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Phonemes of Sanskrit Shiv Sutrani

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A phoneme is the the smallest unit of sound which makes sense in a language. The Shiv sutrani शिव सूत्राणि also called the Maheshwar Sutrani महेश्वर सूत्राणि (सूत्राणि is the plural of सूत्र) are the phonemes of the Devbhasha Samskrutam. The highly intense building blocks of the perfect language of this creation, the perfectly arranged definition of Illumination. All common languages spoken in this world today are degraded versions Apabhraunsh अपभ्रंश of Sanskrit. 

In my several posts on the Kundalini, Chakra system, beej akshar etc I have written on the Consciousness that Sound really is. We worship sound as Shabda Brahma, the Eternal Divine. Then the indestructible sounds, the Akshar of Sanskrit are the sounds that the pran makes as it moves in the energy channels/ Nadi inside the Pranmaikosh of the five sheathed body. As you speak Sanskrit, normally in conversation or as a mantra during your pujas you are actually enhancing the power of your own Pran and Nadi system. This is why I reiterate that everyone must be able to speak simple conversational Sanskrit, read one Sanskrit article/ day and recite one Sanskrit mantra for a life time. Sound is Awareness and Sanskrit is the accurately precise mathematically perfect raw power that you directly derive from Sound as Self.

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Maharishi Panini arranged the grammar of the Devbhasha Samskrutam in his book Ashtadhyayi. He did not ‘write’ the grammar, this language is the Devbhasha, ie the perfect description of the Illumination, it is in-built. He merely ‘saw’ the grammar in the Akash and wrote it down. In this following shlok he gives the origin of the Shiv sutrani.

नृत्त अवसाने नटराज राज: ननाद ढक्कां नवपञ्चवारम्। उद्धर्त्तु कामः सनकादि सिद्धान् एतद् विमर्शे शिवसूत्रजालम्॥

For the students of Pravrutti, this shlok can be understood as,

  • At the site of the act of Dissolution, the supreme actor of the drama, Nataraj, made loud sound using the large drum, Damru, fourteen times. The intention was to elevate the Maharishis Sanak and the other Siddhas Seers. This mesh of the Shiv Sutra, the auspicious phonemes of the  Devbhasha, is truly inside the real Knowledge of the Divine.
  • ie Bhagwan Nataraj danced the Tandav, ie caused the dissolution of creation. At the end of the Tandav, ie at the end of dissolution ie at start of new creation, he played his Damru fourteen times and created the first sound seeds of this present creation. These are 14 lines of the Shiv Sutrani. The realised Seers, the Maharishis Sanak, Sananda, Sanatan and Sanat and other Siddha Rishis etc witnessed this evolution of the Nada. ie the Conscious energy of sound vibration further differentiated into phonemes. As the language of light, Devbhasha took birth, it acted as a catalyst for further creation and subsequent evolution.

For the students of the Nivrutti, the same shlok can be understood as,

  • At the location where movement was occurring. (This is the perceived Creation itself, the site of movement, ie duality.) The ruler of the best of the actors made a large sound, to the disappearance of the newly spread out multitude (All individual souls are the actors. The Paramatma is the sovereign of all these individual jivatmas. The Nada is the source of Om itself. Here the Eternal is has made Om itself disappear). The intention is to draw out the most ancient eternal by subduing the plural. This is verily the the illusion of the web which has the Intelligence of the auspicious thread inside it.

Sanskrit is a palimpsest. The same words will give different meanings depending on the intelligence, awareness and intention of the writer/ reader. This is the true beauty of the Devbhasha, it speaks to the individual soul and always describes splendour of the Eternal Soul.

The phonemes of Sanskrit, the Shiv Sutrani are,

  1. अ इ उ ण् |
  2. ऋ ऌ क् |
  3. ए ओ ङ् |
  4. ऐ औ च् |
  5. ह य व र ट् |
  6. ल ण् |
  7. ञ म ङ ण न म् |
  8. झ भ ञ् |
  9. घ ढ ध ष् |
  10. ज ब ग ड द श् |
  11. ख फ छ ठ थ च ट त व् |
  12. क प य् |
  13. श ष स र् |
  14. ह ल् |

This is me reciting them in one breath in the first audio, because I could not find anything suitable online. The effect is clearer when they are recited at one stretch. I have recited them slowly in the second audio. I am not a professional singer so do bear with me on these recitations. (For some strange reason, the Shiv Sutrani  are the first mantra I have put up in my own voice on my blog.

Even though the mantra is in my voice, it is always and ever the Shiv Sutra by Nataraj Raja. One can read, recite and hear the mantra only if the Bhagwan desires/allows it. So do be grateful to the Parmeshwar as you recite/ read/ listen to them. It is by his Krupa.

Ideally the recitation should be in one exhalation, this will come with practice. And remember to start and end your mantra jaap with Om. Recitation of the Shiv Sutrani is called the akshar samamnaya अक्षर समाम्नाय and this is a mantra.

Try to get the pronunciation of these ऋ ऌ ङ् ञ ङ ञ् ष right. Very very few people can pronounce these correctly. The remaining vowels and consonants in the Sutrani are the usual ones we use in our daily life.

  • ऋ – is Rrhhu, the tongue touches the upper teeth on both sides and the tip flicks the palate and you say ‘Rrhhu’, in a short burst (People in Uttar Bharat pronounce ऋ  as ‘Ri’ which is incorrect)
  • ऌ – is Llrrhu, the tongue first touches the sides and tip to the palate. and then flicks out and the sides of the tongue come down to touch the upper teeth. You say ‘Llrrhu’ in a short burst.
  • ङ- ङ् + अ = ङ For the proper pronunciation of this ङ, first recite – Ka, kha, ga, gha, क ख ग घ and keeping your throat and tongue in the same position, elevate the middle part of the tongue towards the upper palate, but do not touch it. This is the nasal ङ of the ka-varga क-वर्ग. I cannot find a suitable english letter combination for this sound, it is something like a breathy ‘nng’. If you follow the rhythm of the Ka, kha, ga, gha, the last nasal ङ will also flow in the same style. Do not overthink. Once you get its pronunciation you can say it stand alone. Like this,
  • ङ् – Here the pronunciation is a bit typical. ङ – अ = ङ् This is the same as the above but only the pure consonant ङ् is to be pronounced, ie do not pronounce the अ. This will come with practice.
  • ञ – This is the last nasal consonant of the च-वर्ग. It will be easier to learn to pronounce with the rest of the Cha-varga. cha, chha, ja, jha, च छ ज झ . And keeping the same throat and tongue position, try to elevate the middle part of your tongue towards the upper palate but not touching it. Again I cannot find an english letter combination for this sound, something like ‘ynn’. As you follow the rhythm of the Cha Chha Ja Jhha, the last nasal ञ will also flow in the same style. Like this,
  • ञ् – This is the pure consonant energy. ञ  – अ = ञ् You will pronounce it in the same way as above but avoid the last vowel अ, speak only the pure ञ्  consonant. Again this will come with practice.
  • ष – This is Shha. In this you will fold your tongue backwards and say ‘shhha’. (This is different from श, here your tongue lightly touches the upper teeth on the sides and you say ‘sha’.)

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The Damaru that the Nataraj plays is not a drum, it is so much more.

  • It produces binaural beats and the ‘soundless’ vibration of the Nada is embedded in it. Binaural beats are formed when two slightly dissimilar tones are played together. They subtract from each other and leave an undefinable ‘soundlessness’ which is very beautiful and intense. In fact, do this as an experiment. Buy a properly made Damaru and play it yourself for 2-3 minutes. See for yourself what it makes you feel. You should experience a mental state equivalent to what you get after your 108 Dhyan mantra repeats. 
  • Playing the Damaru with specifically varying hand movements can create a series of two or more sounds. This is exactly what the Bhagwan did. He played it 14 times and created 14 sequences of sounds. He created the Devbhasha from the primordial conscious non-dual sound.
  • Finally the Damaru is a representation of the continually evolving consciousness. Its shape represents expanding and contracting energies which follow each other ad infinitum.
  • This shape is a representation of Dissolution and Creation perfectly balanced around the central Bindu. Cyclic Shrushti and Pralaya. The Eternal Nataraj plays the Damaru as he dances the Tandav, ie dissolution. And he also plays it to initiate a new cycle of creation. 
  • Playing the Damru while reciting the Shiv Sutrani is an energy high.

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You are saying aloud the smallest elements of the Devbhasha, the building blocks of the perfection of Illumination. When you recite them faster and continue, it sounds just like the Damru playing, the same energy. Channelising the power of creation and dissolution within your self with the power of these vibrations. Trying to find that central Bindu, to stabilise yourself at this point. To become the Observer, the Pivot around which creation and dissolution are perfectly balanced. And the speciality of the Damru, the binaural beats, so in your jap a state will come when the Sutrani literally vanish in a burst of indescribable light/ sound/ energy. This is the state of Samadhi. And it happens.

In families who follow Sanatan Dharma, this sequence is taught to the boy child at the time of the Yajnopavit Sanskar and he is required to recite it during his Gayatri puja sequence regularly. For girls, wearing the Yajnopavit sutra is not compulsory, but all girls should be taught the Gayatri mantra and also these Sutrani on their 6th birthday.

So if you can, do add the Maheshwar Sutrani to your daily routine. Also teach your child and other family members, it takes less than 15 seconds to recite it once. On the very mundane levels, they are healing in nature and regular recitation will ensure that your physical and mental health remains balanced.

This will improve your pronunciation of the Akshar. Today people are unable to pronounce certain sounds, either they purposely spoil the sound or possibly they cannot say these. Spoiling the pronunciation of the Akshar affects your own energy, so always try to be as clear in your pronunciation. स्पष्ट उच्चारण is an asset. Do not unnecessarily fake accents or twist the sound, it will spoil your pronunciation for ever.

(Some people where I live pronounce र Ra as ड Da. eg Hindi Parso as Padso, Mirchi as Midchi, Kar lo as Kad lo. Then Ya as Ja, like Yug is pronounced as Jug! Some add an extra ‘A’ sound, स्त्री stri as istri इस्त्री  though funny is actually common. But the heights was when an astrologer was pronouncing स्पष्ट spasht as अस्पष्ट aspasht, which was actually sad.)

Pronouncing the Akshar correctly means that your tongue is touching the correct parts of your mouth. This is what grants you the complete energy of the Akshar. (For Sadhaks, control over the tongue is critical. Ever wondered why it is attached only from one end?) As you improve your pronunciations, you will be able recite your mantra, stotra etc perfectly, this is invaluable. First is verbal jap, the tongue and the mouth, then as you perfect this, the jap moves inwards, manasik jap at the 3rd eye. And then you see what you are meant to see. Illumination.

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Ved Vedanta and Om

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There was a question “Is that the reason why the Veda samhitas have absence of some key devas and deities like Ganesh , Kali , mahavidyas , avatars of Vishnu. They have been lost or is it by design that rishis want us to explore them via indra?” and the answer became too long so posted it as a post. 

A simple question and here is a longish answer.

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First a bit about Sanskrit, the language in which all these texts, Ved, Vednant, Puran etc are written. One thing you have to remember is that Sanskrit, Devbhasha Samskrutam has no proper nouns. Am sure this sounds odd to you. So, a brief explanation,

Eg This sentence, ‘I am Samantha’. In this sentence ‘Samantha’ is a proper noun. It is a girl’s name and by this sentence you understand that I am a girl named ‘Samantha’. The word Samantha has no meaning in itself. Thus it is a proper noun. That is the end of it, no more meanings here.

Eg This sentence ‘I am Manish’. Here Manish is a Sanskrit word. It has a meaning in itself. Every word in Sanskrit has a meaning. Every word can be used as an adjective to describe something. If you think of ‘Manish’ as a noun, then you will understand that I am boy named ‘Manish’. But if you think of ‘Manish’ as an adjective then you will think that I am ‘someone who can be described as Manish’. There is a very big difference in these two levels of understanding. The Sanskrit word ‘Manish’ is a samas/ compound word, it is expanded to ‘Mansaya Isha iti Manish’. The simplest translation of this compound word would be ‘the Highest God of the Mind is Manish’. So our sentence ‘I am Manish’ completely changes its meaning depending on ‘Manish’ being understood as a proper noun or adjective.

Sanskrit is a highly esoteric language, it has layers of meanings. Understanding it depends on the capacity of the person who is reading it. Enlightened Rishi-s wrote these texts so there are secrets within secrets. That is why I always say never read Sanskrit books which have been translated into other languages. Or if you read them never believe that the translator has got the correct meaning of what the Rishi actually wrote. Best is to learn Sanskrit yourself.

Now if I write this same sentence in Sanskrit. ‘Aham Manishh asmi’, then here is what you get. ‘I, self-radiant, truth, certainly, surely, indeed, verily am the wisdom, reflection, intelligence, idea, desire, conception, power, master, strength, the Lord of the Mind.’ This is the power of Devbhasha Samskrutam. Now tell me can you ever trust ‘translations’ of Sanskrit texts?

So, if you can, think of our deities names as adjectives. Shankar means happiness. Shiva is the auspicious one. Ganapati means the energy which enters the individual souls and causes change. Nandi is intelligence. Laxmi is the one who has a recognisable sign. Sarasvati means the one who flows. Ganga is the one who moves very fast. Krishna means the unknowable blackness which pulls. Ram is happiness. Dev is radiance. Bhagwan is the one who has all auspicious qualities. Each of these Sanskrit words has several meanings in addition so every deity of Sanatan Dharma is more like a collection of attributes. The deities are not humans, even though we have got used to seeing them as humans. Deities in Hinduism are pure consciousness defined by some attributes. Their names are not proper nouns but are adjectives. Think of them in this way and you will get more insight into their real natures. (I wrote on meaning of the Navavarna mantra post here) 

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Now what is Sanatan Dharma/ Hinduism? To understand Dharma you have to understand the Shatdarshan shastra. I have written a post here on these 6 darshan shastra-s. It is not the work of one lifetime, but you carry on whatever you have learnt into your next lives.

Our ‘God’ is the highest conscious intelligence, non-dual, Paramatma, Parabrahma, Paramtattva, Nirvishesh Brahma, Advaita etc. This is the key deity of Sanatan Dharma, the only ‘deity’. You yourself are this Parabrahma. So essentially you worship your Self.

The Ved (Ved, Brahmana, Aranyaka, Upanishad),are the final authority for everything in our Dharma. The crowning glory of the Ved are the Vedanta, which deal with the Advaita in great clarity. The 10 major Upanishads with the Mandukya Upanishad occupy the highest place. The beautiful Mandukya has only 12 lines about the Om and the Paramtattva. 

So now about Om. Om is also not the actual Paramtattva. Om is the nearest thing to it. Something like a ‘Moorti’ of the Advaita. A Moorti that you see in temples is made from stone, metal etc. But here you are required to visualise a Moorti made of conscious energy. Om is a Moorti of the Paramatma. You have to visualise Om with this intention and understanding. This is difficult for beginners on the spiritual path.

The course work has to suit to the student. You cannot teach a 1st std child, the syllabus of a PhD. Ved and the Vedanta is PhD course work.

In Sanatan Dharma the main texts are the Ved (Ved, Brahmana, Aranyaka, Upanishad), these have the highest validity, they are the source of everything. Then are the Itihas, histories, eg Ramayan, Mahabharat, the actual incidents are given in detail. They also have philosophy ie attaining Moksh and practical stuff like how to manage a kingdom (ever read the original Mahabharat or Ramayan, it is much much more than a simple story). These Itihas conform to the Vedic principles. Then we have the Puran-s. In these additional historical incidents are given, more philosophy, more practical stuff etc. And anything written here has to conform to the Vedic concepts and the broad outline of the Itihas. The 18 Puran-s written by Ved-Vyas are given more prominence in this category. And there are the several commentaries, Bhashya, treatises, practical work, more philosophy etc written on these texts by enlightened Guru-s like Adi Shankaracharya and others. This broadly is the corpus of texts available in Sanatan Dharma. Regular Hindus never read these texts, unfortunately.

All Shastra, all pujas, all yajnyas, all mantras are secretly hidden in the Ved. It is a huge huge repository of knowledge. eg the entire Shri Vidya which deals with the worship of the Devi Lalitatripursundari, the Maha-vidya-s etc is from the Ved. It is one of the many Vidya-s mentioned here. Another Vidya is the Chakshushi, I have written about it briefly in this post. All these Vidya-s will take you to the Parabrahma if used in the correct manner. Jyotish is also a Vidya.

These different texts describe the same Reality in different perspectives in different words which are suited to people of different mindsets. eg If you read the texts on Devi Lalita, it is given that the Devi just looked at her toe-nails and the 10 Vishnu-avatar-s manifested from here, did their work and again got reabsorbed in her. This is obviously different from what we popularly know about the Vishnu-avatar-s. In the Shiv Puran, there is a Shiv Gita which Bhagwan Shiv narrated to Shri Ram at Rameshwar before his war with Ravan. eg Bhagwat Gita, most people believe that this is the only Gita, the highest teaching. But if you open the Ishwar Gita, it is very similar to Bhagwat Gita. If you read the Shiv Gita, this is also similar and also has a Vishwaroop darshan. Then you read the Anu-gita which Krishna taught to Arjun after the war, and this is very different from the Bhagwat Gita which he taught first. There is a vast ocean of philosophy, spiritual practices, teachings, discourses in Sanatan Dharma. If you randomly read from here and there, you will get extremely confused. 

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In the past and even now, Dharma is facing a lot of challenges. The Dev-Asur Sangram, ie the constant war between radiant and dull energies is always on at different levels. It is still going on now and will always occur. Sometimes the Dev will have the upper hand and sometimes then Asur might seem to be winning.

There are numerous examples where our temples, libraries, universities and their custodian Brahmins were very viciously destroyed. The horror in Kashmir where specifically Tantra and its genuine practitioners were systematically wiped out over the last 500yrs or so. The oldest physical book of Valmiki Ramayan was burnt when the Britishers burnt the libraries in Kolkata about 200yrs ago. Tipu burnt ancient libraries, manuscripts and their custodian Brahmins in South India about 300yrs ago. More insidious was that the invaders injected nonsense in our books and are still doing it. People who do not follow Sanatan Dharma are writing translations of these texts with the express purpose of altering their meanings.

It is difficult to find authentic texts and more difficult to find a real Guru. Also we have forgotten our mother-tongue Sanskrit, thus are a highly confused directionless lot.

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Back to Om. Vedanta clearly states the Om to be the Paramtattva. Focus on the Om and you will gain that realization. The Ved describe Om and how it has manifested the universe from itself. Om is the first vibration, the first movement. The main deities described are the 33 koti devata ie the 8 Vasu, 11 Rudra, 12 Aditya, Prajapati and Indra. They further create the universe and everything else in it. These are the backbone of the creation and they actually exist in our backbones, in the Sushumna nadi. 

You create your own universe. This concept is also rather difficult for beginners to comprehend. I have put posts on using energy consciously, try doing some of these exercises to actually experience how you can create. Once you succeed at an ‘energy experiment’, your perception changes forever. 

Indra as well as all the other Vedic deities are pure energy. They are not human figures. Now for the students who could not comprehend the highly esoteric Ved-s, more human looking deities was introduced in the Puran-s. All the energies were given human forms. Prakruti was given a Moorthi of the beautiful Devi Lalitatripursundari. The tri-Gun, Satva, Raja, Tama were given human forms so we have the Tri-dev etc. All these Puranic deities are also conscious energies, but described in more human terms so that we can relate to them more easily.

But every shloka, every stotra, every sukta in this vast ocean of Sanatan Dharma describes only the Advaita. This might be difficult for beginners to believe but eg. every one of the 1000 names in the Vishnu sahastranama are ultimately dedicated to the Parameshwar, from the first ‘Vishnu’ to the last ‘Sarvapraharanayudh’ all are linked to this Parabrahma. The Dasha-Mahavidyas are the energies of the 10 directions, the intelligence of space, their essential nature is also the Paramtattva (post here). Now open the Devi Atharvasheersha, She says ‘Aham Brahma swaroopini’ in the first line. If you open the Ganapati athavasheersha, it says that Ganapati is the ‘pratekshya tat tvam asi’ in the first line itself. ‘Tat tvam asi’ is a Mahvakya of the Ved. So all deities are essentially Parabrahma.

There is only one thing that is worthy of being known. That is Parabrahma and we do it through his Moorthi, Om. You are Om, I am Om, we worship Om and whatever we do or see is all Om. Eg In all stories/ allegories, you see that the Tri-dev are generally in Dhyan or in deep contemplation. Who are they doing Dhyan of? Who is the essential consciousness within them? In the Puran-s, it is mentioned that the Tri-dev did intense Sadhana to get to this position that they enjoy. Whose sadhana did they do? To become aware as ‘Indra’, 100 ashva-medh yajnyas are necessary, who are they dedicated to? So just think, to become aware as ‘Om’, what level of intensity will be necessary?

In our pantheon of deities and the humungous mass of stories/allegories, if you get into who was whose husband, whose wife, who was the father, who was the son, who came first and who came later, you will get very confused. The Ved say this same thing, the serious aspirant must focus on the ultimate reality, not on anything else. 

You should not think of yourself as Indra or Vishnu or Shankar etc or any of the Vedic or Puranic deities. Think of yourself as Om, the Parabrahma. Try to explore and locate that Supreme consciousness within.

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And finally to sum up this discussion.

Do what your Sat-Guru teaches you to do. Practice under the guidance of a Guru. Follow what he tells you. This is why the Sat-Guru in Sanatan Dharma is so essential. Without the blessings of the Guru you cannot do anything and cannot realise anything. 

Eg if your Guru teaches you from the Bhagwat Gita of the Mahabharat. You will think of Shri Krishna as your adored deity. First as a Vishnu-avtar, then as you go deeper into him you will realise that the Gita talks about the Advaita. The real Krishna, who ‘pulls’ you inwards is the Advaita. The ‘unknowable blackness’ is again a negation of this created universe. Your Guru will help you experience this essential attribute of ‘Krishna’. 

Eg if your Guru teaches you to worship Devi Lalitatripursundari. You will worship the Shri Chakra/Meru with mantras. Initially you might think that you are worshipping a beautiful Devi wearing red sari, jewellery, 4 hands etc. You might call her Mother, Maai, Aai, Mataji, Maiiyaa, etc but later you realise that her name Maa is most apt. I have written this post on this word ‘Maa’, it is a negation, essentially means ’No’. Her subtlest nature is a resounding negation of the creation you see around you. She is Advaita. This realisation will come at the highest levels of your sadhana.

Eg if your Guru teaches you Gayatri puja. You might think that you are worshipping a beautiful Devi with 5-faces etc with her Gayatri mantra. But later as the mantra pulls you inwards you realise that the ‘Savitra’ in the Gayatri mantra refers to the internal illumination. Your are worshipping your own Luminous Self. And this is the Advaita.

Eg if the Guru starts off with the pure Vedanta. This is a rare Guru and an equally rare student. You will then go directly to the Upanishad. He will teach you ‘na iti, na iti’, not this not this. Again the negation of the Maya of creation and the single pointed focus on the pure Om. Read about the Om, practice Om, experience Om and thus the Paramtattva whose Moorti Om is.

A Guru teaches what he has achieved, ie he can teach only what he has the ‘adhikar’ to teach. ie, a History teacher will teach History not Math and a 1st std teacher will not teach PhD students. If a Guru has practiced the Gayatri mantra he will guide you with the Gayatri mantra. If he visualises the Gayatri as a Devi in a red sari then he will teach you this same visualisation. If he has visualised the Gayatri as the Advaita then he will be able to guide you till this final destination. When you get blessings of a Sat-guru, the Atma-jnyani Mahapurush, the Jivan-mukt, ie the Parabrahma only then will you attain Moksh.

So choose your Guru very carefully. Guru is a force which pulls you towards your Self. And there are several pretenders who claim to have got enlightenment or claim to converse with the deities etc. Evaluate carefully before accepting someone as your Guru. If you do not have anyone around, try to follow some daily routine (post here on daily pujas). Get your own intention moving, desire to know your own reality. If you desire it, it will happen. When the student is ready the Guru will manifest. 

So Dear Reader, this is a rather rambling answer to your question, see if it helps you in some way.

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Layers of Sanskrit

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Devbhasha Samskrutam aka Sanskrit is the original language of this universe. It derives from OM, the seed of this universe we exist in. Rishi Panini ‘saw’ its grammar from Akash and wrote it. Sanskrit is linked to your DNA and is the perfectly arranged language of Light. It cannot be translated as there is nothing you can translate it to. And just because someone has learnt to read/ write it, does not mean that he has understood the texts of Sanatan Dharma or its texts, Sanskrit has layers and layers.

A simple example. There is this very common Sanskrit shlok in the praise of Shri Ganapati,

ॐ अगजानन पद्मार्कं गजाननं अहर्निशम् । अनेकदंतं भक्तानां एकदन्तं उपास्महे ॥ ॐ

OM Agajanana padmarkam, Gajananam aharnisham, anek dantam bhaktanam, ek dantam upasmahe OM

It is generally translated as ‘Ganapati is the beloved son of Devi Parvati. Her face lights up with love for him and thus that radiance falls on him. Similarly the blessings of Ganapati fall on his many devotees who worship him with devotion.’

The pictures I have put in this post are of the soft-grey colored Shri Dhoomraketu Ganapati. This is his form in the current Kaliyug. He destroys the Ahamkara, self-ego, sense of individual ego and thus grants Moksh.

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And this shlok also means this,

Om – is the seed of this universe, the pranav-mantra.

Agajaa would mean ‘the child of the mountain’, ie the Kundalini rests on the highest energy point of the Mooladhar chakra which is linked to the Pruthvi tattva. Kundalini or Devi Shakti is also called Parvati, the daughter of the mountain/ Parvat Himalaya.

Anan means face, access, door, entrance and its also indicates non-movement, non-animation etc. The Kundalini at rest is the Agajaa-annan. She rests/ sleeps with her ‘face’ blocking the entrance of the Sushumna. 

Padma as I have mentioned in an earlier post, is the conscious energy of time-space and the rest of the dimensions. It also means lotus, chakras, a serpent, sinous movement, an elephant with its massiveness and can also indicate a complete merging.

Arka is the light of the internal sun of self-awareness experienced at the end of the twelve chakras, at the Dwadashanat. The ‘Light of the Self’.

Gaj-anan is the opening of the Sushumna located at the Mooladhar chakra. I have mentioned somewhere that Gajanan/ Ganapati is the deity whose permission is necessary for gaining access to the Sushumna. (Deity means conscious intelligence, there is no classical ‘god’ in Sanantan Dharma)

Gaja is earth tattva, the foundation from which the Kundalini will make her move. Or also the solidity, steadiness of your spiritual practice.

Aharnisham means continuously, constantly, steadily, day/ night. But it also means the illusion of the individual soul/ Jivatma being separate from the Parabrahma.

Anek-dantam-bhaktanam is ‘a separated point’. The best way I can describe this is something like the school physics experiment of interference of light waves. A single point is viewed as being divided into multiple points. The same point is ‘divided’ into many. How can a point be divided? Ask your physics teacher if he can explain. Or ask a quantum scientist and be amazed when he speaks of Sanatan Dharma.

Ek-danta means one single point or focussed concentration or the Ultimate realisation. Or the original point which is perceived as ‘a separated point’. The non-dual Advaita which is perceived as multiplicity.

Upasmahe is the verb, the past perfect tense of Upasna. This word has several meanings, but the most interesting meaning is to throw off, or to remove firmly. So this will mean the action of removing the illusion of the multiple points from the one single point. It is in the past perfect tense of the verb. So this action has already been completed. A paradox. 

So this simple seeming shlok/ verse has completely different hidden depths. A real genuine Guru would be able to add more meanings and perhaps also grant the experience of this Shloka. See what you make of it?

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So to address the question that someone asked me.

How genuine are the translated Sanskrit works? The answer is that someone understands something as per his level of understanding. And understanding depends on the level of experience. And experiencing Devbhasha Sanskrutam requires contemplation. You have to do continuous Dhyan over it to experience it. eg When you are doing your Dhyan with the ‘Soham’ mantra you are experiencing, understanding it. More you meditate on Sanskrit more deeply will you experience/understand it. Sanskrit is a palimpsest, layers and layers of meanings. So if you choose to read a translated book, choose after evaluating the translator well. And at least read the original Sanskrit shlokas/text if you can.

 

Answering questions on doing Dhyan

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I wrote this post on doing Dhyan using the Ajapa mantras Soham or Hamsa or OM. I have in fact written several posts on spiritual practice and the mantra you use when you do these (do use the index page to locate them). There were some questions so will write a bit more in this post.

‘Look’ at your third eye chakra while doing Dhyan.

The mind has to be trained to stay still, to stop its continuous whirring. So you have to focus at one single point, ie the point where the Sushumna, Ida, Pingala Nadi merge, ie the third eye chakra. The Ajnya chakra आज्ञा चक्र is the only point where you have to focus on always and ever. This will grant stability to the mind/ Manas with time. Ajnya आज्ञा is a Sanskrit word which means authority, unlimited power, command, to order, rule, to grant permission, to perceive, principal, assurance etc. Your lower 5 chakras are controlled by the Ajnya chakra in ever way possible. So when you focus on your Ajnya chakra and do your Dhyan, you power it here. Then the Ajnya chakra automatically distributes the power generated to the lower chakras as per requirement in the gentlest and safest manner. The lower chakras then distribute it in their associated nadis. So the entire energy body benefits.

Some people have this misconception that while doing Dhyan, the focus should shift, ie they focus on each one of the lower chakras in sequence, up and down the back! This is not how it works. Such a practice creates instability in the mind and causes jerks in the flow of pran in the nadi/ chakras which ultimately damages them. If you do this up and down thing or focus on specific lower chakras while doing your 108 breath/mantra combo, there is a clear danger of overloading the lower chakra and causing its associated nadis to fry. Always focus on the Ajnya chakra for your Dhyan and not on the lower chakras.

(You can do focussed chakra healing. This is different from Dhyan. I have written on doing the chakra healing in this post here.)

Then there is a particular Dhyan method given in the Vidnyan Bhairav tantra where you focus only on the Brahmarandhra for the 108 breaths. But do not do this unless your Sat-Guru sits before you physically and guides you while you are doing it. Else you can mess up your nadi/chakra system so badly that you might not only kill yourself, but also spend the next few lives insane recovering from the damage. This is a very intense method taken up by Sanyasis who have formally left the material world. It is not for householders like us.

Temples in India where I have been to

Dhyan is not ‘mediation’, you do not relax when you do Dhyan. You do not float up in dreamy clouds as shown in popular culture. What you are doing is very actively and intentionally manipulating the Pran in your Nadi/Chakra system. Pushing more and more pure Pran into your energy body, the pran-mai-kosh. Doing Dhyan is the same as fighting the War of Kurukshetra within, it is called Karma-yog and the entire Bhagwat Gita talks about this internal war.

So do not experiment, be very alert, focus your attention at your third eye, do your 108 mantra/breath combo. And do your practice regularly.

Next is how to ‘look’ at the Ajnya chakra. If you have noted, I always use apostrophes around the word ‘look’ like ‘look’ at your Ajnya chakra. This means that you are supposed to inwardly focus your attention at your third eye. You are not supposed to roll your eyeballs up and try to physically look at the middle of your forehead! If you do this, you will get eye-strain and create problems for yourself. So imagine that you are sitting on a mountain and looking straight at the far horizon. Your physical eyes have to remain straight, relaxed and unfocussed. Do not force your eyes to go cross eyed or roll them up or squint, scrunch your eyes or anything. If you think your eyeballs are rolling up, bring them back down gently. Do not strain your eye muscles. Dhyan is an internal thing, your physical eyes are nowhere in the picture. People who are blind or do not have physical eyes also do Dhyan as it has nothing to do with the physical eyes.

Soham, Sushumna Yog and the Sat-guru

And its a two step process.

I have stressed in all my posts that you should do your 108 breaths with your mantra as a first step. Then sit for some more time in the same pose, ideally for 30mins at least. This second part is an important part, do not skip this. You have trained your mind with your 108 breaths and now you have to immediately test it. Has your mind learnt to focus? Has it absorbed the efforts of your 108 breaths? In this second phase think of nothing. The mind has to be blank. You are enjoying the energy of your 108 Mantra-breaths, the mind cannot be allowed to interfere in this. The mind cannot think anything, not even your Dhyan-mantra. It is a truly delightful phase as the constant whirring of your mind slows/ stills and you are refreshed from the inside. You are brought to the possible state of internal health and happiness. You absorb pure pran while you do Dhyan, and this refreshes you more than the sleep, Swapna and Sushupti states.

Also you will see visions from your past lives, future events, your deity may give you a Darshan, bursts of color, white lights, geometric stuff, sounds, anything. You might see things which might make you emotional, secret stuff might be told to you etc. Just observe and let it go. Do not let the mind start working while you are enjoying this part two. This part two will test how well you did in your part one of the Dhyan process.

Advaita 18-66 Bhagvat Gita Part-1

Now which mantra to use.

I stress on the Ajapa mantras, Soham/ Hamsa or the pure OM, as these are naturally embedded within every breath you take. These are the easiest, most natural, the most powerful yet the gentlest mantra which you can do while a living householders life. If you can do a proper Dhyan twice a day it would be great. But even if you cannot find the time you can mentally recite these with your breath at any time, eg while travelling etc. as even this helps. Convert every breath you take into Soham/ Hamsa/ Om and you will realise the Eternal.

But if you wish, you can do Dhyan on the following mantras. (I do not use them as I feel it unnecessarily complicates the process. I prefer the pure energy of the two Ajapa mantras Soham/Hamsa or OM.)

  • Om Brahmane namah
  • Om namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya
  • Om namah Shivaya
  • Or you can choose the Gayatri mantra as your Dhyan-mantra.

If you want to use any other mantra, then its your wish. But be very careful, choose a Vedic mantra linked to the Saumya gentle form of your adored deity. Do not choose mantras of the Ugra terrifying forms. Best stick to the well-known mantras. If you focus with something incorrect, you will damage your Nadi/ Chakra system. Damage here not only affects the immediate present but also the future lives. (I had written somewhere about a woman who was doing Dhyan using some ‘brzeee’ mantra and causing harm to herself and the people around her.)

If you choose a longer mantra, then you should recite the complete mantra once with every inhalation and once with every exhalation. Example, if you choose the mantra ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ you have to recite it once completely as you inhale and recite it again completely as you exhale. Do this for the usual 108 breaths. Obviously one inhalation and one exhalation is one breath.

Leo ascendant Integration

The mantra can change sometimes spontaneously. Ultimately all Dhyan-mantra will merge into OM.

While you do your Dhyan-mantra with the 108 breathes, you are training your mind with it. Mantra means ‘manah tarayati iti ‘, ie the mantra is used to save, entrain, clean, enlighten etc, the mind. So naturally the mantra is of use as long as the mind is still whirring out of control. Once you achieve the unmani-avastha, ie the mind becomes still, the mantra will change its form and purpose.

Or if you are doing a longer mantra then as you reach the seed of the manifested it will convert to the Ajapa mantras or directly to the OM. Every mantra has a specific level of energy, once you have absorbed it all, it will change its form. This mantra changing thing is not really relevant if you are using one of these three, Soham/ Hamsa/ Om mantras. These three will take you to the highest Advaita as they are at the very deepest creation point of the manifested Universe. Once you have absorbed their immensity only the Self remains. This is the reason why I suggest you choose any of these three as your Dhyan-mantra. These are the fast-tracks, they work at the very core of your existence. 

Ultimately all the Mantras merge into OM. Then as you pierce the Bindu that OM is, you reach the undefinable indescribable Advaita. 

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Outer forms of pujas, pilgrimages, satsangs are all junior school. Dhyan is senior school. What is desired is the Eternal Advaita.

Suppose you have hurt your legs and cannot walk properly, and have to use a crutch. The crutch is essential but you do not love it nor do you wish to use it forever. You wish your legs get well so that you can walk without support. Similarly the practice is a crutch, you are going to need it as long as your mind misbehaves. But you cannot get attached to the crutch. You should study your mantra, check out how you can use it most effectively, maintain it, respect it, learn about its functions etc get the most use out of it. Use it. Be dispassionate about your practice. Your mantra is a tool, you have to use it. It will get you till a point in your journey, but after its work is done later you will discard it. 

Another way of looking at it is this. In your journey, you travel in a boat, then go in a bus, travel in a plane and then trek a bit depending on the route. You keep on changing your mode of transport, you do not remain attached to the boat or the bus you travel in. The boat-ride is not your objective. Yes, the boat helps you travel a particular stretch of your route but once that stretch is over you change your mode of transport. You are not attached to the route you travel nor the act of travelling. Neither the journey or the route or the vehicle is your final objective. Will you keep sitting in the car when you reach home? You get out of it and enter your house.

Your final destination is what inspires you. Rest of it, the route and the vehicle, just is, it is incidental. Your deepest desire is to get to Your Self, this is the source of your faith.

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And finally even if you are just learning astrology do you need to do Dhyan in the first place?

Yes, you have to. Astrology is actually Jyotish, the science of the internal illumination. It is a Veg-Ang, it is connected to the Ved, it is a part of Sanatan Dharma aka Hinduism. And it is a Vidya. Vidya is a science which studies conscious intelligence. You cannot learn a Vidya unless you are connected to the Advaita within your own self. I remember when I was a child, about 5yrs old, my Dad made me learn the Ganapati Atharvasheersha. Only then did I start on the Nakshatra, the Graha and the Rashis of Jyotish. So if you want to become an exceptional Jyotishi you must power yourself with these 108 breaths + Dhyan-mantra. 

So do your Soham or Hamsa or Om with every breath you take. Choose one of these and practice regularly. And if you have time for yourself, do your Dhyan at least once a day. It will heal you at the core of your being and eventually give you Eternal Happiness.

Venus and Jupiter in opposition

Learn Devbhasha Samskrutam aka Sanskrit

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Devbhasha Samskrutam is the perfectly arranged language of Divine Light. (Do read my post on Beej mantra for more details.) I am writing this post as there was a question on how to learn Sanskrit. Devbhasha Samskrutam is called ‘Sanskrit’ in these modern times. It is the mother tongue of every conscious living being in this Universe. ’Conscious being’, is one who can see itself in a mirror and recognise itself. If you are aware of yourself as an individual person, you are ‘conscious’ of yourself. Eg a cat does not recognise itself as an individual, hence tries to attack its image in the mirror. But elephants, dolphins and humans are aware of their individuality and are conscious. It is a moral wrong, to hurt or murder a conscious animal.

  • Dev is divine, light, intelligence, consciousness, God, excellent, royal, play, etc.
  • Bhasha means definitions, speech, species, language, description, etc.
  • Samskrutam means ornamented, completed, blessed, pure, formed, initiated, refined, constructed, elaborated, made ready, finished, polished, sophisticated, perfected, as per the rules, prepared, sacred, etc.

It is the right of every human to learn Sanskrit. It is your and my heritage, the language that is intertwined with our DNA. Sanskrit perfectly describes every possible thing in this universe. If I wish to create something or manifest something with my intention, I need to know its real name, its perfect name, the name that describes it most perfectly. If I know this name, I can then use my intention etc to manifest it to create it. Sanskrit gives this perfect description of everything. Eg I want to experience “Moksh”. This Sanskrit word ‘Moksh’ describes every aspect of this experience. The English words like, realization, enlightenment, salvation etc do not even describe 1% of the Moksh experience. If I want ‘Yash’, then I can use mantras to create Yash in my life, Yash means much more than just – successes worth, pleasures, excellence, honor, respect, esteem, fame, favour, glory etc. Sanskrit words cannot be translated because there is nothing you can translate them into! You have to experience Sanskrit, the Devbhasha Samskrutam, as it touches your conscious as well as your sub-conscious etc selves.

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So to address the question. ‘How to learn Sanskrit?’

There may be institutes or universities near you which offer courses in Sanskrit either in distance education or in the classroom format do check them out.

And if you know any Indian language or English and can read/write in the Devnagri script then the best option is this. Distance learning from the Central Sanskrit University, formerly the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan. This Institution is under the HRD Ministry, Government of India. This is the link to its home page.

http://www.sanskrit.nic.in/index.php

I would strongly recommend everyone to opt for the 2 year distance learning course and sincerely study. Both Indian and Non-Indian people can register and learn. Do try to learn Sanskrit, your real mother tongue. There are other resources on this site which you can use to improve your knowledge of Sanskrit.

There are several videos on youtube where you can hear and see small stories in Sanskrit. This will help you get your pronunciation correct and understand the flow of the sentences. An example link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAEWFbi0H84k

Then you must get in the habit of reading something in Sanskrit everyday. The best option is Sanskrit Chandamama comics for children. This is the link to download them.

https://chandamama.in/sanskrit/

And this is a link to the only daily newspaper in Sanskrit. Do subscribe to it, it is a single page daily and reading current news in Sanskrit makes it very easy to comprehend.

Home

If you and your friends/family are interested then learn it together. Also try to talk in Sanskrit. Start by adding small Sanskrit sentences in your daily conversations.

If you do this much you will be easily able to converse, read and write Sanskrit within a few months. It is your basic language, it is actually very easy to learn.

Later you might want to read the philosophical books of Sanatan Dharma/ Hinduism in Sanskrit. I would suggest you start with reading the Mahabharat or the Ramayan, Ithihas, in Sanskrit. Gita Press publishes both these in Sanskrit with a helpful word-word translation so it will be easier to understand. (I have all these books in my home, my Dad loves books and I too.) You already know these histories, so it will feel a bit easy on the mind and the philosophical stuff which comes in it also may be easier to comprehend.

Learn Devbhasha Samskrutam aka Sanskrit

The origin of Sanskrit is linked with the origin of this universe and naturally connected to OM. It is the source language, all the languages in this world have Sanskrit words in them. Every continent has spoken Sanskrit. All cultures have  a Devbhasha connect, some in the near past and some in the very ancient past. In India, Sanskrit is still spoken despite every attempt of the British to stamp it out.

Here are some examples from the modern and ancient world to pique your interest Names of rivers and places retain their actual origin better. Words in use in the spoken language tend to mutate faster. So,

  • Kings of the Mittani empire in ancient Mesopotamia had names like ‘Wassukkani’, which is simply वसु खानि meaning ‘a mine of wealth’ in Sanskrit. Another king was ‘Tvshratha’ which is the Sanskrit Tvashstra, ‘divine architect’ or Tvashrahta itself means ‘owning divine chariots’ in Sanskrit.
  • Kuru, Puru, Yadav, Sudav are clan names in Lithuania! These are pure Sanskrit words. The Kuru are the main clan on which the entire Mahabharat is written, Yadav, Sudav are also clans in the Mahabharat. Puru was a King in ancient Bharat/ India.
  • The Egyptian Pharaohs are connected to Sanskrit. eg Akhe-naten, is similar to Sanskrit Ek-nathan, it means ‘one-divine father’. Pharaoh Akhe-naten brought the concept of one-god in Egypt.
  • Karnak in Egypt is clearly a derivation of Konark  कोण–अर्क meaning a ‘angle from the Sun’. There is a temple of the Sun in Konark, Odisha.
  • The river Niger starts at a place called ‘Sankari’, a pure Sanskrit word.
  • In America, the Guaalaga river in Andes is again pure Sanskrit ‘water going’.
  • I came across an interesting information on the name ‘America’. The Amer-Indians called it ‘Amerrique’. (‘The naming of America’ Jonathan Cohen, ‘The Caribbean writer and exile’ by Jan Carew). Vespucci’s name was Alberico and not Americo. He changed his name in a deliberate (and I would say, a criminal) act to steal the local native Americans of their identity. The Sanskrit link here is Amerrique is derived from ‘Marut’ which means the ‘land of gold’, which it was! Or the ‘land of strong winds’ which also fits it well. Or from ‘Meru’ which also means the ‘mountain of gold’.
  • The great river Volga. Volga is derived from Sanskrit Vigala, which means to melt and flow. Volga was known as Julaga earlier. This also is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘flowing water’.
  • ‘Gaia’ is said to be a Greek word for Earth,  but the word ‘Gaia’ has no etymological origin in that language. But ‘Gaya’ is a pure Sanskrit word, is a very important ancient/modern town in India where people go to perform final funeral rites of their departed ones. Gaya town has awesome energy, do visit it if you can.

There are so very many examples where words from Devbhasha Samskrutam can be traced in today’s languages. If you are interested, then do research for yourself, it is very rewarding intellectual exercise.

Devbhasha Samskrutam or Sanskrit is the mother language. I was taught it as a child and I continue to use it in my life. If I get time in this life, I really wish to work for another Ph.D in Sanskrit (I already hold one Ph.D in Zoology.) Knowing this one Mother Language, I can speak several Indian languages and understand even more. Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Konkani, Bengali, Odiya, Telugu, Punjabi, Gadhwali, Kumaoni, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil etc! All very clearly have Sanskrit as the foundation. The Indian language closest to Sanskrit in terms of pronunciation, structure and words is Marathi. I often see movies from these other languages, it opens up options.
Once I had to go to St.Petersberg Russia for some work, and was amazed to hear spoken Russian words sound almost like pure Sanskrit!

Do try to learn Devbhasha Samskrutam again, it is a very satisfying and enriching experience.

Learn Devbhasha Samskrutam aka Sanskrit