Habits and soul groups through life times

We do a lot of travelling and I am amazed at how we meet strangers in different states and countries and they become close friends. It is interesting to see that they share our views on life and are spiritual like we are. I believe and often say that we come to this earth plane in groups. Sometimes we have to wait for eons for all members to come together.  

I was elated to get proof for this fact recently. When we had two outstation friends and they learned that I am a past life regression facilitator, they showed keen interest to experience a past life. Since we were hard pressed for time, I decided to do a short session for both together. It was a powerful experience for both of them, and, me too.

Getting inside the box

I took them into a deeply relaxed state and let them imagine a box, large enough to accommodate a person inside. I had to specify that the box was open from the top, without a lid,as one of them was claustrophobic. Each one was guided to get into the box, which was taking them to the life time that held answers to the core issue in this life time. From the same instructions, they went through different experiences.

Vinita’s experience

The moment I asked them to sit down inside the box, Vinita (name changed) sat down in padmasana (Lotus pose). She saw herself as a man sitting in front of a group of people, to whom he was imparting spiritual knowledge. He was then going through the villages on foot, helping people with advice, and distributing  things like rice, dal, clothes  etc., to those in need.

Lasika in Europe

Lasika (name changed) sat on a chair inside the box. In the past life, she was a model in Europe. The significant moment in that life time was when she was busy getting things arranged for a show. She was stressed out and running around to see that all arrangements were made perfect.

Meanwhile a man (lover?) came to her and asked her to leave everything and go with him. They had an argument and she made it clear that she loved the life as a model and the man left her in anger. She felt being left alone, then composed herself and got on with the task at hand.

Parallels to the current life

Vinita is married and living in a joint family. When the husband comes back home hungry in the evening and asks her to cook something for him, she would cook for everybody at home. This irritates her husband, who can’t understand why she can’t cook just for him. He thinks she is doing this to please others. But for her, it is her inherent nature, and is at a loss to grasp why there is a problem at all.

Other members of the family are surprised at her habit of giving something to anybody who visits them. Like giving drinking water to the post man, some fruit to the person who comes to clean their car etc.,

Lasika’s feeling of loneliness is apparent in this life. She never lets herself to be alone in the house. When other members of the family leave for different destinations, whoever is the last one to leave, irrespective of where she/he is going, she will go with them.

Souls from previous lives

Vinita saw herself as an ascetic, and her sixteen months old baby in current life enjoys listening to bhajans. When he is irritated or crying, she puts on bhajans and he becomes calm and happy in no time.

After she gives him bath in the morning, he would straightaway go to the puja room, without any prompting.  I told her that her son is definitely one of her disciples from the previous life.

Lasika has a daughter who is just 3 years old. Once while travelling when she was younger and had just started talking, she was fascinated by a building on the way. She pointed to it and told, ‘Papa, Eiffel tower’. They were surprised from where she came to know of Eiffel tower.

When they were discussing about having a vacation and asked her where she wanted to go, she was ready with her answer, ‘London, Paris’.

Now that she is three years old, they were considering different school options to enrol her, she had her opinion, ‘Papa, put me in London school’.

From the time she started talking, she has a European accent while talking in her mother tongue, and now when she talks in English. Friends and relatives make fun of Lasika, saying, ‘Your daughter is a foreigner or what?’ And she is desperately trying to change her daughter’s accent.

Definitely the daughter is another soul from her European life. On meeting Lasika the first time, my husband, who is an Orthodontist, had remarked, ‘ Your facial profile is like that of a European’. So, even the facial characteristic she has brought from her European life!

Shoe flower magic

There is a shoe flower plant in my green house that gives multilayered orange flowers.

I planted another shoe flower plant that gives single layered red flowers, in a pot and kept it near the other plant. 

Both of them used to give flowers. On 8^th May 2018 I noticed a orange colored buds in the potted plant as well as the plant on the ground. 

I was shocked, and waited eagerly to see whether it would bloom into a single layered or multilayered flower on the potted plant. On 10^th, I was wonderstruck to see a multilayered orange flower on the plant that had given single layered red flower so far!

Is it gene transfer happening?  If so, what was message it was giving to me? If a plant can imbibe a quality that it likes from another adjacent plant, can’t a human being imbibe higher qualities from another person that he/she comes in contact with? If that is not being done, in my mind, that is wastage of this precious life.

A step to go “Beyond”

We are not human beings with souls, but souls with human bodies. We have chosen the current body to perform a particular role, let us do it to our best, remembering that every little thing that comes our way was designed by us.

We can experience this finite world through our five senses, but we need to keep in touch with our real world and our real identity, the soul. This is not possible through the five senses, but through the sixth sense, which we were all born with, but never bothered to develop. We can develop it and also get in touch with our soul through meditation.

Meditation

 It is a long journey. Ultimately everybody has to undertake it. We can do it in this life, or in the next life, or after four lives. There is no hurry. After all, time is only in the mind!

Several questions arise in the mind, as, Why have we chosen these bodies? What is the explanation in our philosophy for this phenomenon?

In this Universe, there is only one energy, the Paramatman or we can call God for the sake of understanding (Remember ‘Tat Twam Asi?). It wanted to experience itself. When we want to see ourselves, we look at the mirror. Similarly, the Paramatman created his/her own images to experience itself - as jeevatman.  

Who designs our lives?

When we take birth as a human, we decide a life plan for ourselves, choose our parents, birthplace etc.,  As we start our lives, we are fascinated by things and beings around us and instead of sticking to the original plan, we deviate our path and create new karmas, which will create further bondage.

For example, we look at the ramp walking of the models on TV and wish deeply to become a model. Then we have to take birth with a body fit to be a model. Now as the model spends life, she craves for a peaceful family life, which leads to another life as a home maker. It keeps on happening and after experiencing a variety of roles, slowly, ‘Virakti’ (disenchantment) sets in and the mind is ready for long meditative periods to understand the Self and the purpose of life.

For many people, it is difficult to see the exact role that they have to play. What are the roles you are playing? A daughter/son, sister/brother, wife/husband, mother/father, doctor/engineer? What are the duties prescribed for all these roles? Life is that simple, we have to just perform these duties without expecting results. That is where the catch lies. We do expect results.  When we get expected results, our ego rises, and attachment to the associated money and fame increases. If we don’t get the expected results, we experience anger and restlessness. In both these situations, we are creating karmic bonds which will keep on creating more incarnations.

Burning desires through ‘Sadhana’

Whatever happens in our life, we are solely responsible for them. Our desires are like seeds, they will germinate or manifest under suitable conditions. Just like roasted seeds can't germinate, we can burn our desires so that they cannot manifest. This can be done only by genuine 'sadhana'(disciplined and dedicated practice), which one has to decide and be at it for as long as it takes. There is no short cut available. It takes different time period for different persons depending upon accumulated desires over incarnations, and on sadhana done in previous lives.

Reborn- to be liberated

It was more than two decades back that I read ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ by Paramahansa Yogananda. His guru Sri Yukteshwar was the disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya. Babaji was the guru of Lahiri Mahasaya. When I saw the picture of Babaji, I couldn’t look into his eyes for long time; they were so powerful and penetrating. I read somewhere that Babaji still appears to those who call him sincerely, and was fascinated by that statement.

Ananda Kriya Ashram

In May 2018, we were looking for a place to go for 3 days just to meditate. We chanced upon Ananda Kriya Ashram and booked for June 8^th to 10^th.

We reached the Ashram by 11. 30 am on 8^th. I loved the energy and vibration of the place. To my joy, I found a photo of Babaji in our room. I kept the small Shivling and Nandi that I carry during travels  in front of the photo, brought a flowers and kept them too. 

After  browsing through their library and with some guidance from Dharanaji (the meditation teacher), I picked up some books to read.

Introduction to meditation

At 3.30 we assembled in the meditation hall where Dharanaji gave us an introduction to meditation. It is important to keep the physical body still and relaxed, with the spine erect to have good meditation experience. He showed us different props that can be used to achieve that objective and encouraged us to experiment with them. I liked the brick and another small foldable stool, which helps to keep the spine erect, keeping away any pressure on the knees and ankles.

Meditation hall all to myself

The meditation timings of the ashram were 7 to 8.30 am and 6 to 7 pm. Dharanaji would start with some chants, lead us onto deep meditation and then end the meditation with a prayer.

On 9^th evening, he couldn’t be there for 6 to 7 pm meditation but he kept the mediation hall open for whoever wanted to meditate. Inside the hall there were photos of Lahiri Mahasaya, Babaji, Jesus, Krishna, Yukteshwar and Paramahansa Yogananda.

As I entered the hall at 5.45 and looked at Babaji’s photo, I perceived tears flowing from his eyes, and  was sort of confused. I started my meditation at 6 pm, and I was all alone in the hall.

You have taken too long to come back

As I closed my eyes for meditation, I had a spontaneous recall of a past life. I saw myself as a teenage boy. Babaji was walking ahead, and I was tagging along reluctantly. He saw great potential in me but I was pulled by the worldly pleasures and ran off from there.

Now  when I got connected with Babaji during meditation, he remarked, ‘ So you have come back at last.’ Then I realised that I had perceived tears of happiness on his photograph.

A deep meditation

 I went into a deep meditation, practising the ‘Hong Sau’ technique that Dharanaji had explained earlier. Suddenly I felt that my head was cut off from the back, below the medulla oblongata, which is the seat of ego. The head was hanging onto the chest, still attached to the body in the front area.

Old sanskaras being burnt

With every exhalation, blood, representing the accumulated old sanskaras, was flowing out, into a violet flame that was consuming it.

Meanwhile I saw Babaji sitting in a small temple, which had a golden dome. There was an idol of black Shivling, with a live snake around it. The temple was on the top of a hill and I could sense the presence of adivasis in the valley below. Babaji was performing Havan in front of the idol and the door was closed.

Losing the head finally

The blood was flowing out of my body for some time, and when it finished, my head which was attached to the front of the body was severed and thrown into the violet flame.

Meanwhile, from the Havan kund where Babaji was performing havan, my new head came out of the sacred fire and travelling through the air, came and got attached to my body.

Sensing my husband’s aura

Suddenly I felt my husband’s aura beside me. He had gone with Dharanaji and they were supposed to return by the end of meditation time, at 7 pm. So I thought some other inmate of the ashram must have entered the hall quietly and sat down for meditation. I was curious to see the person who was having the same aura as that of my husband. I contained my curiosity and continued with meditation.

At 7 pm, I heard Dharanaji starting the prayer and later I noticed that it was indeed my husband who was sitting near me for meditation. Contrary to their expectation, they had returned earlier and then they came and joined for the meditation.

I am eagerly waiting to see the changes in my life that this meditation experience must have brought to manifest.

                                                     Sri. Paramahansa Yogananda

Dattatreya and Navnaths- Completion of a sadhana

About five years back we had gone to Gulbarga to celebrate Holi with our cousin. During dinner time a friend told that there is a famous Dattatreya temple and he would arrange for us to visit. I didn't know much about Dattatreya then, so learned about the story of how he was born as the son of sage Atri and Anasuya with the blessings of Lord Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. He has three heads representing the Tri-murtis.

Dattatreya temple in Ganagapura

Ganagapura is a village in Afzalpur taluk of Gulbarga district on Karnataka. The village is noted for its temple of Lord Dattatreya, who is said to have attained realization on the confluence (sangam) of the banks of the rivers Bhima-Amarja.

The Shri Dattatreya temple of Ganagapura is a ‘kshetra’(pilgrim place) for second incarnation of Dattatreya, Shri Narashimha Swami. 

It was a very divine temple and I got a large picture of Lord Dattatreya from there, which I kept on top of our book shelf. When I do dusting of the house, I would dust this picture and pay obeisance to him.

Ek-mukhi Dattatreya

In March 2018, a friend told us that he visited a new Dattatreya temple in Belgaum and he felt nice. Same day we went to this temple and came to know that the person who built the temple used to dream of Dattatreya with one instead of the usual three heads, and the idol in the temple is therefore Ek-mukhi (with one face) Dattatreya. The temple was finished only a few days back.

When I looked at the idol, my whole being was filled with bhakti. I sat there, kept looking at the divine face, which was so graceful and the eyes were overflowing with compassion:

 I could have sat there for hours together!

Navnath mantra

Two days after visiting the temple in Belgaum, a friend who propagates Agnihotra mentioned the benefits of chanting Navnath mantra during agnihotra. I was convinced and learned the mantra. In April we went for a road trip for a month and I was chanting this mantra continuously during the travel time.

Navnaths

The Navnaths are the nine saints, Masters or Naths on whom the Navnath Sampradaya, the lineage of nine gurus is based. Some members of the Nath Sampradaya believe Rishi Dattatreya was its first teacher. These nine saints are actually nine super-super human beings, who, with their honesty, selflessness, austerity, devotion for their teacher, Lord Dattatreya, and the mantra power, defeated deities like Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu, Hanuman, Virbhadra, Indra, Goddess Chamunda, Vetal (King of ghosts), ashtabhairava and others according to the book ‘Navnath Bhaktisar’. They had a weapon called ‘Vatakarshan Astra’, which was invincible even for Gods.

The coming of the Navnath - or nine prophets - is mentioned in the Mahabharata. Krishna called a meeting of all demi-gods, angels and saints to give his message of how he would continue his message of spreading good after his mission was over on earth. Krishna said he would send his own light in the form of nine saints or prophets, who will go to different parts of earth and throughout the universe where life exists. Lord Krishna also mentions that these prophets or saints will spread the message of Love, overcoming obstacles in order to unite with Mahavishnu or Shiva or Shakti. 

The culminatíon

During our drive back, on 29th evening, suddenly I saw the picture of Dattatreya and Navnaths on the back side glass of the bus in front of us. I took a photograph, but didn't get it clear:

I searched the net for a similar picture and this was the one:

The Navnath mantra was going on in my mind even at that time. I got goose flesh all over my body. This was an indication for me that I have finished chanting the mantra for the critical number of time!

It is not common to see this picture, like that of Hanumanji, Lord Shiva, or others on vehicle. In fact, I have never seen one before.

Reaching the pinnacle after all the grounding

How high a building can be built depends on how deep the foundation is. This principle is very relevant in one's spiritual growth too. When the limbs of Ashtanga yoga are followed in succession, by the time one comes to the seventh step or dhyana (meditation), he/she is well stabilized and can go to higher planes easily.

In the present times, everyone is directly into meditation and it is really messing up many lives. From childhood I have been doing rigorous spiritual practice, with timely guidance from the Universe in every step of my journey. In spite of this, I was surprised at the amount of grounding I needed to have. An acceleration in the grounding process started during our visit to Sri Lanka in 2017 September.  When we visited the Dambana Veddha village, it started happening in a more intensive way.

Starting from Dambana

Dambana is a remote jungle village of indigenous people renowned for its eco-tourism prospects, situated about 300km from Colombo, Sri Lanka. We were fascinated by the huge trees and their roots which were spreading far. 

I could become one with the roots and experienced a very strong grounding. In the same way the roots hold on to the soil and stabilise it, I could feel the essence of my practices over decades settling into my body and Being to facilitate further growth.

Angkor Wat temple takes it to the next level

Angkor Wat is one of the largest religious monuments ever constructed. It was built between roughly A.D. 1113 and 1150, encompassing an area of about 500 acres (200 hectars). Originally built as a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Vishnu, it was converted into a Buddhist temple in the 14th century, and statues of Buddha were added to its already rich artwork.

When Angkor was rediscovered in the early 20th century by French archaeologists, all of the temples had become overgrown–but none so spectacularly as Ta Prohm. While Ta Prohm lay forgotten and neglected by men, the Cambodian jungle wasted no time in devouring it. Silk-cotton and strangler fig trees took root in the loosened stones of the temple, which was built entirely without mortar. Their roots wound through the structure, creating an astonishing merger of nature and architecture.

As I stood there mesmerized by this Nature's marvel, the lesson sunk in me, 'You can take the meaning of 'grounding' to a new level. Stay rooted around your values, encompassing and protecting them.' 

Thus the next level of understanding reached me in 2018 February.

Living Root Bridge near Mawlynnong village in Shillong

On 20th April 2018 when I stood near the Living Root Bridge, I felt the finality of my lessons. 

While walking (one is not supposed to stand) through the bridge, which was made by intertwining the roots of trees on either side, my whole body was sensing something from beyond. 

Travelling through incarnations, with so many connecting roots, the importance of bridging filling my Being! It was a powerful experience.

Message at Basistha ashram

On 24th April we visited Basistha ashram and temple which is located in Beltola, at the outskirts of the Guwahati city. It has a Shiv mandir constructed by Ahom king Rajeswar Singhian in 1764. Basistha ( Vashishta) muni meditated here and got merged with Shiva. Lord Shiva's energy has been guiding me in my spiritual pursuits for many decades. 

As soon as I entered the area where sage Basistha meditated, I could feel my whole upper body (from hip upwards) vibrating. I was confused - why only the upper body?

Then the message dawned on me, 'I am allowed to do only this much, remaining you will get at the Kamakhya temple'. Now I was in high anticipation to reach Kamakhya temple.

Just a few feet away there was a huge rock inside of which Arundhati, wife of Basistha, had meditated: 

As I stood there with closed eyes, imbibing the tremendous energy, I was imparted the lesson of total surrender.

Dashamahavidyas and Kamakhya Devi

The Kamakhya temple, dedicated to the mother goddess Kamakhya, and one of the oldest of 51 Shakti Pithas, is situated on the Nilachal Hill in western part of Guwahati. It is the main temple in a complex of individual temples dedicated to the ten Mahavidyas : Kali, Tara, Tripurasundari, Bhuvaneshwari, Bhairavi, Chhinnamasta, Dhumavati, Bagalamukhi, Matangi and Kamalatmika. Among these, Tripurasundari, Matangi and Kamala reside inside the main temple whereas the other seven reside in individual temples.

Since many years I have been doing Havan on Tuesdays and Fridays chanting the Dashamahavidya mantras. Just on the previous day of visiting Kamakhya temple, I got the mantra for Kamakhya Devi. We reached the temple at 6 am and had to wait till 9.15 for darshan and all of that time I was chanting the mantra. As we reached the sanctum sanctorum, I felt what cannot be described. It is a very personal experience and each one has to go through it to understand the full impact.

It was a very important turning point in my life. Along with all the divine forces that have been guiding me, I am also thankful to all living and non-living beings from whom I have received valuable messages at every step of my journey.

Sweets for Hanumanji

On April 17th (2018) evening we reached Kaziranga forest guest house and while we were taking our luggage to our room, a calf came and stood near the car. 

I remembered that there were some plantains with us and I wanted to give one to the calf. But by the time I brought it out, the calf had walked away. I felt a little disappointed.

On 23rd of April we were in Guwahati and visited Basistha temple, which is a Shiva temple constructed by Ahom king Rajeshwar Singha in 1764 along with the gift of 835 bighas of land for the ashram. 

According to the legend, the ashram was founded by the great saint Basistha (Vasishta). There is a waterfall here, and the cave in which sage Vasishta is believed to have meditated is located 5 km inside the ashram.

                                             Cave where  Sage Vasishta meditated 

Hanumanji demanding sweet

When we reached the temple and as I got out of the car, a calf came towards me. As I took out a plantain from the car to give to the calf, I felt somebody pulling my dress with nails. It was a monkey and I got shocked, put the plantain inside the car and closed the door. By then the calf moved to the other side of the car and I told my husband to open the other door, take out the plantain and give to the calf, which he did.

A man nearby was watching this and told me, 'Give a plantain to the monkey, it is expecting one too.' I was considering it, when I saw some more monkeys approaching. I knew I couldn't give to all of them, so dropped the idea and went to the temple. But I felt a bit bad because I chant Hanuman chalisa daily and I didn't give plantain to the monkey when it asked for it.

On the next day we went to the Kamakhya temple. 

                                                                                     Kamakhya temple

                                                                              Bhairavi temple

When I came out after darshan in the main temple and was in front of the Bhairavi temple, suddenly a monkey appeared out of nowhere and snatched the plastic bag of prasad, with coconut, a packet of sweets, and a box of kumkum (that was precious for me) and ran off. It climbed a parapet, opened the bag, took out the packet of sweets and dropped the remaining to the ground. I reached the spot immediately and picked up my valuables. I was happy at this symbolic sweet offering to Hanumanji.

Similar incidence with my daughter

In 2013, at the Pashupatinath temple in Nepal, she sat along with her friends in front of the Bhairava temple to meditate. Due to lack of space, she kept the rudrakshas and the prasadam behind her. Sometime later, a monkey came, grabbed the pack of rudrakshas and ran away. My daughter was sad to lose the Rudraksh.

A stranger helped out, as they watched the monkey sit at an elevation, and asked for the prasadam, which he threw up at the monkey. As the monkey reached out for the sweets, it dropped the packet of rudraksha. She ran and picked it up, heaving a sigh of relief.

Bhairav and Bhairavi.

It is interesting to note where the two incidents happened, the first one in front of Bhairav temple, and the second one in front of Bhairavi temple. In both cases, the monkeys took away things from us while we were on the left side facing the temple and got it back from the right side.

Hanumanji blessed the kumkum for me and the rudraksha for my daughter!