. This effect is quite significant if he is with your birth Moon (in about 8% charts). But the most challenging combination would be Ketu conjunct your ascendant lord. The probability that a planet is ascendant lord and conjunct Ketu in a chart is mathematically extremely low. Very few people have chosen this, as these energies are very unique and rather traumatic. If you are an evolved soul, this combination can gift you with immense spiritual progress after Ketu matures at the age of 48yrs. But before this happens life goes by in a strange daze.

The ascendant lord is the most important planet of your chart. The ascendant sign defines the personality and your environment. The exact rising degree is practically a graha/force in Jyotish (when you read the divisional charts). And its lord controls how your personality and your environment interact with each other. Eg if you have a powerful ascendant sign, both your personality, your environment will be equally beautiful. But the ascendant lord is in a bad position, you will not be comfortable with yourself nor be able to make full use of what is available to you in your environment.

Ketu conjunct Lord of the Ascendant sign

If Rahu is desire, indulgence then Ketu is rehabilitation, revenge, rebalance, regeneration, renunciation. Ketu is primarily a malefic, related to catastrophes, karmic retribution, destruction of the material, inimical to Life. His results are not pleasing or satisfying to the body/mind, though they may be good for your soul’s spiritual progress. He is piercing, weird, eccentric, indifferent, separative, scorching. So the closer your ascendant is to Ketu, especially if both are in the same Nakshatra, you face a strange disconnect in every aspect of your life. Ketu brings in material adversities in any aspect of life he touches and obstructs the auspiciousness of the planet he touches. Ketu matures at the age of 48yrs, so he will hold back the maturity of the ascendant lord also till this age. There will be two very distinct and extreme phases in your life, before your 40s and after your 50s, with your 40s being the transition period.

Till you reach your 40s, you will be rather unpredictable, immature, prone to extremes of behaviour as Ketu’s intense impulses controls your interactions between your personality and your environment. Your mindset will be rather dark, you might prefer being alone, might get attracted to negative thoughts and behaviour. You are not very active, somewhat inert as you are not interested in anything much. You are more into your ‘Past Everything’ as you are determined to extract the last bit of information from your past lives, past interactions, past experiences etc. This might make you seem hazed out or vague. Thought processes can seem irrational as Ketu does not follow conventional logic. Ketu is instinctive and gets his information from very deep sources which are beyond comprehension to others. You might seem odd to others, your understanding is different, very deep. Clairvoyance, ‘clair-sentience’  exists. You can make that leap of intuition mixed with fiery intellect, a very unique and incisive logic which is always right. Your thought processes are subtle, sublime and your ideas are often so high up that you are often misunderstood by average people. You are not of this material world. Others might think that you imagine or make-up things but you are always proved right in the end.

Innocence is an overriding trait as ego does not exist, no action is motivated by selfishness as the sense of self itself is absent. You are shy, self-conscious, you do not have any sense of your own abilities and are highly impressionable. You always role-acting (can be a very good spy or professional actor) as you are not really interested in anything around you. You are an innocent and believe others to be innocent too but you can detect lies and fakes very easily. You want to know the truth of everything and you will work hard albeit in a disinterested manner to uncover it. Lies and falsehood will not be tolerated and if you have friends/family who lie to you, you will snap ties with them in an instant. You need fairness and justice in life. You like solving puzzles of every type, the mind likes finding solutions. If you get an idea, you stick to it, and it is generally correct, and you cannot be reasoned with. You have very strong likes and dislikes somtimes erratic and unpredictable. You might seem to be short-tempered, cruel and insensitive to others, but this is Ketu’s typical disinterest at work, you are not interested in them. Impulsiveness and intensity exists which comes from deep within your psyche and it is linked to the activities from your past lives. You are capable of staying alone in solitude for ages.

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You are not religious in the conventional sense, occult is what you are. Occult is all those things which are mysterious and dangerous to others. You wander in areas which are very scary to others. Astrology, divination, tantra, telepathy, telekinesis, magic, hypnotism, astral stuff comes easily to you. In fact if others stare in your eyes for too long, you can actually mesmerise them. You are hypnotic, people find you mysterious and fascinating. You like travelling, physically/astrally and to places linked to secrets, mystery and occult. Research, searching for hidden things, secrets of the mind, studying the past eg archeology, inventing stuff, exploring underground treasures from minerals to the Kundalini are all possible. Obviously you are very sensitive to the astral dimensions, energy, ghosts, spirits etc. You know all secret things but you do not really care about all this. And you will face damage from these things, you are most vulnerable to damage from these ‘other things’ as you are apathetic to the things Ketu is linked to. You might be ill, hurt or simply overtired but you are not aware, you push your body (both physical and astral) beyond limits after which it can just snap. You should get yearly medical check-ups and also shield yourself from psychic damage. You will be prone to heat related diseases linked to problems of pran flow in your nadi-s. Take care of your physical eyes and nadis..

You are required to assimilate the lessons you have learnt from your past into your present, only then can you move ahead into the future. If Ketu can attach you to these past things then he himself is the force who can detach you from them in one sharp clean cut. He is the fog himself and will make you cut through his haze. Ketu is your deepest learnings from your past lives often associated with painful lessons. You will want to extract the least bit of information from these, and this process gives you tremendous pain on the emotional/ inner levels. But you are essentially indifferent to your self, so you go through this pain without any issue.

Ketu is illusion for those who operate on lower levels of consciousness but grants clarity and discerning insight to the evolved souls, as he can penetrate through all veils. If the chart shows an evolved soul then this weird influence of Ketu makes sense in the late 40s as the spiritual path becomes more obvious. A Seer, Sat-Guru can be produced with a strong Ketu+ascendant combination.

Spiritual practice or using your intelligence in a higher way can best channelise this Ketu+ascendant lord. Then you can come up with path breaking analysis which requires out of the box thinking. Any field linked to secrets, research, exploration, law, medicine, detection, crime, poisons, drugs, mind etc which requires incisive thinking is yours. Or you can also attain Moksh, as Moksh is essentially a paradox in the terms of this created worlds, a challenge well suited to your typical intelligence.

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The placement, house/ sign in which this combination occurs will also matter. Also look into the houses placed in the 5/9 axis from this house. The ascendant lord in any house of the chart generally will give auspicious results or at least does not damage things too much. Whichever sign/ house the ascendant lord occupies gets more focus in the lifetime. However Ketu in the different houses requires analysis. One placement of Ketu+ascendant lord is especially powerful, if in Leo or the 5th house. This gives an independent spirit, an ability to transcend external influences, very deep perceptions and can dissolve the self-ego and grant you Moksh in this life itself.

But if this is not an evolved soul, then this combination affects longevity, mental balance, physical health and in fact every aspect of life, adversely. Whatever Ketu is capable of granting on the higher side as above will be affected by haze if he is functioning through his lower energy version. Then you become a ‘victim of circumstance’, your impulses and instinct get you into trouble. All the above positive attributes will be affected and there is more suffering in life. Ketu alone has the power to drastically reverse things and take things to extremes. So will it be a dramatic fall or rise in fortune, will depend on the power of the ascendant lord and the rest of the horoscope.

Ketu with the ascendant lord will, at some point of time, turn you into an ascetic, either visibly or internally. I have written about Ketu conjunct the individual other planets in my post here. Do go through it. Ketu with Jupiter takes away your luck and restricts auspiciousness in your life unless Jupiter has sufficient power to use Ketu’s abilities. If the ascendant lord Mars or Saturn is with Ketu, life will be intense and overall unhappy, even if they are relatively powerful in the chart. If Ketu is with a powerful Sun or Mercury as ascendant lord, then life can be manageable. Ketu with Moon as the ascendant lord can give high psychic abilities but will take you into the occult so living a normal life will not be very easy. Ketu with a powerful Venus ascendant lord will grant material dissatisfaction but can grant Moksh later in life.

You are the Nirvishesh Brahma, all our souls are the same Non-dual. And unless you realise your Reality, no other experience can really satisfy the soul. So Ketu in his real sense is the learning that there is no satisfaction in the things of this manifested universe. This learning is not made apparent till you experience the fun-fair of Creation and realise that it indeed does not satisfy. Thus the nameless longing to know real happiness, experience Moksh, intensifies. Ketu+Venus is the best possible Moksh-karak combination, in my opinion, for the spiritual aspirant. Ketu is the only force who can cut off all bonds and attachments to this manifested creation so completely that Moksh becomes possible. This is the real reason he is the most powerful of all the nava-graha.

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(Someone in my family has a Ketu+Venus ascendant lord combination in D1 and Ketu+Moon in the D9. An interesting case study. Small things in her life also show this influence, dress sense is odd, got her nostril pierced and it got infected, eye vision went bad in childhood, debris in her 3rd eye chakra, highly intelligent but does not know where to use it, highly perceptive, not connected to her family, prefers being alone, highly educated, widowhood and remarriage, suffers routine injuries due to the occult, deeply into spiritual stuff, has occult abilities but is erratic etc.) Do keep a collection of sample charts of your family/friend circle, as you learn a lot from observing them on a regular basis.

Karma and Dhyan Meditation

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“Could you please write something on how meditation helps on karmic levels.” There was this question, so writing it as a post.

The short answer. If you do regular Dhyan, you will realise that Karma is an illusion. You will actually experience this fact. Then you remain in eternal happiness, Param-anand.

Now the longer discussion.

There are three types of karma,

Sanchit karma – the entire accumulated load from several lives which you have to rebalance at some point of time, either in this life or the next ones.

Prarabdha karma – that part from the above load which you have decided to rebalance in this current life. This is chosen by you at the time of birth and lasts till the moment of physical death. This can be seen from your horoscope. As long as your soul animates this current 5-layered body, its linked Prarabdha karma will run its course. It is like an arrow released and will continue its motion till it exhausts its energy. In case you attain Realisation, ie Sadyo-Mukti and become a Jivan-mukt, the body will continue to be animated and operate as per the chosen prarabha karma till the time of physical death. (Do read the posts on on Sadyo-mukti/ Krama-mukti and on Jivan-mukti/ Videha mukti.)

Agaami karma – The  karma which you will possibly create in this current life. If this is of a smaller magnitude, you will be able to rebalance it in this current life itself. But if it is of a larger magnitude, it will be added to your Sanchit karma and you will rebalance it in your future lives.

When you achieve Sadyo-mukti, ie experience yourself as the Parabrahma, the Advaita, the Nirvishesh brahma, all the stored karma Sanchit karma is burnt at that very instant. And now you are a realised soul, so creation of new karma will be impossible too.

Karma is linked to the 5-layered body which is animated by your soul. No karma can touch the Soul/ Atma. The Soul is beyond all concepts of karma. But when a Soul resides in the body it mistakenly believes that it is linked to karma, now this is called an individual soul or Jiv-atma. Eg there is the Sun in the sky and clouds over it. The clouds are nothing to the Sun and neither are linked to him. But we think that the Sun is covered by the clouds. The Soul is similarly covered by the clouds of karma. When you do Dhyan, these clouds are shown to be immaterial and you experience the Soul.

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Meditation is a very misunderstood word. Modern people think that listening to relaxing music or not thinking of anything or sitting motionless in a dark room is mediation. All this is good to relax your mind, but it won’t do anything for your spiritual progress.

The correct word is Dhyan. There is no translation possible of this Sanskrit word ‘Dhyan’. Here you are required to elevate your limited awareness to the level of the Parabrahma by thinking of yourself as the Parabrahma itself. This continued thought is called Dhyan. You concentrate on this one thought exclusively. No other thoughts are allowed to enter your mind except this. You give all your attention to this thought, you appreciate its non-duality, its existence within yourself.

Dhyan means ‘motionlessness’. This ‘absence of movement’ has very deep connotations. The continuous motion of the three-Gun, the Satva-Raja-Tama is stilled. Prakruti stops her performance, ie the illusion of manifested creation stops. You observe oneself, you become a witness. And you identify with the catalyst who remains still rather than the puppet who is in motion.

You are required to sit (post here). Not lie down, as you will go to sleep. Neither can you stand or do any actions while doing Dhyan, because your mind will also think on how to do these actions or how to keep standing without falling. Dhyan needs continuity of the physical state so that your mind can concentrate only on the non-dual subtlest intelligence within you. So you have to sit. If the body is at rest the mind also rests. It becomes easier to focus.

But there really are no rules on how to sit or where to sit or how to sit at what time etc. But to begin with, you have to fix your place (asan) and also a time, eg daily at 7am or whatever is possible on a regular basis. This will help your mind get used to the idea of Dhyan. Later, with practice, as the mind gets trained, there are no rules as this becomes a constant thought. Even later this goes deep that every instant is a Dhyan. This will continue non-stop till physical death. If you are able to strongly hold on to this thought at the instant of death you will attain the highest Sadyo-mukti of the Videha kind when you exit the body.

The life you are living is actually a preparation for the instant of physical death. If you concentrate on something for a life time, you will easily be able to concentrate on it at the moment of your exit thus achieve it. The moment of exit is the most powerful moment of your life. Eg if you concentrate on the idea that you are a devotee of Vishnu, you will go to Vaikunth. If you concentrate that you are a devotee of Shiv, you will go to Kailas. These states are called the lower Krama-mukti. The moment of physical exit is the critical point. If at this moment you are fixed in the idea that you are the Parabrahma, you will attain the highest possible Sadyo-mukti of the Videha kind. You will be able to do this only if you have trained your mind for a life-time, so we are all required to do Dhyan.

Karma and Dhyan Meditation

There are just the three possible mantras which are possible for Dhyan, Om, Soham and Hamsa.

Om is generally used by people who have renounced all forms of material bindings and are totally focussed on the Eternal. There is are specific ways of using Om, this will be taught to you by your own Guru. I know someone very senior who does Om Dhyan. Aged, now in his 70’s, his wife too in her 70’s. He was initiated when he was in his 20-s, after which his family got him married. His wife once told me that he used to beg for her permission to become a formal ascetic, but she refused. If you practice Om-dhyan in all its intensity, it is equivalent to formal asceticism. Even if you feel attracted to material life from time to time, it will be superficial because Om will always strongly pull you inward. Om is is Sanyas. Sanyas सम्यक् न्यास means that you are putting the Conscious energy perfectly within yourself. Once you start it in real earnest, you cannot get interested in or remain much in the material illusory world, the Eternal will pull you very strongly.

Then Hamsa and Soham are the two Ajapa mantras. Every living being unconsciously recites these mantras with every breath. If you adopt them as your Mantra, now onwards, you will use them consciously. Hamsa is the Ajapa mantra when you first exhale and mentally recite ‘hmm’ and then inhale and mentally recite ’saaa’. Together it makes ‘hamsa’. The details of this are given in detail in the Hamsa upanishad. But this upanishad is so utterly high level that even if you understand what it means, you won’t be able to perform the process. Possibly it involves Hatha yog too as complicated movements of pran and bandha etc are described in it. Hamsa vidya is when this mantra gains power with regular practice. I have not been taught it so do not know more. But it is a very powerful means of attaining the Self.

Soham is the second Ajapa mantra. My Sat-Guru taught all his disciples the ‘Soham’ mantra. Here you breathe in with the internal sound ‘sooo’ and exhale with the internal sound of ‘hmmm’. Together it makes ‘soham’. It is called the Ajapa-Gayatri by some people. It enlightens you to your real nature. The only thing you have to do is to internally recite the ‘soo’ and ‘hmm’ with your every breath. All the time, every breath. This is all you need to do. Soon it will become so intense that even if you deep sleep or dream, you will consciously recite it continuously. Never force your breathing, always breathe normally gently as you do. No sound should be created by your breathing. Some people breathe heavily and a sound is created by the air moving in your nose. Avoid this, it cause damage to your Nadi-s. The breathing should be noiseless, only then you will ‘hear’ the associated ‘soo’ and ‘hmm’ sounds. If you can sit down in a formal Dhyan even 1-2 times a day then it becomes even more intense.

Everyone can do Soham-jaap. Some people have this misconception that higher level mantras can be given only to the higher aspirants. This is incorrect. A genuine Sat-Guru will give you the full and final Mantra in the first step itself. You and me both are the Advaita, the Eternal. We are all capable of focussing on our real name. Maybe someone has lesser power of concentration to begin with, but the Mantra is so powerful that it does its own work.

Now the thing is with the householder’s life, Gruhast-ashram, we are required to perform all activities related to society, family, spouse/children etc. So doing Dhyan thrice a day 1hr each session may not be possible. So the best option is to do Soham jaap whenever you can, 1-2 mins whenever you are free, during the day/night, when you are travelling etc. This will ensure that your mind is gradually trained to think of itself. ‘Soham’ is Sushuma Yog, you will pull you towards yourself with its power. And if you get time, if you can sit in formal Dhyan, your progress towards yourself will be faster.

Karma and Dhyan Meditation

Now when you sit for Dhyan, each breath is considered to be one life time. Each breath is used to burn the karma of a life-time. It is a very intense exercise. Can you imagine the focus needed to consciously convert the energies of say five hundred million breaths, which is about a 65yrs life span, into one breath? But this does happen when you are very highly focussed on your mantra, not otherwise. If you practice daily, it will eventually happen with you too.

Even if you cannot reach this intensity in this lifetime, whatever you did will be carried over into your next life. So it is an asset you are generating. Dhyan makes the Mind still. And then the benefits of a relatively calm mind are obvious. You will look younger, more healthier, live longer, more mentally stable, more rational, less perturbed by events around you. Even if a karmic event occurs in your life, you are more easily able to navigate through it. And the chances of creating deep-rooted Agaami karma are also reduced as you do not react to situations from your deepest core. You are more in tune with your conscience. You go through events without disturbing your innermost self. The intensity of your desires will reduce with time. Frustrations disappointments reduce in intensity as your mind fluctuates less.

Then when you continually contemplate on your Reality, you force your mind to think of Yourself repeatedly. You realise, dimly at first and then very strongly that the creation which surrounds you is an illusion. As you remove the bindings laid on you, your experiences in Dhyan become more profound. You enter even deeper into yourself, you realise that Karma itself is an illusion. You are the Soul, this intention becomes stronger and stronger. You finally realise that there is no difference in the states of happiness/sadness. Every instant is filled with the awareness of non-duality.

So the short answer is again that if you do regular Dhyan, you will realise that Karma is an illusion, you experience this reality. You will always be in eternal happiness, Param-anand.

This post is basically from the Brahma-sutra, from what I was taught by my Sat-Guru and what I personally practice.

 

Your conscience and your soul

This really old Hindi song to me is beautifully meaningful. A rough translation, “I walked together with Life. I blew away every worry into smoke and went on. Grieving about past tragedies was meaningless. I celebrated every tragedy and walked on. What was given to me, I accepted it as destined. What was lost, I forgot it all and went on. There is one point where there is no difference between happiness and sorrow. I consciously brought my heart to this final destination and went on.”

Length and Rate of your breathing

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We are breath, or more more correctly we are linked to this manifested creation primarily by the movement of air through our nostrils. To go beyond the limits imposed by the manifested, the first step is control of the breath. If you control your breath, you naturally control the pran moving within you. If you can control your pran, you automatically control your mind. Your mind is like a ball in your hand, it jumps up and down with the movement of pran. If you still the movement of pran, you also still your mind. The pran’s movement stills when you still your breathing, ie achieve Keval Kumbhak state, where there is no breathing in nor breathing out. If your Mind goes still, you achieve the ‘unmani-state’, beyond-Mind. After you reach this Unmani state, you hear the continuous ‘Nada’, the sound of the unmanifested. If you can dissolve your limited consciousness in the sound of the Nada, you achieve the Eternal.

Length and Rate of your breath

Our regular breathing is very turbulent. It depends on the physical movement of the body but it also depends significantly on your emotions and your thoughts. Check your breathing pattern when you are happy, sad, angry, upset, relaxed, focussed, etc and observe for yourself how it varies.

All texts on breathing and Dhyan will talk about the length of the breath and the rate of breathing.

  • This is how you determine the length of your breathing in comparison to your own finger-widths, a measure called angula. Switch off the fan in your room first, it should not be windy inside. Place some cotton fibres or a very thin thread on the back of your hand and keep it at some distance from your nose. Be at rest, relax and breathe normally. As you exhale on the cotton fibres they will move with the force of the exhaled air. Try to find out till what distance from your nose, the cotton fibres visibly move with your exhaled breath. Measure this distance from your nostrils to the fibres with a piece of thread. Now count how many finger-widths long is your breath when you are at rest.
  • Now to measure your breathing rate. Sit in a relaxed position. Set a timer for 5 mins. Count your breathing, ie one inhale and one exhale is one breath. eg If you count 52 breaths in 5 mins, then it is average at about 10 breaths per minute. eg If it is 68 breaths in 5 mins it is approximately 14 breaths per minute. As per science, the average human breathing rate at rest is 12 per minute.

Your life span is measured in breaths, not years. If you breathe slowly, you will live longer, look younger and be more healthy. But you should not force yourself to stop/slow breathe, if you do so, you will damage your body and your nadi-s. This should happen spontaneously and it will happen gradually as you do your spiritual practice.

(This photograph of my Sat-guru was taken in 1990, he was physically 85yrs old then.)

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If your breathing is fast, forced, laboured, intense etc the air will be displaced for a longer distance from your nose. ie the length of the breath will increase. As per the texts, this is how the activities affect your breath, eg eating increases the length to 18 angula, walking increases it to 20 angula, run­ning to 24 angula, sexual activity to 60 angula etc. If the length of the exhaled breath is longer, it reduces your life-span. The reason is that with every exhaled breath, you are also exhaling pran from your system. Generally you lose more pran than you pull in from the universe as your exhaled breath is always longer than your inhaled breath. And if the exhaled breath is made longer by engaging in strenuous activities or mental turbulence, even more pran goes out. (So over-indulgence in sexual activity is not advisable for spiritual aspirants, 60 angula long-breath!)

When you breathe slowly, without any jerks, the exhaled air moves out with less force, ie it’s length in angula becomes shorter. As the breathing becomes slow, it also becomes less turbulent, the flow of the pran in the nadi-s becomes smoother, more subtle, thinner? It actually becomes a fine needle of pure gold/ silver shimmer. In Dhyan, you are supposed to actively open your central Sushumna and close the Ida and Pingala. When such smooth subtle flow of pran moves through the Sushumna it effectively ‘cleans’ it out. Once the Sushumna is ‘clean’, all karmic impurities/ blockages are removed, it becomes very easy for the kundalini to rise up through it in one continuous smooth flow. It is always better for the spiritual aspirant if the Kundalini moves only after the Sushumna is clean from the Mooladhar to the Brahmarandhra.

So the point is that if you reduce the breathing rate and reduce the length of breath which actually happens simultaneously, you will increase the length and quality of your life and also gain control over your pran, Mind and also on the people around you and the environment you live in. Here is what the texts say,

  • If it is 10 angula, you gain peace of mind which lasts for a long time.
  • If it is 9 angula, you can spontaneously write, prose, music etc which have deep impacts on others.
  • If it is 8 angula, you will be able to speak spontaneously without hesitation. Your words will cause deep impact on those who hear you.
  • If it is 7angula, your vision will change, seeing into the past, present, future, parallel is possible now.
  • If it is 6 angula, you can move your body through air.
  • If it has gone to 5 angula, now onwards, your progress in your spiritual practice becomes very fast.
  • If it goes to 4 angula, you will attain the eight major siddhis (anima, mahima, garima, laghima, prakamya, ishitva, vashitva, kamavashayitva) and the several minor siddhis.
  • If it goes down to 3 angula, you gain the nava nidhi vidya the 9 types of consciousnesses. These are said to be under the control of Yaksharaj Kuber.
  • If it goes upto 2 angu­la, then the body is not longer a binding, you can change the shape of your 5-layered body.
  • If it reduces to 1 angula, you can become invisible and exist in just the subtle or causal body. Time, space and other dimensions lose their dominion on you.
  • Finally when the breathing stops, ie there is no exhalation or inhalation, Keval Kumbhak is attained, now the further process of Self realization starts in real earnest.

So as you do your spiritual practice, with time, your breathing will slow down and stop intermittently and then fully. It is nothing to be scared of. You don’t need air to remain alive in this created world. You need only pran, and it can be pulled in not just through the nostrils but also via the skin and majorly through the top of the head. This ability to consciously pull in pran increases, as you do your spiritual practice. So as an aspirant, your only job is to breathe with Soham, the rest of it will happen spontaneously and naturally.

 

Length and Rate of your breath