Tirumala, the seat of Divine!!

Tirumala Tirupathi is regarded as one of the most significant holy places of Hindhus.
Lord Venketeswara is the presiding deity here. Many disciples from various faith streams reach here to offer their prayers and to have a taste of the Divine.
Although this place is worshipped as ‘Vikunta’, the residence place of lord Vishnu on earth, there are others who come with great love seeking the God of their own faith.

This place is worshipped by mainly people of four kinds:
The Vaishanvas: people who love and worship Lord Vishnu (Venketeswara).
The Shivas: people who love and worship Lord Shiva.
The Shakthi (Divine Mother) lovers: people who love and worship Divine Mother.
The Dhyna yogis: people who have attained and also the people on the path of Dhyna Yoga (Meditation).

It is well known that Vaishnavas worship Lord Venketeswara deity, and believe that Vishnu takes care of the existence from here in this Kali Yuga time.
While Shivas, come here with great love to worship this deity, and believe that it is a Shiva deity and for this reason there are so many Nagabharanas (snakes worn as ornaments), which is generally the quality of Shiva and not Vishnu.
The Shakti, Divine mother worshippers say that this deity is of Divine mother, the divine cosmic energy who created all the existence, and even Shiva, Vishnu & Brahma. They also think that to hide this fact, the deity is hugely decorated, e.g. the nama, mark on the forehead is overly put covering the eyes and nose, just to hide the ornament worn on nose, which is worn only by women. Also the chest of the deity which is decorated as the residing wives of Lord Vishnu, Godesses Sri Devi and Bhu Devi, is believed as the chest of Divine mother.
The Dhyna Yogis come to this place to experience the intense cosmic energy and the divine vibrations available on the hill and in the temple. Dhyna yogi, Sri Subhash Patri say that there is a greatest Yogi in the hill here, right deep under the place where the deity is, who is still alive like Sri Guru Raghavendra Swamy.

What ever be the belief, it is an undebatable truth that this place is a highly energetic cosmic centre and one can definitely feel the divine energy here. The joy and the healing energy of the vibes here can only be experienced, and is beyond any description.
One just needs to be open and receptive to have a glimpse of the divine.

Finally, let me quote few lines from the lyrics of a song by Sri Ganapathi Sachidanada on Lord Venketeswara, which puts the whole of yoga in 3 steps:
The yogis win their 3 nadis (Ida, pingala and Sushumna), activate their 7 chakras, and open their Brahma Randra, the place in the head for superconscious experience to become one with you Govinda, the lord of supreme bliss.

Let we experience that supreme consciousness to be eternally blissful !!!

Music for Healing and Meditation

Music is an integral part of our life.
Every sound affects us in some or the other way. We swing in joy for some sounds, and also get very irritated for some noises.
Since ancient times, music has been used as a device to produce specific results in both physical and meta-physical worlds.
If you have closely listened to any of the mantras uttered in any Hindu pooja (Nrutyam darshayami… Gitam shravayami,..), music and dance are part of the offerings to divine.
Lord Shiva is also known as ‘Nata Raja’, the king of Dance, and the legend says all the sounds were born out of his Damaruka (the mini-drum he holds).

Every mystic I have seen or known, have in some or the other way involved music as part of the discipline to the seekers.
I remember the legendary stories I read in my childhood about Tansen, of having the ability to bring rains with Raga Megh Malhar, and fire with raga Deepak.

Music is a great help for meditation.

Let me discuss about some great musicians and music, I have known so far:

Subash patri
It’s a true retreat to listen to the flute music played by Subash patri in his meditaion sessions. In fact it’s a great experience of having music for meditation. He plays the flute with great mastery, and signifies that his yogic vibrations are passed to the listeners through his music.

Ganapathi Sachidanada
In this context, I should also mention about an extraordinary music composition by Sri Ganapathi Sachidanada called “Nama Sankeertana”. If one is a sensitive and open, the next possibility is to dance out of great Joy!!!
It’s an awesome composition that even music lovers would love listening to. Each tune is marvellous and enchanting.
There are many other compositions like Shivratri, Namarchana etc. whose lyrics also hold great meaning one can learn from.
It’s a fact beyond any doubt, that he is an extraordinary devotional music composer and singer. He is also known as ‘Nada Tapasvi’. The healing music which he plays in concerts for a gathering of people called “Raga Sagara” is believed to heal many ailments of both mind and body.
He is known to have the divine power to enter into Homa Gundam (the seat of Fire) and perform Puja (worhip), and create divine things and then come out unburnt on Shivaratri. See http://www.dattapeetham.com/india/shivaratri/shivaratri.html for more information, if it interests you.
Chinna Jiyar Swamy His famous humming tune “Jai srimannarayana”is a joy to listen and a celebration to actually sing!!

There are also music on healing developed by people like Dr. T. Mythily, in charge of Apollo's Music Therapy division (http://www.emusictherapy.com/albums.htm), and many other western artists, which I have not listened to.
There are great music composers and players like Hariprasad Chaurasia, whom Osho praises as a balanced musician who can make you taste the Divine with his music. Other musicians like Ustad Zakir Hussain, an extraordinary table player, Prem Joshua, etc. are not to be missed.
I have not discussed about the very famous spiritual vedic hymns like Vishnu Sahasra nama, Lalitha Shashr nama, and also compositions of greatest significance by enlightened masters like Adi Shankaracharya in this article.
I have restricted to only some of the contemporary spiritual personalities, whom I know are truly best.

You can write to me, to share about the music and compositions that touched you, and which you feel letting others know about it, would help.

A small insight on some of the words we use

We understand and use many phrases in English and even in our regional languages, which convey some meaning.
However, if we keenly listen and try to understand what they mean, and their root or origin, we actually realize that we have missed the real sense of those words.
Some words have Greek origin and some have a Latin origin. But there are few words, which are simple English, but got reworded or changed by the course of time.
There are many such words, for example disease. The word signifies: dis- ease, lack of ease. This word also signifies its antonym, the state of healthiness to be at ease.
A word like “Responsibility”, which sounds like a burden for many, actually signifies ‘Response-ability’, the ability to respond.

One such other word is Good Bye. I used to wonder what that word actually means and why is it used.
This word began as a Middle English phrase "God be with ye", which means God be with you! It’s a good wish one makes for a person going on some work. With advent of time, it is said as ‘Good Bye’. Going further people stared saying ‘Bye’… now Just ‘Bi”!!

So next time when you say ‘Good Bye’ to someone, stop for a moment, and remember to make a sincere wish.

God be with every one.

Various Meditation Techniques / Methods

Yoga, which was earlier thought to be for only few people seeking enlightment, is now sought by almost every one. With the increased awareness that material success alone cannot give the inner fulfilment, there is a search for that fulfilling experience.

So Dhyna yoga, the path of meditation, is surely the easiest way to reach higher consciousness.
There are many new methods given by many masters. There are also very ancient meditation techniques revived by mystics, and offered to seekers to attain spiritual awakening.

Each meditation technique has a unique way or method to reach higher spiritual levels.
I would list some of the meditation techniques, which are very famous and practised by many today:

• Vippassana (ancient technique blessed by Buddha) now revived and spread like rapid fire by Subhash Patri. See http://www.pss.org/ for more information.


• Vippassana, a 10 day free residential meditation by S.N.Goenka. See http://www.dhamma.org/ for more information.


• Isha Yoga by Sadguru Jaggi VasuDev. See http://www.ishafoundation.org/ for more information.


• Dynamic, Mystic Rose, Nataraj, Nada Bramha and other meditations by Osho. See http://www.osho.com/Main.cfm?Area=Meditation&Language=English for more information about these meditations.


• SSY (Siddha Samadhi Yoga) by Rishi Prabhakar (http://www.ssy.org/) ; also offered as MMY( Meditatition Medication and Yoga) by Bhikshamayya Guruji.


• Sahaja Yoga by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi. See http://www.sahajayoga.org/ for more information.


• Kriya Yoga by Paramahansa Yogananda. See http://www.yogananda-srf.org/ for more information.


• Transcendental Meditation by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. See http://www.maharishi.org/ for more information.


• Sudarshana Kriya by Sri Sri Ravi Sankar, a former desciple of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. See http://www.artofliving.org/Spirituality/SudarshanKriya/tabid/195/Default.aspx for more information.
  
  What ever be the technique, the most important aspect is: “the seeker makes a sincere effort with no illusions of any kind”.
  Happy meditation.

Mystics who blessed and shaped me.....

There are many mystics I am greatly indebted to, for showering thier blessings and giving me the nectar of spirituality.

I have been reading, watching and meeting mystics, ever since the thirst for freedom has begun in me.

There are many divine masters I love.

First comes Shirdi Sai Baba, who taught the world to see God in every living being on earth: in Dog, in your friend, father, and belowed. His message of "loving fellow beings is loving God" is a lesson I have learntfrom him.

Then comes Jiddu Krishna murthy, the master of Gnana Yoga, who cuts all nussaince of self deception.

Then Osho, from whom I learnt the lesson of now or never. I will share a beautiful story told by him which entirely changed my outlook towards life, in my coming blogs.

Then comes Paramhansa Yogananda, whose book "Autobiography of a Yogi" has shown me the beauty of yogis and the greatness of yogic life.

Then comes Ramana Maharshi, Akkalkot Maharaj, Raghavendra swamy, and many more...

I would post blogs about the beauty and grace I have seen in each of these masters individually in my coming Blogs.

I would also discuss about the mystics I have met so far in my life....

Finally I spread my wings.....

On the cliff tops, for a long time I have been gazing at the wide life around me.

Finally, I have decided that its time for me to spread my wings and take a dive to explore this web world as well.

So here Iam with my Blog, all set to touch new dimensions of beauty and bilssfullness.
Take a deep breadth and be ready to take a journey into exploration of Self-realization, along with me.....

Even though meditation would always be my center, my blog will touch all spheres of existance.

So I would spread the fragrance of my experience and knowledge of all aspects life, ranging from Science to Spirituality.

The rainbow is just happening...
Spread your wings too...the whole sky of Life is there to explore!