soham

Your conscience and your soul

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Someone asked me, ‘What does the soul contain? Where is the mind in our body? How do I know it is my higher self taking decisions in my day to day life happenings?’. Here are some points which you can think over if they make sense to you. Some of this is from standard books and some from my personal experiences and understanding.

‘What does the soul contain?’

Your Soul is your awareness, a spark of divine energy. There is an energy inside you which is aware, conscious, alert, intelligent. It is because of this awareness that you animate this ‘body’ (your ‘body’ has 5 layers, detailed post here). When the Soul’s aware energy exits the body, the body loses awareness ie dies. Your Soul is constant, unchangeable, eternal, indestructible. The body is obviously destructible. The body exists only for the sake of creating and enjoying/enduring karma and its repercussions. The horoscope can analyse just this 5-layered body. The horoscope cannot be used to analyse the Soul. The enveloping layers of the body are sometimes called ‘Maya’ ie the undefinable or ‘Deha-buddhi’ ie the intellect limited by the enveloping body. This geometric envelope obscures the light of the Soul. Thus your awareness is obscured, lowered and limited to only the body, you cannot perceive or experience your real nature. You are made to forget that you are pure awareness, pure Soul. It is like a fog drawn over your real Awareness. As you forget that you are the Soul, you start believing that you are the body.

Most of your clients will be in this category, they fully believe that they are the 5 layers of the body. Thus they create more karma, the impulses of their past karmas affect them deeply, they deeply laugh/cry and enjoy/endure Maya. You can chart out their life reasonably accurately using their own horoscope’s patterns. Your horoscope shows your Prarabdha karma ie how much karma have you have decided to go through in this life. The body will continue till this target is achieved then dissolve. And the horoscope also shows the possibility of Agami karma, ie how new karma will be created in this life. (Sanchita karma is your total karmic backlog)

Some people who have done practices to increase their ‘awareness’ understand that they are not the body but are the pure Soul. These people know this as a concept but they have not experienced this in the real sense as yet. They are working on it, doing their regular spiritual practice with intention. These people are somewhat immune to the ravages of karma on the body, but they are still influenced by it. You might see this happening to yourself if you are a spiritual aspirant. eg you are committed to your spiritual practice and in one critical transit of Saturn or Rahu/Ketu or Jupiter (slow planets), you lose all your focus. The material beckons you again, you want to go out with your girlfriend/ boyfriend or you suddenly feel that spiritual path is going well so now it is time to enjoy some material comforts. Your Deha-buddhi or Maya tries to assert itself and to pull you away from your pursuit of Awareness. These are testing times, if you lose focus now, you slip very badly.

As you advance deeper into your spiritual practice, as you increase your awareness levels, you get nearer to the pure Soul Experience. As you reach closer to your destination, the karmic impacts lessen but the karmic tests become even more subtle. If you cross all these and Realise the Soul, you are called a Jivan-mukt. At this stage, you are pure Soul, your awareness, consciousness, intelligence has reached the highest possible position, this is called the Advaita state. You experience yourself continually. You are aware of yourself all the time, in every state, in every condition of the body, you remain immersed in Intelligence, you Know you are the Soul. At this state your Soul has removed the envelope Maya, dissolved the Deha-buddhi and Seen itself forever. The fog has cleared and the light shines through. Now the Soul may remain in the body till its prarabdha karma is exhausted, ie till the physical dissolution of the body. But during this period its Awareness is Eternal. During this period from Realisation to the death of the physical body, the Soul is completely dissociated from the karma of the body. Whatever may happen to the body, You are not concerned in any way whatsoever. And you are Pure Awareness now, you do not create any more karma, ie no Agami karma is created and Sanchita karma is burnt the instant you See yourself.

So in short, Soul is Awareness. When you experience yourself as the Pure Awareness, the Nirvishesh Brahma, you attain Nirgun Moksh.

Your conscience and your soul

The soul is located ‘behind’ the Ajnya chakra in a dedicated ‘ashta-padma-dala-chakra, ‘eight-petalled Lotus’ chakra. This is a specialised chakra, ie the Brahmanadi within the Sushumna nadi loops around itself here and creates this specific energy vertex. These loops are in all possible dimensions. The Hamsa Upanishad describes this chakra in detail. The Soul resides here in an energy form called ‘Hamsa‘. (This Hamsa is composed of the energies of Agni, Soma Rudra, Rudrani, Kaal, Om and Bindu.)

The possible eight tendencies of this chakra are – 1. doing virtuous actions, 2. sleep, laziness etc, 3. doing cruel actions, 4. doing inauspicious deeds, 5. sensual gratification, 6. doing movement type of activities, 7. indulging in lust/sexual desires and 8. desire for accumulating material stuff. These eight tendencies are linked to the eight loops of the chakra. ie when Soul/awareness is linked to a particular loop, tendencies linked to it are activated in the body. When awareness exists ‘between’ these loops, there is indifference to material pleasures, an ascetic mindset. The three states of existence, waking state, dreaming state, deep sleep state are linked to the central axis of this ‘lotus’, at the ‘stamen’, ‘basal sepals’ and ‘innermost seed’ of this ‘lotus’. The fourth state, Turiya is possible when the Awareness leaves this chakra. And the final Turiya-teet, the beyond Turiya, ie Moksh is possible when this Awareness merges itself in the Eternal Non-dual. The Upanishad says that 1crore jaap/ repeats of the Hamsa mantra lead to Moksh.

Your conscience and your soul

Where is the mind in our body?

There are 5 layers of the body. Physical body is anna-mai-kosh. Subtle body is the three layers of pran-mai-kosh, mano-mai-kosh and vidnyan-mai-kosh. Causal body is the anand-mai-kosh. Then is the Soul within these multiple layers. This complex is called a Jiv-atma, the individual soul, as it is enveloped in this body/karmic baggage.

Mind is the Mano-mai-kosh, which is concerned with mental processes and emotions. Here emotions are on a relatively low level as the power of discrimination does not exist in this layer. ie all living animals who can understand pain have this layer active in their bodies. This layer is a part of the subtle body, sookshma sharir, controlled by the Moon in your horoscope. When you physically die, the outermost layer, physical body, anna-mai-kosh is discarded. So when you exist in the Pitr-lok, the dimension of the spirits, your soul is enveloped by a 4-layered body. Imprints stored in these 4 layers require several life-times to be rebalanced. This is why you can gauge your past lives from your horoscope especially in the Sudarshan chakra format.

Its between you and your conscience

‘How do I know it is my higher self taking decisions in my day to day life happenings?’

A personal example. Quite a few years ago, I was suffering because of an intense black ritual done by someone to damage me. A very deep damage on all levels. So I was doing healings, taking help from genuinely kind tantriks, ie using ‘white magic’. The pain was very intense, recovery was slow and I was really very scared. Someone I trusted, almost a brother, offered to do a secret ritual to help me, he did not give me the details. I asked my brother for his opinion. He in good faith said to give it a shot. So despite not being very convinced myself, I agreed and that person did the ritual. My conscience was in doubt but in the temptation of hastening my recovery, I agreed to get it done. But this was not the correct way, I actually got scolded badly by a very high level divinity. Then I suffered through these additional karmic repercussions. And it was a burden on my conscience. I had asked my brother for his opinion, the person who did it was genuine, they both wanted the best for me. But the final decision was mine, I had agreed despite the doubt raised by my conscience. Thus I suffered through the karma, I had regrets and felt very ashamed. So whoever might suggest something to you, however tempting it maybe, if your higher self/ Antaratma/ conscience is in doubt, it will come to a bad end. And it is your decision, so you alone are responsible for what happens to you.

The inner light of your Soul is your conscience, the Antar-atma. If you are doing spiritual practice, stilling your mind and emotions, the voice of your conscience is all the more audible.

Suppose you are in a situation and you have to choose between options. Naturally you will have evaluated the material aspects of both the options in depth. You know what will give you your desired material results. Now you put it to your conscience. Take a deep breath and close your eyes. Focus between your eyebrows, look in your third eye. Do some Pranayam. Recite Soham (or any other mantra you prefer) a few times with your breath in your mind, manasik jaap. Still your emotions and your scattered thoughts. Then gently think about the option you propose to take. Do you feel right about it? What kind of visions are triggered by this thought? Do you see a flash of bright happy colors, bright lights or depressed dark colors, blackness? Does your heart feel lighter or heavier. You might have physical signs like hair standing on end or feeling cold or a constriction at your throat or something. Your conscience will find some way and give you a sign that the action you chose is appropriate or not. And it will give you very clear signals. Once you have your answer do not ask your question again and again. And once you are clear about your decision, do not listen to others who might try to sway or convince you to go against your conscience. However tempting it may be do not go against your inner voice. This voice comes from your Soul itself.

I do not advocate using horoscope, runes, cards or any divination tools for these conscience related decisions. These divination tools are more linked to the sub-conscious mind. Sometimes cards show you what you consciously want to see, I have seen this happen several times. Or you choose to see those meanings in them which you desire on the material front. So you deceive yourself, attracted by the temporary gains you think you see.

(Classic example, you get 4 of Cups ‘Luxury’ in the Thoth tarot, for a relationship question. This card can show a potentially emotionally nurturing relationship but there is a very deep imbalance in it. This card indicates that you desire deep emotional fulfilment, but this relationship under question is the wrong way to go about it. This card represents temporary superficial attractiveness with an undercurrent of deep stagnation. You have deep emotional needs but you are aggravating the imbalance by desiring things which you don’t really need! This relationship in question is a dead end and you need to focus on something else which gives you real and deep emotional satisfaction. Now which Tarot reader has read so much into the energies of the cards to give this sort of interpretation? And the name ‘Luxury’ can tempt you to get into the relationship and then into emotional trouble later.)

Your conscience goes deeper than the conscious or the sub-conscious mind. It is your actual Soul showing you its Light. For a brief moment the Light of the Soul pierces through the enveloping fog and shows you the direction most appropriate for you. And finally you are responsible for your decisions, whatever happens to you, happens by your choice.

So Choose well.

Its between you and your conscience

Aleister Crowley and philosophy

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Someone asked me why I use Aleister Crowley’s birth details as my blog’s sample chart. The reason is, one he is dead, I don’t like using living peoples charts as study material on a public forum. Then his birth data is reasonably accurate and his life-events match the chart. His chart has so very many significant positions which can be used in discussions. He had a very happening life, the events are documented. How he was first involved with the material and then evolved into the spiritual is also clear. And I love using his Thoth tarot deck. You know a man by his work and this deck is his crowning achievement. It is a work of art, philosophy, magic, the cards are brimming with so much energy. I have used this deck for my personal development, as a quick fix, for setting energies right, as a tool in magics, divination, to make events move faster etc in so many ways.

But what really made me appreciate him the most, is his this quote, “The mind of man is obsessed and blinded by geometry which blocks his spiritual vision”. The most significant sentence ever which cemented my opinion that Crowley was very highly aware of the material and the highest spiritual. He must have studied Vedanta in depth and experienced the deepest stuff to have made such a profound statement. This philosophy is very clear in the Star Trump card of his Thoth deck.

Aleister Crowley and philosophy

This is a very beautiful card made using Egyptian philosophy. But here is the Vedic part of this card. The Prakruti creates the manifested universe. If you observe the cups in her hands. The upper cup represents the divine spiritual, the energy has wavy and straight lines, no crystalline geometry. The cup is golden in color, it represents the inner Sun, the Eternal Divine. She is pouring this energy on her own body. The lower cup has crystals coming out of it which are settling around her feet, ie geometry has taken form. The lower cup is silver colored, it represents the Moon, the illusion, a mere reflection of the divine Eternal. The crystals indicate the creation of the manifested world. Divine energy flows over her and as it flows down and out, it crystallises and becomes a fixed geometry of the universe. (This same thing is clearly mentioned in Sankhya philosophy.) At the right lower corner of the card are butterflies, which represent realised Souls who have come out of the geometry bound worlds.

This fixed geometry is our Shri-chakra. The Shri-chakra pervades the manifested universe in its several dimensions. (I have experienced this hyper-dimensional form of Shri Chakra in Dhyan, so will you if you focus on your own self) The Shri-chakra is the rule by which the worlds are created, exist, evolve and finally end. The body/ mind of your current incarnation is a part of the geometry of the universes. But your soul is the Divine, it is beyond geometry. That is why this quote “The mind of man is obsessed and blinded by geometry which blocks his spiritual vision” is so beautiful. As long as you are obsessed by your mind/ body and the things of the material worlds you will always remain blind to the splendour of the pure Soul. If you believe that you are the mind/ body you will never realise that you are the Soul. The Soul is not a part of this world’s geometry, it is pure Advaita. The body/ mind has been created for one single purpose, that is to go through karma. The body /mind is this crystalline geometry! The Soul is not linked to any karma or anything of the manifested universe in any way. The Soul is beyond geometry. The Soul is beyond Prakruti. It is the Advaita, the Nirvishesh Brahma itself.

Who is a Guru?

Now we are astrologers, we read charts. The chart is also this same fundamental geometry. If you have read my earlier posts, the planets and the signs are all inside your Sushumna nadi. Each chakra is linked to one planet and the signs ruled by it. And obviously each chakra in your body is a part of the Shri-chakra itself. So these planets and signs are also a part of the geometry of the universe and under the rule of Prakruti. When you read the horoscope you are reading geometry ie only the mind/ body. You cannot read the Soul from the chart. But you can gauge how deeply is the Soul’s light is veiled by the geometry of the mind/ body. ie is the chart’s energy directed towards enjoyment of the material or is the chart’s energy more directed towards tearing the veil of illusion around the Soul. A chart can do only one of these two things at a time. It cannot be spiritual as well as materialistic at the same time!

When the mind get obsessed with desires linked to the chakras, ie geometry, the energy flow in this part of the Sushumna is distorted. This distortion can be ‘seen’ as actual snakes hissing at you from within your chakras while you do Dhyan. Or microscopic bits of floating black energy in your Sushumna. Unless this distortion is cleared out the Kundalini cannot rise up in the Sushumna. This is what Crowley indicates by ‘spiritual vision’. You ‘see’ all this when you focus on your third eye chakra.

If you study charts where the spiritual potential is very high, you will see that the karma of the body/ mind do not affect this person. He goes through all the karmic events (prarabdha karma) but he is completely disconnected from all this happening. He has understood that he is not the body/ mind, he understands that he is the Soul and is actively working towards his actual Realisation. Such a person will never ask you any materialistic question like, ‘when will I get married’ or worry about things of the material worlds. Every act he does will be for spiritual progress. If he does a puja it will be for gaining Himself not for making his marriage work! He knows that all this is an illusion and his objective is to go beyond it. He will know very clearly what his goal is and he will not waver in the least from it. He will not create new bindings of marriage or business which have the potential to create trouble in his chosen path. Materialistic stuff is meaningless for him. A serious aspirant knows that given the least bit of scope, material life can easily overpower spiritual energy. (Read the Vivekchudamani by Adi-Shankaracharya). Prakruti does not let the aspirant pass upwards through her until she has tested him to the limit. For such high level aspirants, the horoscope is generally meaningless as the joy/ sadness represented by it does not affect him deeply. The physical events will occur as per the horoscope but they will not affect him in the least. But he will remain alert about creating new karmic tangles, will avoid such situations assiduously

So as per Crowley, you are blind to the Divine as long as the mind is enchanted by the illusory geometry. The crystalline geometry hides and distorts the light of the Self. The mind itself is a product of the geometry! So no wonder it is enmeshed in the crystalline Prakruti. To dissolve the Mind is the goal of all spiritual practice. Only when the mind dissolves does the veil of the crystalline geometry dissolve. This is called the Unmani-avastha. After this, your progress towards Yourself is faster.

But for your general clients, who are quite fascinated by the geometry of the universes, the horoscope’s events will affect them on all levels. They will be happy/ sad and create more karma etc as per the chart. The divine spark exists but it is hidden behind the geometry. So for your routine clients all this spiritual stuff is meaningless. And the material stuff is paramount. So if they ask you, ‘when will I get married?’, do tell them the correct time, match their charts and also tell them to do pujas and remedies for having a happy married life. This is their life goal, counsel them and help them complete it.

Leo ascendant Integration

Once while in Dhyan I had an extraordinary vision, as if my Sat-guru had offered my Shri-yantra to the flames of ’Soham’. That was the day I experienced the power of the Advaita in freeing the soul from the blinding veils of geometry. A genuine Sat-guru is very rare. There are several Guru-s, yogi-s, high level aspirants, in this world who can be generally respected, but give your faith and your trust only to a Sat-guru else you may get into trouble in your practice.

For clients who have very material desires, I do recommend the Shri-chakra/ Shri-sukta as a first step. They are obsessed with experiencing the material, so what better than to make them focus on its fundamental geometry itself. It works for general auspiciousness and beneficial things and will give you every material thing you desire, but also slowly make you desire the spiritual too, maybe now or a few lives later. When you are sated with your experience, obviously you transcend. The Shri-Chakra geometry can be a part of your spiritual school syllabus in the initial stages but it is not the ultimate goal. Once you feel the burning desire to know yourself, ‘Soham’ is the only mantra which will take you onwards. The ultimate goal is your Soul, the Advaita.

My Sat-guru did puja of the Shiv-lingam in his initial practice, did complicated Hatha Yog and seriously very high level stuff. But after he realised Himself, he stopped doing all sorts of worship. (Maximum I have seen my Sat-guru do Soham-jaap using a jap-mala, very rarely, only when he had no other engagements. Then he would give this mala to some disciple. He was always on the move, giving discourses, meeting and blessing his lakhs of disciples, from the age of 29yrs – 96yrs). He always ‘gave’ the easiest Soham mantra for all his disciples. This, after he himself had performed the most complicated stuff for his own realisation! He would say that Soham is the easiest and the best way for attaining that Ultimate state. Soham mantra is essentially Sushumna Yog. Only a Sat-guru can ‘give’ it in the real sense. Performing it is also very simple. It will spontaneously take you to Kevala Kumbhak, Samadhi and Advaita in this life-time itself.

A Sat-Guru who has Seen the ultimate Self cannot worship the Shri-chakra or the Shiv-lingam or any moorthi! How can the Advaita, the Eternal Divine worship a mere geometry for hours and in seclusion as a practice! A Sat-guru is a Jivan-mukt, he is Eternally Aware. A genuine Sat-guru will not put his disciples into very complicated rituals. These are all a part of the geometry of this manifested worlds, these have no place where the Self exists. (Krishna has said the same thing in his Bhagvat Gita 18-66, ‘dissociate from the geometry of this manifested worlds and realise that you are the Advaita yourself’)

If your Guru whom you follow, still worships a yantra, linga, moorthi etc for hours, secludes himself for his ‘practice’, follows strict rules on things, prescribes complicated rituals, still goes on pilgrimages, feels emotional about events around him, eg death of someone or a handicapped child being born to someone, if he is still affected by the things of this geometric universe, then judge for yourself if he has Realised Himself or not. Best would be to ask him directly and see what kind of reply he gives. Does he say ‘yes’ with the power of the Advaita in his words or baffle you with empty words? (Someone I know was searching for a Sat-guru, about 50yrs ago. He met several Gurus and actually asked them if they had realised the Eternal. They were genuine at heart so clearly said that they were also aspirants, albeit very high level ones. So he searched some more and finally met my Sat-guru, all his questions were answered here.)

Back to Aleister Crowley, if he could comprehend this existential complexity and yet it’s essential simplicity he must have been much more spiritually than what his contemporaries report about him. So this is the real reason I use the Thoth tarot as my go-to deck and use his birth chart as a sample chart in my blog!

 

Leo ascendant Integration

Transits and their power over you

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I have seen so many people who scoff at the horoscopes. My own husband for some time after my marriage did not believe that the horoscopes could be this accurate! A Sun-dominated personality so cannot believe the horoscope can completely over-ride free will (typical nature of strong Suns!). You too will get such family members or friends who completely diss astrology or superficially say that they believe in it.

Always remember that your horoscope shows the choice of your birth. You chose the horoscope patterns. The way your current incarnation works ie your current body and mind is described by the horoscope. Not your soul, your soul is the Parabrahma, the Advaita itself, it is undefinable, unalterable. But your this current incarnation, the body/ mind created to go through karma and its repercussions is exactly as per the horoscope. If you tell me that you have such typical nature or you are going through such a situation at present or if you felt some typical emotion when you were a child, I can point out the exact combination in your horoscope which indicates this. We are all quite predictable and the horoscope does this by examining your own energy. Your body/mind and actions are clearly seen in your horoscope, it is undeniable. And if the horoscope shows some patterns for the future that too will happen. The reason is very simple, you yourself chose this at your own birth. You exercised your will at the point of birth, there are some options for course correction during the life, but the choice of birth has to be by and large honoured.

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Transits are very important. These give the timing of the events indicated in the birth horoscope. An example, at this current moment, 29th Feb-2020, Mercury is combust and retrograde. You will be seeing juvenile arguments, pointless misunderstandings, faulty analytical processes all on an over-drive. And because he is combust too, there is a very high component of self-ego, selfishness, inability to see the other’s view point, the Sun has taken over the power of Mercury. They were exactly conjunct on 26th Feb, 2020, so a couple of days around this date would have been exceptionally ‘misunderstood’. People with a powerful Sun in their birth charts will seem even more domineering to others. (one person I know has an exalted Sun, 10th house, the strongest graha in his chart. Met him at a social function yesterday, his behaviour! but astrology can explain everything). On the other hand if your Sun is weak in your birth chart, then this period can be difficult on you, as you are more on the receiving end and nobody bothers to listen to your point of view. Mercury is combust and retrograde remember, its a double whammy. Then as usual, Mercury’s own guys, people with Virgo or Gemini especially as their Moon sign will be emotionally disturbed themselves and create mental disturbance to the others around them. It is unavoidable. Even if you know that this will happen the only option is to endure through. You can take measures to reduce the intensity or do something to recover faster but no remedy can completely avoid the unpleasant events.

Another interesting thing occurred 2 days ago, I was busy else would have written more about it. Sun was exactly conjunct Mercury in Aquarius and Mars in transit was exactly over Ketu in transit in Sagittarius. These Mars-Ketu conjunctions in transit have the potential to permanently sever connections both on the objective and subjective levels. Jupiter is with Mars/Ketu in Sagittarius, so he has lent his expansive energy to their fiery cut. This can indicate a highly karmic event and cause attendant severe trauma. I had written about the natures of Mars and Ketu in an earlier post. Ketu is said to be like Mars but he works on the subjective and astral planes and Mars on the objective and physical. Open your birth chart and see where house Sagittarius occupies from the ascendant sign.

  • Eg you are Libra ascendant, Sagittarius would be in the 3rd house. Go back 2-3 days and think back on the interactions with your siblings, brothers, neighbours, team-mates, co-workers etc. There would have been at least one really intense fight/argument which would have the potential to snap ties forever. You might continue loving your sibling but you cannot endure his/her company anymore!
  • Eg if you are Pisces ascendant, Sagittarius would be your 10th house, so one really intense event in the workplace or with the father etc, keywords of the 10th house, would have occurred 2-3 days ago. A good astrologer should always be aware of the current transits.

Transits and their power over you

In addition, the background energy of the biggest event, Saturn in Capricorn after 30yrs. I have repeatedly written in my several posts that this 5yrs transit of Saturn in Capricorn/ Aquarius is very critical especially for Cancer/ Leo ascendants. Aries, Libra and Capricorn ascendants too can expect karmic events unfolding. The tip here is to focus on just 1-2 high potential activities, not spread out your energies haphazardly. eg If you have one sure-shot business deal, focus on this with all your intensity, do not go chasing after possibilities. Saturn always prefers sure-shot pragmatic ventures rather than romantic possibilities. And work, work hard.

  • Cancer ascendants must have already started seeing the effect of Saturn transiting their 7th house, as one-one relationships start constricting, your life-time loves, spiritual practice, business deals show the strain. Cancer ascendants are possibly going through a very intense period where they need to make every move sensibly. Whatever you do now will be converted to karma, so be very careful (7th house’s hidden dangers). Behave sensibly, do not hurt, cheat, abuse others with whom you have one-one connects. Do your spiritual practice with serious discipline, it is a subject of the 7th house.
  • For Leo ascendants Capricorn is the 6th house, so you will be forced to work, karmic demands for work will consume all your time. You will not be able to rest, or spend time with your children/spouse. Your business partnerships may suffer as you are unable to give personal attention. All your one-one relationships will literally vanish, as you are going to work and only work. Do Soham jaap consciously as you travel or have a few minutes free in your day. This will help you regain your internal energy.

Now we know that Saturn is in Capricorn for quite some time so we should analyse the transits of the faster planets with respect to his position too.

  • Sun and Mercury are in Aquarius owned by Saturn. And Mercury combust and retrograde. This is the second sign counted from Capricorn. And Capricorn is twelfth counted from Aquarius. So events triggered by the energies of Sun+Mercury have Saturn’s energy as an undercurrent. Family times, family connections, dreams, sleep and the rest of the keywords of the second and twelfth houses are interlinked here. See for yourself how this has translated in your own chart.
  • The current Mars/Ketu are doing their thing in Sagittarius, it is counted twelfth from the Saturn in transit. So their dissociative energies are capable of cleanly slicing off whatever Capricorn sign stands for in your life. Check it out.
  • Mars will enter Capricorn in March to be with Saturn. He will be exalted here. So you will want to take risks with the Capricorn stuff in your life. Saturn does not like risks whatsoever. So internal conflicts can disturb you. If you have Saturn-Mars aspecting or in conjunction in your birth horoscope, be careful while Mars transits Capricorn. Accidents, heat-related issues can occur. If you are a Manglik, avoid risky behaviour. This is important, do not pick fights or hurt others by your aggression.
  • And then 31st Mar, Jupiter enters Capricorn and on the same day Saturn and Mars are exactly conjunct. Keep a look-out on what happens around this date.
  • Kaal-sarpa keeps popping in and out, partial for 15days and then full for 15days alternating till June, adding its own energy to the mix.

All this was a very generic discussion on how the horoscopes work. The individual results will depend on your personal horoscopes. So if you want to analyse transits first sit down when you have time, it is going to take one hour. Open your birth horoscope for the physical stuff. Open your birth Moon horoscope for the emotional stuff. Draw these two charts on a paper, analyse them a bit again. Open your software and the current transits, see how the planets are interacting with each other in the present moment in the skies. Now use a different colored pen and write the current transits on your birth and Moon charts. Now use your knowledge of the planets basic natures, their ways of working, their aspects etc. Try to see patterns being created between the birth positions and the current positions. Try to tally with what is going on a your life. It takes some practice but it is worth it because it helps make sense of what is happening to you. If good events are around then enjoy yourself. If adverse events surround you, know that they are there for a short while, as the transits change, eventually the situation will also change. This gives the mind courage to face up to what is happening. Mind needs hope to support it and Jyotish with its Light, gives just this Hope.

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Constant Nija Guru v/s Other Anya Guru

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As per the Vedic panchangam, today is Skand Shashthi, dedicated to Kartikeya, the son of Shiv-Shakti. The Vasant Panchami was yesterday, Sarasvati puja and Gayatri mantra jaap. And the day before was the Maagh Ganapati Chaturthi. Tomorrow is Ratha Saptami, the rising Sun and Gayatri mantra again. Dhyan is a daily affair, but when these energies add to it, it goes deeper. These days from Makar Sankranti to Ratha Saptami are bursting with energy. Vasant Panchami is a very special day for me and this time I missed my Guru. But then he is kind and a dream/vision blessing settled the missing-feeling, yesterday morning I was euphoric.

So today I will write about my Guru in gratitude and specifically on what a Nija-Guru is. There are very few people in this world who have been fortunate that they have been blessed by a Nija-Guru.

  • Nija निज means personal, innate, continuous, constant, inborn. He is also called a Sat-Guru. The force which takes you to the Eternal Truth.
  • The other type of Guru is the Anya-Guru. Anya अन्य means other, different. (These words/ definitions are from the 11th Skandh of the Bhagwat Mahapuran in case you want to refer.)

There is a story where a spiritual aspirant was motivated by a honey-bee and he paid respect to the honey-bee by calling it a ‘Guru’. The honey-bee visits several flowers and collects just their essence, this is a quality which a spiritual aspirant must cultivate. Similarly you will read books, you will collect the essence of spiritual teachings written there. You meet with other spiritual aspirants, perhaps some Yogi-s who are on higher levels than you. You learn from them, they might teach you how to do pujas, you get blessings from these Yogi-s. These are also Guru as they are taking you onward in your journey to Moksh. They are adding to your understanding and motivating you. But these all are the Anya-Guru, the other-guru. You learn what they had to teach you, but you do not get satisfied and you still search for someone to guide you further. An Anya-Guru cannot take you to your ultimate destination Moksh.

An Anya-Guru is somewhat like an Uncle, the Nija-Guru is the Father.

I know someone who searching for a Guru, he found the perfect Guru who taught him the perfect Gayatri puja. Now Gayatri puja is in itself very potent and will take you to Moksh if you perform it regularly. But this person was not satisfied with this and now wanted to learn Kriya yog from a proper Guru. He met another perfect Guru who taught him the perfect Kriya yog. The perfect Kriya yog will also take you to Moksh if you do it regularly. But this person was still not satisfied and now desires to learn tantra, mantra, yantra and all the other facets of Sanatan Dharm. He will definitely get those appropriate Gurus who will teach him all that he desires to know, but these will all be the Anya-Guru. This person’s intention is to learn these things and the Parabrahma always grants what is desired with intense intention. Then it may take one life or more lives to complete the desired intention. The choice is always with the aspirant. It depends on what you intend.

I just want to be at the same position that my Nija-Guru had realised, the Nirvishesh Brahma, the Advaita. And that is all. I don’t focus on the steps, just the target. He will take care of the process and also the target.

shri_smarth_sadguru_muppin_kadsiddheshwar_maharaj
Sri Samarth Sadguru, Shri Muppin Kadsiddheshwar Maharaj

A Nija-Guru is a realised Seer. He has realised Nirvishesh Brahma and is the Parabrahma himself, he is a Jivan-mukt. The Guru stotra defines just this superlative power ie the Nija-Guru.

The one over-riding quality of the Nija-Guru is this. When you meet him (or her), you know in your innermost heart that you have reached your destination. Your search is over and you are convinced about it. Whatever has to be attained will be attained only under his guidance. The satisfaction is real and the trust deep, but only when one meets the Nija-Guru. When you meet the correct guide to take you home, you are assured of success. You feel the brightness in his aura, in his words; the confidence and the power of Realisation. When he is in front of you, or when you even think of him, there are no questions in your mind, the chattering mind goes silent. You feel it in the core of your heart that this in front of you is not an old 96yr man but the ultimate beauty of the Parabrahma. You know that you are standing in front of the Singular source. When he says to you that you will reach your destination, you do not doubt his words nor his ability to guide you. You search no more. This is your Nija-Guru. Once you find him and in case you need to take more lives to complete your karma, he will be there again and again in every life till you reach your own Moksh yourself.

My Nija-Guru and his Gurus, all who attained Nirvishesh Brahma and were Jivan-mukt. This is my lineage, my source and also my destination.

  • My Nija-Guru – Shri Muppin Kadsiddheshwar Maharaj who was the 26th Math-adhipati of the Siddhagiri Math, Kolhapur, Maharashtra
  • My Grand-Guru – Shri Siddharameshwar Maharaj
  • My Great-Grand-Guru – Shri Bhausaheb Maharaj
  • My Great (2) Grand Guru – Shri Gurulingajangam Maharaj
  • My Great (3) Grand Guru – The 22nd Kadsiddheshwar of the Siddhagiri Math
  • The lineage goes back a thousand years to the 1st Kadsiddheshwar also called Shri Revan-nath Maharaj and he was of the Nath Sampraday.
Shri Siddharameshwar Maharaj
Shri Gurulingajangam Maharaj

My own Nija-Guru left his physical shell on 16th Aug 2001. In all these years I have never felt any need to search for guidance. Nor have I met anyone living who elicited the same feelings of deep trust, power, confidence, faith and the sheer magnificence that I could sense around him. Whatever I have needed in my spiritual journey has been provided by him, my Sat-Guru, the Parabrahma. Whenever I needed protection, he has always been there. And whenever I have felt that my life has gone bad, he has always brought the solution in front of me. I just do my Dhyan and mantra as much as I can and I leave all the rest to him. He is always there, if I need to know anything specific he can assume an astral form or I hear his words echoing around me or there are visions in Dhyan or in the dream states or the situation changes and things just fall in place.

This sort of full and complete trust can only be put in a Nija-Guru and not in an Anya-Guru. Your soul recognises him. A Sat-Guru is your own constant guide, its a guide and a follower relationship. He has witnessed Pure Reality and thus can guide you till there, you are convinced in your soul about this fact. An Anya-Guru is like two fellow travellers, one is more senior than the other but still both are co-travellers. The soul has not accepted these other Guru-s (who may be at very high levels of spiritual progress/ enlightenment) as the Sat-Guru and still is in search for the correct guide.

My Guru taught each one of his disciples to use the mantra ‘Soham’ for doing Dhyan. But he never compelled anyone to do Dhyan. Surprised? Yes, he would say that doing systematic Dhyan or even reciting ‘Soham’ consciously with the breathing whenever possible, would give faster spiritual progress but he never ordered anyone to do anything. A real Guru will never order a disciple, because if he does so, it becomes a Guru-adnya, the order of the Guru, which has to be followed and it continues beyond death into the next lives. There are no exceptions to a Guru-adnya. And no Nija-Guru takes away the free will of any disciple.

‘Yatha icchasi tatha kuru’, this is the last line of the Bhagwat Gita, where after telling the entire Yogshastra Gita to Arjun, Shri Krishna himself tells him that ‘I have told you everything that is necessary, now you should do as you desire’! This means that the Parabrahma recognises free-will of the individual soul. (Even if the free will is an illusion for the purpose of this Game/ Lila/ creation, it still exists.) Every individual soul always has the choice of action. My Guru would use this phrase often.

My Guru had several lakh disciples from all strata of society. They would naturally ask him about their material life’s problems. He would sometimes indicate a way out but also tell them to do follow it only if they wanted to. Yatha icchasi tatha kuru! ’Guru- Krupa’ is another word which is freely used by modern ‘gurus’. What this word means is, if you sincerely follow the spiritual practice suggested (never ordered) by your Nija-Guru, you will reach Moksh. This is the real Guru-Krupa. ‘Guru- Krupa’ does not have any material connotations. So you have found a Nija-Guru and what do you ask him for, money? marriage? children? job? eg my Uncle is very rich and interested in even more money, (typical Capricorn nature focussed on the material), he would request the Sat-Guru to bless him with more money! If you have the Parabrahma sitting in front of you, what should you ask for, money or Moksh?

A real Jivan-mukt Sat-Guru will never give blessings for material accomplishments. His blessings, his Guru Krupa, is only and only for the spiritual life. (If you meet a ‘guru’ who offers you success in wealth, marriage, profession and says nothing about Moksh, is not a real Guru). In this modern world, spirituality has also turned into a marketable item. So many people out there waiting to capitalise on your faith and your trust.

Your faith and trust is the most precious energy you have. Offer it only to that one Nija-Guru, the correct guide, who you are convinced will take you to Moksh.

Jai Jai Guru Maharaj Guru, Jai Jai Parabrahma Satguru!

 

Om_-symbol

The Mantra Soham Hamsa and OM

astrologerbydefault7 Comments

Every practice of Sanatan Dharm/ Hinduism, the ‘eternal right action’ requires that,

  • you remain in control of your breathing pattern,
  • focus at your third eye
  • and mentally recite a Mantra.

Unless these 3 conditions are satisfied you will not gain control over the pran/vital energy moving in your energy body. And if you do not control the pran, you will not be able to do anything else further.

If you do the breathing or the yogic posture/Asan without the accompanying Mantra, the Sadhana/practice becomes tamasic in nature. The energies invoked will be unmoving, dull and eventually discordant. You are working with your own personal energies, do not experiment. If you do make errors, you will suffer on the internal levels, you might gain physical health but spiritually you will remain nil.

Reciting the Mantra mentally is compulsory. Mantra is not ‘religious’. It is a form of the Universal energy, you are entraining your personal energy with it, so that you attain the Ultimate.

The Mantra Soham Hamsa and OM

Now for doing Dhyan there are only 3 Mantra options,

  1. ‘Soham’- the best option if you want to experience Moksh – you mentally recite ‘So’ while breathing in and while breathing out ‘ham’ mentally. So together it is ‘Soham’. Anyone can do it without formal initiation from a living Guru.
  2. Or ‘OM’ – mentally recite one single OM as you breathe in and one single OM as you breathe out. This much can be done by anyone. (There is one another way of using the OM but you will need a proper enlightened Guru for its initiation)
  3. Or ‘Hamsa’ – mentally recite ‘Ham’ while breathing out and while breathing in ‘Sa’. Together it becomes ‘Hamsa’. This too can be done by anyone without any formal initiation.

‘So’ here is the Universal consciousness/ Param-atma and ‘ham’ is the narrow sense of self/ individual soul/ Jiv-atma.

  • So = Sa + O = success, knowledge, accomplishment + eternal Anahata/unstruck sound (there is sound but nothing was struck to create it)
  • Ham = Ha + M = Eternity + completion, endlessness, the Bindu – this is also a beej mantra when pronounced aloud as ‘hang’

When you breathe in, it is called Purak (filling). This is linked to ‘Sa’ (sa-kaar). When you hold your breath now it is called Antah Kumbhak (internal measure/base) this is linked to the vibration of ‘O’. When you breathe out it is called Rechak (emptying) this is linked to “ha’ (ha-kaar). And when you hold your lungs empty now this is called Bahya Kumbhak (external measure/base) linked to the ‘M’ vibration.

Kumbhak is the important part of breathing, here the inward and outward going breath are balanced perfectly and there is perfect stillness as described in the Vidnyan Bhairav Tantra. This is also the limit/joint, the conscious energy of Sandhya which is also called the Devi Mahamaya. She creates, maintains then destroys and is all pervading.

In the deeper Dhyan phases, the ‘sa’ and ‘ha’ Akshar somehow get ‘deleted’ and only ‘OM’ the primordial Nada remains. This will take some time but it will happen. You keep practicing and witness it when it does happen.

The Ida naadi is linked to the ‘Sa’ and the Pingala naadi to the ‘Ha’. When the ‘Ha’ and the ‘Sa’ get ‘neutralized’ (can’t find a better word) the OM remains. After this the Ida/ Pingala shut down and Sushumna naadi gets active. The pran from the Universe which enters through your third eye chakra moves into the Sushumna. It starts the process of ‘cleaning’ it out. Only when it is completely ‘clean’ and ‘through’, can the energy of self-identification /kundalini enter it and move through it till it reaches the top-most chakra, Moksh.

‘Soham’ is the energy which pulls the Kundalini up towards its merger with the Ultimate. ‘Hamsa’ in this sense would be the energy of manifestation and ‘Soham’, the energy of dissolution. Both are interlinked and equal in the real sense. For creation you need to have a dissolution first, then only can something be created. And for dissolution to happen you need creation in the first place which will be then dissolved. These two are very powerful mantra, but they still are defined. Each is defined in relation to the other, thus are not the Ultimate on their own. They are the link to the Ultimate.

The Ultimate is pure OM.

(How would you describe a pearl? White, small, round, pearly, iridescent, from an oyster, etc. But these terms describe its properties in relation to something else. They do not describe the pearl as such, stand-alone, on its own. Thus a pearl cannot be really described, or can it?)

Now these two mantras are also called the ‘Ajapa Gayatri‘. Ajapa means ‘not counted/recited’. Jap means to count and recite. If you pay attention to the ‘sound’ of your breath, it does sound like ‘so’ when breathing in and ‘ham’ as you breathe out. You are always reciting Soham when you are breathing, unconsciously. See, you are always reciting a Mantra as you breathe. Breath without Mantra is not possible. You do not realise it, but you are doing a 21,600 times jaap of Soham every day. But the trick is to be aware of this continuous sound of Soham. This awareness is called ‘Soham Yog’ or ‘Hamsa Yog’. Your Dhyan is the means to this goal.

When you recite Soham mentally with your breath you are ‘churning’ the internal pran/vital air with your focussed breathing, in and out. You are attracting the Ultimate consciousness by repeatedly calling out its name ‘Soham’ (it becomes OM later, your real name). And you are applying force on the closed door of the Sushumna by focussing on the third eye chakra. The door will open!

shri_smarth_sadguru_muppin_kadsiddheshwar_maharaj
Samarth Satguru Shri Muppin Kadsiddheshwar Maharaj

My Guru taught me the Mantra ‘Soham’ in this life 37 yrs ago. It is the simplest and safest means to achieve your spiritual goal, Moksh.

But do you have the Intention? How long will you Play till you decide to come Home?